Emperor of Steel

Thump! Thud!

Creak!

The loud sounds of the Gigant’s footsteps and the noises of the huge swords clashing with the other.

Whenever the Gigants that Luke and Belik were riding went in contact, huge violent sounds rose and the knights who were watching them screamed from a distance.

It was because the fierce mana wave that the Gigants were presenting was the first time for the knights to witness.

Only Rogers, Philip and Hwang Bo-sung were the ones who were able to ignore the mana waves’ pressure.

They were at a master level, so they were more aware of the flow of the battle than anyone else.

“Our Lord really has a great feel and control.”

“Well, that is all thanks to me.”

At the words of Rogers, Philip shrugged his shoulders and spoke about his greatness.

Luke was able to attack Belik with brilliant magic attacks. At first glance, Luke seemed to be the one to take lead in the situation. However, Rogers didn’t think so.

“Our Lord’s attack doesn’t seem to work on Firestorm.”

“That makes no sense at all. How is he able to stop and avoid all of the attacks?”

Just as Scarlet said, Luke’s attack had very little effect.

That too with the attacks going on and on, but the most shocking thing was Belik barely managed to step out of his original position.

With very minimal movement and brief steps, all of Luke’s powerful and sharp attacks were blocked and dodged.

“Lady, it seems to imply the movement of the Master.”

“Is that possible, Sir Hwang Bo-sung? From the man’s point of view, it is his first time meeting our Lord.”

Hwang Bo-sung didn’t respond to Kaper’s question.

He understood how Belik was responding to Luke’s attacks.

However, his language skills weren’t proper enough to explain it in detail.

Kang!

After a series of attacks, Luke was struck by Belik and got pushed back.

And seeing that a chance had opened up, Belik showed the desire to rush for Luke. When Luke managed to unfold magic and block the incoming attack…

“Ice Blow!”

Dozens of large ice cubes formed in front of the tester Gigant and flew right at Belik’s Stiletto.

It was just a piece of ice, but its strength was comparable to that of steel as Luke had strengthened it using magic.

“Huh, you think that this is going to stop me?”

Belik didn’t panic and just smashed the ice cubes with his giant sword.

However, when he was about to hit the last ice cube flying in his direction, it exploded.

Boom!

The shattered piece of ice cube obscured Belik’s vision for a moment.

“…!”

As Belik was shocked by what happened, Luke rushed in using Blink.

“Cyclone Wave!”

A powerful shock wave magic formed at close range and hit Stiletto.

However, Luke, who watched its attack, frowned.

‘What the?! He is being pushed back!’

Cyclone Wave was a magic attack that struck the opponent with a powerful shock wave. Objects of volume and mass such as Gigants had no choice but to take in great damage due to the waves.

However, since Belik’s Gigant stepped back, it only got pushed, and the shock wave had no effect.

And Stiletto didn’t seem to have taken much damage at all.

“Phew! That was dangerous, dangerous indeed!”

“How did you know and respond to it?”

Luke asked Belik, who was on the move. Shortly before Luke used magic, Belik deliberately disturbed the balance of Stiletto and made it get pushed away by the wave.

“Well, it was obvious for an attack to come flying in in that situation.”

“Huh?”

“It was either a direct stab or a magic trick, and it is whether you try to hit me, stab me or pierce me.”

So Belik decided that it would be best to at least reduce the damage from the hit in case it couldn’t be avoided.

That was why he deliberately got himself pushed back.

“Maybe it would have been destroyed then, but you had no choice but to make a simple and clear choice in such a situation. You are even more experienced in combat,” praised Luke.

“Kuk…!”

Luke knew that the man was a formidable opponent.

However, despite his nickname—Firestorm—or his unstoppable personality, Belik was very cool-headed in battle.

The most surprising fact was that he was able to read the opponents attacks in advance.

“And just saying, Gigant’s movements are pretty obvious. Unlike the individuals who have different body shapes and muscles, each Gigant is standardized to be the most efficient for combat purposes. The only difference is the thickness of the armor or the output of the core engine.”

In addition, there are limited areas to be hit.

It was easy to understand where the opponents attacks would come at.

‘Right, that was why he was able to counterattack while minimizing the balance.’

If one knew how their opponents attack, there wasn’t much need to move around.

If the movement of a Gigant was reduced, the consumption of aura would be reduced as well, and so the battle could move forward easily.

‘If one is a skilled knight, it won’t be much difficult to understand the opponent’s movements. However, Belik’s sense is definitely higher than the others.’

Belik had a keen sense of computational and analytical thinking. He was more like a wizard than a knight in that sense.

If he walked on the path of magic instead of the sword, he could have become an Archmage who might have made a name for himself in the continent.

“I do acknowledge that you are a great rider, but unfortunately, you met the wrong person.”

Kung!

With horrifying speed, Belik’s sword went for a stab.

A very straight forward attack aimed at the core engine.

However, since the attack was fast and powerful, comparable to an Advanced Sword Master, he had to choose between defense and evasion.

And Luke’s choice was to avoid.

On a hurry to hit, Belik’s huge sword was chasing Luke’s tester like a viper.

Puak!

In that process, the gloves of Luke’s tester were scratched.

“You wanted to avoid me? Surely you knew that it can’t be stopped, right?”

‘Kuek, Blink Dash!’

Rushing offensively to shake of the attacks from Belik, Luke shook his huge sword.

Rather than simply using the sword skill, the left hand of the tester Gigant didn’t hold a huge sword and poured out magical attacks.

Was it because he was anxious?

Belik’s Stiletto was moving constantly.

“That is great. A Sword skill which isn’t normal too will make no difference on me. However…”

Belik, who truly admired him, changed his posture and counterattacked.

“You won’t beat me with this!”

Ka-chang!

Belik’s impact aura’s trajectory covered the air, and at the same time, a sharp bursting sound rang out.

Luke’s tester Gigant, which was cut horizontally, touched the core engine. It glowed and stepped back.

As the sparks glowed between the split up gloves, the faces of Rogers and Philip went blue.

“L-lord!”

“Stop the battle right now!”

If the core engine bursts, Luke’s life would be at stake.

Those who were ready to stop the battle stopped when they heard Luke’s scream through the transmission.

“Don’t enter yet! It isn’t done yet!”

“B-but…”

“The core engine is fine, so don’t worry.”

It was a lie.

However, the balance of the engine was broken, so he couldn’t center it in the right manner.

Even if he tried to manage it, the Gigant tilted to either left or right.

‘It will be impossible to fight this way.’

Just moving a little ahead was turning difficult for Luke. The Gigant was bound to fall with Belik’s next attack.

‘What to do? I won’t be able to win even over a normal rider with this state.’

It was impossible for Luke to admit defeat.

He wouldn’t be able to reason with Belik, and he would have to see his arrogant behavior run out wild.

And on top of that, Luke just had no intention to lose.

‘Belik isn’t a Sword Sage. If I can’t even win over this one, how am I even supposed to defeat Rudolf?!’

Biting his lip, Luke began to manifest magic and rushed straight toward Stiletto.