Emperor of Steel

A huge crater had formed in the middle of the parade ground.

As if a meteor had fallen there, the ground was burned. The tiny fragments of armors and practice wooden swords were scattered around.

The knights, who were near the parade ground, looked at them in disbelief. With shock and fear in the young eyes of Kaper, he couldn’t understand what happened.

His voice barely managed to leave his mouth as he tried to use some of his strength to move his body.

“Kuk, you monster…!”

A knight with a giant physique was wearing a mask decorated with feathers and obsidian.

Both his arms and upper body had bizarre tattoos.

At first glance, he was thought to be a barbarian who was living in the empire, but once he began to display his swordsmanship, it seemed to be so refined and powerful that it could be compared to the Imperial Knights.

‘And there is some kind of weird magic that he is using!’

Kaper, who had good fights with Luke, knew how well the rune knights fight.

But the magic of his opponent was entirely different from Luke’s.

There was no time gap between him casting his spells and manifesting it.

“Awesome, you can still manage to stand after taking my attack!”

At the praise from the giant knight, Kaper couldn’t help but smile.

Even he couldn’t do anything other than to acknowledge that the man in front of him was strong.

He might be a Sword Master. No, he was probably a Sword Sage.

‘What the hell does he want? From where did he even manage to learn such swordsmanship?’, was all Kaper could think about.

The giant knight entered the friendly battle with the intention of knowing the legendary warrior Rakan’s sword.

It seemed insignificant at first as there have been cases of one or two knights asking for a battle, and most of them were mercenaries.

However, the giant knight seemed different.

Expert level knights from both the Rakan and the Unicorn Knights had fallen, and even Commander General Rogers was taken down after ten minutes.

After clicking his tongue, he mumbled, “This is disappointing. I have been expecting a lot from the swordsmen of the legendary warrior, but you guys turned out to be just child’s play.”

At the clever words of the giant knight, Kaper, not realizing that he fell into a trap, rushed into him. His pride as a swordsman was soaring high after he had mastered the Gold Sword.

The result was unexpected.

Far from being effective, he couldn’t even touch his opponent’s hair.

Despite his two years of training, he managed to aim for the highest level which was even beyond an expert.

That was why he was able to avoid the previous attack. He was able to deal with the magic attacks after his constant battles with Luke.

Without those experiences, he would have suffered the same faith as Commander General Rogers, who was defeated and was now being treated.

“Give up. The game has already been decided.”

“Don’t make me laugh! This isn’t over until one of us is lying cold on the ground!”

At the urge of the giant knight to give up, Kaper shook his head and raised his wooden sword.

The giant knight, who laughed at his appearance and belief, ran like a lightning bolt and hit Kaper’s sword.

Kaper tried to dodge the attack, but instead, he stepped in closer to block it.

However, the wooden sword of the giant knight destroyed the already half-broken sword of Kaper and smashed his shoulders.

“Kwak!”

Kaper screamed out of pain and rolled back.

“Commander!”

Anna, who was shocked at what she saw, ran over to support him.

But Kaper, who had always been hard-working, signaled her to stop and rushed toward the giant knight.

“You are being reckless.”

The giant knight, ridiculing Kaper, fixed his grip on his wooden sword. He was surprised to see a red light coming out of the wooden sword in Kaper’s hand.

‘No way, Hyper Aura?’

That couldn’t be. Hyper Aura was a skill that only a Sword Sage could use.

However, the light, which began to take shape, wasn’t in its perfect form. It was unstable and wobbly. It was like an Impact Aura that was close to being a Hyper Aura.

There were times when such things had happened.

Even if one wasn’t aware that they have amazing skills, there were times when one could manifest such strong powers through diligence and hard work.

That was what was happening to Kaper now.

Kwang-!

The giant knight was pushed back because of that ferocious attack.

However, it was just five steps, and he didn’t suffer from any damage.

The Unicorn Knights were hoping that he would be hit. They were clenching their fists in anger.

“Oh, my God. Even Commander Kaper’s…”

“Dammit, what kind of things is he using!?”

“Wait! Look at that!”

Everyone looked over in the direction where Anna was pointing at.

The wooden sword, which was in the giant knight’s hand, was burned. No, it wasn’t just burned, it crumbled down.

The knights weren’t paying much attention, but the hands of the giant knight were swollen because of the heat.

‘This is amazing. The point where the Impact Aura also affects.’

The giant knight couldn’t help but admire Kaper for a second.

He was able to make such a powerful attack even after his collar bone was broken and was completely exhausted.

Even in that poor situation, he managed to lift his broken body and attack.

It wasn’t just that; his eyes still had a fire in them.

He wasn’t a Sword Master that one could just dismiss.

“Your energy has dropped, but the man isn’t dead yet! Excellent, this is really amazing!”

The giant knight truly admired Kaper.

He was originally meant to enter the Rakan territory and search for the famous Gold Sword skill, but there was something which was much more important than that.

A spirit that would never step back.

It was the giant knight’s wish to fight against strong enemies. Rogers and Kaper seemed to have granted him that wish.

“You, what’s your name?”

“I’m a knight from Rakan, Kaper, and you are?”

The giant knight thought for a second and opened his mouth.

“Shaikan.”

“Shaikan?”

“Remember it. You will soon hear my name everywhere,” said the giant knight, Shaikan.

He turned around and left Rakan.

Orc Hero Shaikan, the man who led the monster army two years ago.

The one who vowed to make Emperor Rudolf of the Baroque Empire pay appeared once again.

Unfortunately, Luke who could have worked with him left the empire.