Emperor of Steel

Clark tried to make Luke feel as comfortable as possible. He even took a step ahead and brought Luke a meal while he was in bed.

All those treatments made Luke feel very comfortable during the trip.

After two days, they had reached the forest where the monster appeared quite often.

‘Should I try it now?’

If the forest had no escape routes, then there were going to be no witnesses.

Determined, Luke gripped his sword with his right hand when something suddenly swung from the other side and knocked two mercenaries who were on the side.

“Kaak!”

“Ahk!”

The eyes of the mercenaries began to flutter with the strike to their chest; they screamed out of shock.

“Dammit, we’re under attack!”

“Prepare for battle, everyone!”

Mercenaries prepared to respond to the attack. Clark immediately crawled under a random cart.

Luke couldn’t help but smile at the act of that slender figure who hid out of fear.

“It is dangerous, Lord,” said Philip.

Pha? Tch!

With a scream, Philip swung his sword.

The ice, which flew in the form of a spear, shattered into pieces before being able to reach Luke.

“I was able to stop it for now,” said Philip.

“I think it is too early to say that. We need to get these slave traders out of our way.”

Philip seemed to have figured out the identity of the intruder.

But to go against such a person…

“It is too late for us to back out,” said Luke.

A fireball about the size of a watermelon flew from the direction where the ice came from just a while ago.

At first, it was just an ordinary fireball.

Luke, however, sensed some very unusual flow of mana in the fireball.

“Avoid it! If it hits us we are dead!”

At the shout from Luke, Philip hurriedly dodged it.

However, from just one fireball, a dozen fireballs began to come. It was almost like a meteor shower.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘Oh my! This is like shelling.’ Philip thought.

Philip who just dodged the incoming attack couldn’t close his mouth at the fireball shower.

Clark had told them earlier that their stalker was a good wizard, but they didn’t know that the stalker was this good.

“If this is the mana flow, 7 circles is the thing,” said Luke.

“Huh? Is that true?” Asked Philip.

Luke nodded, which only made Philip much more surprised.

A 7 circle was close to a Meister class talent of a medium Magic Tower.

What was the reason for such an assault to be taken on the slave trader?

However, they didn’t have much time to think.

“It’s coming! Be careful!” Screamed someone.

From the woods, a wizard dressed in a white robe holding a bright golden staff appeared.

Luke and Philip didn’t have the time to care about the wizard. That was because a thin stream of water rose from the ground.

“Kuak!”

“Kaaak! My legs!” Screamed the slave traders.

The stream was beginning to break down the armors of the traders by turning into arrows.

Even without being directly attacked, the traders rolled on the ground in pain. Luke and Philip were trying their best to avoid getting in contact with the stream.

However, the two of them weren’t able to avoid all the arrows that were rising from the ground.

“Shield!”

“Aura Armor!”

Luke protected himself with a defensive spell while Philip used a full-body Expert Aura.

Seeing their response to the magic, the wizard paused and began to chant a different spell to attack them.

“Look here! We have nothing to do with these guys!” Said Philip.

“You are wrong, Sir Philip. No matter what you say, that one won’t believe it,” replied Luke.

If the wizard had seen the slave traders being all hospitable to them, then it was sure that they had been part of the same group.

‘And that wizard is not going to listen to the words of a human.’ Luke thought.

At first, Luke had thought that the wizard was trying to take away the riches of the traders.

But after seeing the mana flow from the wizard, that wasn’t the case.

At least, it wasn’t a human wizard.

‘This wizard’s race is an El…!’

Luke’s eyes went wide, interrupting his line of thought after seeing the wizard.

The wavelength of mana had suddenly changed.

‘This… This is the 7 circle Phoenix Wing!’

The Phoenix Wing was a fire magic that wouldn’t die down until it hit its target.

This magic was so strong that a shot from the Phoenix Wing could even melt steel.

The wizard looked around the place after the wizard was almost done chanting.

It was going to be troublesome to deal with white magic attack. To confront that attack, Luke would have to use his skills.

Luke decided to talk to Philip.

“Sir Philip, you trust me, right?”

“Yes, I trust you.”

From the moment when his Lord had gone against Juan’s group, Philip had immense respect for his Lord.

He had no specific reason to believe in Luke, but he didn’t want to betray Luke who had believed in him when no one else did.

“Okay, don’t be surprised no matter what I show or do.”

When Luke said that, the wizard unleased Phoenix Wing.

Kooo!

A 7 circle magic, the firebird really looked like the legendary Phoenix itself.

The sound of the air burning could be heard along with the cry of the Phoenix.

Luke chanted his spell and aimed his right hand at the firebird that was rushing toward them.

“Dark Impact!”

The purple light from Luke’s hand shone brightly, and the space began to distort.

The firebird which was rushing toward them like a tornado got torn into pieces and flames scattered in all directions.

‘That is dark magic!’

The wizard’s eyes went wide upon seeing Luke’s skill.

The wizard thought that the skill of the young man was praiseworthy. The wizard thought that Luke was just a man who had been pulled in by the offer of the traders. He was a villain who was learning the dark magic!

However, the wizard realized something.

‘No, this dark magic is different. This is just like…’

While the wizard was a little flustered, Luke went ahead and released quick magic attacks.

The flustered wizard tried to stop Luke’s charge.

However, Luke was faster than what the Wizard had expected. As a result, after the wizard used a wind cutter spell, Luke used Blink spell to avoid it ahead of time.

“You want to play tag, huh?” Said Luke who appeared behind the wizard with the help of Blink.

The wizard tried to catch him. However, the wizard’s hands just passed through Luke.

‘This is Illusion magic? Plus invisibility magic!’

Two different magics had been manifested simultaneously.

It was known as Double-Casting.

In addition, Luke had already grasped his opponent’s tactics.

The wizard’s skills and performance were that of a 7 circle wizard.

Puah!

‘This is…!’ Before Luke could think.

He had been hit with the wizard’s golden staff.

Luke realized once again that he was overpowered by his opponent.

While staying hidden, he thought of using a magic attack, but he took a direct hit instead.

In addition, the wizard used a 7 circle Strength magic to raise her power momentarily.

If the wizard didn’t hold back, then Luke would have coughed up blood and fell down.

Luke twisted his body, and the guardian pendant that Reina had given, reduced the impact of the blow.

Woong?!

‘What, what is this?’ The wizard thought.

The moment the wizard’s staff touched Luke, the wizard sensed some strange unknown power in him.

Focused on that mysterious mana, the wizard hadn’t realized that her attack had failed.

Luke used that chance to retreat.

Luke had realized that he wasn’t good enough and decided to use one of the demon’s powers.

“Sonic Wave!”

“Kyaaak!”

The moment the wizard realized it, it was too late, and an ultrasonic shock had already hit her.

With the unexpected wave that hit her body, the wizard screamed out of pain and flew back.

She bounced back while smashing through several trees and then hit the ground.