Emperor of Steel

A few days later, a separate unit led by Luke arrived close to Nemesis.

He had to use his teleport magic in succession and moved in haste, but the situation wasn’t as easy as he had expected.

“The Nemesis got turned into that? All huge barracks?”

At Luke’s question, the attendant Henry, who had been in Nemesis, nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Various obstacles and siege weapons were placed along the walls, and the troops and Gigants were spread all over. In addition, access is being strictly monitored.”

With those words, Luke began to wonder why and clicked his tongue.

“Rudolf seems to have worked pretty quickly this time.”

Seeing the defense and security circles all over the place, Luke knew that there was more than what Henry knew.

‘Moreover, in addition to the original Knights of Guards and Central Army, even the Northern and Eastern troops were flocked here, right?’

If that was the case, Luke was stepping right into a trap.

In addition, if the defenses of the wall placed by the Imperial Palace were added in, Luke couldn’t help but think for various other directions.

When he returned, Jo Mimi approached him and asked.

“Your Majesty, it was said that the enemy’s defense is thorough, and we cant sneak in with teleport, is that right?”

“Yes, not just the Nemesis, but entire walls and roads have been installed with devices that hinder the use of space movement. All this to prevent the movement of the enemy through Gigants.”

In the past, there was no problem when it came to sending in Gigant troops to the heart of the enemy capital as a surprise attack.

Naturally, the nations which were hit were also prepared, and their method was to distort the coordinates around the capital to prevent the enemy from using teleport.

If one would ignore it and move, they would end up getting lost in space.

“Of course, it isn’t like that can’t be gotten rid of. However, it will take a lot of time, and no Nemesis has more magic security in place, so it might be hard to do that.”

“Then what should we do?”

Princess Ja-hye seemed anxious at Luke’s explanation.

They came all the way to the place, but if they couldn’t enter that palace, their journey made no sense.

However, it was like they were going to attack the enemy head-on with their numbers.

“There is no need to worry so much. For now, let’s prepare on our advance in case we infiltrate.”

Luke hadn’t come all that way without thinking about what the enemy’s move would be.

Although the Imperial troops controlled the access, they had a plan to enter Nemesis.

The problem after infiltrating Nemesis was, the way to get out of the Palace after destroying the ruins wasn’t set.

‘It is reckless to enter the palace without having a proper escape plan.’

If he was alone, Luke would have pushed ahead even with all the troubles in place.

But he had Karen with him.

For the sake of sending his daughter back to her home, he had to make sure there was an escape route planned.

“Listen everyone. We came over to destroy the enemy’s trump card and not to die. So we need to secure a retreat path before going in for the operation.”

At Luke’s words, Karen objected.

“Daddy, we don’t have the time to relax, what if Rudolf starts the ruins right now?”

“If he could have used it right now, he wouldn’t have put so many troops outside and inside Nemesis to strengthen the defense. And haven’t you heard what happens when someone rushes without a plan?”

“But…”

“Don’t waste your energy. You did promise that you would obey my words, didn’t you?”

With that, Karen stopped refuting to Luke’s words.

And instead, both her cheeks were flaring.

It was pretty cute, which made not just Luke but the other members of the group to smile.

“Your Majesty, how are you going to secure the retreat?”

At Shirley’s question, Luke opened the map of Nemesis.

“I plan to work on some defense and magic circles. Breaking them down in such a short period is tough and not possible, but maybe I can induce spells to divert their eyes.”

After hearing that, Princess Jo Mimi and Ja-hye clapped their hands as if they understood.

“Oh, then after our operation is over, those magic circles will act as bait, and attract the attention of the enemy, while we get to move out.”

“To summarize, it is to make a sound in the east and move out from the west.”

“Basically, that is what I said.”

It was when they were all talking about the proper steps for retirement.

Erwin moved towards Luke in a hurry to deliver the news.

“Your Majesty, Marquis Rogers reports that Count Ferrero, who assisted the 3rd squad sent an emergency request.”

“Emergency?”

Luke had specifically instructed them not to contact him once he reached Nemesis.

There were several measures taken by the enemy, and there was a risk of the magic communication being intercepted.

However, breaking that meant there was a huge problem.

“Is it because of the reinforcements sent from Libiya? I heard that Ferrero and Count Darland put up a good fight.”

“Yes, they repelled them. But it seems something more troubling happened.”

“Troubling? Don’t tell me…”

Luke, who was thinking, immediately went to contact Ferrero and not Rogers.

It was so that he could listen directly from the person concerned.

After a while, Count Ferrero appeared.

“Count, it is said that something troubling has happened?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, undead began to appear on the battlefield.”

‘I thought so…’

Luke sighed deeply.

When he heard it from Erwin, he had been guessing it must have been the undead.

As Arsene was in Libiya Kingdom, the thoughts of reinforcements he would send were surely been undead.

“Lich or a Death Knight?”

They had searched the hideout of Veritas Magic tower on the Island, but they couldn’t find much undead as most of them were moved ahead.

So, Luke guessed that at least some of them should appear.

However, Ferrero shook his head.

-Thankfully, it isn’t that kind. They are just normal zombies, the ones which arise from the dead, but these ones have begun to grow in number.

‘Zombie growing in number? The zombie poison?’

Luke frowned.

In a way, zombie venom was more difficult than a Lich or a Death Knight. It was because people would get infected after getting bitten.

“Let’s talk in detail. We need to get more information to deal in the right way.”

-Yes, Your Majesty. So they are…

And with that, Ferrero began to talk about the zombie’s appearance.