Emperor of Steel

Chapter 557: Close Encounter 3

‘This, this monster seems to be a lot stronger than I imagined…’

Karen, who stood in front of Reina, acted all calm and composed, however, she was shocked.

It was because she knew the identity of the monster who was in front of her.

When she arrived near Bremen with Nanda, she heard a huge explosion.

When she realized that something unusual had been happening to her mother and father, she looked over at Nanda.

Nanda nodded and with his powers, he immediately reached Bremen city.

“I have a feeling about how I shouldn’t fight. Instead, I will share my powers with you. I will be able to make your abilities stronger than normal.”

It was a little, but when it came to normal wizards it would have made a huge difference.

Because Karen had already been considered to have the ability of a genius wizard in the last world.

However, the undead monster—the subordinate of the Lich King, wasn’t someone easy to handle.

Even though the space-time of the future had disappeared, the past undead monster had called for a lot of struggle before it got destroyed.

They barely managed to win the battle at the expense of her teacher Erwin and her motherly figure, Zegal Soha.

However, the current situation seemed worse than that.

Her power was less than half, and there were no Erwin or Zegal Soha beside her.

‘But I don’t plan on losing. If I step down from here, my mom will be in danger!’

However, there was something which Karen didn’t know.

The monster, the undead which was created by Lich King Arsene, was the body of Devil King, Saymon, or the body which belonged to Luke, her father’s past body.

“Black Bind!”

Swoosh! Wheeing!

The Undead monster, well, Baymon, launched another dark magic attack.

Karen avoided the Black Bind which was trying to wind her with the use of Blink.

Seeing her movements, Baymon rushed towards her like a ghost and used ice magic.

“Huhhu. Dark Freezing… uhk!”

Before Baymon’s magic could be manifested, Karen, who began to form aura at her fingertips and wielded the sword at Baymon.

Victor, who was being treated by Reina, was shocked at Karen’s fencing style.

‘Th- that is the Gold Sword! How could that child be…?!’

In the past, when he was under Luke, he used to constantly see him practice sword.

Which was why Victor was able to recognize the style which the child used as the Gold Sword.

It was the same with Baymon.

However, he wasn’t able to recognize what she did.

Another memory inside the body, the memory of Saymon, who fell by Rakan’s sword made his body filled with displeasure.

“Dammit! Now a kid like you can even use sword skills?”

“Huh, there is something that I still haven’t shown you!”

Karen’s nose flared in arrogance, and hands moved in air as if she was writing something.

However, just before she could complete, black flames burst from Baymon’s hand.

“Dark Flame!”

Srrrrng! Crack!

Avoiding the flames hastily, Karen moved.

However, it was a well-planned trap by Baymon.

While Karen was busy moving around, he was preparing for a number of tricks, and whipping something black, he caught her neck.

“Kyak-!”

“Kid!”

Victor screamed out in shock.

He felt bad that he couldn’t help out the child because of his injury.

It was the same with the other knights who were still in a battle with the 4th squad.

“You really are a talented kid. But first, I need to take away your breath.”

His master was someone who had overcome death.

Even if he managed to take just the body, he could summon a soul and place that in the body, and then inquire about the abilities the body held.

“Kua! Cough!”

“Huhuhu. It is no use struggling once you are in my hands.”

Although he seemed like a regular wizard, Baymon’s physical powers were enhanced by magic and his hands were currently as strong as the ogres.

And surely, it was too much when he was trying to choke a child’s neck.

If Karen wasn’t desperately trying to resist, she would have already been dead.

‘Th- this was wrong. I can’t…’

Karen’s body was reaching its limit, she began to lose her vision.

“STOP IT!”

“NO!”

When Karen was at her limit, a rock golem came from Baymon’s behind and struck him hard.

Crack! Bang!

The attack was too strong that the body of Baymon, which got hit by the golem flew through several buildings and crumbled to the floor.

‘Kuek, who was…?’

In a hurry, Baymon went to the alley where the fight was taking place.

It was then that he managed to find out who had been moving the rock golem and attacked him.

The Pope’s escorts were too busy fighting his brainwashed men. The old man who fell from his dark magic attack was shocked with the broken sword still in his hands.

‘Then?’

His gaze finally rested on Reina.

Reina was holding onto Karen’s body.

“Huh, was it the Pope?”

He never imagined the Pope to use something like a rock golem to attack him.

Although it was a surprise, there was no way a single rock golem couldn’t stop Baymon.

Approaching Reina with a sarcastic smile, he looked into her eyes only to stop.

It wasn’t just Saymon’s body that had refused to attack.

The eerie feeling he felt when looking into Reina’s eyes changed everything.

Just a while back, she seemed calm like the earth, however, looking into her eyes, it looked like something burst in her.

‘Prin- princess!’

He had served Reina for long, yet, Victor had never seen her that angry.

Reina, who managed to stop Baymon in his track, glanced at him and spoke.

“How could you kill a child without hesitation?”

Baymon who listened to her speak, shot back at her.

“Huh, you call that a child? If you had eyes, you would realize that she isn’t like a normal kid!”

“That is no reason to kill or harm those who have different abilities!”

“Those are your ideals.”

Baymon who felt the conversation was ridiculous, used dark magic to summon the undead.

Because his body was refusing to attack Reina with any form of direct attacks, he tried to get rid of her indirectly.

Kiiiiik!

Kukkkkkk!

The undead which he summoned were Death Knight and Lich, which Arsene had previously released on the Southern Continent.

Although they weren’t strong, it was enough to wipe out the Pope and her party.

“Kill her!”

At the command of Baymon, the Undead moved.

Reina managed to create a number of rock golems with her Aether ability to block the Death Knights and Lich.

Kwang!

Punch!

The rock golems seemed to be a lot more powerful than expected.

While the Death Knight and the Lich ran towards Reina and her party trying to overcome the golems, Baymon flew to the sky with another undead.

He intended to attack from the sky to the ground.

“Huh, surely they seem strong…”

Wheeing! Slash!

He heard the sound of something strong moving in the wind, and by the time he realized something, the Death Knight beside him was slashed from the waist.

The wind, which acted like blades, started to move around him and the other undead.

‘This can’t be! How is that wench able to attack with all this happening?!’

The blade of wind had managed to split the Death Knight who was supposed to be a 9th circle magic attack.

It was rather unbelievable that a Pope, who was known to have never mastered magic, managed to attack him.

And even if she didn’t master the use of magic, not everyone who learned magic could use it well.

Those who were timid in nature would never showcase their true abilities because of their fear of battles with Knights or wizards.

Which was why people emphasized the need for knights and wizards with experience.

But Reina, who Baymon knew about, had never involved herself in any kind of battle.

She was a tender figure who would choose not to battle.

‘I feel like I am seeing an angry lioness.’

It wasn’t so unusual, but there were cases where ordinary women rushed towards predators or monsters with their bare hands in serious crisis.

What they all had in common, they were trying to protect their children.

Even if the woman was weak, a mother was always strong, at least there was such a saying.

‘Is it her motherly affection? Did the scene of me attacking the child stimulate the wench’s motherly love?’

Baymon’s guess was rather accurate.

When he tried to kill Karen.

Reina could feel the suffering of the child, at the same time, she felt something burn in her heart. It was because she felt an unknown connection with Karen despite it being her first time seeing her.

The child she saw in her dreams, the child who cried and asked for death so others would live in light, the figure and similarities to Karen were unavoidable.

That was why Reina decided to fight.

‘Well, everything is a mess. I can’t get myself to attack that b*tch…’

Even after all that time, his body refused to attack Reina with any direct attack.

It was unfortunate that he entered into the battle not realizing the true skills and abilities of Reina, and most of his undead men were destroyed.

Wheeing-!

“Huh?! You think I would let myself be attacked again?!”

Baymon and his undead managed to escape the Aether wind blades of Reina.

Reina’s attacks continued to chase after them, however, unlike the first time, no one was getting hit.

The difference was the experience.

No matter how strong Reina’s power was, she had no real foundation or experience, and she couldn’t defeat Baymon or his undead.

“You are powerful, but the attacks from the wench who is a Pope are rather simple to read. Let’s cut them off at once!”

Kuakk-!

Kiiiick-!

The Death Knights and the Lich which were ordered and descended from the sky. They began to move around Reina in a swift motion.

Victor tried to join her even with his broken sword, however, he wasn’t able to go to her because of the brainwashed Saint Guard Knights who blocked the way.

Kuakkk!

The Death Knights, who managed to escape the incoming attacks from the golems, moved towards Reina.

In that urgent situation, Reina began to release divine power from her body at huge levels.

The Death Knights, who were getting exposed to the powerful divine power, quickly turned into ashes and crumbled down.

However, the black swords they were wielding stayed in the air and flew at Reina.

Cang!

“Ah…!”

It was Karen, who managed to save Reina.

Karen, who was still in Reina’s arms had recovered her consciousness and stopped the sword from flying into Reina with her bare hands.

The sword of the fallen Death Knight was deflected by Victor with his broken sword.

“Use that sword!”

Victor was struggling to keep up the fight with his broken sword, however, with the words from Karen, he managed to pick up the fallen sword of the Death Knight and cut down the brainwashed Saint Guard knights.

Karen who managed to give Victor a winning chance, caught the Black Spear used by the Lich and absorbed it into her body, and converted it into Holy Bullet sending right back at the Lich.

‘My power seems stronger than before. Was it because mom helped me?’

That was what Karen had predicted.

Originally, the Aether in her body was something she had inherited from her mother, Reina at birth.

Which was why when Reina was holding her in her arms, she could feel the Aether of Reina flow into her body naturally.

‘It isn’t just the power which went stronger. It feels like my existence in this world is turning stable.’

The kid, Karen, was not someone who could exist in the current space-time.

And the space-time of the future, where Karen existed had been destroyed because of her intervention in the past.

In that process, she was in the danger of disappearing from the world, however, Nanda said she could be helped.

And he managed to teach the child how to hold her presence in the current world even with the God’s Punishment on her.

“You need to awaken yourself and realize the truth about all the things in this universe. That is the only way you will be able to impact that God’s absolute will.”

In other words, Nanda meant that she had to turn herself into a transcendent who would realize the realm of God.

However, if she chose to follow that path, she would have to continue her life as an aesthetic for many years to come.

It was something impossible for Karen who barely maintained her existence with the power of Nanda. And that led to the power and life span given by Nanda to her shorten.

“Don’t worry too much child. It was said by the Lord in the past that when a hole forms in the sky even if the sky collapses, even though you violated the rules of heaven, will they not realize how devoted you were to stop the destruction of the world they created. Even if the entire world forsakes you, heaven and earth will keep you alive.”

When she first heard it, she thought it was something Nanda said to comfort her.

But now she knew.

There was a heavenly father and warm earthly mother that would protect her even if the world abandoned her.

Even if her own parents didn’t know about her, even though she was born in a space-time completely different from the present, the string of their bond never broke.

Woong!

“That is why I need to protect her! I will surely protect them till the end!”

Woong!

When Karen’s body was burning, the Aether in her body began to react.

It was very similar to what Reina did.

Resonating with her emotions, Karen’s Aether began to react extensively and vigorously.

While all of that was happening, Reina, who was still holding Karen in her arms, could feel her Aether flowing into Karen’s body.

Karen managed to sense the flow of Aether rushing into her body as well.

‘Does she need my power to defeat those men there?’

Even though Reina didn’t ask her thoughts, Karen held her hand and nodded.

Wooong!

The moment the two held their hands together, blinding light began to shine from them.

‘Th-this is… This is dangerous!’

Baymon’s heart was full of fear when he sensed what was happening in front of his eyes. It was an intense amount of light that was filled with Aether.

For the first time since he made his appearance in the alley, he was feeling anxious, he could feel his mind telling him that somehow he had to stop the two from proceeding with their attack.

He mobilized as many Liches as he could and began to pour out all the dark magic attacks at them, like Thousand Bullets.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the dark magic bullets poured on Reina and Karen like rain shower from all directions and continued to increase in number, the light barriers, which was created by the Aether, resonated from the two, and neither of them was hurt.

Karen, who continued to take in the Aether that Reina was giving to her, made a fist when she managed to get the needed amount.

‘Don’t! This much is what we need!’

With the power she took, she could surely defeat the monster that was created by the Lich King.

When Karen was feeling so sure of the power in her, Baymon was feeling the greatest crisis in his life.

‘I shouldn’t let that happen. I need to get rid of that kid. It doesn’t matter how. Both I and my master will be at risk if she is alive!’

He triggered the extreme extinction dark magic spell, ‘Black Abyss’, which was taught to him by Arsene himself, yet Arsene warned him about using it.

Pitch darkness rose in Baymon’s left hand.

Along with that, Lich and the Death Knight who were within the 30-meter radius turned into powder.

Soon, the power of the Lich and the Death Knights were sucked into the abyss hole, and Baymon didn’t just draw out his own Magi but also that of the undead and triggered the extinction spell.

When he felt like the magic was completed, he threw it straight to Karen.

“Black Abyss!”

“Million Impact Spear!”

Against the Black Abyss sent in by Baymon, Karen converted all her Aether into mana and cast it into magic.

As she clenched her fist, a silver spiral arrow began to grow with a bright illuminating light.

‘Million Impact Spear.’

Just as Karen knew, the strongest magic managed to crush the Black Abyss.

“Th-this can’t be!”

Baymon was shocked at what he saw.

However, it was something more startling than the Black Abyss getting crushed.

The silver arrow that seemed to have broken the Black Abyss was soon turning into thousands of arrows.

“T-this can’t be! This makes no sense…!”

Bang!

Along with the roaring sounds of explosion, huge bright light soared into the sky.

The light, which was radiant and warm like the sun, engulfed the entire existence of the darkness that was created by evil desires.