Chapter 112: Start of War(6)

"Let's get going."

Nash and Liam nodded and followed Luke outside the territory mansion. When they emerged, they discovered a butler in his 30s and the rest of the troops waiting for them outside. After that, the butler bowed to Luke and handed him the reins of a white horse. The horse, like the others, was fully armored.

Luke nodded and mounted his horse, while Liam followed suit and mounted his black horse. After that, Luke and Liam rode their horses to the front of the long line of troops, who looked at them with hope and admiration. As soon as Luke and Liam were seated in the front row, Luke raised his hand and spoke calmly but seriously.

"Let us push forth and defend our home,"

The soldiers tightened their reins and began to move their horses in pursuit of Luke, who was riding his horse peacefully in front. They were relieved and confident at the same time when they saw their calm and confident commander. They've seen what he and his squad are capable of, and they believe they can win this.

The soldiers were finally allowed to leave the territory mansion and were greeted by residents of the Viscellete territory who were waiting for them on the side of the road. They were all silent; it would have been strange if someone had been laughing in this situation. As they pass by their horses, the villagers discreetly weep and pray for their commander and soldiers.

Luke and his soldiers had finally made it beyond the territory walls' gates and were now outside. When they got outside, they saw more legions of soldiers awaiting them, with Spencer and Yulia leading the charge. When Luke arrived at their place, he dismounted and turned to face forward. They were greeted with large and empty plains, and at the end of those plains were...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

At the edge of the plains, Luke could see a vast army flying the Regle Alliance Flag. Adam and the wizards were on the back of the Regle Alliance's army, all dressed up with robes, and their soldiers were wearing armors with the protection of mana stones.

Numerous mages, including one of the highest class, as well as a large number of soldiers wearing superior armor and weaponry, versus an army of knights and soldiers wearing armor reinforced by highest grade mana stones. At this point, it's obvious who will win.

Adam appears to have noticed this as well, as he laughed out loud with his magically enhanced voice.

"HAHAHA! Is that all you've got?! And here they were describing you as a mighty hero! You have the appearance of a withered stick! Is the Reece Kingdom even paying attention to this conflict?! What a bunch of knuckleheads!"

The Regle Alliance began to laugh aloud. At this point, the soldiers on Luke's side began to feel apprehensive and uneasy. Their forces are too weak, no matter how they look at it. Even if they had the most powerful hero on their side, he won't be able to handle such a large number of foes on his own. From frustration, the troops all looked down and grasped their weapons.

"Have you had your fill of laughing?"

When Luke's bored magnified voice was heard on both sides of the plains, everyone flinched. Adam scowled as he stared at Luke, surprised.

"HA! Are you attempting to appear brave by acting calm? You will all lose, no matter what you do! This is intended to be our victory!"

"Who said I was acting?"

Adam came to a halt and peered at Luke's serene face, puzzled. Luke then continued to speak.

"You weren't the only ones who prepared for this battle, you know?"

"W-what-?"

A bright light appeared in the center of the plains before Adam could even say anything. Because the light was so blinding, Adam and the troops all closed their eyes. They felt as if they might become blind if they didn't close their eyes a second later.

The glow faded after a few minutes of encompassing the entire area, but no one dared to open their eyes until Luke spoke again.

"I'd like to introduce someone who will be taking part in this fight. Klein Schwarz ."

When Adam opened his eyes and saw a big 50-meter metal behemoth in front of them, his entire body shook. The metal colossus was so large and towering that it almost completely obscured the sun. They suddenly heard an elderly man's voice from within the terrifying monster.

"Man, you guys are all so small, Luke, are you sure it's okay for me to fight these men? I kind of feel bad now."

Luke replied with a grin as he gazed at the Iron Giant and the trembling enemy soldiers in the distance.

"This is war; there is no room for sympathy or pity. We've come to defend what we need to defend and to guard what we've been assigned to protect. So don't be afraid to charge. Take pride in what you'll be carrying if we win."

The soldiers then stared back at Luke with trembling eyes. They felt as though they were looking at a mountain, despite Luke's little and weak back. A huge, towering, and dependable mountain. Seeing this, the troops all regained their composure and proudly clutched their weapons. Rather than dread, their hearts were racing with excitement.

They then witnessed Spencer cast spells and Liam draw his sword from his sheath and activate his blazing fiery red aura. When Luke confirmed that his team is prepared. His lips then formed a smile, and he made a forward hand gesture.

"Charge."

All of the soldiers behind Luke shouted and dashed past him, heading for the plains. Spencer and Liam rushed forward, as did Klein, who began moving the Iron Giant.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Luke frowned; he understands his side's enthusiasm, but he doesn't appreciate the troops' thunderous shouts as they rushed by him. It's a good thing Nash got his back and put a mana-shaped earplug in Luke's ear, which helped him feel a little better.

The Regle alliance appeared to have finally snapped out of it, and Adam yelled angrily.

"Charge! Don't be frightened by a massive lump of iron! Chaaaarrggeee!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

The enemy soldiers then all shouted and dashed forward into the oncoming wave of opponents. It didn't take long for the weapons on both sides to clash. The initial row of the opposing lines was almost effortlessly defeated thanks to Liam and Spencer's leadership.

While looking at this, Luke crossed his arms and heard Selena, who was standing near him, ask him a question.

"Hey, why do you even need us here?"

Luke cast a glance towards Yulia and Selena, who were staring at the carnage in front of them. Luke then turned to face Adam, who was glaring him down while firing magic spells at the giant who was annihilating a third of the Regle Alliance's army.

"Just wait, that's not all these guys have in their forces."

Yulia then inquired, perplexed.

"Wait, what-?"

"Luke!"

Yulia's question was cut off as she heard Adam yell Luke's name. She turned around to see Adam angrily pointing at Luke's blank expression.

"Do you believe the tides have turned in your favor now that you have a giant?! This isn't the only force at our disposal!"

Luke spoke after staring Adam dead in the eyes.

"I know."

"You're a rude jerk! Take out the Crusher!"

Adam yelled at the magicians next to him, who all nodded. They then cast a big teleportation spell, similar to Nash's earlier teleportation spell, and a blinding light blanketed the battlefield once more.

Another enormous appeared after a few minutes of pure white light enveloping their view. Luke noticed this and couldn't help but laugh; he felt strangely joyful for some reason.

Perhaps it's because this war will be the Regle Alliance's most exciting downfall.

"Haha! I see you went to the one who replicates Klein's work after being rejected by him huh? How amusing."

Anger is growing veins in Adam's forehead as he frowns. Luke is clearly ridiculing them, but he has no response because what he just stated is correct. Luke continued to speak with a smirk on his face, knowing that Adam couldn't respond.

"Klein, it appears that now is the moment to take vengeance on the person who damaged your career."

Klein grinned ear to ear inside the giant. He then turned to face the other 50-meter-tall Iron Giant in front of him, which appeared to be based on his original concept.

It appears that the plagiarist pieced together his stolen ideas from Klein to create this colossus that resembles Klein's design. As one might expect from a copycat jerk.

"Leo! You're such a coward! Let us put this to rest once and for all!"

The giant's voice, dubbed "Crusher," responded with an irritated tone.

"You old numbskull! You have no right to accuse me of your baseless lies! I didn't take a single idea from you!"

"Oh, kid, shut up and come here! Let's use our iron fists to settle this! Let us put this to rest once and for all!"

"You old man! Then you'd better be ready! I'm going to take you down!"

The two giants then faced up against one other. On the plains, loud screeching sounds of metal colliding reverberated. Some soldiers are forced to flee away from them otherwise they will risk being crushed to death. With trembling eyes, the soldiers saw the terrifying fight of metal giants. In a matter of seconds, this conflict went from realistic to surreal. And the one who made this all happened was...

"It appears that Leo is remarkably skilled at duplicating that his giant's strength is on par with Klein, the original owner."

Luke stared blankly at the two giants in the middle of the battlefield, fighting and destroying each other. He ignored the troops' eyes and continued to look around the battlefield. He was in a fantastic mood.

'Damn, I don't have to do anything at all. All I have to do now is stand here and watch our team win. This is fantastic.'

With frustration, Adam gazed at Luke's blank face. He was ready to rush ahead with flight magic towards him when he was halted in mid-flight by two individuals. One is a glasses-wearing magician, and the other is the Black Coat's iconic flaming knight. Spencer and Liam are in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Touch even a strand of brother's hair, and I'll rip you apart."

Adam made a tongue click. He's been trapped, and he despises it. Things were not looking good when he looked at the two giants fighting each other and crushing most of his troops in the process. Even though they still have the upper hand because they have a large number of magicians with them, they can't do much because their weapons and other key resources were destroyed when a bunch of tyrants destroyed their tower one night. All they could do was put up a barrier to protect the injured soldiers.

He then noticed Luke staring at him from between Liam and Spencer. Spencer and Liam were perplexed as Adam frowned hard and closed his eyes before opening them and grinned widely.

"T-this isn't the end! We still have more!"

Luke hid his grin and inquired with his flat tone.

"Oh really?"

Adam gave Luke a cold stare before pulling out a strange item from his pocket. He then pressed the button, and a cloud of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Both opponents and allies were perplexed by the trail of black smoke in the air. Everything suddenly became frigid after a brief interval of silence. It's typical to be cold during the rainy season, but this cold is different; it's as if winter has arrived.

As if their thoughts had come true, they could see snow descending from the sky and ice rapidly filling the plains. With a frown on their faces, Luke and Nash observed this. While Luke was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Nash's eyes widened as he stared up at the top of the hill, where he believed the snow came from. Not only that, but he sensed a familiar presence behind that hill.

Then he saw it...

A young girl who appeared to be eight years old, with gleaming silver hair and emotionless pale blue eyes stood up on the top of the hill. Luke and Nash quickly recognized her due to her pale snow-white complexion under the familiar black coat.

Luke raised his eyes to the top of the hill, where the little girl stood with a couple of strangers behind her.

"...Snow?"