Emperor of Steel

“Come on, you men! You know who I am and still, you are going to commit such acts!”

Hwang Bo-jangcheon, who was captured by the Symphonia Knights and brought on to Auster, swore abusively at the knights.

“Wah, he talks so much! If you keep talking, I will split your head in two!”

Shirley, who was feeling irritated at the man’s words, screamed at Hwang Bo-jangcheon with her halberd and made the man grunt his teeth.

However, he looked at someone behind her and was shocked.

“Y-you, how are…!”

“You have grown a lot since the last time I saw you.”

Hwang Bo-sung, who saw his nephew after a long time, seemed bitter.

He heard a familiar voice on board and assumed it to be someone he knew. However, he never expected his own nephew to take part in the war.

“This can’t be. You can’t be alive! Father said that he poisoned you and cursed you, making sure you suffered from paralysis!”

“Well, I did almost die. But then, I met a nice man and was saved by him.”

Shirley approached Hwang Bo-sung and asked with a cold expression on her face, “Someone you know?”

“Well, he’s the advisor of the Song Empire… My half-brother’s son.”

Shirley and the other knights were left with their mouths wide open.

They thought the kid would have been some commander with high status because of the gold armor he was wearing, but he turned out much more important.

It wasn’t just that. He was Hwang Bo-sung’s nephew!

“There is a high possibility that he has valuable information, so take him to the interrogation room and question him. He is a spoiled brat, so there is no need to be considerate when questioning him.”

Once Hwang Bo-sung’s order fell, Shirley dragged Hwang Bo-jangcheon to the interrogation room.

“Kuak! This dirty bitch! I will tell every single thing you did to me to my father!”

“Be quiet! Shut up!”

Punch!

Hwang Bo-sung looked to the other side when he saw Shirley beat his nephew and drag him.

‘To entrust the command of an army troop to such a young person… what on earth was my brother thinking?’

Was he trying to get his young children to build up titles and merits?

Or was there something more important that he decided to let the young one handle the task?

“Kuak!”

As Hwang Bo-sung was contemplating, a sudden scream came from the side of the captured transport ship.

As he turned his head, he saw the soldiers of Symphonia, who went to search the deck below of the ship, run out.

‘What? Didn’t everyone surrender?’

Hwang Bo-sung, who was puzzled, soon turned pale when he heard of the report that came from the transport ship.

Hurrying over to the ship, he ran straight into Luke’s cabin.

After the battle, Luke left his men and went to talk with Reina to be updated.

The antenna was raised using Fly magic, yet the call didn’t connect because the distance was too far.

“Hmm… A little more higher maybe?”

When Luke was contemplating, Hwang Bo-sung entered the room.

“Master, there is something you need to see right away.”

“I need to see? Right now?”

“Yes, things, which shouldn’t have been, present were found on the transport ship that was captured.”

“Really?”

What could it be that was making Hwang Bo-sung frown so deeply?

Intrigued, Luke delayed contacting Reina for a later time and went over to the captured transport ship along with Hwang Bo-sung.

On that ship, the wizards, who were brought for the expedition, were brisk walking on the deck, discussing something serious.

Wizards were always curious ones.

It seemed like something new had been discovered.

“This is the place.”

The place where Hwang Bo-sung guided was a large cabin at the bottom of the transport ship.

Luke went into the dark cabin, which was lit by the faint lantern, and was shocked.

‘No way. Th-this is…!’

The reason he was shocked was that there were people in it. People he never expected to see on the Southern Continent.

Kiiiiki!

Kukkkkk!

The Undead were hissing with weird sounds out of hostility toward Luke.

However, something seemed strange about it.

It was because the Undead in front of his eyes were very different from the zombies Luke knew.

Firstly, they didn’t have the typical Rhodesian Continent appearance, but they had Southern Continent features with their yellow skin and dark hair. Also, their clothes were all black and loose-fitting, which people in the South called the Kang Ho warriors’ attire.

On their forehead was a piece of paper with an unknown pattern.

Perhaps, the Undead could only make sounds, but they couldn’t raise their hands because of the magic on the paper.

Luke took a careful look at the Undead when Hwang Bo-sung explained it to him.

“Master, this is what we call Kangshi in the Southern Continent.”

“Kangshi? Oh, now that you mentioned it, the Undead of the South were referred to as Kangshi!”

“Yes, they are like the zombies of the Rhodesia Continent, but they’re quite different from them.”

Kangshi was an Undead just like the zombies, but the process of making and moving them was quite different.

The Undead such as zombies and ghouls were extremely hateful toward living creatures, and if they saw any living creature around them, they would attack right away.

The Kangshi, which were made using Zen skill, could only be used through Zen skill.

“Hmm, this is pretty interesting. So, that yellow paper attached to their forehead is an amulet of the sort?”

“That is right, Master. If you take that paper off and say the spell, the Kangshi can be controlled.”

Hwang Bo-sung showed the paper and showed how to move the Kangshi.

“By the way, if we are bitten by the Kangshi, do we turn into Kangshi too?”

“Well, we were told to stay away from them, but in reality, it doesn’t happen.”

People bitten by either zombies or ghouls would be infected by its magi, and within a few days’ time, they would turn into the Undead like zombies or ghouls.

However, even if one was bitten by a Kangshi, since there was no magic in its body, one wouldn’t turn into a Kangshi.

“Right. How strong are the Kangshi?”

“They aren’t at a level where one can just ignore them. We had quite a loss during the search of the ships.”

It was said that when the soldiers were searching for any men that were possibly hiding, the soldiers of Symphonia removed the talisman on a Kangshi.

As they weren’t aware of what they were doing, they ended up letting the Kangshi free, and it attacked them all of a sudden.

This led to quite a few soldiers getting killed, and a lot of them got injured.

“Tch, they weren’t careful.”

Luke clicked his tongue, feeling bad.

“It was said that two Intermediate expert knights, who ran in after getting the report, were able to defeat it, but they only managed to barely do so.”

“That means they are strong. If zombies and ghouls were that strong, the Rhodesia Continent might have already turned into the Undead Continent.”

At Luke’s words, Hwang Bo-sung shook his head.

“The original Kangshi aren’t this strong. Somehow, these Kangshi seemed to have undergone some different making process.”

“That so? Just asking, does the Song Empire plan on using the Kangshi as their war weapon?”

At the question from Luke, Hwang Bo-sung’s expression saddened.

“Well, in the past, the corrupt ones in power, like the apostasy, did use them. In the old days, it was a temporary measure for returning the dead people to their hometowns for proper burial, but they were never used as weapons in battle.”

“Then, these Song Empire soldiers, who were captured, might not even know that they were on the transport ship.”

“Well, it is likely…”

They wouldn’t know anything.

Suddenly, the image of his nephew Hwang Bo-jangcheon flashed in front of his eyes.

He had been wondering why such a young man had been pushed into participating in this nasty war.

He seemed to have found the answer.

“It seems like we need to thoroughly interrogate the enemy leaders who are in our hands.”

“We should do that.”

Hwang Bo-sung was troubled by what was happening.

After a while, the captured men of the enemy like Hwang Bo-jangcheon and the other generals revealed shocking information.

It was revealed to them that those Kangshi were made by Earner. He was invited into the Hwang Bo clan, and he made famous warriors, who were kidnapped, into Kangshi.

“Haa! How much more is my brother going to sin…!”

Hwang Bo-sung sighed out loud.

Even if he did leave behind his clan, it was a pity to see his family gradually fall into depravity.

Even if the confusion on the Southern Continent subsided, he was starting to wonder if the Hwang Bo clan would be able to stand.