Emperor of Steel

-Huh, such things happened…!

“Which is why it would be better to be careful when dealing with the Song Imperial army.”

It was the evening of the day when they found a Kangshi.

Luke announced the existence of the Kangshi directly to the 3rd crown prince Jo Won-rak with magic communication.

Jo Won-rak, who was talking with the help of the fairies, was shocked by the news.

If the Kangshi really appeared in such large numbers on the battlefield, the already tensed army would flip over.

In addition, he felt anger at the attitude of Hwang Bo clan and Jo Won-gyun, who were using them as weapons.

-Thank you so much for letting us know, Your Majesty. I will definitely make sure to repay your good grace.

“I better get going now.”

When Luke ended the magic communication, Shirley, who was interrogating the prisoners, asked Luke.

“Your Majesty, what are we supposed to do with the transport?”

“What do you mean by asking that question? We need to drag it to the Phoenix castle. if we connect the ships to Auster with thick ropes, we can manage moving them with enough speed.”

Accordingly, the forces of the Symphonia Kingdom headed for the Phoenix castle with the troops of Yemaek and the captured prisoners of the Song Empire and the transport fleet.

The captive Song Imperial naval forces and the soldiers followed them without any resistance.

It wasn’t just because their weapons were confiscated, or because they were afraid of the Yemaek and Auster naval fleet.

They still had strong men with them, strong enough to rebel and demand release.

However, there was one thing that made them go quiet.

It was the story of Kangshi being found on the transport ship.

Not just the Symphonia forces, but even the Yemaek forces didn’t bother hiding the issue, so the words kept on spreading from person to person on every ship.

“Are you saying that Kangshi really came out?”

“It was said that the Hwang Bo clan made Earner to secretly create them for the war. Probably the plan to release the Kangshi and then destroy the enemy by taking over Yemaek.”

“Those bloody guys need to be killed!”

“Such a dishonorable act! They didn’t just dishonor the dead, but also threw away their pride of belonging to that clan!”

The warriors were more outraged than the sailors.

Most of them didn’t even fight against an apostasy, but they heard of the horrors by their predecessors.

There were no Moorim clans that weren’t affected by the riots done by the apostasy of the past.

In addition, they were displeased with the fact that Hwang Bo-kwang and the other Hwang Bo clan members complained about the state affairs and suppressed the numerous clans of the Kang Ho region.

But they were secretly creating stuff behind their backs!

“This is a war which I didn’t like from the very beginning, with this truth out, it is like a complete loss in a cause.”

“Right, there is no meaning to fight.”

“No, I will fight!”

At the word of their colleague, the other warriors looked at him and asked.

“What? You want to fight?”

“Yes, I will stand on the side of the 3rd crown prince who was driven away by false accusations, and I will help defeat Hwang Bo-kwang and his men!”

“So that is what you want to do.”

“Well then, I have no choice then!”

“I too will come with you!”

One after another, all the warriors changed their sides.

They asked for their weapons to be returned and said they would help defeat Hwang Bo-kwang.

Luke was kinda expecting the situation.

In fact, in order for such a thing to happen, he deliberately spread rumors and even made a few prisoners speak out the truth.

However, the number of people who changed sides was much higher than expected, which made him shocked.

“This isn’t a bad thing, but controlling them would be troublesome.”

“Master, you think they might betray us?”

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

“They are serious about the change. However, no matter how strong they are individually, if they can’t be controlled as a unit in the war, then they are useless.”

The military always put great effort into organizing and transportation.

There were various concepts and organizations ranging from artillery, defense, brigade, legion, and such.

It was because complete control could only be attained if the organizations were to be structured closely and with suitable officers in charge of them.

An uncontrolled army was nothing less than a haphazard.

“The problem is that each nation has a different method. Also, among those who switched sides, they all seemed like normal warriors and no leader among them.”

Even the troops of the strong men were always controlled by military heads.

And such officers or leaders rarely switched sides.

Rather, when the battle ended, there were many people who jumped into the sea or committed suicide before the Symphonia soldiers could take them under control.

They did say that Hwang Bo-kwang and his men were doing the worst thing possible, but that they couldn’t turn their backs on their nation.

If they resorted to that, their siblings, family, and other relatives would be persecuted.

“As Master, that would surely be a problem. It was said that, even during the fight with the Apostasy in the past, the clan chiefs formed an alliance, and thus managed to form an organization that was comparable to an army.”

“Our officers are on board, we are short in number and they can’t speak our language… should we ask the Yemaek army to lend an officer?”

When Luke was contemplating, someone who could help appeared.

“Your Majesty, that problem can be solved by her.”

There was Zegal Soha, the court tactician who was from the Southern Continent and willingly participated in the expedition.

Looking at her, Luke asked.

“Can you solve it?”

“Yes, she was in charge of gathering the information even in her own clan. And we did manage to get the information from the prisoners about the people behind them, because of her.” Said Hwang Bo-sung.

Things like, what kind of martial arts, what clan they belonged to, what were the abilities they had, and what role they played within the clan?

Even though she wasn’t a warrior, she had a certain grasp of the situation.

“That is great. Hundreds of them… well, thousands of people and information from them would be huge…”

“Huhhu. If I can’t memorize that much, I won’t be worthy enough to be called as the head of Zegal Clan.”

Nod nod.

The words of Zegal Soha did sound arrogant, yet, Hwang Bo-sung thought it was fine.

It was because the Zegal Sega was a clan which was excellent when it came to using their heads to the maximum.

“In them, there are those who are not skilled, but good at commanding. Appointing them as officers would solve the problem.”

Each Moorim clan was armed, and in order for them to be controlled in the group, they needed someone who shared their ideology.

All they would have to do was select someone who could play the role of an official.

At her explanation, Luke nodded.

“Fine, I leave this matter to you. I need it done as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

In that way, Zegal Soha was given the Moorim warriors unit to lead, the unit who would fight against the Apostasy—they called themselves the God’s Army.

The ones belonging to the God’s Army wore headbands which were blood red, vowing to overthrow Hwang Bo-kang’s group.

For that reason, Luke and the Symphonia Knights sometimes referred to them as the Blood Band.

While the God’s Army was getting organized on board, the ship arrived at Phoenix castle.

Phoenix castle was as huge as Lamer city as it was also a major port city, however, because of the wartime situation they were in, it was uncomfortable.

“On Guard! We will move on the ground from now on!”

The knights who stepped on the ground after a long time were pale, however, the Iron mages and the Yemaek troops sighed.

Because the good times were over.

While the Gigants were on board, they checked the magic circles and the core parts and made sure that they worked properly from time to time.

However, once they land, almost every day would call for maintenance and continuous repair.

And if they entered the war, things would get even messier.

It was because the maintenance time got delayed by one minute, and the lives of their allies would be lost.

“If I knew things would be like this, I would have just remained back in the Symphonia Kingdom…”

“But what can we do? We were the ones who eagerly applied for the expedition of the Southern Continent.”

All the wizards and Iron mages were rushing to volunteer for the mission.

Therefore, no one could be blamed.

Eventually, they ended their sighs and began to look at their Gigants.

But the process wasn’t as smooth as they thought.

It was like a beginner’s movement, they didn’t have much time to move the Gigants onto the land.

‘It is messier than I thought.’

As time passed, Luke frowned as he saw the movement and the mess created by his men.

Every time he moved the Gigants, it would happen very soon as he would use the Subspace bracelet on his hand.

However, the subspace bracelets weren’t dependable.

He realized it when he was fighting Arsene.

Due to Arsene’s repeated attacks, Luke wasn’t able to summon his Gigant.

In addition, if there was any ancient magic that could interfere with the subspace summoning, it would turn useless for a while.

In the end, artifacts weren’t stable and safe.

As long as it was a man-made object, it would break one day to stop functioning.

Which was why Luke avoided using the subspace bracelet as much as possible.

‘Once we head back, they need to be put into landing training.’

Field officers and Iron Mages, who weren’t aware of Luke’s thoughts, continued to unload the Gigants with cranes constantly from the ship while sweating profusely.

Hwang Bo-sung, ran towards Luke who was looking at the mages.

“Master, it was said that King Biryu will come.”

“Oh, the King himself.”

After a few moments, the King’s men arrived at the place where Luke was staying.

Because of the war, King Biryu was wearing thick armor and he had a bow on his back. He then greeted Luke.

“King of Yemaek, Biryu. Thank you so much for coming all the way here to help us.”

“It is an honor to meet the person who is referred to be a great person.”

The two kings shared words for a while and immediately moved onto the matter of war.

“I am not sure if you have gotten the report, but on our way here, we have encountered the Song Empire’s navy. They were planning to raid this place with their troops.”

“But I heard the news from my messenger. It seemed like they were trying to attack us from behind and separate our forces, maybe they thought that facing us head-on would be difficult for them. Because of that, I ordered my men to thoroughly defend the regions besides the borders too.”

“That was a good decision. And what about the war?”

“We are struggling because the number of enemies is huge, but the forts are managing well. Even then, we are keeping hope on the reinforcements you have, will the King directly take them?”

“I will. We will hurry up and prepare to move.”

It was when Luke and Biryu were talking.

An armed messenger ran inside to deliver the news.

“This is urgent! Yu-dong castle is said to be under the assault of the Song army’s main unit.”

“What? By the enemy units? What were the troops and the castle guards doing?”

The messenger spoke with tears in his eyes as Biryu yelled at him.

“Looking from the words before the call cut off, they might have been captured already…”

“Hu!”

King Biryu was at a loss of words.

Between the Song Empire and the Yu-dong castle, there were dozens of forts that were built on the mountain ranges.

However, the forts’ contacts were lost!

‘Well, something seems to be off.’

Thinking so, Luke decided about doing something.

“I think I need to lead the reinforcements right away and start advancing to Yu-dong. King Luke can follow slowly.”

It was when Luke spoke back.

“One hour, well, 30 minutes, give me 30 minutes and I’ll be ready to move. I have something to tell you on our way there.”

“Uhm, I see, then we can hold for 30 minutes!”

At Luke’s serious request, Biryu couldn’t help but nod.

Praying that the bad situation wouldn’t turn worse until he and Luke reach the place.