Emperor of Steel

After a while, a part of the Black Demons’ main unit parted from the troops and headed for Ung-seong.

It was to examine the situation of the Ung-seong fort.

The Black Demons and the Symphonia Kingdom troops continued to advance to the fort while maintaining their pace.

As they climbed over the mountain range for an hour along the ridge, they saw the Un-seong fort.

The stone fort was located in a good place, and it had a view over the northern coast.

‘Oh my, this energy…’

Luke took a closer look at the Ung-seong fort. The closer he got the more familiar the energy felt. He couldn’t help but feel confused.

The closer he got, the stronger the energy became, but when he looked around, no one seemed to notice it.

‘Oh my, it looks like a mana blocking circle has been installed.’

Otherwise, there was no way that Hwang Bo-sung, a Fist Sage, or Zegal Soha, a brilliant Zen skill user couldn’t feel it.

‘Who on earth would have installed it?’

While Luke was curious about it, the scouts, who went ahead for the Ung-seong fort, returned to report the situation.

“Your Majesty, the gates of the Ung-seong fort are tightly closed, and there was no sign of anyone living within the walls or guarding it.”

“How could that be possible? Was the Ung-seong fort also been captured?”

“I don’t think that is the case… Something seems to be off.”

King Biryu used his whip on the horse and arrived at the front of the Ung-seong fort.

On the outside, the fort looked fine.

However, just as the scouts said, there was no single guard on the fort’s wall.

“That is weird.”

If the fort had been captured, there must be a guard standing over the wall.

“Is the enemy hitting the place and leaving it vacant?”

“It could be.”

At the question of his men, King Biryu answered.

The ultimate goal of the Song Imperial Army was to invade Asadal, the capital of Yemaek.

So, while the main unit of the Song Army was hitting Yu-dong, the secondary unit must have crossed the path and attacked Ung-seong fort to advance to Asadal.

Probably, at the end of the battle, they didn’t feel the need to leave behind any sign that they had captured it.

“But, if there was a battle, there should at least be signs of siege. Isn’t it too quiet? Like nothing happened?”

“I think it is better to check inside the fort.”

After a while, several Golden Warriors climbed over the wall and opened the gates.

Kiiik!

The hinges of the old gates opened with a creaking sound.

With that, hundreds of horses went in through the gate.

Thud Thud Thud!

“See here! There is no one!”

Modal—the leader of the Golden Warriors—said while looking around.

He was as strong as a Sword Master in Rhodesia Continent, and his voice shook the place.

No one responded to his yelling.

No enemies nor allies had come out.

Modal, who felt something was off, couldn’t wait and ran hurriedly toward Biryu, who entered the fort.

“There is no trace inside. If something happened, there should be bodies or bloodstains, but everything is way too clean.”

At Modal’s words, Biryu frowned.

It was because he knew that such a situation couldn’t happen. Everything felt out of place.

Right when he was about to order his soldiers to conduct a thorough search of the fort.

Luke, who was beside him, stepped in.

“Be careful. There are lots of wicked beings under the ground.”

“Wicked beings?”

“Those who are dead are acting alive and moving in a group.”

Kukkkk!

Kiiiikiki!

Right when Luke spoke, a pack of Kangshi began to pour out of the fort.

However, the Kangshi didn’t walk, but they jumped on the roofs and walls like they were part of some Moorim clans.

“A-ambush!”

“Protect His Majesty!”

The warriors of Golden Warriors surrounded their king and built their escort formation.

Luke and his men were quick to respond too.

“Thousand Holy Bullets!”

Spheres of lights generated in an instant and flew from Luke, hitting the Kangshi.

However, the power of the Undead was strong.

It was because the Kangshi were made from strong warriors, yet once the light hit the Undead, they scattered like powder.

It was all thanks to the Divine power Luke had used.

After being attacked by Arsene, Luke kept on devising new attack techniques that had Divine power in them.

Thousand Holy Bullets was one of them.

However, it was quite similar to Karen’s Holy Bullet except for the number of bullets and what it was called. Most of it was the same.

‘Doesn’t having same abilities lead to having the same thoughts on things, or is it something related to having the same blood?’

Hwang Bo-sung, who had the memories of the future, looked at Luke with a frown on his face, when he suddenly found a Kangshi rushing toward him only to blow it away.

When a few Kangshi were destroyed with their attacks, the fear in the army troops dissolved and they pushed in for the fight.

“Cut down all the monsters!”

“Woaaaah!”

The Golden Warriors and Luke’s escort knights swung their swords and attacked the Kangshi.

The Master level spearmen Shirley, Reynard and Modal cut down the Kangshi in the front, while the escort knights and the other warriors slaughtered the rest of them.

While they were fighting like that, another attack flew in from the right and left sides.

Swish!

“Uhm? Arrows?”

Discovering arrows that were flying in their direction, Luke used Shield magic.

Thanks to that, all the arrows flying toward them bounced off.

King Biryu, who turned his head, was shocked after seeing the arrows that came for them.

It was because those people, who were releasing the arrows, had blue faces and were wearing the military uniform of Yemaek.

“No way. Did the Ung-seong fort betray us….?”

“They didn’t. They are already dead.”

Luke could sense the dark energy from the archers, which was very similar to the Kangshi.

He wasn’t sure what the hell happened in the fort, but all the Yemaek soldiers in the fort seemed to have been turned into Kangshi.

‘But the archers’ body, even after turning into Kangshi, can use the bow… If they turn a Gigant rider into one, then will it be able to control a Gigant?’

Right when Luke was thinking about it…

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Gigantic things appeared all around the fort, making loud noises whenever they step on the ground.

At first, everyone thought of it to be the Puppet.

It was because the Puppets were used as the representative weapons of the Southern Continent.

However, the huge giant had a talisman attached to it.

The problem in the giant was the stuff it was made of.

Countless number of corpses were woven together. All of them wearing the uniform of Yemaek.

In other words, they were all the people who were living in the Ung-seong fort.

King Biryu’s eyes turned blood red. He clenched his fist really hard.

“Those bastards! To use the dead ones like this! To use innocent people…”

“Order the Gigant Unit to head out. Ask them to stop that monster!”

At Luke’s orders, the Gigants were brought out from the trailers, which were outside the fort’s gates.

They immediately made their way to the corpse dolls and fought.

Meanwhile, Luke looked over at the energy flowing in the Kangshi and the corpse doll.

‘Kanshi are Undead as well. If we are able to see the Undead show this level of coordinated movement, it is obvious that someone is controlling it from nearby!’

Luke, who assumed as such, traced the flow of the dark energy.

After a while, he managed to notice that it was flowing from the large blue-tiled building at the other side of the fort.

He used Hawkeye magic to see the target, who was far. It was a man, standing on the roof.

But he was someone that Luke had already met once.

‘Is he the one I met at the Zegal Clan?’

He was the crazy man who called himself Earner. Well, he was someone who referred to himself as the Jade Emperor.

He did hear that the Hwang Bo clan were the ones making Kangshi, so why was that man there?

“What is it? Is something the matter?”

“Ah, it looks like someone is over there…”

The moment when Luke was looking over, King Biryu asked him. Earner suddenly changed sides.

Perhaps, he noticed Luke managed to find him.

“This! Did he think that I was going to let him run away?”

Luke immediately pursued the man with Fly magic.

However, the arrow shot by King Biryu was faster than Luke’s Fly magic.

Wheeing!

The arrow, which flew in its own speed, went right for the head of Earner and pierced him.

‘Oh my! That was great!’

Luke couldn’t help but be amazed.

Earner was very far from where the fort battle was happening.

From any normal person’s view, the person could only be seen as a white dot on the blue-tiled building.

However, the arrow that hit Earner right on the head and the speed of the arrow was so terrifying that Earner couldn’t even respond to it.

‘It was almost as if that arrow could separate the sky from heaven.’

That attack proved that he was of Bow Master level, well, Bow Sage.

From what Luke knew, there was no one in the Rhodesia Continent who had that level of archery.

Luke had never seen humans or even the elves with such great skills.

High Elf Erenes, who had very great knowledge in archery, had passed away. However, Erenes was an archer and a wizard. He wasn’t a pure Bow Sage.

‘Well, for now, this situation needs to be cleared right away.’

Perhaps, it was because Earner was the one controlling the dead from behind the scenes.

The movement of the giant corpse dolls stopped.

Luke went for the fallen Earner with his Fly magic.

However, Earner, who was hit by an arrow, got up casually.

“Oh my, I was thinking who it was, so it was you?”

Luke frowned while looking at Earner who talked to him.

“… You… aren’t real I guess.”

“Yes, this body is made of Puppet zen skills and my hair strand. One of the hundreds of abilities that I have. It is a very useful one.”

The one called Earner used ‘transformation’ to manipulate the Song Imperial Army’s Kangshi as well as the fort Kangshi and corpse dolls too.

“The raid was a huge fail, but I got very good information. Your identity and the archery of King Biryu… Maybe, this war is going to be entertaining after all…”

Pop!

Luke released his Flame magic while Earner was speaking.

The person, who looked like Earner, quickly turned into a paper doll and turned into ashes because of the flames.

“The war will be fun? That crappy guy. Let’s see if it’s still going to be fun once my sword had sliced your neck.”

Grunting, Luke went back to King Biryu and told him everything that happened.

Biryu’s expression was quick to change.

“Eh, for that Earner to directly interfere in the war…! Anyway, all the castles and forts we lost contact with had probably turned like this.”

“We need to head over to Yu-dong before it became like this place.”

At Luke’s words, King Biryu nodded his head.

The Golden Warriors and the Symphonia Knights, who were done with the battle, gave up on setting the camp and ran for Yu-dong all night.