Emperor of Steel

While Biryu was giving out the instructions from within the castle, Luke was looking at the situation outside.

“Stand straight!”

“If you don’t want me to slit your throat, don’t do anything stupid!”

They were the God’s Army or the Blood Band along with the Yemaek army, monitoring the prisoners.

The Song Imperial Army was completely destroyed by the Black Demon Unit and the Gigant Unit of the Symphonia Kingdom.

As their strong force collapsed, the enemy’s army fled and scattered right away.

Therefore, not a major number of men were captured.

But still, enough men were caught.

As the enemy had an army of 600,000, around tens of thousands of enemy soldier’s bodies were collected by them.

Since the Yemaek Army or the Symphonia troops couldn’t handle it, they decided to use the prisoners that surrendered to clear the battlefield.

“Dig the pit!”

“You there, collect the bodies, and you men over there, organize the captured weapons!”

The prisoners followed the orders given to them without any questions.

It was because they had Gigants wandering around the castle.

Last night, the prisoners had witnessed the terrifying capabilities of a Gigant, and they realized that even if a thousand people attack a single Gigant, the fight would be impossible to win for the men.

And then…

“Wasn’t it the king of the Northern Continent who killed Earner?”

“Shhh! Be careful. Don’t make eye contact with them. You might be killed.”

Prisoners, in particular, those from the Kang Ho Regions were extremely afraid of Luke and the Gigants.

Not only did Luke punish the notorious mad man, Earner, but there were rumors that the king could perform the most unexplainable things.

Above all, the stell giants were all moving under his command.

If the king said a single word, all the prisoners would be crushed to nothing by the stell giants.

“Majesty! As instructed, we collected the Undead, well, the Kangshi.”

“We also found out those who were managing the Kangshi along with Earner.”

Shirley and Reynard went to Luke to report their findings.

With a smile on his face, he asked, “It would have been difficult to find out the people who were controlling the Kangshi as they weren’t involved in the field battle, right?”

When the battle was done, the Zen users, who were managing the Kangshi, quickly changed their attire and hid among the ordinary soldiers.

It was absolutely impossible to distinguish them.

“Hoho. Well, I am a mixed-blood from the Suin clan. The sense of smell of those in our Suin clan is 100 times better than a human.”

They first grasped the odor of the Kangshi, and then they caught all the prisoners who had even the slightest odor similar to the Kangshi.

“Surely, I think we will be able to get things moving thanks to your skill. Count Reynard, you did great.”

With the death of Earner, Luke, who planned on studying the techniques of the Apostasy, had to change his plan.

This new plan was to interrogate and batter those who worked alongside Earner.

It was certain that they would have been less proficient when compared to Earner, but they still would be able to know the skills of the Apostasy.

“Your Majesty, why did we have to collect the Kangshi?”

Shirley asked not being able to hold back her curiosity.

The Yemaek Army looked for all the places where there might be a possibility of hiding Kangshi, and they were nervous to even go near them.

The Yemaek Army was worried that the Kangshi would go wild again, and the prisoners, who were caught, were worried that they would be unfairly killed because of something their generals did.

The act of insulting the dead was something that even the Yamatai of Kitai, who was known to be the worst of the bandits, wouldn’t dare to do.

Even if the enemy prisoners were declared to be the remnants of the Apostasy and decided to be burnt alive, the prisoners weren’t in any position to protest.

Of course, neither Luke or Biryu were willing to kill the prisoners.

“I plan to use them to invade the Song Empire.”

“Eh? The Kangshi? For the war?” Asked Shirley.

“Yes. Is there any reason why we aren’t supposed to do that?”

“Well, the people of this nation usually…”

Shirley talked about the funeral culture of the people of the Southern Continent.

Their respect for the dead was similar to that of the Northern Continent.

However, in the culture of the Southern Continent, they believed that the dead would be reincarnated after constant worship, and their belief, rituals, and customs were fierce.

“Huhu. Of course, I know about that too. However, it was Jo Won-gyun’s group that made the Kangshi.”

And that was a fact, which was known to even the last of the Song Imperial Army, who were captured.

It was because there were very few people, who had been informed about the Kangshi by the enemy commanders, and they suddenly witnessed the Kangshi coming out from their own camps.

And it wasn’t just one or two people, who were angry at Jo Won-gyun’s group.

Luke assumed that God’s Army would only grow bigger.

“Moreover, the ‘hometown’ of the Kangshi is the Song Empire. We just need to return the Kangshi back to their hometowns, as the ancient law states,” said Luke with a smile on his face.

Understanding what Luke said, Reynard too had a sneaky smile that formed on his face.

“Kukuku! Surely, it is a good cause!”

The reason why the ancient men created the Kangshi was to make sure the dead would go back to their hometowns from the battlefields.

They believed that the souls of the dead wouldn’t wander around the world and take rest or step into the afterlife.

However, when the Kangshi would go to their hometown, they would stop near the fort or the castle.

And the soldiers of the Song Empire couldn’t help but move aside to let the dead walk back to their homes.

Shirley, who realized Luke’s intention belatedly, spoke with a sly smile, “This advance is going to end unexpectedly.”

“Well, it would still be difficult as Jo Won-gyun is holding the emperor hostage.”

Luke wasn’t being overly optimistic.

It was just words that passed, but the Song Empire’s emperor was still said to be alive.

After taking over the title of the emperor’s aide, he would surely be willing to use everything possible to win the battle.

And Jo Won-rak, would end up hesitating if it meant the comfort of the emperor.

“Moreover, they’ll be holding hands with Arsene, so breaking them down won’t be that easy.”

“Right… I forgot about that.”

“We need to take careful measures and attack them.”

When the three of them were having a discussion, Hwang Bo-sung rushed to Luke to report.

“Master, King Biryu is looking for you.”

“Huh! Has he finally made a decision? He surely came to a conclusion much faster than I expected.”

“Huh? About what…?”

“Nothing much. I’ll go to King Biryu. Hwang Bo-sung, take charge of the field.”

“Yes, Master!”

Luke left behind the work to Hwang Bo-sung and headed to Yu-dong castle, where King Biryu was staying.