Emperor of Steel

The size of the Symphonia Kingdom’s troops had increased since their dispatch.

It was because the fairies, who had come ahead to the Southern Continent to help out Jo Won-rak and the many warriors that called themselves the Blood Band, decided to follow Luke without going back to their hometowns.

Most of them were young people, who had a strong yearning to see the new world, which they didn’t have the chance to see.

“So there is no such thing as chiefs in the Northern Continent?”

“It was said that they had lords, like how Yamatai does.”

“Wah, I will rebuild my arts there!”

“By the way, it doesn’t seem like you are the only one who is trying to do that.”

At the words of the warrior, people looked at the men, who were following Hwang Bo-sung.

They were the warriors of the Hwang Bo clan, who were banished.

When the Emperor turned it impossible for them to operate within the Song Empire, Hwang Bo-in handed some of the young men and the secrets of the clan to Hwang Bo-sung.

He decided to entrust the future of the clan to his 3rd son, who decided to settle in a strange land.

Even if it was in a strange land, he hoped that his son, Hwang Bo-sung, would teach them, and one day, the Moorim arts would return to their hometown and the fallen fame of the family would rise again.

Some of the elders, including Jin-cheon, and the talented young warriors of the clan decided to join the Symphonia Kingdom.

Hwang Bo-sung, who refused to take over the clan, couldn’t refuse when his father was the one who made the request.

“Your Majesty, if it is this level, then would you like to make a few more of them on a regular basis for the military?”

At Shirley’s words, Luke smiled.

The best virtue of warriors was force.

A great warrior had the power to deal with a huge number of opponents.

“Surely, the military personnel would be very pleased to do it. But the Finance minister would complain a lot about the money going out for them.”

Even then, they had gifts, so their own treasury wouldn’t be extinguished.

These were the treasures which were presented as a token of gratitude from the Song Imperial Family and the increased trade due to the alliance.

Most of the treasures given to Luke were the Imperial treasures, and there were many rare things that seemed to be related to the ancient Abaron Empire.

‘The things which will remain after paying enough for the expedition and the expenses… some of the things could be sold off.’

Luke was particularly interested in a thing called Heavens Light Record.

It was a record which was left by the warrior, Heechang, a famous man in the Southern Continent.

According to the words of the Song officials, Hwang Bo-kwang had learned the martial arts written in there.

‘If I can study it right, it might be of some help in getting rid of that Arsene.’

Luke was on his way back home in a good mood.

On the way back, in the northern port called Yeosun, the Auster was anchored, he received a long-range magic communication from Prime Minister Hans, of Symphonia Kingdom.

-Your Majesty, are you exhausted?

“I have managed to achieve my purpose so not so much. I am returning to the continent. What is it? I guess this isn’t a normal communication.”

On his expedition to the Southern continent, Luke had promised to his retainers to communicate with them regularly once every fortnight.

His retainers had asked for communication every three nights.

However, the magic stones needed for long-range communication were a lot, and above all, it was very annoying to catch the line, so Luke pushed it once every fifteen days.

Of course, the only exception was Reina in the Holy Empire.

Somehow, it wasn’t the time for their call yet, so Luke was puzzled when the Symphonia Palace had communicated to him.

‘Did something troublesome happen?’

As he thought, Hans opened his mouth with a stiff face.

-Well, there is something I wanted to speak to Your Majesty.

“Specifically to me?”

-Yes. Lord Belfair was reported to have sent news after going out for an investigation a month back about a suspiciously moving Grain Chamber transport ship. However, the reports from Lord Belfair were lost, and just recently, we managed to get news from him.

However, the report, which they received from Belfair, who contacted them after losing contact for a long time, was quite shocking.

He said that he found out where the remnants of the Veritas Magic Tower were hiding.

“What? He found out the hideout of the remnants of that Veritas? Fine, where did he say it was?”

Luke ground his teeth and asked.

For him, Arsene and the Veritas Magic Tower were enemies that were purely hellish, and they had to be destroyed.

-Surprisingly, they were hiding in the Archipelago of Hells Island, the Sea of Reapers which is located between the two continents.

And then, Hans spoke about the entire story he had heard from Belfair.

When Luke heard everything about it, he clicked his tongue.

“Huh! I never thought it would be the Hells Island.”

In order to find the remains of the Vertias Magic Tower, the intelligence department and the fairies were moved to search both the continents thoroughly.

However, they never assumed that they would be located in the Hells Island.

It was because it was a well-known fact that the sea was rough to move in.

The rumors about the sea were the same even when he was Devil King Saymon.

Even during that time, the Sea of Reapers was regarded to be a place where humans weren’t given the right to go to, all because of the disasters it had caused.

And for Arsene to hide in there…!

-By the way, according to Lord Belfair, the remnants are currently relocating the tower.

“Relocating?”

-Yes, I don’t know the reasons for it, but it was said that dozens of trading fleets were being loaded with people and supplies. It was said that they were moving away.

“Damn it! I need to hurry up before they find another place.”

It was all luck that they managed to find out their hideout.

So Luke wanted to grab hold of their tail before they went into another hiding place.

“Send in the navy right away to track the whereabouts of those ships that left. I will go to the Sea of Reapers.”

-Yes, Your Majesty,

After ending the communication, Luke ordered the troops to march ahead at full speed.

As a result, the trailers, which were carrying the Gigants and the troops, started to run.

The warriors of the Blood Band and the Hwang Bo clan decided to follow them slowly after Hwang Bo sung and Zegal Soha briefed them on the matters.

Swoosh!

Auster, which was carrying the Symphonia army, ran through the sea.

Originally, it was a fast ship, but with Luke’s magic, it was able to move in the sea almost twice its original speed.

“The Sea of Reapers begins here so be careful.”

At the words of the captain, Luke nodded his head. It was because if the ship sank in the Sea of Reapers, it would be difficult to manage all the people on board no matter how much magic he used.

Slowing down the ship, Auster carefully headed toward the opening of the Sea of Reapers, where he found a familiar person.

It was Belfair, who was on a whale.

Belfair had gone to the Symphonia Kingdom to give them a report and then ran back to the place to monitor them.

“It has been a long time, Master.”

At Belfair’s almost happy greeting, Luke nodded from a top of Auster and asked, “Are they still on the island?”

“The first trade fleet has left, and the second one is still in the port.”

People and supplies were being loaded onto the ship.

“Fortunately, we aren’t too late.”

“Master, would you like to wait for them in here, or are you going to the island and attack them?”

At Belfair’s question, Luke thought for a moment and came to a decision.

“No matter how I look at it, the island will be an advantage to manage the Gigants and the troops. We will attack them on the island.”

“Then, please follow me there.”

When Belfair, who already crossed the Sea of Reapers, was guiding them on his whale, Auster was able to easily pass through the Sea of Reapers, avoiding all the reefs and the marine monsters.

As they broke through the eerie fog and cut through the dark sea, the islands that were made of strange rocks had emerged into their sight.

The ship went around the islands and approached the Thanatos Island from behind.

Swoosh!

Luke flew into the sky and used the Hawk-Eye magic to get a clear look.

At the pier on the other side of the island, he saw wagons lined up and warlocks loading the supplies.

‘Damn it! Those men belong to Veritas!’

It was quite far, but Luke was able to know that the men belonged to the Veritas Magic Tower by the energy their body was releasing.

In particular, one of them had a lot of energy. He looked carefully to see if the man was Arsene, however, it wasn’t.

‘Meister of Veritas Magic Tower?’

Luke assumed that if he was able to be that great at managing energy, he would at least be the Meister.

However, the wizard Luke saw was Nestar, a former meister.

Having seen his son, Albert, who died because of Belfair’s counterattack, he remained in the islands to clear all his missions.

‘Even if I don’t know who it is, they are all the ones who need to be gotten rid of as soon as possible.’

For Luke, Veritas was a pest that needed to be eradicated completely.

Whether the skills of the Veritas men were high or low, he had to kill them.

‘But first, let’s capture him. He would surely know quite a bit about Arsene.’

Having decided that, Luke went back to Auster and held a meeting with Reynard and Shirley and the other commanders.

“The warlocks on the island are the same ones who attacked the Anbury city and the southern cities?”

“Yes, Count Shirley. There are very much the remnants of the Veritas Magic Tower. Lord Belfair had been tracking their whereabouts.”

Luke’s explanation quickly changed the expressions of the commanders.

That was how angry they were.

It was believed that no ship could enter the islands because of the reefs the fog and the marine monsters.

“Your Majesty’s words are right. First, using the Auster to shoot them, Triton troops will take over the coast. The Gigant troops will then land and will wipe them out.”

At Count Reynard’s suggestion, Luke nodded.

“Nice, I’ll give you the coordinate for the shooting.”

Luke was thinking about using his attack magic and assisting them.

The power of shooting would decrease if the enemies use defense magic.

Of course, they could defeat the enemy’s meister warlock.

“And just in case, we never know what happens, so set up the torpedo on our way to attack.”

The torpedo made by Zegal Soha was used to destroy the Grenada Navy in the past.

Production of the torpedoes continued even after the war was over, and they were all installed in the Auster.

They brought them along because they didn’t know what kind of tricks the Song Empire would use on their expedition. However, they didn’t have the opportunity to use them in the Southern Continent.

And it seemed like they were going to use it in the islands.

“Your Majesty, I will direct the use of Torpedo.”

When Belfair volunteered, Luke accepted.

He was the one who guided the way till there, so he decided that Belfair would know the route through the ships thoroughly.

“Hurry up and prepare for battle. The more we hurry, the more we will be able to take them down before they bring trouble to the continent.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The operation’s meeting had ended.

And the commanders quickly scattered around to prepare for the war, where they would get the chance to take revenge.