Emperor of Steel

Chapter 710: Legion of the Dead 1

“What was that? The support troops from Libiya and our western army destroyed?”

Emperor Rudolf’s face went distorted when he saw the report of the war.

Count Voltas bent his face with regret and embarrassment.

“Count Mikhail struggled against the enemies and realized that the enemy troop’s power was stronger than expected, and he got defeated.”

“Kuk! Even if we couldn’t win, I thought we’d be able to cut the flow...!”

A whooping 130,000 troops.

Even if that number couldn’t defeat his enemy, Rudolf thought that army could give them some time.

However, he didn’t think that he would get defeated in the hands of only one squad.

“I can’t get myself to believe it! How is that Mikhail so incompetent and foolish to let this happen... Who the hell is the enemy?!”

“That...”

Voltas, who thought for a second, whispered the words, “It was Ferrero and Darland.”

“What? Those traitors?”

Rudolf’s anger only worsened with their names being said.

But on the other hand, he was convinced of the reason for his loss.

Ferrero was once the military head of the Baroque Empire, and Darland was known to be exceptional when it came to planning battles and warfare.

If it was Ferrero, then it made sense for Mikhail to lose.

Rudolf, who had been biting his lip, gave orders after coming to a decision.

“Gather all the troops, which can be gathered right away, to the capital.”

“Sorry?”

“I said to call all the north and eastern troops!”

Count Voltas went silent for a second and cautiously opened his mouth.

“Then the borders between the east and the north may be broken down.”

Not just maybe, they were sure to break down.

Currently, the Holy Empire and the Volga Republic were looking for opportunities to invade the Baroque with large troops gathering at the border.

Rudolf wanted to gather all troops, not realizing that.

The most important thing for him wasn’t the empire or the people in it.

It was the ancient ruins that were below the Imperial Palace.

It was of utmost importance for him to earn time until the ruins were put under operation.

At the same time, with all of his troops in the city, he would have a chance to see the ruins.

He knew about the restoration of the ruins, and an Aether generating device was almost near completion.

“If I manage to stall them and gain more time, we can recover the amount of damage taken. No, I can bring the whole continent to my feet. Gather all the troops and defend the capital!”

‘This is a gamble for the ancient ruins...’

What if the ancient ruins didn’t work even after the Aether was filled?

And even if it worked, what if it wouldn’t move to the desired point of time in the past.

‘He is dead set! Your Majesty isn’t in a great mood right now. He definitely lost his temper!’

Voltas thought that Rudolf had lost his mind for the future of the empire.

However, Rudolf asked in a faint voice as if reading through Voltas’s thoughts.

“Voltas, why is there no answer to my orders? Don’t you want to follow?”

‘Ugh!’

Voltas looked into Rudolf’s eyes.

It was because his eyes were shimmering with deafness, which didn’t want to hear anyone else’s words.

In the past, Voltas had seen the same eyes in Rudolf.

A few years ago, when the Imperial family died due to an unexplained cause, he saw it.

Emperor Rudolf, whose eyes were turned, dug up a tomb, saying it belonged to Arsene, and ordered for the search of the Veritas Magic Tower’s remnants.

He didn’t stop there. He attended the parliament. He killed all the nobles and the lawmakers. He even killed off their families and relatives, not even leaving their servants and pets.

The madness at that time was so terrifying that even Count Voltas didn’t have the courage to face him.

‘The only way now is to lower my head whether I like it or not.’

Thinking so, Voltas answered with a trembling voice.

“Th-that makes no sense. I will give Your Majesty’s orders to the entire army right away.”

“You need to hurry. If the enemy troops arrive before the ruins are put into operation, all because of your late order, I will kill you, and your daughter including all your other family members. That daughter of yours will be the most miserable empress in the world!”

Thud!

As Count Voltas ran out to give the orders, Rudolf headed to the ruins.

He visited it several times a day to check the progress, but today seemed different.

Wizards were put together in the underground ruins and asked for the ruins to be operational within a week.

“I-in one week?”

The marquis and meister of Imperial Magic Tower, Kepler, asked with a trembling voice. It was because he too noticed the unusual condition of Rudolf.

“Kuke, yes. If you succeed in activating the Ruins of Time in one week, I will give you enormous wealth and honor. If you fail...!”

“If I fail...?”

Count Rolex, who was behind them, gulped at the words.

“I will make you regret being born in this world. No, I will sacrifice you to the demons by summoning them.”

“Hiik!”

Every wizard in the room gasped at those words.

However, if they were sacrificed to the demons, which got summoned, they wouldn’t be able to live their life as they knew.

“I will definitely do it, Your Majesty!”

At Rudolf’s threat, Marquis Kepler and Count Rolex replied.

The two of them went back to work.

“What are we supposed to do?”

At Rolex’s question, Kepler answered with a frown, “What can we do? We need to run it within a week.”

“But we didn’t even test to see if the ruins have been restored, so how?”

Thanks to the books and materials in the bronze chest, they were able to restore the ruins.

However, they never checked to see if the restoration was complete and would work.

It was because it was their first time to come across with a time travel device.

Moreover, the wizards of the ancient Mado Empire, who built the ruins, wrote a theory about Time, Space, and Aether power, but it was not mentioned if they actually used it.

“Honestly, I told it to His Majesty, but I cannot guarantee that this passage can be opened in the given time.”

Rolex sighed when he saw how things were being pushed.

They actually planned to show the performance in small experiments and then confirm it to His Majesty.

However, due to the invasion of the alliance troops, the plan went wrong.

“We can’t help it. We need to take a gamble.”

“Gamble?”

“Right, let’s make it work. And we’ll leave the rest to luck.”

With a sigh, Marquis Kepler decided to put the ancient ruins to operation within a week by calling in as many wizards from the Imperial Magic Tower as possible.

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Chapter 711: Legion of the Dead 2

A few days later, a separate unit led by Luke arrived close to Nemesis.

He had to use his teleport magic in succession and moved in haste, but the situation wasn’t as easy as he had expected.

“The Nemesis got turned into that? All huge barracks?”

At Luke’s question, the attendant Henry, who had been in Nemesis, nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Various obstacles and siege weapons were placed along the walls, and the troops and Gigants were spread all over. In addition, access is being strictly monitored.”

With those words, Luke began to wonder why and clicked his tongue.

“Rudolf seems to have worked pretty quickly this time.”

Seeing the defense and security circles all over the place, Luke knew that there was more than what Henry knew.

‘Moreover, in addition to the original Knights of Guards and Central Army, even the Northern and Eastern troops were flocked here, right?’

If that was the case, Luke was stepping right into a trap.

In addition, if the defenses of the wall placed by the Imperial Palace were added in, Luke couldn’t help but think for various other directions.

When he returned, Jo Mimi approached him and asked.

“Your Majesty, it was said that the enemy’s defense is thorough, and we cant sneak in with teleport, is that right?”

“Yes, not just the Nemesis, but entire walls and roads have been installed with devices that hinder the use of space movement. All this to prevent the movement of the enemy through Gigants.”

In the past, there was no problem when it came to sending in Gigant troops to the heart of the enemy capital as a surprise attack.

Naturally, the nations which were hit were also prepared, and their method was to distort the coordinates around the capital to prevent the enemy from using teleport.

If one would ignore it and move, they would end up getting lost in space.

“Of course, it isn’t like that can’t be gotten rid of. However, it will take a lot of time, and no Nemesis has more magic security in place, so it might be hard to do that.”

“Then what should we do?”

Princess Ja-hye seemed anxious at Luke’s explanation.

They came all the way to the place, but if they couldn’t enter that palace, their journey made no sense.

However, it was like they were going to attack the enemy head-on with their numbers.

“There is no need to worry so much. For now, let’s prepare on our advance in case we infiltrate.”

Luke hadn’t come all that way without thinking about what the enemy’s move would be.

Although the Imperial troops controlled the access, they had a plan to enter Nemesis.

The problem after infiltrating Nemesis was, the way to get out of the Palace after destroying the ruins wasn’t set.

‘It is reckless to enter the palace without having a proper escape plan.’

If he was alone, Luke would have pushed ahead even with all the troubles in place.

But he had Karen with him.

For the sake of sending his daughter back to her home, he had to make sure there was an escape route planned.

“Listen everyone. We came over to destroy the enemy’s trump card and not to die. So we need to secure a retreat path before going in for the operation.”

At Luke’s words, Karen objected.

“Daddy, we don’t have the time to relax, what if Rudolf starts the ruins right now?”

“If he could have used it right now, he wouldn’t have put so many troops outside and inside Nemesis to strengthen the defense. And haven’t you heard what happens when someone rushes without a plan?”

“But...”

“Don’t waste your energy. You did promise that you would obey my words, didn’t you?”

With that, Karen stopped refuting to Luke’s words.

And instead, both her cheeks were flaring.

It was pretty cute, which made not just Luke but the other members of the group to smile.

“Your Majesty, how are you going to secure the retreat?”

At Shirley’s question, Luke opened the map of Nemesis.

“I plan to work on some defense and magic circles. Breaking them down in such a short period is tough and not possible, but maybe I can induce spells to divert their eyes.”

After hearing that, Princess Jo Mimi and Ja-hye clapped their hands as if they understood.

“Oh, then after our operation is over, those magic circles will act as bait, and attract the attention of the enemy, while we get to move out.”

“To summarize, it is to make a sound in the east and move out from the west.”

“Basically, that is what I said.”

It was when they were all talking about the proper steps for retirement.

Erwin moved towards Luke in a hurry to deliver the news.

“Your Majesty, Marquis Rogers reports that Count Ferrero, who assisted the 3rd squad sent an emergency request.”

“Emergency?”

Luke had specifically instructed them not to contact him once he reached Nemesis.

There were several measures taken by the enemy, and there was a risk of the magic communication being intercepted.

However, breaking that meant there was a huge problem.

“Is it because of the reinforcements sent from Libiya? I heard that Ferrero and Count Darland put up a good fight.”

“Yes, they repelled them. But it seems something more troubling happened.”

“Troubling? Don’t tell me...”

Luke, who was thinking, immediately went to contact Ferrero and not Rogers.

It was so that he could listen directly from the person concerned.

After a while, Count Ferrero appeared.

“Count, it is said that something troubling has happened?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, undead began to appear on the battlefield.”

‘I thought so...’

Luke sighed deeply.

When he heard it from Erwin, he had been guessing it must have been the undead.

As Arsene was in Libiya Kingdom, the thoughts of reinforcements he would send were surely been undead.

“Lich or a Death Knight?”

They had searched the hideout of Veritas Magic tower on the Island, but they couldn’t find much undead as most of them were moved ahead.

So, Luke guessed that at least some of them should appear.

However, Ferrero shook his head.

-Thankfully, it isn’t that kind. They are just normal zombies, the ones which arise from the dead, but these ones have begun to grow in number.

‘Zombie growing in number? The zombie poison?’

Luke frowned.

In a way, zombie venom was more difficult than a Lich or a Death Knight. It was because people would get infected after getting bitten.

“Let’s talk in detail. We need to get more information to deal in the right way.”

-Yes, Your Majesty. So they are...

And with that, Ferrero began to talk about the zombie’s appearance.