Emperor of Steel

Chapter 688: Arsene’s Suffering 1

The underground dungeons of Libiya.

In the center was the King training vigorously.

“Dark Hole!”

A gloomy spell flowed from Arsene’s mouth while he was in the center of the training center.

And then, at the tip of his finger, a deep darkness engulfing sphere began to form.

Kiiik!

As the abyss began to move, the objects within the radius of 30 meters disintegrated and began to be sucked into the sphere.

The stones on the floor were dismantled, and the nearby weapons began to get sucked in.

It seemed like if a little more time passed, the entire training center would be destroyed, maybe the dungeon could collapse.

‘Kul, still difficult to do.’

With a smile on his mouth, Arsene canceled the Dark Hole.

The dust, which was gathered because of the spell, scattered all around.

The pit which got created of about 30 meters, made Arsene feel great.

“I have recovered around 90 percent of it.”

Maybe thanks to the secret training, and intensive meditation, the pace of regaining his former abilities seemed to increase gradually.

“Now I just need to combine the power of the Dragonian and the dark magic as one.”

If those two forces could be combined, there wouldn’t be any more reason to fear Luke.

He could once again reign as the strongest person on the continent!

‘Of course, Luke wouldn’t stay at the past level either... but he won’t be able to increase his level during the mess we created for him!’

In the meantime, Arsene would cross Luke.

And would enjoy the look of defeat on Luke’s face!

It was when Arsene smiled.

Flash!

The door to the training center opened with a flash, and Zemerton entered.

And he reported the urgent news from the south.

“What?! The monster legion and the Grenada Pirates have both been smashed? Already? How does that even happen?!”

At Arsene’s question, Zemerton went down on his knee and spoke in a trembling voice.

“I apologize for it, but it is all true! I couldn’t believe the information so I checked and checked...”

Because of the constant checks, it took a few more days for the report to reach Arsene.

There were also warlocks who confirmed the authenticity of the information, but they thought if a wrong report was presented to Arsene, they would be killed right away.

And as expected, Arsene’s wrath was already on him.

“Ackkkk!”

The air around the dungeon seemed heavy at once.

“Kuak!”

Zemerton’s complexion went white, and he was lying flat on the floor spitting blood and clenching his chest.

Even though his entire body was used to dark magic, his body felt devastated from the inside.

It was because Arsene’s wrath was, Dragonic Fear.

Arsene had absorbed around 60 percent of the Dragonian power, and sometimes the power would come out without his knowledge.

“Ple-please don’t be angry!”

At the pleading voice of Zemerton, Arsene withdrew Dragonic Fear.

“How on earth could they destroy the army of over 100,000 monsters and a fleet of 1,3000 in less than 15 days? What the hell were Lenuk and Kazel doing until all this happened?!”

Arsene, along with the monster army of Libiya, sent in warlocks—the elders of the squad to make sure that the plan went along.

And then sent in Margareta to seduce Fernando.

Nevertheless, they couldn’t even hold Symphonia back for one month!

With no damage to Symphonia.

“Couldn’t they push ahead? Ask those two what happened!”

“Ye, well! Both of them were killed.”

Lenuk who led the monster legion fell into the trap of the Symphonia troops and died, and Kazel who went to Grenada as the envoy of Libiya Kingdom got caught and was hanged while he tried to flee from the attack of the Holy Empire.

“Damn it! Elders couldn’t even run away?”

“Th-that, Elder Lenuk was moving away from an explosion when a Bow Master attacked him, and Elder Kazel met up with Arch Duke Gregory...”

Although Zemerton stated about it, Arsene’s anger didn’t subside.

“Those worthless men! Hopefully, they were taken to hell. If they come back alive, I will punish them in the most horrifying way possible!”

Arsene, who was cursing the elders, asked suddenly.

“What happened to the men who infiltrated Brandon city? What happened to them?”

When the war broke out, Arsene tried to spread the zombie disease by sending in warlocks.

In addition, it was planned to induce rebellion by encouraging the dissatisfied forces within the Symphonia, in case the war would turn out to be a failure, the disease would spread and the rebels would overwhelm the rulers, and it would be able to take down Luke to some extent.

However, even the last card was against Arsene’s expectations.

“Kuek, unfortunately, they were caught in the process of infiltrating and were executed.”

“Huh, another fail.”

Arsene’s frown deepened.

Maybe because of anger and frustration, it seemed like his heart would break.

However, there was something more annoying.

It was because, once the training was done and he went in for a meeting after a long time, his servants reported that riots were occurring all over the kingdom.

“What? It happened in Libiya and not Symphonia?”

“That was because the prices have surged abnormally in the recent...”

Shaikan’s Foreign minister and cousin, Weitz made a report.

In recent years, the price of the daily commodities including grains, have risen sharply. Of course, at one point—the public sentiment exploded and complaints came out even from the local lords.

Nevertheless, the prices weren’t reduced and further went up, and that led to riots taking place in various regions of the kingdom, including the royal capital.

“How the hell did that happen? Why did this happen?!”

Arsene didn’t really understand the situation.

In order to use the people of Libiya Kingdom as undead resources, they were secretly releasing zombie poison.

And the current riots which arose weren’t supposed to be issues which had to rise when such important work was going on, so Arsene had tried to impose policies in which the people wouldn’t oppose much.

Shaikan stopped the war against the Baroque Empire, cut down the taxes, and expanded the foreign trade.

All the policies were for the development of the nation, and both nobles and people were welcoming it.

But for this to suddenly happen!

At Arsene’s anger, Weitz spoke with a terrified expression.

“That... I did manage to find out the cause, but it seems to be because of grain.”

“It is because of grain?”

“Yes. I have checked it several times.”

When the Grain chamber was mentioned, every official in the room looked at Arsene.

Weitz said it first, but they also knew about the Grain chamber causing trouble.

But no one wanted to speak out about it.

It was because the Grain chamber was being protected by the King himself.

Honestly, it was only recently that it happened, but even though they were given an official position they didn’t have the confidence to speak out against the man who was being protected by the King.

By moving to Libiya, the Grain chamber had provided many jobs to the merchants and the people, and was active in its trade, it also managed to fill the vacant treasury.

It also contributed to bringing in the price stability by importing food and daily needs and selling them at a low cost to people.

Naturally, the influence of the Grain chamber spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and the management of the chamber reached a level that it governed the economy of the Libiya Kingdom.

But the Grain chamber which was being praised by the people changed its actions.

“All of a sudden the price of daily needs have increased. At first, it was a little rise, but later it was said to have risen high...”

“Kueuk. I will deal with the Grain chamber myself, so try to put down the riots.”

Arsene who was offended by the reports, sent out his servants right away.

The servants who saw their King’s face hardened left their seats right away to not get involved in any unfavorable situation.

‘F*ck this! I am getting annoyed! People are dying and even my business is being pushed into trouble!’

Arsene called in Zemerton again and asked him to bring in all the executives of the Grain chamber.

“All of them?”

“Yes, if we miss anyone, I’ll make sure to show you the taste of hell.”

At Arsene’s words, Zemerton went to gather them.

He knew what Arsene was talking about, so he hastened in gathering them as much as possible.