Emperor of Steel

There were several places called Vortex on the Rhodesia Continent.

In the past, Luke went into a dire situation in the Dark Forest and the Sea of Reapers where the sailors never went.

And the other one was Crete.

The isolated rocky island on the east side of Rhodesia continent was covered in thick fog, almost all year around, and it was one of the most popular vortex points.

Kiik! Kiik!

A small ferry was moving through the misty fog.

An old man and a sharp-looking younger man, both dressed in black uniforms were on the ferry.

The young man’s gaze was fixed on the dark rocky island beyond the fog.

“Is that Crete?”

“Yes, man. It is the Vortex where the punishment was given.”

According to Belfair’s research, Crete was a small nation till 300 years back.

The actual name was Crete Kingdom.

And the people who lived there worshiped Hades, the God of Death.

Not any Devil King, but the God of Death Hades was who the people in there believed, and there was nothing wrong with it.

However, the problem was that the King and the people would secretly commit all sorts of evil deeds which couldn’t be described, including personal offerings.

“The slave, who was about to be sacrificed, barely managed to escape and made the atrocities known. And the Holy Empire’s Pope of that time heard of the situation and dispatched the subjugation troops led by Saint Guards…”

“That was why they perished?”

“No, before that, there was huge punishment on Crete. Suddenly the ground beneath cracked, the smoke of hell covered the place and rain poured down from the sky, everything which was alive turned into ashes.”

‘That wasn’t God’s Punishment, but a volcanic eruption.’

No matter how one noticed, it was a natural disaster which everyone seemed to believe as God’s Punishment because of the timing being so appropriate.

Well, after that, Crete turned into a land of death, where humans couldn’t live.

Even the pirates would shy away from entering the Island which was abandoned by God.

‘There are no survivors of the Crete Kingdom. But why is there a Crete mark on the treasure which the Veritas remnants who were secretly disposed of?’

That was the reason why Belfair was there, even in the midst of the situation when Rhodesia was turned upside down due to the Undead.

Up till a month ago, Belfair was scouring the Libiya Kingdom on the orders of Luke to find out where the Death Knight and Lich were placed or connected.

That was when he discovered a large amount of supplies, secretly being supplied into the Libiya Royal family.

What kind of money did the Libiya royal family have? Especially after suffering from financial difficulties, how were they buying supplies?

Belfair who was puzzled released his men and soon discovered that Libiya fishermen were circulating large quantities of jewelry and gold on the black market.

At first, it was thought that the Libiya royal family was in a hurry to dispose of the nobles and asylum seekers from Grenada.

However, Belfair found something even stranger when he obtained and looked at the treasure on the black market.

A small seal was stamped on the jewels or the gold which were being processed, when took a closer look into it, he recognized it as the crest of the Crete Royal family.

‘I heard that there was not a single person or thing seen in Crete after the punishment was given. So why now? That too, getting released into the black market of the Libiya Kingdom?’

As he was in doubt, Belfair grabbed the men who had gone to dispose of the jewels and knocked them out.

Before he could bring out any information, they all bit the poison which was hidden in their molars and killed themselves.

Belfair, who had doubts that the treasure had a close relation to the Veritas, went to Crete, the source of the treasure.

It was his plan to track the movement from there.

“I can’t go in anymore! I heard that the more we enter, we turn blind and deaf as we hover in the fog till death!”

‘Tch, pathetic old man!’

Belfair clicked his tongue upon looking at the old sailor who was in fear.

‘Well, he did come this far, for that he could still be considered as bold.’

The fear that people had for the place was by no means easy to understand.

Those who were believed to be punished and receive death—their souls weren’t given permission to enter the sanctuary of any God, which was why no humans wanted to receive God’s Punishment.

Especially for the sailors, who were a lot more superstitious because of their profession.

“Two days later, I’ll meet you right here.”

Belfair who took out a gold coin from his pocket gave it to the sailor and flew into the air.

Wheeik!

Concealed in the fog, he turned into a bat and started to move closer to Crete.

‘God’s Punishment? Even if there is such a thing, this demonic body needs to tremble! Moreover, it was verified that this body of mine contains Divine Power given by Master!’

With a smile on his lips, Belfair sped up.

Flapping his bat wings, he reached Crete in a while.

The island was quite large.

Well, it was natural that it wasn’t small, especially considering that it was a Kingdom in the past.

‘Just as expected, only ruins.’

Volcanic ash was piled up all over the island.

It was a city. Most of the buildings were in a state of collapse and the poisonous sulfur smoke still came from the cracked ground.

In addition, it was hard to find a single grass or weed from the ground.

‘This is so desolate, but this feels kind of warm. Is it because it resembles Devildom a lot?’

Belfair tilted his head and flew to where the old castle was.

The King of Crete had his castle situated on the shore overlooking the sea.

However, due to the so-called God’s Punishment, he couldn’t find a single nice building.

‘Huh? that place is?’

A small island was located a little far from the castle.

There were buildings on the island which looked like domes.

A lighthouse and a temple were seen.

Shockingly, the condition of the buildings was relatively neat, as if they were under continuous management.

‘Are they remnants of Veritas in that place?’

Belfair flew to the temple. Getting off in the front yard, he went inside.

‘There is no trace of humans at all.’

He looked back and forth multiple times and hid himself at the sound of footsteps from inside.

After a while, a man wearing a robe, which was almost like a rag appeared.

Belfair who looked at him was startled.

‘Huak! Th-that is…!’

Pale skin, with a pair of horns on the head and sharp teeth.

It resembled the humans yet seemed different.

A Demon.