Emperor of Steel [EN]: Chapter 167

7. The End of the Dark Island

1

The Holy Artenia Empire, within the Papal Palace.

The Elise Palace, renowned as the most beautiful within the Papal Palace, was adorned with dozens of blooming flowers.

In the palace’s beautiful garden, Reina was enjoying tea with Karen, seated comfortably in chairs.

Since adopting Karen, Reina made an effort to spend time with her whenever possible.

The tea times were part of this, and the conversations with Karen proved more engaging than she had anticipated. Karen’s knowledge was so extensive that it was hard to believe she was a child.

Today’s conversation was no different.

It began with a simple discussion about the attributes of divine power but evolved into a profound debate.

“The fusion of powers?” Reina asked.

Karen nodded in response.

“Yes. Aura, mana, divine power, and dark energy are all forces with distinct properties, but they are not impossible to fuse.”

People in the modern era knew that combining different forces would cause them to repel each other.

And that was generally true.

The reason why no one had become a great Rune Knight for centuries, except for Luke, was because the mana and aura within the body clashed.

Divine power was the opposite of dark energy, and dark energy was the opposite of mana.

But you’re saying that such opposing forces can be fused into one?

At Reina’s skeptical question, Karen rolled her eyes playfully and continued her explanation.

“Of course, it’s impossible with ordinary methods. But it’s possible if you create something called an Ether Globe.”

“Ether Globe? What’s that?”

“Using the ether that Mom also possesses as a medium, aura, mana, and dark energy can be combined into one…”

Karen, excited about her area of expertise, began to elaborate.

Among her examples was the Holy Soleil, which she cited as an example of the fusion of powers.

Holy Soleil.

It was a theoretical concept from a lost spacetime, referring to a sun created by exploding divine power with magical power.

It was considered the ultimate nemesis of the undead.

‘If only I could have created this, the future world wouldn’t have collapsed so meaninglessly,’ Karen thought with a hint of regret.

Just as Karen was expressing her regret, Reina asked with a questioning look, “How do you know such things, Karen?”

How could a five-year-old girl know facts that even the high priest of the Holy Empire, the master of the Imperial Magic Tower, and the Sword Sage, Grand Duke Gregory, were unaware of?

‘Eek! Did I get too carried away?’

Karen had been talking more lately because she enjoyed spending time with her mother, but this time she had gone too far.

‘What should I do? What should I say…’

There was a chance her true identity might be revealed.

Since she couldn’t think of another way, she decided to use a childish tactic.

She would shift the blame and pretend not to know.

“I heard it from Dad.”

“He did?”

“Yes, ehehe!”

Reina was completely taken in by Karen’s innocent smile.

She successfully covered up the problem, but it led to an unexpected consequence.

‘That person really…!’

Her usual philosophy was that children should grow up like children.

But even if she was a genius, how could he teach a five-year-old such complex magical knowledge that even adults didn’t know?

“No wonder you don’t play with the other kids and only read books in the library.”

“Th, that’s…”

“Did your dad make you study? Did he give you those looks?”

Of course, Luke had never done that.

The reason Karen didn’t play with the orphans Reina had brought to the Papal Palace to be her friends was because their mental levels didn’t match.

She couldn’t play in the sand or tag with the snot-nosed kids just because her body had shrunk.

Moreover, the Papal Palace library was full of rare books that had been lost in the future world she had lived in.

“I told you that early education is not good… I’ll have to scold your dad when I meet him later!”

Seeing Reina glaring fiercely while thinking of Luke, Karen apologized in her heart.

‘Sorry, Dad. I had no choice if I wanted to live.’

She didn’t want Reina to know about the tragedy of the future. It was also a spacetime that had already disappeared, and knowing that fact would only cause her more pain.

So Karen subtly changed the subject.

“But, when is Dad coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

Luke had led the Symphonia Kingdom army on an expedition to the Southern Continent.

It was to protect the Southern Continent from the evil clutches of the Lich Arsen.

“I heard that the capital of the Song Empire has already been captured?”

“Yes, in the last magic communication, he said that he would finish the cleanup and return, so he should be on his way back by now, right?”

Come to think of it, it was about time for a magic communication, but there had been no contact.

“I hope he hasn’t gotten caught up in another incident?”

“Oh, come on…”

Reina said that, but since Luke was the kind of person who attracted trouble, there was a possibility that he might have gotten caught up in something.

She was worried that he might get hurt by getting caught up in another incident.

No matter how strong he was, one person couldn’t handle everything.

‘I heard that there are many strong people with martial arts skills in the Southern Continent…’

She hoped that he would return safely and show her his bright smile.

Reina made the sign of the cross and prayed to the main god Elkasel for Luke’s safe return.

2

Whoooosh—!

Kieeeek!

Kieeeeeeek!

A dazzling, holy sun shone in the dark and gloomy sky.

The light from that sun illuminated the entire Thanatos Island.

Black smoke billowed from the bodies of the undead exposed to the holy light.

The Death Knights, who had been pounding on the Gigants, writhed on the ground, and the Liches, who had been casting attack magic, fell with their bodies ablaze.

Their bodies didn’t melt like they did when exposed to holy water, but seeing that none of them could move properly, they must have been significantly weakened or disoriented.

It was a situation that would have been embarrassing, but the black mages controlling the undead were too shocked to even think about it.

Because it wasn’t just the undead that were affected by the holy light.

“Aaaagh! My eyes!”

“Hwaaaak! It’s hot! Save me!”

The black mages, who had been drawing on their dark energy to attack the Symphonia Kingdom army, were hit hard.

Just as a flame burns a wick soaked in oil, the holy light burned their dark energy, severely damaging the black circle in their hearts [a dark magic core].

Many of the black mages suffered burns or vomited black blood from the pain of their internal organs burning.

“What’s going on?” Shirley asked Leonard, seeing the mid-level Death Knight who had been pushing her back writhing in pain.

“Huhu, it seems that His Majesty has used a hidden card.”

“A hidden card? Ugh, if you had something like that, you should have told us sooner!”

“Anyway, complain later! Right now, it’s a priority to clean up the trash in front of us.”

With that, Leonard swung his greatsword at the mid-level Death Knight who had been giving him a hard time.

Unlike the other low-level Death Knights, he looked relatively fine, but he must have been hit, as he couldn’t block Leonard’s successive attacks.

Swish!

Just as his head was about to fly off, his body was cleaved in two by the greatsword.

“All troops! Sweep away the black mages!”

“Waaaaaah!”

At Count Leonard’s command, the riders, who had been frozen by the Lich’s Hellfire just moments ago, shouted and began to slaughter the undead and black mages.

The sudden appearance of the holy light not only weakened the undead and black mages but also seemed to boost the knights’ morale.

Just as the situation on the ground had been reversed as if by magic, the battle in the sky also turned in Luke’s favor.

“Kuh, what the hell are you doing…?” Nesta muttered.

The moment Luke unleashed his magic, Nesta hurriedly deployed a barrier with dark energy.

However, even the dark barrier deployed with 9th circle magic could not completely block the light emitted by the holy sun that had been created at close range.

The same was true for the high-level undead.

The two high-level undead, which were supposed to be the trump card to defeat Luke, were severely damaged to the point where their black bones were exposed.

Since they were close, the damage was greater than that of the low-level or mid-level undead.

“Kuaaak! What did you do! What the hell did you do!” Nesta desperately asked.

Luke replied with a sneer, “It’s not that big of a deal. You could say I just enlarged the Holy Light of the priests to an extra-large size.”

“Lies! Even so, this kind of power is impossible!”

The undead that Arsen and he had prepared with so much effort over a long period of time were being defeated so helplessly!

He had heard that Luke could handle divine power, but he didn’t know it was to this extent.

Even the Pope of the Holy Artenia Empire, who manifested miracles, wouldn’t be able to do such a tremendous thing.

“Of course, as you said, this kind of power is impossible. Even if I converted all the ether in my body into divine power, it would be impossible.”

“What? Ether?” Nesta looked surprised, knowing about the existence of ether.

Regardless, Luke continued to speak.

“But I have a tool that amplifies power. Whether it’s aura, magic, or divine power.”

“N, no way…!”

Nesta endured the pain that felt like his eyes were burning and looked at the sun in the sky.

A giant figure stood with his arms outstretched inside the sun.

It was Luke’s hero-class Gigant Avenger that he had been fighting just a moment ago.

“D, did you amplify the divine power with the core engine?”

“Yes, and I added magic to accelerate the core engine.”

It was called acceleration, but it was almost like a runaway.

If Luke’s magic control had not been meticulous, the Avenger would not have been shining like the sun but would have caused a massive explosion.

If that had happened, the entire hell army would have been wiped out.

“I never thought you would have such a secret method…”

“I was surprised too. It seems to be more powerful than I thought.”

If Karen had seen this artificial sun, she would have called it Holy Soleil.

A divine power, or rather, a divine magic, that the mages of the Artenia Imperial Magic Tower had theoretically conceived in a lost spacetime to defeat the undead army.

Luke, the one who had actually created this, didn’t know about Holy Soleil.

He had only conceived of it while trying to find a more effective way to eliminate the undead after struggling with the Jiang Shi [Chinese hopping vampires] of the Guigokja in the Song Empire.

Of course, there were some differences in how he manifested it compared to the Holy Soleil.

Luke created a similar effect by maximizing the Avenger’s core engine instead of magic power to amplify divine power.

“Heh heh! Shall we finish this?”

Luke, raising the Holy Sword Valiant, flew towards Nesta like lightning.

If he killed him, the two high-level undead, who were nothing more than puppets, would automatically be neutralized.

“F, Fleming! Musashi! Stop him!”

Nesta, his heart pounding, screamed and ran away.

The Black Circle was currently cracked, and he didn’t have the confidence to block Luke’s attack in this state.

He needed time to recover the Black Circle.

“Hmph, I knew it!”

Luke snorted and unleashed the final move of the Gold Sword’s latter half, the Clock Up Sword.

Ssssh!

His body became several times faster, and he passed through the two undead in an instant.

The truth was that the surrounding time had slowed down, but that’s how it appeared to Nesta.

Having passed the high-level undead, Luke pierced Nesta’s heart with golden aura filled with divine power.

Thwack!

“Kuaaaagh!”

Before Nesta could even dodge, the golden aura pierced through his heart.

“T, this is such a pathetic situation… !”

Nesta looked down at his chest with a disbelieving expression.

Fssssssss!

Already, the spot where his heart had been was turning into black ash and scattering.

“Farewell, former Meister of the Veritas Magic Tower.”

As Luke retrieved Valiant, Nesta’s body fell into the sea. The high-level undead he had been controlling also fell like puppets with severed strings.

With that, Luke turned away, as if he had no more regrets.

His heart, and the Black Circle, were shattered by the golden aura imbued with divine power. It meant that he could not survive unless the Demon God himself intervened.

However, he didn’t see it.

Nesta’s face, which had fallen into the sea, was twisting with a vicious intent.

‘Kuh, I can’t die alone!’

Deep beneath Thanatos Island, there was a device prepared for the Veritas Magic Tower’s last stand.

It was a kind of self-destruct magic circle, and just before dying, Nesta uttered the magic activation phrase that was the core of this self-destruct magic circle.

‘I’ll take you with me to the afterlife, Luke de Rakan!’

The final struggle was activated so secretly and persistently.

3

The battle on the ground also ended anticlimactically the moment Luke joined.

The undead and black mages who had survived until then fled to various parts of the island, and soon a mopping-up operation began.

“Your Majesty, we have captured all the ones who fled into the forest.”

“However, the ones who hid inside the pyramid are still resisting. The Gigants can’t easily break through or enter, so the sacrifices of the knights and soldiers are increasing.”

At the commanders’ reports, Luke gave an order as if it was no big deal.

“Set fire to the entire island, except for the pyramid, no, the place where we are currently stationed. They will either burn to death or crawl out, one of the two.”

“Understood!”

No sooner had Luke’s order been given than Thanatos Island was engulfed in crimson flames.

“Aaaagh! F, fire!”

“Get out of here!”

“Damn it, where is there to escape?”

As Luke had said, before long, the black mages and undead hiding in the pyramid crawled out.

Luke’s flame magic and the Oster’s bombardment poured down on them as they made their last stand.

The riders also diligently chased after them, exterminating the remnants like bugs.

Three hours after the initial bombardment, the battle was completely over.

‘It’s over. But what is this uneasy feeling?’

It felt like he had gone to the bathroom and not cleaned up properly.

With that thought, Luke looked at the pyramid that the Veritas Magic Tower had used as their base.

Perhaps because it had been used as a den of black mages for a long time, a gloomy aura flowed throughout the building, but it was being purified by the raging flames.

‘Is it because of Arsen? Or is there another reason?’

While Luke was lost in thought, Count Lenard approached with a flustered expression and reported.

“Your Majesty, all the elders we captured have committed suicide.”

“What? They committed suicide?”

“Yes, judging by the blood they vomited, it seems they ingested hidden poison. It seems they took advantage of the lapse in surveillance while we were searching for the remaining remnants.”

The captured elders had been captured with their Black Circles destroyed, barely clinging to life.

Naturally, they had no strength left to resist, and all their weapons and offensive artifacts had been confiscated.

So the knights who were guarding them had let their guard down for a moment.

“My subordinates’ mistakes are directly my fault, Your Majesty. Please punish me.”

Looking at Count Lenard, who was begging for punishment with a remorseful face, Luke frowned.

He had intended to interrogate the elders to find out Arsen’s whereabouts and the location of the Life Vessel.

He had also cleanly killed the former Meister of the Veritas Magic Tower because he had judged that he could get information from the elders, but now he had ruined it!

‘Was this the reason for the uneasiness?’

Luke sighed inwardly and shook his head.

“It’s done. There’s no use regretting what’s already happened. Interrogate the remaining prisoners and find out as much as we can.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

It was after Count Lenard, who had saluted, had just left his seat.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the ground shook with a thunderous sound.

“What is it? An earthquake?”

Luke wondered if there had been an earthquake and used fly magic to lift himself up and look around the island.

However, the intensity of the earthquake was not very strong, and it stopped quickly. The sea was also calm, with no signs of a tsunami.

‘It must have just been a passing tremor.’

Thinking nothing of it, Luke flew to the pier and helped with the cleanup of the battlefield.

He directly treated the wounded knights and soldiers and cleared away the debris.

“Your Majesty, shouldn’t you leave this to us and rest?”

“That’s right. I heard that Your Majesty personally defeated the enemy’s leader.”

At the words of Shirley and the other escort knights, Luke chuckled and said.

“I can clean up the battlefield faster if I step in. And there’s an old saying that the king’s hand is a healing hand.”

“Huh? Was there such a saying?”

“I’ve heard of the saying ‘Mom’s hand is a healing hand,’ but…”

While Luke and his vassals were arguing about whether he should rest, a soldier on guard duty ran up and reported.

“Your Majesty, Lord Belpar and his party are returning!”

“Is that so?”

Belpar had gone to install mines at the only entrance to prevent any possible escapes during this battle.

He docked his familiar, the sperm whale, and three boats next to the Oster and approached Luke, saluting.

“You’re later than I expected. What happened?”

At Luke’s question, Belpar answered politely.

“We were delayed because there was a fish caught in the net on the way back, and we had to deal with it.”

“Net?”

At Luke’s question, he explained in detail.

Belpar, who had installed the mines, had been waiting outside the Hell Islands.

He had intended to intercept any ships that might have been lucky enough to escape.

But either there were no such lucky ones, or the battle ended in that state.

So Belpar returned, and he found a ship sunk by a mine at the opposite entrance.

He was delayed because he was recovering the spoils from that ship.

“These are confidential documents recovered from the sunken ship, and if we examine them closely, we might be able to find out where the Grain Company sent the cargo they loaded on this island.”

“Oh! Good work.”

Luke, delighted, looked at the documents Belpar handed him.

The documents stamped with the Grain Company’s seal had encrypted sentences, and the ink was smudged from being wet.

However, it should be possible to restore them using magic.

He was about to be lost in a maze about where the Veritas Magic Tower and the undead had escaped to because the elders had committed suicide, so this was a good thing.

“But Your Majesty, there’s something else we recovered besides this.”

“Besides the documents?”

“Yes, my lord.”

When Belpar clapped his hands, the sailors who had gone with him dragged a young man in a robe.

The young man, with magic sealing devices on his hands, was soaking wet, as if he had fallen into the water.

Moreover, judging by the fact that he had his eyes closed and was not moving, he seemed to have lost consciousness.

Luke frowned when he saw the young man’s face. He felt quite uneasy.

‘Arsen, he looks like that guy!’

The young man resembled Arsen’s youthful appearance before he became a lich.

‘Could he be his descendant?’

It would be stranger if there wasn’t a single descendant of his in the Veritas Magic Tower, which had flourished for the past 500 years.

While Luke was frowning in displeasure, Belpar explained how he had captured the prisoner.

“We found him floating on the surface, having fainted when the mine exploded. Judging by the fact that he had the documents from earlier, he seemed to be a high-ranking person.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Perhaps there would be no need to restore the confidential documents.

Luke, feeling hopeful, snapped his fingers.

Snap!

With a crisp sound, a small amount of divine power flowed into the young man.

Light seemed to seep into the young man’s body, and then black smoke rose with the smell of burning flesh.

The young man, his eyes wide open, screamed and writhed.

“Kuaaagh! H, hot!”

‘So he was a black mage after all.’

If he had been an ordinary merchant, his injuries would have been healed by the divine power, but judging by the way he was writhing, he must have learned black magic, which was the opposite of divine power.

He had somewhat expected it because of his resemblance to Arsen.

However, when the result was exactly as he had expected, a sneer appeared on Luke’s lips.

“Ugh… where am I?”

Having somewhat recovered from the pain, the young man regained his senses and looked around. The pyramid in the distance was ablaze, and armed knights surrounded him, glaring menacingly. Then, he spotted Luke standing among them and flinched in surprise. “Y-you?!” As a high-ranking member of the Veritas Magic Tower, he couldn’t possibly fail to recognize that face. It was the nemesis who had emerged as the founder and their greatest obstacle. “Heh heh, you know me? That makes things a lot easier.” Unlike Luke, who smiled wryly, the young man was sweating profusely. “What is your name?” “M-my name is Zehart.” Zehart quickly spoke. He realized that if he remained silent, his head would be chopped off in no time. Even if he didn’t die, he would surely suffer the same agonizing torture as before, where his whole body felt like it was burning. “Alright, Zehart. Where is your tower’s founder, Arsen, right now?” Zehart’s eyes darted around for a moment at Luke’s question before he shook his head. “I-I don’t know.” “Really?” “Y-yes, I’m sure of it. I don’t have much talent for magic, so I was pushed out of the tower and became an errand boy for the merchant guild. My grandfather and father only gave me instructions on where to move goods; I don’t know the founder’s whereabouts.” In reality, he did know. He knew that if he tried any clumsy tricks, his head would be chopped off immediately, but there was a reason why he was hiding the truth. As a prisoner, he didn’t think Luke would spare him, a black mage. No matter what, Luke was a descendant of the hero Rakan, who defeated the Demon King Seymon, and the Veritas Magic Tower had done things to his ancestors. ‘I can’t die like this!’ How much money had he stashed away secretly from Nesta and Arsen? Thinking of his family and beautiful mistresses on the mainland, he didn’t want to die in vain on this gloomy island. So, he planned to make a deal with Luke while maintaining a proper distance. He believed that Luke, who was desperate to find the founder, would be willing to accept his conditions. “But if you spare me, I will find out the founder’s, no, Arsen’s whereabouts and inform Your Majesty without fail.” “Does that mean you’re betraying Arsen and siding with me?” “Y-yes! I was forced to follow him because of our bloodline, but who would want to follow a monster who doesn’t even die?” It wasn’t just a cry to stay alive. Zehart was half-sincere. He was more interested in wealth and fame than magic, and he was not fond of Arsen’s plan to conquer the world as an undead or the madness of the Veritas Magic Tower. There was a saying in the Southern Continent, ‘It’s better to live in this world even if you’re rolling in dog poop,’ and Zehart believed that saying was the truth. “You seem sincere.” “Of course, if I had any intention of following Arsen, I wouldn’t have run away and would have been lying dead like those idiots over there.” “Hmm, indeed…” Luke nodded with an intrigued expression. At his reaction, Zehart judged that his words had worked. However, this was a clear misjudgment. “Zehart, there’s one thing I know for sure, even if I don’t know anything else. Do you know what that is?” “Well, I have no idea…” Luke continued coldly to him, who was tilting his head. “That is, there is no one to trust among the Veritas Magic Tower and the Baroque Imperial family.” “W-what!” Luke stretched out his right hand towards the flinching Zehart. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re sincere or not. I’ll find out everything you know myself.” The moment his eyes flashed coldly, Zehart’s pupils became hazy. He had been subdued by mental magic. Luke placed his right hand on the man’s head and forcibly extracted his memories. “Kuaaaagh!” The method of forcibly searching memories had severe aftereffects. Most people who suffered this method, which overworked the brain in a short period of time, became idiots. That’s why it was as taboo as black magic in the magic world, but Luke had no intention of treating Zehart, who was clearly a descendant of Arsen, humanely. Moreover, if he had even learned black magic, he must have committed many crimes, big and small. And that was the case when he looked at the guy’s memories. It was true that he was pushed out of the tower, but it was also true that he was treated well as the son of a Meister [a master craftsman or expert], and he committed all sorts of corruption and crimes in the process of expanding his business with the financial support of the Veritas Magic Tower. ‘Hmph, he really did a lot of dirty work.’ The amount of wealth he had embezzled from Arsen and Nesta was enormous, and the evil deeds he committed while expanding his business based on that were also considerable. He used black mages and mercenaries to eliminate competing companies, or sucked the blood of the powerless through usury [lending money at exorbitant interest rates]. On top of that, he was very enthusiastic about womanizing, even though he had a family. ‘Hmph, even if I were Arsen, I wouldn’t… huh?’ Luke’s face was filled with shock as he forcibly read through the man’s memories. ‘No way! Could it be that Arsen is in that place!’ Luke thought that Arsen was hiding and building his power in some remote or hard-to-find place. But he was disguised as an unexpected person in an unexpected place. It was King Shaikhan of the Lybia Kingdom! What was even more surprising was that he wasn’t just disguised as Shaikhan, but had completely taken over his body. If Zehart wasn’t mistaken, it was a truly terrifying thing. ‘Shaikhan is a Dragonian, a hybrid of human and dragon. Did he take over the body of such a Dragonian?’ Luke had fought Shaikhan in the past. He was not an easy opponent with his Dragon Language magic, a power that was now lost. But to take over his body! ‘As expected, Arsen is a guy you can’t let your guard down against until the end.’ The Lybia Kingdom and the Symphonia Kingdom were currently in an alliance. However, Luke was also wary of Shaikhan because of the incident where he spread the Bers virus in Nemesis, the capital of the Baroque Empire. However, the military defenses there were relatively lax compared to other areas, and it would have been a real disaster if they had been ambushed. ‘Wait for me, Arsen! Whether you’ve become a Dragonian or not, I will definitely go and kill you!’ Gritting his teeth, Luke also searched for information about Arsen’s Life Vessel. However, no matter how much he searched Zehart’s memories, he couldn’t find the place where the Life Vessel was hidden. It seemed that Arsen had hidden it somewhere remote, even from his descendants. 4 Urrrrrr! Urrrrrr! It was when Luke was searching Zehart’s memories. Suddenly, the entire island shook violently. The tremor was much stronger than the earthquake a little while ago, to the point where some of the soldiers and knights lost their balance and fell. “W-what is it?” “Is it another earthquake?” It was when the soldiers were making bewildered expressions. Kwarurururung! The pyramid, which was being purified by the flames, suddenly began to collapse from the bottom with a roar. Not only did the building collapse, but the ground also cracked like broken glass. “Uwaaaah!” “Your Majesty, please evacuate!” At Count Lenard’s cry, Luke released Zehart. Thanks to examining the guy’s memories, he knew what this earthquake was about. “The island is sinking! All troops, retreat!” “What? The island is sinking?” Shirley, who was nearby, asked with wide eyes. “Yes, it will sink soon, so hurry!” “Oh no, all troops, retreat! Retreat!” “Quickly! Quickly! Move the wounded first!” Lenard began to shout as he ran around with Shirley. At that time, one of the knights who was diligently following the instructions approached Luke and asked. “Your Majesty, what should we do with the Gigants [large, powerful war machines]?” Since they were large and heavy weapons, it would take time to move them. But Luke had a simple solution. “I’ll take care of that, so you don’t have to worry.” “Then what about the remaining prisoners?” “I’ve already obtained important information, so they’re useless. If we leave them behind, they’ll take care of themselves.” The earthquake stopped and continued to repeat itself. As it did, the intensity gradually increased, and at some point, white smoke and lava began to spew out from the island’s peaks. In addition, seawater gushed out from the cracked ground. As Luke said, the island was sinking. “Don’t panic! Everyone can escape safely!” Luke swept all the Gigants, whether damaged or intact, into the subspace of his bracelet. He repeatedly used teleportation magic to rescue the troops who had not yet boarded the boats. ‘Hmph, I don’t know who it is, but it seems like they’re trying to sink us along with the island, but it won’t go as they planned.’ Luke didn’t think that this was the work of Nesta, whom he had defeated. However, thanks to Zehart’s memories, he was able to learn about the existence of the self-destruct magic circle prepared underground on the island. Originally, the self-destruct magic circle was installed by the Veritas Magic Tower to perish together with the enemy when they faced their end. ‘If it had worked normally, the top-grade magic stones embedded in the magic circle would have gone berserk all at once, causing a massive explosion and sinking the island in an instant. But…’ The self-destruct magic circle was activated at a level that was less than half of its original power and speed. The reason for this was the carelessness and corruption of the Veritas Magic Tower’s black mages. Since there had been no enemies invading Thanatos Island for a long time, the management of the self-destruct magic circle naturally became lax, and the top-grade magic stones that were embedded in it were diverted to create Arsen’s undead. On top of that, Zehart even secretly took out the remaining ones and used them. ‘It’s ridiculous. I survived thanks to their carelessness and corruption…’ It wasn’t something to just laugh and move on. It was something to learn from. No matter how strong a country or organization is, a crisis is bound to come if they are negligent and corrupt. There was no guarantee that the Symphonia Kingdom wouldn’t be like that. ‘When I get back, I should conduct an audit of all government departments. I don’t know where and how taxes are leaking and corruption is occurring.’ Luke watched the scene of Thanatos Island sinking from the deck of the Oster. Kwakwakwakwang! The dark island, which had been shaking for a while, finally sank below the blue surface of the water. Along with it, the hazy mist that had covered the island and its surroundings also disappeared. As the mist disappeared, the brilliant sunlight brightly illuminated all directions. The Oster, bathed in that bright sunlight, began to run at full speed towards the north, where the Symphonia Kingdom was located.