Emperor! Can You See Stats!?

Chapter 89: Negotiation or Threat

Crash!

As soon as Eurius’s intangible sword hit the old man in a surprise attack, a loud noise erupted and the room was turned into a mess by the aftermath.

‘I managed to land a hit, but I didn’t feel any resistance.’

He frowned and quickly retreated. 

He was wearing a mask, so the other party hadn’t recognized his face yet. 

He had to get out of there before they did.

As Eurius expected, as soon as he moved back, the old man’s withered hand closed the distance with a terrifying speed. 

Eurius swiftly raised his sword to block it. Or so he thought.

Whoosh

“…!?”

To his astonishment, the force that was covering his sword disappeared in an instant. 

He was lucky that he twisted his body in time to avoid it, or he would have been hit right in the chest.

Normally, someone of Eurius’s caliber could condense force in an instant and protect any part of his body, but that was easily ignored and his clothes were reduced to dust by a slight touch. 

It was certain that if he touched that hand, his force barrier and everything else would be disintegrated.

‘What a monstrous old man.’

Eurius decided that there was no point in fighting any longer after exchanging one move with him. Fortunately, only the old man could detect him and he wasn’t faster than him.

Bang!

Eurius broke the door of the temple in a hurry and ran away without looking back.

“…!?”

The agents of Azure Dragon Clan who were waiting outside were stunned when Eurius suddenly popped out of nowhere. 

He was wearing a mask, so they couldn’t see his expression.

“Get out of here as fast as you can.”

“…”

Luckily, the old man didn’t come out of the temple and Eurius was able to escape safely.

***

“You should have been more careful. You disappointed me again.”

Ismail blinked his wrinkled eyes and interrogated Jamir. 

He had no choice but to kneel down and beg for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry.”

“Who was that intruder?”

“He seemed to be related to the East by his attire. Come to think of it, there were some Easterners among the first prince’s entourage.”

“The East?”

Ismail’s eyes changed subtly. 

The East was actually an area where the Order had a deep influence.

Besides, the average level of martial artists in the East was higher than in this continent. 

That would explain the intruder’s identity. 

Jamir hadn’t been idle either.

‘It seems that there are others who are trying to hinder me besides Karim.’

“It’s possible that Karim has joined hands with the enemies of the East. Or it could be surprisingly the first prince.”

At Jamir’s words, Ismail made a grim expression.

“Isn’t it your original goal to get rid of both of them? Just do it at once.”

He had absolute confidence in his power. But Jamir seemed to have a different idea.

“I’m sorry, master. But I need you to wait a little longer. It wouldn’t be hard for you to take the emperor’s life if you step in yourself, but it’s for the sake of the future event.”

“Hmm…”

Ismail rolled his gray eyes as if he was thinking for a moment.

“After all, Parthia was under your jurisdiction. If you have a specific plan, tell me.”

In fact, if there was a martial artist who could escape from his grasp as the archbishop of the Order, it wasn’t entirely Jamir’s fault.

‘Phew! It seems that I have one more chance.’

Jamir was relieved and kept smiling as he started to tell his plan.

“This time, if we do well, we can put Parthia under the Order’s control completely, following Calihara.”

***

Meanwhile, Eurius was in a dilemma.

‘I really got unlucky this time.’

His problem was the old man named Ismail, who was suspected to be the leader of the Order.

‘He has the most annoying abilities for me.’

Strictly speaking, the old man’s skill itself was not much different from Eurius’s. 

No, if anything, he had an advantage because of the player’s bonus.

‘But the compatibility is too bad.’

First of all, he had an eye that could see through his counterattack, which made half of his advantage disappear. 

And then there was that ‘Hand of Decay’ trait that was equally annoying.

His biggest strength was attacking from an undetectable angle, but Ismail could sense his attacks and easily block them. On the other hand, he couldn’t block his attacks.

‘If only I had a different type of superhuman.’

For example, if he was like Nuada who had keen senses, he could have fought him in a close combat by giving up some flesh and taking some bones. 

Or if he was like Duke Dios, a top-tier superhuman, he could have dealt with him without clashing swords.

‘But I’m not.’

Of course, if he teamed up with others, he could somehow handle him, but that would cause too much damage to his allies. Eurius wanted to avoid that situation.

‘I guess I have to change the plan a little.’

Eurius thought he had brought enough forces with him, but he had to modify his plan because of an unexpected enemy.

“Call Wallace.”

Wallace thought he was called because of the alliance as soon as he came and opened his mouth impatiently.

“Didn’t I tell you? Karim will never agree to an alliance.”

“I told you before, there won’t be any harm to the duke because of this envoy. Or do you doubt my word?”

“…”

Wallace couldn’t say anything and shut his mouth. Then Eurius smiled and told him the real reason why he called him.

“First of all, you have connections as a grand duke, so you have to make a meeting place with Karim.”

“It won’t be difficult, but…”

“And listen carefully. There’s something else you have to do for me.”

“…!?”

Wallace was shocked by Eurius’s whisper.

“Do you intend to assassinate him at the meeting place?”

“Hey! Do you see me as such a barbaric person?”

‘No? You’re capable of doing even more vicious things!’

Wallace cursed in his mind, but he had to move quickly.

Watching him, Eurius had another thought. 

In fact, even if it wasn’t for this unexpected situation, he wanted to meet Karim once and ask him something.

‘If my guess is right, I might be able to solve one of the secrets of my previous life in the south.’

Meanwhile, Karim couldn’t help but be wary when Eurius requested a meeting through Wallace, of all people.

‘He asked for an assassination and now he wants to meet the target? How suspicious.’

But this palace was like his own backyard. Karim was confident that he could handle any situation here.

“Lead them to the Sandpit Room.”

His attendant flinched for a moment. 

That was the place where Karim liked to eliminate his enemies.

“I’ll prepare everything.”

The Sandpit was literally a swamp of sand. 

Once you fell in there, you couldn’t get out unless you were very lucky.

It didn’t need much explanation why he called someone to such a place.

“I hope nothing goes wrong. Karim is a decisive person. I heard that only Prince Jamir survived among those who crossed him. Your Majesty is a martial artist, so you can protect yourself, but this old man is…”

“If you keep talking like that, my ears will get sore! Do I have to stake my name on it?”

While bickering with Wallace who kept nagging in his ear, Eurius was led to a secret room in the palace. 

Except for him and Wallace, he only brought two guards with him.

“What a nice room. It’s splendid and has some charm.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but let’s hear your purpose first. You clearly said you would refuse. What’s your reason for calling me?”

Karim responded coldly to Eurius’s praise.

“You’re supposed to be a cautious person, but don’t you think you’re judging too quickly? Isn’t it basic etiquette to hear my terms first?”

‘He talks well and seems to have some skills, but he reminds me of Jamir.’

Karim sneered inwardly. 

He had done a lot of research on Eurius as well. 

He couldn’t be careless, but how much could an emperor offer?

“Wallace. Give him that.”

“Ah… Yes.”

Wallace looked anxiously at Karim and Eurius and took out a few documents from his pocket. He handed them over and Eurius smiled.

“These are our terms.”

“…!?”

Karim wasn’t surprised when he saw the documents. He had anticipated this situation to some extent when Eurius brought Wallace with him.

“You think you can threaten me with just this?”

‘He didn’t even get angry as I expected. He’s more calm than I thought.’

It was rather Eurius who admired him slightly. 

The documents contained detailed reports on Karim’s key allies and troops who were colluding with Wallace.

It was a situation where he was stabbed in the back, but he maintained his composure like that. Did he have a way to silence them?

But Eurius provocatively challenged him instead.

“Who do you think I should tell this to? For example, your brother Jamir would be good…”

Karim cut him off coldly without listening to the rest.

“You won’t be able to get out of here alive!”

Thud!

The floor of the secret room where Eurius was standing suddenly collapsed.

“Hmm?”

The floor below was all coarse sand. In an instant, they were buried up to their waists in sand.

Shriek.

At the same time, dozens of sharp blades sprang up from the wall. 

The mechanism on the wall turned and revealed the elite warriors that Karim had hidden around them.

‘See? I told you Karim was dangerous!’

Wallace trembled like a leaf as he protested to Karim. He didn’t expect him to threaten Eurius, an emperor, like this.

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Of course I do.”

Karim’s expression didn’t change much, but he had a clear intention behind his actions.

‘If the first prince or the empire is threatening me with this, it means that they already have my information in one of their ears.’

It seemed reckless to trap Eurius, an emperor, in such a way, but it was undeniable that he had sent his army to the empire.

‘If it’s going to be exposed anyway, I might as well take him hostage.’

The current emperor of the empire loved Eurius, the first prince, very much. 

If he held him hostage, he would negotiate rather than send his army to the desert and start a war.

Even if Eurius colluded with Jamir and threatened him, it was the same! Jamir was also someone he had to get rid of anyway. Why would he spare an ally of his enemy?

In this way, Karim’s response was very quick and accurate in this crisis situation.

In this environment where they were stuck in sand up to their waists, the knights in armor were slowed down. On the other hand, his elite warriors were very familiar with fighting on the Sandpit.

Karim thought that two guards and one emperor couldn’t escape from this situation.

“If you don’t resist, you won’t get hurt.”

But this time, he had a bad opponent.

“I’ll return those words to you.”

“…!?”

In an instant, two of the guards behind Eurius were flung away by a blast of sand.

In fact, such sand was no obstacle at all for knights above a certain level. Of course, the two that Eurius brought with him were both people who exceeded that standard by far.

Two streaks of light-like attacks flew towards the desert warriors. The first one was a sword! It was Beatrice.

“Argh!”

Blood and screams followed the trail of her sword wherever it went.

The other one was no less formidable. 

The second one was Jegal Geon. 

He wielded a short spear instead of a sword, and the spear pierced through anything it aimed at, whether it was a steel blade or tough leather, leaving gaping holes behind.

‘How can this be…’

Karim’s cold expression had long been shattered as he watched the situation around him.

A few moments later, the soundproofed room prevented any noise from leaking outside, but the situation inside was gruesome.

“Ugh…”

Dozens of warriors were groaning on the floor, all of them battered and bruised in one place or another.

“I didn’t kill them, so don’t be too angry.”

Karim looked at Eurius with disbelief. His warriors were among the elite in the desert.

But they were all subdued by just two people in less than ten minutes.

“What do you want from me?”

‘If only you had listened to me when I spoke. But this was a situation where a show of force was necessary.’

Eurius muttered to himself and then opened his mouth.

“It seems like you’re finally willing to listen to what I have to say.”

“Is this a negotiation, or a threat?”

Karim felt absurd. 

From the beginning, he had provoked him with his political weaknesses, and then he had beaten up his warriors and now he wanted to negotiate.

But his answer was different from what he expected again. Eurius smiled and replied.

“It’s both.”