"Hiss~ It's been taken care of."

As the lizardman executioner gave his report, Karakapapa squinted and nodded... This prophet had never gotten along with him, and if he hadn't been highly respected in the territory, he would have been dealt with long ago.

Now, his biggest worry has been solved.

"Okay~ I understand, you can go now..."

As Karakapapa spoke, he remained quietly in the Lord's Hall... He was different from the previous lizardman leader, whose hall was always filled with all sorts of beautiful lizardman women.

But he was different. He knew all too well how wine and women could corrupt a lizardman, after all, he was the one who had easily challenged and defeated the former leader.

As a lizardman who has transcended base desires, Karakapapa has little interest in beautiful women or fine wine, nor does he enjoy crowds; he prefers to be alone as a lizardman.

To reiterate, he is a lizardman who has abandoned lowbrow tastes.

Compared to these material pleasures, he preferred... more novel material pleasures, such as elven female slaves, and if possible, he would also be willing to accept dragons or high-ranking succubi.

However, those high-level races are too high, exceeding his economic level and the capture capabilities of most slave trading guilds. So, elven slaves are better... It will only take another three or four months to buy one.

The more a race genuinely feels weak, the more inferior it becomes, and thus the more it urgently needs to prove its nobility. This might involve angrily arguing with others, or it might involve suppressing the originally superior race.

It doesn't matter how much the other person hates or looks down on you... all they care about is their own inner victory.

Whenever he thought of that scene, a subtle smile would appear on his usually cruel face. This was the dream of the lizardman leader named Karakapapa.

That was the upper limit of his dreams, the limit that was all.

...

"Chief! Something's happened!!!"

While Karakapapa was still lost in his own thoughts, an anxious shout came from outside the lord's hall, which annoyed him. However, as a leader, he calmly asked, "Hiss~ What happened?"

Karakapapa reviewed the situation in his mind. The cactus farm had a good harvest recently, and there shouldn't be any problems with the chicken farm... For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

It was as ominous as the prophet's foretells.

"Hiss~ Golems! More than a dozen golems have appeared..."

The lizardman was only halfway through his sentence.

"Boom!! Boom! Boom... Boom!!!"

After several loud booms, and with a final, deafening sound, Karakapapa felt a tremor that could be felt even in the Lord's Hall.

But more than that, he was concerned about the words of the lizardman who was giving the report.

"A golem?! But that should belong to the Demon King..."

With hissing and tongue lolling out in nervousness, Karakapapa pushed open the door to the Lord's Hall, only to see the ruins of the territory's walls and golems crawling out of the collapsed rubble.

Of course, there were also countless headless knights standing in a menacing line behind the ruins, while in the center were the insectoids who had arrived... The distance was too great for him to see the exact number.

However, the number is certainly not small.

"The Demon King's army? But..."

In an instant, Karakapapa thought of many things. He instantly understood why he had provoked the Demon King's army, but... as far as he knew, he was not the most outrageous one, so why was he the first to suffer?

Furthermore, why would that Satan Ye have the courage to attack? It's impossible...

"What are the scouts doing? Hiss!!"

Knowing he was doomed, Karakapapa spoke angrily, completely bewildered as to why they couldn't see the approaching army from such a great distance.

Golems are very slow, and even with the headless riders transporting them, their size means they can be detected from a very, very far distance.

Although, if the Demon King's territory truly wanted to eliminate the rebels, then knowing about it earlier wouldn't have mattered...

"..."

"Ah... Ahhhhh..."

However, the lizardman subordinate beside him was speechless. The lizardman's eyes were wide open, almost popping out of their sockets, as he stared in shock at the distant sky.

His face was filled with terror and disbelief, as if he had seen the most horrible thing in the world, filled with despair and fear. His body trembled, emitting meaningless cries: "Ahhhhh... Ahhh... Ah..."

Not understanding what he was doing, Kalakapapa gritted his teeth and looked up in the direction the other person was staring at.

"Who are you?!"

"..."

Then, in that instant, Karakapapa saw it too, and in that instant, he realized why the lizardmen's territory was so quiet now—a silence as if everyone had died in that instant.

In the air over there, two people were flying—one of them was the young scarlet dragon demon king, her face stubborn, as if she was organizing her thoughts to decide what to say.

And the other person...

"..."

He suppressed it desperately, the name stuck in Karakapapa's throat, unable to escape... That monster was without a doubt...

That governor, with the wings of a scarlet dragon, who plundered and devoured the venerable former Demon King, was that demon who struck fear into the hearts of all… Yes… Yes… Yes…

Completely frozen in place, Kalakapapa stared furiously at the indifferent man flying in the air, feeling as if he would roar out the man's name in utter rage.

However, he failed... He lacked the magnanimity to do so.

“Ira…Ira Elkaras…”

Finally, from Karakapapa's mouth, he uttered words that sounded like despair and a sob. He looked at Ira in the sky, and at that very moment, Ira also looked in his direction.

"Gurgle...gurgle..."

Even the courage to swallow was lost in that instant.

Two pairs of eyes met; the amber-colored lizardman's eyes were bloodshot with fear, while the human's black eyes remained calm.

Like the calm and undisturbed gaze of a small, alert reptile looking up, it was as still as a stagnant pool of water.