"Old man, that's terrifying."
Ogerpon looked at the blood-soaked ground, her expression one of disgust.
"Ah, my apologies."
Hakurou was a bit embarrassed. After all, Ogerpon was still a 'minor' girl.
Letting her witness such a gruesome scene was inappropriate.
"But it's not really our turn anymore, is it?"
Ogerpon glanced around. With the Royal Guard's intervention, the orc numbers were dwindling at an alarming rate.
"Gelmud!!"
On the other side, Gabiru, taking advantage of Shion's assault, pinpointed Gelmud's location.
"Why?"
"Why are you doing this?"
Gabiru demanded, "Are you truly abandoning the lizardman tribe?"
"Shut up!!"
Gelmud had long grown fed up with Gabiru's idiocy.
The fool couldn't see the situation for what it was... utterly laughable.
"Take him out!"
"Ord Lord!!"
Gelmud set his sights on Gabiru, who was rampaging through the orc ranks.
After all, Gabiru was a monster he had named.
Devouring him would surely grant the Ord Lord a significant boost in magicules.
"What?"
At Gelmud's command, the orc army parted, creating a path.
And at its end, the massive, imposing figure of the Ord Lord came into Gabiru's view.
"Ord Lord!!!"
Seeing him, Gabiru didn't hesitate. He gripped his trident and charged with blinding speed.
A torrent of water gathered around the trident, forming a water dragon that propelled Gabiru toward the Ord Lord.
Clang!!
But faced with Gabiru's desperate strike, the Ord Lord's response was almost casual.
Merely raising his axe, he neutralized Gabiru's attack as if it were a stream flowing back to the sea.
"What?"
Water splashed everywhere, and Gabiru's pupils constricted.
He tried to retreat, but the Ord Lord's killing intent locked onto him, leaving no escape.
The Ord Lord reached out with his free hand, seizing Gabiru by the neck and hoisting the comparatively frail lizardman into the air.
"Ughhh~"
Gabiru struggled desperately, but the suffocating sensation enveloped him like a spider's web.
His trident fell to the ground. All he could do was instinctively kick and claw at the Ord Lord.
Crunch!
But the Ord Lord ignored Gabiru's resistance, opening his maw and biting into his shoulder.
"Ah!!!"
The next moment, amid the sounds of snapping bones and spurting blood, Gabiru's suppressed roars filled the air as the Ord Lord tore off his shoulder and swallowed his entire arm.
And that wasn't the end.
After the arm came the pelvis and leg.
At that moment, Gabiru was like a cookie, first nibbled at the top right, then the bottom right.
In just two bites, half of Gabiru's body became the Ord Lord's meal.
Swish!
But in Gabiru's moment of despair, a crimson figure sped in from beyond the mountain pass.
The near-dead Gabiru saw only a flash of blood-red light.
The next moment, the Ord Lord's hand, gripping Gabiru, was severed at the wrist by an invisible blade.
Thud!
Thud, thud!
The sudden interruption forced the Ord Lord to stagger back a few steps.
He glanced at his severed wrist, then at the newcomer.
She was a girl of sixteen or seventeen.
Her jet-black hair flowed, and she wore azure armor. A pair of dragon horns atop her head glowed with a celestial light, illuminating the dark world.
Gurgle~~
The Ord Lord's severed wrist writhed, regenerating the lost hand almost instantly.
"You are…"
Gabiru lay on the ground, teetering on the edge of death.
"I won't let you die in this monster's jaws."
"Your sins," Souka said, glaring at Gabiru with icy eyes, "will be judged by me personally!"
Gabiru's death was inevitable.
This patricidal traitor, who led the lizardmen to this dire fate, had to answer to the tribe and to Damien.
"You!!"
Gelmud, hovering in the sky, sensed the magical aura emanating from Souka. "The female lizardman from before!"
"How is this possible?!"
"Why do you look like that?"
Souka's appearance diverged from the original story.
Due to her ambition, she wasn't saved by Souei but was guided by Damien to join his ranks.
This allowed her evolution to be more complete, transforming her from a mere lizardman into the Dragon Lord, wielding authority over the sky, storms, thunder, and day and night.
"You're the one who deserves to die!!"
If Gabiru was merely deceived and foolish, then Gelmud was the true murderer of her father.
Seeing him, Souka wanted nothing more than to tear him to pieces!
"She got here fast."
On the other side, Shion and the kijin noticed Souka's arrival.
Not just her... more Dragonewt joined the battlefield.
Though their appearances had changed, the essence of their magicules remained the same.
After initial confusion and fear, the lizardmen quickly recognized their kin.
"Tch!"
Shion clicked her tongue, reluctantly ordering, "Pull back your strength for now. Prioritize protecting the lizardmen."
The situation had changed.
Before, the lizardmen were unrelated to the Monster Kingdom, disposable extras.
But now, with Souka and the others' arrival, they were officially under Damien's banner.
The kijin, including Shion, could no longer treat them with the same indifference.
"Everyone, gather here!!"
The four Dragon Lords stood between the lizardmen and the orc army. They didn't unleash offensive techniques.
Instead, they raised their arms, erecting an invisible barrier to halt the orcs' advance.
"What in the world is happening?!"
"Dragonewt?"
"Where did Dragonewt come from in this forest?!"
Gelmud couldn't comprehend where this group of Dragonewt had come from.
And Souka!
How could this mere female lizardman evolve to such a state in so little time?
In Gelmud's eyes, the magicules radiating from Souka already surpassed his own.
How could he not be shocked... terrified, even!
"Ord Lord!!"
Especially when he saw Souka's intent to attack, Gelmud nearly lost his soul to fear.
***
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