I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 30

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 30

While Uunga was busy teaching people in his realm, Levon was preparing for the upcoming invasion.

Currently, his lizard-like Oracle was leading an army across a large savannah.

"Keep moving, you wimps~! We s~till have four fields~ until we break!"

In front of the red lizardman was a massive army easily sporting 50,000 men. The ground shook from the steps of such a gigantic horde and the dry grass covering the mostly barren landscape was flattened as they advanced.

By this point, they had been traveling for over a month with nothing but bags of food that were steadily turning shallow. Feeding such a massive army was no easy feat- if it weren't for a few villages nearby that graciously supplied them with food, there would have been trouble long ago.

Unfortunately for them, the last village on their journey had been ransacked days ago and there was nowhere near enough wild okra to satiate the enormous quantity of men. The Oracle looked at the thin backs of the lizardmen in front of him with discontent.

"How much further until we reach the place?" the Oracle muttered.

A deep yet sharp voice resounded in his head in response.

"Quit your whining, Scar. You'll get there in six days if you cut through the swamp- eight if you go around it. I do not care what you do- just be ready in time for the start."

Levon stood in his domain watching over the march. He had a desk that was completely full of maps and scrolls which displayed parts of his realm in real-time. Still, he preferred simply watching the giant screen hanging on his domain's wall instead of sorting through all of them.

Despite his harsh attitude, the lizard was extremely satisfied with what his Oracle had achieved- mobilizing an army of over 50,000 men before any proper towns could be developed was an absurdly impressive feat.

In this primitive world, the lizardmen relied on their natural instincts. With the appearance of an incredibly strong figure in the form of an Oracle, the creatures naturally submitted after a few displays of strength. They had no idea where they were being forced to go after being ordered hundreds of miles away from their grassland, but not a single lizard present dared to question the Oracle or voice their discomfort. Those who had no longer walked among them.

As the Oracle was communicating with Levon, he spotted a smaller lizardman shift out of line and attempt to hide himself under some tall, dry grasses.

"Everyone s~stop!"

The army of 50,000 lizardmen immediately came to a halt with the shout from the Oracle.

Crunch. Crunch.

The dried grass crunched under the weight of the Scar's steps as he made his way to the side of the army. Every soldier that he passed tensed up- none even dared to let out a breath while in his sight.

The Oracle came to a halt once he towered over the cowering red figure lying in the brown grass.

"What do we have here?"

Crack!

"Gahhh!"

Scar stomped down onto the young lizard; its scales cracking under the weight of his foot.

"It s~seems we picked up a coward on our way!"

Thud!

With a hard kick, the lizard was sent flying before bouncing off the ground and skidding to a stop.

The Oracle slowly advanced on the collapsed lizardman, who was desperately trying to breathe while clasping its ribs with his mangled hand.

A shadow soon covered this pained body as a familiar red lizard with a black scar spanning from its mouth to its neck stood over him.

The fallen lizard was immediately grabbed by its head and lifted off the ground, forced to face the large army.

"P-please! I-"

"Quiet!"

"Argh!"

The Oracle snaped one of the lizardman's arms leaving it dangling at his side.

"Let this be a warning to the rest of you!" the Oracle brandished one of his claws at the neck of the lizard, "Fall out of line, and your head will roll."

"N-no! Do-"

Slice!

The body of the lizard fell to the ground with a thud, while the Oracle absently tossed the slain head over his shoulder and into the grass behind him.

Some lizards stared hopelessly at the scene, others looked away, and a few fought the urge to vomit at the sight. The sad reality is that this was a scene that had occurred more than a few times on their journey, yet it did not become any less intolerable along the way.

Scar made his way back behind the army- scanning the trembling creatures for any signs of disobedience.

"Keep moving," the lizard spat as he flicked his wrist sending drops of flood flinging off, "Don't s~slow me down."

The lizard Oracle was easily the strongest figure in Levon's realm, but he was still only one man and the journey so far had been filled with battles for control. What Levon just watched take place was simply one of many of these.

The ruler did not even flinch at the sight and simply sped up the passage of time instead. It may have been a barbaric display by his Oracle, but it was a necessary cruelty in his quest for domination. There could be no unity without fear and the loss of a few men was a worthwhile sacrifice for such purpose.

Besides, fewer mouths to feed would not be too problematic.

Their food supply is getting dangerously thin... but it should be enough to last them until the gate opens. It wlll not be an issue once Scar can plunder those scaleless weaklings.

Levon continued to think to himself as he watched the group march around the swamp and head toward the desert in the center of the invader buffer zone- where the gateway to Jacob's realm would open.

He expected them to be immediately met with a large force of humans upon crossing into the defending realm, yet there was not a hint of worry on his face.

Those weaklings with no scales or claws to speak of will not stand a chance against my army of lizardmen.

"Our god commanded us to-"

"To what? Die!?" the lizardman interrupted the Oracle and screamed loudly for the rest of the troops to hear, "Whether it's from you or from the cold we will die either way! I may as well leave a scratch on the moron who brought us here!"

Whether it was due to them getting courage from this lizard's words or because of the inevitability of the outcome, the 50,000 soldiers all turned toward the Oracle.

"Screw it!"

"I won't die lying down!"

"He can't stop all of us!"

The giant crowd slowly advanced closer to the Oracle guarding the giant portal with fiery glares that contrasted vividly against the freezing environment.

"G-get back! All of you! We need to repay our-" Scar desperately called out while waving his claws.

"Everyone charge!"

"Make a run for it!"

"Tear off his scales!"

The snow around the portal was soon dyed red.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

"THAT CHEAP COWARD!"

Levon slammed his fists down onto his desk and threw his scrolls across his domain.

"WHAT KIND OF BULL-"

Levon's rampage lasted several minutes with nonstop profanities and several punches. If the chair and desk hadn't been indestructible, they would have been reduced to rubble by the end of it.

While trembling with anger, the lizard glared at the chaos being displayed on the screen.

Since his Oracle was outside of his own domain, Levon was only able to see through Scar's eyes rather than have a movable view like he usually had access to.

All of the work that he and his Oracle had done to gather an unstoppable force had been for nothing- it had been no match for the winter wasteland that greeted them on the other side of the portal.

The 50,000-member strong army was being shredded apart by his own Oracle in front of his eyes.

Ferguson's words once again echoed through his mind.

Slam!

His fist hit the desk again.

The lizardmen's movements were extremely sluggish because of the cold; their body temperature was rapidly decreasing with no semblance of protection from the freezing environment.

It was in part due to this that the army was slain so easily by the Oracle whose body could withstand the cold to a reasonable degree thanks to his divinity.

Despite the carnage, Levon did not bother to order Scar to stop the killing. He knew that even if Scar let them through the portal, they would almost certainly starve to death long before reaching any settlements.

Fire burned in the lizard's eyes- had the ruler been at the battlefield, the snow would have surely melted.

That scaleless wimp did not even have the balls to fight me head-on!

Levon clenched his fist with pure rage as his army rapidly shrank in size.

"It does not matter. I only need one man to rip apart your weak lifeforms, anyway," he growled.

After an hour passed, the only thing displayed on the screen were corpses. Half were torn apart while the rest had frozen before they had the chance to die at his hands.

Steam filled the Oracle's eyes from his heavy breathing.

"...I am s~sorry, my god. I have failed you." Scar muttered while gazing at the carnage below his feet.

"You have not failed me yet," the deep yet sharp voice he had grown so familiar with denied his apology.

"...What do you mean? I have killed them all, my god!"

"So what? Who cares if they are dead- 50,000 of them combined could barely even leave a wound on you! If the very beings made in my image could not defeat you- how could any of the weaklings in this pitiful world do so?" The voice paused before continuing, "I saved- I selected you for a reason. I picked one who could bring glory to my name. Unless you are saying that I made a mistake in who I chose?"

"No- you are right. I apologize, I lost s~sight, my god- I will prove your choice correct!"

"Good. Tear this wretched world apart just as you did your comrades! Dye the land in the blood of those who do not call my name!"

While he was not destroying his domain, Levon had spent the past hour trying to figure out how to approach this.

With a bit of hesitation, he decided to direct his Oracle to the north.

I never thought that annoying sheep would say something so useful.

During one of the geography lectures, the sheep instructor mentioned the cold phenomenon that occurs around the poles of a realm. With this in mind, there could only be two options on how to escape this frozen wasteland; either by going north or by going south.

Levon had no way of knowing which pole the portal was located near, however, so he had to take a gamble.

Even if he guessed wrong, it would only delay the inevitable. His Oracle was strong enough to withstand the cold and he still had one last bag of okra that he hoarded to supply him on the journey.

"Just you wait, human," Levon muttered as he watched his Oracle travel deeper into the white frost, "I will make you pay for this humiliation with your life!"