“One?” Kang Chul-In asked.

“Look.” Desdemona suddenly drew up a status window in front of Kang Chul-In.

The information on it was the following:

[Total ranking]

Rank 1- The Supreme King of the West, Kang Chul-In (most likely to become emperor!)

▶Required Lord Points to become emperor: 10,000 P

Rank 2- Overlord Lee Ji-Tae

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Rank 3- Overlord Lee Chae-Rin

Rank 4- Overlord Hecate

Rank 5- Overlord Dorian Explorer

※The remaining Overlords have passed away!

“Mm…” Kang Chul-In murmured to himself. “Just one left… Lee Ji-Tae? That guy that came out of nowhere?”

“Yeah.” Desdemona nodded. “He’s…”

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“Part of the Agnaga military.”

“...!”

“He’s probably Cereb. It’s obvious.”

The new Overlord who suddenly appeared, Lee Ji-Tae. Kang Chul-In already knew that the small fish was an Agnaga.

That meant…

“Y-You…!” Desdemona pointed at Kang Chul-In with surprise. “No way… the past…? You know what happened a long time ago?”

“Of course.”

“...!”

“Maybe even more than you.”

“R-Really?”

“I have all the memories of the Emperor of Blood and Iron. Isn’t that more than what you know?”

“Uh… yeah… I-I guess so…”

While the Emperor of Blood and Iron and Emilia were drawing the big picture a thousand years ago, Desdemona had been in hibernation, so there was no way she would know.

“T-Then…” Desdemona spoke up with shyness.

“What?”

“Y-You and I…”

“...!”

“My mom said to get… married to…”

“Enough.” Kang Chul-In quickly cut Desdemona off.

Dammit! He grinded his teeth. This was all because the Emperor of Blood and Iron had the “I don’t care as long as it’s not me” mindset.

“That’s not important right now.”magic

“Y-Yeah… t-that’s true…”

“My running mate is a dragon like you… what did Emilia see in you…”

“What!?”

“N-Never mind.”

He avoided Desdemona’s gaze.

Shit.

It wasn’t fair.

The Emperor of Blood and Iron’s running mate was the greatest dragon at the time, the Dragon Lord Emilia. Desdemona couldn’t be compared to her. Her ability as an ancient dragon couldn’t be looked down on, but she definitely wasn’t as strong as Emilia. It was understandable that Kang Chul-In was complaining.

Well, it’s better than nothing.

He decided not to grumble anymore. The head of the Agnaga, Rindermergel, wasn’t complete yet. He and Desdemona had it easier than the Emperor of Blood and Iron and Emilia, who had to face Rindermergel at his strongest. Because they hadn’t been able to take care of it a thousand years ago and it had to be repeated now. No, it was even worse. Back then, they had Emilia to create the system Erinyes, but not anymore.

There wouldn’t be a second chance.

“Anyways.” Kang Chul-In spoke up. “What you said about there only being one left… Were you talking about getting rid of Cereb?”

“Yeah.”“The key!”

“Wait.”

“What you’re thinking is probably right. Hehe…!” Desdemona smiled. “I’m the only key that can complete Erinyes forcefully. Even if you don’t stack up 10,000 points, you can become the emperor.”

“How?”

“The moment you take care of the virus, I mean Cereb, the ranking system will completely pause. It’ll be over. What do you think will happen then?”

“...!”

“You’ll naturally...”

“I...” Kang Chul-In continued where she left off. “I’ll become the emperor.”

“Yeah, that’s it!” She shouted with excitement. “So leave the completion of Erinyes to me, and you eliminate Cereb.”

“Oho.”

Everything fell into place.They would get rid of the virus (Cereb).Desdemona would forcefully stop the ranking system. After the ranking system was paused, Kang Chul-In would become emperor because he is ranked first (there wouldn’t be a need for him to gain the 10,000 points anymore).Erinyes would be completed from the birth of an emperor. Kang Chul-In would use the supplies from Erinyes to crush the newly resurrected Rindermergel. Yeah, this is it!

Kang Chul-In could feel it. This was the perfect plan to complete the unfinished work that was left behind.

“Let’s do that then.” Kang Chul-In grinned. “Amazing. As expected of my running mate.”

“You were just saying I’m not as powerful as my mom.”

“It is the truth, though.”

“Hey!” Desdemona shouted at his fact-filled attack. “T-That’s not fair…”

“There’s not enough time.”

“You bastard!”

Desdemona expressed her rage at Kang Chul-In but he was already far away.

Cereb. His head was only filled with thoughts about eliminating Cereb. Because… I’ll become the emperor soon.

Eliminating Cereb meant that his long-time ambition would finally be a reality!

***

Kang Chul-In planned to start right away. The method to get rid of the Agnaga army was too simple, eliminating Cereb. The only reason the Agnaga army was fearsome was because they were led by Cereb.

That meant…

“If I kill that one bug everything will become clean.”

The entire Agnaga army would disintegrate with Cereb’s death. This was also information that he gained from the Emperor of Blood and Iron’s memories. The emperor had suffered through many trials to learn the secret to how the Agnaga army was moved.

However, Kang Chul-In was different. He already knew it, and there was an easy way to solve it.

“I feel like it’s too easy…”

Kang Chul-In couldn’t help but feel that way because he was just putting the cherry on top of what the Emperor of Blood and Iron set up.

But…

“Who would do it if not me?”

He quickly shook those thoughts away. Who else would be able to continue with the Emperor of Blood and Iron’s work? Not just anyone could put the cherry on top. It was a cherry that only those who were toughened by hurdles and mountains could lift. If Kang Chul-In wasn’t strong, he wouldn’t even dare to attempt it.

“First…”

He looked around. A vein popped out of his forehead.

“Saturnus, that damned bastard.”

The Lord’s Hall was nightmarish. There were cracks everywhere, corpses of officials were lying on the ground, and there were also the bodies of knights and soldiers.

A bloodstained Lord’s Hall… His backyard was ruined, so of course Kang Chul-In would be furious.

“Get rid of this.”

Kang Chul-In kicked Saturnus’s body. Eliminating Cereb was important, but taking care of his messed-up backyard was first.

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