ushernet Chapter 252 : Chapter 252
Chapter 252 : Chapter 252
Geheram was digging the ground frantically.He was so focused that he had even forgotten to drink water.
“Chieftain!”
“We came to rescue you!”
Then, from somewhere above, voices that sounded strangely familiar reached his ears.
‘Am I hearing things?’
Geheram looked around at the warriors who were digging with him.
The warriors who had been working the ground also turned their eyes toward him.
“Chieftain, I think I hear voices outside.”
“It sounds like other warriors came to rescue us.”
Hearing their words, Geheram’s expression hardened.
“Nonsense. Keep digging. Everyone’s mental discipline has gotten lax lately.”
That rebuke included himself as well.
Scolding his own weakness, Geheram drove his shovel back into the ground.
‘Geheram. Have you already grown weak?’
Digging through sand, breaking through rock layers together with the mages, he had been tearing into the earth without rest.
And yet, not a single drop of water had appeared.
Was there really water in this dry, crumbling land?
Even though he had steeled his resolve, doubt sometimes crept in.
Each time it did, he blamed his own weakness.
Weakness.
It was testing him again.
When the Horizon Knights had taken their oasis.
When he had led his tribe wandering the desert without direction, agonizing countless times over whether to return north.
Since leaving the northern oasis, he had not slept properly even once.
During those sleepless nights, the chieftain of the Kau tribe realized what the problem was.
It was all because he, the chieftain, was weak.
‘If I cannot even keep a single resolve like this, how can I ever escape weakness!’
Geheram was sick of his own frailty.
Water would come.
It would come, one way or another.
It was truly strange, but he felt certain of it.
Perhaps he was being manipulated by that suspicious owner of the griffin.
Even so, it did not matter.
Geheram had seen hope in that man.
The hope that water would come if they simply dug.
Even if it took time, he had no intention of giving up.
If water truly came.
If it came at all!
The future would change, not only for his tribe, but for all Lizardmen.
‘I will see this through. No matter what.’
At first, it was true that he had hoped warriors from other tribes would come to rescue them.
But not anymore.
Until he saw water, Geheram had no intention of leaving this place.
“Um… Chieftain.”
As he was steadying his resolve, two warriors approached him hesitantly.
They were the ones who had arrived a little late that morning.
With faces full of guilt, they watched Geheram’s expression and spoke.
“We actually met Lord Ian Rau earlier. He said he came to rescue the prisoners…”
“We ran away at the time, but it was definitely Lord Ian.”
Geheram was dumbfounded by their words.
“What?”
Why would they bring up something that important only now?
Geheram’s pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
“How could you wait until now to tell me that!”
“Well, it is true that we are prisoners… but if we told the mages, Lord Ian might be captured.”
“So we did not know what to do and kept quiet. We are sorry, Chieftain.”
Geheram let out a sigh.
Their reasoning was not without merit.
If they followed Ian Rau, who had come to rescue them, they would have to stop digging.
But they also could not tell the humans about his presence.
Geheram understood all too well the helplessness that had driven them to flee in silence.
“I am truly sorry to Lord Ian Rau, but we are going to dig, no matter what.”
“That is right. Even our dreams last night were especially good. Today feels different.”
The resolve of the warriors working alongside him was just as sincere as Geheram’s own.
Seeing their firm expressions, Geheram found himself at a loss for words.
That was when it happened.
CLANG!
“Seize them!”
“It is the Lizardman warriors!”
The clash of weapons echoed from outside the pit.
It seemed the warriors who had come to rescue them were fighting.
‘But I cannot stop now.’
He did not know why, but today felt different.
He even had a premonition that it would not be long now.
Geheram looked at the warriors standing before him.
Their eyes reflected the same resolve as his own.
“Everyone, lift your shovels.”
Geheram said as he picked his shovel back up.
The Lizardman warriors who had paused at the noise outside all turned toward him at once.
“We cannot stop now. The goal is right in front of us.”
The warriors nodded with determined expressions.
And at the moment every Lizardman grasped their shovel—
TATTER.
Someone slid down a rope ladder and leapt into the pit.
The first son of the Great Chieftain.
Ian Rau.
***
‘At this point, there is no choice. Support the other warriors here. I will use the chaos to take the remaining prisoners and get out.’
The Lizardman shaman recalled Ian Rau’s words as he prepared his spell.
“O God Nava…!”
The incantation he chanted called upon the power of Nava, the god of the Lizardmen, filling the warriors’ bodies with vitality.
When the spell took effect, their strength increased, their feet grew faster, and they tired far less easily.
Their skin hardened, allowing them to withstand enemy attacks.
“Protect the warriors!”
As the spell was completed, the power of God Nava flowed into the Lizardman warriors.
Feeling the surging strength within them, the warriors roared.
“The blessing of God Nava is with us!”
“Warriors! The time has come to save our kin and repay our humiliation!”
“Uoooo!”
Not only the Kau tribe warriors, but also those Ian Rau had brought with him had joined the fight.
Seeing the considerable number of Lizardman warriors, an intrigued expression appeared on Radel’s face.
He seemed especially interested in the Lizardman shaman.
“Gusto, could that Lizardman be something like a priest of the Supreme Deity Order?”
Gusto shook his head as he watched the shaman.
“He serves God Nava, so there are similarities, but he is different from us. I hear he mainly uses spells that strengthen Lizardman warriors.”
Priests and holy knights of the Supreme Deity Order primarily used divine magic focused on healing and purification.
In contrast, the Lizardman shaman seemed specialized in buffs for warriors.
‘Strengthening warriors…’
Indeed, as the shaman cast his spell, Radel could clearly see the Lizardman warriors growing stronger and faster.
“That is good.”
Radel’s eyes gleamed.
If they captured that shaman and made him cast spells on the prisoners, labor efficiency would increase.
“We should capture him immediately and throw him into the pit. Then the Lizardmen will dig twice as fast.”
“As expected of Your Highness. A wise decision.”
Gusto nodded in agreement.
‘What?’
Leo, who had come out with Radel’s group to repel the Lizardman attack, overheard their conversation and shuddered.
‘Why do they sound eager about this!’
No matter how brutal the Horizon Knights were said to be in the desert, even they did not think in terms of capturing prisoners just to squeeze labor out of them like this.
The more Leo learned about Radel, the more chilled he became.
And what was with that apprentice holy knight nodding along so calmly?
‘Are all mages insane?’
Leo’s misunderstanding of mages only deepened.
***
Ian Rau was bewildered as he looked at the Kau tribe Lizardmen.
Despite the fact that he had come personally to rescue them, not a single one of them was willing to put down their shovel.
‘What is this…!’
It was completely outside his expectations.
Above all, he could not understand the actions of Geheram, the Kau tribe’s chieftain.
A chieftain who made no move to rescue his warriors and only kept digging.
“What are you doing, Geheram? Can you not hear me?”
Ian Rau shouted toward him.
“You need to get out of here immediately!”
But Geheram did not budge.
THUD!
He simply lifted his shovel and drove it into the ground again.
His movements were disciplined, as if this was not his first or second day doing such work.
The other warriors were no better.
CLANG!
If a shovel struck something hard, they would pause briefly to check the ground, but they did not even spare Ian Rau a glance.
‘Something is wrong.’
Ian Rau’s anger flared at how much more serious the situation was than he had thought.
The Lizardmen who had fled from him that morning, and now Geheram, who would not move even when rescue arrived.
How thoroughly had humans brainwashed them!
Since words were useless, it seemed force was the only option.
‘I will start by beating Geheram into his senses.’
Lizardmen followed the strong.
If he defeated Geheram here, the others would surely wake up as well.
“Geheram. I challenge you to a duel.”
Ian Rau issued the challenge in a firm voice.
“If you will not leave on your own, then I will make you leave.”
SHING.
Ian Rau drew his sword.
True to being the Great Chieftain’s son, he was among the most outstanding warriors of all the Lizardmen.
The sharp killing intent he released bore down on Geheram.
In response, the other Lizardman warriors stepped forward, blocking Ian Rau with their shovels.
“We are sorry, Lord Ian. But we cannot stop now.”
“Please do not blame the chieftain.”
Have they all gone completely mad together?
Ian Rau glared at them with a murderous expression.
“Why are you acting like this!”
Even in the face of his fury, the warriors did not retreat.
“There is water beneath us.”
Ian Rau ground his teeth.
“Stop spouting nonsense.”
“It is true!”
Unable to contain himself, Ian Rau struck the warrior who had spoken.
THUD!
“…It is true. There is water down there!”
The warrior did not stop.
Ian Rau spat the words out as if crushing them.
“Do you really think that makes any sense?”
His voice trembled.
“There is no place left in the Carmine Desert where water flows! We searched for years. From the moment the oasis dried up…!”
Ian, along with the northern Lizardmen, had done everything they could to stop the disappearance of water.
When they realized it was impossible, they searched the entire desert again.
Hoping, just in case, that another oasis might exist.
‘It was a futile hope.’
How could water come out just by digging?
In land made of nothing but sand and stone, how could that be possible?
Ian Rau had been forced to accept the dark future awaiting the Lizardmen.
No matter how much he struggled, only despair remained.
“Stop this ridiculous talk!”
CLANG!
Ian Rau’s furious sword was blocked by a shovel handle.
The warriors surged forward to stop him.
And in the midst of that chaos, Geheram continued digging deeper.
BANG!
Warriors fell.
Even knowing that, Geheram did not waver and lifted his shovel again.
“You are being deceived!”
Having thrown the warriors aside, Ian Rau roared as he charged toward Geheram.
BOOM!
Geheram knew this would be the final shovel strike he could make.
Then he would pour every last bit of strength he had into it.
BANG!
Gathering all of his remaining power, he brought the shovel down into the earth.
“Geheram!”
At that moment, the rock sealing the ground split apart, and water burst forth.
ROOOOOSH!
Ian Rau, who had been rushing toward Geheram, froze in shock.