Cocytus could not believe what he just heard: apparently a huge army was moving in the direction of the lizardmen's village.

This could not be a coincidence, so he inquired about the enemy's composition to the Wraith, who replied that they were an eterogeneous group with mostly composed by demihumans who looked like bipedal frogs.

When Zaryusu heard that he hissed the name of that species with hate: "The toadmen!".

Sensing that his subordinate knew who those invaders were Cocytus decided to question him.

Apparently they were bitter enemies of the lizardmen with whom they fought in the past for the control of the lake and who were able to win after a bloody battle.

Once he knew that they had trouble defeating the lizardmen Cocytus was able to relax since that meant they were not a threat for the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

At the same time an idea struck him: he had lost the first battle against the lizardmen because he lacked experience in commanding forces of similar strength with the opponent and because he underestimated them.

This howeve was a perfect chance to test his true worth as a general by using the lizardmen rather than Nazarick's overpowered troops to win against a foe as strong as them.

It was also an excellent way to further improve camaraderie between the lizardmen who were only bound by desperation against an overwhelming opponent, since they could fight while being ensured that Nazarick would defend their home regardless of the outcome.

The insectoid Guardian was certain this was a chance sent from the Heavens to completely wash away the stain of his previous defeat, so he silently thanked the 41 Supreme Beings for such an occasion.

He turned himself towards Zaryusu who expected him to say that he would send Nazarick's forces to deal with them.

"We. Shall. Defeat. Them. With. Only. The. Lizardmen's. Strength!"

Then before the surprised lizardmen could say anything Cocytus activated a skill.

Zaryusu then suddenly found himself in the middle of nowhere...

No, that was not accurate: Cocytus had activated a teleport skill towards the shores of the lake a few kilometers away from the lizardmen village.

From there they could hear the sounds of the toadmen army who was slowly but inesorably approaching.

The Guardian faced towards the direction where the enemies were coming, extended one of arms and pronounced [Jormungandr's Chill].

Immediately a huge amount of ice burst forth from his palm and swiftly formed a massive barrier.

Zaryusu looked around with his jaw open in disbelief, but the wall was over 20m tall and went as far as his eyes could see.

The insectoid Guardian released a burst of gelid steam from his mouth, then nodded in satisfaction when he looked at the freezing work of art he just created.

"Very. Well. This. Should. Stall. The. Enemy. For. A. Few. Days. Now. Let's. Think. Of. A. Way. to. Defeat. These. Toadmen. I. Will. Show. You. What. Nazarick's. War. Expert. Can. Do!"

Cocytus was very confident in his skills: he had the entire knowledge of every battle ever fought in the 41 Supreme Beings' world, so if he had even a slim chance to win he would be able to turn that into a certainty as long as he was able to command his troops.

All he had to do was to deeply analyze the opponent's army composition and from there to choose the best plan and terrain to achieve a complete victory.

After all, battles were won or lost before they even began, and he was Nazarick's war specialist with talents bestowed to him by his mighty creator, Takemikazuchi-sama.


Greazht was frustrated by the gigantic freezing wall in front of him: his scouts did not report its presence until they were suddenly stopped by it, so this had to be the result of some trickery...

While thinking about it he suddenly remembered having heard that one of the lizardmen's most prized relics was rumored to grant its owner the power to control ice, so this might have been the result of its usage.

This meant that the lizardmen were aware of their impending doom and used their trump card to buy time in order to escape or mount a resistence...

Still he was pretty sure that artifact had a limit in the number of times it could have been used, so the fact that the enemy had been forced to use it already could be considered an achievement by itself.

The problem was that the barrier was far too hard to break for them: they tried every method from using their spears, to their mounts but it refused to break down.

If this situation did not change quickly the lizardmen would be able to achieve whatever objective they had in mind.

Giving time to the enemy was very dangerous so they needed to muscle through this obstacle as soon as possible.

Greazht gulped, because the only solution he could think of was to ask to the Toad King to use his power to help them.

And considering the tyrant's temper that would be basically a death sentence for Greazht.

Still, if this war succeeded the toadmen would finally control the lake and prosper...

For the good of his nation he had to sacrifice himself in order to grant victory to his people.

With convinction in his heart the toadman directed his mount towards the lake.

While circling around the lake's shores until the ice barrier took a few hours for the army, that was mainly due to them having to move altogether, with their beasts who further slowed down the pace. A solitary toadmen on his mount was able to travel the distance in a tenth of the time the army needed.

Normally he would need to slow the pace since he was alone and there was the risk of being ambushed by savage beasts, but the rumor caused by the huge amount of individuals moving in the toadmen army had scared the wildlife, so it was still relatively safe to travel.

Once he reached the deeper shores of the lake he dived towards the Toad King's cave.

Once he surfaced he quickly bowed and awaited until he was granted freedom to speak.

"My king, the lizardmen have conjured through magic a wall that we can't break.

Please, I beg of you to use your might in order to grant you and your people the glory you deserve!"

The Toad king opened one of his eyes in a lazy way to look at his bowing subordinate, then replied:

"I sent you out expecting to hear news of my victory. Yet not only you have not succeeded yet, but you even dare to come back and pretend that I move myself to correct your incompetence?!"

The obese frog started swelling in anger, then suddenly he deflated and replied

"Very well, I shall help you crushing those vile creatures who pollute with their existence my lake..."

Greazht was startled by the tyrant's sudden change of humor: it was far too sudden to be something good.

It was also weird that he had not been executed yet, but he dared not move for fear that the Toad King might change idea, so instead he said:

"Thank you my liege! You truly are the hero of the Toadmen!"

Something behind the Toad King's throne grumbled, probably his personal beast was growing impatient since it was smelling the presence of Greazht whom it recognized as an intruder.

Now that the Toad King and his beast would enter the fight victory was assured for the toadmen: even the current army who was under Greazht's command would be like powerless flies if they faced their ruler.

The army of the toadmen was in complete disbelief as they looked at the overwhelming creature who housed their king on top of it, but what made them scream in awe was what happened next: in only one hit it made a breach in the icy barrier who they were barely denting with all their combined force.

"Amazing..."

"Un-unbelievable..."

"No wonder he's the King..."

similar whispers were coming from every mouth of the army.

Even the controlled beasts were cowering in fear in the presence of an apex predator who standed at the very top of the food chain.

While turning towards his subordinates with a bored look the Toad King uttered:

"Is this all that's needed to stop my army? I expect to see a complete victory now.

Do not disappoint me for a second time..."


Cocytus was focusing his efforts on training the lizardmen warriors along with his leiutenants.

He had used a Mirror of Remote Viewing to inspect the toadmen's army composition, so he had already come up with a strategy to defeat them.

All he needed to do now was to teach them a few strategic maneuvers needed for what he had in mind, according to his calculations everything would be ready by the following day.

For this reason he had brought them inside Nazarick's sixth floor, where there was enough space to move while preventing eventual spies from acquiring information about their activities.

While he was supervising the progresses of his subordinates one of the Wraiths he had tasked with observing the toadmen materialized in front of him, bowing immediately before speaking.

"I apologize for the interruption, but the toadmen have breached through the barrier created by you, Cocytus-Sama..."

"What?!"

The insectoid Guardian was surprised: he had chosen to use the 6th tier spell, [Jormungandr' Chill] was a spell mainly used to separate dungeon areas to better pick the mobs by dividing them.

As such its main qualities were its duration and area of effect since it was needed to last for the whole battle and prevent the monsters from easily circling around it.

Its resilience was not particularly high since its main role was to just tunnel the attention of the creatures on the tank players, so it was not very useful defensively.

Still, according to what he saw of the toadmen and their beasts they should not be able to breach it in such few hours.

Had he underestimated their capabilities?

No, it had to be the work of an exceptional individual, or rather a creature used as their trump card.

In that case he had to change his plans: he originally wanted to use Zaryusu and Zenberu as his main generals and give them the duty of observing the battlefield from the closed lines and quickly act depending on the situation.

However they would probably be the only ones who could stand up to the toadmen's trump card so the best way to use them would be to train them to face it.

The only problem would be that the time was short since the toadmen were approaching the lizardmen village so they would need to train while the rest of the lizardmen fought, but Cocytus was confident in the two lizardmen's talents.

Having made up his mind Cocytus gathered his troops, then activated his skill to teleport everyone in front of the village.


I was planning to finish everything in the fourth chapter, but it's turning up to be longer than expected, so I thought "Why not publishing what I made so far and hype a bit more the big fight?". So here is the "chapter 3.5"! Cocytus has decided to not use all the overwhelming power of Nazarick and instead rely on the lizardmen forces and his own tactical skills alone to show he's worthy of his title of War Specialist. Will that be enough? Or did he underestimate a little bit too much his opponents once again? I had to hype a bit the Toad King's power because I want to make the battle against him a little more intense... Get ready for the war in chapter 4!