“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

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…”

“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.”

“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 reason?”

“We have to get rid of the impurity that invaded Erinyes.”

“What are you talking about?”

This was a subject Kang Chul-In wasn’t aware of. 

“Cereb is like a virus.”

“A virus?”

“Erinyes is a system for the people summoned from Earth. The fact that Cereb is inside of it means… Erinyes isn’t completed.”

“Explain more clearly.”

“Long story short, if Cereb is in the ranking system, you can’t become an emperor.”

“What…!”

Kang Chul-In was surprised. The completion of Erinyes was one card that he had been sure about. 

“The plan between the Emperor of Blood and Iron and Mom was…”

“The one who becomes emperor reigns over all artifacts, supplies, and ‘selected people’ from the complete Erinyes.”

“Yeah.” Desdemona nodded. “That’s the final reward that’s given to the one who becomes emperor. It’s a hidden quest in the system.”

Yes. The ranking system of choosing the strongest Lord was to create an emperor. The Emperor of Blood and Iron hoped that the one who became emperor would receive everything that was captured inside Erinyes and crush Rindermergel and the Agnaga soldiers. It was the goal of the big picture that the Emperor of Blood and Iron and Emilia drew. But Desdemona was saying that Erinyes wasn’t perfect because of Cereb’s existence. 

Then did that mean that the strongest card to block Rindermergel would disappear?

“Says who?” Kang Chul-In gritted his teeth. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“Yup.” Desdemona agreed with Kang Chul-In. “So getting rid of Cereb is first on the list. Next… the Gullveig? Or the Ancient Empire? Whatever their name was, you were planning on crushing the forces in the north to stack up your remaining 10,000 Lord Points, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“And you were planning on obtaining the power of Erinyes after becoming an emperor to destroy Rindermergel, since you probably thought Cereb could be taken care of whenever.”

“That’s also right.” Kang Chul-In nodded. Desdemona was right. That was Kang Chul-In’s plan. 

“But I can’t. Guess I have to take care of that bug Cereb first.”

“Right. That’s at the top of the list.”

“How ridiculous.” Kang Chul-In frowned. “There’s not much time left. Rindermergel’s will be resurrected soon. From what I can feel… there’s about a week left. Three days is enough to take care of Cereb and gathering 10,000 P in the remaining four days is…”

“No?”

“What are you…”

“Cereb is a virus that invaded Erinyes. Do you think your Lord Points will go up because you take care of it?”

“...!”

“You won’t get a single point. I can guarantee it. I can’t create Erinyes, but I understand its algorithm.”

“Mm…!”

Desdemona might’ve been lacking, but the ancient dragon was still Emilia’s daughter.

“Wait.”

Kang Chul-In’s face hardened. There wasn’t time to be amazed by her. A week was left until Rindermergel’s resurrection. In that time, he had to take care of Cereb and stack up his remaining 10,000 points to become an emperor. 

There wasn’t enough time. It was too tight. 

“Do they want us all to die together?”

“Time Lord Milenius-that sly bastard used his head well. From what I know, although his body is weak, he’s pretty smart.”

“I don’t think you should be complimenting him right now?”

“You should compliment people if they do something amazing.”

“What?”

“He’s cute!”

“...”

“Isn’t it cute that he was struggling to do such a useless act? Kek!”

“What?”

“I’m the key.”

Desdemona said something random. 

“Key? What are you talking about?”

“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.

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.