"The mammals we sent out brought back good news. Those green-skinned boars have realized there's nothing left for them to plunder in the Gray Desolate Plains. Now they've turned their attention to that desert by the sea—
"They're used to living in the Great Desert. Dry yellow sand won't serve as a wall to stop them.
"Once more of those green-skinned boars gather, Wind Sand Islet won't last long with its food supply cut off. Then we can slip into Wind Sand Islet ahead of time, dismantle them from within, and use this thing in our hands to sweep them out."
The snakefolk toyed with a palm-sized polyhedron. The dim purple glow of the crystals in the cavern shone on its surface, which refracted jagged patterns onto the stone walls.
They resembled the intricate grooves of a brain, like neural pathways.
"The [Aether Prism] is more powerful than I imagined. It seems to contain limitless power. No wonder my forebears fell to that woman. This prism could almost be called crystallized thought. But that's all in the past.
"The prerequisite for all this is for you, the Lionheart Lord, to tell me about that secret passage leading to Wind Sand Islet.
"Rest assured, I gave you my word. Help us snakefolk reclaim Wind Sand Islet, and I'll help you return to Dragon Gold City."
Only, you'll rule that city under me.
That was what the snakefolk thought.
As the [Deep Pit Lord] of these caves, the leader of his kin and those inferior mammals, he had never considered himself a fool. There was no way he would say that aloud.
"This will be harder than you imagine." Leon's voice was deep and muffled, every syllable reverberating through the cavern like a drumbeat.
The Deep Pit Lord did not fear inferior