The Great Swamp lay in the central region of the Antares Continent and covered an immense area.
It seemed to be an enclosed basin formed by changes in the earth's crust over many years, leaving it with what was almost an entirely unique ecosystem.
However, because the Great Swamp was a basin, although it theoretically bordered the Elven Forest and the Northern Federation,
those borders were all marked by natural mountain barriers.
Powerful individuals could occasionally slip across without much trouble, but there were no roads whatsoever.
The Great Swamp's only exit to the outside world was blocked by the Kingdom of Lauren.
In truth, the Lizardmen liked the Great Swamp's environment very much.
The dryness outside actually made them uncomfortable.
But they needed blood sacrifices and also liked certain special resources from outside.
Every blood sacrifice brought a full-scale offensive and a massive campaign of plunder.
The Kingdom of Lauren, meanwhile, coveted the mineral resources within the Great Swamp.
Both sides could be said to covet what the other had.
Although the Lizardmen had never been as ferocious overall as the Orcs, the Kingdom of Lauren had generally relied on its cities for defense.
It had continuously built outposts, castles, and sentry posts.
But all of that changed with the advent of firearms.
Firearms gave ordinary humans the revolutionary ability to kill ordinary Lizardmen.
They completely erased the Lizardmen's advantage in individual strength.
As a result, the Lizardmen's previous blood sacrifice had ended hastily after a crushing defeat.
With the legendary pact imposing its restrictions, the Kingdom of Lauren had used the advantage of firearms to repel the Lizardmen's conventional attacks entirely on its own.
This was actually one of the reasons Sean Lauren had attacked the Red Maple Kingdom.
With firearms and favorable terrain, the Kingdom of Lauren