Chapter 50: The Lizardmen’s Challenge

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Lizardmen’s Challenge

The moment they crossed through the gate, the whole team went quiet. A vast green mainland stretched out ahead of them, grass swaying under a clear sky, sunlight bright but the air surprisingly mild, a cool breeze carrying the faint scent of water and growing things.

Untouched wilderness in every direction.

"This is beautiful," Felix said.

"It is," Kael agreed, and even Darius, who’d walked through more worlds than most of the team combined, let himself take it in for a second.

Aria broke the silence. "Enjoy it later. Earbuds, everyone." The team pulled out their translation devices. "Set to Niuean."

One by one, the devices activated. Seraphina adjusted hers, glancing at Felix. "Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Perfectly."

"Good." Aria looked over the group. "Records say this world’s dominant species is a lizardman civilization, and their language is close enough to a documented one back home that the Association built a working translation database decades ago. A hero party came through here fifty years back, made contact, and cleared the rift after taking down the boss."

"So we already know they’re friendly," Darius said.

"Not necessarily. They cooperated with that particular party. Doesn’t guarantee they’ll do the same for us."

Felix stretched. "Guess we’ll find out."

"Let’s move." Aria raised a hand, mana gathering into a massive sheet of ice that stretched out ahead of them like a slide.

"Everyone aboard." All sixteen of them stepped on, and Darius pressed a palm to the ground, shaping the earth beneath it into a smooth downward slope.

"Leave the propulsion to me," Lena said, and wind exploded out behind them

*WHOOSH*

The whole construct shooting forward hard enough to blur the landscape as they raced across the plains.

---

Nearly two hours later, Lena called out, "A hundred and twenty kilometers."

"Slow down," Aria said, and the wind died, the ice gliding to a stop.

Ahead of them sat a city built into a swamp, wooden and stone structures rising around wide pools of dark green water, bridges strung between sections, odd towers standing over the rooftops.

Lizardmen moved through the streets by the hundreds, some armed, most looking like ordinary civilians.

"So that’s them," Felix said.

"Looks like it."

They dismissed the ice about two hundred meters out and covered the rest on foot. By the time they reached the gates, a small armed unit had already gathered to meet them: mostly C-rank, spears and bows in hand.

Aria stepped forward, both hands visible. "Greetings. We’re heroes from another world."

The lizardmen exchanged glances. "A rift’s opened between our worlds, we’re here to find and eliminate whatever’s causing it."

They stayed wary, but after a few minutes of discussion among themselves, one stepped forward. "You wish to meet our king?"

"Yes."

"Follow us."

---

The team was led through the city to an enormous structure of dark stone and timber, the royal residence and then into a massive chamber at its center.

The king sat at the far end, easily one and a half times the size of an ordinary lizardman, age visibly on him but power still radiating off his frame. Beside him stood a younger lizardman, nearly as large, with none of his father’s warmth.

"We appreciate you allowing us—" Aria started.

"Leave." The younger one cut her off flat.

Everyone paused. "This is our land," he said, arms folding, eyes sweeping the group. "We can handle our own problems."

"We’re not here to take your territory," Aria said, calm.

"You don’t belong here."

"You don’t understand the situation," Darius said.

"We understand perfectly."

Mira stepped in. "If the threat stays in this world past ten days, the gate stabilizes enough for whatever’s causing this to cross straight into ours. Innocent people die on our side."

"And if the monsters overwhelm your people first," Darius added, "they’ll reach the gate eventually anyway."

"This isn’t just your problem or ours anymore," Aria said. "It’s both."

The prince growled. "This is *our land.*"

Felix’s eyebrow twitched. Beside him, Seraphina’s did the same thing at almost the exact same moment. He glanced sideways at her; she glanced back. Identical expressions. *Annoying.*

Felix took half a step forward. Seraphina caught his hand before he got any further.

He looked down at it, then at her. She shook her head once. "Let me."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

He studied her a second, then shrugged. "Alright."

She let go and walked forward alone, the whole chamber watching her go. She stopped a few meters short of the throne. "We’re going to neutralize the threat," she said, voice level.

"Whether you agree or not doesn’t change that. We’re not here to ask permission. We’re here to find out what we’re dealing with." Her eyes swept the gathered lizardmen. "And honestly, you’re weak."

Dead silence. Felix covered his mouth with one hand. Kael muttered, "Oh, this is going to be *good.*"

The king stared at her and then laughed, a deep sound that filled the whole chamber. His son just smirked.

"Very good," the king said, leaning forward.

"Rightly said."

He looked at his son. "You heard her."

The prince stepped forward. "You think we’re weak?"

"Yes."

His expression darkened. "And you’re stronger?"

"It’s a fact," she said, without a flicker of hesitation.

Felix’s mouth twitched. The king laughed again.

"Then prove it." He gestured at his son. "Single combat, against him. Win, and my kingdom cooperates fully. Lose—"

"We go home," Seraphina finished. "Fair."

Aria turned to Felix with one eyebrow raised. He just shrugged. *What do you want me to do about it.*

---

The two of them stepped outside into an open stone courtyard. The surrounding filled fast with lizardmen warriors as they gathered to watch the duel.

The lizardman prince rolled his shoulders and cracked his scaled neck with a dull pop. "I’m going to make you regret insulting my people."

Seraphina rested her hands loosely at her sides, her stance balanced, her eyes completely calm.

"Come."

ROAAAR!

The prince roared, his muscular legs kicking up a cloud of red dust as he closed the distance in a fraction of a second. His heavy, clawed fist whistled straight toward her chin.

SWOOSH.

It struck empty air.

TAP.

Before he could pull back his punch, Seraphina was already standing at his shoulder, her fingers tapping his brass pauldron.

"Too slow."

WHIP!

The prince spun with terrifying speed, his thick, spiked tail sweeping across the stones to sweep her legs out.

FWSSSH.

A jet of high-pressure water erupted beneath the soles of her boots, launching her straight up.

She twisted in mid-air, pale blue lightning crackling along her calves, and landed lightly behind him without making a sound.

The prince turned around slowly, his chest heaving, his amber slit-pupils widening as realization settled in.

This wasn’t an ordinary recruit trying to survive a spar. The gap in raw speed was an abyss.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

He snarled and charged again, lowering his shoulder to bowl her over with brute mass.

This time, she didn’t evade.

BOOM!

Water detonated around both of Seraphina’s forearms in dense, pressurized spirals. She met his rush head-on, her palm strike checking his momentum and sending a tremor through the courtyard stones, forcing his massive frame back a full step.

She pressed the advantage immediately.

PUNCH. SLAP. CRACK.

One strike, then another, then a third. She didn’t pour lethal force into the blows, nor did she shred his scales with lightning.

Every strike was clean, clinical, and precise: a lesson in control that Felix had drilled into her bones for months. It wasn’t about breaking him; it was about making the difference in skill impossible to deny.

The prince swung wild hooks, attempted clinches, and lashed with his tail.

He hit nothing. Not once did his claws graze her jacket.

ZIP.

In a flash of static, she vanished from his peripheral vision and reappeared standing inches from his chest.

SHRRRK.

A razor-thin blade of translucent, compressed water rested against the soft scales of his throat, the pressurized edge cold against his skin.

The prince went rigid. His breath caught in his throat.

"Finished?" she asked, her voice quiet and even.

The prince stared into her steady blue eyes. Slowly, he let his fists uncurl and lowered his arms to his sides.

"...Yes."

Seraphina relaxed her fingers, and the water blade dissolved into mist, dripping harmlessly onto the stone.

For three long seconds, the courtyard stood in dead silence. Hundreds of lizardman warriors stared down from the battlements, stunned that their champion had been dismantled without landing a single blow.

BWAHAHAHA!

A booming roar of laughter shattered the quiet.

The lizardman king rose from his carved stone throne at the edge of the courtyard, slapping his thick knee as his laughter echoed off the canyon walls.

"I like you, little human!" the king bellowed, stepping forward. "I like you very much!"

Seraphina tilted her head slightly, her face deadpan. "You have a strange way of showing it."

The king laughed even harder, his deep voice rattling the dust from the pillars. "You fight with discipline, and you speak without fear! Good! Very good!"

He turned toward the rows of armed warriors lining the courtyard, throwing his massive arms wide.

"Hear me!" the king’s voice boomed across the settlement. "From this moment forward, these heroes are the honored allies of our tribe!"

---

Maps came out. Reports were gathered fast, and the king walked them through everything they knew personally. "Most of the creatures in this region are C and D rank, with a few stronger variants sighted here and there." His finger moved north on the map. "But what’s coming out of the deeper forest is different."

"How strong?" Aria asked.

"Several B-rank, at least. And something stronger than that." His expression sobered.

"Our strongest warriors have only encountered it once."

"The boss," Darius said.

He nodded, finger settling on a marked region. "Immense power. Our scouts believe at least S-rank."

"Element?"

"Unknown."

"Description?"

He gave them what detail he had, and the team listened closely before he tapped the northern forest one final time. "This is the last place our scouts tracked the strongest sightings."

Aria committed it to memory. "Thank you."

The mission finally had a real shape, the northern forest.

Aria folded the map. "Everyone, prepare." The team nodded. Their next destination was decided.