Becoming the Wasteland Overlord With My Harem System!

Chapter 324: Renewed Threat

Although Axel now had blackmail material against Trismus Co., he didn’t rush.

He could deal his cards at any moment, after all. First, he needed to wait for the opportune moment. The time where Trismus wouldn’t dismiss him as a minor nuisance, but rather, recognize him as a real threat worth taking seriously.

Thus, a peaceful night passed.

Everything was going as scheduled.

Arianne was training her troops out in the barracks, ensuring they were in top shape no matter the situation. Her voice could occasionally be heard echoing across the courtyard, sharp and demanding.

Beatrix was handling paperwork that seemed to have no end now that a new source—with an even bigger population—had been integrated with them. The stack on her desk had not visibly shrunk since morning.

Maria and Cherry were resuming their regular work. Preparing food for everyone in the castle, cleaning up, and various other chores. The smell of something warm drifted through the halls as a result. Something that stirred one’s appetite.

Teruria and Ethernina both went out, handling the distribution of the "cute" vacuum cleaners to various sections of the kingdom. Of course, both of them got one Roomba each. Axel just couldn’t figure out how those two found these round, cleaning machines cute.

Finally, Fenrir was sitting on top of the castle’s tallest spires, her neck craned toward the sky, staring blankly. As if waiting for... or watching for something. Nobody asked what.

As for Axel, he was down in his office, handling the papers that required his decision and his alone.

It was all peaceful, almost dizzyingly so.

Until the moment when Fenrir’s ears twitched.

Her gaze narrowed as a few blips of black appeared in the blue patch of sky. She needed not think before coming to a conclusion as to what those were.

Without missing a beat, she quickly tore a small, palm-sized crack in space and spoke without blinking. Without averting her gaze from the approaching threat.

"Master, the people from Trismus returned."

"Already?" Axel’s voice echoed from the crack. "Then shift the barrier to full power once again."

Fenrir’s hand flashed for a moment before she responded flatly. "Done. What else?"

"Same as before, I will meet them outside." He said. "Fenrir, you stay here as backup. The rest, standby in the castle."

"Alright—"

They thought it would be the same as before, but with a more powerful armada.

However, before that assumption could even settle, everyone present felt an overbearing pressure press down on them simultaneously. Not from any direction in particular—just from above, like the sky itself had grown heavier. Axel frowned, Fenrir hissed, and the rest almost fell to their knees.

"This..." Axel paused, staring up from within the room. Toward the ceiling, as if looking straight at someone through the thick materials. "Another God-level being?"

"Yes, Master."

Fenrir, who was closer, felt it even stronger.

She couldn’t be mistaken about this presence. It was a powerful god-level being—not just any fringe case either. Roughly around a mid-ranked God. The kind that didn’t need to announce themselves to make a room feel smaller.

"Change of plans?" Fenrir asked.

However, Axel just scoffed. "No need." He said. "If he’s this open about it, then he must be confident in his strength. I’ll go and gauge him out first, so we’ll proceed just as planned."

Axel was already moving as he finished speaking.

With a single step, he jumped out the window, then flew straight up toward the peak of the golden dome protecting Axevaria Kingdom.

He stood there alone, wearing his usual suit and tie. Arms crossed and chin raised, with a clean grin on his lips. A look that exuded confidence without being vocal about it. No weapon drawn, no stance taken. Just a man standing in the sky like he owned it.

Fenrir was below, watching over Axel while ready to jump in at any moment.

All residents of Axevaria were quick on their feet, retreating to the safety of their homes without delay. As for the girls, they’d already gathered in the castle, led there by Fenrir’s rifts.

Everything and everyone was prepared.

Soon, an abnormal change occurred. The clear sky started to turn overcast.

Black, cumulonimbus clouds formed fast, swallowing the sun and replacing it with flashes of lightning and the rolling roar of thunder. A display that almost felt as if the heavens had grown angry all of a sudden, for absolutely no reason.

The kind of storm that didn’t just darken the sky—it felt like a statement.

But despite flashes of lightning striking down like heaven’s punishment, Axel didn’t even twitch.

He kept the same posture, the same swag, as if such a display barely registered as a threat. It was nothing but a change in scenery to him!

"You’ve got balls at least, kid."

Right then, a roaring voice echoed from the skies above.

A figure descended slowly—one that exuded a pressure that felt as if it would crush everything below it to dust. Thanks to the golden barrier’s effect, the people below only experienced a weakened version of it.

Axel, who was outside the barrier’s protection, felt the full brunt of it.

A heavy pressure, almost as if he’d been dropped to the bottom of the ocean. His bones felt like they wanted to fold. His limbs barely able to rise. But rise they did—palm facing himself, fingers down, all except the middle one.

"You’re the brat, not me." Axel scoffed, flipping him off. "How dare you show off in my domain? Stop that now, or face the consequences!"

"You..."

The figure slowly descended from within the clouds. What started as a shadowy silhouette gradually took on a humanoid shape—though not completely. Several sections were obviously different from any human frame. The more it descended, the more wrong it looked.

His head sported two curved horns, thick at the base and tapering to wicked points.

Across his back, a pair of bat-like wings spread wide. About twice as wide as he was tall, flapping gently, almost lazily, as if they weren’t even needed to keep him airborne.

His limbs, neck, and body were covered in sharp-looking protrusions. Like scale armor extruded outward, forming a craggy, jagged surface all over. Even from a distance, it looked dense enough to turn most weapons aside without effort.

Seeing the figure, Axel couldn’t help but frown.

After all, that silhouette felt... familiar. Not from this world, not from any encounter he’d had since arriving here. Somewhere older than that.

After a moment of thinking, it clicked.

"You..." He gasped. "Are a dragon?"