Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 127: You’re late

The ruin with the Rift seed spawned in the form of a hulking mountain with a spinning black opening at the front. The area surrounding it was dried land with nothing growing around, as if it had created a desert around itself.

In front of the ruin stood a man with hands like thick tree branches and a face carved like stone—Manefor, rank 5 of the Forsaken Tribes.

"You are late," the man grunted. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Vale smiled. "I don’t remember setting a time."

"You don’t seem surprised to see me," Manefor noted.

"No, I did not. We are still waiting for the remaining two, though."

"You think they will come?"

"Yes," Vale answered simply. "They are as greedy as any Knight."

They didn’t say anything after that, and Slya made chairs for them to sit and wait. They arrived much faster than Vale thought.

Serdan arrived first, her wooden rod in hand. Her green eyes were tainted with red, her expression grumpy, as if she’d rather be in bed than fighting monsters. All the alcohol she drank the night before was making her head throb.

She grunted a greeting and also sat on the chair Slya made, and together they waited for Dlodus.

The man arrived flying on a floating cloud that trapped lightning within, sweeping to their front and blowing wind and dust in their faces. He smiled at them. "You waited for me. Good."

Vale stood. "We don’t have time. We don’t know how big the ruin will be or how much time it will take. It’s best we go now."

’What I want to avoid most is the Flagbearers’ retaliation. I should clear it before they do anything. Of course, that doesn’t mean they haven’t already done something through their teams... We will be wary of them anyway’

Dlodus swept into a bow. When he straightened, his eyes went to Vale’s companions. "You are taking them with you?"

Vale smiled, a show of teeth that wouldn’t look unfamiliar on a monster. "Should I have left them behind, Dlodus? I think we both know how that will end."

Serdan tapped the ground angrily with her rod. "I don’t care if you take them along. They just shouldn’t get in our way."

"They are under my protection," Vale said, pausing before adding, "and you three better prove that you are worth your ranks. I won’t be saving anyone."

Dlodus smirked. "Come on, don’t do that. We are supposed to be a team, right?"

Vale smiled in return. "Of course. How else are we supposed to clear this ruin?" He clapped lightly. "Alright, tell me all you know about the ruin."

Serdan looked as if she needed another drink, her voice dry and flat. "You mean you don’t know anything about it, and you want to clear it?"

Dlodus looked as if he wanted to say something snappy as well, but he was interrupted.

Manefor grunted. "If the Rift is the Commander’s fortress, then the ruins with the Rift seed are the outposts. Through them, they could spread the power of a particular Rift through the world. It’s not as simple as that, of course, but that’s the gist."

He continued, "So that naturally means the ruin will be strong and dangerous."

Vale nodded. "Very well then, let’s go. Since we are all strong enough, there should be no issues."

Dlodus glanced toward Tiber and Slya when Vale said that, but the man didn’t say anything apart from smiling. Without saying anything else, they headed toward the ruin’s opening, Vale in the lead with Tiber and Slya immediately behind him.

They entered the dark that felt like liquid on their bodies and emerged on the other side.

"Huh. Who’d have thought," Vale said.

White, glinting ice and snow spread below him as far as his eyes could reach, jagged mountains of ice-covered ridges piercing the cloudy sky.

The cold was bitter; Vale could tell, but he couldn’t feel it. Slya shuddered and moved closer to Tiber, who immediately used his heat to cover the immediate area.

Slya looked back at him and smiled. "Thank you."

The others joined them, passing through the door that hung like a portal in midair.

"I hate the cold," Serdan said immediately, shivering as she brought out a brown cloak from her spatial rod. The enchanted tool kept the cold away instantly.

"Me too," Dlodus pretended to shiver. "But how do we get out of here and down there?"

The door had led them onto a narrow, tall ice mountain with no safe passage down.

Vale was already considering jumping or using his binding and pact to get down, but then he thought about Slya and Tiber. ’I can only transport myself and small non-living things like that...’

"I can jump down on my own. I might break my legs, but it’ll be fine," Manefor said.

He moved toward the edge, but Dlodus stopped him. "Don’t hurt yourself, Manefor! Why would you do all that when I’m here?"

Dlodus grinned and spread his hands. The air in front of him darkened, flashes of lightning gathered, and a cloud covered it like a cocoon. The cloud expanded into a curved platform.

He gestured to it. "It’ll carry us down, and don’t worry, I won’t drop us on the way down."

"Climb first," Vale said.

Dlodus snorted. "So untrusting! Here, see? You can all climb on now. There’s nothing to worry about."

’...Out of everyone here, that man, Dlodus, is the one I trust the least... There’s just something about his eyes... like a well-fed fox... He’s dangerous...’

Vale and the others climbed on, and the cloud sped down like an arrow, though to them it felt like a moving feather. They glided down into the glinting snow, and the cloud vanished.

"Now what?" Slya asked. Everywhere they turned, there was nothing but snow and ice. The wind was beginning to pick up as well, blocking their sight.

Serdan grunted. She lifted her rod and chanted softly, then released it. Instead of falling, the rod glowed a deep green and gently floated. One part of it grew branches and then pointed in a direction.

She picked her rod back up and frowned. "Well, that was unexpected."

"What are you talking about?" Vale asked. He saw the rod point, but he could only guess what it meant.

"Normally, there should have been monsters scattered around, but this time, it all pointed to one direction. A concentration of monsters that way."