Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 191: Rift Lord

With that, they began their journey towards the center again. The land changed from rugged mountains to a carpet of green forest that covered the ground as far as the eye could see.

So far, after the green monster, they had fought three more monsters of the Riftborn Titans, and the Flagbearers took care of them. To Vale and the others, it was starting to look like a game of tag or something morbidly similar. Why were the monsters showing up like that?

It was as if they were not all in the same place and were being called one after the other or maybe it was a case of the first to reach them.

They expected the Rift Lord to show up, but the monster hadn’t. It seemed their plan to wound the Riftborn and go after the Rift Lord would not work because not only had the Rift Lord not shown up, but it also seemed as if he was content to let the Riftborn Titans take care of things.

They floated up in the air, the towers in the middle while the Flagbearers surrounded them loosely. Below them, the green trees changed to rolling hills of overgrown weeds and short trees.

’...we must be getting closer to the center...’

Vale thought as he looked down. He began to see smaller monsters dart between the trees. They continued like this, mostly undisturbed, until they saw the first city... or town, Vale couldn’t be sure.

It was walled by thick stone walls, but there was only a single building inside. The rest was open space, and it was packed full of monsters.

The monsters were hominid, as tall as half of Vale, and their skin was entirely green with bald heads and crooked noses. They wore ragged leather armor and carried wooden clubs.

Vale heard Slya and Tiber gasp.

He didn’t blame them. He was feeling shocked as well.

The monsters were frozen there, arranged in rows that spanned the entire town. There must have been close to a million of them, maybe even more. It was just like what they saw in the second-layer seed ruin when they cleared it.

A frozen army.

Vale shuddered. "This... If this is unleashed into the world..."

The Borderland could never hope to stop it! They would drown everything with sheer numbers alone.

Pomora shook her head. "But that’s not possible. That’s why the Rift can only use ruin breaks to throw more monsters out—because only a limited number can leave the Rift, and we cull their numbers every time."

Vale knew that, but he couldn’t stop the uneasiness he felt. Again, he knew something was going on, but he didn’t know what or why. And how. How did it relate to him?

"Maybe this is how the monsters are made? Then they are released and sent out?" Takoda pointed out.

Vale nodded. He didn’t know how the inner workings of a Rift functioned, after all.

Steelclaw didn’t say anything; he just watched the town with impassive eyes.

From one of the enchanted towers, the captain asked, "Are we going to go down there and check the building?"

It was tempting, but they didn’t know what would happen if they got close to the monsters. Would they jerk awake and begin to fight? If the monsters closed in on them with that many numbers, things might become a tad difficult.

Not to mention their fighting attracting other monsters in the area.

And since the monsters weren’t awake, they decided to continue on their way. They flew faster this time and saw two more of those towns filled with monsters. They saw another three as they continued. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Then it became common, expected. They saw walled towns with different monsters inside, even flying monsters and those that seemed as if they would do better in water. Armies of monsters.

This time, there was no denying that something was up, no matter how one looked at it. This wasn’t just some way in which monsters were sent out through ruin breaks into the world. These were real monster armies.

And although it was not logical for the monsters to send such massive armies out, it still left them uneasy. They were in the Rift, after all, and nothing stopped the monster hordes from attacking them.

Immediately after they entered the territory filled with the towns, no monsters attacked them, so they made quick use of the opportunity and sped up.

And just like that, no more towns appeared as the ground turned dry and barren. After another few miles, they saw the center. It was a city, all right, walled so high that only the palace jutting out could be seen from the distance Vale was looking from.

They slowed down as they saw the city. They all knew instinctively that the Rift Lord was in there. The chance to clear the Rift was right there.

’...Rift Lord...’

Vale frowned inside his tower as he asked, "Why does this Rift have a Rift Lord? Most Rifts are easy, right? Unless they just want to turn it into a resource farm. They’re mostly headed by Riftborn Titans."

Pomora shrugged. "Yes. But this one is different. It’s the only kind of Rift in the smaller clans here in the Hinterlands to have such. I hear there are even stronger ones in the high and great clans."

Vale shook his head and muttered, "I’m really surprised they haven’t cleared it. Even joining up with the other clans, they should have taken care of it."

Just then, they saw something, a glint of golden light from the city that got bigger as it approached. It was a monster made entirely of gold, etched with symbols.

Below them, the ground shook, and a reptilian monster crawled out, its long mouth filled with sharp fangs. Riding the scaly monster was a creature with the upper body of a woman and the lower half of a beast.

A light condensed in front of them and turned into a tall crystal figure that flashed with dim, multicolored light. Suddenly, mud jetted out of the ground and turned into a mud monster that quickly multiplied.

More and more emerged until they were surrounded by about a dozen Riftborn Titan monsters, who had been waiting for them close to the city.

Their plan was simple, they planned to fight over who would take Vale to their boss after they dealt with everyone else.