Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Fortunately, Lord Sky’s veteran Classic Lord constitution was just strong enough to prevent him from passing out entirely.

Grunting groggily, Sky shook his dizzy head, fighting through the blissful, spinning haze of the alcohol as he looked up at Vespera with deeply cross-eyed, thoroughly impressed adoration.

”Ten...” Sky slurred out, raising a trembling gauntleted hand toward his quartermaster while pointing at the velvet display rack. ”Give... give Lord Vespera... ten ingots... of the True-Silver Tungsten alloy... right now... trade it... for that entire bottle...”

”TEN INGOTS?!” Thora shrieked in ecstatic drooling joy.

”Yes, My Lord!” the quartermaster obeyed instantly, hurriedly packing ten heavy bars of the priceless Central City True-Silver Tungsten alloy into a reinforced mythril carrying case and presenting it to Vespera!

Thora laughed maniacally as Vespera placed her single hand on the carrying case and the amber bottle, smoothly packing both the ten alloy ingots and the remaining alcohol into her private Lord Inventory.

’Haah... It’s okay at the very least.’

Sky staggered shakily to his feet, leaning heavily against his quartermaster for support as he pulled his wits back together.

Despite his dizziness, his hospitality remained unmatched.

He gestured toward an attendant, who brought over a beautifully wrapped bundle of soft high-tier fabric tied with a silver ribbon.

Sky took the bundle and offered it gently to Vespera.

”Please... take this as well, Lord Vespera,” Sky offered warmly, his voice still slightly slurred but deeply sincere. ”It’s... it’s a little extra gift from our personal tailoring vaults. It’s actually a collection of refined, high-tier womanly combat tunics, silk robes, and tailored cloaks... I hope you don’t find it rude or presumptuous of me, but looking at your frame... I think these clothes will fit you perfectly.”

Vespera blinked her purple eyes in surprise, looking down at the luxurious bundle of womanly clothes he had just handed her.

She accepted the gift with her single hand, offering him a gracious bow of her head.

”Thank you for the thoughtful gift, Lord Sky,” Vespera said warmly. ”I will treasure them.”

As she held the bundle, Vespera casually tilted the clothes toward Thora.

The dwarf forge-mistress immediately activated her master-smith runic inspection vision, her brown eyes scanning every single thread, seam, and button of the garments.

In a fraction of a second, Thora gave Vespera a subtle sharp nod of her head.

’It’s very clean,’ Thora thought. ’No mana trackers, no listening bugs, and no spatial beacons woven into the fabric. It’s just a genuine, highly expensive clothing gift.’

With the trade complete, the alloys secured, and their diplomacy successfully concluded, Sky and his groggy quartermaster escorted Vespera, Tasmin, and Thora back out of the storage vault, down the heated iron corridors, and out onto the muddy exterior courtyard of the mobile fortress.

The late afternoon air was cold with the twilight shadows of the Umbral Basin stretching long across the clearing.

Waiting patiently at the base of the iron ramp were their two majestic mounts... Valkyrie and Luna.

Vespera walked over to Valkyrie, effortlessly swinging her body up onto the silver direwolf’s broad saddle.

Tasmin mounted Luna a second later, with Thora scrambling up onto the hindquarters right behind her, holding her blacksmith hammer across her lap.

Lord Sky walked down to the bottom of the iron ramp, flanked by the horned demonic Hero Morrighan, the silver-haired Demi-Human girl, and several of his standing officers.

Sky raised his gauntleted hand into the air, offering a crisp, deeply respectful warlord’s salute to his departing guest.

”We wish you a safe journey back to your Territory, Lord Vespera!” Sky called out loudly across the clearing, his voice echoing through his stream broadcast to millions of viewers. ”We will remain camped right here at this clearing! May the next seven days of preparation serve both of our territories well!”

Standing right beside him, the tall crimson-haired demoness Morrighan stepped forward.

Her molten gold eyes shone with unshakeable reverence as she looked up at Vespera’s figure atop the direwolf.

She placed her mythril-clad fist over her heart, bowing her horned head deeply.

”Goodbye, Lord Vespera,” Morrighan spoke softly, her echoing voice filled with genuine emotion. ”I will count the hours until we meet again upon the field of war.”

Vespera looked down from Valkyrie’s saddle, offering Sky, Morrighan, and the entire assembled army of ’The Unmovable Wall’ one final breathtaking, and radiant smile that sent the live-stream chat into another blinding meltdown of heart emojis.

”Goodbye, Lord Sky. Goodbye, Morrighan,” Vespera replied. ”Train hard this week. We will see you at the gates.”

Vespera turned her purple eyes forward, gripping Valkyrie’s harness with her single right hand.

”Let’s go home, girls!” Vespera commanded.

HOWL!

GRRR-RUMBLE!

Both Valkyrie and Luna let out booming thunderous howls that shook the surrounding trees.

With a synchronized surge of acceleration, the two Blessed Wolves leaped off the muddy ground, spinning around and launching themselves into the dark-leafed forest at amazing speeds.

FWOOSH!

In a blur of silver fur, black hair, and trailing shadows, Vespera, Tasmin, and Thora vanished completely into the dense depth of the Umbral Basin, leaving Lord Sky’s mobile fortress far behind them.

As the trees blurred past her vision and the freezing wind whipped against her face, inside the privacy of her own mind, Silas let out a massive and deeply exhausted sigh of relief.

’Fuck...’ Silas thought with his internal voice dropping the polite, charming female facade entirely as his mind locked fully back into place. ’I’m finally done with that exhausting broadcast circus.’

The scouting was over and the diplomacy was finished.

The enemy’s strength, their standing numbers, their Hero rosters, and their tactical mindset had been completely analyzed and recorded in his mind.

’Though I need to do more research to be sure...’

He had six days and twenty-three hours left on the clock.

Silas’s golden-ringed male eyes seemed to flash invisibly behind Vespera’s deep violet gaze as he looked ahead toward the towering stone walls of the Blessed Land rising in the distance.

It was time.

It was time to gather his SSS-Rank women, spend his overflowing Upgrade Points, elevate his Vanguard commanders to legendary heights and construct the ultimate defensive fortress.

It was time to make uncompromising preparations... for war!

...

The towering timber-and-steel gates of the Blessed Land loomed ahead through the twilight mist, marking the boundary line between the cold volatile wilderness of the Umbral Basin and the vibrant protected sanctuary within.

Perched atop the high stone battlements and the soaring central Watchtower, several Vanguard guards and sharp-eyed Rangers stood at their posts.

The moment their eyes caught sight of the massive-furred form of Valkyrie and the sleek frame of Luna bounding across the open plains, a ripple of excitement spread along the perimeter walls.

Fenna, standing on the Watchtower platform beside the heavy mana cannons, lowered her longbow and offered a crisp, respectful salute, her voice carrying over the wind.

”Welcome back, my Lord!”

Vespera, sitting upright atop Valkyrie’s broad back with her single right hand resting lightly on the reins, looked up at the battlements and raised her hand in a casual, elegant wave.

”Keep up the vigilant watch, girls!” Vespera called back, her smooth voice echoing softly across the stone ramparts.

Beside her, Luna came to a smooth rhythmic halt with her paws digging lightly into the soft earth.

Tasmin, sitting in the saddle with Thora still clinging firmly to her waist, turned her dark silver-streaked eyes toward her Lord.

”My Lord,” Tasmin spoke with a bow of her head. ”If I may have your permission, I would like to break away from the main path and return to Team Alpha’s sector immediately.”

Vespera turned her head slightly with her deep violet eyes inspecting her Shadow Commander. ”Oh? What’s the rush, Tasmin?”

”With Thora’s assistance and her communication devices,” Tasmin explained, gesturing toward the brass crystal hanging from the dwarf forge-mistress’s utility belt, ”I can establish a long-range network with Brida’s Team Bravo and Morwenna’s Abyss Corsairs out in the field. I will instruct all hunting squads to collect every single monster carcass they harvest today, rather than leaving them in the wilderness. That way, we can organize and sort the exact tonnage of raw game we will be delivering to Lord Sky’s mobile territory over the coming week.”

Vespera looked at her with genuine appreciation, a warm proud smile curving her lips.

’She’s already taking the initiative on logistics without me even having to ask,’ Silas thought behind his female disguise, thoroughly impressed by Tasmin’s sharp intelligence.

”That’s a fantastic idea, Tasmin,” Vespera praised her smoothly, nodding her head in approval. ”Go ahead. Take Thora with you and set up the communications link... Good luck.”

Tasmin’s breath caught slightly in her throat as she looked up into the breathtaking, gorgeous face of her Lord.

Hearing those warm words of praise made a subtle delicate pink flush touch the tips of her ears.

She bowed her head deeply on the saddle with her dark hair falling forward over her leather shoulders.

’I will make you proud, My Lord...’ Tasmin swore silently in the quiet sanctuary of her heart. ’No matter what happens, no matter what threats approach our gates... I will never fail you.’

While Tasmin pulled back on Luna’s reins to turn toward the western forest sector, her mind began rewinding the events of the afternoon... specifically, the tense standoff in the mud clearing outside Lord Sky’s colossal three-story mobile fortress.

Earlier today, during the intense moments of confrontation, Tasmin had quietly unlocked a newly awakened passive trait within her core... an advanced high-tier perception ability known as [Shadow-Sight Intuition].

By observing the density, distortion, and subconscious movement of a living entity’s cast shadow, Tasmin could now read the true hidden combat output of any warrior, completely bypassing illusion spells, concealment cloaks, and suppressed auras.

And what she had seen lurking within the shadows of Lord Sky’s war-band had chilled her to the bone.

’Lord Sky and his main blindfolded swordsman...’ Tasmin reflected deeply, her dark eyes narrowing into intense sharp slits as Luna trotted forward. ’Even though both of them maintained a relaxed, friendly, and non-threatening demeanor on the surface... their shadows were terrifyingly dense. The physical pressure coiled within their cores was staggering.’

Of course, Tasmin knew with unshakeable certainty that neither Sky nor his primary Hero possessed power comparable to Lord Silas when her Lord went all out and unleashed his full unrestricted Gold Core dominance.

However, Sky’s main officers were still seasoned battle-hardened veterans of the Sovereign Realm.

And worse yet... Sky’s visible army wasn’t the only threat.

While standing in that mud clearing, Tasmin’s [Shadow-Sight Intuition] had picked up at least four additional hyper-dense spiritual signatures lurking silently in the shadows beneath the mobile fortress’s iron treads... hidden Heroes that Sky had deliberately kept off camera and out of sight!

’I am still too weak...’ Tasmin thought bitterly with her fingers gripping Luna’s leather reins so tightly her knuckles turned pale beneath her gloves.

To anyone else, Tasmin’s recent evolution into an S-Rank Shadow Commander would have been the ultimate pinnacle of success.

She was fast, lethal, capable of enveloping entire battlefields in pitch-black shadow domes, and could slaughter dozens of armed combatants in seconds without taking a scratch.

But to Tasmin... being ”strong enough” wasn’t nearly enough.

’It doesn’t matter that I reached S-Rank,’ Tasmin swore violently inside her mind, her heart hammering against her ribs with burning devotion. ’My Lord gave me this life. He saved me from the dirt, elevated my soul, and granted me a purpose. If a day comes when multiple Lords, global corporations, or divine pantheons converge upon the Blessed Land simultaneously... I cannot afford to merely be a ’skilled officer’.’

Her dark eyes flashed with an unholy terrifying light as a dark, liquid mist of shadow energy began escaping violently from the corners of her eyelids, drifting into the cold air like smoke.

’I need to grow even stronger... much, much stronger!’ Tasmin thought with her teeth grinding together in pure resolve. ’I want to become strong enough to take on Lord Sky, his hidden Heroes, and every single rival Lord on this continent at the exact same time! Whether it be the righteous armies of the heavens or the demonic legions of hell... whoever dares to step foot inside this Basin to harm my Lord... I want to be strong enough to hold Lord Silas safely in my left hand, while slaughtering the entire world with my right!’

CRACKLE... FWOOSH!