Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Inside her giant neon biker helmet, Aeli sat up straight on Luna’s saddle, holding her arcanist focus tightly.

”Yes, My Lord! I am completely fine!” Aeli answered eagerly with her voice echoing slightly muffled from inside the plastic visor.

In truth, Aeli had been quite impressed by the raw destruction Hiro had displayed just now.

Launching fifteen horse-sized monsters into the sky with a single boot-stomp and dicing them mid-air required astronomical physical strength.

However... it was nothing Aeli hadn’t seen before.

In the Blessed Land, Aeli was surrounded by terrifying monsters every single day.

Morwenna could summon ocean tides that swallowed whole armies, she had said so herself.

Eluned could rewrite ecosystems with a wave of her hand, the only reason she didn’t do so to Blessed Land was because she wanted them to level up and grow stronger.

Talira was a literal Primordial Crimson Dragon who breathed white-hot volcanic fire.

Lord Silas possessed a Gold Core that she knew was something that a god like Odin had... and Aeli herself commanded starlight.

Hiro’s blue steel blade was impressive for a human Hero, but compared to the divine horrors living inside her Keep, it was completely average.

Yet... despite his ordinary power level, Aeli felt a strange unsettling prickle along the back of her neck as she looked at the blind swordsman.

’Something feels wrong about him...’ Aeli thought nervously, her green eyes narrowing behind her dark tinted visor. ’He’s wearing a thick cloth blindfold over his eyes... so why does it feel like he’s looking straight through my disguise and staring directly at my soul?’

Sky stepped up to the mouth of the dark cavern, looking inside the narrow web-choked stone tunnel.

He turned back to Vespera and Aeli, gesturing toward their massive mounts.

”The internal passage of this cave is far too narrow and steep for the wolves to navigate safely,” Sky pointed out sensibly. ”We’ll have to disengage from our mounts here and assign them to hold perimeter watch outside.”

Vespera nodded in agreement. ”A solid call.”

Vespera swung her body down from Valkyrie’s back, landing lightly on her boots. Aeli followed suit, sliding down off Luna’s saddle.

Vespera turned around, reaching up with her single right hand to gently pat Valkyrie along her silver-furred neck.

”Watch the cave entrance, Valkyrie,” Vespera instructed smoothly. ”Don’t let any stray spiders escape into the woods.”

SLURP!

Valkyrie let out a low affectionate huff and suddenly leaned down, giving Vespera’s cheek a huge loving lick.

Vespera let out a soft melodic female laugh, wiping her cheek with her sleeve as she stroked the direwolf’s head.

”Heh... good girl.”

Up on the floating camera drones, the stream viewers went completely wild over the wholesome interaction.

[@GamerGod99: AHHHHHH THE WOLF KISSED HER!]

[@SovereignWatcher: VALKYRIE IS SUCH A GOOD GIRL!]

[@NoobMaster69: I want to be that direwolf so bad bro 😭]

[@PVP_Legend: Blessed Land mounts have 100/10 loyalty!]

[@ValoriaFan: She called her a good girl! My heart is melting!]

With the direwolves posted as perimeter guards outside, the four hunters... Vespera, Aeli, Lord Sky, and Hiro proceeded directly into the subterranean cavern.

The interior of the cave was deeply creepy.

Thick heavy sheets of sticky white spider silk draped across the jagged ceiling like dusty curtains.

The air was cold and smelled strongly of rotting sulfur and stagnant moisture.

Every step they took on the uneven stone echoed ominously through the pitch-black tunnels.

As they walked deeper into the gloom, Vespera’s physical movements betrayed a subtle barely noticeable hesitation.

Whenever her boots brushed past a thick clump of vibrating spider webbing, she subtly shifted her footing, taking a slight step away.

’It’s all according to plan... Now I need Sky to notice.’

Sky, who was walking right beside her, caught the subtle twitch instantly.

His sharp observational eyes tracked the way her shoulders tensed whenever a tiny scout spider skittered across the cave ceiling above them.

’Aha!’ Sky thought triumphantly inside his mind, secretly adding another entry to his mental ledger. ’Vespera is afraid of spiders! Perfect! A psychological weakness!’

Sky looked over at her, offering a warm chivalrous smile beneath his silver alloy mask.

”Are you feeling scared, Lord Vespera?” Sky asked gently, his voice filled with protective concern.

Vespera paused, letting out a soft delicate sigh as she looked at a giant web hanging overhead.

She didn’t bother putting on a fake bravado.

”I have to admit... I am quite scared of spiders,” Vespera confessed honestly. ”Their extra legs and compound eyes are utterly repulsive.”

Sky chuckled warmly, puffing out his chest under his leather armor.

”Don’t worry about a thing,” Sky promised gallantly, raising his broadsword slightly. ”I’ll protect you from whatever is lurking down here.”

The live stream chat caught Sky’s smooth protective line and the comment overlay instantly flooded with reactions.

[@GamerGod99: SKY IS RIZZING HER UP!]

[@SovereignWatcher: ”Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” BRO IS A ROMANTIC!]

[@NoobMaster69: SKY HAS THAT UNLIMITED RIZZ!]

[@PVP_Legend: Shoot your shot Sky!]

[@ValoriaFan: They look so cute together omg!]

[@DarkKnight_00: W Lord Sky protecting the queen!]

[@StreamLover: This stream turned into a dating show lmao!]

[@TacticalNuke: RIZZ LORD SKY!]

[@ProGamer_22: Smooth line Sky, smooth line!]

[@AnimeFanatic: PROTECT HER!]

However... before Sky could enjoy his smooth moment for even two seconds—

STEP!

Vespera turned her deep purple eyes toward him, offering a cool and completely flat response that instantly shut him down.

”I don’t need protecting, Lord Sky,” Vespera stated plainly with her raspy voice sharp as steel.

The live stream chat instantly flipped 180 degrees into hilarious merciless scolding as five new comments shot to the top of the HUD.

[@GamerGod99: REJECTED! OUCH!]

[@NoobMaster69: BRO GOT DENIED IN 4K LIVE ON STREAM! 💀]

[@PVP_Legend: She said ”I don’t need protecting” LMAO!]

[@ValoriaFan: That was so cruel! Poor Sky!]

[@TacticalNuke: EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!]

Sky’s jaw dropped behind his mask, his face flushing with massive embarrassment as he stammered awkwardly.

”A-Ah... right... of course... you one-shot a Tier 3 Boss earlier...”

Seeing his flustered, embarrassed reaction, Vespera tilted her head slightly.

She offered him a soft and alluring smile, adding with a sweet teasing purr in her voice.

”...However... I wouldn’t mind if it’s you, Lord Sky.”

FREEZE.

Sky went completely rigid.

A thermonuclear explosion of pure burning red blood rushed straight to his cheeks beneath his alloy mask with his heart hammered wildly against his ribs and his breath catching in his throat.

[@GamerGod99: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHE SAID SHE WOULDN’T MIND!]

[@SovereignWatcher: SKY IS IN THERE! BRO IS DEFINITELY IN THERE!]

[@NoobMaster69: SHE IS PLAYING WITH HIS HEART BRO!]

[@PVP_Legend: THE FLIRT IS REAL! THEY ARE IN LOVE!]

[@ValoriaFan: ”I wouldn’t mind if it’s you!” MY SHIP IS SAILING!]

[@DarkKnight_00: SKY YOUR FACE IS BURNING I CAN FEEL IT THROUGH THE SCREEN!]

[@StreamLover: WEDDING WHEN?! WE NEED A WEDDING!]

[@TacticalNuke: ABSOLUTE CINEMA!]

[@ProGamer_22: BRO GOT THE GREEN LIGHT!]

[@AnimeFanatic: BEST FEMALE LORD HANDS DOWN!]

”T-Thank you, Lord Vespera!” Sky stammered out frantically, bowing his head in flustered nervous gratitude, completely failing to hide how utterly flustered he was!

Inside her disguise, Silas was staring at Sky and the exploding stream chat in bewildered disbelief.

’Is this seriously how the internet constantly misunderstands things back on Earth...?’ Silas thought with a massive mental sweatdrop forming on the back of his head.

Silas hadn’t meant a single romantic or flirty thing by that comment at all!

He was simply trying to be polite, maintain a pleasant diplomatic rapport, and keep the stream banter light and friendly so Sky wouldn’t feel awkward after getting shut down.

Yet, the entire online world and Sky himself were currently convinced that ’Lord Vespera’ was falling head-over-heels in love with him.

’Man... people on the internet really will ship literally anyone who makes eye contact for two seconds,’ Silas sighed internally, deciding to ignore the chat before he lost his sanity.

A few moments later, the four hunters arrived at a dead-end ledge deep inside the cavern system.

The stone floor abruptly ended, opening up into a massive yawning vertical shaft that plummeted fifty feet straight down into a vast pitch-black chamber.

Sky walked to the edge of the ledge, looking down into the gloom. He turned to the group, raising his hand to outline a cautious deployment plan.

”Alright, team,” Sky began in his official leader tone. ”This drop leads directly into the primary nesting chamber. I suggest I jump down first to establish a defensive water barrier, then we can spread out in a spread to—”

WHOOSH!

Before Sky could even finish his sentence—

Vespera didn’t wait for his briefing. She casually stepped right off the edge of the cliff and plummeted straight down into the pitch-black vertical shaft.

WHOOSH!

Aeli didn’t hesitate for a single second either.

The moment her Lord jumped, Aeli leaped off the ledge right behind her, her white robes fluttering as she dived blindly into the dark pit.

”...”

Lord Sky stood frozen on the edge of the cliff with his arm still raised in mid-air.

Beside him, Hiro... the blind swordsman turned his blindfolded head toward his Lord, both men staring down into the dark hole in total speechless silence.

Up on the floating camera drones, the stream chat fell silent for two seconds before erupting into a synchronized chorus of agreement.

[@GamerGod99: They just jumped... without waiting for the plan...]

[@SovereignWatcher: Women are quite complicated, Sky.]

[@NoobMaster69: Never try to give instructions to a female Lord lmao!]

[@PVP_Legend: They didn’t listen to a single word he said!]

[@ValoriaFan: Boss energy! They don’t need a plan!]

Sky let out a long defeated sigh, running a hand over his mask before looking at Hiro.

”Yeah...” Sky agreed softly with the stream comments, shaking his head. ”Women really are quite complicated. Let me jump down too.”

BOOM! BOOM!

Sky and Hiro leaped off the ledge, channeling their physical mana to arrest their descent as they landed heavily on the bottom floor of the chamber right beside Vespera and Aeli.

THUD!

The four hunters straightened up, their eyes sweeping across the massive cavernous nest.

The lower chamber was a nightmare realm.

The cavern was roughly the size of a football stadium, lit only by sickly, glowing yellow bioluminescent moss growing along the damp walls.

Thick multi-layered sheets of white silk covered the floor like deep snow, and bones of slaughtered animals were piled high in the corners.

And standing at the far end of the chamber, illuminated by the sickly yellow moss, was the Spider Boss.

It was a colossal terrifying monstrosity... easily thirty feet long, covered in jagged, iron-black armor plates, featuring eight glowing purple compound eyes and massive four-foot-long venomous mandibles that clicked aggressively.

Sitting right behind the Spider Boss was a towering clutch of ten massive pulsating spider eggs.

The eggs were each the size of a barrels, translucent white and glowing with a raw life-force mana.

The Spider Boss had literally just deposited the tenth egg onto the pile the exact second the hunters landed.

And surrounding the mother boss was a swarming horde of over fifty Rank 2 Umbral Spiders with their mandibles clicking loudly as they turned their compound eyes toward the intruders.

SCREEEEEECH!

The Spider Queen let out a shrill territorial screech that echoed off the cavern walls.

Sky drew his broadsword with his eyes narrowing behind his alloy mask as he looked at the massive clearing.

”This is the place!” Sky announced loudly. ”Wipe them all out!”

”Understood!” Vespera agreed, drawing her longsword with her single right hand as she and Sky shot forward across the silk-covered floor simultaneously.

Standing near the back of the formation, Aeli gripped her wooden focus staff firmly.

’As of right now...’ Aeli thought inside her plastic biker helmet, ’I will strictly stick to using my secondary Ice magic... I can’t reveal my starlight right now... Maybe later in the war to keep them on their edge.’

Aeli slammed the butt of her wooden focus staff against the stone ground.

”Come forth...!”

FWOOSH... CRACKLE!

A terrifying sub-zero wave of sparkling blue frost instantly erupted outward from Aeli’s boots in a wide thirty-meter circle.

The thick white silk on the floor was instantly flash-frozen into brittle black ice.

Over twenty charging Rank 2 spiders had their hairy legs instantly frozen solid to the ground, trapped in blocks of solid glacier ice.

Without pausing, Aeli raised her free hand, condensing her ice mana into five razor-sharp six-foot-long javelins made of dense glowing blue ice.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

With blinding high-speed movements, Aeli hurled the ice javelins through the air like an Olympic athlete.

The frozen projectiles impaled cleanly through the heads of the frozen spiders and the unfrozen adds alike, shattering their carapaces and executing over a dozen monsters in five seconds.