Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 204: Dead

It took a while before Tiber and Slya regained consciousness. By then, Takoda had created a camp made of stones where he cooked something for both himself and Pomora.

Every Knight who has the resources always prepares for when things go wrong, so they usually have some provisions with them. The Master Knights proved to be no exception.

Takoda cooked while Pomora sat in a lotus position, continuing her battle with the spear that wanted to take her life.

The smell of meat slowly cooking in melted butter and seasoning soon filled the air. He was using a block of metal etched with enchanted symbols that produced heat.

They didn’t talk. There was little they could talk about anyway. They couldn’t really make any major decisions until the others, especially Vale, woke up... or until they confirmed he wouldn’t be.

The food was done when a deep voice suddenly rumbled through the four walls of the camp.

"Is there food for me too?"

It was Tiber. He crouched beside Slya, checked on her, then walked toward Takoda, who gestured.

"Try this."

Tiber sat on the stone block that served as a chair, took the plate offered to him, and hungrily devoured his food.

Takoda studied the man almost average in all things except for his impossibly dark eyes and calm disposition. Tiber was old but not as old as Takoda. Finally, Takoda asked the question he had been meaning to, even as he took his own plate after serving Pomora.

"Why do you follow him? He’s, what, half your age?"

Tiber shrugged and finished the meat in his mouth.

"You’re following him too. Besides, I’m only forty-four. But he’s a good lad. Blood runs with Inferno."

Takoda studied him. "You didn’t ask if he’s alive."

"That’s because I can hear his dreaming. And because I’m still alive. His dream is filled with shapeless pain, and even I can’t enter."

It was one of the things Tiber had tried when he woke up before standing at all. He checked his surroundings with his power. Slya was alive. But Vale... he was alive as well yet also strange.

Finally, they heard a gasp behind them as something tore with a mute ripping sound. The metallic scent of blood filled the air as they turned.

Pomora was on her hands and knees, breathing hard, her body covered in sweat. A small, rapidly closing, bloody hole on her chest dripped with blood, and a rusted spear lay on the ground in front of her. She took another ragged breath and straightened, smiling hard.

"I did it. If I were a rank weaker, I’d be long dead. Or if I weren’t even a Water Knight."

It had been difficult to track the spear down, let alone slow it and force it out.

Tiber shuddered. "What a nasty weapon."

Pomora paused, then said sourly, "Just like the owner."

☆☆☆☆☆

Slya woke up hours later and rushed to check on Vale, but she didn’t get to touch him. Tiber dragged her back inside the camp, where she ate, and then they told the others what had happened until the time they passed out.

After that, the wait for Vale began. The first day passed with no issues absorbing monsters for advancement usually took that long.

But then the second day and third passed, and tension slid into the atmosphere. Vale had not woken up. Tiber checked on him through dreams, and it was the same. The tension made them all testy especially Slya, who threw herself into training, only checking on Vale every hour.

The most painful part was that there was nothing any of them could do to help him. They could not even move him. Instead, they created a wall around him and kept guard just in case.

But the Rift seemed to be devoid of anything living except for them. Still, they remained cautious because for one, they had never seen Steelclaw’s body. They did not even know if he was alive or not.

The fourth and fifth days passed the same way.

But on the sixth day, something changed.

Vale and Tiber were eating in the camp when they felt it a soft click in their minds. They knew what it meant. Their construct could now allow them to advance a single level more.

At first, they were confused. Then Slya’s eyes widened, and her plate dropped from her hand as she stood and rushed outside, Tiber right behind her. Their actions drew the attention of the Master Knights, who swept their senses outward to understand what was happening, only to rush outside as well.

Vorgaelor was dead.

And sitting in a lotus position was Vale, covered in a shimmering ball of red energy that crawled over his body. His skin trembled and shifted as if something moved beneath it. His sweat was tainted red, making it slightly pink.

His face was twisted into a mask of pain and anger, his right hand pressed tightly against his stomach. Every now and then, energy would leap from him, lashing at the air like a whip.

The red energy was scorching hot. Already, the ground around him was blackened, the temperature rising. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The power swelled, mounting with pressure, cracking around him like lightning, then dispelling into the air in a ripple of shockwave. It was almost as if Vale was throwing essence out.

"What’s happening?" Slya whispered from a distance. She wanted to get closer, but the power flowing from Vale struck out like a hammer.

"He’s advancing," Takoda said, his voice like stone.

Tiber caught something in his tone and turned to him. "What’s wrong?"

Pomora looked at him, wide-eyed. "You don’t know? I’ve seen a lot of Errant Knight advancements, but nothing like this. He’s putting out more pressure than all the Errant Knights I know!"

Takoda shook his head. "What’s his potential? Is it S-rank?"

Tiber and Slya looked at each other. Vale had never told them, and they doubted even he knew his rank. He just knew he had the highest potential in the history of their clan.

They stood there and watched him for a while. But it seemed Vale wouldn’t be opening his eyes anytime soon.