Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 256: Not good news

Vale couldn’t stand still for all the time that the connection was lost. It was one thing for some unsuspecting person to plant a golem in his army, but it was another thing to lose the view from the frontline.

The enchantress said the issue must have come from their team on the other end, and there was nothing they could do to restore it until they knew what actually happened.

Vale was wary of the coincidence. The golem attacked, and at the same time, the connection was lost. It was suspicious that it only happened at that time to the frontline.

In response, Vale sent word to Rikon to go on his highest alert and to immediately form a team to investigate what was happening.

The same orders were sent to Lieutenant Patel, but without forming a team. She should be wary and ready for battle.

At the same time, Vale didn’t take chances with the enchantress managing his command. He brought out his tower to make a law forbidding lies and made them tell him they had nothing to do with it.

They didn’t.

"I don’t even know what is going on in the battle... have I lost? Did Thrain himself appear? What is going on?" Vale had to stop himself, almost physically, from rushing to the frontline to see things for himself.

But even with all that, it wasn’t until that afternoon that news started to filter in, and it was from Rikon’s forces. It wasn’t good news.

Apparently, the enchantress sent with the combined forces of the Black Sun and Borderland Knights had been slaughtered, and their enchanted tools destroyed.

And the biggest news that day—Warlord Vorath had betrayed him and joined Thrain, making quick work of the Borderland Knights, reducing their size to barely a hundred.

Vale froze, his eyes on the nervous enchanter who delivered the news. The thin man began to slide back and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as the temperature in the room rose. A pressure slowly filled the space, turning the air into a heavy weight that made breathing difficult.

"He did what?" Vale growled. His face darkened, and his green eyes gleamed. He stood from his seat, back straight, and his hands clenched.

The enchanter stammered, his gaze turning to his fellows who were pretending to be busy with the enchanted tools. "Warlord Vorath turned on the Borderland Knights and—"

Vale didn’t hear the rest of the words. His ears were suddenly filled with white noise, and he stood there for a long time, his face hardened like a stone mask.

Suddenly, he turned to Tiber and Slya. "What do you think? Let’s pay Chief Eamon Rikon a visit."

His voice was perfectly normal, but his two companions heard the anger that others would miss. He went outside, and they got into the tower and floated away. They collected Takoda on the way and flew toward Rikon’s base.

And even with the flying tower, it wasn’t a place they reached instantly. They spent up to two hours before they saw the army spread below them.

The flying ships above Rikon’s force recognized him and let him pass without trouble.

The tower dropped them in front of the Chief’s tent, and Eamon was already expecting them. And even though he was a Master Knight, he flinched when he first saw the fire hidden behind Vale’s eyes. "My Lord."

Takoda stood directly behind Vale like a blurry shadow wearing a crown. The big man folded his hands in front of him, but his whole body was tense.

"One question, Eamon. Do you know about this?" Vale asked. His voice was perfectly normal, as if he were asking about the weather or what type of food the man ate.

But Eamon wasn’t fooled. He could feel faint power around the tower, and he knew that must be the Commander’s law in effect. He remembered that, but he had no reason to lie. "No, I don’t. Everything was going as it should until that madman suddenly switched sides."

His hand tightened, and his voice rose. "I don’t even understand what’s happening. If we have become allies already, then I don’t even know what might have happened to my city!"

Vale took a deep breath to calm himself. His skin was hot and getting hotter, as if fire was rolling through his blood. "Thrain Athrimir knew about your plans and simply provided the warlord with more resources."

"But how’s that possible? Nobody knew about it... nobody should have known about it!" Eamon said.

After he got his confirmation, Vale finally made his tower shrink and accepted Eamon’s invitation to enter the tent. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"You might have a spy very close to you," Takoda pointed out. "Or Thrain Athrimir simply deduced it since he knew about the enchanted tools guarding it and how you wanted them back. Remember, even we were able to guess, and we don’t know that context."

Eamon shook his head. "An outlaw is an outlaw after all! So he turned on us just because of higher resources. Well, I’m glad Commander Vale decided to send him to test the frontline, or we might have put him in our middle, and that would have been far worse."

Takoda grunted and nodded. "Their plan was probably to wait until there was a big battle and then show his hand. That would have thrown us into confusion and caused our loss."

Vale let them speculate while he thought about what to do next. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He wanted—needed—to do something about it. His voice cut through the air like a cold blade. "Do you think they are still maintaining positions, or are they advancing?"

"The last news was that some of them chased the remaining survivors closer, but they’ve returned and made camp. I don’t think they’ll be making any advancements today."

Vale nodded. "Then we need to strike them tonight when they expect us to still be reeling from the betrayal and loss."

"What?" Eamon turned to look at Vale and everyone in the room as if he didn’t hear correctly.

But the others were used to Vale’s usual way of doing things, so they waited for him to continue.