Chapter 256: Spider Trouble
Inside her mind, Silas was smirking slyly.
’Truth be told,’ Silas reflected behind his female disguise, ’I’m not lacking in high-tier alloys or rare crafting ores back at the Keep’s vault in the slightest... In fact, if I really wanted to, I could probably pull out a stack of mythril ingots from my spatial storage and sell them to Sky right here and now.’
However, Silas had no intention of doing that under this disguise.
’Selling high-tier raw materials and dominating the commercial trade markets is going to be a Silas Graves play back in the real world,’ Silas reasoned coldly. ’As for the Blessed Land and my persona Vespera... our global public image needs to remain strictly attuned for uncompromising battle. We receive gifts, we claim war spoils, and we dominate.’
Sky smiled broadly behind his silver mask, waving his hand dismissively.
"Spices and rare alloys? Consider it done!" Sky agreed instantly. "I have plenty of high-grade Central City reserves stored in the lower holds. I can easily add a few extra catalyst crystals to the trade bundle as well."
Then, Sky paused. His relaxed demeanor shifted slightly with his voice taking on a slightly more serious and cautious tone.
"However... before I have my logistics officers fetch your trade goods from the vault," Sky reported, leaning in slightly, "there is a small, rather urgent matter I need to discuss with you, Lord Vespera."
Vespera raised an elegant eyebrow. "Oh? What kind of matter?"
Before Sky could explain—
STEP!STEP! STEP!
Heavy measured footsteps echoed across the muddy clearing.
Stepping out from the shadow of the mobile fortress’s iron treads was Sky’s Main Hero... the tall imposing blindfolded swordsman named Hiro.
He carried his massive, double-edged broadsword strapped across his broad back with his posture radiating a sharp cold steel mana.
Sky turned to his blind Hero, gesturing toward the multi-ton wooden trade crate resting in the dirt.
"Hiro," Sky commanded smoothly. "Take this trade crate into the main kitchen hold. Have the line cooks begin butchering the wolf flanks for tonight’s stew."
Hiro paused, bowing his head respectfully. "Understood, Master."
Hiro turned his blindfolded face toward the four-ton wooden crate.
He didn’t bend over to lift it with his arms nor did he call for a hand-truck or summon a lifting team.
Instead, Hiro took a single deliberate step forward.
TAP!
With lightning-fast martial precision, Hiro casually slipped the tip of his leather boot beneath the bottom edge of the four-ton trade crate.
BOOM!
Hiro flicked his leg upward.
A shockwave of pure physical mana exploded from his boot as the massive four-ton iron-bound wooden crate was violently launched twenty feet straight up into the air, spinning rapidly against the evening sky.
Before the multi-ton box could plummet back down to crush the mud floor, Hiro didn’t even sweat.
He casually raised his right arm straight above his head, extending a single calloused index finger.
The massive, four-ton wooden trade crate landed squarely on the tip of Hiro’s single index finger, coming to an instantaneous dead-stop halt.
The multi-ton box hovered in mid-air, perfectly balanced on one finger above his head like a spinning basketball.
Hiro turned his blindfolded head toward Vespera and Aeli, letting out a subtle arrogant snort through his nose.
’I refuse to be outdone by this single-armed woman and her helmeted pet,’ Hiro thought fiercely in his own mind with his jaw tightening as he balanced the multi-ton weight effortlessly on his finger. ’If I allow these outsiders to display such dominance in our camp... Lord Sky might actually start looking down on my capabilities as his primary Hero!’
With the four-ton crate spinning flawlessly on his single finger, Hiro turned on his heel and casually strolled up the wide iron ramp of the mobile fortress, carrying the massive load into the kitchen hold as if he were holding a feather.
"..."
Vespera stared at the blind swordsman’s vanishing back with an eyebrow twitching beneath her female disguise.
Beside her, Aeli tilted her motorcycle helmet, letting out a quiet muffled chirp from inside the plastic visor.
"Show-off..."
Sky cleared his throat awkwardly, letting out a sheepish embarrassed laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ahem! Forgive Hiro’s behavior, Lord Vespera," Sky apologized politely. "He’s... extraordinarily competitive when it comes to physical strength. He doesn’t like feeling outshone by guest Heroes."
Vespera let out a short raspy chuckle, waving her single right hand. "It’s fine. He has good balance."
She looked into Sky’s masked eyes, bringing the conversation back on track. "So... what was it you wanted to discuss with me?"
Sky’s expression hardened beneath his alloy mask.
He reached his gauntleted hand deep into his leather cloak pocket, pulling out a small, sealed glass vial, holding it up between his thumb and forefinger.
Inside the glass vial was a black disgusting palm-sized scouting spider.
The spider was pitch-black, covered in coarse, oily bristles, featuring eight glowing purple compound eyes.
Trailing out from the back of its abdomen was a thick, sticky thread of pure white silk that pulsated with a faint corrupted dark mana.
Sky looked at the dead spider with his voice becoming serious.
"Over the past three hours," Sky revealed, "my perimeter wards picked up several of these miniature spider creatures crawling around the iron treads of my mobile fortress. They weren’t attacking my guards, nor were they feeding on leftover rations. They were actively scouting... They were using high-frequency silk vibrations to map out our camp’s layout and record our troop numbers."
Sky’s eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"I suspect that a high-tier monster lurking deep within the Umbral Basin is responsible for deploying these scout spiders. Now... as I mentioned earlier today, I generally prefer to avoid unnecessary monster hunts on foreign sectors... but I certainly don’t feel comfortable or safe knowing that a hidden predator is actively spying on my territory’s forward camp."
Vespera looked at the black spider in the glass vial, letting out a slow quiet internal sigh.
’Spider monsters in the Basin, huh?’ Silas thought behind his female disguise, a wave of familiar annoyance washing over his mind.
Spiders were yet another brand-new, unwanted species that had suddenly begun infesting the Umbral Basin over the past twenty-four hours.
In fact, earlier this afternoon, a few of the girls in Brida’s Team Bravo had brought back a small batch of harvested Basin spider legs to the Tier 2 Frost-Sealed Vault.
Kaelia, the Territory’s Master Chef, had attempted to clean, season, and roast the spider leg meat using high-tier culinary techniques but even after boiling and roasting, the meat remained a bitter, rubbery, and utterly repulsive texture that smelled of sulfur.
The girls had unanimously declared spider monsters a complete, useless waste of inventory space.
However... this sudden explosive influx of new monster species was triggering a deep concern in Silas’s mind.
’Something weird is definitely happening to the ecosystem of the Umbral Basin,’ Silas analyzed silently with his golden-ringed male eyes sharpening behind Vespera’s deep violet gaze.
There had never been this many diverse aggressive monster species appearing out of nowhere in such a short timeframe.
There were only two logical explanations for an ecological surge this rapid...
Either a massive terrifying Apex Boss monster had recently awakened in the deepest uncharted chasms of the basin... forcibly driving lower-tier species out of their natural habitats and pushing them toward the outer borders...
Or the unnatural shifting weather patterns and volatile mana density of the basin were forcing the local wildlife to undergo rapid biological mutations at an exponential rate.
’Man...’ Silas mused drily in his thoughts with a wave of dark humor touching his mind. ’This place is starting to seem a lot more like Australia back on old Earth these days.’
Australia didn’t exist in this current world... neither in the modern human cities back on Earth nor in the boundless sectors of the Sovereign Realm.
But back in old Earth, Silas remembered scrolling through old TikTok memes detailing the absurd and bizarre animals that roamed the Australian outback.
He had never visited the country himself, but those hilarious nightmare-inducing memes about massive spiders, flying lizards, and deadly creatures being discovered every week felt frighteningly applicable to his current life in the Umbral Basin.
Sky stowed the glass vial back into his pocket, turning his attention back to Vespera.
"I plan on turning the hunt for this spider nest into tonight’s official live-stream event," Sky proposed, his voice lighting up with enthusiasm. "I’ll be taking Hiro along with me into the woods to track the silk trail back to its source. And... since you are currently here at my camp, Lord Vespera... I would be honored if you and your companion would join us for the stream hunt tonight! It would make for a blockbuster broadcast!"
Hearing his proposal, Vespera froze slightly.
Inside her mind, Silas went into an immediate internal scheduling crisis.
FWOOSH!
A mental calendar materialized in Silas’s mind, packed to the absolute brim with pressing tasks.
’Wait a minute!’ Silas complained frantically in his thoughts. ’I am way too busy for a late-night spider hunt right now...’
Silas ran through his overwhelming evening checklist.
First: He needed to return to the Keep immediately so Morwenna could teach him the advanced high-velocity footwork of the second form of her Tidal-Blade Arts... a reward he had explicitly promised the feral Pirate Queen for her hard work today!
Second: He had given his sacred word to Eluned, promising the ancient Nature Goddess that he would do anything she wanted tonight and based on her dreamy baby-making demeanor earlier at the courtyard gates, Silas knew with 100% certainty that Eluned was currently waiting in his bed wearing a silk nightgown, ready to try and produce miniature copies of him.
Third: Tomorrow morning, he had to oversee massive physical construction projects... building new residential barracks for the seventy-two incoming female troops he was going to claim after winning the war and maybe personal housing for the girls themselves.
Fourth: He had over 1,240 UP sitting in his system bank that desperately needed to be spent on batch-upgrading Aeli and Rowenna to S-Rank status.
’I literally have zero spare time tonight!’ Silas groaned internally. ’I’m supposed to be practicing sword arts, pleasing a nature deity, upgrading my mages, and building houses...’
And yet... as Silas looked at Sky standing in the border clearing, his greed quickly took over.
Appearing on a high-visibility live stream alongside an undefeated Classic Lord was an priceless promotional opportunity.
It would solidify ’Lord Vespera’s’ legendary status, intimidate rival regional Lords who might be watching, and give him a chance to test his single-armed body in actual live-fire group combat before the official war next week.
Vespera let out a soft delicate female sigh with a resigned beautiful smile appearing on her lips.
She raised her single right hand, offering Sky a crisp elegant salute.
"If it serves your broadcast, Lord Sky," Vespera accepted smoothly. "then I would be delighted to join your hunt tonight."
Sky’s eyes lit up behind his silver mask as he clapped his hands together.
"Fantastic!" Sky cheered happily. "Hiro just returned from the kitchen hold... Give me thirty seconds to initialize the stream broadcast channels!"
Sky reached up with his gauntleted hand, gently tapping a small, runic button on the left side of his alloy helmet.
CLICK... WHIRRRR!
From small mechanical compartments built directly into the shoulders and back of his tactical armor, six metallic orb-shaped brass camera drones lifted off.
Their internal anti-gravity thrusters whirred to life, floating up into the air in a wide, hovering formation around Sky, Vespera, and Aeli.
Their glowing, crystal lenses flashed with bright azure-blue light as they connected directly to the high-speed global satellite network back on Earth.
PING! PING! PING!
Within three seconds of the stream feed going live, the viewer counter overlaying the left corner of Sky’s HUD began ticking upward at terrifying light speed.
50,000 viewers... 200,000 viewers... 800,000 viewers... 2,000,000 CONCURRENT VIEWERS IN LESS THAN THIRTY SECONDS!
Inside her disguise, Silas’s eyes widened slightly in genuine shock at the astronomical numbers.
’Two million people tuned in within thirty seconds?!’ Silas thought, utterly amazed. ’Being associated with the Blessed Land domain is a literal gold mine for stream engagement... Maybe I should start charging Sky.’
Sky stepped up directly in front of the central camera drone, raising two fingers in a relaxed charismatic salute to his global audience.
"Good evening, chat!" Sky greeted his stream warmly, his voice broadcasting crystal-clear to millions of screens back on Earth. "Welcome back to ’The Unmovable Wall’ live broadcast! As promised earlier today, we are running a special, late-night regional expedition here at the outer borders of the Umbral Basin!"
Sky gestured broadly to his right, presenting Vespera to the camera.
"Joining us for tonight’s hunt," Sky introduced proudly, "is none other than the illustrious Lord of Blessed Land herself... Lord Vespera!"