Chapter 247: Gathering Meat [Bonus - ]
Silas of course knew that Sky would have been able to handle it.
A Classic Lord with years of experience, a two-hundred-man standing army, and an unbroken winning streak didn’t survive in the Sovereign Realm by being helpless against a Tier 3 Mini-Boss...
However, the man preferred the cautious, heavily logical approach when dealing with immediate battlefield threats.
Sky’s first instinct was always to pull back, establish defensive parameters, protect his personnel, and avoid unnecessary risks on camera.
And that right there was another major reason why Silas was remarkably, rock-solidly confident in winning their upcoming Lord War.
Sure, a Lord needed to safeguard his people... Silas himself cared deeply for every woman living under his roof but at some point, a leader had to actually believe that his soldiers were strong enough, fierce enough, and capable enough to stand their ground and protect themselves in the face of terror.
Sky coddled his forces while Silas elevated his into monsters.
Sky took a deep breath through his silver alloy mask, walking forward across the blood-stained snow toward Vespera.
He raised his gauntleted hand, offering a formal, respectful bow of his head.
"Thank you for intervening, Lord Vespera," Sky said sincerely, his voice carrying over his broadcast microphone. "That Iron-Weave Roc would have cost me several frontline soldiers had it managed to get airborne. We owe you our gratitude."
Up above their heads, the five hovering brass camera drones buzzed wildly, transmitting the steaming bisected carcass of the twenty-five-foot Mini-Boss to over thirty million concurrent screens.
[@GamerGod99: HOLY SHIT! SHE ONE-SHOT A TIER 3 MINI-BOSS?! 🔥]
[@SovereignWatcher: DID YOU SEE THAT WIND SPELL?! THAT WAS TIER 3 AT LEAST!]
[@NoobMaster69: BRUUUUH! NOT EVEN A SCRATCH ON HER CLOTHES! 👑]
[@PVP_Legend: Sky... bro... you might actually lose your undefeated streak next week! 💀]
[@ValoriaFan: A single-armed female Lord casually halving a dragon-bird! ABSOLUTE CINEMA!]
[@DarkKnight_00: That sword swing was pure art. No wasted movement, just instant death.]
[@StreamLover: SHE IS MY QUEEN! ALL HAIL LORD VESPERA! ❤️✨]
[@TacticalNuke: The wind shield deflecting the raining blood was such a flex lmao!]
[@ProGamer_22: How is her mana output that high?! Is she secretly a monster?!]
[@SovereignQueen: Modern feminism wins again! We don’t need men when we have Vespera! 💅]
Before Vespera could offer a polite reply to Sky’s thanks, the snowy tree line surrounding the clearing suddenly erupted with a chorus of furious bloodthirsty snarls!
HOWL! GRRRR!
The remaining members of the Umbral Wolf colony... over two dozen massive black-furred shadow beasts who had been hiding from the Roc surged out from the dark briars.
Seeing the apex predator dead, the starving wolves charged into the clearing from all sides with their red eyes fixed on the human intruders.
Before Vespera could even raise her silver sword, and before Lord Sky or his wind mages could cast a single defensive barrier—
STOMP!
Tasmin moved!
The S-Rank Shadow Commander stepped forward, her dark eyes flashing with cold mana.
She didn’t draw her shortswords as she simply slammed her left heel into the frozen dirt and flexed her fingers.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Dozens of thick writhing, pitch-black shadow tendrils erupted violently out of the snow beneath the charging wolf pack.
The dark cables whipped through the freezing air like intelligent, striking vipers.
THWACK! CRACK! SNAP!
In less than two seconds of brutal efficiency, Tasmin’s shadow tendrils pierced the skulls and crushed the cervical vertebrae of all twenty-four charging Umbral Wolves simultaneously.
The beasts went limp instantly, collapsing into the snow without uttering a single yelp.
Without breaking her rhythm, Tasmin swept her hand across the clearing.
FWOOSH!
The writhing shadow tendrils wrapped tightly around the thirty newly slain wolf carcasses, the previous mangled wolf remains, and the two massive halves of the twenty-five-foot Abyssal Iron-Weave Roc.
With a effortless heave of her S-Rank shadow authority, Tasmin dragged hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat, fur, and bone across the snow, dumping everything into a neat towering mountain of raw game right in front of Lord Sky.
Sky stared at the mountain of high-tier meat with his jaw dropping behind his mask.
He looked over at Tasmin, then quickly gestured toward the scattered, blood-stained avian bones protruding from the Roc’s severed torso.
"Could... could you gather the dense bones as well, Commander Tasmin?" Sky requested politely, his eyes shining with logistical appreciation. "Those iron-weave skeletal plates are exceptional forging material."
Tasmin flicked her wrist.
A shadow tendril cleanly ripped the ribcage and spinal columns from the Roc, depositing the gleaming metallic bones neatly atop the meat pile.
"There," Tasmin stated coolly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Thank you, Commander..." Sky said warmly. He stepped up to the massive mountain of carcasses, placing his open palm against the frozen flesh.
FLASH!
With a deep hum of spatial displacement, the entire multi-ton pile of meat, fur, organs, and iron-weave bone vanished into thin air, sucked cleanly directly into Sky’s Lord Inventory.
Sky turned around to face his four-person hunting squad... the Demi-Human girl, the horned demoness Morrighan, Lyra, and Gale.
"We’ve secured enough high-density meat and forging bone to sustain the entire mobile fortress for a month." Sky announced proudly.
The four women immediately snapped to attention, bowing their heads deeply toward Vespera and Tasmin.
Even though Sky’s team had been completely stripped of the opportunity to actually draw their weapons or engage in battle, their faces were filled with profound overwhelming gratitude.
Surviving a Tier 3 Basin clearing without shedding a single drop of their own blood or losing a comrade was a priceless gift in the Sovereign Realm.
"Thank you for the hunt, Lord Vespera!" the four women chimed in unison.
While they bowed, Vespera casually flicked her eyes toward the upper right corner of her vision, pulling up her system tab to check on her passive gains.
When her eyes landed on her current Upgrade Points (UP) balance, Silas almost choked on his own saliva inside his female disguise.
[Current UP Balance: 640 UP!]
’Holy shit!’ Silas thought, his violet eyes widening slightly as he stared at the rapidly ticking counter. ’The field teams back at the Keep are going beast mode!’
While he had been out here playing diplomatic tour guide, Morwenna’s Abyss Corsairs, Brida’s Team Bravo, and the rest of Tasmin’s team had been butchering the monster packs surrounding their newly annexed mile.
They had already skyrocketed his balance to 640 UP...
At this aggressive, relentless clearing pace, it was only a matter of hours until the territory crossed the critical 1,000 UP threshold.
’Once we hit a thousand points,’ Silas calculated rapidly. ’I’ll have enough raw system currency to batch-upgrade two more core personnel directly to S-Rank status!’
Vespera’s violet eyes flickered thoughtfully as Silas weighed his roster options.
’Aeli and Rowenna,’ Silas decided firmly in his thoughts. ’Those two are currently the most equipped and vital spellcasters in my group. Elevating Aeli’s spatial power and Rowenna’s magic to S-Rank will give us unbreakable field dominance. After those two are secured, I can focus on raising Fenna and the rest of the girls bit by bit.’
Silas let out a silent, mental exhale, feeling the mounting crushing weight of his territorial responsibilities.
’We also desperately need to reserve several hundred UP to systematically upgrade the physical defensive structures and barracks I plan on constructing this week... there are truly way too many things to do, and never enough time or points to do them all.’
His mind shifted back to the upcoming Lord War against Sky.
When that war commenced in seven days, Sky’s floating camera drones would be deployed high above the battlefield, while long-range broadcast relays oversaw both territories from the sky.
Silas wanted the Blessed Land to look like an actual awe-inspiring high-tier paradise worthy of its name on that global broadcast and the vast sprawling groves of dark purple trees they had annexed this morning most certainly helped elevate their scenic prestige.
’Still...’ Silas thought inwardly with a wry smirk. ’I really wasn’t prepared to start accommodating and negotiating with world-famous Classic Lords this early in my development cycle.’
Sky adjusted his cloak against the biting blizzard wind, turning toward Vespera with a polite nod.
"The weather in this sector is deteriorating rapidly, and we’ve secured our objective," Sky stated sensibly. "I request that we head back to the border clearing and return to my mobile territory, Lord Vespera."
"Agreed," Vespera replied smoothly.
She walked over to Valkyrie, reaching up with her single right hand to gently pat the massive Alpha wolf mate along her thick golden-furred neck.
GRRR-RUMBLE...
Valkyrie leaned her heavy majestic head into Vespera’s touch, letting out a deep, vibrating growl of pure affectionate joy that made the snow on the surrounding branches tremble.
Vespera swung her leg over the saddle, settling onto the wolf’s back.
Seeing that Lyra, the wind mage, was preparing to mount up behind her again but Vespera paused.
Before Lyra could take a step, the silver-haired Demi-Human girl who had previously refused to ride out of sheer terror of Tasmin suddenly stepped forward from Sky’s group.
Her wolf ears twitched nervously against her silver hair, her pale face flushed with shy determination as she bowed her head toward Vespera.
"U-Um... Lord Vespera?" the Demi-Human girl stammered softly, her tail swishing behind her skirt. "If... if the offer is still open... may I request to join you on your mount for the return ride?"
Vespera blinked her luminous purple eyes, then smiled warmly, gesturing toward the empty space on Valkyrie’s saddle behind her waist.
"Of course you can," Vespera agreed graciously. "Come on up."
The Demi-Human girl beamed with relief and excitement.
She scrambled up onto Valkyrie’s broad back, settling directly behind Vespera and wrapping her arms timidly around the female Lord’s slender waist.
"Thank you, My Lord," the girl whispered, blushing as she felt the comforting, radiating warmth of Vespera’s body against her chest.
"Hold on tight everyone!" Vespera commanded.
With all riders secure... Thora clinging to Tasmin atop Luna, Lyra and Gale preparing their aerial wind-glide spells, and Sky running alongside them... the two massive wolves spun around in the snow.
HOWL!
With a thunderous burst of speed, the direwolves exploded out of the frozen clearing, sprinting back through the dark, purple-leafed woods toward the western border before the deeper monsters of the Umbral Basin could catch their scent.
[An Hour Later, Back at the western border clearing...]
Inside the secure, high-walled courtyard of ’The Unmovable Wall’s’ colossal, three-story mobile fortress, an incredible culinary operation was underway.
In the center of the iron-plated camp, Sky’s field chefs had set up massive, roaring roasting spits and heavy iron cauldrons.
The high-density meat of the Umbral Wolves and the rich metallic marrow bones of the Abyssal Iron-Weave Roc were already being butchered, seasoned, and slow-cooked over open blue-flame mana burners.
Lord Sky stood beside the roaring cauldrons, personally explaining his war-band’s specialized preservation and seasoning process to Vespera, Tasmin, and Thora.
"The secret to preparing high-tier game isn’t just searing the flesh," Sky explained, gesturing toward a chef who was generously rubbing a deep red, aromatic powder across a massive wolf flank. "Because monsters in this region absorb dense dark environmental mana, their meat can taste bitter and tough if cooked raw. We use a specialized blend of sun-dried Valorian chili spices, crushed star-garlic, and crystallized sea-salt to neutralize the dark mana and tenderize the muscle fibers."
As the fats melted and dripped onto the blue flames, a mouth-watering, intoxicating whiff of rich, spicy, savory barbecue drifted across the entire iron courtyard.
Tasmin and Thora stood near the cauldrons, their eyes wide in genuine culinary awe as they inhaled the incredible aroma.
’That smell is amazing...’ Tasmin thought, her nostrils flaring slightly as her mind evaluated the seasoning blend. ’Though... to be completely objective, Kaelia could easily cook a dish ten times better than this without needing a single grain of Valorian spice. Her Master Chef class is divinity.’
Beside her, Thora silently nodded in agreement, thinking the exact same thing about their Keep’s resident culinary goddess.
However, both women were far too intelligent, disciplined, and polite to mention their own territory’s superior cooking out loud in front of a rival Lord and his millions of live stream viewers.
They simply maintained respectful and impressed expressions.
Sky noticed their genuine intrigue and the way Vespera’s purple eyes lingered on the spice tables.
A warm generous smile spread across his face beneath his alloy mask.
He turned toward his head quartermaster, snapping his fingers.
"Quartermaster! Pack up a full, master-tier wooden chest of our finest Valorian spice blends, crushed star-garlic, and preserved seasonings. Prepare it as an immediate diplomatic gift for Lord Vespera!"