Chapter 238: The Unmovable Wall [I]
Silas gulped with a sudden dry lump forming in his throat as his eyes remained glued to the glowing crimson window suspended in the air before him.
He knew that name.
He knew exactly what territory the Unmovable Wall was, and without a single shadow of a doubt, it was one of the last territories on the entire continent that he ever wanted to run into.
The guy behind it was practically a global celebrity back on Earth and across the entire awakened network.
He was famous everywhere for his constant live streaming, turning survival and territorial warfare in the Sovereign Realm into a massive multi-million-credit entertainment business.
But what truly set him apart... what made him a living legend among Lords was the fact that he was one of the very first people to ever successfully create a Mobile Territory.
Usually, a Lord’s territory was anchored to a single fixed patch of ground.
You built your Keep, raised your walls, cultivated your soil, and defended that stationary boundary with your life.
But Lord Sky, the master of the Unmovable Wall, had bypassed that restriction entirely.
He had placed his Territory Core onto a colossal treads-and-iron moving fortress!
He roamed the boundless sectors of the Sovereign Realm on wheels and tracks, driving his mobile kingdom wherever he pleased, actively hunting down and challenging every Lord he happened to cross paths with.
And based on the fact that the system had just broadcasted his entry into the Umbral Basin... that meant the next target in his path was Silas himself and the Blessed Land.
’Fucking hell...’
Silas felt a genuine knot of apprehension tightening in his gut.
A small cold spike of fear darted through his chest.
Lord Sky was a Classic Lord... a veteran who had awakened early, built his force from the ground up, and possessed years of battle experience.
And so far, in every single official Lord War he had ever broadcasted to his global audience, he had never lost a single time.
His record was a flawless, unbroken streak of victories.
The only saving grace in this whole situation was Sky’s reputation and income model.
Because he had tens of millions of fanatical fans tuning into his streams every day, he made a fortune off subscriptions, corporate sponsorships, and broadcast donations.
Because he was already filthy rich from the streams, he didn’t actually bother to pillage, raze, or strip away the land and resources of the territories he defeated.
He fought strictly for the content, the entertainment, and the system ranking points and sometimes people but he only did so when the Lord considered them useless.
However, that didn’t mean a Lord War with him would be a walk in the park.
Facing a Classic Lord on live television with millions of people watching was a terrifying prospect.
’If I just got this system notification,’ Silas thought rapidly with his mind racing as he analyzed the situation, ’then Sky definitely received the exact same prompt the second his mobile fortress rolled into the Umbral Basin.’
He couldn’t afford to meet a famous livestreamer in his true form.
If Silas Graves appeared on a global broadcast leading an army of SSS-Rank goddesses and elite combatants, the World Council, the government, and every major megacorporation back on Earth would lock their eyes on him instantly.
His peaceful hidden development would be blown wide open. It was a good thing he had Vespera...
Silas turned his head toward Thora.
"Thora! Give me the ring! Quickly!"
Thora blinked her wide brown eyes, then a dirty cheeky grin spread across her face.
Without a single trace of shyness or hesitation, the dwarf forge-mistress reached both of her thick, calloused hands straight down between her heavy chest, rummaging around inside her leather top before pulling out the simple black disguise ring.
She held it out to him, the metal still carrying the warm heat of her skin.
On any normal quiet occasion, Silas would have groaned, complained about her bizarre personal storage habits, or called her out for being a shameless pervert.
But right now, with a legendary Classic Lord rolling into his sector, there was no time for banter.
Silas snatched the black band from her palm and slid it smoothly onto his right ring finger.
BOOM!
A violent surge of deep purple mana erupted from the black ring, expanding outward like a swirling, opaque tornado that completely enveloped Silas’s broad six-foot-two frame.
The spatial atmosphere around the gate warped and twisted as the artifact re-wrote his physical parameters from the bone up.
His height compressed down to five-foot-seven, his broad shoulders narrowed, his heavy muscular frame shifted into slender fluid curves, and his left arm dissolved entirely, leaving an empty black sleeve fluttering in the wind.
His short dark hair lengthened into sleek black locks falling to her shoulders, and when her eyelids opened, her golden-ringed eyes had been completely replaced by a luminous, captivating shade of deep violet.
When the purple light finally dissolved into the cold air, Silas Graves was completely gone.
Standing in his place on the stone ridge was Vespera... the single-armed, black-haired, purple-eyed female Lord.
Eluned, who was standing nearby, gasped loudly with her hands flying to her mouth as her silver-green eyes went wide as saucers.
"My Lord?! What... what happened to you?! Where did your body go?! Where is your left arm?!"
Vespera flexed her single right hand, her smooth female voice echoing through the quiet forest clearing.
"It’s a long story, Eluned. I’ll explain the mechanics of the ring to you later. Right now, we have a mobile fortress approaching our borders, and I need to go meet the guy to discuss terms for a Lord War before he rolls up to our front gates."
BUZZ... BUZZ... BUZZ...
Suddenly, a metallic vibration resonated from Thora’s leather utility belt.
A small polished brass crystal hanging from a metal chain began to flash and pulse with an erratic bright blue light.
Thora slapped her hand against her thigh, her eyes widening. "Ah! My Lord! It’s the communication crystal! The one I gave to Tasmin before she rode out with Team Alpha!"
Thora reached down, unclipping the brass device and tapping the central rune to open the long-distance mana conduit.
CRACKLE...
A soft static hum echoed from the crystal, followed immediately by Tasmin’s calm, crisp, and analytical voice:
"Thora? Can you hear me? Report to Lord Silas immediately. Team Alpha has reached the far western border of the newly annexed forest sector and I’ve temporarily broken off because something strange happened... My shadow perception has picked up several high-density spiritual signatures in the clearing ahead... and they do not belong to wild beasts or basin monsters. They belong to fellow humans."
Thora immediately stepped forward, holding the pulsing brass crystal up toward Vespera.
Vespera leaned down slightly, bringing her face close to the artifact.
"Tasmin, it’s me... Vespera," she instructed clearly. "Listen to me carefully. Engage them yourself, but do not attack blindly. State clearly that you are a patrol scout from the Blessed Land, and demand to speak directly with their Lord."
There was a brief, two-second pause on the other end of the communication line before Tasmin’s voice returned.
"Understood, My Lord... though your voice sounds remarkably confident. Am I permitted to execute hostiles if they prove aggressive? Should I kill them?"
Vespera winced slightly with her purple eyes flickering.
"Avoid killing anyone if you can help it! We don’t want to start an unsanctioned, bloody vendetta before formal terms are drawn up. However... if they strike first or try to subdue you by force, attack back with full power. Defend yourself without holding back."
"Roger that," Tasmin replied coolly. "Initiating contact now."
CLICK.
The blue light fading from the brass crystal as the conduit disconnected.
Vespera let out a slow long exhale, bringing her single right hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.
’Well, damn,’ Vespera thought to herself, her mind flashing to Tasmin’s newly evolved S-Rank Shadow Commander stats and her lethal shortswords. ’I really hope Tasmin doesn’t overdo it and accidentally decapitate one of his primary stream Heroes on live television...’
She looked up at the two women standing beside her at the open steel gate.
"I’m riding out there right now to handle this personally."
Eluned immediately stepped forward, her long silver-green hair swaying as her face filled with intense protective devotion.
"I’m going with you, My Lord! I won’t let some random wandering Lord disrespect you!"
Vespera turned her head, stepping close to the ancient Nature Goddess.
She reached out with her single right hand, gently cupping Eluned’s delicate cheek, and leaned in to plant a warm, firm kiss directly onto her smooth forehead.
Eluned went completely stiff, her eyes wide as a bright radiant pink blush exploded across her cheeks and spread all the way down to the tips of her slender ears.
Her breath caught in her throat, her lips trembling softly.
"No, Eluned," Vespera told her gently, her glowing purple eyes looking into hers. "Showing an SSS-Rank Nature Deity on an open global livestream right off the bat would be a massive mistake... It would reveal our strongest hand to the entire world before the war even starts. You are my secret weapon. I need you to stay behind, go up to the Watchtower with Fenna, and keep an eye on the perimeter from above."
Eluned’s heart swelled with such overwhelming, ecstatic joy at being called his "secret weapon" that her previous reluctance vanished into thin air.
She nodded vigorously, her silver-green hair bouncing.
"Yes! I understand, My Lord!" Eluned beamed happily, clutching her hands against where his kiss had landed. "I will guard the Keep from the Watchtower and wait for your command!"
Vespera turned her gaze toward the dwarf forge-mistress. "Thora, you’re coming with me."
"Hell yes!" Thora cheered, grinning wildly as she unclasped her heavy smithing hammer from her back. "Let’s go see this rolling fortress!"
Vespera walked over to Valkyrie, the massive Alpha wolf mate who was waiting patiently beside the gate.
Vespera swung her body up onto the wolf’s broad, soft back, using her single right hand on the leather harness to balance her lighter female frame.
Thora scrambled up right behind her, settling onto the wolf’s hindquarters and wrapping her thick arms tightly around Vespera’s waist.
"Take us out, Valkyrie!" Vespera commanded softly.
GRRRR... ROAR!
Valkyrie let out a deep reverberating growl, her massive muscular legs springing off the stone ground like coiled steel springs.
She burst forward through the open Steel Weave Gates, her golden fur blurring as she sprinted into the dense dark woods at amazing speed.
...
A few miles away, at the far western boundary gave way to a vast desolate mud clearing of the Umbral Basin... as well as dark trees.
Standing on the high forward observation deck of a colossal three-story mobile war-rig constructed from heavy iron plates and treaded steel rollers, a man stood quietly, looking out across the landscape through a pair of enchanted brass spyglasses.
This was Lord Sky... the legendary Lord of the Unmovable Wall.
’This is truly a strange place...’ Sky thought to himself, adjusting the delicate focus wheel of his brass spyglass.
In the far distance, beyond the misty, dark tree line, he could barely make out the faint towering silhouettes of stone walls and massive iron gates rising into the sky.
They were miles away, but according to the flashing system HUD floating in his field of vision, there was zero mistake.
That was the official domain center of the Blessed Land...
’Blessed Land sitting right in the middle of a region that is literally called the Umbral Basin...’ Sky chuckled softly under his breath, shaking his head beneath his headgear. ’What an amazing ironic play of words. Whoever the Lord of that territory is, they definitely possess a sense of humor.’
Physically, Sky did not look like an arrogant top-tier noble or a pompous academy heir.
He was an average-built man standing at roughly five-foot-eleven, wearing practical tactical leather gear reinforced with dark mythril plates.
To protect his real-world identity from government stalkers, rival guilds, and corporate headhunters back on Earth, his entire face was concealed behind a sleek featureless silver-and-black alloy mask that covered him from forehead to chin.
Floating in a neat, hovering orbit around his head were five orb-shaped glowing brass camera drones.
They were capturing every angle of his movement, broadcasting high-definition video feeds directly to the global network servers on Earth, streaming his progress live to millions of concurrent viewers.
Sky turned his masked face toward one of the floating camera drones, raising two fingers in a relaxed casual salute to his massive online audience.
"Alright, chat," Sky spoke into his mask’s built-in microphone, his relaxed, confident voice broadcasting clearly to the stream. "As you can see on the regional HUD overlay, we have officially crossed into the regional jurisdiction of the Blessed Land. We’re pulling the rig to a full stop right here at the outer clearing to establish our forward camp."