Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 128: What?

They walked quickly in the snow. Vale had expanded his range of heat to ensure everyone was enveloped; even the blowing wind slowed when it entered his space.

But to them, it didn’t seem as though they were making any progress. Everywhere they looked was ice, snow, and ice mountains.

The only reason they believed they were going in the right direction was because Serdan kept stopping now and then to point the way.

They occasionally stopped for breaks, only after a few hours of walking. They ate, drank, and continued walking. There was no night or day; everything was a long stretch of white.

Eventually, after what must have been two days inside the ruin, they finally seemed to be getting closer to the biggest ice mountain by far.

The closer they got to the mountain, the less it felt like a mountain and more like a hulking castle that had been pressed down by years of snow and ice.

"Are we just going to rush in?" Tiber asked.

They were hiding behind a buildup of snow that overlooked the direction of the strange castle.

"We don’t know what’s in there or how many monsters we’re going to fight when we get in," Vale said, then turned to Serdan. "Can you tell how many monsters are in there?"

She frowned, and her rod flared a deep green once more. "I can’t tell the specifics, but there are a lot of monsters in there. We should be careful."

"Can you tell their level?" Manefor asked.

She shook her head. "No. It seems we’ll have to find out when we see them."

Vale didn’t like the sound of that. "What about you, Tiber? Can you tell?"

Tiber opened his mouth to immediately disagree, then paused. "If they’re sleeping."

His eyes immediately turned dark and deep, his brows creasing.

Dlodus and Serdan looked at him curiously as they felt a pulse of essence leave him. It felt like the tranquility of the night as it passed through them.

Suddenly, Tiber stiffened. His eyes went wide, and he stumbled backward. Slya jumped forward and caught him as he swayed as if he would fall.

"Are you okay?" Vale asked in alarm. He looked at the castle, waiting for something to stumble through, but all was still and silent.

’What the? I’ve never seen him react that way before!’

Tiber calmed down. The dark in his eyes peeled away, but his frown remained. He shook his head as if trying to shake away a bad dream.

They waited in silence until he was ready to speak, and he did after shuddering. "There are hundreds of thousands of monsters in there."

Vale felt as if someone had yanked the ground from under him. "What?"

"What?!"

Vale wasn’t the only one who asked the question.

Serdan sat up, her hand clenched on her rod. "What do you mean there are hundreds of thousands of monsters in there?"

Dlodus whistled. "Are you serious?"

"Are you trying to play a joke?" Slya asked, her gaze shifting to the castle, her eyes fearful. "This is not the time to be joking around."

Tiber rubbed his face. "I’m speaking the truth. But they all seem to be sleeping, a deep kind of sleep... like hibernating? No, it’s like they’re waiting for a trigger to wake them up."

"Oh... one of them isn’t asleep, though."

They digested that in silence, each person taking in what he said.

Vale frowned. "Hundreds of thousands. Dlodus, Serdan, Manefor, is something like this normal?"

"I’ve never heard of something like this before," Serdan said immediately, her voice faster than usual. She shifted in place as if she was waiting for a bottle to fill her hand.

"Me neither. This is strange. What’s the one monster doing awake?" Dlodus said and looked towards the castle as if hoping to catch a glance of this monster.

Just then, Tiber shot Dlodus a look that Vale caught but couldn’t interpret. ’Is Dlodus doing something right now? Maybe I’m just imagining things because of the danger around me...’

Manefor rumbled, "Maybe this is the uniqueness of the ruin with a rift seed."

No one had anything to say to that. After all, no one could claim to have been in such a ruin before.

Vale sighed. "Tiber, can you describe the slumbering monsters?"

"Ice statues. They’re created from ice, and their power isn’t weaker than a Squire. Some of them are as powerful as an average Knight rank."

Dlodus turned surprised eyes to him. "You can get all that just from reading a dream?"

Tiber shook his head. "Only because there are a large number of them, and the one that’s awake has limited intelligence."

"I see," Dlodus said.

"Do you know what their trigger is?" Serdan asked.

"No. I don’t think it’s something common, at least not something as easy as stepping into the palace."

Vale nodded. "Then it’s not all bad. The one awake will be the boss. If we can kill it, then we might get to the core of the ruin and destroy it before the ones sleeping wake. That’ll wipe them all out in one go."

"Or we can just turn and go back. It’s not like they can get out of the ruin," Dlodus shrugged.

Vale reached out his hand, and his newly acquired sword came out of the spatial ring and into his hand. The sword immediately glowed red, making the surrounding snow melt. "Describe the monster for me, Tiber."

The monster was a Yeti.

"Are you going in just like that?" Dlodus asked.

Vale looked at the melted snow that was once their cover and raised his brows. "You can stay back if you like. But I would like us to deal with the monster in the fastest way possible."

Dlodus smirked. "I’m just worried your two apprentices will get hurt."

Vale shrugged. "They’ve been holding their own so far."

"The strategy is simple. We hit the monster in the most vital spot as hard as we can. Since most bosses usually have the ruin core with them, that includes finding and destroying it. Slya and Tiber will be our watch against the sleeping buddies."

"Now then, let the hunt begin!"