Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 101: I wasn’t late

"I’m surprised there are no guards here," Vale said. The three of them were walking on a bush-filled trail that had been recently trampled down.

They were deep in the Veilwood, yet no monsters roared or made any sounds even the insects were silent. The deep green forest was eerily so.

"That’s because there’s no need to. How many people would be foolish enough to crash a meeting put together by outlaw big shots?" Tiber asked.

"Apparently, us," Slya said in a mock whisper. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The three of them wore black fitted clothes, enchanted items that could turn steel or two away. It was far better than armor while giving them flexibility.

They carried no weapons, but on Slya’s back was a long brown wooden chest strapped to her. The chest and the enchanted tools were what they had spent their two weeks of ruin hunting on. Even Xan, who was hiding, got his own.

"Well, not many people know the way here. Even Xan almost got lost before he showed us the way," Tiber said.

But Slya didn’t reply. With their essence senses, they could more than feel the presence of the outlaws. They grew silent as they got closer, their footsteps seemingly the only loud thing in the clearing, alerting the outlaws.

The sound of steel rang through the clearing as the outlaws raised their weapons and turned toward the intruders. Vale raised his hands, and the others followed, stopping just inside the clearing.

Vale did a quick survey of the outlaws, his senses sweeping over them in quick succession. ’Oh... they are the ones brought here to show strength. Not bad’

Then he looked at the building and marveled silently again at the cold beauty of ruins. Something so majestic could be hiding something cruel and dangerous—much like Knights.

"Who are you?" a voice demanded. A man from the Blackened Blade stepped forward, his dagger spinning fast in his hand. His eyes were narrowed. "You don’t belong to any outlaw gang."

"Any outlaw that you know," Slya countered sharply and quickly before shooting Vale a sheepish look.

"Then you’re a small fry. Scram," a woman from the Ebonfang Collective sneered. "You don’t matter enough for us to know you."

The other outlaws came out to say more or less the same thing, not wanting anyone else to represent them. The atmosphere quickly turned more oppressive as the outlaws glared at each other and then at them.

Tiber spoke up. "We are invited guests here. We are here to see the Blackened Blade leader."

Gazes turned to the Blackened Blade outlaws, but they truly didn’t know if what these strangers said was true. They looked at Tiber and the others doubtfully.

The man with the dagger from the Blackened Blade shook his head angrily. "You think we’re fools? Get out of here now! Any guest of our leader would certainly have followed him here, or we would have been told to expect you!"

Tiber smiled sheepishly as if he’d been caught. "Well, about that, will Lysa be able to vouch for me?"

The man sneered, eyes narrowing as he took a threatening step forward—only to be cut off by a cool female voice.

"You dare threaten our guests?"

Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. Sure enough, it was Lysa—one of the trusted and powerful elite members close to the leader.

The man with the dagger sputtered, bowing while shooting a glare at Tiber and the others, as if it were their fault. Then he stepped aside, and the other outlaws made way for her to pass.

She smiled at Tiber. "Right on time."

Tiber nodded briskly. He didn’t introduce Vale and Slya as they followed the woman. The gaze of every outlaw bore into them, all wondering who these strangers were.

"Your ability sure is convenient," Vale said, looking at Lysa. ’And very terrifying. I can see the many ways it’ll be useful’

"Thank you. But the most difficult part comes now. Everything depends on time. We must take care of the leaders before time runs out, or we’ll have to fight all these outlaws."

"They’re not that strong, but they have numbers. We don’t want to deal with them while we have the leaders on our hands," Tiber warned.

Of course, they had practiced and explained what they wanted to do, but it was still important to remind everyone. Wiping out all the leaders of the outlaws in one go was the idea—it would make their mission far easier.

’It’ll be easy to pick out the remaining small fries’

With all this talk of killing the outlaws, Lysa made no comments. She even smiled and nodded because, to her, it was perfectly reasonable.

She led them through the door and into the building. There was a short hallway from the entrance that led into the first big hall. It was there that they first paused. Slya removed the wooden chest from her back, opening it to reveal a golden rod with gems set in its head like a scepter.

She took it and slammed it into the ground, driving it into the stone. Then she poured essence into it and whispered the activation spell. The blue gem set in the rod glowed, then rippled outward. With a whoosh and a hum, it covered the building like a wet blanket.

Not only would it prevent anyone from entering or leaving, but it would also shield against attacks—somewhat. It was an artifact, one that Xan had sought out for them, and they had paid for it with all the money they had.

They also paid for four days with the fear of small creatures brought to them by Xan.

"How many minutes again?" Vale asked, taking a deep breath and steadying himself. ’Another step toward my goal’

"The rod should last for about fifteen minutes," Slya said. Then she warned, "I activated it at max capacity. After this, it’ll break since it’s made for short usage."

Vale paused, then checked his left hand where his spatial ring should be. "Well, we’ll make a killing off these outlaws. Xan must be having a great day looting. Let’s try to have ours."

They had already reached the second room, and they could hear the shouting of the outlaws as they demanded to know who had activated the shield. They had already stood up from their seats, and their elite members had surrounded the leaders.

Vale chuckled and said loudly, "I wasn’t late after all!"