Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 98: Shit

"Alright, move back a little." Slya stepped forward and reached out her right hand. The sword melted into darkness that swirled in her hand, forming a rod of pure shadow.

With her formation set firm in her mind, she got into position, crouched, and then raised the dark rod to the back of her head before slashing forward. At the same time, she forged.

The tip of her rod swelled and expanded into a dark red scythe about two meters long. It whistled through the air, cutting through the strange trees with a swish and a fwip that sent most of them flying back.

Vale’s dark mane flew into his face as he surveyed Slya’s work. He shook his head. ’She’ll be very dangerous fighting large groups of people, especially when she ranks up’

More than thirty of the strange trees had fallen, reddish-green sap dripping onto the ground.

Slya returned her forged weapon into a sword. "Those trees are too soft. They’re not hard like normal trees; they’re basically mushrooms."

"That’s good. Let’s look for a way to explore," Vale said, though he didn’t make any moves. He stood there with his arms folded.

And the three of them realized it at once, they were clueless. They didn’t even know what to do next in the ruin. A complete team should include those knowledgeable about what’s valuable as loot or at least capable of gauging an item’s worth.

But for them, looking at everything with fresh eyes, they didn’t know where to start.

"We should kill the boss to clear the ruin, right? And they’re usually at the center," Vale said. "A monster like the boss will definitely be worth something."

The others sighed in relief upon hearing that. At least now they had something to do instead of standing around. They carefully picked their way over the cut mushrooms, watching the ground for anything unusual.

Slya continued clearing the way, and the three of them made a path of fallen trees as they advanced toward what Vale hoped was the center.

The forest was silent. Nothing living moved except them, and it was beginning to wear on their nerves. The absence of movement in such a strange place made it feel as if everything was watching them.

"Slya, do your job," Vale said. He and Tiber followed behind her as darkness swirled in her hand once again.

Her two-meter scythe moved effortlessly through the air, but this time, as she cut through the trees, her blade slammed into something that caused a painful vibration to run down her arm.

She yelped and recoiled, her hold on the scythe shaking as it melted into nothing. "What the... what’s that?!"

They turned toward the spot where her weapon had struck and caused a resounding ping! It was obvious, half the trees had been cut in uniform, except for one area where her blade couldn’t cut through.

From there, they saw something watching them with dull red eyes, its body hidden by the dark green mushroom trees.

"Prepare for battle," Vale called. His right hand glowed golden-red as flames jetted out and condensed into a spear, pulsing with intense heat that made the others instinctively back away.

Tiber was already in his nightmare form, flat flesh, numerous mouths with gleaming fangs, and many eyes. Slya wore her helmet as black chains coiled around her, the tips ending in small black-and-red bells that throbbed ominously.

’I have to do something about their fire resistance, or it’ll cause trouble when we fight as a team’ Vale noted as he gave them space. "That thing must have a tough body to resist Slya’s...!"

The monster crawled forward. It looked like a combination of a spider and a crab. Its body was made of rough red shell, but its legs were thin, smooth, and jointed. It was easily half Tiber’s size, yet it moved on the ground with unsettling ease, clicking its long pincher mouth together to create a crackling sound.

Then another clicking sound answered from behind them, to their sides. The sound turned almost uniform, coming from all around them at once.

"There must be at least a hundred of them," Tiber said with three voices.

"This isn’t good. We’ve exposed ourselves, we’re basically in a clearing, surrounded by monsters," Vale said.

"Hmph! Then we’ll just kill them all!" Slya declared. She stepped forward and began whirling her chain. It cut through the air with a hum, the small metal ball at its end slowly expanding until it reached two meters.

The ball blurred around her before she flicked her hand, sending the chain forward with explosive force. The ball crossed the distance between them and the lead monster in a flash, smashing into it with a bone-crushing thud.

The monster was sent flying into the air, and the ball followed, spraying up dust.

Suddenly, Tiber shouted, "Slya, devolve that weapon!" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But it was already too late. The monster had somehow flipped itself midair and balanced on the metal ball. Its red eyes locked on her before it leapt!

Bam!

It wasn’t something they expected. The monster rocketed forward like an arrow of shockwaves, suddenly appearing in front of Slya, who could only blink in disbelief. Its pinchers opened to reveal green, silver-coated fangs ready to rip into her face.

Everything seemed to slow down.

Tiber flung himself forward, but he wasn’t fast enough. His tentacles lashed out, grabbing her and yanking her away. Vale did the same in a different way—he caused a small explosion at his feet that blasted him forward, slamming into the monster from the side. He grunted in pain as he hit what felt like a tree trunk but managed to throw the creature off course.

Both hit the ground, Vale harder, and he scrambled to his feet when something slammed into him, pinning him down with its weight.

"Shit," Vale muttered.

The monster clicked its pincers inches from his face, spraying green saliva. He closed his eyes just in time, but his face burned. He screamed with his mouth closed, muffling the sound. The creature opened its gleaming fangs, ready to stab down.

Meanwhile, as if it were a signal, the other monsters began their attack! Slya and Tiber found their hands full, focused entirely on not dying. Neither dared shift their focus to anyone else.