Chapter 291: Adorable Princess, New Great Undertaking

Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Adorable Princess, New Great Undertaking

Seeing the name, Elvira couldn’t help but blush.

An uncontrollable heat washed over her, and she slid one long, straight leg out from under the thin silk quilt.

At first, Elvira was only reading to pass the time, but as her eyes scanned the opening paragraphs...

Lake Knight activated!

She suddenly felt her consciousness being pulled into the text, and she instinctively put herself in the shoes of the story’s Snow Lady.

Elvira felt her once-steady heartbeat begin to quicken.

She instinctively sat up straight. As her body temperature continued to climb, she slid both legs out from under the covers.

Provoked by her emotions, the Red Dragon Bloodline within her began to stir uncontrollably.

A pink flush quickly spread across Elvira’s fair skin as her body temperature skyrocketed at an alarming rate.

Heat.

A scorching heat shot up her spine.

She bit her lower lip as fine beads of sweat trickled from her pores, drenching her thin nightdress.

Damp with sweat, the nightdress clung to her, vaguely outlining her youthful figure.

Her long, straight legs glowed with a pink flush. Beads of sweat trickled down her calves, blooming into small, damp patches on the bedsheets.

She had no idea just how alluring she looked.

Her emotions rose and fell with the story. Her ten small, dainty toes, peeking out from the covers, would occasionally flex and unflex. Then, as her emotions crested with the story’s climax, they clenched shut.

A long moment passed.

Elvira panted, taking in deep, ragged breaths.

She snapped the periodical shut and tossed it aside.

Supporting her limp body, she shifted into a W-sit on the messy bed.

The sheets beneath her were soaked through with the scalding sweat she had produced.

Elvira reached out a trembling hand and touched the warm, damp patches. Her face was a mask of disbelief.

"La... Lance?"

...

’My General Concept Reputation Value seems to be rising a bit too fast lately, doesn’t it?’

「Inside the Silver Hand Guild’s encampment.」

Having finished all the complicated matters submitted by the various departments—well ahead of schedule and with superhuman efficiency—Lance finally allowed himself a long stretch.

He then checked his recent Reputation Value.

’It’s already past 12,000. That’s a little absurd.’

’I wonder if this much Reputation Value will be enough to forge a Legend once I acquire a title.’

’I also wonder what kind of Legend I’ll be able to forge.’

’The Hero Who Saved the Underground City, or something like that?’

He allowed himself a moment to daydream.

Lance lay down on the wooden bed in the lounge that had been prepared specially for him.

’God, I’m exhausted.’

He stared at the ceiling and let out a long, weary breath.

The first three days after he took over coordination had been a break-in period, a time before the entire camp’s operations were running smoothly.

An endless stream of minor problems and personnel scheduling issues had consumed nearly all his energy. They were, without a doubt, the most mentally draining three days of his life.

But the hard work had paid off.

Today, the hundred-plus scouting parties he had dispatched had finally completed their terrain mapping and intelligence gathering for all three major regions.

This meant that when the three main forces finished preparing their supplies tomorrow and began their official advance to conquer the Underground City...

...Lance’s own focus would also need to shift toward challenging the ten Iron Guards.

All the necessary positions had been filled with suitable candidates.

Even if he had to leave the safe zone to fight for the next few days, the command center could now operate smoothly on its own momentum.

’To be honest, though,’

Lance rolled over, sensing the Source Material within his body.

’The fact that I was able to suppress all those troublemakers so easily these past few days was largely thanks to the Dragon Phase ability that comes with my Crimson Dragon Source Material.’

’The sense of pressure and persuasiveness it subtly exuded during negotiations reduced countless points of resistance when I was implementing new policies. It was definitely a lot easier than I expected.’

However, he really hadn’t expected Felix to name their temporary expeditionary force the "Red Dragon" during the meeting.

When that name was announced, Lance, who had been in the meeting room, almost lost his composure.

’It was too much of a coincidence.’

’And I don’t know if it was because of the name, but... Lance could clearly feel the Source Material inside his body becoming more active than ever before.’

On top of that, there was something else that he found very gratifying.

Within the King’s Way dimensions used to rate the Summer Crown title...

...the past three days of high-intensity administrative coordination and decision-making had earned him a considerable number of points in various sub-fields, such as Command and Computation.

The glittering golden pillars representing his scores proved that his hard work over the past few days had not been in vain.

’I hope that when the final rewards are tallied, all these hard-earned points will get me a top-tier title.’

Lance prayed silently.

His thoughts turned back to the battle plan for tomorrow.

After several days of investigation by the scouting parties, they now had solid intelligence on the 10 Iron Guards.

They were each entrenched in one of ten special locations within the second region.

The veterans who frequented large-scale Underground Cities called these special locations "Lord Rooms."

It wasn’t an ordinary cave, but a special, folded space generated by the laws of the Underground City itself.

These rooms not only possessed their own unique terrain and environment, but sometimes even contained strange rules that suppressed the abilities of Adventurers.

During this round of intelligence gathering, the members of the Iron Throne Guild had paid a hefty price.

They had contributed a precious detection-type item from the Underground City, which they used to successfully ascertain the details of the Lord Room closest to their camp.

The intelligence revealed that the one guarding that room was one of Galeos’s most capable generals from when he was alive!

Of course, this wasn’t the actual Heroic Spirit of the general.

Instead, it was an aberrant Demon Leader that the will of the Underground City had forcibly created from Chaos Ether, based on fragments of historical legends about the general.

Even though it was just an imitation, they could still deduce the Demon Leader’s combat traits and likely abilities from the legends of the general’s life. This would be a huge advantage for tomorrow’s assault.

Everything was ready.

’First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll head out and clear that room.’

However, before that...

Lance lay on the bed, waiting quietly.

The moment he had been waiting for for so long was finally about to arrive.

The new grand achievement he had been working toward ever since he started learning the Breathing Combat Technique was finally going to be fulfilled tonight!

For a full thirty days.

Even with his Talent, Hevagmir’s Boiling, helping to mitigate the negative effects on his body and Spirit, he could still clearly feel a lingering discomfort—sore muscles and a burning sensation in his organs.

Now, that was finally about to end.

The reason he had pushed himself so hard today, finishing all his desk work ahead of schedule to return to his room, was so he could be there the moment his new grand achievement was complete and learn of its special Effect.