The rain had almost completely stopped by now. Moonlight crept out from behind the dark clouds, casting a silver glow upon the earth, illuminating Hammerbone and the mage apprentice Dunlan standing on the dark rocks of the pass.
Looking at the Slime fortress in the distance, which under the moonlight seemed smaller than his fist, Hammerbone yawned, scratching his itchy buttocks as he complained, "Can't these damned Slimes just surrender already? Making me stand guard here in the middle of the night."
Dunlan approached, leaning on his staff, and chuckled lightly, "Deputy Army Commander Hammerbone, the opportune moment for battle must not be missed. Tonight is the perfect time to strike. If we wait until after tomorrow, these Undead will have scattered quite a bit."
Hammerbone waved his hand irritably, "I know, you talk too much."
This was really too much.
That sinister and terrifying Demon was already enough to make him nervous and fearful, and now there was this weird, annoying human on top of it.
Don't be fooled by this human's slender build, as if he could lift him with one arm;
in reality, he was an elite-level mage.
Moreover, using some strange and unorthodox method, the effects of the necromancy spells he cast were terrifyingly effective. Even Hammerbone didn't dare to provoke him lightly.
Not to mention the even weirder old mage standing behind him.
"The time has come."
Dunlan merely glanced up at the moon's position among the stars to confirm the exact time, then raised his staff adorned with a skull.
[Fear Spell]
A flash of black light erupted from the top of the staff, and thick black mist instantly burst forth, coiling around several unlucky Goblins patrolling the edge of the pass like living creatures.
"Arghhh!"
Those Goblins seemed instantly ensnared by the most terrifying nightmare. Their eyes, filled with terror, stared at Dunlan. As if they had lost their minds, they screamed and fled desperately away from Dunlan, plunging headlong into the slowly surging tide of Undead below.
The commotion caused by these Goblins was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly shattering the silence of the Undead tide.
Flickering, ghostly blue Soulfire lit up within numerous skulls. Dense crowds of skeleton soldiers were awakened, stiffly raising their rusted weapons. Their bones creaked and groaned as they stumbled and staggered, chasing after the fleeing Goblins.
The agitation spread like a plague, quickly sweeping through the entire massive Undead horde.
As if awakened to their instinct for slaughter, they no longer wandered aimlessly. Instead, they began to converge frantically towards the brightly lit Slime fortress ahead.
Dunlan lowered his staff with satisfaction. "Good, now it's time to watch the show."
Seeming to remember something else, his gaze burned as he looked into the distance. "If there really are Elves standing behind these Slimes... then the chaos in this land should satisfy the teacher..."
Before his words even finished, the distant Slime fortress reacted immediately to the increasingly turbulent Undead tide.
But contrary to his expectation of Elven Druids summoning forest allies or Oak Guards joining the battle, the fortress walls suddenly lit up with countless complex and mysterious patterns.
These patterns connected and intertwined with each other, instantly forming a large, compound Magic Formation that covered nearly half the wall!
Inside the wall, three Metal Slimes stood at the key energy nodes of the Magic Formation.
With a collective "Heave-ho!", they strenuously lifted Gray Gravel Crystals several times larger than their own bodies overhead, simultaneously sending a resolute report through the gel network:
"Group One, ready!"
The Slime's voice echoed through the fortress via the gel network, followed by:
"Group Two, ready."
"Group Three, ready."
"..."
Finally, Chen Yu, standing on the main battlement, surveyed the scene and issued the final command.
"Activate!"
"Heave—ho!" All the Slimes positioned at the nodes simultaneously exerted force, embedding the Gray Gravel Crystals into the corresponding slots on the Magic Formation beneath their feet.
"Hummm!!!"
The entire fortress interior instantly emitted an energy roar like a giant beast awakening. This enormous commotion, in turn, further stimulated the Undead tide below into greater chaos and frenzy.
At that moment, the completed Magic Formation suddenly erupted with dazzling Spiritual Glow. Countless beams of energy surged forth from each node, rapidly converging and intertwining in front of the wall, ultimately forming a curtain of light covered with mysterious, flowing runes, enveloping the fortress's frontal battlefield.
"Ahhh!!"
The surging tide of Undead crashed violently against the light curtain. Those unfortunate skeletons that charged into the formation's "Death Gate" were instantly crushed into bone fragments by the arcane energy within the light curtain.
The attacks of other skeleton soldiers landing on the light curtain not only failed to shake it in the slightest but were instead repelled by a powerful counter-shock force, sending them tumbling and scattering in disarray.
This seemingly fragile light curtain actually effortlessly withstood the frenzied assault of hundreds, even thousands, of Undead.
Seeing this, Dunlan's gaze faltered for a moment, followed by unconcealed delight.
A large-scale compound Magic Formation capable of covering such a vast area—even he, an elite mage specializing in the necromancy school, didn't know how to set up such a thing.
How could a Slime territory located in a swamp possess a magical defense system of this level?
This undoubtedly made him even more certain that some mysterious Elven force must be standing behind these Slimes, and it was likely those ancient tree Elves from the Western Mountains.
Let chaos reign! The more chaos, the better! Dunlan thought excitedly to himself.
Only in this way could he better complete the task entrusted by his teacher, and even... have a chance to glimpse the true purpose hidden beneath the teacher's layers of mystery.
However, he still lacked a crucial piece of evidence to prove Elven involvement here.
His gaze remained fixed intently on the distant fortress, waiting for something.
Soon, his "wish" was granted.
From behind the walls of that fortress, three Treants emitting a hazy, faint glow slowly walked out.
Their dark Oak Leaves shimmered with a strange luster under the moonlight. The hazy glow outlined their massive silhouettes, making them clearly visible in the night.
They strode down from the wall on legs formed of thick roots, swinging their massive, branch-like arms like giant clubs, sweeping into the dense clusters of Undead.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Each swing of their branches was like a scythe of death, instantly shattering a large swath of skeletons into flying bone fragments.
But what surprised Dunlan even more was that these three Oak Guards could cast spells while swinging their branches.
[Summon Lightning]
[Heal]
[Plant Growth]
This indicated they might not be ordinary Oak Guards, but were very possibly... the legendary War Treants?!
He quickly recalled records from ancient texts. While War Treants were renowned for their unparalleled physical strength and defense, their spellcasting abilities weren't actually poor.
The so-called "poor" was relative to other powerful spellcasters of the same Extraordinary tier.
The spellcasting abilities displayed by these three Treants before him were precisely what War Treant saplings should exhibit.
They even far exceeded his expectations.
Thinking this, he finally felt completely convinced.
These were definitely War Treants, no doubt about it.
"Heh, interesting, truly interesting. An unknown Slime territory has actually dragged Elves and War Treants into the picture..." Dunlan's eyes flashed with a strange light.
Since the purpose of the probe had been successfully accomplished, there was no reason to linger here any longer.
He turned on his heel without another glance at the battlefield, his figure quickly disappearing into the shadows of the pass.
As for the outcome of the battle?
With Elves and War Treants backing them, how could these low-level, mindless Undead possibly be a match for those Slimes?
The outcome held no suspense whatsoever.
Hammerbone paid no mind to Dunlan's departure. Gazing at the distant fortress standing like a rock amidst the Undead tide, his heart filled with lingering fear.
"How have these Slimes become so increasingly terrifying..."
Fortunately, he wasn't a fool like Grumg, rushing to his death.
After observing for a few more moments, he turned and left without looking back, afraid that lingering here any longer would result in those Slimes chasing him down for a beating.
Down on the battlefield below Riftrock Fortress, the battle, though overwhelmingly one-sided, continued.
Despite the fortress operating at full capacity, causing extremely heavy losses to the Undead, their numbers were simply too vast, seemingly endless. They couldn't be completely cleared out in a short while.
Chen Yu crouched on the battlement, gazing out at the dark Riftrock Pass in the night. Only when the scouting Poison-stinger Wasps returned to report, confirming the Goblins had retreated, did he look at the bones left all over the ground by the Undead and suddenly have an idea—
Could these skeletons be eaten?
Logically speaking, Undead creatures don't have Magic Organs, so they most likely wouldn't yield talents.
But wasn't his [Devour Digestion] already at Lv.8? Now he could increase his HP just by swallowing random things. If he swallowed all these bones covering the ground...
Thinking this, his eyes lit up. He leaped directly from the battlement, landing with a soft *splat* on the battlefield, which had already been cleared into an open space by the Treants.
He signaled for Little Ka to stand guard and protect him from the side, then took a deep breath. His entire gel body seemed to inflate like a balloon.
[Devour Digestion]
Behold my Abyssal Big Belly!
Chen Yu unleashed his gastric power to the max. A miniature black hole, seemingly capable of devouring everything, condensed and took shape within his gel stomach, then erupted with a powerful suction force.
"Whoosh whoosh~"
The suction caused the wind to howl. The bones scattered all over the ground trembled, then frantically surged towards him one after another, disappearing into his stomach, which was as dark as an abyss.
In just an instant, the panel in his field of vision began to refresh madly.
[HP Max +1]
...
His HP shot up like crazy, far exceeding Chen Yu's expectations.
His original 1,500 HP gradually increased, soon breaking through the 2,000 mark without showing any signs of stopping.
Two thousand five hundred... three thousand... three thousand five hundred...
After a while, his HP easily climbed past 4,000 points.
Still not satisfied, Chen Yu immediately ordered all the Slime guards in the fortress to mobilize. Hopping about, they busily cleaned the battlefield, collecting bones from farther away and bringing them to Chen Yu's side, only for them to be sucked into the black hole in his stomach.
They busied themselves like this for most of the night. When the first rays of morning sunlight fell upon the fortress, he finally began to feel a bit tired from all the eating.
And by then, his HP had reached an astonishing 15,000 points!
This was almost ten times his original amount.
For comparison, a knight like Yano, renowned for high HP and attack power, probably only had around 3,000 HP.
And he had 15,000!
Holy super tank Slime!
With his current HP, even if he stood still and let those Adventurers beat on him, the damage they caused in half a day might not even match the amount he could regenerate.
Chen Yu, still not fully satisfied, hopped around to stretch his body. When he looked around, the once surging Undead tide had completely vanished.
As far as the eye could see, only clean ground remained. All the bones had entered his big belly.
Besides that, while devouring, he seemed to have glimpsed several talents flashing by.
[Devour Digestion Lv.8 triggered — Skeleton soldier characteristics fully recorded. Talent [Vampiric Touch Lv.5] obtained.]
[Devour Digestion Lv.8 triggered — Skeleton soldier characteristics fully recorded. Talent [Undead Affinity Lv.5] obtained.]
[Devour Digestion Lv.8 triggered — Elite skeleton soldier characteristics fully recorded. Talent [Fear Aura Lv.5] obtained.]
Huh?
All Undead-type talents.
Oh no. Now I've really become a boss.
With super thick HP, activating the Fear Aura, infusing himself with undead energy, and using Vampiric Touch to heal while fighting... now even Undead creatures wouldn't understand the concept of "undeath" better than him.
Forget magic resistance and physical resistance, they'd have to deplete an entire health bar first. And after finishing one bar, there would be ninety-nine more behind it.
He felt like if he kept eating diligently, the length of his health bar could catch up to those Golden-tier Magical Creature lords.
Fifteen thousand wasn't enough. What about thirty thousand, forty thousand, or even a hundred thousand?
Just as he was immersed in visions of his future "eating journey," Nilly's figure materialized from the shadows beside him, her face wearing an expression of astonishment.
"My lord, just how big is your appetite? You ate all those Undead in a single night?"
Chen Yu wobbled his gel body in affirmation. Then he asked a question that left even Nilly somewhat stunned: "Are there many more Undead like this in the Dark Realm?"
Nilly was taken aback for a moment, then her eyes darted around. A sly smile appeared on her face as she answered cheerfully, "Of course! The Dark Realm is much larger than you imagine. Undead are everywhere there. You could eat for a whole year and still not finish them all."
Hearing this, Chen Yu's heart was instantly moved.
So he puffed out his round belly, striking a righteous and solemn pose.
"These evil vampire clans have actually colluded with Goblins, disturbing the peace and tranquility of the swamp, and have long occupied my Dark Realm."
"To uphold justice and order, for the lasting peace of the swamp, we must take the initiative and launch an expedition to conquer the Evernight Domain!"
"Huh?"
Nilly, who had been smiling just moments ago, was now dumbfounded, her smile vanishing abruptly.
Oh no. This little Slime's ambition was even bigger than she thought. He actually wanted to annex the Dark Realm.
But then again, wasn't this precisely the kind of disruptive force her family had been seeking all along?
She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.