Chen Yu tumbled through the air, landing with a splat on Celeste's broad back. His gel body wobbled and bounced several times before stabilizing.
The stone flying sword didn't stop. It turned back with a trajectory more agile than any spell, diving down like a hunting hawk, continuing to pursue the severely wounded and fleeing Vincent.
"Your Majesty, this Count has arrived!" Count Bran also crashed into the feathers on Celeste's back. He claimed it was to protect Chen Yu, but in reality, he was here to slack off and incidentally avoid the chaotic battlefield below.
Louisa, forcing her mental strength, coordinated spellcasting and released a series of Arcane Missiles aimed at Vincent, giving him no chance to catch his breath.
"Damn it..."
Vincent struggled to raise his only remaining left hand. A ring on his finger, set with a sapphire, suddenly glowed, transforming into a translucent spherical force field that enveloped him.
Miraculously, whether it was Louisa's Arcane Missiles or Chen Yu's tricky stone flying sword, both were deflected away by a gentle force upon impacting the force field, sliding off to the side.
But clearly, he had still underestimated the flying sword of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Even though Chen Yu had never studied any profound sword techniques or Daoist methods, under the precise control of his spiritual sense, this flying sword seemed to have truly come alive.
It continuously probed, impacted, and sliced at the magical force field. Finally, during a seemingly casual slash, the sword body vibrated slightly.
"Crack!"
The force field shield emitted an overwhelmed, crisp sound, shattering like glass and dispersing into specks of light.
At this moment, only confusion remained in Vincent's mind—how could a slime fight like an unkillable warrior, act like a learned mage casting various strange spells seemingly without incantations, almost instantaneously, and pinpoint the weak spots of a Magic Shield like the most experienced assassin...
This wasn't even pretending anymore.
It was even more outrageous than those chosen by the gods.
"Thud!"
Without the shield's protection, the flying sword met no further resistance. It easily pierced through Vincent's fragile chest, carrying him as he plummeted at high speed, pinning him to the charred ground below.
Vincent Gordon, former Royal Academician, his pupils rapidly dilated, his breath vanished completely, dead beyond any doubt.
Clearly, a mage's physique was far more fragile than that of a warrior or knight. Once closed in on, especially by this unconventional, flexible, and bizarre "flying sword" that ignored normal defenses, death was often the only outcome.
"This spell... doesn't need a cooldown?" Louisa floated over, landing lightly on Celeste's back. Looking at the stone sword that automatically flew back beside Chen Yu, she couldn't help but ask curiously.
Cooldown? Of course not.
This could even be considered instant-cast.
Chen Yu could understand the mage's inner complexity. It was like a grand mage who had painstakingly practiced magic for years suddenly being confronted by an ordinary person with a strange firearm, shouting "Sir, the times have changed!" before rushing over and shooting him down—equally bizarre.
He wasn't sure how effective it would be against other thick-skinned, tough Professionals, but against fragile physiques like mages, this flexible and bizarre flying sword attack method definitely had miraculous effects.
"Hmm?!"
On the other side, Iron Cavalry Demon Ark, who was locked in fierce combat with Arthur and the others, used a War Stomp to force Arthur back.
In truth, he had been observing the entire battlefield, just slightly distracted for a moment. When he refocused, he saw Vincent's corpse pinned to the ground by the flying sword.
He felt some shock and suspicion inside.
He knew Vincent's strength. Though physically fragile, his spellcasting prowess was extremely high, and he had many life-saving methods. How could he have been killed so quickly by that slime?
Soon, he noticed a green silhouette speeding across the sky towards them—it was that slime.
"What kind of spell is this?"
Ark stomped his iron hoof heavily, producing a dull thud.
[Summon Demon]
The space beside him twisted, opening a rift to the Abyss. A pus-oozing Quasit crawled out, shrieking as it joined the fight, attempting to interfere with Arthur and Raven.
Meanwhile, Ark began to run. He aimed the Lightning Spear wreathed in frenzied thunder in his hand at Chen Yu attacking from the sky. His entire body's muscles bulged, hellfire burning fiercely beneath his iron hooves.
He roared, mustering all his strength, and threw the Lightning Spear like a javelin with tremendous force.
[Thunderous Spear]
The moment the Lightning Spear left his hand, it erupted with a blinding blue-white lightning flash. The spear shaft seemed to transform into a genuine thunderbolt, tearing through the air with deafening thunderclaps.
Where the spear tip passed, it even triggered a small-scale thunderstorm. Countless tiny electric arcs jumped and flickered, completely enveloping the area where Chen Yu was.
However, the anticipated scene of the slime being charred black and smoking from the electricity did not appear.
The dazzling lightning struck the surface of the slime's gel, seemingly blocked for the most part by a faint emerald-green light membrane, its power significantly weakened.
The remaining sporadic electric arcs drilled into the gel. Chen Yu didn't even feel pain or itchiness, just a slight tingling sensation.
This was precisely the protective spiritual glow that naturally manifests externally after Foundation Establishment, when the inner Dan forms its own small cosmos and the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit blend together. Though still very weak, it could already resist a certain degree of physical and magical damage.
"Take my slime flying sword!" Chen Yu immediately controlled the flying sword beneath his feet to shoot out.
Ark felt perplexed. If possible, he really didn't want to face this slime. It gave him a sense of powerlessness, like facing those unkillable, un-smashable muck monsters.
Setting aside how a slime should use a sword, he noticed the slime had thrown the sword it was standing on, shooting it over like an arrow.
Though fast, its trajectory seemed very straight.
Confidently, he tilted his head, easily dodging the incoming stone sword. He even felt this slime's spell was nothing special, much easier to dodge than Princess Louisa's Arcane Missiles.
However, intense pain suddenly erupted in his back at that moment.
"What?!" Ark whirled his head around sharply, his sulfur-flame-burning eyes abruptly contracting.
He saw that stone sword, which had clearly already shot past him, was actually being manipulated by an invisible force. It traced an arc in the air and swung back towards his back.
He hastily extended his thick arm to block. With a "slash" sound, the stone sword left a not-shallow wound on his thick-skinned arm.
Ark ran to evade, performing a sliding tackle and bending down to retrieve the Lightning Spear stuck in the ground not far away.
Just as he gripped the spear tightly, preparing to turn and deal with that flying sword, he found it had run away.
Chen Yu descended from the air and was caught by the agile flying sword, standing steadily on the sword's body.
Arthur stood facing him not far away. The wound inflicted by the flying sword earlier was healing rapidly under the demon's powerful vitality, leaving only a faint scar.
His gaze had changed considerably.
"Foe of mine." Ark's voice rumbled like thunder. "Just as Lord Casaric predicted, you are indeed a formidable opponent."
He paused, the fighting spirit in his eyes reigniting, burning even more fiercely. "However, conquering an enemy like this is what makes it interesting!"
"Let's have a real duel!"
Having understood the peculiarity of this flying sword, Ark no longer intended to dodge endlessly like before. He would use absolute strength and speed to crush this slime head-on!
"Roar!"
Ark let out a roar, his entire body seemingly enveloped by thunder. He charged forward fiercely, sweeping out with the Lightning Spear in his hand. The spear shaft cut through the air, trailing a blinding white light.
"Clang!"
The flying sword timely returned to defend, colliding with the Lightning Spear. A deafening metallic crash rang out, the immense force slightly knocking the spear aside.
Chen Yu's body contracted like a compressed spring, then catapulted out.
Slime Impact!
His round, gel body shot out like a cannonball, solidly slamming into Ark's chin. The massive inertia forced even this tall Iron Cavalry Demon to stagger back several steps, his head momentarily dazed.
"Such robust physique!" Ark exclaimed in admiration while simultaneously swinging his spear, engaging in intense combat with the attacking flying sword and Chen Yu's catapult attacks.
He had thought this guy would still run away upon realizing he couldn't win, like before.
However, he had never said anything about a one-on-one duel.
He had to let this demon from the Abyss properly experience the treacherous nature of the Slime Heart.
[Split Proliferation]
Chen Yu took a step back. His gel body rapidly shrank, squeezing out five blobs of little slimes with round, blinking eyes from his side, like squeezing toothpaste.
"Wah wah wah! Eliminate the enemy!" The little slimes excitedly hopped and jumped the moment they appeared.
[Mana Siphon]
The five blobs of little slimes simultaneously absorbed the surrounding Mana. Their gel bodies rapidly swelled. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into five giant slimes three meters tall, surrounding Ark in the middle.
[Transform Mud to Stone]
[Mud Pellet Sword Crafting]
Large amounts of soil and broken stones from the surrounding ground levitated. Under the manipulation of spiritual sense, they rapidly compressed and took shape.
Five crude stone flying swords simultaneously coalesced into form. Their sword tips all pointed at Ark trapped in the middle, emitting a faint hum.
"Despicable!!"
He never expected this slime to be so lacking in martial virtue. What about the promised one-on-one duel?
He roared furiously, seemingly extremely enraged. But the next second, his massive body suddenly turned. His iron hooves stomped the ground, exploding with astonishing speed as he charged towards one of the slime clones.
First, break open a gap, escape the encirclement, then talk!
Ark, with his rich combat experience, instantly made the wisest choice.
The next moment, six flying swords shot towards him from different angles simultaneously, sealing off any dodging space.
Ark had no choice but to halt, brandishing his Lightning Spear to parry and knock away the incoming flying swords.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Sparks flew, the dense as rain sound of metal clashing.
Despite his quick reactions being fast enough, there were simply too many flying swords. Two still broke through his defense, leaving several deep wounds on his skin.
Just then, the slimes closed in again with malicious intent.
"Hehehe..."
Their round eyes, in Ark's view, looked increasingly sinister and cunning the more he looked.
Where was this a slime? Wasn't this a deception demon adept at disguise?
"Mu! Hit him!"
It was unclear which slime clone shouted it out, but the slimes gathered together and started gang-beating him.
"What?!" Ark whirled his head around sharply, his sulfur-flame-burning eyes abruptly contracting.
Louisa seemed to want to say something but stopped, her expression somewhat odd.
On the other battlefield, without Ark's suppression, Dominic and Ellen were no match for Arthur and the others at all.
"Raven, I never thought..."
Dominic's chest was torn open by Arthur's knight sword. No blood flowed from the wound; instead, a large amount of filthy black sludge gushed out.
He murmured, "I would actually lose to you..."
Though it was unknown what the demon had promised him or what price he had paid, clearly, at this moment, Dominic Elvin was completely dead. What remained was only a filthy husk.
...
He was about to muster his final strength to command the Demon Legion. However, when he looked back, he realized the Demon Legion had been surrounded and retreated back into the fissure, and the fissure was also continuously shrinking.
Defeat was certain.
Now, only he remained.
But he, Ark, as the Demon of Tramplings, commander of the Furnace Cavalry, the pride in his bones absolutely would not allow him to surrender to a slime.
He reached out, took out that Casaric silver coin representing an extraordinary soul, and was about to stuff it into his mouth.
"Roar!!"
That slime actually mimicked a giant dragon's head, roaring towards the sky. The roar carried a terrifying intimidation aura that stunned him in place.
In a daze, he seemed to see a gel giant dragon soaring in the sky, its huge dragon pupils staring directly at him.
This was a kind of intimidation aura from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it indeed carried a hint of genuine dragon might.
Ark's movements involuntarily froze. By the time he regained his senses, he only felt his palm empty.
Six stone flying swords also appeared silently, their sword tips pressed very close to Ark's head, throat, heart, and other vital points.
Ark's entire body stiffened. He slowly raised his head, looking at the slime standing on the flying sword, calmly watching him with its round little eyes.
Defeated.
The sulfur flames burning in Ark's eyes slowly extinguished.