Morning in Slime City was bright and clear. Chen Yu lay in the Slime Palace sharing breakfast with Count Bran, listening to him spit and preen as he boasted about his glorious maneuvers among various noble families and powers back in the White Horse Kingdom.
Just as he was telling the tale of how he cleverly swindled a certain duke’s heirloom ring, the Gel Network relayed news that the rift snowplain had been invaded by demons.
By the time Chen Yu led the group and rode Little Ka into the snowplain, they only found pitted, frozen earth left behind, jagged icy mountains formed by frost breath standing tall on the frozen ground, and the wreckage the demons had left.
It was hard to imagine what that poor soul had faced before dying, but judging from the frost marks on the ground, it was clear he'd picked the one opponent you absolutely should not provoke.
“Huh!”
Little Ka flapped its broad, pitch-black wings and circled once over the castle.
Soon the crystal dome surrounding the castle, glowing with soft light, flickered slightly as if granting permission to enter.
Only then did Little Ka slowly descend, landing lightly on the small plaza paved with pristine white marble before the castle.
Olivia and Silver Sparrow were already standing at the castle’s main portico to greet them.
“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.” Olivia elegantly dropped to one knee, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, her voice pleasant.
Silver Sparrow stood expressionless at her side and corrected, “Lady Olivia, according to the castle clock, the precise time is 8:47:32 a.m., which is morning.”
Olivia seemed used to Silver Sparrow’s pedantic personality; she shrugged helplessly and complied, “Very well, then I wish everyone good morning.”
Chen Yu hopped down from Little Ka, accompanied by Arthur and Count Bran, who was perched on his shoulder tidying his feathers with his beak.
The moment Count Bran saw Olivia, his black eyes spun wildly. He flapped his wings theatrically and exclaimed, “Oh, such an elegant and beautiful lady. Count Bran offers you his sincerest greetings, and hopes our sudden arrival has not disturbed your delightful breakfast.”
As he spoke, he flicked Arthur’s helmet with a wing and, through the Gel Network, quietly reminded, “Caw, my socially clueless retainer, do you want to be frozen into one of those ice lumps out there? Say hello!”
Obviously Count Bran had already recognized who’d created those spectacular ice mountains outside, and he behaved far more deferentially and politely than usual.
The blue soulfire in Arthur’s eyes flickered. He turned toward Olivia and Silver Sparrow and performed a proper knight’s salute, “Sir Arthur at your service. Lady Olivia. Lady Silver Sparrow.”
Olivia nodded slightly, said nothing more, and let her gaze drop back to Chen Yu, waiting for the head of the Slime Kingdom to speak.
Chen Yu bounced up to Olivia and Silver Sparrow, looked them over, and asked, “The castle’s okay, right?”
Silver Sparrow seemed to misunderstand his meaning. Her form shimmered slightly, her hands folded in front of her as she bowed her head and replied, “Thank you for your concern, Master. Silver Sparrow is unharmed. The slime scholars and craftsmen who came to study were promptly moved to safety when the invasion occurred and are all safe. Castle functions are operating normally; they have resumed their work.”
Chen Yu had meant to ask whether the castle’s structure had been damaged, but thinking it over, since Silver Sparrow’s body is the castle itself, her answer was perfectly reasonable.
“Please, all of you, come in and sit.” Olivia stepped aside, leading them into the castle’s wide, bright foyer and into a small parlor that overlooked the garden.
The parlor was warm and tasteful: soft velvet sofas, an exquisitely carved low tea table, oil paintings of forest and stars hanging along the walls, and a fireplace where a cool magical flame danced, dispelling the last chill brought in from the snowplain.
When everyone sat, the silver teapot and bone china cups on the tea table moved on their own, pouring steaming amber tea for each person.
Only after they had all noisily slurped the remaining tea from their cups and pushed them away did Arthur ask, “So what exactly happened? How did demons invade the snowplain?”
Olivia stirred the cube of sugar still not fully melted on her cup with a silver spoon, her mercury-like pupils turned toward Arthur as she smiled faintly.
“That’s a question you should be asking His Majesty.”
He sipped the sweet tea deeply, showing a pleased expression, and then continued, “They seem to have provoked a certain demon lord from the Abyss and even dared to send a demon rogue to assassinate someone. It seems this demon lord holds great regard for His Majesty.”
“A demon rogue?” Chen Yu’s small eyes blinked.
“The rogue’s identity is confirmed.” Silver Sparrow’s emotionless voice chimed in at the right moment. “Target: high-ranking demon, species: Shadow Demon, alias: Yebarton. According to his statement, he allegedly once successfully assassinated the Dwarf King of the Forge Mountain Kingdom. Veracity uncertain. Typical weapon: Death’s Whisper… skilled in high-level shadow stealth…”
With that, she peeled back the unlucky demon’s background entirely, giving Chen Yu a much clearer picture of the assault.
There was no doubt: aside from Casaric, the demon lord from the Burning Capital who still nursed a grudge against him, there shouldn’t be any demon who’d bother spending such resources to send someone to assassinate a tiny Slime like him.
It also proved the demons knew about the rifts.
Thankfully Olivia and Silver Sparrow were guarding here. If that Shadow Demon had slipped silently into the kingdom’s heart, Heaven only knew what havoc he might have caused.
The rift network that connected everywhere brought unprecedented convenience and strategic advantages to the kingdom, but it also posed great risks.
People outside the kingdom—humans, elves, even demons—could in theory travel through those rifts freely into the kingdom’s territory, and even reach core areas.
It seemed necessary to strengthen defenses and surveillance over the snowplain, especially around the rifts, so enemies couldn’t slip in unnoticed again… Chen Yu muttered inwardly.
Olivia took another sip of sweet tea, her pleased expression more obvious—she clearly liked how precise the sweetness was—then set down her cup and spoke unhurriedly:
“The demon did leave something behind when it died. Your Majesty should take a look in person. You might find a trophy that suits your taste.”
Chen Yu wobbled his gelatinous head. He was indeed curious about the demon remains beneath the ice, and with the thought, prepared to depart using aerial travel.
“Caw! I, the Count, must go too!” Count Bran fluffed his feathers in excitement the moment he heard the word “trophy” and insisted on tagging along no matter what.
“I—” Arthur also rose, apparently wanting to accompany them as escort.
But Chen Yu and Count Bran had already dissolved into streaks of emerald light and vanished from the parlor doorway, leaving one sentence echoing in Arthur’s mind:
“Retainer, take care to entertain this wise and clever lady properly. The Count and I will be back soon.”
......
Arthur fell silent, sat back down, and his slow-witted brain couldn’t come up with a suitable polite reply for a long time.
The parlor sank into an awkward quiet, the only sound the crackle of the magical flame in the fireplace.
Finally Olivia, amused, broke the silence. She leaned back against the soft sofa, arms folded, her silver eyes calmly studying Arthur.
“You’re not like ordinary high-tier undead. Have you had contact with the living world?”
Arthur remained silent, then nodded.
“Good. I understand.” Olivia nodded knowingly. “It seems you’ve come into contact with Viola.”
“But she’s always so mysterious; she probably didn’t tell you exactly where this road leads, did she?”
She was patient, knowing Arthur would be interested in this topic.
......
On the ice mountain, Great Ka flapped its pale wings, whipping up a furious wind like a massive hand, scattering the sharp ice blades and accumulated snow and exposing the soft, uneven frozen earth beneath.
It descended quickly, its light body making the ground tremble slightly.
Around the ice mountain, a dozen or so slimes with warm stones strapped outside their bellies were drilling into the glacier’s retreat. They worked with sharp drill bits and chisels, chipping and scraping with squelching sounds, trying to dig out the demon remains frozen inside.
Nilly, who was directing the scene, held a plump Qilun branch against her belly to keep warm.
She wore a thick fur coat, but her cheeks and nose were still frost-reddened, and you could even see a bead of icicle-clear mucus about to drip.
When Chen Yu and Count Bran touched down, she and several other shivering Stone Descendants waved their arms to welcome them.
“Your Majesty, you’ve finally arrived.” Nilly’s voice trembled slightly as she forced a smile.
Chen Yu bounced down and met Nilly. He glanced at her—she was freezing but still insisting on waiting out here in the ice and snow—and a sliver of puzzlement flashed across his small eyes.
This didn’t quite feel like something she would normally do.
Nilly seemed to read Chen Yu’s doubt. Her little secret exposed, she wasn’t embarrassed; she rubbed her numb hands together, moved a bit closer, and whispered, “Um… Your Majesty, you don’t blame us for not keeping watch over that guy and letting him come in, do you?”
Chen Yu puffed out his round chest and grandly replied, “Am I a petty little slime?”
Besides, it wasn’t really Nilly’s fault—this demon called Yebarton had power comparable to The Extraordinary. It was normal that even elite professionals couldn’t keep him contained.
“Everyone, stand back.” Chen Yu ordered, dispersing the nearby slimes and Stone Descendants.
Then he had Little Ka stop in front of the largest ice mountain.
Little Ka shook its head and made a gurgling sound in its throat as if composing itself. It opened its mouth and first released several puffs of dark green poisonous mist with a sharp, sour stench.
Then spiritual energy quickly gathered in its mouth, and a dim red glow pulsed beneath its black scales.
“Boom!!!”
A blazing dark-red flame burst from Little Ka’s mouth like a volcanic eruption and struck the translucent glacier.
“Sizzle!!!”
The ice surface rapidly melted and vaporized, rising in thick clouds of white, scalding steam. The steam met the frigid surrounding air and immediately condensed into fine frost and ice crystals that fluttered down.
Under the dragon breath’s scorching heat, the huge ice mountain visibly shrank.
Before long, the glacier had completely evaporated, revealing what had been frozen inside.
The tall demon corpse seemed to have dissipated along with the melting ice, leaving behind only a shifting, living-looking mass of shadow, quietly suspended at the former center of the ice mountain.
Chen Yu and Count Bran, who was sitting on Nilly’s shoulder, leaned closer to inspect.
“Minister Bran, what is that?” Chen Yu asked curiously.
Count Bran looked just as baffled. In all his long life he’d seen many strange things, but this seemed unfamiliar—or perhaps he’d forgotten. He cleared his throat and puffed up his chest to appear sage-like, “Hmm… I have some notion, but I’d like to leave the answer to the clever and beautiful Miss Nilly. It’s a matter of respect for a lady.”
Nilly rolled her eyes at him—she already knew he liked to bluff and shift blame—but she did seem to recall this thing somewhere, or she’d heard the elders mention it. Hesitant, she said, “It seems like it might be a relic left behind by a shadow heroic spirit. I’ve only seen it once, so I can’t be sure.”
“Shadow heroic spirit?” Count Bran’s round eyes lit up as if that phrase had triggered a distant memory. “Aha! I remember now.”
He flapped his wings excitedly, then realized the logical hole in his speech and coughed twice to cover it up, adding, “Caw! What I mean is… I’ve long suspected it might be a relic from a shadow heroic spirit. Earlier I was merely testing Miss Nilly’s discernment.”
He immediately turned to the Qilun and flapped his wings to explain slowly, “Your Majesty, you might know… ahem, I mean, with your sagacity you might already be aware.”
“Actually, the shadow creatures in the Shadow Mountains are varied. Some heroes’ wills are so strong that after death their will can’t be extinguished and may project onto our shadows, turning our shadows into ordinary shadow heroic spirits.”
“When I was in the Shadow Mountains, I met such ancient heroic spirits. Of course, with my vast connections and great reputation there, even those proud spirits treated me with respect…” He began bragging again, his old habit resurfacing.
Chen Yu ignored his self-praise and stared at the floating shadow. A foodie thought involuntarily popped up.
“So—can this thing be eaten?”
“Caw…” Count Bran was taken aback by the blunt question. His beak opened and closed, hesitating. “If this were an ordinary monster—even a monster lord—recklessly devouring the relic of a shadow heroic spirit would likely subject the soul to the leftover chaotic will, even be assimilated by the shadow and turn into a monster…”
He glanced at Chen Yu’s bouncy gelatinous body and then recalled their Majesty’s unfathomable devouring ability, his tone growing uncertain. “But… if it’s Your Majesty, Count Bran thinks you might be able to eat it…”
Before he finished, Chen Yu inflated his gel body like a balloon and “whoosh” — swallowed the black shadow hovering in midair, pulling it into his belly.
“Glurp…”
Chen Yu let out a small satisfied belch as weak ripples of shadow waves lapped across his gelatinous surface before it quickly returned to its emerald, crystalline appearance.
[Devour Digestion Lv.8 triggered — Fully recorded Shadow Heroic Spirit characteristics, gained talent: Create Shade Lv.6]
[Note: My Lord was once a loyal follower of the Shadow Dragon Eryn. After falling with the divine realm, the dragon perished, and my remnants became the source for the rebirth of unnamed heroic spirits — the lingering shadow of the Ancient Shadow Dragon]
?
It seemed he’d unlocked something extraordinary.