Near the tunnel entrance, behind a mushroom rock, Karen witnessed everything that had just happened.
"The Shadow Fang? Yano has really stirred up trouble this time, actually drawing the attention of these assassins who specialize in dirty work."
Alice's attention wasn't on the Shadow Fang team, but rather scanning the gaps between the fungal clusters further out in the mist zone's periphery.
Her voice remained calm: "Since we arrived here, there have been several short-statured goblins lingering around the outskirts of the mist zone, gathering intelligence."
"Without a doubt, these goblins are connected to Moriarty hiding here. He's also looking for us."
"Following the goblin trail might lead us right to him."
Karen was momentarily stunned, then followed Alice's gaze and indeed caught glimpses of short, dirty green figures hiding behind several inconspicuous fungal columns.
Karen asked with concern: "What about Yano then? These professional killers aren't something..."
Alice gently shook her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Yano might possess the strength of an official knight."
"Daring to oppose an entire guild, and possibly having mysterious forces backing him."
...
"Boss, this thing looks really delicious."
Having just returned from digging traps to welcome Rusty Key's elite forces, Yano looked at the slime ball his boss handed him and secretly swallowed his saliva.
He kept feeling like this thing was emitting some inexplicable fragrance, hooking his nose, whispering in his ear: Yano, eat it quickly, eat it quickly...
Across from Yano, Chen Yu—who had recently arrived at the dungeon—jumped down from his loyal crocodile guard and patted Yano's leg with his gelatinous little hand.
"Give it a try."
This slime ball was something he created by using magic stripping on half of his stealth talent, which was also the limit of his Magic Stripping Lv.1 ability. This caused his recently upgraded Lv.2 stealth to degrade back to Lv.1.
After receiving permission, Yano finally couldn't resist the temptation and stuffed the slime ball directly into his mouth.
He praised while chewing.
"Tashty... so tashty..."
Halfway through chewing, the jelly-like, springy, and refreshing slime ball turned into liquid, smoothly sliding down his throat into his stomach.
"Burp..."
He let out a belch and was about to speak when he instantly felt something was wrong.
With just a thought, his figure seemed to merge into the thick mist, becoming blurred and indistinct.
"Ste... stealth?!"
Yano's eyes widened.
A warrior knowing stealth!
Or was he turning into a magical creature?!
Then he thought more carefully—he was already a stone man anyway.
What couldn't he accept?
Even if he woke up tomorrow turned into a slime, it wouldn't affect his strong mental state.
"How does it feel?" Chen Yu asked expectantly.
Yano scratched his head, "It's a very strange feeling. This stealth doesn't feel like a skill honed through long practice, more like it comes from bodily instinct."
"As simple as breathing."
"Side effects? Have you felt any side effects?"
"Side effects... uh..."
Does feeling like the boss has become more springy and cute count...
Completely unable to feel any disgust toward slimes.
Chen Yu immediately understood.
The stripped talent seemed to maintain some connection with his original body, making creatures that consumed the slime ball subconsciously feel closer to him.
In other words, that poisonous frog that challenged him earlier was just being tsundere?
Ahem... anyway, it's not exactly a bad thing.
It's just that being called cute made him feel very displeased.
The future Slime King should be full of majesty, making people want to kneel and worship at first sight—how could he be cute?
This was very wrong.
He needed to correct this immediately before this trend took root.
He said seriously: "This is just your misconception. Actually, it's my kingly aura affecting you."
"Understood." Yano said earnestly.
Indeed, the boss being a swamp demon should be a mighty and terrifying existence—how could using "cute" be an insult to it.
It seemed his ability to read expressions as a demon's subordinate was still somewhat lacking and needed further improvement.
Just then, a scout wasp soldier flew back and landed on Chen Yu's smooth gel surface.
"...King... humans... strong... coming in..."
"Yano, we've got work. Rusty Key's elite forces are here."
"Elite forces?" Yano's heart tightened. Those called elite forces were at least official professionals at minimum.
Relying on his shameless petrification, he could handle some small fry like initiates, but if he really encountered professionals, without the boss, he'd better run as far as possible.
"Boss, what should we do? Should I act as bait to lure them into the traps I just dug?"
"Can you defeat them?"
"Can't." Yano answered honestly.
"Then honestly follow me to hide behind the rocks. They'll step into the traps themselves."
Chen Yu rode Little Ka and found a rock to hide behind near the little black room, with Yano hiding nearby, instinctively entering stealth state.
To be honest, stone men already had low presence, plus the "stealth" talent.
In Chen Yu's eyes, it seemed like Yano had completely blended into the mushroom rock formations.
As long as he didn't move, this Lv.1 stealth effect could probably rival Lv.5.
Rather than a warrior, this guy Yano was more suited to be an assassin.
Who knew what the stone ancestor was thinking back then—not leaving any assassin inheritance, forcing all descendants to become warriors.
...
The thick white mist rolled and surged, with dead silence reigning in the mist zone as if it had swallowed all light and sound.
The four members of the Shadow Fang team moved like blurred gray shadows, struggling through this desperate situation with visibility less than five steps.
"Boss, something's wrong ahead!"
Razor Weasel, responsible for scouting, appeared like a ghost from the thick mist, his voice pressed extremely low with a hint of excitement at discovering prey.
"The white mist ahead has thickened, like a wall. The closer you get, the more perception blurs, sense of direction completely lost. It must be that magic formation."
Yurian raised his hand, and the team immediately stopped. He exchanged a glance with Old Chimney beside him.
Old Chimney understood and took out that alchemical bomb.
"Location?"
"Eleven o'clock direction, fifteen steps ahead, where the energy fluctuations are most chaotic. There's a huge deformed mushroom rock, seems like a node."
Razor Weasel reported precisely.
"Rock Sword, cover. Razor Weasel, flank alert." Yurian's commands were concise and composed.
"Yes."
Old Chimney took a deep breath of the cold, heavily musty mist, his eyes focused as he estimated distance and angle. His arm muscles instantly tensed as he threw the alchemical bomb at an extremely tricky angle toward the location Razor Weasel indicated.
"Boom!"
The bomb made a muffled sound as the magic formation was precisely destroyed. The thick mist ahead seemed torn open by an invisible giant hand.
A seemingly crooked, dilapidated fortress appeared, crude like a child's mud creation.
Then it was quickly enveloped again by the surging mist filling in from all sides, becoming blurred, leaving only a standing black shadow.
"Ha!"
Razor Weasel was the first to scoff mockingly.
This was the fortress those cowards feared? This magic formation?
Absolutely laughable.
He thought it would be some dragon's nest or demon's lair.
He even suspected that without them needing to do anything, this so-called fortress would collapse in a few days.
Razor Weasel lowered his guard slightly.
"Boss, I'll go scout the path."
Yurian didn't speak, seemingly tacitly approving his action.