The night deepened, yet the swamp fortress shrouded by the rain curtain emitted a warm glow and lively atmosphere.
Beside the castle, several thick oak trees were cleverly intertwined to form a natural wooden house, serving as the future core hall of the Slime Kingdom.
At this moment, a barbecue celebration for the completion of the fortress was being held here.
Dry firewood burned in the fire pit, dispelling the damp chill of the rainy night.
A plump Moss Monster was sizzling on the spit over the fire, emitting a unique scent mixed with earth and a hint of char.
"So... so fragrant!"
Count Bran sniffed the overwhelming charcoal smoke and aroma, anxiously pacing back and forth, waiting for his portion of roasted Moss Monster to cook.
Soon, his small eyes dishonestly fixed on Little Ka, who was happily eating nearby.
Count Bran elegantly straightened the feathers on his chest, forcibly suppressing his drool, and tried to maintain his composure.
"However, sharing is a virtue, the cornerstone of maintaining the unity of the kingdom. Enjoying delicious food alone is hardly the behavior of nobility... ahem, perhaps this Count should also have a taste."
As he spoke, he subtly shifted closer to Little Ka's direction.
Little Ka blinked its large, moist eyes, looking at Count Bran, then at the aromatic Moss Monster meat in its claws.
Thinking Count Bran was truly hungry, although a bit reluctant, it still picked up the remaining meat and carefully offered it to him.
"Gahahaha! Good! Very good!"
Count Bran quickly snapped it up, swallowing while announcing indistinctly.
"This... this Count declares... official recognition of your loyalty and generosity as a guard of the kingdom."
Little Ka looked at its empty claws, then at the happily eating Count, drooling with envy, but its attention was soon captured by another piece of Moss Monster roasting on the grill.
Beautiful fantasies about food popped into its mind.
Surely... the Count would share this piece with it too...
On the other side, Yano was sweating profusely as he struggled with the brass telescope brought back from Jade City.
Following a thick instruction manual filled with complex diagrams, he clumsily tightened screws and adjusted the angle of the lens tube.
"...This knob... that latch... damn, this thing is harder to handle than taming a crazed draft animal."
Compared to Yano's busyness, Chen Yu was much more comfortable, lazily sprawled on a dry moss mat by the fire pit.
He had just finished enjoying a small bag of magic organs brought back by Yano, his round, full belly feeling the warm flow of energy inside, squinting his eyes contentedly.
[Devour Digestion Lv.6→Lv.7]
[Toxin Resistance Lv.5→Lv.6]
[Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.4→Lv.5]
[Magic Stripping Lv.3→Lv.4]
"Gurgle..."
This is the power of money.
Simple and brutal.
If he had to rely on catching bugs all over the mountains and fields himself, who knows how many years it would take to achieve such improvements.
After lying there a while longer, the rain seemed to be stopping, when Yano excitedly exclaimed in a low voice.
"Boss, it's done, I can see it now!"
He had finally succeeded in pointing the telescope through the specially left observation hole in the wooden roof towards the rain-washed night sky outside.
Curious, Chen Yu hopped over and pressed close to the eyepiece.
Outside the treehouse, the rain had stopped, the clouds had drifted away, revealing the bright, deep blue moonlight.
In the field of view, the originally blurry rainy night sky became a bit clearer, a few particularly bright stars seemed within reach, twinkling with a cold, clear radiance.
"Oh... a bit brighter."
Chen Yu watched for a few seconds, then retracted with little interest.
For a foodie, no matter how bright the stars, they couldn't compare to the appeal of a magic-rich Moss Monster.
Chen Yu originally thought about returning to the slime nest to bring Little Flower to see.
But Count Bran looked up in confusion.
"Gah? This Count seems to have heard the noisy sounds of those poisonous wasps."
"What do they want in the middle of the night without sleeping?"
As he finished speaking, faint buzzing sounds entered the treehouse, and this time everyone heard them.
It seemed the poisonous wasps in the watchtower weren't very restful at night either.
Just then.
"Boom!"
A dull yet highly penetrating explosion came from outside the city wall in the northwest direction of the fortress.
"Huh? The Self-destructing Wasp Soldiers have launched?"
...
Time rewinds slightly.
In an unknown passage within the dungeon.
The darkness was as thick as solidified ink, with only a few flickering torches barely casting twisting, dancing yellowish shadows on the moss-covered stone walls.
"Stop."
A voice rang out in the narrow passage, the torchlight illuminating an exceptionally robust goblin.
He stood a head taller than ordinary goblins, with bulging muscles covered in rough, dark green skin. He wore a rusted half-suit of iron armor, with a polished scimitar and a sturdy wooden shield at his waist.
His name was "Bonebreaker," the leader of this elite reconnaissance squad.
At this moment, his thick finger was pointing at a crude map drawn on some kind of animal skin, indicating a vague mark.
"This is the place. Dig through it, and we can reach the depths of the Eastern Swamp. Our new neighbor might be here."
"Heave ho! Heave ho!"
Several small but tough goblin miners immediately stepped forward, raising heavy iron picks and vigorously hacking at the noticeably loose stone wall at the point indicated on the map.
Gravel and soil rustled down.
A few steps behind the miners stood a hunched figure.
He wore a tattered cloak strung with various feathers, bones, and dried poison sacs, leaning on a bone staff. This was the Goblin Shaman "Venomfang."
He cast spells to disperse the surrounding poisonous mist, then his gaze fell on Bonebreaker, emitting the goblins' characteristic sharp voice from his throat.
"Bonebreaker, are you sure? Besides muck, poison mist, and a few stupid crocodiles, could there really be a powerful undead lord in that damned Eastern Swamp?"
Bonebreaker didn't even look up.
"That death knight riding a skeletal horse, who chopped up several of our patrols, came out of this swamp."
"The undead lord—this is what Hammerbone himself said. Before it firmly establishes itself, we should scout out its situation, or confirm if it even really exists."
"It's only been one Winter Year..."
Old Venomfang smacked his lips. They hadn't come for just one Winter Year, and now this place was occupied by an undead lord? Honestly, he didn't really believe it.
Just then, with a muffled "crash!"
The stone wall ahead finally collapsed under the miners' persistent strikes, creating an opening just barely large enough for a goblin to squeeze through.
A gust of cold air carrying the scent of rotting plants and highly toxic miasma rushed in.
"It's through!" the miner screamed excitedly.
Bonebreaker shoved aside the miner blocking the way, crouched down, and was the first to squeeze through the hole, his movements swift and alert.
Shaman Venomfang muttered under his breath and followed closely behind.
Outside was a deathly silent darkness.
By the torchlight, they could see the outlines of some collapsed buildings in the darkness.
This was precisely the abandoned village deep in the swamp.
"Pah! This damned place."
Bonebreaker spat, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
He made a hand signal, and the goblin warriors behind him immediately filed out one by one.
"Old Venomfang, which way?"
Shaman Venomfang moved to the front of the group, raised his bone staff, and began chanting, emitting low, hissing whispers.
The surrounding highly toxic miasma seemed to be drawn, rippling slightly, as if repelled by some force, forming a relatively thinner channel ahead of the group.
"Grolush's protection... barely passable. Watch your step."
The goblins bowed their heads one after another, thanking "Plague" Grolush for his guidance.
Then they stepped into the thinned channel through the poison mist.
They trekked through the pitch-black forest for nearly half an hour, every step cautious, avoiding bottomless mud pits.
They chewed bitter leaf medicine from time to time to resist the drifting poison mist.
They walked for a long time, the rain almost stopped, but they saw nothing.
Just as Bonebreaker began to doubt and think this dead land had nothing but ruins, the poison mist ahead seemed to be "pushed aside" by some massive presence.
A huge black shadow, like an ancient beast growing from the earth, abruptly crashed into their field of vision.
It was a... city wall?!
Tall, pitch-black, thick, stretching... It resembled a giant serpent lurking in the forest, suddenly revealing its massive, primitive form, inspiring fear.
"Gr... Grolush above..."
"A m... monster?!"