Slime Immortal.

Chapter 183 The Approaching Demonic Aura

Nelly put the slime back on Arno's shoulder and shrugged: "Well, Auntie really didn't expect that you could actually beat Kahn to a pulp. You're pretty good."

As she spoke, she took out a bottle of pitch-black powder, as deep as night, from her bosom and stuffed it into Arno's hand.

"Here, take it."

“‘Shadow Dust,’ some people swear it’s the embers left behind after the death of shadow creatures, while others say it’s simply the excrement of shadow creatures… Who knows? Anyway, there are all sorts of rumors.” Nelly’s tone was nonchalant.

"However, one thing is generally agreed upon: as long as you carry this thing, you are more likely to attract the attention of those shadow creatures compared to other competitors."

Uh... excrement?

Chen Yu looked down and curiously examined the bottle of powder. Apart from sensing a faint energy fluctuation, he couldn't see anything special about it.

However, if it can really attract the attention of shadow creatures, then it would indeed be a good thing.

"Thank you, Auntie." Although Arno felt a little uncomfortable about the origin of this thing, he still put away the shadow dust.

After all, this is the spoils of winning the bet, and also an important item for tomorrow's trial.

Nelly waved her hand casually: "It's nothing, you earned it yourself. Remember, don't be late for the trial tomorrow."

She had already turned to leave, but suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to tell you, quite a few young people in town are watching you. If word gets out that you passed the knight's trial today..."

"Hehe, you'll probably be the one getting 'special attention' during tomorrow's Shadow Trial, so be prepared, new knight~"

After saying that, her figure seemed to blend into the shadows and instantly disappeared at the edge of the training field.

Kahn then walked over, unsurprised by Nelly's sudden departure. He explained, "Lady Nelly still needs to go deep into the fluorescent forest for a final check to ensure the safety of the trial area tomorrow."

"If Mr. Arno and Mr. Slime don't mind, we've prepared a simple lunch..."

Upon hearing "lunch," Arno immediately recalled the overly rich and varied insect soup he had eaten at the Asian restaurant, and felt a wave of nausea wash over him.

He shook his head frantically, his face turning pale: "No, no need, Mr. Kahn, you're too kind. We're not hungry yet."

Just kidding, he really doesn't want to see insect soup again.

Using the excuse that he needed to go back to prepare for tomorrow's trial, Arno rode his lizard mount and hurriedly returned to Stone Castle Town.

After settling his lizard mount in the courtyard of the cabin, he returned to the somewhat simple yet cozy cabin.

After closing the door, Chen Yu asked curiously, "How does it feel? What does it feel like to become a full-fledged knight?"

Arno scratched his head excitedly, then subconsciously bent his arm, showing off his noticeably bulging muscles.

"It feels... amazing! I feel like I'm so much stronger than before."

As he spoke, in order to show his boss more clearly, he glanced at the weapon rack in the corner, walked over and picked up a spare iron sword used for training.

He gripped both ends of the sword with both hands, his arm muscles tensed, and with a crisp "crack," he broke the fine iron sword in half with his bare hands.

Chen Yu: ∑(дlll)
Arno has truly become a muscular hunk.

Putting everything else aside, just based on his brute strength alone, he's practically a humanoid giant bear now, probably capable of going toe-to-toe with the bear goblin Hammerbone.

The foundation laid by martial arts, combined with the attribute bonuses of the special advanced class "Sword Knight," makes Arno's physical attributes far surpass those of ordinary knights.

Moreover, "Sword Knights" possess a unique understanding and enhanced power in sword-based combat techniques.

This time it's really taking off.

Chen Yu even felt that even if Arno returned to the White Horse Kingdom now, with his strength and potential, he might be able to become a knight captain.

Arno was equally excited, but soon a trace of worry appeared on his face: "Boss, the forest is not the knight's home ground after all. I'm worried that tomorrow's Shadow Trial may not go so smoothly."

His concerns were not unfounded.

The Shadow Trial was designed for assassin-type classes that excel in stealth, assassination, and deception. It's questionable whether a knight with such a completely different style can adapt to the environment if he suddenly gets involved.

Moreover, he is currently riding high on his popularity and, as Nelly said, is likely to become the focus of attention for the other Stoneborn participants in the trials.

A group of assassins hiding in the shadows would surely outmaneuver him.

Chen Yu remained calm about this, patting his round belly with his gel-like hands. "What are you worried about? These are all prepared for you, tailor-made skills."

Arno looked down at his boss's belly, which seemed to be able to hold the whole world, and saw the colorful talent orbs lying inside.

"These are all skills?"

He suddenly felt that tomorrow's trial... didn't seem so difficult after all.

……

While Chen Yu and Arno were still preparing for the Shadow Trial the next day, on the other side, the vampire lord Kazimierz, after going through countless hardships, finally returned to the Eternal Night Territory deep in the Underdark.

Inside the cold and empty council hall of the vampire castle.

Kazimir leaned back in his luxurious black velvet high-backed chair, breathing slightly heavily. After consuming a large amount of the castle's blood slaves' reserve of blood, most of the luster had finally returned to his pale, withered face.

He just didn't know why, but he always felt that this blood, which was usually so sweet, tasted... not fresh enough, not mellow enough, and drinking it didn't give him the same intoxicating satisfaction as before.

It's even utterly tasteless.

Somewhat irritated, he casually placed the silver goblet, still half-full of blood, back onto the bone table.

"What the hell did that damn skeleton feed me?"

The taste of that gel was just...so pure.

Kazimir couldn't help but miss that gel; its unique taste made his mouth water even now, and he even had an urge to return to that swamp immediately.

As he was lost in thought, immersed in reminiscing, a series of footsteps approached from the corridor outside the council chamber.

Soon, Deng Lun, dressed in a neat, dark-colored mage apprentice robe, walked in and smiled:

"Sir Casimir, good afternoon. I heard from the Blood Slaves outside that you returned in a sorry state. It seems the negotiations did not go as smoothly as your teacher had imagined."

Kazimir quickly gathered his thoughts, stood up gracefully, gave a noble bow, and put on a smile again.

"Good afternoon, Your Excellency Deng Lun. Don't listen to the nonsense of those lowly fellows."

"The negotiations themselves have gone fairly smoothly and made good progress, but there is one point that probably needs to be confirmed by Lord Salazar himself."

Deng Lun raised an eyebrow, a hint of curiosity in his voice: "Oh? What special requests did those skeletons and slime monsters make?"

Kazimir shrugged helplessly. "They want money." "Money?"

Deng Lun felt like he had misheard, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

A group of undead... asking for money?
What use are they? To decorate their gloomy tombs?

“That’s right, and their appetite is huge. They want to swallow the bounty paid to us by the goblin legion. You know, that’s no small sum.”

Upon hearing this, Deng Lun frowned slightly, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the cuffs of his robe, and he fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

The only sound in the council chamber was the faint crackling of the blue flames burning in the fireplace.

Kazimir was in no hurry, toying with the wine glass on the table, patiently waiting for his answer.

After a long while, Deng Lun slowly raised his head, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"Of course we should give them something; it's what they deserve. Not only should we give them something, we can also give them a piece of intelligence as a bonus."

"The teacher just observed through the crystal ball that the demons dwelling in Golden Radiance Valley have been restless lately, and their claws seem to have quietly reached into the edge of the Underdark."

"Those goblins entrenched in the Rift Pass might soon make a new move."

"You'd better remind our 'allies' to be careful." Deng Lun's words were meaningful, and his purpose seemed to be more than just a formality.

Upon hearing the word "demon," Kazimir's expression lost its initial composure.

"Demons? What are they doing here?"

Deng Lun shrugged helplessly. "Who knows? Those crazy guys whose brains are probably only filled with magma and sulfur, who can guess what they're thinking?"

"More than that, you'd better be careful of the Stoneborn who have been active in the Underdark lately. The 'Shadow Trial' is about to begin, and those guys who usually hide in the shadows won't be very well-behaved during this time."

Kazimir curled his lip, his tone carrying the inherent arrogance of a vampire: "Hmph, just a bunch of rats hiding in the gutter. If it weren't for those damned gargoyles back then..."

Deng Lun smiled, clearly uninterested in delving into that less-than-glorious history for the vampires; he simply posed an enticing question.

"Aren't you curious about how the Stoneborn manage to control such a powerful gargoyle army?"

He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of seduction, "This happens to be a research topic that the teacher has been very interested in recently..."

Kazimier's heart stirred. It would be a lie to say he didn't want to know. Not only the vampires, but even the human nobles in the White Horse Kingdom probably dreamed of knowing how the Stoneborn had built that fearsome gargoyle army.

If this secret can be uncovered, the vampires might be able to completely take over the Underdark and spread their influence once again.

"Lord Salazar has made a new discovery?"

"No, but..."

Deng Lun changed the subject, his eyes gleaming, and lowered his voice, saying, "Teacher recently successfully captured and 'improved' a shadow creature, and then quietly released it near Gore."

"If nothing unexpected happens, this special little guy will bring some unexpected 'surprises' to the upcoming Shadow Trial for the Stoneborn."

Kazimir felt a surge of relief upon hearing that his enemy was about to be in trouble.

"It still has to be Lord Salazar."

After chatting with Deng Lun for a few more minutes, Kazimir hurriedly left, as he needed to return to the Eastern Swamp as soon as possible to negotiate with those greedy skeletons.

Of course, he actually had more important things to do than negotiating.

He would be satisfied if he could just take another sip of that gel... just one sip.

……

"Ah~ah~"

A jet-black raven flapped its wings and took flight from the dense reeds, nimbly gliding across the sky towards the Crack Pass where the goblin army was entrenched.

It circled above the pass, avoiding the warning magic that covered the fortress, and took in the bustling camp below, the green goblins scratching each other and doing nothing... all in its golden bird eyes.

After a routine patrol and reconnaissance, the crow turned and nimbly skimmed over the gray mist lake and reed fields.

As the outline of the fortress began to take shape at the edge of the field of vision, the raven's form and color gradually shrank and deformed, eventually reverting to a chubby bat slime.

Looking down from Bat Slime II's perspective, Chen Yu saw that the main construction of the fortress's walls had entered the final encirclement stage, and the tall stone and wood structure walls were about to form a complete defensive circle.

More importantly, the large gray gravel crystals in the "Kingdom Shield" energy node have already been buried by the Slime Scholars in the designated locations on the city wall base.

Now, all we need to do is wait for the gray gravel crystals below to complete their first large-scale charging before we can try to activate this large defensive array that we have poured so much effort into.

However, Chen Yu's thoughts were still mostly on the reconnaissance of the Lieshi Pass.

Apart from the core area, which was heavily protected by magic, he thoroughly investigated the fortress's outer defenses and troop movements.

Although on the surface these goblins were acting as usual, with no particularly unusual military movements except for fortifying their fortifications, his intuition told him that these vengeful greenskins were definitely brewing something.

Fortunately, the Kingdom Shield is nearing completion, and the selection and training of the Lizardman Knights have been put on the agenda...

However, he knew very well that this was only enough to hold off the goblin attacks, far from enough to support the long-term stable development of a kingdom, let alone completely drive out the goblin army entrenched in the Rift Pass.

He needs to prepare some secret weapons...

He was engrossed in his grand plan for the kingdom's future development when a message suddenly arrived from the Eastern Swamp.

The vampire named Casimir is back, and this time he claims to have brought a "surprise".

His consciousness then returned to the body of the strategist slime, far away in the Eastern Swamp Fortress, like the receding tide.

Inside the treehouse, the strategist slime's gelatinous body stirred slightly, opening its wise eyes.

It hopped away from the treehouse and onto the city wall, where it reunited with Little Flower. To maintain its identity as the Undead Lord, it once again disguised itself as a skeleton.

However, because there wasn't enough gel, the size looks even smaller this time.

He strode up the crenellations of the city wall with what he thought were majestic, skeletal steps, and looked down.

Sure enough, the vampire Kazimierz, dressed in magnificent aristocratic attire, was standing outside the fortress gate, followed by several blood bat servants carrying gold-rimmed wooden chests.

Looking at the undead lord on the city wall, whose size had shrunk again, Kazimierz felt a little puzzled, but still smiled and performed an elegant noble greeting.

Sir Casimir sends you his sincerest greetings.

"In order to bring you the good news as soon as possible, I dared not delay for a moment and traveled day and night to get back."

(End of this chapter)