Slime Immortal.

Chapter 189 Opportunities and Challenges

Is it leading to the swamp?
A question mark of confusion appeared on Chen Yu's round head.

He knew that the distance of the dimensional fissures did not strictly follow the distance and location of the prime material plane.

Unless it involves precise calculations and complex spell deductions by a high-level mage, it is difficult to locate and connect two dimensional rifts that are far apart.

According to Duo Xinying, the rift controlled by the vampires and the rift that appeared deep within Gor are not only close in location, but also coincidentally connected.

The probability of that is even lower than a slime not liking to sunbathe.

What's even stranger is that if the vampires had known this secret earlier, they could have easily sneaked into the heart of Gol through this rift and caused the Stoneborn a far greater problem than deploying a Mindbreaker. Why did they choose to expose the rift in this way?

Suspicious, highly suspicious.

Chen Yu sensed a conspiracy.

After Nelly waved away the chattering Stoneborn youths around her, she asked the same question.

After Arno's "patient" communication and his reassurance that "if you don't cooperate, I'll beat you up again," Duo Xinying described the situation inside in fits and starts—a frozen snowfield, a huge castle, and spiritual chains that lock the dimensional rift...

This reminded Chen Yu of the wandering castle that the ice element had mentioned when they were fighting the ice element before.

What exactly is it trying to do by linking so many dimensional rifts together?
Want to escape the Elemental Plane?

Nelly crossed her arms, tapping her elbows lightly with her fingertips. After a moment of contemplation, she said, "The vampires, Salazar, that guy, must know a lot about this castle."

"I think their real purpose is probably not simply to create chaos, but to... lure us into the rift to explore that castle."

With her hands on her hips, exuding an air of "I'm very smart," she said confidently, "They probably know some secrets about that castle, are aware of the threats lurking within, and dare not approach it easily. That's why they're using this roundabout method to send us to scout out the dangers for them."

"This perfectly explains why they didn't use the rift to infiltrate themselves, but instead let the Mindbreaker expose the rift's existence and attract our attention."

"However, this has indeed piqued my interest. Come on, Arno, come with me to the rift for a firsthand look."

"Let's go take a look." Chen Yu hopped back onto Arno's broad shoulder, also curious about what was happening inside the crevice.

“Yes, boss.” Arno nodded and recalled the Heartbreaker that had been wandering nearby.

"Follow."

Nelly was decisive and efficient, without any unnecessary words. In a flash, she transformed into a streak of light, skimming the ground and speeding towards the edge of the forest at a pace far exceeding that of running.

Arno was taken aback, not quite understanding how to keep up, but his body had already reacted first.

He felt as if the shadow beneath his feet had transformed into a bottomless entrance, and his body plunged into the pitch-black shadow. He glided quickly to catch up.

The surrounding scenery instantly became bizarre and surreal. The objects of the real world rushed backward like elongated colored lines, while the shadows of the trees formed a rapidly passing passage.

This speed is much faster than running on two legs.

"Boss, I can walk through the shadows now too!" Arno's excited voice came through.

He finally understood how those assassins felt. Unlike the sense of composure that warriors and knights gave him, the freedom and exhilaration brought by this extreme speed were truly captivating.

Following Chen Yu's prompting, Arno then tested his newly acquired abilities.

In addition to basic shadow movement and simple manipulation of his own shadow, he also discovered that he possessed the ability to steal mind.

His shadow seemed to possess an independent life, able to briefly detach from his body and silently parasitize other shadows.

This not only allows him to share vision and hearing through his shadow for reconnaissance, but also enables him to temporarily interfere with or even control the target's behavior at critical moments, or to tear apart the target's shadow, causing negative effects such as psychological impact, disorder, and fear.

It was almost like having a knight squire who was always by your side.

Of course, Arno also knew that the Shadow Assassin's power system was vast, and what he had mastered was only at the entry level.

Throughout the long history of the Stone Clan, they have accumulated many more assassin skills related to shadows. He still has a long way to go to become a qualified shadow assassin.

Nelly glanced back at Arno, who had already adapted to shadow perception, and said casually, "Gaining new power is a good thing, but I must remind you, our enemies are often more cunning and unpredictable than the deepest shadows. Don't get complacent and lose your head just because of a little progress."

“In a few days, after the follow-up matters of the trial are dealt with, you will come with me to Stone Fortress again.”

"What are we going to Stone Castle for?" Arno asked.

“Of course, it’s about accessing the secrets of the gargoyle legion left behind by Grand Duke Castor. I think the little guy on your shoulder would be very interested as well,” Nelly said frankly, seemingly unconcerned about outsiders knowing the secret.

Before long, they returned to the border guarded by the knight statues, crossed them, and ventured into that dark and lightless world.

However, in their perception of the shadows, this depths were not just pitch black, but more like an uneven, shadowy highland, and they were located beneath this highland.

Nelly was used to this.

She slowed down, took out a small crystal bottle containing a colorless, transparent liquid from her small leather pouch at her waist, and then gently twisted the brass cap engraved with an intricate emblem.

With a soft "pop," the liquid inside the bottle seemed to be activated, instantly emitting a soft and hazy halo that slightly dispelled the surrounding darkness.

Although these lights were not enough to illuminate the way ahead, in Arno's perception of shadows, the original shadowy highlands had undergone a tremendous change.

Centered on the fluorescent medicine bottle, the shadowy highlands seemed to be pressed down by an invisible force, creating a valley with clearly defined boundaries.

The reflections of the stones around the valley and their shadows were elongated, forming trails like road signs that stretched into the deeper darkness.

The naked eye can only see things within three meters at most, but with the help of these reflections, shadow perception can see much farther than the naked eye, and things within twenty meters can be seen clearly.

They followed the direction indicated by the stone shadow, and before long, a spatial rift appeared before them, its edges contracting and expanding as if breathing.

Because it was unstable, a chilling aura permeated the area around the fissure.

"Is this the rift?"

Nelly curiously circled the crack, even peering inside.

"call--"

A gust of cold wind blew out, making her shiver involuntarily, shrink her neck, and quickly retreat.

Arno asked Chen Yu, who was perched on his shoulder, "Boss, should we go in and take a look?"

Chen Yu thought for a moment.

The situation on the other side is unclear, and there may be unknown dangers, so we certainly cannot let Arno enter rashly.

"You stay here and keep watch. I'll go in and check it out myself," Chen Yu decided.

After saying that, he jumped off Arno's shoulder, ready to leap into the icy crevice, but was gently lifted up by a mysterious, icy force.

Looking back, he saw a figure whose silhouette somewhat resembled Nellie's as he was being embraced.

Nelly, hands on her hips, said to Chen Yu, "This is my shadow companion. Let it follow you. If you encounter any trouble inside, it can help you, at least it can get you back quickly."

"See you later." Chen Yu patted her shadow companion with her gel-like hand to express her gratitude, and then plunged headlong into the dimensional rift without hesitation.

The round figure was instantly swallowed up, like a miniature warrior embarking on an unknown journey.

The familiar cold wind immediately howled, and Chen Yu found himself back on that desolate icy plain. But unlike before, he saw a huge spiritual chain extending from the distant horizon, firmly locking the rift, as if fixing it here.

In the vast snow, there were many such spiritual chains. Like giant pythons emerging from the darkness, they rose from all directions of the ice field and eventually converged on the hazy giant shadow deep in the snowfield.

That's the outline of a castle!

The towering spires and the heavy shadows of the city walls, appearing and disappearing in the wind and snow, resemble a mountain peak perched at the edge of an ice field.

"So big..." Chen Yu couldn't help but marvel in his heart; the scale far exceeded his imagination.

The figure beside him mumbled something he couldn't understand, then picked him up and tried to move him toward the castle.

However, the basic principle of shadow travel is to use the shadows of the real world as stepping stones and passageways, and light is required for shadows to exist.

On this ice field without any obvious light source, "shadows" themselves become difficult to capture.

Nelly ran for a while, but their movement was frustratingly slow. After running for ages, the outline of the castle in their field of vision didn't seem to get any closer.

At this point, Chen Yu was almost frozen stiff, and his consciousness gradually became blurred.

Nelly seemed to realize that he was not in good condition. She stopped to think for a moment, then quickly changed direction and ran towards other rifts.

This time they were much closer, and soon they arrived at the edge of the rift.

The figure peeked out and observed for a moment, looking rather sneaky. After confirming that the other side was safe, it carried the frozen Chen Yu out of the rift.

The western marshland at night.

The moonlight, clear as mercury, fell silently on the frosty ground, making the frost crystals look like scattered diamonds, shimmering with a cool luster.

As usual, the swarm of stinging bees buzzed as they patrolled the frosty ground, reaping any monsters that dared to intrude.

Beside the crevice, Peggy was leisurely humming, using her giant nose, comparable to a plowshare, to dig through the icy soil, uncovering deeply buried tuberous roots, squinting her little eyes, and chewing contentedly.

It obeyed the king's orders, enjoying its midnight snack while keeping watch over the dimensional rift not far away.

But what puzzled Peggy was that the glowing crack seemed to be acting strangely tonight, its light flickering as if it were hiccuping.

Curious, it put down the half-eaten tree root, took heavy steps, approached the crevice, lowered its huge head, and tried to peek inside.

"Buzz!"

The dimensional rift suddenly fluctuated violently, its light flashing to its extreme, before spitting out a pitch-black human figure.

"snort?!"

Peggy's eyes met the figure's, and they stared at each other for a moment before falling silent.

It's clear that both sides are completely bewildered.

Before Nellie could make a run for it, Chen Yu's gel-like body gradually warmed up, his consciousness returned, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh? Peiqi?" Chen Yu blinked his round eyes.

……

Inside the newly built palace treehouse at the Crackstone Fortress.

Fluorescent mushroom lamps, woven from supple vines, cast a soft yellow light onto a bed covered with thick, dry moss.

Chen Yu slowly opened his eyes.

It was still pitch black outside; dawn was still a long way off.

His loyal guard, Little Ka, was curled up beside him, fast asleep, hugging his tail, with glistening drool at the corner of his mouth, seemingly dreaming of a delicious moss monster.

Chen Yu carefully moved his body, preparing not to disturb the dutiful guard, and quietly hopped out.

But the noise still woke up Kawhi.

It suddenly lifted its head from its sleep, looked around alertly, and when it saw that it was Chen Yu who had woken up, it relaxed, made an affectionate "ka ka" sound, and gently rubbed its head against him.

“Now that you’re awake, come with me to the obsidian mine,” Chen Yu said.

"Kaka!"

Little Ka shook off his sleepiness, excitedly flapped his wings, and indicated that he was ready to go at any time.

Once he skillfully hopped onto its back, Little Ka took short strides, rushed out of the treehouse, and then vigorously flapped its wings, carrying him into the air and disappearing into the night.

Back in Frostlands, after her clones had rested, Nelly had already returned to Gore with her clones.

She seemed quite interested in Peggy, casually mentioning that she might visit the Slime Kingdom when she had time.

But Chen Yu felt that her intentions might be the same as those of the vampires, and that she planned to personally investigate this unknown force that had suddenly emerged from the swamp.

However, with Arno as the bond of trust between the two sides, and his understanding of the Stone Clan's style of doing things, Chen Yu felt that establishing a cooperative relationship with the Stone Clan was far more reliable than dealing with the insidious vampires.

If an alliance can be formed, it might be a good option for dealing with the goblin army and other potential threats in the future.

Of course, these are things we'll need to consider a few days from now.

After receiving the latest intelligence on the goblin army from Kazimierz, he had a feeling that those chaotic greenskins, after being silent for so long, would soon make a bigger move.

He also intended to drive these guys out of the Rift Pass completely.

As for the rift, it's not bad to use it as a passage; hopefully, there won't be any changes for the time being.

At least that strange castle shouldn't cause him any big trouble.

Little Ka flapped its wings and streaked across the sky, casting a small shadow in the firelight of the burning torches of the fortress.

Chen Yu suddenly had a thought, remembering the new talent he had just acquired.

[Shadow Walk]

In an instant, he and Xiao Ka seemed to fall into a dark abyss, quickly fleeing towards the outside of the castle until they were out of the range of the firelight.

"Click click!!!"

This startled Little Card, who thought it had been attacked by magic. It flapped its wings frantically and fled from the spot.

Chen Yu quickly used his gel-like hands to tightly grasp the scales on Xiao Ka's back, his heart filled with surprise.

This is so fast!
It does consume a lot of magic power.

If you can level up your "Shadow Travel" skill, you might be able to travel freely like Nelly, and even move longer distances.

While Chen Yu was still pondering, Xiao Ka had stabilized and, following his guidance, carried him into the underground passage leading to the obsidian mine.

After flying through the winding and secluded passage for a while, the faint clanging of metal gradually came from ahead, and the air began to fill with the fragrance of herbs.

(End of this chapter)