Slime Immortal.

Chapter 200 The Mysterious Place
Deng Lun's high boots landed on the spiral staircase, leaving an empty echo in the solitary castle, which was so silent it seemed to swallow up all sound.

This time, before he even reached the familiar door, the surrounding scenery began to distort and melt.

The dreamlike, starry black sky gradually engulfed him. When he came to his senses, he found himself back in the academy lecture hall that seemed to be eternally frozen in the afterglow of the setting sun.

On the stone platform, the blurry figure still stands there like a sculpture, as if he himself is an inseparable part of this classroom.

Deng Lun was stunned for a moment, then quickly composed himself, bowed his head deeply, and said in a respectful tone, "Student Deng Lun greets teacher."

Seeing that the blurry figure didn't respond at all, not even showing any emotion, Deng Lun had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue reporting:
"Teacher, the situation has changed. Those goblins have suddenly become intelligent, not only invading the ice elemental plane fragments, but also pushing their battle lines into the northern part of the Underdark through plane rifts."

"The Fald front is too close to our Eternal Night Territory, and there are almost no obstacles in between. In order to temporarily appease those greenskins, I... I have no choice but to agree to their extortion request and promise to pay a sum of gold coins in exchange for a temporary truce..."

At this point, Deng Lun paused, feeling a little uneasy, expecting to be reprimanded by his teacher for his weakness.

However, the figure remained as silent as an abyss.

After a while, just as Deng Lun was feeling the pressure mounting, a calm voice echoed in his mind:
"You did a great job."

Deng Lun felt a sense of relief, but then the voice added:
"But it's not good enough."

Deng Lun's heart immediately jumped again. He quickly bowed and asked, "Teacher, what shortcomings do I have? Please give me your guidance."

Although the figure's face was still blurry, Deng Lun could feel a gaze fixed on him, subtly putting pressure on his heart.

After a long while, Salazar's voice rang out again.

"Deng Lun, remember, I don't care about those vampires who are barely surviving, I don't care about this so-called Eternal Night Territory, and I don't even care about the ownership and survival of the entire Dark Land."

His tone was so calm, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

“You, Deng Lun, are the most special one that I personally selected from among the thousands of apprentices in the Mage Tower.”

"My will is always with you." These words carried a strange resonance, as if they were directly imprinted on the depths of Deng Lun's soul.

"So, do whatever you want to do, without worrying too much."

Deng Lun paused, still harboring many questions, but dared not ask, so he bowed and said:
"Yes, teacher, I understand."

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt his consciousness becoming increasingly blurred, as if he were being submerged by the tide and about to be swept away by the current and pushed back to the other side of reality.

Gazing at the increasingly blurry figure, a sudden impulse rose within him, and he blurted it out.

"Teacher, were all the fissures in the mountains born because of you?"

The figure swayed slightly and stretched out its palm.

He seemed to see a hand made of pure shadow slowly reaching out towards him, the darkness in the palm rapidly expanding, like night falling, covering his entire vision...

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself still standing on the cold spiral staircase of the castle, in the posture of climbing upwards.

The starry darkness, the classroom under the setting sun, the conversation with the teacher... all seemed to happen in an instant, like a brief but vivid dream.

Although Salazar said nothing, he already knew the answer.

Many of those dimensional rifts that frequently appear in the mountains are probably related to my teacher.

The dimensional rifts in the Underdark were probably intentionally placed by him.

With his limited intelligence alone, he certainly couldn't guess what his teacher was planning to do.

He could only secretly confirm his previous suspicions: the teacher might be trying to draw strength from the chaos, just like Gulmore, in order to achieve his goals.

Lost in thought, Deng Lun was about to return the way he came when he realized that his palm was heavy with an ancient alchemy manual. The cover was made of some kind of dark dragon skin, and the edges were inlaid with complex runes in mithril.

As if guided by an invisible force, the encyclopedia automatically floated up, and the pages turned with a rustling sound even without wind.

A soft magical glow flowed between the yellowed pages, eventually settling on one page before gradually fading to reveal the mysterious castle depicted in the illustration.

Beneath the worn-out hand-drawn illustrations, the owner of this illustrated book used an ancient Elvish script to mark a transliterated common word:

“Dong Tian”

There is also a line of small print next to it, which roughly translates to "a moving secret realm" or "a mysterious place that is its own world".

……

The Ice Elemental Plane.

In the shadow of the castle, resin torches swayed violently in the endless cold wind, and the ever-changing light and shadows vaguely illuminated the simple log walls and a few lonely watchtowers standing in the deep snow.

A group of bear goblins, dressed in thick animal hides and much more robust than ordinary goblins, patrolled by, carrying torches and cursing.

The flickering firelight gradually illuminated parts of the spacious camp.

You can see ragged slaves numbly digging dark caves deep into the frozen ground with crude tools under the whip of the goblin overseer.

If anyone could muster the courage to venture deep into these caves, reeking of pungent sulfur and decay, and endure the nauseating stench, they would witness a sight that would haunt the nightmares of any sane person—

Deep within the cave, countless filthy creatures covered in greasy black feathers slept in dense clusters!
They huddled together like black maggots, their black wings rising and falling slightly with their breath, a sight that sent chills down one's spine in the dim light.

The wind and snow howled incessantly. Hammerbone shook his head irritably, shaking off the snowflakes accumulated on his helmet. Enduring the strange smell, he and the cannibalistic mage Grumg stood like two silent guardians beside a simple altar made of black stones.

But his gaze would always involuntarily drift towards the center of the altar, toward the figure casually sitting on the rock seat—the Fel Demon Ajax.

Before him, a human slave, shivering from the cold, knelt down excitedly.

"You...you're telling the truth, great Ajax, are you really willing...to give me my freedom back?" The slave's voice trembled with cold and agitation.

Ajax let out a hoarse laugh, his voice filled with a seductive power.

"Of course, you insignificant insect, you are nothing but a lowly slave, what is there for me to care about?"

"Spirit, soul?" The slave trembled as he raised his head. His legs were clearly severely frostbitten, turning purplish-blue, and he may have even lost sensation, but he seemed completely unaware.

Ajax languidly propped his cheek on his arm, his curved goat horns gleaming with a dark red, magma-like light.

"Everything has a price, doesn't it?"

"If you want to gain the freedom you've always dreamed of, you must first offer something to show your loyalty and sincerity."

"I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you! I'll give you my soul! Just give me my freedom!" The slave's face was filled with morbid fanaticism as he shouted with all his might.

It felt as if freedom was right before my eyes.

"Very good, you made a wise choice."

Ajax slowly stood up, extended his hand—which seemed to be made of shadow and lava—and gently placed it on the slave's head.

Suddenly, a blurry spirit was extracted from the body. The moment it left the body, its face began to distort, becoming ferocious and terrifying.

Finally, Ajax inhaled it through his nose.

He took a deep, satisfied breath, a look of ecstasy on his face, as if he had tasted the most exquisite delicacy in the world. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, not even glancing at the slave, and strode straight out of the altar.

Hammerbone and Grumger exchanged a glance and hurriedly followed with heavy steps.

"Sir, have I...have I been freed?"

The slave hesitated for a moment, and was about to chase after him when he heard a cracking sound and fell to the ground in the snow.

He looked back in confusion and saw that his legs, which had been frozen to death, remained intact in the same spot.

But he seemed not to see it, turned around and continued crawling forward as if he were running, shouting joyfully, "I'm free! I'm free!"

Hammerbone couldn't help but glance back at the slave, watching him finally stop wriggling and completely lose his life.

His heart pounded even harder, and he looked at Ajax's retreating figure with fear.

These demons are terrifying; their power to bewitch people and manipulate souls is truly horrifying.

If he could… he would rather go back to that decadent life where he was bullied by slimes, but at least he could keep his life and his sanity.

Hammerbond regretted it; perhaps they shouldn't have introduced these demons, even more terrifying than goblins, for the sake of so-called "power" and "victory."

Ajax seemed to sense his change in emotion and asked without turning his head, "You seem very scared?"

Upon hearing this, Hammerbone felt his heart leap into his throat and swallowed a non-existent saliva with difficulty.

"I... I was simply overwhelmed by your power."

Ajax said in a hoarse voice, "It's just a fair trade."

"He mortgaged his soul to me in exchange for his freedom, didn't he?"

"He was just unlucky and didn't get to truly enjoy that freedom, so I can only reluctantly accept his soul."

Hammerbone nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, you're right."

Nonsense, it has to be right even if it's wrong.

The cannibalistic mage Grumg, on the other hand, was much more composed. He didn't seem uncomfortable at all with the scene before him, and a sinister smile was on his ugly face.

Leaning on his staff, he stepped forward and respectfully asked Ajax, "Great Lord Ajax, now that we have obtained 'sincerity' from those cowardly vampires, shall we temporarily withdraw from the Fald front as agreed?"

Ajax walked to the open wooden crate in the center of the camp, reached inside and grabbed a handful of cold gold coins, letting them jingle as they slipped through his fingers.

He said meaningfully, "Since our 'generous' allies have paid their protection money so quickly, let's let them go for now."

"After all, it's a fat sheep that keeps growing its wool. It would be a waste to slaughter it all at once."

As soon as he finished speaking, a growing shriek came from the depths of the camp's caves, and countless filthy creatures flapped their wings and surged out of the caves of all sizes like a black tide.

They were so dense that they turned the snow into a jet-black color.

Ajax looked at the Scourge army with satisfaction, raised his hand and pointed southeast, issuing a new order:
"Grumger!"

"You will personally lead the Scourge and the Goblin Legion to the southeast at once."

“Our friends have been waiting there for a long time.”

Grumger patted his greasy, fat belly hard, making a dull thud, and chuckled smugly:
"Haha, I've heard that there are some rocky stone people living in Gore's place. They must taste pretty good when chewed."

"Rest assured, Lord Ajax, I, Grumg, will capture all those mischievous stones hiding in the shadows for you in less than a day, and fill your cup with their delicious souls."

……

Fluorescent forest.

In this gloomy world, darkness is not the only color.

Fluorescent moss takes root in the ground like a natural carpet, glowing mushrooms cluster around the tree roots, and scattered quartz fragments shimmer in the darkness... making this dark place dreamlike and magical, like a starry sky.

Occasionally, a swift shadow would dart across the boundary between light and darkness, and then emerge from some shadow to reveal the figure of the Stoneborn.

At this moment, Nelly and several other family elders were leading dozens of young Stoneborn to the edge of the Fluorescent Forest.

Arno, with a slime perched on his shoulder, was among them.

Since he successfully passed the Shadow Trial, his status among the young Stoneborn has risen significantly, and he has become an object of admiration and emulation for many young people.

"Hurry up, your aunt will show you around." Nelly swaggered to the front of the group, calling out to the young people behind her.

Among the young people of Stonen, the trio of Leon, Ella, and Max were naturally included.

They were just curious why their aunt, who usually liked to be lazy, had so enthusiastically gathered them here today to this border area that they rarely ventured into.

"Auntie, is there another shadow creature?" Ella asked curiously.

“Of course not. Your aunt is taking you to see our allies and to visit the fortresses they have built.”

"fortress?"

Ella and the young Stoneborn around her exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with even greater confusion.

When they participated in the trial a few days ago, they searched almost the entire fluorescent forest, but they didn't see any fortresses.

Is my aunt getting senile?

Ella thought to herself, then leaned closer and asked in a concerned whisper, "Auntie, did you not have time to catch up on your sleep today? Would you like to rest for a bit?"

"Go away, don't interrupt." Nelly tapped Ella's head lightly, sounding annoyed.

"It's just ahead, you'll see it soon."

As the fluorescent moss on the ground gradually fades, the end of this dark path is just ahead.

What puzzled these young people was that the border seemed unusually dark today, and even the statue of the guardian knight standing there could not be seen clearly; it was just a dark blur.

"That's strange...."

Before they could say anything, something in the darkness seemed to sense their arrival, and one by one, lamps emitting daylight-like light lit up, completely illuminating what lay ahead.

They then realized that what lay ahead was a dark, indistinct expanse, clearly a wall, a fortress!
"I...I'm not hallucinating, am I?" Ella rubbed her eyes hard and shook her head, trying to dispel the vision in front of her.

However, the fortress still stood firmly there.

The expressions of the other young people from the Stone Clan were even more interesting. Some stared in disbelief, some pinched their arms hard, and some looked repeatedly at Nelly and the smiling elders, trying to get confirmation from them.

What surprised them even more was that the guards patrolling the city wall were not human, but rather round, chubby slimes.

Damn it, when did this slime fortress even appear?

(End of this chapter)