Slime Immortal.

Chapter 214 The Impenetrable Graystone Barrier

Deng Lun's nonchalant attitude influenced most of the vampires in the castle, and even the goblins wandering in the corridors and courtyards were somewhat tainted by this blind optimism.

They began to whisper among themselves, wondering how those slimes, who could only bounce around, could possibly fight their way all the way to the Night's End if even the regular army of the White Horse Kingdom couldn't completely conquer the Underdark.

That's what they say, but the necessary preparations still need to be made.

Inside the castle's council chamber, Deng Lun remained seated in the main seat, resting with his eyes closed. He did not participate in the heated discussion below, as if all the noise around him was irrelevant to him.

Sir Casimir glanced at him, his thoughts drifting away as he pondered how to obtain more Blood of Life.

Only a few veteran vampires were still fiercely debating how to deal with the approaching swamp army.

First, it can be confirmed that the Avery Valley—the entrance area near the outpost ruins camp—is relatively flat, making it easy to attack but difficult to defend.

Furthermore, the Black Fang Mercenary Group's stronghold at the entrance has been eliminated by the slime.

One of the vampires said, "It's inevitable that we'll lose this place; we can only give it to those slimes."

What they can do now is to intensify the deployment of magical traps and defensive checkpoints along the key routes leading to the Eternal Night Territory, blocking the advancing swamp army layer by layer.

After discussing and devising a specific response plan, the order was quickly issued to the Black Fang Mercenary Group below.

Soon, the highest bounty posters, bearing the striking red "SSS-rank," were scattered like snowflakes from Black Fang's stronghold, falling into the hands of adventurers and mercenaries in every corner of the Underworld.

Lured by the high bounties, large numbers of mercenary squads, like sharks smelling blood, flocked to the Eternal Night Territory, where they were temporarily reorganized by the vampires into loose mercenary groups.

Their mission was simple: just like when they confronted the goblin army on the Fald front, they would defend using the advantageous terrain and pre-prepared fortifications. The longer they held out, the higher the bounty would be afterward.

But since this is a frontal defense, with existing fortresses in place, at least we no longer have to hide in those dilapidated ruins.

What made these mercenaries even more breathless was that the vampires had distributed one or two useful magic scrolls to almost every mercenary who signed up, and declared that these scrolls did not need to be returned after the battle and could be disposed of at their own discretion.

In addition, the Black Fang Mercenary Group also dispatched its most elite standing combat squads. These squads were led by at least one, or even several, elite professionals, with a number of members generally exceeding two hundred. They were well-equipped and highly trained.

It is almost on par with the second-tier regular army of the White Horse Kingdom, possessing the formidable strength to independently hunt down "S-level" bounty targets.

Because the war between the vampires and the goblin legion had not fully broken out, these valuable elite forces were well preserved.

This became the foundation for the vampires to cope with this crisis.

However, to everyone's surprise, the swamp army advanced at an incredibly fast pace!

Just one day later, an urgent battle report came back, saying that the Avery Valley had been completely occupied by the Slime Legion.

Some even saw slimes starting to build temporary fortresses at the valley's exit.

Inside the council chamber of the castle.

As the blood slaves carrying messages came and went, bringing increasingly urgent battle reports, the expressions on the faces of the vampire nobles changed repeatedly.

"What?! Those damned poisonous bees have already appeared at the edge of the rubble wasteland?!"

"How could it be so fast? Don't they need to rest and consolidate their occupied territories?"

After leaving the Avery Valley, you need to traverse a mountainous area filled with natural stone forests and fissures before you can reach the rubble wasteland.

The so-called rubble wasteland is actually a vast plain covered with rubble and collapsed walls.

If it weren't for the ancient city walls left behind by the old civilization serving as a natural barrier, and the obstacles posed by the undead wandering deep within the ruins, this plain would be almost an unimpeded path to the Eternal Night Territory.

"There's no time to set up the first line of defense. Order all mercenaries operating on the perimeter to immediately retreat into the Graystone Fortress."

"As long as enough magic circles and magic crystal alchemy cannons are set up on the outer wall of the fortress, it will be enough to keep these guys out of the wall."

The mere mention of the Graystone Barrier caused all the vampires present to breathe a sigh of relief.

The magnificent city wall, built by an ancient civilization using unknown black rocks, was harder than steel and has retained its main structure despite the erosion of time.

It once held off the orc army's southward invasion, the kingdom's regular knights' advance, and the gargoyle legion's surprise attack. It should be able to stop those strange slime magic crystal alchemical cannons without any problem.

As long as it is not infiltrated, this barrier is almost impossible to breach head-on.

It is precisely because they have confidence in this ancient fortress that they subconsciously choose to believe in Deng Lun.

No one has ever been able to breach this barrier before, so it's even less likely that these slimes will be able to.

……

Just as the vampires had anticipated, the Stinger Bee Legion, which was the first to step into the rubble wasteland, quickly discovered the magnificent black city wall that stretched across the end of the plain, resembling a sleeping behemoth.

After conducting initial reconnaissance, Beetroot's legion quickly launched a probing attack.

Amidst a deafening, dense buzzing sound, dozens of First Legion suicide bombers rose up, using the cover of night and the undulating terrain of the wasteland to launch an attack towards the city wall.

"They're here! They're here!"

Although the mercenaries stationed on the city walls were not yet fully organized, with the leadership of four elite mercenary groups, they quickly put together a considerable counterattack.

Behind the windows of the dilapidated fortress in the city wall, rockets wrapped in oil-soaked cloth strips were fired in unison by experienced hunter archers.

"Shhhhhh!"

Countless burning fire arrows ripped through the dim sky, like a reverse-flowing meteor shower, instantly illuminating the gloomy landscape of the rubble wasteland.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Explosions rang out one after another. The self-destructing bee soldiers charging ahead were instantly detonated once hit by the rockets, exploding into dazzling bursts of fire in the air.

Large swarms of stinging bees fell from the sky, with only a few managing to get close to the city wall. The force of their self-destruction only left some charred marks on the wall and caused limited burns to the mercenaries on the wall.

After a night of probing attacks with little success, Beetroot could only retreat his legion to the ruins on the edge of the wasteland after gathering detailed intelligence on the Graystone Stronghold.

Then, while clearing out the wandering undead, they set up a temporary camp and quickly transmitted the collected information about the city walls back to the swamp behind them via the gel network.

The command group stationed at the Riftstone Fortress quickly learned of the existence of the city wall.

Inside the slime hut, the slime scholars were clattering and banging their objects together, engaging in a heated discussion.

"What a huge wall! What should we do?" a scholar jumped around anxiously.

“Blow it up!” another radical slime suggested, jumping up and down.

"Send a hundred Goblin Rippers over there."

"No... there aren't that many. We'd need to tear down all the goblin rippers from the territory's walls." "And the defending slimes will definitely be furious."

A clever scholar came up with a new idea: "We can dig a tunnel and crawl underground. That would definitely scare them to death, hehe."

"Great idea! No wonder it's Ramu!" The other scholars' eyes lit up, and they all expressed their agreement.

They discussed it intensely for a while, and finally decided to ask Xiaohua for her opinion.

"Your Highness, what...what should we do?" The slime scholars huddled together, looking at Little Flower with pleading eyes.

After thinking it over carefully, Xiaohua bounced around and made a decision: "Let's try digging a tunnel. If that doesn't work, we still have the Big Goblin Ripper."

"The Big Goblin Ripper?" The scholars looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

Do we have something this powerful in our kingdom? They were filled with doubt.

Little Flower looked at their confused expressions and smugly hummed twice.

……

Upon hearing that the Goblin Ripper II was nearing completion, Chen Yu immediately rode his little truck back to the swamp from the front lines, ready to personally witness this historic moment.

Outside the anvil forging workshop in the obsidian mining area.

Chen Yu bounced down and waited, while Little Eileen was squatting next to him, staring curiously at Little Ka.

It seems that ever since Anvil warned her not to play with slimes, she has turned her attention to other little creatures.

Of course, she wasn't naughty; she just quietly tucked her little hands in her pockets, staring at Little Ka with her big, bright blue eyes.

Xiao Ka felt a little shy and uncomfortable under Chen Yu's gaze. After making a few "ka-ka" sounds, she hid behind Chen Yu, only peeking out half her head to secretly observe him.

Chen Yu found it somewhat amusing.

He squeezed out a clone and bounced in front of little Eileen, deliberately swaying it from side to side.

Little Eileen's attention was indeed drawn to it; she looked at the round little thing, and her eyes lit up slightly.

Just as he was about to reach out, he seemed to remember what the anvil had said, so he could only withdraw his hand and stare blankly at it.

The child was indeed unusually quiet, Chen Yu thought to himself.

However, as long as she doesn't cause trouble and behaves well, that's fine.

At least his master forger wouldn't have to worry about being disturbed while working, and could focus on forging in peace.

Soon, Little Irene lost interest in the untouchable slime and looked away again, her attention drawn to the clanging and banging of hammers in the workshop, her eyes darting towards the anvil that was being forged.

No one knows how much time has passed, but inside the workshop, the anvil is still sweating profusely, vigorously swinging its arm, striking the red-hot metal parts, and sending up dazzling sparks.

"clang!!!"

As the final strike echoed through the workshop, the last black steel main bearing was finally forged, its scorching red color slowly fading to reveal a jet-black luster.

After carefully examining the masterpiece that he had poured countless hours of effort into, and confirming that there were no tiny cracks or flaws, Tiezhen laughed heartily and wiped the sweat from his face with his palm.

"Hahaha, Your Majesty, it's done! It's done!" he shouted excitedly to Chen Yu outside the workshop, his voice loud and full of pride.

Chen Yu immediately skipped into the workshop, listening to the anvil excitedly boasting and using some terms he couldn't understand.

"Wow! It's a new outfit, mine, mine!"

At the foot of the anvil, a small earth elemental could no longer contain its excitement. With the help of its other earth elemental companions, it clumsily climbed onto the still-warm workbench.

"Big Beard, hurry up and put it on him!" the little earth elements chattered, urging him on.

"Stop rushing me, stop rushing me! I'm even more anxious than you guys!" the anvil muttered, carefully picking up the black steel main bearing with pliers and solemnly putting it on the little earth elemental, as if it were armoring a knight about to go into battle.

As soon as it closed up, the little earth elemental turned around excitedly and said proudly, "Boss, boss, isn't it awesome?"

Chen Yu examined it carefully.

Hmm... I didn't really see any imposing presence.

At this moment, the little earth elemental was completely encased in jet-black metal, looking more like a small piece of coal than imposing...

He hopped forward, jumped onto the anvil's shoulder, and asked strangely, "Are you sure this will really activate the Goblin Ripper?"

Iron Anvil patted his chest confidently and laughed heartily, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I actually secretly tested it by partially activating it, and there was absolutely no problem. In fact, its power is much greater than theoretically expected, which seems to be due to the effect of this magical metal."

As he spoke, he waved to the little earth elementals to demonstrate to Chen Yu: "Alright, you naughty little guys, let His Majesty see your power for himself."

"Come on! Come on!"

"It's finally our turn!"

"Move aside, I want to stand in the middle!"

The little earth elementals immediately started shouting excitedly, and like well-trained soldiers, they quickly gathered in the open space outside the workshop.

They collided and piled on top of each other with surprising skill, as if they had rehearsed countless times.

In just a few seconds, with a series of cracking sounds, the small earth elementals, each only the size of a fist, instantly coalesced into a pitch-black giant over three meters tall.

The rock giant stood there, its dark armor reflecting a cold, hard luster in the firelight of the workshop, exuding an oppressive aura that seemed in no way inferior to those expensive magical golems.

Iron Anvil rubbed his hands together, his face beaming with excitement. "Your Majesty, this thing might be a bit too powerful. If we activate it here, I'm afraid it will cause the mine to collapse..."

"Let's go out and try it. I assure you, you won't be disappointed."

Chen Yu's curiosity was completely piqued.

He jumped off the anvil's shoulder, mounted the little truck again, and prepared to fly out of the workshop to the open ground to witness it firsthand.

He glanced back at the anvil, only to find that the guy hadn't followed immediately. Instead, he was wiping the sweat from his body before carefully picking up the quiet little Eileen and gently placing her on the earth elemental giant's shoulder.

"This guy is quite thoughtful," Chen Yu said, somewhat surprised.

It seems that after spending this time together, Tiezhen has unknowingly gotten used to the child's presence and is almost becoming a stay-at-home dad.

(End of this chapter)