34. The Slime King

Before the third-floor teleportation statue, empty canisters of [Slime Scent Spray] were piled high at Orange Tea’s feet. She had taken on the task of spraying everyone herself. This was Jiang Heyi’s requirement, and as for why...

"We have the spray and we have a lucky charm, so having you do the spraying is basically a form of 'Lucky Charm Spray' by proxy."

When it was Orange Tea’s turn, the team, already prepared, swarmed her and sprayed her from head to toe, forcing her to back away until she was pressed against the wall.

"Turn around, don't forget your back."

Anyone who didn't know better would surely think this was bullying.

Upon teleporting into the fourth floor, the Monastery of the Cleansed, the team was scattered across the pitch-black scene, just as Jiang Heyi had anticipated. The map was shrouded in dense fog and rendered unusable. It was clearly a deliberate design choice meant to break the players apart and force them to face the Slime Legion individually.

How to regroup was the first challenge players faced on this floor. Using light orbs as signal flares would easily attract enemies in the darkness. Creating a faint light wouldn't be enough for everyone to spot. Noise, meanwhile, would wake the slimes. This scenario might have many solutions within the game, but surely none more cost-effective or effortless than what Jiang Heyi had in mind.

In the team channel:
Zhong Zemo: Who is near a high point?
Jiang Heyi replied immediately: "Me, I randomly spawned in a monastery."
Original Fries: That's good luck, we can stay put for now.

Jiang Heyi removed his equipment to reduce weight and avoid making too much noise. Inside the monastery, as long as one was careful enough not to make a racket, these slimes—full from a meal and currently digesting—would remain in a semi-dormant state, allowing one to sneak past on tiptoe. Was this perhaps a mercy shown to the players?

Reaching the highest point of the monastery roof, Jiang Heyi sent another message.
"In position, let's start."

After a moment of silence, the team channel burst into life.
"Jailer, jailer, jailer..."
"Black and white, black and white, black and white..."
"GG, GG, GG, GG..."

The text scrolled by rapidly, competing to pop up. Wait, why did Orange Tea send "GG"? It must be that jerk Jailer teaching her strange things again!

The glowing chat boxes floating above the players' heads were like fireflies in the darkness—dim, yet they served as the guiding light in Jiang Heyi’s eyes. It worked after all; the game could block the map, but it couldn't block the chat bar. Jiang Heyi, he truly was a genius.

After everyone sent their messages in sequence, Jiang Heyi confirmed their locations. His luck was quite good; Jailer, Orange Tea, and Zhong Zemo were all directly in front of his monastery. Original Fries, who was out of visual range, had found the nearest monastery dormitory and climbed to the roof, completing the positioning.

Relying on Jiang Heyi’s "text-based remote control," the regrouping process went exceptionally smoothly. However, they still hadn't found the teleportation statue leading to the next floor. His extensive gaming experience led him to suspect that the statue was intrinsically linked to the Slime Legion.

"As expected—"
Jiang Heyi clamped his hand over the mouth of Jailer, who had come running over in excitement. He whispered a warning: "If you want a pile of sticky blobs to burst out of the monastery and beat us to a pulp, then keep shouting!"

Jailer embarrassedly covered his mouth with his palm, scanned his surroundings warily, and lowered his voice. "We have the spray, it’ll be fine... right?"

"Mint made it very clear: get too close or stay too long, and you'll be discovered."

As he spoke, Zhong Zemo changed into the cloth armor he had prepared—or rather, just the top and pants; the rest of his body was completely exposed, and he wasn't wearing any shoes. His large shield was replaced with a small, round metal one.

"You... this is a bit too breezy," Jailer remarked, stunned. "A shield potion will give you less than half a second of reaction time, tops."

Zhong Zemo looked at the small shield, which had been patiently maintained by his own witch doll, and the corners of his mouth turned up. "It’s not like wearing armor would help you last any longer. It’s all walking a tightrope anyway, no difference."

Jiang Heyi also began removing his armor. "Treat every run like it's your last, and don't be afraid, right?"

Original Fries said coolly, "As long as it doesn't hit, it's meaningless."

Even Original Fries was traveling light. Now, the entire Void Boundary team was as fragile as glass. The reaction time provided by shields was negligible; either you performed like a god, or you died instantly. There was no other possibility.

***

Lacking magic and light crystals, the interior of the monastery was bone-chillingly cold. The high-hanging portraits of the gods had been decapitated by the Order of the Eternal Night. The cold moonlight spilling through the stained-glass windows hit exactly where the heads should have been, making it look as if a fluorescent flower were blooming atop the missing necks.

Void Boundary felt their way along, climbing the stairs. The barefoot Jiang Heyi, Original Fries, and Zhong Zemo soon felt the stickiness on the soles of their feet. Damp and viscous, like rubber mixed with the slipperiness of jelly pudding; they felt as though they might slip at any moment, yet a sense of adhesion dragged them back, stabilizing their footing. What a peculiar secretion.

The path was short. Reaching the third floor and turning past the incinerated library, the bedrooms came into view. Just like the first monastery they had visited, the slimes were sleeping soundly after their meal, their keen senses drifting into a boundless dreamscape. Wait, do low-intelligence monsters dream? Jiang Heyi was suddenly curious.

In the chaotic dormitory, two giant pink slimes were pressed together, their colors looking faded under the cold moonlight. The team channel popped up with a message from Orange Tea: "If they stayed still, they'd actually be quite cute." Miniature slimes were often kept as pets by nobles, so they certainly possessed a unique charm.

Jiang Heyi and Original Fries exchanged a look and slowly drew their blades. To make the operation easier, Jiang Heyi had abandoned his short blade this time. His [Beginner's Narrow Longblade] was a bonus item from the start of the game. Because it felt awkward to swing compared to the nimble short blade, he had kept it in his backpack, untouched. While everyone else in the guild had fed their unnecessary materials to the furnace, Jiang Heyi’s "start-to-finish" minimalist style meant this weapon had survived until now.

Only the two of them could carry out the assassination. The others were just there for atmosphere. Jailer was sealed off due to his sensitivity to elements and magic. Zhong Zemo specialized in defense and shield parrying, but his movements were too loud. Orange Tea’s magic system was faith-based, but in reality, it still stirred up elements and magic—even if slightly, they couldn't risk it.

Bathed in the moonlight spilling across the windowsill, the two stared intently at the fist-sized core in the lower-middle part of the slimes' translucent bodies. Not all slimes needed a core to absorb or channel magic, but the slimes in this scenario clearly possessed them. This special magical organ, equivalent to a human heart, wobbled along with the slight tremors of their bodies.

Orange Tea was still debating whether to help count down "1, 2, 3," when, with a soundless "Last Stand," both blades plunged into the soft bodies of the slimes, reaching the cores without resistance. Without communication, their movements were perfectly synchronized; they both twisted their blades at nearly the same time, triggering "Last Stand" again, tearing through the slimes' tissue.

The force pierced the cores and the soft bodies, and the slimes, having just woken from their slumber, quickly fell into a deep, permanent sleep. A purple-quality slime core dropped, marking the end of this clean, cold-blooded assassination. It passed away peacefully, without making a single sound.

Lines of "666" floated above everyone’s heads. There was no winning in a direct confrontation with the Slime Legion, but with a surprise attack, the outcome was entirely different. As long as you hit the core, you’d get a harvest. Relying on their superb and tacit coordination, the ecstatic Jiang Heyi and Original Fries began a frenzied killing spree.

From the second floor to the fourth, they swept through every dormitory. If there were three slimes, they would assassinate two first, then coordinate a pincer attack on the third to silence it before it could sound an alarm. If there were four, they moved at maximum speed, both using another potion.

What a pleasing display of coordination. The synchronization rate between Jiang Heyi and Original Fries was as high as 90%—a tacit understanding that required no communication. There were slimes that managed to react, but before they could sense the magical anomaly, the killing intent the two unleashed shredded them.

"Moving silently like shadows, entering an empty land!" Jailer acted like a frantic hype-man in the guild channel. Each of these slimes provided generous experience, which went straight into the guild members' hands. It was truly...

"My experience bar just jumped up by a huge chunk!" Orange Tea gripped her fists in surprise.
"The 'Perseverance' effect must have triggered. We've killed so many, it was bound to happen," Jiang Heyi wiped the sweat from his brow.
"But I've never triggered it before."
"Me neither."
Indeed, one cannot compare oneself to a dog.

With their confidence up, Jiang Heyi stopped searching the area and hurried to the next monastery. They had plenty of time to loot after the slimes were dead. By simply changing their perspective, they were able to slice through these slimes—who thought of them as snacks—like cutting vegetables. Harvesting dozens of purple materials; high risk really did mean high reward.

"Useless Witch, I misunderstood you. Your potions really are useful."

So far, not a single slime had awakened in alarm from its slumber; their powerful senses had truly been deceived. Entering yet another dormitory, Jiang Heyi, ready to repeat his trick, was struck with sudden dread. The two slimes in the room, almost the moment they stepped inside, slowly rolled toward the window. Slimes had no eyes, yet they stood there motionless, as if gazing at something.

A moment later, their round bodies turned into specks of light and drifted away. Jiang Heyi hurried to the windowsill.

***

High above the pitch-black dome, the various "fireflies" converging from all over the fourth floor circled in the sky, gradually shifting to a uniform fluorescent green. Above the dome, a storm roared, and the turbulent water began to spin rapidly, suddenly connecting with the ground in the form of a tornado, creating a shocking fluorescent storm.

"What’s happening..."
Watching the endless stream of light particles pouring into the storm, Orange Tea swallowed hard.

The fluorescent mist shuddered, and the giant object that came into view made even someone as composed as Original Fries subconsciously take a step back. It was an ultra-giant slime, estimated to be at least seven meters tall. Bubbles churned violently within its body, and its round form emitted a dangerous green glow, illuminating the pitch-black fourth floor as if it were daylight.

This size...
"No, this isn't an ordinary slime," Jiang Heyi remembered the knowledge Mint had shared. "At this size, if it can communicate, if it can speak, then it is..."

"You filthy, despicable bugs, wearing the flesh and blood of my kin!"

The angry female voice made the air tremble. The monastery glass on the side facing her shattered, raining down to the floor and playing the prelude to a funeral dirge she had composed herself. Amid the fragmented notes, Jiang Heyi felt his body go dry; a mist carrying elements and magic evaporated from their skin.

A genuine Slime King.

A naturally low-intelligence slime that had been favored by heaven; it had awakened wisdom, reached the peak, and undergone a metamorphosis. It alone could give birth to an entire slime race!

Now it made sense. Every slime on the fourth floor was actually a part of it. When players killed enough individual slimes, the remaining ones would trigger a fusion, all returning to the elemental lake that birthed them.

"What is an 'elemental lake'?"

The situation was dire. Although the Slime King still had no eyes, that didn't stop Orange Tea from feeling its vague gaze. It felt like being locked onto by a predator.

Jiang Heyi sighed helplessly: "I don't know... Mint only told me half of it."
Damn it, why wouldn't she say everything at once! That hat of hers is just begging to be snatched!

"What do we do now? How do we fight this?"
Zhong Zemo was struggling to breathe under the creature's immense pressure. Was this the power of a top-tier monster? It didn't even have to do anything; just locking its perception onto its enemies created such oppression.

"N-no, it's fine. It hasn't launched an attack yet, which means we still have..."

Green was a color—a light so bright it made one panic. Before Jailer could finish his sentence, green, vine-like patterns began to seep out across the entire fourth floor, from the dome to the ground, crisscrossing in every direction. In an instant, the fourth floor had become a cage. It wasn't that it wasn't attacking; it was performing a ritual spell!

In this situation, even someone who didn't understand the game knew things were going south.

"Quickly read the teleportation scroll, run!"
Original Fries was dumbfounded: "The Starry Gem won't trigger."
"Mine isn't either."
"Mine stopped glowing too!"

It could actually seal teleportation magic. Having a monster like this as the fourth-floor guardian was clearly meant to drive players to despair.

The group quickly downed [Winds of Awakening] potions and leaped out of the dormitory. A split second later, an elemental storm combining fire, ice, lightning, and shadow erupted from the ground, tearing the massive monastery to shreds. Bricks and stones scattered through the air, falling like rain.

"Ahahaha, my cute little ones, Big Sister is here to see you again."
The Slime King’s female voice seamlessly switched into Nafiel’s voice. That seductive, goosebump-inducing tone.
"Mmm... I can't let you die so easily. Come on, perform some little tricks that will make me happy."

With a crisp snap of her fingers, vortices appeared in the void directly in front of them. Jiang Heyi sensed something, looked down at the ground—already transformed into a magic circle by the Slime King—and saw those complex, leaf-veined patterns moving as if endowed with life, seemingly echoing something in the distance.

The next second, thousands of lightning bolts whipped across the area where the Void Boundary team had just been standing. The earth shattered, and the smell of burning permeated the air. Except for the small safe zone where Jiang Heyi’s team stood, there wasn't a single spot on the fourth floor that wasn't being punished by lightning.

Jiang Heyi hurriedly looked at the Slime King, who was draped under the sky-covering magic circle not far away; it had entered a meditative state, putting its all into channeling its magic.

"Try your best to dodge, little ones. If you win, Big Sister will reward you with a big hug."
"Don't worry, my cute little toys. If you find the safe spot, you might just survive."
"Keep entertaining me a little longer~~"

The people of the Order of the Eternal Night—they're all lunatics!