A few minutes later, both of them were thoroughly cold.

Glen and Michele’s bodies slumped onto the cold, damp stone floor like ruptured burlap sacks. The torches had fallen, sputtering weakly, casting the frozen expressions of shock and terror on their faces.

A few goblins excitedly circled the corpses, rifling through backpacks and pockets with filthy claws, fighting over the dried rations, coins, and the spare dagger.

They chittered and cheered their victory.

Chen Yu was speechless in the backpack.

He’d only hitched a ride for less than ten minutes.

These two were unbelievably unlucky.

Ambushed by goblins right after entering the dungeon.

A couple of goblins were already rummaging beside the backpack.

[Slime Ejection]

The Hallucinogenic Slime suddenly shot out of the backpack, and with all its strength it shoved its round, chubby brother out as well.

“Ji?!”

The goblins were startled by the two bouncing globs of jelly. When they realized they were just slimes, they let out snarling laughs and closed in.

[Mud Pellet Sword Crafting]

At that moment, the seemingly defenseless Life Slime’s body convulsed violently. Four gray-white streaks of cold light shot from its gel body in an instant!

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Four stone swords infused with faint spiritual energy, as if guided by invisible hands, carved precise, lethal arcs.

Four rivers of blood erupted almost simultaneously!

Four goblins had their throats pierced or slashed open in an instant. They didn’t even have time to scream—grabbing their necks, eyes widening in disbelief, they went limp and collapsed.

The remaining goblins were stunned by the sudden, horrific attack. They stared at their bleeding fallen comrades and then at the two seemingly “harmless” slimes on the ground, screamed in terror, and scrambled away into the dark corridor, crawling and fleeing.

Phew… finally quiet.

Except the ride’s gone;

they’d have to hop along on their own now.

Besides, he wasn’t staying in that stinky backpack a second longer.

Chen Yu searched the goblins but found no Magic Organ.

He controlled the small slimes to sneak around inside a bit and discovered the dungeon was much larger than he had imagined.

The entrance tunnel was only the tip of the iceberg. Inside it branched out in all directions, with countless forks: caverns strewn with huge stalactites and subterranean rivers, narrow, winding stone corridors like a maze, and bottomless vertical shafts that reeked of sulfur.

The variety of monsters was far richer than the swamp.

There were petrifying bats hanging from cave ceilings emitting ultrasonic shrieks, cave centipedes creeping quickly in dark corners with sharp mouthparts, blind water leeches lurking in shallow pools that could spray paralyzing slime.

There were even skeletal soldiers in tattered leather armor, wandering aimlessly with rusty weapons…

It was practically a self-contained miniature ecosystem.

Under some mysterious force, it didn’t collapse but thrived.

The two little slimes cooperated smoothly: one spewed hallucinogenic mist to confuse, while the other controlled stone swords to deliver precise kills.

They fought and devoured many monsters along the way.

After the little slimes swallowed an especially fat underground blind lizard, a numb sensation traveled along the consciousness link that made Chen Yu’s main body tremble.

The flavor was exactly like eating raw Sichuan peppercorns—could be used as seasoning.

[Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.2 → Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.3]

[Life Drain Lv.1 → Life Drain Lv.2]

[Devour Digestion Lv.5 triggered—complete record of underground blind lizard traits, gained Talent: Pain Numbness Lv.1]

Chen Yu realized that even if the little slime’s status panel didn’t display “Devour Digestion,” it could still grant his main body monster talents through devouring. But Split Proliferation was completely unusable.

It seemed the Devour Digestion talent was far stranger than he had thought.

Whatever—so long as they could eat.

The two slimes, having battled deep inside the dungeon, kept eating until they could no longer move.

“Burp…”

The Hallucinogenic Slime, having eaten the most, let out a satisfied burp;

the bubbles it released still carried hallucinogenic factors, which made some nearby bats dart around excitedly.

It suggested finding a place to rest and digest…

The Life Slime agreed.

They crawled into a corner piled with abandoned wooden crates and broken clay jars—once a small storage room, now forsaken.

The round Life Slime flopped into the corner and squirmed miserably as it tried to digest its “haul.”

The Hallucinogenic Slime stood guard, its surface exuding dreamy bubbles to mask their scent.

The two little ones squinted happily, dozing, for who knew how long, when deliberately lightened footsteps and hushed voices approached from afar.

“…There seems to be a storage room here, hurry and check if anything was missed!” said an unfamiliar male voice.

Footsteps stopped at the storage room entrance and torchlight spilled in.

Two adventurers, wearing light chainmail and wielding short swords and round shields, peered inside.

One sharp-eyed adventurer immediately spotted the two brightly colored “jellies” in the corner.

“Hey, look—slimes! Two fat ones. They must be hiding something in their stomachs!” His eyes brightened with undisguised contempt and greed.

“Lucky—these strange slimes will fetch a good price!”

Without hesitation he lifted his booted foot and stomped down on the apparently harmless Life Slime.

The motion was quick and brutal, like crushing an insect.

Just as the big boot was about to land, Chen Yu intended to act.

Suddenly!

“Clang—!!!”

A metallic screech like two rusted iron plates violently rubbing together exploded from behind a stack of broken crates.

With that tremendous noise, a silver-gray “meteor” flashing with metallic cold light shot out from the shadows at terrifying speed.

“Bang!!”

It struck squarely and hard against the shin of the stomping adventurer.

“Aaah—!!!”

Caught off guard, the adventurer screamed in pain as if a high-speed iron slug had struck his lower leg. Pain lanced through him and his balance collapsed;

he went sprawling with a miserable “thud,” clutching his leg and wailing.

His companion was petrified, nearly dropping his torch, staring in terror at the source of the attack.

From behind the pile of broken crates rolled out a… thing.

It was another slime.

But its body shone with a silvery-gray metallic luster under the torchlight, showing delicate metallic textures as if cast from metal.

It was only the size of a basketball but unusually solid and heavy—where it had struck earlier there wasn’t even a dent. Now it stood firmly between the fallen adventurer and the two small slimes.

“Mon—monster! Run!”

He didn’t hesitate—yelled, dragged his companion up, and scrambled out of the storage room, disappearing into the outer corridor.

In a flash the storage room was left with just three slimes.

A Metal Slime.

Chen Yu remembered seeing it in the Adventurer’s Guide.

These slimes had bodies as hard as metal and were incredibly powerful in combat—usually starting from Bronze-tier—and compared to the whimpering Gel Slime relatives, they were practically a different species.

What was that slime doing?

Rescuing his split-off?

The Metal Slime watched the intruders flee and seemed satisfied. Its metallic body shimmered as it slowly turned toward the two “weak, pathetic, helpless” little slimes in the corner.

It rolled closer and gently tapped the round Life Slime with its hard, cold body.

“…Little brother…don’t be…afraid…”

“…Big brother…will cover you…”

Chen Yu: “?”

Big brother?

Cover me?

This Metal Slime… was recruiting little brothers?

A new sense of novelty washed over Chen Yu.

Were dungeon monsters really this wild?

Even slimes had a custom of swearing fealty now?

Actually, they could use a leader to follow.

Following a newly recruited “big brother” would be perfect—explore the dungeon depths.

The Hallucinogenic Slime immediately sent out pheromones of “gratitude.”

“Big brother is mighty! Thanks, big brother!”

The Life Slime also squirmed and made an approving gurgle.

The Metal Slime seemed pleased with the two “little brothers’” attitude.

“…Follow close…”

“…Take you…to…good place…”

After finishing, it turned and adeptly rolled into a very concealed narrow crevice half-covered by torn canvas, leading deeper into the dungeon.

The two little slimes followed and slipped into the secret passage toward the dungeon’s deeper parts.

Along the way, Chen Yu saw many remnants left by the Filthy Descendants;

he had the growing sensation that he was getting closer to Arthur and Count Bran, who had entered the dungeon earlier.