At night, darkness soaked the northwestern corner of the Outpost Ruins, along Skullcrusher Path.
Only outside a crude stone warehouse built against the mountainside at the end of the path did a few flickering torches barely drive back a small patch of darkness.
Two Black Fang mercenaries leaned against the warehouse's rusted iron doors, yawning in boredom.
"Hey, did you hear?"
A mercenary with tattoos on his face picked at his teeth with a dagger. "A new force seems to have emerged in that Swamp to the east. Sounds like they're pretty hard to handle."
The slightly fatter mercenary gave a derisive snort and patted the sword hilt at his waist.
"I heard those goblin scum that escaped from underground boasting about it. They said poisonous bees could explode, Slimes could fire cannons... Fuck, the most ridiculous part was that they swore the lord of that territory was a Slime. What a joke."
"A Slime? One of those slippery things that flatten with a single stomp?"
Scarface laughed as well. "If that thing can lord it over the land, then tomorrow I can become the King of White Horses. Goblin intelligence is getting more and more unreliable. No wonder Lord Black Fang only uses them as cannon fodder."
Their laughter carried far through the silent night.
In the shadows nearby, Yano and Kane, almost completely merged with the darkness, lay in wait with bated breath.
The corner of Yano's mouth twitched slightly as he silently said to Chen Yu on his shoulder, "Boss, they seem to look down on us a little."
Chen Yu's gelatinous body shifted faintly, and he gave a soft snort.
So what if he was a Slime?
It looked like he really needed to teach them a lesson.
Kane lowered his voice, his sharp gaze sweeping