First Talisman

"Castle Guard, assemble!"

Chen Yu bounced beneath the oak tree and relayed the assembly order through the Queen Bee.

"Bzzz—!"

A deafening buzz rang through Oak Territory. A dark mass of Stinger Bees poured from the hive like drifting clouds, gathering and scattering before forming a 20 × 20 square guard formation.

All the soldier bees from the Stinger Bee Hive had gathered here. Each had a large, pitch-black tail, with as many as five stingers stored inside according to wartime standards—enough for two rounds of concentrated volleys.

Although these soldier bees were only black iron-tier Demonic Beasts, any jackal without Toxin Resistance that was surrounded and stung would be wracked with unbearable pain, essentially losing its ability to fight.

The venomous wounds that were useless deep within the swamp could be called "noble" beyond its borders.

Combined with the Stinger Bees' rare ability to fly and their utterly terrifying numbers, ordinary jackal packs could not even touch them. At the sight of them, they could only tuck their tails between their legs and flee in a cloud of dust.

To use such a lavish lineup to scout Death Swamp was, frankly, extravagantly wasteful.

Before Chen Yu gained control of the Queen Bee, the entire nest had only a little over a hundred Stinger Bees, including the worker bees that raised Moss Worms, the Bee Guards that watched over the hive, and the idle drones.

With Chen Yu clearing away the swamp's threats and the Moss Worm breeding grounds constantly expanding, the number of Stinger Bees had surged to its current horrifying level.

Yano stood at the back. Seeing that dense mass of Stinger Bees, his scalp still prickled despite knowing they were all allies.

He swallowed. "B-Boss, so many Stinger Bees... Are you planning to attack Iron Boot Town?"

Chen Yu turned around and climbed atop a tree root that raised him to Yano's height, communicating through physical contact.

"Iron Boot Town? I'm not interested in those humans. They're poorer than the next—what would I gain from beating them up?"

"Uh..."

Yano found himself unable to refute that. Compared to the demon who possessed the swamp, Iron Boot Town's adventurers truly were poor as church mice.

"Yano!"

The voice suddenly rang out in Yano's mind, as if he had returned to his Knight training days, when that Knight instructor had called his name in just the same way.

He instinctively snapped to attention.

"Y-Yes! Boss, please give your orders."

"Very good. Full of spirit."

"Next, you'll lead the team south to open up a Forest Path. Lead the Stinger Bees into Death Swamp and scout for intelligence."

"Ah? Yes!"

Only after accepting the mission did Yano come back to his senses. It seemed he had become the captain of a Demonic Beast guard unit.

A strange feeling rose within him, but at the same time, he was exhilarated by the demon's trust in him.

Still, he had some concerns.

"Boss, these Stinger Bees don't seem to understand what I'm saying."

"It's fine. The guard unit will advance along the route designated by the Queen Bee. Just follow them. If anything goes wrong, blow your whistle, and they'll retreat with you."

"Then are these beetles on the ground part of the guard unit too?"

Yano looked at the several dozen Digger Beetles on the ground undergoing training.

He recognized this kind of beetle. Aside from its stone-hard shell, it had almost no offensive power. Adventurers often kicked them around for fun by the roadside.

"You mean these shields? They'll be useful later."

"Shields?"

Yano reluctantly accepted his boss's bizarre train of thought. Under Chen Yu's gaze, he led the bee guard unit out of the castle and headed south.

Death Swamp to the south was not far from Oak Territory, and without rain, the Stinger Bees could march at speed. Yano would probably return in less than half a day.

Taking advantage of the free time, Chen Yu climbed the oak's stairway and entered the Slime treehouse he had built.

The treehouse was roughly eight cubic meters in size. For a Slime, it was quite spacious—large enough to hold his Talisman Drawing Technique materials and tools, as well as some Common Language Books Yano had brought back.

He had originally intended to dig out a hidden underground chamber to store these things.

But the swamp was extremely damp. Dig even the slightest hole, and water would seep out.

A damp environment suited a Slime, but his precious treasures could not withstand it. So he could only build his library-slash-talisman room high up where sunlight could reach it.

Still, the view from up high was indeed lovely. Through the little window, he could overlook the vibrant Oak Territory and the lush green swampland beyond the castle.

Chen Yu always felt that drawing talismans in a place like this might even raise the success rate a little.

"With Lv.2 Talisman Drawing Technique, I should be able to successfully draw talismans in Zeyarila too."

Chen Yu swallowed the tools stored in the corner, then dumped them all onto the floor in one go. With his soft body, he went plop, plop as he flattened the leaf talisman paper, covered the talisman head with a mud brick, uncapped the ink, and dipped the stinger pen into it... The whole sequence consumed quite a bit of his energy.

For a Slime, just the preparations for drawing talismans were troublesome enough.

Chen Yu clamped the stinger pen, inhaled until bubbles rose, then decisively wriggled his gelatinous body and set pen to paper. The talisman pattern flowed out in one uninterrupted stroke.

To be fair, compared to the illegible scribbles he had drawn as a beginner, this one at least looked somewhat presentable. One could barely make out the character "Edict."

It was just that the flow of Spiritual Power was not smooth enough, so it still failed.

Fortunately, he could already see hope. Thinking of how he was about to draw Zeyarila's first talisman, Chen Yu felt a surge of excitement. He replaced the talisman paper and set pen to it once more.

After failing four times in a row, he had just lifted his brush when the arcane pattern on the leaf talisman paper began to emit a faint spiritual glow, perfectly merging with the leaf.

Holding it up to the sunlight, he saw that the pattern looked utterly natural, as though it had grown on the leaf from the start.

"Finally, I succeeded."

Chen Yu bubbled with delight. He carefully put away the hard-won talisman, then continued drawing.

In the end, he used up forty sheets of leaf talisman paper from his stockpile and successfully made five Stone Fortification Talismans.

Chen Yu swallowed all six talismans into his stomach, then went down and tore apart a Stone Fortification Talisman to form a Stone Fortification Spirit Barrier. After testing it, he found its defensive power astonishing—it could easily withstand the Bee Guard's longer stinger attacks.

Even his Lesser Arrow Technique could only blast cracks into the barrier; it took a second shot to break through.

The effect was unexpectedly good.

If Slimes had hands, Chen Yu would have been rubbing his little hands together right now. (fly rubbing hands.jpg)

"Hehe, Zeyarila's Demonic Beasts, are you ready to be carpet-bombed with talismans?"

As long as he had enough talisman paper and Talisman Ink, he could outfit an entire guard unit with talismans.

By then, even Black Iron-tier Demonic Beasts could display extraordinary combat power.

While he was drawing talismans, Yano's Forest Path development and swamp exploration were also progressing exceptionally smoothly. After easily driving off a pack of crafty hyenas, he had gained a preliminary understanding of the situation in Death Swamp.

He then hurried back to the castle without stopping to report to his boss.

"You're saying Death Swamp is a mess right now?"

Yano hurriedly nodded. "There are quite a few corrupted jackals and hyenas roaming around Death Swamp. They're practically the strongest Demonic Beasts there."

"Besides that, I also saw those corrupted... Corrupted Lizardfolk."

Clearly, the anger in his gut had yet to subside. Even mentioning the Corrupted Lizardfolk made him grit his teeth.

"It seemed some strange Demonic Beast capable of fire magic had barged in and caused all the Demonic Beasts living there to leave their territories and roam everywhere."

"I didn't see that Demonic Beast itself. I only saw charred running tracks left across the grass."

"A fire-type Demonic Beast?"

Chen Yu slumped his gelatinous body down, seemingly lost in thought.

After chatting with Yano for a few more moments and reminding him again to keep an eye out for Magic Paper and magic ink, he gave him four talismans.

"Boss, what's this thing?"

A leaf covered in strange writing?

Could it be some sort of cursed object?

"A talisman. Tear it apart at a critical moment, and it can save your life."

"Take the other two to Seja for me. She's over at the Rotten Moss Tribe."

"They can save my life?"

Yano was startled. Though he had no idea what talismans were, he still carefully stacked the four leaves together and solemnly tucked them into the lining of his leather armor over his chest.