Devouring Slime

(The ambush segment from the previous chapter has been revised—those who read it before 6 p.m. yesterday can refresh the page and read it again.)

Duo Lai's level was also Tier Zero, Level 6, the same as Deathbone's, and it was not far from Level 7, the Late Apprentice stage. This was far beyond the other Great Slimes, which were only Levels 3 or 4.

Not only that, it had consumed some cultivation treasures before, giving it far greater basic attributes in every aspect than its companions.

With the thought of giving it a little more power, Mu Yuan bestowed Evolution Power upon Duo Lai.

The evolution was very brief.

The sudden white light startled the Goblins for a moment, but after that moment passed, a brand-new Duo Lai appeared before Mu Yuan.

It still had that jelly-like appearance, but its body had grown somewhat larger. Its entire body had become slightly darker, and faint purple radiance, resembling stardust, flowed across its surface.

"Clink!"

"Notice: Your unit 'Great Slime Lai' has bathed in Miracle Power and begun to transform. It has evolved into..."

"Notice: Great Slime Lai possesses a Hidden Talent. A mutation occurred during the evolution process. It has evolved into the special mutant 'Devouring Slime (Rare One-Star).'"

"Notice: Your unit Duo Lai has been completed during the evolution process. It has learned the skill 'Leap Strike' and gained the new skill 'Liquid Shaping.'"

"Notice: Your unit Duo Lai has awakened the talent 'Devouring (Basic).'"

--

"Devouring (Basic): Increases its own efficiency in absorbing Soul Sand, medicinal materials, treasures, and other things. By devouring various items, it can improve certain attributes. Once the amount devoured reaches a certain level, it may also gain additional abilities."

Two skills and one talent!

With only a single evolution, Duo Lai had received an Epic Grade upgrade.

Not only that, Mu Yuan had fed Duo Lai some Abundant Fruit before. With its Hidden Talent for devouring, Duo Lai absorbed it extremely quickly and, through that, learned a little about using energy.

Mu Yuan was not worried that the newly evolved Duo Lai would be unable to use its skills. At worst, it would simply be less proficient.

Compared with Deathbone, the Skeleton Soldier who had been only Level 1 back then, how many times higher were Duo Lai's basic attributes?

It had been born in a good era.

Mu Yuan reined in his drifting thoughts. He had no time to think too much and continued directing Bone Two and Bone Three to charge into the enemy ranks and find that old dirty Goblin.

At that moment, Duo Lai, still dazed, saw three Goblins charging toward it with loud cries, stabbing their sharp spears viciously into its body.

"Eek—!"

Its jelly-like body caved in. The spears seemed to have stabbed into viscous liquid and soon became stuck.

Duo Lai roared fiercely in pain. The sides of its liquid-like body slowly bulged outward. As they stretched, their forms continued to solidify and reshape, eventually becoming a pair of enormous arms over two meters long, colored a deep blue.

Duo Lai grabbed the Goblins on either side as easily as lifting chicks, then brought its hands together and smashed the Goblin in the middle between them, instantly turning all three into a Goblin sandwich.

At the same time, Bone Two and Bone Three erupted once more in the distance.

Bone Two swung its sword and, as usual, exchanged injuries with the Great Goblin opposite it.

Bang!

Its armor caved in, cracks spreading across it. Several bones in its chest had been shattered, but...

The greatsword in its hands, glowing with a faint black light, also came slashing down at an angle, cleaving through the Great Goblin's plate armor and cutting through nearly half of its sturdy body.

Bone Two was viciously knocked back by the Great Goblin's burst of strength at the brink of death, but it remained standing while its opponent fell.

At almost the same time, Bone Three also took up a bone spear. Instead of throwing it, he viciously thrust it into a Great Goblin from behind, charging up a strike that impaled its rear.

The advantage began to tilt toward Mu Yuan's side.

Whoosh—

Another thick, long wooden spear tore through the air. Its angle was extremely tricky, and its timing was perfect—it came while Bone Four and Duo Lai were tied down.

This Goblin really had no sense of honor!

It even knew to keep targeting his fatal weak point. Was there any justice left in this world?

However, ever since the initial ambush, he had remained inside the protective circle of the three sentries. He had also ordered the sentries to slowly escort him backward until he reached a huge boulder, using it as support while the three shields overlapped to form a three-sided defense.

A wooden spear over a meter long was still stuck in the outermost shield.

Moreover, Mu Yuan, hidden behind the sentries, had already half-crouched down. Whenever he needed to observe the battlefield, he relied on the Battle Falcon's vision. He had not exposed himself even once.

His Amulet also still had two charges left.

If things truly came to that, he would take the Djinn Crystal Lamp from his arms.

But it had not come to that yet.

Boom—

This wooden spear was even more powerful than the previous one, blasting apart most of the outermost shield and forcing the sentry's body backward. However, the other two shields were also overlapping. The three sentries joined forces and dispersed the impact.

Not bad, kid.

Mu Yuan quickly directed the Battle Falcon to scan the area where the wooden spear had come from. At last, he spotted a figure half-crouching on the branch of a great tree, its green body almost blending into the leaves.

The old dirty Goblin was here!

"Duo Lai!"

Leave it to me, goo-ji!

Under Deathbone's training, Duo Lai had also come to deeply understand the importance of cutting through to the enemy's backline. It simply had not found the backline before. Now that it had received the signal, its body began stretching upward before compressing downward like a spring.

Just like before, but this time it was different. With a sudden boing, Duo Lai shot into the sky like a rocket and vanished from sight.

The next moment,

Boom—

The enormous mass crushed the branches and toppled the great tree, but at the final moment, the old dirty Spearman still managed to dodge.

Broken branches and fallen leaves flew in all directions. Amid the chaotic bushes, the Spearman stared fixedly at Duo Lai.

It went whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—

With lightning speed, it threw wooden spears in succession. One after another, they pierced Duo Lai's body, blasting it until its body trembled and shook.

It hurt! It hurt so much!

At that moment, Duo Lai finally understood why Big Brother Deathbone always said that Goblins had a death wish. It completely agreed, goo-ji!

"Two-Star Goblin Spearman: Tier Zero, Level 9."

Its skin was dark green. Its body was short but not stooped, and the muscles in its arms were exceptionally explosive. The necklace of sharp teeth around its neck seemed to proclaim its unusual status, while the wooden spears on its back were thicker, longer, and more finely crafted than ordinary throwing spears.

It seemed to be the leader of this group of Goblins, practically an elite mini-boss.

However, this Goblin Spearman was also somewhat bewildered. Its repeated wooden spears seemed to have little effect on Duo Lai.

It seemed to understand something. It actually pulled a crumpled pale-red scroll from its body, aimed it at Duo Lai, and tore it open with all its strength.

Rustle—

A mass of flames erupted and rolled toward Duo Lai.

With its limited combat experience, Duo Lai was utterly bewildered. It merely opened its mouth on instinct and gulped the mass of flames down.

"Buuurp~"

It let out a satisfied belch, accompanied by a faint smell of gunpowder smoke.

The Goblin leader: "???"

Mu Yuan: "???"

Duo Lai: It tastes pretty good, goo-ji.

The Goblins died without much dignity. After the little leader died, the other Goblins finally returned to their true nature and began fleeing in all directions.

Of course, Mu Yuan did not let a single one escape. He had Bone Two, Duo Lai, and the other units chase them for several hundred meters, pounding every Goblin who had fully embraced its death wish into the ground.

Only then did Mu Yuan wipe the sweat from his brow and find the time to review everything that had just happened.

Without a doubt, he had been ambushed. These Goblins had deliberately lain in wait here and launched a surprise attack against him.

Even the Battle Falcon's reconnaissance had failed to detect anything unusual beforehand.

Of course, he had also been somewhat careless. This place was close to his territory, and monsters were scarce. If he had sent Skeleton Soldiers to conduct a carpet search two hundred meters ahead, he naturally would have discovered the Goblins hiding in the grass.

"Monsters attacking a player's territory isn't unusual, but Goblins who know how to ambush and launch surprise attacks, and are so well-equipped that they ambush a new lord like me—that's going too far, goo."

Mu Yuan suspected that when he had been scouting the Goblin Camp to the North Side, the other party had also discovered him.

But could a group of Goblins from a camp-class settlement really be this elite?

He did not know, but regardless, he would first keep this grudge against them.