"More crystals?" Slime#47 hissed as the tree eldritch drew even closer.

He had forced his gang to rush toward Ruins City Lunixa, but it was useless. The tree eldritch was already near.

"Where can I find more crystals?" Young Slime asked with a twitch, glancing at the official concrete roads leading to the fortress entrance.

"Go, in....." Old Slime said, pointing at the fortress as Young Slime bounced near him.

"Okay…" Slime#47 nodded as Elder Slime's words pointed to the place where he could find some crystals.

He dashed toward the fortress.

'I need to be quick,' he muttered, slipping inside.

----

"Ah… I wanted to be the first one," Cow#1 muttered, her body tense. Her limbs trembled as the clash between Slime#47 and the three sealed artifacts still rang in her ears.

She glanced at Bull#1, who puffed his nose in pride and said, "Look! Those three guys were defeated like a piece of cake!"

'It wasn't you who defeated them,' she thought, annoyed.

She noticed Young Slime's grim face as he rushed into the fortress, and her fear deepened. She wanted to run.

"Why did the lord allow slimes to go in first…?" she muttered, unable to control her shaking limbs.

Mama Slime mindlessly led slimes into the teleportation array, wondering, 'What just happened? I feel like I've seen this place…'

"One by one!" Little Slime yelled, keeping order so no slime rushed out.

----

Basement Fifth...

"It still goes down…" Slime#47 muttered, impressed, as the stairs kept leading deeper.

'Just who built this fortress?'

Wob!

He dashed into a hall—far larger than anything on the upper floors.

The basement levels didn't have rooms like the upper ones. They were plain empty fields, with only washrooms, utility rooms, and an eroded metal weapon collection at the far end.

'Training grounds,' he realized.

Blue marble covered the hall. Every few meters, half-broken magic sigils were etched into it. Cracks ran between the tiles—battle and time had scarred everything.

But he didn't have time to admire the surroundings.

He rushed toward the utility room at the center.

Lines were inscribed from that room to all the sigils on the marble floor. He entered and found a large magic glyph with many small sections drawn across it, 'This is where crystals are placed,' he noted.

He searched quickly and found a few crates in the corner.

He threw the boxes aside.

'They'll be empty,' he thought blankly.

The fortress was old, and very few adventurers visited it. It had already been looted from top to bottom.

Then he noticed the same blue marble flooring beneath the crates.

He yanked the tiles out.

A crimson key finally appeared in the concrete beneath.

His eyes sharpened.

He grabbed the key—nearly half his size—and—Wob!—bounced down toward Basement Tenth.

'This should be the last basement… the treasure hall,' he thought, seeing the stairs end here.

Unlike the other basements, a massive gray door blocked the way.

'Huge…' He stared up, feeling tiny.

The doors were almost ten meters high.

He leaped into the air, placed the key into the slot, and—

"Demonic Bind."

A black vein erupted from the side. He grabbed it with one hand and rotated the key with the other.

Crack!

A mechanism groaned. Heavy running sounds echoed from within.

"What…?" he muttered.

The doors didn't open. He facepalmed.

"Damn…" he whispered.

"Demonic Fist!"

Boom! Boom!

He smashed his glowing dark fist into the door. After a few heavy blows, it broke open.

Inside, broken golems and old battle marks greeted him. Debris was scattered everywhere.

"Looted!" he groaned.

The last adventurer who looted the treasure room must have been furious at finding less than expected. In wrath, they had sealed the door again to make it look untouched.

Whoosh!

Slime#47 rushed in, desperate. 'Just a few leftovers would be enough…'

But the hall was filled with broken crates, shattered statues, cracked pillars, and torn paintings. Trinkets had been ripped away.

The black carpets were shredded. Green mold crawled over everything.

"None…" he muttered, scanning every corner.

Then he noticed one unopened crate in the far corner.

"Crystals…" He bounced over with hopeful eyes.

Click!

He yanked open the lid.

"Damn it!" he roared.

It was empty—only a plain letter remained inside.

"Fooled ya! Hahaha! This is gold-loving adventurer Emelia1. When I arrived here hoping to find gold, I met with disappointment… so you, the next person, should also meet with the same." Vael read aloud, manifesting beside him with a cold grin.

He rotated the letter and continued, "Why don't you fool the next person? Signing off—Gold Lover."

"Hahaha!" Vael couldn't hold back his laughter. He loved watching Young Slime suffer.

Demonic force erupted violently from Slime#47. The cracks in the room expanded even more. The blue marbles split apart. Even the broken golems shattered further.

"Gold Lover Emelia…" Young Slime clenched his fist. "I really hope I meet you one day."

"Oh no…" he muttered, suddenly realizing time was running out.

Whoosh!

He dashed out.

----

Elder Slime had stopped the teleportation. They had run out of mana crystals.

"We still have to teleport more than thousands of slimes, and those…" Elder Slime counted, pointing at the remaining demons.

"Okay," Slime#47 grunted, forcing his fury down.

Thud!

The tree eldritch finally appeared on the road to the right.

"Any other way?" Slime#47 demanded. "There are no crystals."

"Tch… I didn't expect the space stone would run out of power," Old Slime said grimly. He had expected it to still carry power, but it had weakened. "To compensate for the lack of power in the space stone, we need more mana crystals."

'The tree eldritch… it might have mana crystals.' Young Slime's eyes brightened.

He wasn't afraid of fighting the tree unholy creature with his current strength.

What troubled him was the purple lad.

"I'll be back. Just a few minutes," he said, dashing toward the huge creature in the distance. 'I need to finish him quickly… or else—'

----

A human-like figure, three meters tall, dashed forward—its body woven entirely from green vines.

Hair made of leaves.

A large gray leaf formed its face—two red flowers for eyes, two yellow flowers for a nose, and a small slit of a mouth revealing darkness.

Green vines braided into four limbs—eerily shaped like a human's: two arms and two legs.

And in its chest, a human face was embedded.

Black eyes narrowed. Brows arched. Mouth frozen in a scream—yet no sound came out. The gap between its lips showed pitch-black darkness.

"Need to finish this quickly," the multicolored slime muttered, staring at the creature before him.

End of the chapter.

---

Gold exists in this world as a precious metal...Not as a currency.

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