Free Web NovelInside the dark, freezing prison, a shadowy figure sat slumped against the wall. Heavy chains shackled his limbs, neck, and torso, and a gray, dusty anti-magic stone helmet covered his head, concealing his face.
At a glance, he could easily be mistaken for a warrior clad head to toe in heavy armor. In reality, however, his entire body was encased in a full suit of stone armor forged from anti-magic stone. Not only did it drastically suppress the circulation of magic within the wearer’s body—keeping him in a state of extreme, long-term weakness—but it also imposed an utterly terrifying weight.
“Is he one of the original invaders?” Bishop Andehi asked, then turned to look at Vieya. “I heard that a total of five ninth-tier powerhouses attacked, but the other four were all killed by you?”
“You could say that.”
Actually, I only killed three.
Vieya paused, then asked Aislin, “Have you interrogated him?”
“Of course we have,” Aislin said softly. “Although he surrendered decisively, he refused to say anything. Illusions, deep-dream probing, mental magic—we tried all of them, but none worked.”
“Such a tough mouth? Then he’s useless.” Vieya crossed her arms and proposed, “Kill him.”
“Eh?” Aislin froze.
There was no obvious emotional fluctuation on Vieya’s small face. She organized her thoughts and continued,
“Keeping him is just a hazard. It wastes manpower to guard him and food to keep him alive. Might as well get rid of him early.”
“But... didn’t you say you wanted to interrogate him for information about the other invaders?” Aislin suddenly felt useless—unable to help even with something this small.
She quickly pulled herself together and said seriously, “Maybe we can wait a bit longer.” When Mother wakes up, I can ask her for advice. If we still can’t get anything out of him, then killing him won’t be too late.
Because there were outsiders present, she didn’t say the latter part aloud.
Vieya shrugged indifferently. “You’re the Queen. I respect your decision.”
Aislin: “......”
Suddenly, Bishop Andehi spoke up. “If you trust the Church, you can hand this captive over to us for handling.”
“Hand him over to you?” Aislin asked.
“Yes,” Bishop Andehi said. “Leave him to our Church. If we extract any information, we will notify the elven race and Swordmaster Miss at the first opportunity.”
“And the losses suffered by the elven race—we will raise our compensation from partial to full.”
“At the same time, for every elf who perished in the last incident, our Church will compensate the elven race with one ultra-tier magic skill book.”
He paused, then added,
“The Church offers its sincerest apologies and respect to every elf who sacrificed their life. These skill books will serve as the flowers and prayers we offer in their honor.”
“......”
Aislin looked deeply at Bishop Andehi. She did not answer immediately, instead turning her gaze toward the slime who was studying the material of the prison bars nearby, and asked softly,
“What do you think?”
Not good at all. Why are you asking me about this!
“Emm.” Vieya propped her chin and thought for a long while, then her eyes lit up. “You’re the Queen. I respect your decision.”
“......”
You slime!
Aislin sighed inwardly, then turned to Bishop Andehi and said slowly,
“We can transfer the captive to your human Church for handling. However, aside from compensation and information sharing obtained from the captive, both sides must complete written records and identity verification.”
“Of course,” Bishop Andehi replied with a genial smile.
Throughout the entire discussion, both sides stood before the cell, without any special concealment measures. Strangely enough, during the whole process, the captive inside the cage showed no reaction at all—like a corpse.
But Vieya was certain he was alive, and that he had heard every word of their conversation.
【Human】
【Name: Mo Wo’er (Heavily Shackled, All Attributes –90%)】
【Level: 921】
【Origin: From an unknown tribe on the grasslands of the Western Continent; closely associated with ‘Ghost’.】
【Abilities: Unknown (Please touch the target to obtain more information)】
【Danger Level: Unknown】
【Note: Results obtained through sight alone aren’t detailed or accurate enough, you know~ Physical contact can reveal over 80% of the information, so go ahead and give him a touch~】
Some connection to Ghost, but far less valuable than the monk sealed inside the painting.
Vieya lazily yawned. A mere early-stage ninth-tier—probably couldn’t even beat the pet cat at home. She couldn’t be bothered to make contact. Since Aislin wanted to leverage this for benefits for the elven race, then whatever.
After leaving the prison, Bishop Andehi took his leave first, going to prepare the tools and manpower needed to escort a high-level criminal.
Aislin also led Vieya out of the death cell, returning to the dungeon level above.
“Huh? Aren’t we going up? Why are we still wandering around the dungeon...?”
Seeing Aislin silently leave the staircase and turn into a dim corridor, Vieya couldn’t help feeling a chill crawl up her spine. Her mind instantly filled with classic horror-movie plots—two people alone together, when suddenly one companion betrays the other, revealing bloody fangs to kill for money.
“Hmm? So your courage shrinks along with your body now?” the dragon egg suddenly spoke.
“Yikes! You damn ghost egg—can you stop speaking out of nowhere to scare people?” Vieya rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and muttered, “If I hadn’t been bitten by a dragon once, would I still be afraid of teammates for ten years?”
“...Heh.” The dragon egg sneered twice and fell silent.
Up ahead, Aislin saw the slime still dawdling behind and was about to call out to her.
But then she saw a familiar ghost clinging to the slime’s back, blowing cold air beside her ear.
Hoo—
Hoo—
“Whoa, why is it so cold in here?”
Vieya hunched her shoulders. Seeing Aislin stop to wait for her, she hurried over at a small run.
But when she reached Aislin, she found the other’s gaze strangely fixed, making her skin crawl.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been acting off since we entered this side passage,” Vieya asked worriedly.
“It’s nothing.” Aislin kept staring straight past Vieya’s shoulder, then frowned slightly and said calmly, “Don’t scare my friend.”
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Vieya turned her head to look behind her. The deep corridor was empty—long, dark, and seemingly leading straight into the netherworld.
After all, it was a dungeon—dark, desolate, cut off from sunlight and human presence. Stay in a place like this long enough, and you’d inevitably feel a chill creeping up from your feet.
After a pause, Vieya asked tentatively, “Aislin... were you just talking ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) to me?”
Aislin remained silent for a while, until she stared Daisy the ghost into waving her hands innocently and drifting away from Vieya. Only then did she explain,
“There’s actually an elven ghost that’s been following you around, playing pranks. I just told her to stay away from you. There’s no need to be afraid.”
“Uh... there’s a ghost following me?” Vieya instantly felt uncomfortable all over. She wasn’t afraid of ghosts—it was just that this place felt creepy.
Fortunately, Aislin didn’t dwell on ghosts for long. She quickly shifted the topic to something Vieya was interested in.
“Little Vieya, I’m planning to stop by and visit my aunt along the way. Would you like to come with me? If you don’t want to—”
“Visit your aunt?” Vieya’s interest was immediately piqued. She clung to Aislin and asked, “Is she also a silver-haired elf? How is she—pretty?”
“Heh.” The dragon egg sneered, and the excited smile on the slime girl’s face stiffened slightly.
Aislin’s expression also turned odd. Seeing this, Vieya sighed and spread her hands. “Alright, alright—just kidding. It’s just that this dungeon atmosphere reminds me of the cold, hopeless well where I was born.”
“A well?” Aislin’s attention was drawn away.
“Yeah.” Vieya smiled darkly. “I was tiny back then—only Level 1. The well was shallow, just over a meter deep. It’s hilarious—I couldn’t climb out at all, just stared at the opening and waited to die.”
“But luckily I was resilient, tough as a cockroach. I could survive just drinking rainwater. Once I grew a bit from that, I could climb out of the well by myself.”
Then where was your mother?
Aislin wanted to ask—but then remembered she had never seen any other monster girls born from slimes.
So Vieya was most likely a special mutation born from an ordinary water-type slime—an orphan with no parents from birth, yet with cognitive development close to that of a human, and a deep craving for emotional connection. That must be why she’d been deceived by a bad woman at such a young age, ended up giving birth to a daughter...
Thinking this, Aislin’s heart softened. She said gently, “My aunt is a very good elf. Very beautiful. She’ll definitely be happy to see you.”
Vieya blinked. Judging by Aislin’s reaction, this pitiful act was remarkably effective.
Heh. Silly elf—maternal instincts already overflowing.
“Are you very pleased with yourself, Vieya?” the dragon egg asked coldly, having witnessed everything.
Vieya the slime was shameless. “What about me? You’re allowed to be happy, but I’m not?”
“Looks like you’ve learned some bad habits over the years,” the dragon egg said calmly, like the eve of a storm. “Flirting right in front of me, lacking virtue, abandoning your wife and child—boohoo...”
“Stop right there. Don’t let your thoughts slide downhill! I’m pure as ice and clean as jade. The only one who’s ever forced a kiss on me is you, you hooligan dragon.”
Boom—!
A sudden loud crash rang out. Distracted, Vieya jumped in fright and hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound.
Ahead, a section of the corridor’s ceiling had collapsed. Massive stone blocks tumbled down, completely blocking the passage.
“This is...” Aislin’s expression turned serious as she looked ahead. “Part of the corridor ceiling collapsed. What timing—of all moments, something goes wrong now.”
“Is this place haunted or what?” Vieya stared blankly.
She just wanted to meet Aislin’s aunt. Why was it so hard?
Along the way—evil ghosts clinging to her, shoddy dungeon construction collapsing out of nowhere. Was the world messing with her?
“Should we notify the maintenance elves to come fix it?” Vieya asked.
“It’s fine. The dungeon has two routes. If this one is blocked, we can take the other,” Aislin said after thinking for a moment. The doubt in her eyes deepened. “But why did this area suddenly collapse? Old and poorly maintained? Or...”
“Aislin...” At that moment, the ghost Daisy suddenly spoke. She seemed to have sensed something hidden, her voice grave. “This collapse... no. It’s not just here—the entire elven dungeon has gone wrong!”
The moment her words fell—
An even greater tremor surged up from deep underground. Accompanied by a dull, thunderous roar, it was like a subterranean dragon turning over.
Countless fragments of stone rained down from the ceiling like hail.
