Only then did they truly realize just what kind of training they would be facing for the next three months.
...
「Rift Snowfield.」
The howling, cold wind blew, listlessly kicking up powdered snow from the ground only to swirl it back again. In this dim, lightless world, cold and desolation were the near-eternal theme. Besides the snow, there was nothing new to see.
However, the arrival of a group of Slimes several days ago had brought a different kind of vitality to this Snowfield.
On the original site of the goblin’s snowfield fortress, the Slimes were busy bouncing back and forth. The rudiments of a small town could already be seen beneath them—neat foundation lines, newly erected wooden-framed houses, a half-paved stone road, and a massive complex of buildings at the center.
Their division of labor was clear. Some larger Rock Slimes were working together to carry heavy stones and lumber, placing them in their designated positions.
Other, more rubbery Slimes acted like skilled plasterers, secreting a special Gel to carefully fill the gaps between the stones, making them even more solid.
There were also some Frost Slimes rolling around on the snow, clearing the accumulated snow from the frozen ground to prevent the heavy snowfall from burying the construction site.
Although the wind on the Snowfield was bone-chilling, the Slimes didn’t feel the cold.
Inside their Gel, each of them carried a few warm stones that emitted a soft, red glow. From the outside, they looked like little moving lanterns, appearing particularly conspicuous in the icy landscape.
Warm stones were a special type of ore from volcanic or geothermal regions that could emit stable heat for long periods. They turned the Slimes into little personal heaters. This not only allowed them to maintain their Gel’s activity and avoid freezing solid while working, but also created a relatively warm area around them that slightly melted the hard, frozen ground, making construction easier.
At that moment, on a road that had already been paved through the snow, a cart pulled by two beasts of burden draped in thick fur was slowly approaching with a CREAK, CREAK.
The person sitting inside was Nili. She had changed into a dark gray, fur-trimmed leather jacket and wore a fluffy fur hat on her head.
Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, her body swaying slightly with the jolting of the cart, and the white puffs of her breath dissipated quickly in the cold air.
The cart’s curtain blocked the worst of the wind, but the temperature inside was still at the freezing point. She even had the mischievous idea of snatching a few Slimes from the construction site to use as heaters.
At the front of the cart, two young Stone Race guards in charge of security were also dressed in warm clothes. They sat huddled on the driver’s bench, talking in low voices as their eyes occasionally swept over the bustling construction site around them.
"Tsk, these Slimes... They’re really something else."
"It’s only been a few days. I remember when we first got here, there were just a few pits. Now, they’ve almost finished the houses."
The other Stone Race member rubbed his reddened hands together. "I hear they’re building the future ’Kingdom Post Station.’ In the future, you’ll be able to take a carriage from here to anywhere in the Kingdom. As expected of His Majesty; an ordinary person wouldn’t think to build a post station in a place like this."
"What’s this plot of land for? It looks no smaller than the post station."
"I think it’s the ’Adventurers’ Guild.’ I heard that even Slimes will be able to register as Adventurers in the future. They’ll take quests here and go out adventuring. Sounds pretty novel."
But that’s all it was—novel. His Majesty’s Demon Legion was powerful, that was true, but individual adventuring was another matter entirely. They even suspected that if these little guys went out on quests, they might get lured away by someone with ill intentions.
From the back, Nili shivered from the cold and interrupted crossly, "Are you two trying to freeze your Auntie to death? If you have time to chat, you’d be better off getting these cold-resistance potions and supplies on the cart to the warehouse."
"The sooner we unload, the sooner your Auntie can get back to a warm fire."
Even as she complained, her eyes were scanning the surrounding Snowfield and the faintly visible planar rifts in the distance.
She had only come along on this supply run because it was on her way. After they unloaded the goods, she had to personally investigate the area around the nearby rifts to ensure no strange creatures had snuck in before the rift outpost was built.
"Yes, yes, Auntie." The two Shadow Assassins hunched their necks at the scolding and quickly refocused on driving the cart.
However, not even an experienced shadow master like Nili noticed that not far behind them, a deep shadow was silently "watching" them and the entire busy construction site.
The shadow had no definite shape, nor did it emit any kind of aura. It lay in wait, quiet as the most patient of hunters, silently "recording" everything at the Snowfield construction site—the busy Slimes, the movement of the beast-drawn cart, the conversation of the Stone Race, and even the layout and progress of the buildings.
This was none other than the Shadow Demon, Abaddon. After receiving Casaric’s order to leave the Burning City, he had slipped into this Snowfield through the nearest planar rift.
Under the protection of the shadows, his movements were like the deepest, darkest night—silent, traceless, and impossible to detect by conventional means.
His mission was clear: reconnaissance.
To figure out the details of this emerging Demon Kingdom, assess its threat level, and, if conditions allowed and the risks were manageable, carry out a "precise elimination."
And this under-construction town in the Snowfield, along with those seemingly harmless Slimes, was his first target of observation.
Abaddon’s gaze slowly shifted, finally settling on the frame of the building at the center of the construction site.
’Adventurers’ Guild... Slime Adventurer... An interesting idea.’
However, his thoughts were the same as the two young Stone Race members; he even thought it was a joke.
He gradually lost interest in this absurd nonsense. His form carefully skirted around the beast-drawn cart, lest he be discovered by the perceptive little girl inside, and then floated toward the castle in the center of the Snowfield, which was enveloped in a Crystal Ball.
He believed this strange castle was the target truly worthy of investigation.