Two days later, on the fortress city wall.
A silver-gray sli shimred with faint tallic luster under the sunlight, ticulously patrolling along its designated route.
Its na was Steel Muck.
An ordinary tal sli.
Not long ago, it had lived with its clan in the dark, damp underground passages.
Every day was spent dodging attacks from powerful magical creatures, barely surviving by consuming trace tals from rocks.
Until that day, the King's loyal envoy, the Chubby One, arrived like a blade cutting through darkness, driving away the hostile neighbors threatening their nest and leading them toward the path to a new ho.
They relocated their nest to a secure outpost within the King's territory, and from then on, no magical creature dared to bully them arbitrarily.
Being under the King's protection filled Steel Muck with imnse joy and peace.
But simultaneously, an indescribable sense of loss quietly spread in its heart.
As a tal sli, guarding the nest alongside Big Brother Sli was its duty.
However, under the King's gel protection, the nest was safe, and it seed... no longer needed.
But this despondency didn't last long before the Chubby One returned to the nest with a ssage—the great Sli King was recruiting "gunners" to defend the territory.
Steel Muck didn't fully understand what a "gunner" specifically did, but upon hearing "defend the territory" and "serve His Majesty," it unhesitatingly signed up alongside Big Brother Sli.
That day was also the first ti in its life it left the dungeon and truly set foot on the surface.
When it tremblingly erged from the dark passage entrance following the group, an incredibly warm, bright sensation instantly enveloped its entire body.
It had never seen such a sight before, but so instinctive knowledge deeply embedded within told it—this was sunlight.
Warm and cozy, very comfortable, making the tals inside its body seem to vibrate joyfully.
Under the Chubby One's guidance, they boarded an enormous giant boar magical creature with reverence and trepidation.
Traveling along a broad, smooth road flanked by rustling tree shadows, when they passed through the final stretch of woodland and saw the scene ahead, it and all its fellow tal sli companions were stunned.
A majestic fortress stood under the sunlight, its brick-and-stone city walls towering and sturdy, far larger than their sli nest.
On the walls, so strange devices they had never seen before shimred with a gentle luster in the sunlight.
Further away, there were halls constructed from massive trees.
It thought then, is this the King's residence?
So imnse, so magnificent!
And now, it, Steel Muck, truly stood upon this grand fortress's walls, having beco part of it, a glorious gunner.
It patrolled to a section of the wall where a "battery array" was installed. The ticulously carved gray gravel crystal was embedded within complex paper formations, emitting a familiar aura.
Steel Muck carefully perford its routine check, gently pressing its liquid tal hand against the jade surface, sensing the energy stored within.
This was the gunner knowledge the King had taught them.
As a qualified gunner, one must constantly monitor whether these "spirit stones" had sufficient energy.
If energy ran low, it either replaced them with reserve stones nearby or mobilized the "energy storage" granted by His Majesty.
Carefully injecting bubbles filled with pure energy into the battery array.
Whenever it did this, a wonderful sense of connection arose, as if so ntal link had ford between it and this cold battery array.
It extended its small hand to stroke the gray gravel crystal. Under the sunlight, the crystal talisman felt warm and very pleasant.
Steel Muck felt this big fellow must also love basking in the sunlight, just like itself.
Steel Muck remained steadfast at its post for a long ti, its round body motionless, only its eyes ticulously scanning the dense forest beyond the walls, trying to identify any enemies daring to approach the fortress.
Just then, a familiar buzzing sound ca from above its head.
Those were the King's soldiers, carrying clumps of mud, busily flying back and forth.
According to the Chubby One, the King seed to want to build a sturdy and impressive "Kingdom Academy" on the territory.
Steel Muck didn't quite understand what an "academy" was, but it felt it must be sothing remarkable.
As it montarily pondered what the "academy" might look like, a tallic tremor signaling alert suddenly ca from another section of the wall.
Its companions!
The other tal slis on duty had detected sothing abnormal!
Steel Muck imdiately gathered its thoughts and tensely looked in the direction its companions had indicated.
...
"Damn it, this muck never ends," a coarse voice complained, then laboriously pulled a boot free from the mud.
"Shut up, Hank, save your breath for whatever might pop out."
Deep within the dark, damp swamp, three figures struggled through the mire.
Leading was Captain "Iron Shield" Bal, a tall, sturdy human warrior with a weathered face.
He wore a practical chainmail shirt under a dirty leather coat, with a crude iron warhamr emblem hanging on his chest—symbol of "Usca," god of war and conquest, a rciless deity popular among rcenaries and warriors.
But Bal was a pragmatic, shallow believer, only rembering this god when killing or praying for victory was needed.
Close behind him was "Skinny" Rex, a pale-faced human ranger with shifty eyes.
He was the team's scout and trap expert, of lowly origins, believing in no gods, only the tools in his hands and the gold coins in his pocket.
He was Bal's old partner;
the two had pulled off many shady jobs together.
Last was the dwarf Hank, who had complained earlier. Burly and clad in heavy chainmail, he carried a battle axe with nicks on its blade.
He hailed from a dwarf clan that revered smithing and heavy drinking, usually blunt but formidable in battle.
Nominally faithful to the god of smithing, but his main passions were alcohol and loot.
"Boss, are you sure that thing 'Blacktooth' gave us ain't screwing us over?"
Dwarf Hank panted, unable to resist questioning again.
"Besides blood-sucking mosquitoes and mud pits deep enough to drown in, I ain't seen anything valuable in this damn place."
Captain Bal didn't look back, carefully unfolding the map for a glance, and whispered, "Hank, Blacktooth's reputation might be like goblin gibberish, but they're tight with those green-skinned scum. This map's source is special."
"Besides, don't forget the upfront gold coins and antidote potions. Even if there's only a nest of toads in this swamp, with that advance, we ain't losing on this trip."
Before Hank could respond, "Skinny" Rex slid up to Bal like a ghost.
"Boss, sothing's off. It's too quiet... and I keep feeling a chill on my neck, like sothing's watching us."
Hank snorted dismissively and spat. "Co on, Rex, you're always paranoid. In this godforsaken stinking swamp, who else could there be but us three? The mud coming to life?"
Just then, Bal, walking ahead, suddenly stopped dead, raising a clenched fist for silence.
He parted a thick layer of poisonous mist ahead, and his pupils constricted sharply.
"Usca above..." Bal's voice was filled with disbelief and shock.
Rex and Hank imdiately crowded forward, equally stunned speechless by the sight before them.
Ahead, the swamp opened up abruptly, and a majestic fortress stood like a beast crawling out of a nightmare, suddenly rising on relatively dry land.
"A magical creature's nest... Blacktooth's info was actually damn true..." Bal's voice held suppressed excitent.
Hank, sharp-eyed, pointed at the silvery-gray shimring forms moving on the wall above.
"Look, slis up there. What are they doing... patrolling?"
Even he found the notion utterly absurd as he said it.
Rex narrowed his eyes, noticing the strangely structured devices on the walls, feeling an instinctive sense of danger. "Captain, those glowing things..."
Bal lowered his voice, "Saw them. Intel from Blacktooth ntioned them. So kind of weirdly shaped magic crystal cannon, supposedly powerful enough to shatter boulders."
"But the info clearly said the damn thing can only fire four shots max."
He quickly assessed the surroundings. "Fall back. Mission accomplished. Confirming this fortress's existence and location is enough to collect the rest of our paynt."
However, as they tried to retreat using the shrub shadows for cover, one of the tal slis on the wall seed to sense sothing. Its round body adjusted direction, its gaze precisely eting the trio's.
"Spotted!" Rex's warning barely left his lips when a jade talisman on one battery array on the wall suddenly erupted with blinding light.
Whoosh! Boom!
A searing silver energy beam instantly tore through the air, slamming violently into the mud behind them. The intense explosion sent foul mud and shredded vegetation raining down on them like a storm.
"Scatter! Take cover!"
Bal roared, his years as a rcenary prompting the correct reaction.
The three scrambled and dove toward the sparse woodland to the side, trying to use the twisted trees as cover to escape. But what filled them with greater despair was the terrifyingly dense buzzing sound coming from the forest behind them.
Dozens of large poison-stinger wasps erged from the woodland shadows, blocking their retreat.
They didn't imdiately dive to attack but buzzed nacingly like experienced hunters, clearly intending to drive them away from the forest edge, obviously aiming to capture them alive.
"This way! Charge through that clearing!"
Bal yelled, pointing toward a relatively open but exposed swamp clearing on the other side—their only option.
The three could only desperately run toward that death zone, praying to create a miracle with speed.
However, the cannon fire from the walls fell like the roll call of death, one after another.
Boom!!
Three consecutive beams accurately landed on their fleeing path. The explosive blasts sent them tumbling repeatedly, drenched in mud, ears ringing.
"Hold on!"
Bal shouted hoarsely as he ran desperately, encouraging his teammates, "That cannon only has four shots! It's about to go silent! We're almost..."
His yell cut off abruptly.
Because on the wall above, several tal slis were emitting a strange glow, and then the battery array that should have fallen silent visibly lit up, locking onto them.
The color drained completely from Captain Bal's face, his eyes filled with the horror of being utterly deceived and trapped in a hopeless situation.
"No... Those Blacktooth scumbags, they gave us false intel!!"
Whoosh—!
A fifth beam rcilessly roared toward them.
"Argh!"
Dwarf Hank let out a cry of pain, blasted off his feet, his bulky body collapsing in the mud, his battle axe flying far away.
"Hank!" Rex exclaid, instinctively reaching for him.
But more poison-stinger wasps sward around them, their venomous stingers almost touching their throats and eyes, buzzing threateningly.
Bal looked at his companion struggling in pain in the mud, then at the cannon muzzle on the wall, once again brimming with deadly energy.
He imdiately threw his broadsword into the mud and wisely raised his hands.
"We surrender!"
The swarm of poison-stinger wasps tightly surrounded the three, who had completely lost the ability to resist, severing their last shred of hope.
And on the distant wall, the tal slis emitted joyful buzzing sounds.
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