Huff—huff—
Another magic-powered shell exploded nearby, spraying dirt across its face.
The four-meter-tall minotaur touched its stomach, where several earlier blasts had left its flesh mangled. It knew it couldn’t keep relying on its brute strength to tank hits like before.
Charging recklessly would only end like the giant spider beside it—smashed to a pulp.
In fact, anywhere else, if it had encountered that spider alone, they would have fought to the death.
But today, faced with the sudden ambush and indiscriminate bombardment from the Pujis, two bitter enemy races had no choice but to temporarily stand side by side.
The minotaur even needed the spider’s remaining strength.
More precisely, it needed the spider’s massive hindquarters.
Turning around, it swung its great axe, chopping off the spider’s thick abdomen. With one hand it hefted the chunk and raised it before itself as a shield.
Bang! Bang!Two more mushroom shells struck, splattering pale green fluids from the spider flesh, while the minotaur behind remained unscathed.
Effective!
With a low roar, it charged forward, brandishing the spider-abdomen shield as it barreled into the Pujis.
And the minotaur was far from the only one attacking.
Mud monsters, crystal-armored Cluster Beasts, tusked Demon Boars, and swarms of shadow bats surged out from every corner of the cave, charging the mushroom army.
This was a vast cavern, one of the rare few in the deep layers with a freshwater lake. Naturally, it had drawn many monster species to dwell nearby.
Any monster with even basic survival instincts avoided fighting near water, lest the precious resource be ruined. But those mushrooms clearly lacked such wisdom.
Their indiscriminate attacks slaughtered everything in sight.
At the very start, they had blasted several poison lizards drinking at the lake, reducing them to chunks. The venom seeped into the water, polluting the whole lake.
This act had enraged every monster here, uniting them against the common threat.
Moo—!
Protected by the spider shield and the distraction of the other monsters, the minotaur broke into the Puji ranks.
Tossing aside the now-shredded spider abdomen, it whirled its great axe like a windmill.
The fragile mushrooms offered no resistance, making the minotaur feel almost as if it was swinging through empty air.
But in truth, that one blow felled eight Pujis.
With each sweep of the axe, it cut down more, drunk on the slaughter.
So weak! Once in melee range, they were no match at all!
But in its blood frenzy, the minotaur failed to notice the thin red lines darting among the mushrooms.
By the time it smelled blood, it was too late.
Its thick hide and hard muscles didn’t slow the blood threads at all—within a blink, several bloody holes had been pierced through its body.
Grievously wounded, the minotaur fell to one knee amidst the mushrooms. A Puji aimed its mushroom cannon at its head.
Then a pale but strong hand gently turned the cannon aside.
Louisa stepped forward, the Pujis automatically parting to clear a path.
Her face was full, her bearing elegant—gone was the haggard figure she had been days before. Clearly, she had been eating well here.
Standing two meters tall, she still had to look up at the half-kneeling minotaur towering over her.
Yet she regarded it with indifference.
Sliding her fingers into one of its bloody wounds, she drew out a fresh stream of blood and savored it at her lips.
With her other hand propping her chin, she smiled with satisfaction.
Not human, with a faint cattle stench, but at least it was blood from a humanoid, intelligent creature—vibrant, brimming with life force!
She nearly lost herself in the taste.
As she closed her eyes in delight, the battered minotaur, clinging to its last strength, rose once more.
Its bleeding hand gripped the axe and swung down with all its might toward the woman who scorned it.
But one hand stopped the axe cold. No matter how the minotaur strained, it could not move the weapon an inch further.
Louisa opened her eyes slowly at last.
She wasn’t specialized in raw strength like the minotaur’s kind, but the gulf in rank ensured she surpassed it. And besides, it was already gravely wounded.
Seeing it still resist, even trying to smash her with its fist, Louisa just crooked a finger.
From its wounds, blood burst forth, gathering into her hand.
In moments, the minotaur was on the verge of being drained dry.
“Cough!”
The sound echoed through the mycelial network.
Louisa flinched. The delicious blood had almost made her forget the terrifying master’s orders.
She quickly halted the draining, even pushing some blood back.
The boss’s command—humanoids must be captured, not killed!
Thank goodness it still lived. She had no wish to sprout mushrooms from her body again.
Reluctantly, she watched as several ox-horse Pujis dragged away the unconscious minotaur. The last drops of blood before death would have been the most exquisite…
But survival—and meeting her KPI—mattered far more than indulgence.
Work, work…
With a flick, she drew blood from fallen monsters, weaving it into threads that shot down more than a dozen shadow bats from the air.
As for the endless waves of monsters, she had no intent to fight them all personally.
Her elite Puji squad surrounded her, unleashing a storm of attacks. She only dealt with those who slipped through.
Ordinary monsters were left to the endless horde of regular Pujis.
And once it was clear the shadow bats were the real threat here, mushroom bats were dispatched against them.
Shadow bats were dangerous for their sudden ambushes, and bat Pujis were much slower.
But the moment a bat Puji touched an enemy, it exploded.
One after another, fireworks lit up the cavern ceiling as fungus and shredded bat corpses rained down.
The battle here was already decided.
Louisa drained the last of the minotaur’s blood, eyes hazy. More than anything, she wished to stay down here forever—never to return to that fifth floor full of painful memories.