Gululu—
That familiar sound…
Norris rubbed his sleepy eyes, climbed up from the ground, grabbed a stone club, and crawled onto the top of the cage.
He shoved the stone stick through the opening, poking inside—he had to drive the newly split slimes into the exit.
If the Pujis had been stationed here, there would be no need to worry. However long the slimes stayed inside, they’d be killed once they came out.
But now that the job had fallen to him, if three or four slimes came out together, it would be a real headache.
The Pujis could always clean up afterward, but Norris himself would suffer for it. That’s why the best approach was to poke them out one by one and deal with them immediately.
Sure enough, after a while, a red slime squeezed out of the stone outlet.
Norris let out a sigh of relief.
【Rending Wind Claws LV4】His strike tore the slime apart, and with quick reflexes, his right hand darted in to grab its core.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a green slime—every time he dealt with those, his hands ended up corroded.
Just as he was celebrating, the cage was suddenly lifted…
Not good!
Norris bolted, running to the farthest corner of the fissure, where the effects were weakest. He crouched there, gritting through the burning pain all over his body, waiting for the cage to be lowered again.
Once it was over, he lay down with the guarding Pujis on the mycelium mats, soaking in nutrients to recover.
And whenever he lay on the mats, his mind always drifted back to his Mushroom House. No matter what, its comfort couldn’t be compared to mats spread over bare stone…
Thus Norris muddled through his labor sentence, never realizing that he had grown stronger again.
【Skill Upgraded: Rending Wind Claws LV4 → LV5】
【Skill Upgraded: Corrosion Resistance LV1 → LV2】
Nor did he know that, outside the hill where he worked, Pujis were planting mushrooms and dryads were planting saplings—transforming the place into a fortified Mushroom Forest.
He also missed out on Vampire Hunt 2.0.
…
Few things are as tormenting as knowing that a band of robbers is coming to your home, but not knowing exactly when—forcing you to stay on edge at all times, watching your doorway.
So when Lin Jun saw that vampire at the dungeon entrance, he finally relaxed. They’d come at last!
Honestly, after all his preparations, if the demons hadn’t shown up, that would’ve been even more frustrating!
【Name: Louisa】
【Level: 50】
【Title: Vampire Viscount】
Only level 50. With General Gray in reserve, nothing to worry about.
The vampire viscount entered the dungeon with seven humans in tow. But no matter how Lin Jun looked at them, they screamed “cannon fodder.”
He was still grumbling in his mind about how casually the demons infiltrated this dungeon deep in human lands—like strolling back home—when he spotted something unexpected trailing behind them.
A “tail.”
Thanks to his mats spread beyond the dungeon entrance, Lin Jun observed another group arriving—marked clearly with the symbols of the Church of Light.
——
Squad captain Soraline of the Wings of Judgement stepped over dead leaves, following faint footprints across the forest floor.
To her eyes, one set of tracks gave off a sickening aura of darkness.
Behind her walked Priest Mayne and four fully-armored church knights.
Soraline and Mayne both held gold-rank strength, while the knights were silver.
At the dungeon’s gate, the silver light in Soraline’s right eye flickered and dimmed—maintaining 【Vision of Truth】 was no small drain on her.
The priest bent to examine two unconscious guards slumped by the fire. “They’re alive—looks like a sleep spell.”
“As expected. Random killings would only risk exposure. Clearly, they don’t realize they’ve already been discovered.” Soraline lifted her gaze to the grand gate before them. “Mayne, looks like you were right. Their target is the Amethyst Dungeon.”
“There’s nothing further south,” Mayne sighed. Instead of satisfaction, his face showed worry. “But we still don’t know what they’re here for.”
Thanks to Soraline’s ability, they had detected the demon party long before, even beyond the forest.
The demons had been active within the United Kingdom recently, but mostly as lone spies—easy prey.
But this was a whole squad, strength unknown.
Out of caution, they hadn’t approached directly. Instead, they had smashed their message crystal, calling for nearby patrol squads. Leaving two knights to await reinforcements, they had continued the pursuit.
The demons’ tracks were expertly concealed, their trail covered with skillful tricks.
Mayne couldn’t have tracked them—only Soraline’s senses had allowed the chase this far.
But he couldn’t understand—why enter a dungeon?
To cause trouble, wouldn’t they strike villages or towns? What could they possibly achieve inside?
Secretly kill adventurers? That had no impact on the kingdom. Adventurers weren’t counted as part of its military might anyway.
Were they searching for something—or someone?
The uncertainty gnawed at Mayne, but Soraline was unfazed.
“Their purpose doesn’t matter. Once they’ve gone into the dungeon, they’re trapped mice.”
She leaned on her sword and sat casually on a log by the fire.
“You’re not going to follow?” Mayne asked.
“No need. There’s no other exit. Once we regroup with the other patrols here, we’ll catch them at our leisure. They won’t escape.”
Soraline paused, thinking, then beckoned a knight over.
“Contact the Adventurers’ Guild here. Tell them to summon adventurers to assist in capturing the demons.
We don’t need high-level adventurers. They don’t need to fight—just spread out around the dungeon, to stop the demons from using escape scrolls.”
“Escape scrolls?” Mayne frowned. “That’s unlikely. Those things are rare and dangerous…”
“It’s just in case.” Soraline wasn’t about to let something so trivial ruin the operation.
“Yes, ma’am.” The knight took her Wings of Judgement captain’s insignia and set off toward Yafeng Town.
Mayne thought they should keep pressing the pursuit. But since Soraline had already decided, he stayed silent.
They were both gold rank, but he was only a strategic adjutant. Her occasional requests for his input were respect for his power, not obligation.
And really, her judgment seemed sound. Gathering strength to block the exit was the safest plan.
The only issue was—they didn’t know how long they’d have to wait.
If the demons realized they’d been discovered and simply hid in the dungeon, refusing to come out, what then?