A free elf!
The Pujis scout stretched out its little foot and lightly poked the elf’s pale cheek. No response.
Her face was pale, her breathing labored, and she was deeply unconscious—obviously heatstroke!
And those exaggerated chest muscles confirmed it: this was truly a female elf, not one of those breathtakingly beautiful ones who stood while peeing, traumatizing Pujis’ tender little heart.
But still…
The Pujis brushed away the dirt and dead leaves on the elf’s face with its soft mycelium, revealing her full features.
What was going on with elves?
How could this female elf’s looks actually lose to a male elf?!
Among humans she would still be considered top-tier, but compared with Sirian, the gap was as vast as the gulf between her and an ordinary human!
If there were a skill called [Beauty], she might be LV9, but Sirian would be LV12…He opened the panel.
【Level: LV49】
【Status: Unconscious, Paralyzed, Poisoned (Neurotoxin)】
【Title: Friend of Animals (Naturally emits an aura that makes animals feel close and at ease)】
The wound was on her leg, a deep gash with flesh torn open.
The bleeding had stopped, but the skin around the wound was marbled with dark purple poison.
Her HP was less than one-third, and still dropping. Looked like she was about to die.
But that wasn’t the important part. The important part was: how could an LV49 be dying here? Could this seemingly peaceful forest floor actually hide lethal dangers?
When he had chased that stupid parrot here, he had sensed some monsters along the way, but none seemed especially strong. Which monster had injured this elf?
The title was interesting though—Friend of Animals?
Anyway, through the Pujis scout, Lin Jun didn’t feel any closeness to her. But were Pujis considered animals or plants in this world? Or neither?
Lin Jun checked her skills. She looked like a ranger, though she still had [Nature Magic], just not at a high level.
The Pujis circled the hollow in the tree, found a relatively flat spot, and plopped down.
Lin Jun didn’t plan to do anything. He would just wait for her to die, then collect the corpse.
After all, he was only a Pujis. He couldn’t detoxify anything.
It wasn’t like he would be so kindhearted as to carry her across the rift back to the surface to find an antidote. That would only bring endless trouble. In the end, she was just a stranger.
As for finishing her off… that would be too evil. They had no grudge, and for a skill that wasn’t even all that rare, it wasn’t worth it.
So Lin Jun waited. When he grew bored, he even shifted his attention elsewhere for a while.
…
Her head was spinning, nausea churning in her stomach, every breath a struggle, suffocation gnawing at her chest.
Eyes that once could see hundreds of meters clearly now couldn’t even make out what was right in front of her.
That strange little tree she had never seen before… Its silver-gray trunk was traced with veins that flowed like liquid starlight.
It had looked so tranquil, so sacred, as if it were an object forged of moonlight itself.
Who would have thought it carried deadly poison—poison that didn’t wait for you to touch it, but reached out to touch you first?
She had long since swallowed all the antidote salves she carried, but they only barely slowed the toxin’s spread, unable to purge it.
It seemed… she really was about to return to nature. She wondered what beast would feast on her in the end?
Her brother would surely come searching once he realized she hadn’t returned. But in this vast downward-spiraling forest, would he even find her remains?
Her fleeting clarity slipped again into muddled haze, as if sinking into a swamp of confusion.
Through her blurred vision, she saw a large, white, fluffy thing.
“Furball…?” Her voice was faint as a sigh. “How… are you here?”
With the last of her strength, she propped herself on her elbow, dragging her paralyzed lower body toward that white shadow.
Finally, she pressed her feverish forehead gently against the impossibly soft “furball,” a trace of comfort rising in her heart.
“Did you… come here just for me?” A faint curve tugged at her pale lips. “That’s… nice…”
Her consciousness receded like the tide, slipping away. In that final instant before sinking into darkness, a distant wolf’s howl pierced through the tree walls into her ears.
Hopefully… once the wolves had finished with her, they would spare the furball…
…
The elf mumbled incoherently to herself, then laid her head right on the Pujis’ body, making herself comfortable!
Well, since she was about to return to the Mycelium Carpet anyway, Lin Jun decided not to argue.
The poison was steadily draining her life. She had maybe half a day left. Lin Jun could wait.
But the gash on her leg, though no longer bleeding, still leaked a faint bloody scent into the air. Soon, it attracted uninvited guests with sharp noses.
After the wolf’s howl, came rustling leaves and claws scraping dirt outside.
Before long, a gray-brown, fur-covered wolf’s head shoved into the narrow entrance, its ghostly green eyes gleaming with greedy hunger.
【Species: Wind Wolf】
【Level: LV28】
So there were Wind Wolves here too…
Well, that made sense. Forests should have wolves!
In this strange underground forest of the great divine tree, running into an “old acquaintance” was actually kind of comforting.
But comfort was one thing—letting it steal what he had been guarding all this time was another!
The Wind Wolf barely managed to wedge half its body in before it was sliced clean in two. Blood and guts splattered the hollow’s walls and floor.
And that wasn’t all. [Mana Perception] had already sensed there were forty more outside!
He instantly killed another that dared to stick its head in, then considered whether to send the Pujis scout out to slaughter the lot. One by one was too slow.
Yet, with another howl, the wolves all retreated.
Pretty smart!
Lin Jun didn’t chase. Without a Mycelium Carpet nearby, killing them brought no profit.
He turned his attention back to the elf.
Good, good!
On her status panel, her HP had fallen into the danger zone, the red line under 10%. A harvest was in sight!
Might need to send another Pujis scout over. One could carry her, but it would be slow and risky…
Lin Jun was still figuring out how to transport the elf when he suddenly noticed her HP bar had stopped moving.
【Status: Unconscious, Paralyzed】
Where was the poison?
Don’t tell him it had already run out?!
The Pujis stepped on her face—so, are you dead or not? Give me a clear answer!