Pity? Sympathy?
Lin Jun felt none of that toward the Chiss.
Just look at what the Chiss had done in the deep layers—devouring entire caverns until not even a patch of moss remained.
And in the middle layers where they currently resided, were there any other monsters left? No.
Not to mention, their very first meeting had been a sneak attack on little Norris.
Peaceful coexistence?
Both sides knew each other too well. Pretending to be pacifists was disgusting!
The only good Chiss was a dead Chiss. If he decomposed it, Lin Jun’s control skills might even advance further!
The instant the attack order went out, hundreds of Artillery Pujis fired, with Norris also launching two blasts from the Jigda.
The Chiss clearly hadn’t expected the Pujis to fire without even replying to their plea. Thirty of their kind were annihilated before they could react.The battle erupted, but it was utterly one-sided.
With nothing present that could restrain Gray, the Eye Insect was as helpless as a lamb for slaughter. After hastily petrifying a few Pujis, it was kicked down from the sky by Gray, who then stomped it to paste—all while refusing to let go of the two Pujis she carried, fighting only with her legs.
As for the rest of the Chiss minions, they were cleared away in an orderly process by the mushroom troops.
Throughout this, the Chiss Heart kept trying to communicate:
“Peace, submission, coexistence!”
“Secrets, exchange, survival!”
“Sun! Sun! Trade!”
…
At first it was intelligible. But then—“Sun”? What on earth did that mean?
Regardless, Lin Jun had no intention of answering.
Converse with a dying bug? Please. If it were some remarkable figure, maybe he’d indulge it.
But just a smarter insect? Too dull.
His cold indifference and the Pujis’ relentless advance seemed to push the Chiss into desperation.
Through the telepathic channel came an earsplitting, bitter “death wail”!
Annoyed, Lin Jun severed the link.
Then—
One Six-Clawed Stealth Monster suddenly went berserk, clawing wildly at the ruins near the Heart!
Amid flying rubble, it unearthed a blazing stone fragment, radiating terrifying heat and light!
【Artifact: Sunstone (Fragment)】
?!
A Sunstone fragment!
The six-clawed creature clutched it tight, skin sizzling and smoking from the heat, then bolted down a narrow passage deeper into the fortress!
“Catch it! Leave that thing behind!” For once, Lin Jun was genuinely alarmed.
Gray looked around blankly, not understanding.
Norris wanted to give chase, but the Jigda wasn’t fast enough.
Only one scarlet blur tore through the air—
Louisa, transformed into a bat, wrapped in threads of razor-sharp blood, shot into the passage at incredible speed and vanished into the dark depths!
Ah… well…
Sensing Little Pig nearing the edge of the fungal network, Lin Jun hesitated, but ultimately didn’t call her back.
He had wanted to send Gray to chase instead—her full speed would have caught the six-clawed easily. But she was just too stupid.
Little Pig wasn’t slow either, but chasing this far meant going outside the Mycelium Carpet’s coverage.
Which also made it the perfect chance to defect.
If she wanted, she could circle around the still-unclaimed sections of the dungeon and flee all the way back to the empire…
But in the end, Lin Jun didn’t stop her. After all, the order had been his—and he wanted that Sunstone fragment badly.
One more piece meant a flood of mana. A stronger Pujis army!
So the “Sun” it mentioned earlier referred to this!
Clearly stolen by the Chiss while ravaging the deep layers!
Damn it—if he hadn’t come here, he might never have been able to gather this artifact fully!
Chiss—you truly deserve to die!
As the last of its minions had its head blasted apart, the Pujis closed in on the Heart.
This time, when the Chiss tried once more to connect mentally, Lin Jun didn’t reject it.
Since it had stolen his fragment, he felt a rare bit of interest in its “last words.”
But what came was only a strange message:
“Your home good, my home few. Stronger Chiss not here. Next time, eat you!”
What nonsense?
Next time? How could there possibly be a next—
【Race: Chiss – Heart (Split Body)】
【Skill: Division LV1】
???
The Heart’s status panel abruptly changed.
Only one skill remained—【Division】. Everything else vanished.
Bang!
The Pujis tore it apart, its remains sliding down the pillars. As the Mycelium Carpet spread over it, Lin Jun’s magic accelerated decomposition.
【Seven Deadly Sins – Greed triggered】
【Looted Skill: Division LV1】
That was it…
No [Mental Integration].
No [Minion Control].
All those skills, gone!
What did this mean?
After all this effort, after so much fighting, the final reward had slipped away?
What a sick joke!
Division? A split body?
Then the real one must still be hiding somewhere. He would find it!
————
At a remote side gate of the fortress—damp, dark, beyond the Mycelium’s spread.
A ragged, one-armed Demonborn clutched a pulsing meatball in his only hand.
Under the watch of two Six-Clawed Monsters, he staggered out of the middle layer.
He had been one of the first Demonborn to flee. Attacked and nearly dead, he’d inexplicably been saved by the Chiss.
“W-we… we’re out…” His broken voice carried a thread of hope. “The poison… an antidote…”
“No antidote.”
“Huh?” Confusion flickered in his clouded eyes.
Squelch!
The meatball shot out a sharp bone-like spike, piercing his brow like lightning!
The Demonborn stiffened, then collapsed lifeless.
The meatball sprouted four slick, mucus-coated limbs, latching onto the rocks.
Without pause, it scuttled away from the fortress.
Midway, a massive Fat Worm noticed the quick-moving creature.
The obese beast lunged, maw full of fangs snapping down!
The meatball twisted, narrowly dodging.
But enraged, the Fat Worm roared and launched an impossible second pounce!
Crunch!
The sound of snapping limbs echoed. One of the meatball’s legs was caught fast in the worm’s jaws.
Agonizing pain flooded its body. Pain enough to roll. Pain enough to slaughter those mushrooms.
Yet it dared not stop. On three remaining limbs, dripping thick purple blood, the mutilated body crawled desperately away—vanishing into the gorge beyond…