The few fine-quality items truly suited for Pujis were carefully stored away by Lin Jun in his ever-growing treasure hoard.
As for the heaps upon heaps of heavy armor and long swords, useless for his purposes?
All stuffed into the bellies of five plump “Shut-in Pujis”!
Once one had been drawn from, he simply rotated to the next. Lately, the drop rates had been a little higher that way.
Meanwhile, Knight Puji was still in the swamp zone—Lin Jun’s old hideout—having his rear patched up.
Unlike ordinary Pujis, who could be fixed up with a few fresh threads of mycelium and a twist or two, high-attribute Pujis took far more time and mana to repair.
Even so, what pained Lin Jun the most wasn’t Puji injuries but his Dragon-Scale Shield.
Two deep gashes marred its surface—one from that devastating sword strike with Shrink Earth, another from a robe snag that had still been parried at range.
He’d thought the shield would be a reliable cornerstone for the long term. Now, he suspected just a few more blows of that caliber would render it scrap.
As for the guild, according to intel from Aiden, they hadn’t given up on taking him down. Hardly surprising.So, Lin Jun waited for Pink Puji to come, so he could reason with her, appeal to her, and persuade her to join in staging a show for the humans.
Of course, he had already considered the possibility that Pink Puji might betray the network.
If that happened…
Then Aiden, who was in direct contact with her, would simply have to be abandoned.
Fortunately, he’d only just recruited the man—no deep ties yet.
But if it came to that, the surface-expansion plan would be shelved.
His strategy would shift: guerrilla warfare with humans on the upper floors, while in the deeper levels he would accelerate exploration at any cost to seize the dungeon core.
And in the worst-case scenario—human encirclement plus the collapse of Amethyst Dungeon?
Lin Jun still had fallback plans: escape to the surface and burrow into some remote, uninhabited region, or transfer through a rift into another dungeon and rebuild from scratch.
As long as a mushroom wanted to live, it would find a way to live.
But if he really were driven from Amethyst Dungeon, then the grudge between him and the humans would be irreconcilable…
After wrapping up these post-battle matters, Lin Jun had planned to test his new skills.
But since something unexpected had happened at the troglodyte training base—Norris had nearly gotten himself killed—he redirected most Pujis back through the crevasse tunnels on the sixth floor to the deeper zones as backup.
…
While Lin Jun was playing mind games with Fifteen, the troglodyte training base was seeing a very different kind of primitive farce.
Two Troglodytes(primitive cave-dwelling humanoids) stood several paces apart, bone spears clenched, glaring at each other.
They made no sounds, yet through the mycelium web they hurled threats directly into each other’s minds.
Since joining the network, they had come to rely on this efficient “mind speech.” It was far faster and clearer than their clumsy, stone-grinding native tongue.
Just as the clash was about to explode—
Silver light flashed, and both bone spears snapped in half.
“Hey!”
Norris appeared between them, frowning furiously.
“This makes how many times now? Fighting to the death over mating rights!?”
[The 7th time,] Yellow Book offered helpfully.
“Tch!”
Primitive! Ignorant!
In the old days, pheromones had sorted them into strict castes, where only a few elites had mating rights.
Now, with equality, they fought brutally over it instead.
And when Troglodytes(primitive cave-dwelling humanoids) fought, they weren’t pulling punches—they aimed to kill.
Norris even had to admit: maybe that old pheromone-based system hadn’t been so bad. At least it kept order.
He kept notes on all these issues to report to the boss once Lin Jun finished “entertaining guests.”
But right now, he had to beat these two senseless or they’d just repair their spears and start again.
Just as Norris raised his hand to thrash them, something flickered at the corner of his eye—
A faint red glow, pulsing in the distant dark.
Red light?
Mushroom glowstones never shone red. That made it stand out all the more.
“Senior, what is that?” Norris couldn’t make it out at this distance, so he asked Yellow Book.
But unusually, Yellow Book reacted even slower.
[What thing?]
A pause. Then—
[Eh?]
[Really is something… a floating orb?]
Before either of them could study further, chaos erupted.
Puji! Puji! Puji!
The sound of blades rending flesh split the cavern.
The two Troglodytes(primitive cave-dwelling humanoids) before Norris didn’t even scream before their bodies were shredded, torn apart by unseen strikes!
Blood sprayed—but didn’t fall.
Instead, it splattered against some invisible shape, outlining a vague monster’s silhouette.
!!!
An enemy! Invisible, and right on top of them!
Norris stumbled back, immediately firing off 【Sonar Detection LV6】.
Agony surged through his skull as chaotic streams of data hammered into his brain. Only because he’d braced himself did he avoid collapsing outright.
But at last—he “saw” them.
Three invisible six-clawed beasts, each over three meters tall!
And that distant red glow—it was a floating eyeball!?
No time to think. Norris scrambled as the monsters lunged, claws gouging trenches through solid stone.
Yellow Book was dumbfounded.
[What’s happening!?]
[What are these creatures!?]
[Why no emotional fluctuations!?]
“Damn it!” Norris rolled and twisted desperately, barely dodging swipes.
Without sonar, he was blind. With sonar, the flood of data crippled him—his speed, his edge, halved. Each pulse was like a hammer to the brain.
At last his nerves gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
Life and death blurred. Instinct surged faster than thought—
He yanked Yellow Book into his grip like a shield and held it in front of him!
[You bastard, Norris—using me as cover!?]
But the killing blow never landed.
Instead—
Puji!
A sickening rip tore the air.
A gush of hot, stinking monster blood sprayed over them, soaking Norris and Yellow Book.
Through the haze appeared Gray, standing firm, one clawed hand gripping a severed, grotesque monster limb stripped of its invisibility.
Its headless body slumped to the ground.
Gray glanced Norris over—no missing pieces—then spun and hurled the massive claw like a javelin.
It whistled through the air, crunching into another beast’s chest and slamming it against the rock wall, where it twitched once, twice, and lay still.
Almost at the same instant, blood from the first kill coalesced into a spear. It shot through the third monster’s skull in a clean, precise strike—Louisa had arrived, notified in haste by Lin Jun.
“There’s… still the eyeball!” Norris gasped out a warning.
But when they looked again, the red glow was gone.
Louisa shifted into bat form, darting into the tunnels. Nothing.
[Ungrateful bastard! Using me as a meat shield again!] Yellow Book fumed, half outraged, half bewildered why it had sensed nothing.
Yet even so, it quietly snatched up the souls of the two dead Troglodytes(primitive cave-dwelling humanoids), slipping them into its pages unseen.
Gray crouched to gather the silver scales Norris had dropped, then padded over to him.
She patted his bowed head twice with a bloodstained claw.
The clumsy gesture warmed his heart, even if the force nearly cracked his skull.
Meanwhile, Louisa studied a violet blood-orb condensed in her hand. Could this be… edible?
For the rest of the time, Norris didn’t dare stray from Gray or Louisa, sticking close until the Puji army arrived.
Lin Jun watched as the six-clawed corpse was laid on the mycelium carpet, already half-dissolved.
What on earth was this new enemy?