How could the Chiss know how much effort Lin Jun had spent, how many elaborate performances he had staged, just to lure them into this “trap within a jar”?
The Mycelium Carpet already allowed him to sense all stealth units, yet he had to painstakingly act as though only a handful of scout Pujis could detect them by luck.
He had deliberately revealed the “mushroom factory,” yet carefully paced it, ensuring the Chiss wouldn’t find it too easily, lest suspicion be aroused.
And then he had waited patiently for days, until the prey walked straight into the trap.
Truthfully, even Lin Jun was a little surprised the Chiss had chosen a wide flanking maneuver, rather than the short, easy route he had expected.
But their “detour” had already been spotted midway by dispersed Mycelium scouts. The supposed delay in assembling his army was nothing but bait to lure them deeper.
Now… it was harvest time!
No fewer than fifty Heavy Armor Pujis—drained from Lin Jun’s resources—were gathered here. Norris’ modification project had even been put on hold; he now lay like frozen meat on a bed of mycelium, waiting for later processing.
Facing the encirclement of Pujis, the Chiss naturally fought with desperation.
The Evil Eye tried firing [Petrification Ray], but its beams were blocked.Cave Eight was already a maze of jagged rocks and mushroom trees crafted by Lin Jun, the terrain complex.
There, Heavy Armor Pujis became vast moving shields, weaving between cover.
Each time, they escorted groups of ten Pujis forward, steadily pressing the Chiss’ army into tighter quarters.
The Chiss weren’t without ranged attacks—stones, poison darts, acid sprays.
But against the Heavy Armor Pujis, purpose-built for defense, these attacks were like tickling. Even scratching their rocky shells was difficult.
Effective damage required melee assault.
Yet whenever Six-Claws charged recklessly, crossfire from hidden Pujis tore them apart with brutal efficiency.
Wave after wave fell. After heavy losses, the Chiss had managed to destroy only four Heavy Armor Pujis—a trivial cost.
As the battle closed to within two hundred meters, Lin Jun unleashed full bombardment.
Using terrain and Heavy Armor Pujis as cover, he launched a firestorm to butcher the Chiss.
Amidst the chaos, one Heavy Armor Puji stumbled forward, pushing alone into the frontline.
It stopped directly beneath the Evil Eye, which was busy swiveling its gaze, petrifying distant Pujis.
The Chiss ignored it. Without artillery support, its damage output was low.
Then—the Heavy Armor Puji exploded.
With fifty Constitution, its [Self-Destruct] blast dwarfed that of ordinary suicide Pujis.
Its massive rocky cap was blasted skyward, propelled like a cannonball. It smashed through the Evil Eye’s [Mana Shield] and embedded itself in the enormous, fragile eyeball.
The critical strike broke the Evil Eye’s defenses.
And then, a dozen Artillery Puji shells rained down in unison, obliterating the giant creature in an instant.
The Evil Eye fell. The battle collapsed.
With their greatest threat gone, the Pujis no longer needed to hide, unleashing their full firepower.
Worse for the Chiss, the Evil Eye wasn’t just their main weapon—it was the psychic link holding their forces together.
Without it, the army devolved into chaos, then into corpses littering the ground.
…
…
…
As usual, cleanup fell to the ever-dutiful Cattle-Horse Pujis.
This time, besides the mountain of Chiss remains, they also had to dismantle the giant mushroom itself.
The hollow decoy had consumed mana merely to sustain its form. With its purpose served, there was no need for it anymore.
Not only had Lin Jun eliminated the Evil Eye, he had gained a mountain of corpses. With them, [Cold Resistance] could surely be raised to LV7. Once Heavy Armor Pujis stood at the rift, the Chiss would be blocked from interfering in his expedition.
At the cavern’s edge, Louisa, part of the reserve force, hadn’t even joined the fight. Yet as she watched the battle unfold, she swallowed hard.
She was a diamond-ranked vampire, forged through countless battles.
But outside the Dungeon, the largest conflicts she had seen were small-scale skirmishes.
Commanding a thousand Pujis against monsters had already seemed overwhelming to her.
Today, she had witnessed thousands of Pujis clashing with the Chiss army, an Evil Eye among them. The scale hammered her heart with awe.
And she had seen the Heavy Armor Pujis with her own eyes, felt their overwhelming presence. She understood clearly—her boss’ Pujis were evolving at astonishing speed.
A burning thought sprouted: would she one day command such an army herself?
Could she lead them beyond the underground, back to the surface, under the moonlight—
And with one gesture, unleash a war of such scale, such bloodshed, such intoxicating madness?
The idea thrilled her, but also chilled her. She feared.
She feared her stagnant strength could never keep pace with the evolving Pujis.
Feared the day her boss would deem her useless, discarding her in some shadowy corner, left to be overtaken by mushrooms, rotting in silence.
She was a vampire—no other race would accept her.
So long had passed since her mission’s failure. If she returned to the Empire, they would surely inspect her, discover her fusion with mycelium.
She had nowhere else to go. If she didn’t want to live in hiding, she could only follow him. At least the Pujis didn’t reject vampires.
But the curse of her bloodline capped her level at fifty. Unlike Norris, her boss had shown no intent to “rebuild” her.
She understood: she wasn’t one of his “own Pujis,” but merely a prisoner.
Louisa’s fingers curled tight.
She had to claim some monumental achievement, and with it demand a method to grow stronger.
…
Elsewhere, unaware of her turmoil, Lin Jun basked in victory—until he froze.
His perception picked up a faintly familiar signal entering the Mycelium Carpet around Yafeng Town.
—
“Mm—!”
A sudden muffled gasp made the middle-aged man leading the cavalry turn back.
“Inanna, what’s wrong?” His voice carried both concern and confusion.
“N-no, it’s nothing, Uncle Elvien,” Inanna forced composure, though her pale fingers tightened unconsciously on the reins. “Just… a sudden shiver. It’s fine now.”
Her lips pressed thin, thighs clamping around her gentle mare, as she fought to bury the rush of warmth and trembling—like a homecoming—that surged when she brushed the fungal network.
Not yet… she couldn’t transform into a Puji here, couldn’t call out to her boss through the network.
Patience. Patience. At least wait until she had a room to herself…