Not only did the Chiss love peace—Pujis longed for peace just as passionately!
Indeed, the moment they crossed the rift, the Pujis threw themselves into the great work of “purification”—diligently sweeping away all obstacles that threatened peace, such as the monsters endlessly respawning along the Mycelium Carpet’s edge!
One scaly, chubby Shut-in Puji rolled clumsily into the rift and was immediately doused with acid from the Chiss.
After many skirmishes, the Chiss had discovered that acid was the most effective way to deal with Pujis. Its area-of-effect could kill many at once, and it was hard for them to dodge.
With only 10 HP, any Puji splashed by acid would die instantly and was hard to resurrect.
The only drawback was its short range—when it came to trading shots with the Artillery Pujis, the Chiss were pounded mercilessly.
Still, as a defensive tactic for holding chokepoints, acid was extraordinarily effective!
Yet against the Shut-in Puji, it had no effect at all.
The sizzling corrosion echoed across its scaly body, but it wasn’t instantly destroyed. In the next moment, a deafening explosion erupted at the rift’s mouth!
The blast sent countless sharp scales flying outward!In an instant, the frontline Chiss were shredded like sieves, collapsing into heaps of gore.
The Chiss’ firepower faltered, and in that opening, more Pujis surged in.
The Chiss reacted quickly, rushing reinforcements to fill the breach, trying to push the Pujis back. But the Pujis had no intention of giving up ground once taken.
Only with the hasty arrival of an Evil Eye were they able to petrify a large group of Pujis into statues and barely push the line back.
But even that nearly cost the Evil Eye its life!
When it appeared, a Heavy-Armor Puji self-destructed without hesitation.
Its body blew apart like a powder keg, the massive mushroom cap on its head blasting out like a cannonball!
Unfortunately, the angle was off. The cap spun away, smashing instead into the rock wall just above the Evil Eye with a thunderous crash!
Stones rained down, and the Chiss hurried to hide their precious Evil Eye again, unwilling to expose it so recklessly.
Without the Evil Eye’s strategic deterrence, however, the Chiss inevitably began losing ground at the rift.
When more than half of the 2,000 Pujis in the vanguard had been consumed, and Puji fragments floated atop the sticky purple blood spilled by the Chiss, Lin Jun finally sent over his trump card: the Little Pig.
Louisa was the first across. As she stepped past the rift, she lifted her arm with elegance—
A massive shield of thick purple blood rose with a crash, blocking acid sprays and spikes from all sides!
Close behind her came a group of Blood-Sucking Pujis!
【Blood Manipulation LV4】
Since they had no outside training resources, their skill level wasn’t high. But these were genuine Pujis with vampire blood-control abilities!
On a battlefield drenched in blood, they were far more useful than ordinary Pujis!
The job of maintaining the blood shields quickly passed into their care.
They manipulated the endless purple blood flooding the battlefield, raising wall after wall of thin but unbroken shields before the Puji army.
While a single blood shield lacked the strength of Louisa’s, their sheer numbers stacked into layers. With purple blood flowing endlessly, they blocked the Chiss’ assaults through persistence.
Freed from defense, Louisa turned to her specialty—Blood Threads.
Countless crimson filaments, as fine as hair, writhed like living serpents. Slipping deftly through gaps in the shields, they lanced into the Chiss ranks!
The threads wound, sliced, and pierced. Ordinary Chiss had no defense against such sinister, elusive attacks. Their counterstrikes were stopped cold by the blood shields of the Pujis.
Meanwhile, more cannon-fodder Pujis surged in like waves.
The Chiss tried to rally, but the Evil Eye, just returning, was instantly beset by several blood threads. Explosive clots of purple blood detonated against its magic shield, rippling its defenses!
Louisa was already gathering a massive blood spear in her hands. The Evil Eye, forced on the back foot, fled again before it could counterattack.
Unable to resist further, the Chiss abandoned the field, leaving over a dozen corpses behind.
The Cow-and-Horse Pujis swarmed in at once, diligently harvesting remains and sowing spores.
Soon, atop the mountain of corpses, a carpet of thriving mycelium spread across the cold land—Pujis had established their first bridgehead in the far north!
So cold!
That was Lin Jun’s first impression upon extending himself into the region.
Though his true body had yet to cross, the state of the Mycelium Carpet alone told him how freezing it was.
Even with his 【Cold Resistance LV7】, the vitality of the fungal network was brutally suppressed. Most obvious was how slowly the Carpet spread.
Lin Jun had to order Pujis to sow spores directly ahead, accelerating the Carpet’s advance.
Fortunately, the Chiss seemed cowed. With every inch the Carpet expanded, they retreated in eerie unison.
Even areas filled with giant flesh-masses, likely hatcheries, were abandoned without resistance.
Had they truly given up?
Lin Jun didn’t know the Chiss were confined to this dungeon’s middle layer. Seeing how easily they yielded ground, he assumed they had vast territory to retreat into.
Since the Chiss avoided direct battle, Lin Jun happily seized land unopposed.
Yet aside from the bitter cold, one thing struck him deeply about this place—its barrenness.
Not in lifeforms—this was the Chiss’ nest, after all—but in mana.
Slightly richer than the surface, perhaps, but compared to his own dungeon, the gap was enormous.
Here, the Carpet absorbed pitiful amounts of mana. Per equal area, its yield was barely a fifth—or less—of his deep layers.
It just about broke even with the Carpet’s upkeep, with only a sliver of surplus left.
With such thin mana, the monsters born here would inevitably be few and weak. No wonder the Chiss had surged across the rift the moment it opened!
By comparison, Lin Jun longed all the more to repair his dungeon core. Otherwise, would he really be forced to live in this frigid, impoverished wasteland?
To go from luxury to deprivation—that was far too hard to bear…
Ah! He could call over Little Black and the others!
—
A warm, pulsing lump of flesh was stuffed into Qiong’s arms as he leaned on his staff. Even through his leather armor, he felt its life throbbing.
Before him stretched the corridor leading out of the fortress.
“Qiong! Don’t trust it! That thing can’t be—” Shou’s warning cut off abruptly!
A clawed, chitinous hand clamped his throat, talons sinking deep, silencing him completely.
Shou’s face flushed red, bloodshot eyes boring into Qiong, desperately trying to stop him with only his gaze.
Qiong hesitated, torn by the sight of Shou’s life held in the Chiss’ grasp.
“Promise. Take out. All live.” The Chiss’ mental voice pressed urgently into his mind.
“What if you break your promise?”
“You. Have no choice.”
Qiong glanced once more at Shou. Ignoring his furious opposition, he limped forward down the hall.
He didn’t trust the Chiss—not at all. Just as Shou said, it was not to be trusted!
But once he crossed that threshold, he planned to spin around, wielding the strange meat bundle in his arms as a bargaining chip—to force the Chiss to release Shou!
No matter what, he would save him!