Chapter 3 The Duke's Wrath
"You, say that again."
Duke Amara's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, and the mahogany armrests of his chair groaned under the strain.
Butler Eric's neck was drenched in cold sweat, yet he still enunciated each syllable clearly.
"After Perro and Oks deceived the young lady in your name, they first went to the Amethyst Underground City, then crossed the border, and fled to the Hermit Empire. Judging by the direction, their intended destination should be Duke Sigmund."
"Damned traitors! Damned vampires!" The solid wood armrest was crushed in his fist, and the duke's pupils flashed with blood-red flames. "Inanna is still alive, the tracking mark is still there, and the vengeance mark hasn't been transferred. I must go save her."
"My lord!"
Seeing the duke unsheath his greatsword and rush to save his daughter without regard for consequences, Eric could only shout out loudly.
"If you leave now, Sigmund will follow with the Blood Knights and crush High Fortress.
Losing High Fortress means there will be no more strongholds to defend. Then it won't just be your duchy—the entire Southern Federation will be in danger."
"So you want me to watch Inanna die?"
The blue stone tiles under Alama's feet cracked open, and the spiderweb-like cracks continued to expand. The aura of a top-tier human warrior at LV70 pressed down on Eric, forcing him to kneel on one knee.
"The Diamond-tier adventuring party 'Silver Thorns' is active in the vicinity. We can privately commission them to search for the young lady in the Purple Crystal Underground City.
On the High Fortress side, you should create the illusion of leaving, lure Sigmund here, and then strike him down to avenge the assassination."
After speaking in one breath, Eric nearly collapsed to the ground.
The pressure on Eric gradually dissipated. Alama sat back in his chair, reached out, and condensed the coordinates pinpointing Inanna into a crystal, handing it to the butler.
"Do as you said. Tell those adventurers to bring Inanna back alive, and I'll give them a city!
But if my daughter comes to any harm..."
"Yes, sir."
————
Deep within the dungeon, in the mushroom garden.
Unaware that her father had begun searching for her through intermediaries, Inanna stood at the edge of the cultivation area, watching the scene before her with a touch of fear.
By the deep pit where slimes were bred, a hollow puji filled with ordinary mushrooms was being fed to the slimes.
As the puji was dumping the mushrooms, the slime jumped up and stuck to its feet, dragging the puji down into the pit.
The next second, the slimes in the deep pit swarmed over and completely covered the puji.
The puji, still struggling, seemed to have a chance of survival.
"Lin Jun, Lin Jun, your slime ate the puji!"
Lin Jun, who was busy, heard the call and glanced back for a moment.
"Got it, I'll send a new puji over right away. I told you the breeding area is dangerous, so stay away from there."
Inanna wanted to say she didn't mean it that way, but seeing the puji in the slime, already motionless and beginning to be decomposed, she swallowed her words.
The underground world is truly cruel.
————
The underground world is indeed cruel.
In order to survive in this cruel place, Lin Jun never had a moment to spare.
The pujis themselves were only intelligent enough to automatically find their way to their destination after receiving orders.
Whether it was farming or mining, Lin Jun had to divide his attention between micro-operations, not to mention that the mushroom garden was constantly harassed by various monsters.
Even with her Level 5 Mental Integration, she found it quite challenging to manage.
Being able to spare the energy to help Inanna familiarize herself with the environment was already a rare luxury.
Though she didn't show it, Lin Jun was actually quite happy to have someone she could communicate with.
At least she no longer needs to rely on talking to herself to prevent her language skills from deteriorating.
However, she had no time to attend to her afterward and could only let her explore on her own.
Lin Jun needed to focus her attention on the mushroom garden's perimeter, where swarms of fire mosquitoes were approaching again.
These flying insects, which resemble mosquitoes in appearance but are slightly larger than puji, have an average level of around LV20.
They were far from the strongest magical beasts here, but they were undoubtedly the most annoying existence.
They could fly, were agile, appeared in swarms, and would use their sharp beaks to impale lone Puji at the slightest opportunity. They were Lin Jun's greatest enemies during her early development.
Fortunately, Lin Jun already had a mature countermeasure in place.
When faced with swarms of fire mosquitoes, several puji with mushroom caps replaced by nozzles forcefully expel a cloud of slime.
This slime has strong adhesive and corrosive properties, causing the fire mosquitoes to lose their ability to fly and forcing them to land on the ground.
Meanwhile, the purple mushrooms on the ground release spores with hallucinogenic effects, rendering the fallen fireflies helpless.
Soon, after losing seven of their companions, the remaining fireflies fled without looking back.
However, Lin Jun knows that these creatures don't learn from their mistakes and will return next time.
The puffballs with shells on their heads finished off the unconscious fireflies one by one, and the corpses of these monsters were then thrown into the mushroom garden to serve as fresh fertilizer.
[Seven Sins: Greed Triggered]
[Plunder Skill: High Temperature Resistance LV5 → LV6]
Upgraded?
Alright, once the high temperature resistance is higher, I can try sneaking into the Flaming Demon's lair to see what the upper levels are like.
Open the panel.
[Race: Mushroom-Fungus Lord]
[Level LV42]
[HP: 420/420]
[Magic Power: 8045/12450]
[Race Talent:
Magic Gathering (mycelium can absorb magic from the environment to continuously provide experience)
Scavenging (decompose corpses to obtain nutrients and experience)]
[Permanent Status: Connected to the Mycelium Network]
[Skills:Puchi Creation LV5, Magic Storage LV4, Magic Perception LV4, Entangle LV3, Mushroom Cannon LV6, Precision LV4, Mimicry LV2, Storage Sac LV4, Mycelium Network LV6, Minion Control LV6, Mental Integration LV5, Airflow Perception LV6, Heat Resistance LV6, Dodge LV6, Peck LV7, Hallucinogenic Spores LV4, Chitinous Shell LV4, Digestive Mucus LV3, Rolling Charge LV5]
[Title:
Seven Sins: Greed (Unique Title): Randomly steals skills/fixed buffs from corpses
Mosquito Killer: Increases damage to mosquitoes by 10%
Hero: No racial level restrictions; can randomly obtain a special title or skill (already used)
Lin Jun's stats panel doesn't even show attributes; his true form is just an ordinary-looking mushroom.
Having 420 HP at level 42 is the proper state for a mushroom; having over 3,000 HP like Inanna is simply absurd.
As for Lin Jun's abnormally high magic power, it actually includes the entire mushroom garden.
The most absurd thing on the panel is the Brave title. He himself finds it absurd.
How can a mushroom have such a title?
Lin Jun has never seen his summoner and doesn't know if he's a mad wizard or a deity with a twisted sense of humor.
However, one thing is certain—the other party is definitely not mentally stable.
Would anyone actually go out of their way to summon a mushroom hero?
But thanks to this title, Lin Jun used the hero's privileges to draw Greed, then used Greed to constantly steal skills from the underground monsters, and finally used those skills to arm the Puji.
From being chased by slimes for food at the beginning to now farming in the corners of the layers, the process was filled with heartache and tears.
It's hard to imagine what would have happened if she hadn't drawn Greed—she'd probably have turned into dung by now.
So why summon a mushroom?
This question has almost become an obsession for him, second only to climbing to the surface.
…
After dealing with the fire mosquitoes, Lin Jun finally had time to see what the newcomer was up to.
Ah... he's stealing the purple crystals he dug up...
(End of chapter)