The dim tunnel was filled with a nauseating stench as the giant spider's green blood continuously dripped down its own massive web.
Arachno, like its spider kin, would forever only deserve the uniform designation of "Giant Spider Monster" in the mouths of most illiterate adventurers.
Only those who truly understood them knew that this was a special type of giant spider capable of weaving toxic webs.
The thick spider webs were unmistakably conspicuous, and weak monsters would avoid them from afar.
But there were always those monsters who, relying on their strong bodies and formidable strength, never took the webs seriously.
Arachno's prey were precisely these fellows.
However, today it had obviously met its match.
A giant axe was embedded squarely in the center of the spider monster's head, smashing it to smithereens.
*Huff—huff—*
The bull-headed, human-bodied monster panted heavily as it lifted its axe, giving it a slight shake to fling off most of the sticky blood foam.
Above its four-and-a-half-meter sturdy frame, knotted muscles rippled beneath its hide with each breath—this was an individual that was exceptionally strong even among Minotaurs.
Under its frenzied assault, the hunter had become the hunted.
But it wasn't entirely unscathed either.
The toxin from touching the web spread along the blood vessels in its left arm, and even its LV5 poison resistance could only prevent it from spreading further.
Losing the use of one arm in the short term would certainly make survival in the dungeon extremely difficult.
Fortunately, this problem wouldn't trouble it much longer.
A pitch-black dagger emerged from the shadows, making a light turn around the Minotaur's thick neck, slicing its throat open like tofu.
Watching the Minotaur collapse to the ground, now only capable of convulsing, Night Owl emerged from the darkness and complained to the other three who had just arrived:
"A Minotaur of at least level 40—this thing could serve as a treasure chest guardian even on the eighth floor. If it hadn't been in poor condition, I would've had quite a bit of trouble with it.
I keep feeling that if we keep wandering around like this, we're bound to encounter something truly troublesome sooner or later.
Nova, roughly how much further do we have to go?"
Nova touched the guidance crystal in his hand: "Almost there. The magnitude of the directional changes is getting larger and larger, which means we're already very close."
"Gal, help me break open its abdomen."
Ivan pointed at the spider's corpse, ordering his teammate around.
"Why? Giant spider monster body fluids all stink terribly..."
Gal looked reluctant, but still drew his dissection knife and cut open the spider's belly.
Sure enough, a fishy stench assaulted their nostrils, and he quickly waved his hand and stepped back two paces.
Ivan, however, pounced over with gleaming eyes, completely ignoring the foul odor as he reached in with both hands to extract an organ.
"As expected, it's an Arachno! This venom sac is the best material for setting up poison cloud rituals!"
Watching Ivan take out an exquisite box and carefully store away the foul-smelling venom sac, Nova finally directed everyone to continue forward.
He had a premonition that after passing through at most three more caverns, they would see their target.
————
In fact, after passing through one more cavern with scattered fire mosquitoes, they arrived at their destination.
Outside the Mushroom Garden, the four of them stared at the scene before them with disbelief—a group of Puchis had occupied territory in the deep layers!?
No, rather, how could there be Puchis in the deep layers?
Indeed, the deep layers had monsters of all levels, but that didn't include Puchis with no survival capabilities whatsoever...
Not to mention anything else, wouldn't those fire mosquitoes next door be treating them like an all-you-can-eat buffet every day?
Gal stood with his mouth agape, and after a long while finally muttered: "If it's here, I think I somewhat understand why that young lady is still alive..."
"One's coming over."
A Puchi walked toward the group on its stubby little legs.
Only now did Ivan remember to use his reconnaissance skill to investigate.
"As expected, it's LV1... Hmm? Skills? It has..."
But someone reacted faster than him. The moment the Puchi approached, Night Owl's figure disappeared.
【Shadow Step LV9】
As an experienced adventurer, she wouldn't be disturbed by the seemingly harmless scene before her, striking with full force from the start.
Instantly appearing behind the Puchi, her black blade slashed down—
*BOOM—*
"Night Owl! Be care—ful..."
Ivan's warning came belatedly.
Fortunately, it was just a small explosion that couldn't really hurt Night Owl.
However, she emerged from the smoke looking disheveled and dirty, glaring daggers at Ivan, just short of questioning him aloud.
"Haha... sorry, it was too strange, I got distracted..."
"I've never heard of walking mushrooms exploding. Those other ones don't look like ordinary walking mushrooms either."
Nova pointed at the few cannon mushrooms over there, timely changing the subject.
Ivan cast another reconnaissance spell: "Those few can fire magic cannon attacks. The power isn't great, and they seem to have low aggression?"
Indeed, their group had already taken the initiative to kill one that self-destructed, yet the other Puchis still showed no reaction, neither attacking nor fleeing.
Very strange.
"Should we clear them all out?"
Night Owl asked verbally, but her body was already preparing to act. Having just lost face, she was still holding back her frustration.
However, she was held back by Nova beside her.
"Wait, the Duke's young lady is still in there. We don't know what might happen if we cause chaos.
Since the threat isn't great and they're not actively attacking, let's just go in directly.
Stay alert at all times."
The last sentence was directed at the half-dragonman, who needed to protect his companions in case of sudden attacks.
【Injury Transfer LV7】
【Shield Domain LV8】
【Group Defense Enhancement LV8】
The half-dragonman cast several protective skills in succession.
"Alright, let's go in."
————
Long before the group entered the passage connecting to the fire mosquito nest, Lin Jun had sensed them through the mushrooms in the tunnel.
Grand Mage Ivan hadn't discovered Lin Jun secretly monitoring the entire Mushroom Garden, and their conversation was heard by Lin Jun word for word.
However,
He couldn't understand it...
As expected, people from another world wouldn't speak Earth languages, would they?
Communicating with Inanna through the fungal network was actually a kind of mental local area network, transmitting thoughts rather than language, so naturally there were no language barriers.
Now encountering people who actually spoke an otherworldly language, of course he couldn't understand...
Although he couldn't understand, he had been here for so many years without seeing humans, and now he encountered a group that clearly came for the Mushroom Garden.
Nine out of ten chances their target was Inanna.
He just didn't know whether they intended to kill her or save her.
Inanna bore a 【Tracking Mark】, and no matter how you thought about it, it should have been placed by her Duke father.
So this group was most likely here to rescue her.
Actually, even if they weren't, Lin Jun didn't have many good options now.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to shelter this little follower he'd picked up, but he currently only had 40 combat Puchis and 100 logistics Puchis.
And he'd observed these four opponents—the lowest was LV52, the highest LV58.
Each one was higher level than the Earth Worm, with a bunch of well-matched high-level skills on their status panels.
Even if he brought out his trump card, the strongest Puchi, he'd have absolutely no chance of victory against this lineup.
As for escaping?
They had come here with precise positioning—where could he take her to escape?
Looking at the pink Puchi still foolishly practicing magic in the garden, Lin Jun felt he should give her a heads up.
"Inanna."
"What is it, Boss?"
"Your family sent people to pick you up, probably..."
"My family? Probably?"
"They might also be here to kill you..."
"..."
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