*Grumble—*
The long-absent pangs of hunger forced Louisa to open her eyes.
The back of her skull was pressed against protruding rubble, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in a cramped, damp underground chamber. The scent reaching her nostrils carried the putrid smell of earth mixed with decay.
No, calling it an underground chamber was being too generous. What she was in was merely a hastily dug burrow, and not far away, a puffshroom was still burrowing, expanding the space with soft *thud-thud* sounds.
She still remembered what had happened before. The two cannon fodder hadn't even finished scouting ahead when they were surrounded by endless waves of puffshrooms.
Endless!
Even now, recalling that moment when she realized mid-battle that victory was impossible—when even escape had become a luxury—that profound sense of helplessness still lingered in her heart.
But... why wasn't she dead?
When her blood sphere had collapsed, she should have been blown to pieces like her subordinates. Why had she awakened intact in this burrow?
Had the puffshrooms thrown her here to die slowly, or was there some other reason?
She didn't know, but she knew she was hungry.
Louisa glanced at the puffshroom still expanding the cave, which seemed completely oblivious to her awakening.
She supported herself against the wall and struggled to stand. The cave's exit was directly in front of her. If she could just walk there...
Something terrible happened!
When she took her third step, a mushroom sprouted from her palm without warning—white stem, gray cap, looking like nothing more than an ordinary mushroom.
But growing from her palm made it horrifying.
Louisa frantically pulled the mushroom out, but felt pain like tearing flesh. Already weakened, she nearly collapsed to the ground.
What was happening to her?
Countless terrifying possibilities swirled in her mind. Instinctively, she took another step forward.
This time it was the back of her other hand—two blue mushrooms growing side by side, perfectly fused with the flesh and blood of her hand.
"What... what is this?"
In terror, Louisa retreated repeatedly until her back pressed against the earthen wall—the mushrooms stopped growing.
She understood. She couldn't leave this place...
If she had died by a sword stroke in battle, that would have been acceptable. But watching herself become fertilizer for mushrooms like this—Louisa simply couldn't accept it.
Once again enduring the pain to pull out the mushrooms, this time Louisa didn't dare take another step toward the cave entrance.
But staying here like this, she would probably starve to death and become mushroom fertilizer anyway.
This mission was one Louisa had actively taken on. Unlike some vampires who became lazy after gaining noble titles, she wanted to climb higher. Stuck at level 50, she needed an opportunity for her next advancement.
She had known this mission wouldn't be simple. Before departing, she had envisioned various possibilities.
Whether it was being discovered and killed by the human Church, or having bad luck and encountering a powerhouse who would instantly kill her, or the Holy Scripture having already been taken by humans and used as bait to lure her to her death.
She had considered all kinds of deaths, but she had never imagined she would be used as compost by a bunch of puffshrooms!
"Say with your mouth: 'The weather is really nice today.'"
Louisa's eyes widened as she looked around, but saw no one.
Where had that voice come from?
And what did those words mean—nice weather? She was in an underground burrow; how could she see what the weather was like?
Just as she was puzzled, that voice appeared again, repeating the same words.
"Say with your mouth: 'The weather is really nice today.'"
This time Louisa realized—the voice was in her head!
"Who are you? What is your purpose? Do you know what imprisoning a vampire viscount represents?"
Louisa questioned excitedly, but the other party gave no response.
Suddenly, a small mushroom bloomed beneath her eyelid, its cap blocking the vision in her left eye.
"Ah... ah..."
"Say with your mouth: 'The weather is really nice today.'"
The voice repeated for the third time. This time, Louisa tremblingly opened her mouth and said in the human common tongue: "The weather is really nice today."
"..."
After a brief silence:
"I mean, say it in demon language..."
A strange feeling swirled in Louisa's heart, but she no longer dared disobey this voice.
"The weather is really nice today." Louisa spoke the phrase in the harsh, angular syllables characteristic of demon language.
Then the voice disappeared, and Louisa didn't dare ask more questions. She just crouched in the corner, staring blankly at the only other living thing in the burrow besides herself—that puffshroom, watching it slowly dig earth.
She didn't know how much time had passed. Just when Louisa was so hungry that her vision was becoming blurry, the voice appeared once more.
"Say: 'I am a little pig who loves to eat.'"
This time Louisa almost without thinking obediently repeated as requested.
Something miraculous happened. After she finished speaking, two puffshrooms entered through the burrow entrance, carrying a dead wolf.
With a flick of their tendrils, they flung the dead wolf in front of her.
The blood of a magical beast, especially a dead magical beast, was to vampires what stale pig slop was to humans. Consuming it long-term would inevitably lead to weakness.
But she had no choice now. No matter how unpalatable, it was better than starving to death!
Ignoring the wolf's fur, Louisa bit down. Fresh blood flowed down her throat, finally bringing a glimmer of life back to her eyes.
...
Excellent. The demon language learning machine was operational.
Although demon language didn't seem particularly useful at the moment, Lin Jun believed in being prepared. As a mushroom adventuring in the world, learning an extra foreign language was never wrong.
Her prison cell was one Lin Jun had freshly dug beneath the mushroom forest—it could be considered employee housing, more or less.
Lin Jun decided to dig several more as backup.
Actually, if that mage named Hack hadn't escaped to the first floor, Lin Jun would have wanted to capture him as well.
If he could pass the employment review, bringing him into the fold wasn't impossible.
Who would have thought that a Gold-rank could nearly accomplish what even a Diamond-rank vampire had failed to do—escape the dungeon?
With just a few scrolls and sheer determination, he had fought through his injuries to break the encirclement and nearly escaped.
Thank goodness for the light barrier created by the Church warriors outside.
Unfortunately, precisely because he had reached the first floor and could be discovered at any time by incoming adventurers or Church members, Lin Jun had no choice but to thoroughly dispose of him. Even his bones were fed to the slimes.
Although even if he had escaped, he couldn't have revealed too many secrets—at worst, Lin Jun would just move the Yellow Book to a different location—but that would have been a slap in his face!
What would others say? Five entire floors of puffshrooms unable to handle a single Gold-rank mage? Where would the puffshrooms' intimidation factor be? Wouldn't anyone with some skill try to challenge his rules in the future?
So it was regrettable, but necessary.
Through this battle, Lin Jun gained a clearer understanding of his strength compared to Diamond-rank opponents.
From the current situation, Diamond-rank individuals without forming parties and carrying full supplies would have difficulty posing much threat to his puffshroom army.
You had to know that Louisa had consumed a full three bottles of high-grade mana potions, yet hadn't even run one-fifth of the distance from the cavern to the stairs.
Similarly, Lin Jun had gained a rough assessment of his elite puffshrooms' strength—above Silver rank but not quite Gold rank.
Four against two, if Hack hadn't been scared off, it would have cost one severely wounded Gold-rank to eliminate all four elite puffshrooms.
Of course, such strength was already sufficient as the backbone combat force of the puffshrooms.
Overall, the gains were considerable, though this incident also brought some new problems.
Those Church members who believed in some Lord of Light had begun searching the dungeon for traces of Louisa, bringing adventurers with them.
The Amethyst Dungeon was, after all, within human territory. Whether to kill or imprison a vampire viscount wasn't a big issue, but confronting something like the Church would likely bring many troubles.
He hoped they would be sensible—searching the outer areas was fine, but Lin Jun would never allow them into the swamp zone or mushroom forest.
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