"He... how can he be so cruel?" Inanna's face was filled with incredulous anger and sympathy.
"Who knows?" Lin Jun's voice carried just the right amount of helplessness tinged with sorrow. "Perhaps in their eyes, puffshrooms like us 'monsters' only deserve to live in the sunless depths..."
The pink puffshroom finally managed to contact Lin Jun—though it wasn't until the morning after the transformation spell had worn off and the Veil of Confusion had been put away.
Old friends meeting again, both moved to tears.
Lin Jun first emotionally led Inanna through fond memories of those carefree, beautiful times in the mushroom garden, then "casually" mentioned how he "really couldn't make it" in the deeper levels and was "forced" to move up. Finally, he painted a vivid picture of the current Guild Leader Farr's "cruel persecution" of the puffshrooms:
Stories of brutal killings and dissections of those "kind and harmless" puffshrooms who only provided lighting services for adventurers;
Tales of brazenly organizing subjugation forces to destroy the "peaceful" and "law-abiding" puffshroom homes on the fifth level...
As for the subjugation team's devastating casualties of one-third?
Lin Jun explained that the puffshrooms were merely acting in self-defense—this blame should fall squarely on the new guild leader's shoulders.
He only wanted to live peacefully in the dungeon. If not for the new guild leader's constant harassment, humans and puffshrooms should have been good friends.
Inanna listened with tears welling in her eyes, nodding frequently, deeply sympathetic to her old boss's plight after she'd left.
"Then... what should we do now?" she asked urgently, genuinely wanting to help her boss resolve this predicament.
But she was also aware of her limitations: though her status as a duke's daughter was prestigious, when it came to major policy decisions involving an entire dungeon's management, her influence could at most offer suggestions. This bit of voice she had was clearly insufficient to shake the guild's "subjugate the puffshrooms" policy.
Lin Jun had anticipated this from the start.
He never expected to rely on Inanna to "persuade" the guild.
"Inanna," Lin Jun shifted topics, getting to the point, "did you bring what I mentioned in my letter?"
"I did! Look!" Inanna immediately rummaged through her luggage, presenting like a treasure a gorgeously crafted dagger inlaid with prismatic gems.
The dagger itself emanated undeniable waves of powerful magical energy.
"Excellent!" Lin Jun's voice carried a hint of excitement as his plan was about to unfold.
Lin Jun's plan was to have Inanna produce an item that she'd claim could "control monsters," then perform a show of bringing the Knight Puffshroom "under her command" before everyone's eyes.
Monster-controlling items, while uncommon, weren't exactly rare either. Many adventurers who kept magical pets relied on such tools, though their effectiveness was usually limited to restraining only low-level monsters.
For Inanna, as a duke's daughter, to produce an item capable of controlling a Knight Puffshroom-level creature shouldn't seem too out of place to onlookers.
As for whether this item was real or fake?
It didn't matter—the Knight Puffshroom would fully cooperate with the performance anyway.
Once "control" was successfully established, one of the guild's two major reasons for subjugating puffshrooms—"uncontrolled monster threat"—would disappear!
As for the other reason: fears that puffshrooms were connected to the core issue.
Since this wasn't factual to begin with, once their "expert team" made a trip down there, they'd naturally understand.
And with Inanna serving as a buffer between the guild and the puffshrooms, there was no need to worry about the guild making unreasonable demands of the puffshrooms.
Of course, there were still details to polish. The biggest flaw was this item itself.
If it were a fake, he might be able to fool others, but Inanna's family should know what belongings they possessed!
This flaw needed a story to cover it, and if necessary, he could have Aideen provide backup.
Naturally, this was all a stopgap measure—Lin Jun never intended to completely solve the human problem through this alone.
His safety would ultimately depend on himself.
After this plan, as long as he could delay for two or three months, that would be enough. By then, either Lin Jun would have seized control of the core, or he'd find an opportunity to relocate elsewhere. Perhaps that place with Qisi would work...
As his thoughts wandered, Lin Jun asked with a hint of curiosity and confirmation: "Speaking of which, this gem dagger... what's its actual effect?"
"Controlling monsters, of course!" Inanna answered straightforwardly.
So it's the real deal... worthy of a duke's household indeed.
---
The "expert team" didn't linger long at the guild.
After just one day of rest and a brief meeting, they set out under Gougounarei's vigorous urging.
Besides the "expert team" members themselves, Fifteen accompanied the Sword Saint as his disciple, while Aideen joined the team as crucial support thanks to his excellent reconnaissance abilities.
With the Sword Saint—this unexpectedly descended deity—holding down the fort, additional combat support seemed redundant.
Before departure, Guild Leader Farr solemnly saw everyone off, going through the motions of reminding them about safety and their mission.
The only thing that gave him pause was that Miss Inanna's gaze before departure seemed to... contain an unmistakable trace of disgust?
Farr frowned inwardly.
They'd only met for the first time yesterday. Racking his brain, he couldn't think of how he might have offended this duke's daughter.
"How strange..."
As for the method Miss Inanna had suggested, with the Sword Saint's help, capturing alive became much more feasible. Farr felt it was worth trying.
After all, even if it failed, they could always revert to the original plan of killing the "King of Puffshrooms."
"I hope everything goes smoothly for them!"
...
"So dark!" Upon entering the dungeon entrance, the first to express surprise was actually Sword Saint Elvien.
He squinted as he surveyed the dim corridor, his tone full of disbelief: "The Amethyst Dungeon has really changed!"
From his tone, he'd clearly been here before.
"What's that?"
Before Fifteen could explain the first question, the Sword Saint was already pointing at a distant illumination puffshroom rented by adventurers, asking his next question.
Clearly, the thick stack of situation reports Guild Leader Farr had presented last night hadn't been read by the Sword Saint at all.
Fifteen could only sigh resignedly and begin acting as impromptu tour guide, answering his master's questions one by one.
"Then let's rent one too!" the Sword Saint suggested enthusiastically.
As he spoke, a monster passing by at the corridor's end silently split in half, the cut smooth as a mirror.
"Master, this... wouldn't be appropriate, would it?" Fifteen looked troubled. "Our mission this time, besides the core, also includes..."
The mysterious "King of Puffshrooms" too!
What would it look like to bring a puffshroom along?
"That's something to consider after we find the core!" The Sword Saint waved dismissively, then launched a kick at Fifteen's rear. "Stop your nagging and go handle it!"
Fifteen rubbed his sore backside with a helpless expression, obediently dragging back the monster corpse to trade for a round, plump illumination puffshroom.
As they descended, the Sword Saint marveled at the earth-shaking changes in the Amethyst Dungeon, like a first-time tourist.
What Fifteen found more noteworthy was that this time, no puffshrooms jumped out to obstruct them.
Occasionally spotting puffshrooms, they were engaged in combat with slimes on their level, completely ignoring the group—a completely different reception from last time.
Had they sensed his master's strength?
Fifteen wondered but had no way to verify.
They smoothly reached the deep layers, where the illumination puffshroom stopped following at the end of the seventh level.
Then... they witnessed the Amethyst Dungeon's true current state...
Right beside the stairs leading to the deep layers was what used to be the flame demon's lava nest.
After the flame demon's death, this remained a scorching magma cavern, yet now, the entire cavern felt not the slightest bit hot.
The once surging and roiling lava lake had completely vanished without a trace, and at the lake's bottom, they discovered a spatial rift about five meters wide.
Everyone's faces showed undisguised shock. Many were seeing a so-called spatial rift for the first time, and even the Sword Saint raised an eyebrow.
Gougou, who had remained silent throughout the journey, looked extremely grim upon seeing this scene: "This situation... is far more serious than we anticipated..."
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