Within the cavern, the souls that had been forcibly released let out mournful wails, dispersing like invisible smoke into the frigid air, leaving not a trace behind.
The Yellow Tome now hung limp with its two heavy covers drooping like withered petals. Between the spine lay only a single, pitiful page, clinging there forlornly for communication purposes.
[Wuuuuuu...]
[Boss... you... you must remember your promise!] The text on the page appeared particularly weak and aggrieved.
"Don't worry," the Voice Puffshroom comforted, "I'm a man of my word!"
Only after having the Otaku Puffshroom send the tool-worker Little Black back to the Stone Fortress did Lin Jun bring the Yellow Tome to the core area.
Honestly, Lin Jun didn't want to do this sort of thing—beating up an employee before they started work.
But... the Yellow Tome was an existence whose depths he couldn't fathom at all. He had to be on guard!
And the only method Lin Jun knew that could restrict it was through soul pages.
...
[So this is the core!]
Passing through the massive gates and stepping into the core area, even with only a single page remaining, the Yellow Tome still let out an "exclamation" filled with shock.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be a repair expert? How come your reaction is about the same as mine, seeing this for the first time?" Lin Jun couldn't help but comment.
[Because this really is my first time entering a dungeon core!]
[Though I was born with innate repair knowledge, I've never had the chance to actually fix anything before!] The page radiated an indescribable excitement.
"Alright, alright," Lin Jun urged, "hurry up and take a look—where do we start repairs?"
[That large crystal!] The Yellow Tome answered without hesitation.
The puffshroom carefully held the Yellow Tome, bringing it close to the crystal monument that flowed with nebula-like points of light.
A wondrous scene unfolded. The countless tiny points of light within the crystal monument seemed to be summoned, drawn out strand by strand to swirl and rotate around the Yellow Tome, forming a miniature, brilliantly glowing halo!
At the same time, the Yellow Tome no longer needed to be held up, floating weightlessly on its own!
Its sole remaining page fluttered without wind, swaying back and forth beneath the starlight ring, carrying an oddly profound rhythm.
Lin Jun thought that if it still had all its pages, rustling constantly while complementing these special effects, it would probably look quite impressive...
[Boss, do you remember when I told you that the dungeon's collapse was due to insufficient computational power?] The text on the Yellow Tome now appeared less frantic, carrying a strange tranquility.
"Obviously. Having me harass the War Puppets was to consume the dungeon's processing power, wasn't it?"
[Then do you know what the source of this 'computational power' that supports the entire dungeon's operation... actually is?]
The puffshroom shook its cap: "Generated by the core?"
[Of course not. The core is merely a tool for controlling the dungeon.]
The Yellow Tome's text suddenly intensified.
[Souls! It's souls! Intelligent beings who die within the dungeon's range—their souls are briefly captured and absorbed by the dungeon's rules before returning to the world's origin!]
[The final residual heat of these souls before their return becomes the fuel that drives the dungeon's massive computational power!]
"..." Lin Jun didn't respond. The entire core hall filled only with the low humming of energy conduits.
[Are you thinking of something?]
[Boss, do you know what you look like in my eyes?]
"..."
Though Lin Jun remained silent, the Yellow Tome continued speaking on its own.
[You are a greedy devourer!] The text on the page suddenly became ice-cold and sharp!
[You use your mycelium carpet to decompose corpses, completely devouring the soul power contained within them along with all traces of their existence!]
[Then you cast those souls—drained dry, reduced to their purest essence—directly back to the world!]
[They no longer pass through the dungeon's rules! No longer provide even the slightest 'residual heat' to the dungeon!]
[You! You are the true culprit behind the dungeon's destruction!]
The air seemed to freeze, and the Voice Puffshroom's cap stopped swaying.
"The fact that you chose to reveal these things only now," Lin Jun's voice was terrifyingly low, "means..."
[It means I—deliberately—didn't—tell—you!]
The surrounding puffshroom tendrils shot forward like arrows from a bow, accompanied by the sound of tearing air, viciously stabbing toward the floating Yellow Tome!
However, all the tendrils struck an invisible, absolutely solid wall of air just inches from the Yellow Tome!
【Passage Forbidden】
Cold rule text appeared on the interface. This time, even the "Hero" title had lost its effect!
Bang!
A Chubby Puffshroom resolutely self-destructed! Violent shockwaves swept outward!
When the smoke cleared, that invisible air wall remained completely unmoved, firmly protecting the Yellow Tome behind it, while the entire core area hadn't even stirred up a single speck of dust, continuing to operate with cold, precise, silent efficiency.
The Yellow Tome ignored the surrounding attacks, floating within its ring of light points, continuing its declaration as if nothing had happened:
[Repairing the dungeon is simple—just replenish it with souls.]
[Taking control of the dungeon... would normally be very difficult, but now it's different.] The text on the page oozed thick satisfaction.
[While the dungeon is unprecedentedly weakened, using a massive flood of souls completely under my control to wash over its core... seizing supreme authority is as easy as turning one's palm!]
[This is all thanks to you!]
[Oh, by the way, Boss...]
[Did I ever tell you... that my cover is the perfect soul storage?]
In the next moment, countless twisted, wailing soul torrents suddenly gushed forth from the Yellow Tome's cover, swirling and shrieking madly throughout the core hall before finally converging into a stream of gray-black turbidity that rushed into the floating main crystal monument!
The gray-black filth spread like ink dropped in clear water, beginning to permeate, expand, and corrode throughout the pure, crystalline monument!
[Hahahahaha!]
The Yellow Tome's remaining page swayed smugly back and forth before the puffshroom.
[Do you know?! Your defeat lies in being completely ignorant of all this!]
[Don't trust me? So what! Besides me, who else could you find?]
[The chasm of knowledge had already determined your defeat!]
[Boss?]
"Tch!"
[Tsk tsk tsk, little puffshroom~]
[If you kneel and beg for mercy now, I might be magnanimous enough to leave the fifth floor as your permanent nest~]
"Stop putting on airs!"
Mushroom cannons, self-destruction—Lin Jun had tried everything, but before that air wall, he truly had no way to deal with the smugly triumphant Yellow Tome.
He'd been backstabbed!
The entire Amethyst Dungeon was about to be seized by this thing, naturally making Lin Jun's teeth itch with hatred.
Though the situation was terrible, Lin Jun wasn't without contingency plans for being betrayed!
In the next moment, the main body on the sixth floor suddenly transformed into a subdivision, then was decomposed and digested by the mycelium network beneath.
【Sin of Greed Activated】
【Plundered Skill: Subdivision LV1】
Lin Jun's main consciousness transferred to the Knight Puffshroom beneath the mushroom cap in the secret chamber of the Stone Fortress dungeon.
Immediately after, he created another subdivision and had a puffshroom hide it elsewhere.
On the core side, the puffshrooms also stopped attacking the air wall, ceasing their futile attempts.
"Well played. We'll see about this!"
[Little puffshroom~]
The Yellow Tome's text carried mocking wavy lines.
[You don't actually think I'll let you leave, do you?]
???
In the next moment, a soul-level, irresistible terrifying suction suddenly erupted from the contaminated crystal monument!
Within the core hall, the puffshrooms suffered no physical impact, yet as if their life force had been instantly drained away, their caps tilted and they collapsed in masses, their vitality severed!
This suction didn't only appear in the core—almost simultaneously, it affected all puffshrooms and mycelium networks throughout the entire dungeon!
Even though Lin Jun immediately made the decisive choice to forcibly sever all mycelium networks beyond the Stone Fortress, he couldn't block the soul-level suction that had already "grasped" him!
[Tsk, what a pity.]
[You actually refused my merciful offer.]
[Then become the sacrifice for my complete control of this dungeon!]
[Hahahahahaha]
Manic, distorted "ha" characters flooded like an uncontrolled tide, frantically refreshing and overlapping on that lone, solitary page!
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