Puff puff——
Puff puff——
On the spiral corridor, seven Puffshrooms were hopping up the stairs one step at a time.
These staircases, designed for human proportions, were simply too tall for the short-legged Puffshrooms who only reached half a person's height. They could only advance step by step through small hops.
These were all Puffshrooms that Lin Jun had dispatched to the first floor.
Thanks to the Moonstone left behind by a kind-hearted adventurer—a peculiar mineral that changed color every half day—Lin Jun could keep track of the days even while underground in the dungeon.
After Dilan failed to return for seven consecutive days, and even the adventurers gradually disappeared, Lin Jun clearly realized: something big was happening!
Could it be that the dungeon's lease is up and they're planning to demolish it?
Regardless of the reason, Lin Jun naturally couldn't just sit and wait for disaster. To investigate the situation, aside from the large squadron of Puffshrooms he had already decided to send to the lower floors to scout for the source of magical fluctuations, Lin Jun had added another team heading upward.
Given that the monsters on the first four floors were relatively low-level, this team didn't need many Puffshrooms—just seven would suffice.
As expected, although the monsters appeared restless and agitated, looking like they wanted to take a bite out of any Puffshroom they saw, a single mushroom cannon blast would leave their corpses lying peacefully.
Using the strategy guide he had obtained from Dilan long ago, the team reached near the first floor in just one day.
Half of that time was actually spent climbing stairs.
Speaking of which, while each floor had vastly different terrain and ecosystems, the staircases connecting each level seemed cut from the same mold.
Lin Jun strongly suspected the builder had been lazy and simply copy-pasted the design.
When the Puffshrooms finally reached the first floor, Lin Jun felt a little excited.
This was the closest he had ever been to the outside world. Previously, to avoid drawing attention, Lin Jun had tried to avoid sending Puffshrooms to other floors.
The first floor was exactly as Dilan had described—a corridor maze.
The architectural style featured ancient blue stone brick materials, looking quite similar to the eighth floor at first glance.
However, unlike the eighth floor's hell-difficulty maze, the first floor's maze had no teleportation arrays, no traps, and didn't even spawn monster clusters.
The monster distribution was sparse and their combat power weak—even greenhorn novices could handle it with ease.
While the corridor structure itself was somewhat confusing, this challenge had long been neutralized by detailed strategy guides.
The Puffshrooms headed straight toward the dungeon gate following the shortest route. Today, he was determined to see what exactly was going on.
Puff puff——
Hmm?
A familiar sound came from around the corner ahead, and soon a familiar figure appeared—
A wild Puffshroom!
Opening its status panel: Level 1, all five attributes at 1, with no skills except the innate spore-spreading talent.
Its sole purpose for existence was to scatter spores when eaten by other monsters.
This was a genuinely natural, pure-bred Puffshroom.
In comparison, Lin Jun's Puffshrooms with their four or five advanced skills were like mushroom overlords.
The wild Puffshroom seemed completely oblivious to its fellow species, wandering aimlessly through the corridor by itself.
Lin Jun's Puffshroom gently shook its mushroom cap, and some spores stuck to the wild Puffshroom.
The mycelial network immediately gained a new member.
Stop!
Retracting the small leg it had stepped forward, this Puffshroom obediently accepted Lin Jun's command, just like the other seven nearby.
Lin Jun's hypothesis was confirmed—Puffshrooms, these low-level monsters that possessed no self-awareness and only instinct, were far too easy to control.
Even if he hadn't produced them himself, as long as they were connected to the mycelial network, he could easily control them.
Though this didn't have much practical significance.
Taking this Puffshroom along, the team approached the main gate area.
When they reached near the endpoint, it was as if they had entered a completely different zone—the difference was so dramatic it might as well have been a different floor entirely.
Eight pure black giant stone pillars stood in the hall, each pillar body carved with dark gold geometric patterns.
At the top of the pillars, some kind of metallic components could be vaguely seen, connecting the eight pillars in a ring formation. Sixteen chains extended from the ring structure toward the center, all connecting to an incorporeal circular magic array suspended in the middle.
Under his magical perception, this formation flickered on and off like a broken bathroom light bulb from his previous life.
Beyond this hall lay the dungeon's main gate.
Lin Jun didn't send all the Puffshrooms forward, but instead singled out the wild Puffshroom to scout ahead.
When the Puffshroom reached the gate, it saw the ground covered with trap barriers.
The twelve-meter-wide gate had been blocked until only a horizontal crack remained.
Through the crack, Lin Jun saw several pairs of terror-filled eyes and a crossbow aimed at the Puffshroom.
Swoosh——
The poor wild Puffshroom was shot through and flew three meters away, dying instantly and exploding spores everywhere.
However, Lin Jun noticed these spores quickly lost their vitality, seemingly affected by some special influence in this hall.
Now it was confirmed that humans had blocked the gate.
He still didn't know why, but when he had approached closer, he detected a mycelial network signal from outside the gate.
The seven Puffshrooms moved along the wall corners, traveling through blind spots to reach the wall near the gate.
Only then did Lin Jun finally connect with the other party.
"Dilan?"
"Boss! You actually came to the first floor! Are you also planning to break through the dungeon?"
For a moment, Dilan fell into deep internal conflict—should he side with the humans or with the mushrooms...
"What kind of nonsense is that? Stop wasting time and quickly tell me why the humans have sealed the dungeon gate?"
"Ah? Oh, oh!"
Realizing he had misunderstood, Dilan sighed in relief and hurriedly told Lin Jun everything about the monster tide intelligence.
This left Lin Jun completely dumbfounded.
Monsters would collectively charge out?
Including even monsters from the deep layers?
This meant that before these monsters reached the first floor, wouldn't they have to pass through his fifth floor first?
What kind of situation was this!
Dilan also mentioned that the Adventurers' Guild had hired almost all available adventurers to take turns guarding the gate.
The need for such heavy defenses fully demonstrated the scale and intensity of the monsters in the tide.
Could his Puffshrooms even withstand it?
Looking at the situation outside the gate, there was no way he could escape to outside the dungeon now.
But come to think of it, he was technically a monster too. If during the monster tide, monsters prioritized charging the gate rather than fighting each other, then he might not need to worry too much.
Either way, at least now he knew what was happening.
He told Dilan not to get involved in the monster tide—with that disguise of his, who knows if it might be exposed during combat.
Lin Jun himself also needed to return and prepare properly.
The team of Puffshrooms exploring downward was currently tangling with monsters on the seventh floor. Lin Jun also recalled them.
While the monster tide hadn't arrived yet, he needed to make as many preparations as possible, and he'd need to produce another batch of Puffshrooms beyond the normal limit.
The only thing that comforted Lin Jun was that in the secret space within the swamp area, he had successfully embedded two S-rank magic crystals onto his mount.
As for the third one, size constraints prevented it from fitting, so it would have to be saved for other uses.
Although the enhancement effects were reduced because they weren't crafted by his own skills but inherited from the old bat, the 200% skill power boost from two S-rank magic crystals was still quite gratifying.
It was also time to officially give it a name. He'd call it... Knight!
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