Puchi Dungeon, Mushroom Garden No. 1.
This was where dreams first took root, the birthplace of the great green-mushroom legend.
After cycles of abandonment and reclamation, it briefly housed cave-dwellers.
Once Lin Jun secured full control, new districts opened. The cave-dwellers relocated, and the garden returned to its original mycelial cavern form.
Still, a place of such history deserved purpose.
In one corner stood a polished stone tablet. Two characters were carved deep: Aedin. The rest remained blank.
Last time with Dylan’s tombstone, Lin Jun learned caution. No epitaph until death was certain.
Fine words were wasted when you had to destroy them yourself.
His caution paid off. Aedin survived the unsurvivable.
A Puchi carried the tablet away with faint regret.
By now, no one had died in a way worthy of epic record. The garden lacked a sense of grandeur.
You couldn’t just honor any random corpse with a monument.
About to smash it, the Puchi paused. Instead of discarding it, it found a lake and sank the stone.
Carving wasn’t easy. No inscription? Remove the name. Reuse later.
Of course, Lin Jun was genuinely overjoyed Aedin returned.
After storing the tablet, a Puchi finally emerged from beside the wailing mage.
Tentacles extended at once, lifting him. “Wood… I mean, Aedin! What happened to you?”
Aedin’s face stiffened. His eye twitched, but he quickly resumed his tragic expression and began recounting his harrowing escape.
He had watched the storm elemental form right before him. The suffocating pressure convinced him death was certain.
A lord-tier storm elemental, over seventy levels, was a natural disaster far beyond any ordinary duke.
Aedin, a mere diamond-tier mage, was an ant before a mountain. Especially in the worst scenario: an ambush.
A single stray arc shattered his full-power magic shield.
Fortunately, his insignificance made him beneath notice. The pigman legions drew the elemental’s wrath.
Aedin started to flee. Then he remembered his mission. Gritting his teeth, he turned back after a short distance and risked heading toward Redstone City.
He avoided using a clone. Three S-grade crystals and the Wood Core artifact were too valuable to entrust to a copy.
His plan was to convince the Silver Thorns to complete the trade.
But the demons collapsed faster than expected.
He had barely entered the city when the elemental changed course and swept toward them.
Pigman Duke Xenophon was powerful. He could block direct attacks. But against a colossal being of wind and lightning, his enchanted axe inflicted only scratches.
His strength was useless. He watched his army disintegrate in wind and thunder.
Redstone’s people saw the danger and ordered immediate evacuation.
But the elemental was fast.
Anyone slow or caught in its path turned to ash.
It only left after no large groups of life remained. It carved a permanent V-shaped scar across Redstone’s ruins.
Aedin and the Silver Thorns were among the unlucky.
“Duke’s envoy? You’re still here!” Nova shouted while running.
Aedin had given up hope. Then he encountered the Silver Thorns again while fleeing.
“Forget greetings! Run faster!” Nightowl flickered through shadows. She was the only one who could escape quickly. Nova’s pace frustrated her.
Half-dragon Gar ran too. He carried old mage Ivan on his back.
“Ivan, cast wind speed!”
Ivan snapped. “That’s a storm lord behind us, master of wind and lightning. You want me to fight it for control? The spell would backfire and throw us into the tornado.”
“Do something! It’s coming!”
Too close. Gar stopped. “Behind me!”
[Injury Transfer LV7]
[Shield Domain LV8]
[Group Defense Boost LV8]
Ivan landed and cast elemental resistance on everyone.
The domain blocked three lightning bolts.
The fourth shattered it. Everyone was blasted into the air. Aedin was half-dead.
Nightowl grabbed Ivan and dove into shadow. She couldn’t carry more.
The others faced death.
Then Ivan lunged. He snatched a fallen S-grade crystal beside Aedin.
“Now? You’re grabbing that?” Nightowl was stunned. She should have saved Nova. An artifact might have helped.
Ivan ignored her.
He focused on the crystal. Magic flared. He brutally carved the priceless gem into a strip.
Without hesitation, he jammed it into his abdominal crystal slot.
The next lightning struck. A blue magic shield blocked it.
A manic howl erupted.
“OOOOH! This is top-tier crystal power! I’m flying high!”
He literally flew.
Mana surged. Magic light burst from his eyes and mouth.
This finally drew the elemental’s full attention.
Stronger thunder came. The new shield wavered but held.
Nightowl trembled beneath it. If it broke, shadow wouldn’t save her.
“Old man! Any more tricks? We’re dying!”
Ivan didn’t hear. He was lost in revelation.
“So this is magic… I understand now!”
Next moment, a pure mana array bloomed under his feet. No materials. Still perfectly controlled.
It covered everyone.
At the same time, in Redstone’s half-ruined lord’s manor basement, a short-range teleport array lit up.
“Everyone escaped?” Lin Jun fought the urge to search Aedin. “Did you… get it?”
“Boss, we have to save them!”
(End of Chapter)
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