Countless fluorescent mushrooms drilled out from the crevices of the seabed reefs, the dots of light connecting into a continuous expanse. As soon as the mermaids swam into this area, they were almost disoriented by the blinding light hitting their faces.
"There are way too many... mushrooms," a young mermaid couldn't help but mutter softly.
No one answered her, because everyone's gaze was drawn in another direction.
At the entrance of the underground city, several massive pieces of carapace were being controlled by Mushroom Fortress soldiers and transported out in batches using a large number of Puchis.
The cut surfaces of those carapaces were neat, and just the thickness alone was several meters.
Looking closely, one could see layers upon layers of accumulated mycelial tissue on the inside of the carapaces, as well as the short legs of round Puchis exposed outside, swaying along with the movement of the carapaces.
Sephiria had never seen such a spectacle in the sea, and couldn't help but ask the Sword Saint Puchi she held tightly in her arms: "Elwyn, what are they doing?"
"That is the weapon used to deal with Keith." Although it was divided into many small pieces, the Sword Saint still recognized this Jida Divine Weapon that had taken care of the giant dragon and himself with a single shot.
It was just that he hadn't expected this thing could actually be disassembled for transport.
He wondered if Keith could withstand a shot from the Jida Divine Weapon?
Regardless, in Elwyn's eyes, Keith, who had enlarged itself, probably wouldn't be much different from a live target in front of the Jida Divine Weapon.
"This is the place," the Sword Saint Puchi said, looking at the cluster of mushroom houses growing near the underground city entrance.
This was the temporary resettlement area the Boss had prepared for the mermaids. The Sword Saint wasn't sure if the mermaids would get used to living in mushroom houses, but as an important node of the Boss's marine forces, there was no need to worry about safety here.
Having said that, he squeezed out of Sephiria's arms, preparing to leave.
The Mermaid Queen suddenly reached out and grabbed one of his mycelial tentacles.
Sephiria stared affectionately at the Puchi's perfectly round back: "Can you... stay?"
The Sword Saint didn't answer, but suddenly drew his sword!
With a flash of sword light, a recording crystal that had been cut into two halves dropped to the originally empty ground to the side.
A Puchi revealed its figure, cursing and muttering something about "deducting it from your account," gathered the remains of the recording crystal, and swam away.
Only then did the Sword Saint answer: "I should go practice my sword."
Subsequently, ignoring the tears in the beauty's eyes, he left resolutely.
However, after he left, the Puchi returned.
"Spanning decades, what beautiful love! I am truly deeply moved!" The Puchi wiped non-existent eyes and tears with its tentacles and came to Sephiria's side, its thoughts carrying a bit of envy. "I also wish I had the Sword Saint's charm, making various empresses and princesses fall for me. What a pity, I am just an ordinary Puchi."
"Va... rious...?" Catching the key word in Lin Jun's speech, Sephiria's already unhappy face turned even gloomier.
The Puchi exclaimed in surprise: "Ah! Did you not know? Blame me for talking too much."
Seeing the Puchi was about to leave, Sephiria grabbed it: "Wait, Elwyn's King, please tell me more!"
The Puchi pushed its tentacle out: "This is not good, it's Elwyn's privacy after all—"
"King who grants the mermaids sanctuary, the mermaids are also willing to become your assistance. And right now, I hope you can satisfy this little bit of curiosity of mine; this is incredibly important to me!" Submitting to the Puchi was already the mermaids' only future, and Sephiria was also clear about this. At this moment, she was merely bringing her oath of allegiance forward a little bit.
"Since it is the important wish of a cute subordinate..." Lin Jun was moved by her sincerity. Controlling the Puchi, he pulled out another recording crystal from his body, and then sighed again. "Sephiria, I support you, but you also know, this is the Sword Saint's private matter after all—sigh, do your best!"
The Puchi left, and Sephiria couldn't wait to find a random mushroom house to squeeze into, activating the recording crystal.
In the footage, the Sword Saint Puchi was held like a doll in the arms of an elf with pointed ears, without the slightest resistance. The scenes constantly changed; halfway through, the Sword Saint Puchi even slept in the same bed with that elf!
And this was only the beginning. Not long after, the Sword Saint Puchi fell into the arms of another pink-haired human. That human groped Elwyn all over. Although the Puchi had no expression, Sephiria felt that her lover seemed to be enjoying the other party's kneading!
The worst part was that there were even scenes of these two women playing with the Sword Saint Puchi together.
After a long time, the stored images inside finally finished playing, and the recording crystal dimmed down.
Dimming down along with it was Sephiria's heart.
Clenching the crystal tightly between her hands, Sephiria's face twisted terrifyingly.
"You are mine... Elwyn... This time, I will definitely have you!"
On the other side, Lin Jun was still sorting out other recording crystals.
He took out a crystal that recorded Norris pulling and tugging with several little mermaids, added the note "For Karen," and nodded his mushroom cap in satisfaction after finishing all this.
Being the Boss was truly not easy. Even during the intervals of war, he had to break his heart working for the happiness of his subordinates.
After handling the main business, Lin Jun finally shifted his attention to other minor details—the Empire's side seemed to be making moves.
It wasn't a large-scale attack, but quietly doing something internally.
Because the slime's prevention and control of mycelium were highly effective, Lin Jun's control over the Empire's intelligence had dropped by several levels.
Lin Jun was also working hard to penetrate the Empire's interior by digging mycelial network tunnels. However, under the evil slime's devouring, although they weren't entirely wiped out, the remaining parts were scattered here and there, unable to connect into a complete intelligence network, and he consistently failed to penetrate the heavily guarded area near the capital.
Through those sporadic fungal mat recon missions, Lin Jun discovered that the Empire was recently concentrating resources from all over to the capital, Duskfall Keep. He didn't know if they were preparing some sort of building or setting up a large-scale magical ritual.
Piggy was recently trying to revert to primitive methods—obtaining intelligence by bribing Empire traitors.
Unfortunately, the plan started late. Currently, only a few low-level personnel had been recruited, making it impossible to obtain any important intelligence.
Regarding this, Lin Jun could only ask Piggy to strengthen the defenses of the border cities adjacent to the Empire. As for the rest, it would have to wait until Keith was dealt with.
Finally, there was the Jida Divine Weapon.
Cutting it up for transport was truly a move of desperation.
After all, given the size of the Jida Divine Weapon, it couldn't squeeze into either the rifts or the underground city entrances.
Fortunately, the interior of the Jida Divine Weapon was connected by mycelium, so cutting it open and reassembling it was no problem at all.
The only issue was the outer shell.
Unlike mycelium which could be glued together directly through [Regeneration], the outer shell was formed by slowly secreting and solidifying absorbed surrounding matter via a skill. Therefore, restoring it after being cut open required time, and right now there was no time given for it to recover.
However, in the end, it was merely some extra gaps on the outer shell. For an ultra-long-range unit, it wasn't a major problem.
(End of Chapter)
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