The dwarf laughed heartily, as if he had already completed the subjugation quest.
After finishing his laughter, he looked Vera up and down, then glanced at the two sisters waiting for Vera in the distance.
"Young man, if you can make it to this floor, you must have some skill. Silver rank?"
Vera nodded, already guessing what he was about to say.
"How about it? Want to join us? That big black mushroom's special scales are good stuff, not to mention there's a bounty on it. Once we complete the subjugation, the four gold-ranked adventurers here will take half of all the proceeds, and the silver-ranked will take the other half. You definitely won't lose out!"
"I can't make that decision alone—I need to discuss it with my teammates first," Vera said with a smile.
The dwarf nodded, showing understanding. He had only mentioned it casually anyway; whether Vera joined or not didn't matter much to him.
After returning to the two sisters, Vera repeated everything he had learned.
"What do you think?"
Philin said incredulously, "How could there be a magical beast on the fifth floor that even gold-ranked adventurers can't defeat?"
"Sister, it might be a floor boss," Phiyin said quietly from the side.
So-called floor bosses refer to special existences that exceed the normal strength of their floor level, like the old bat. However, this was actually an unofficial term. After all, not every floor had such magical beasts—each one was a special case.
"I don't think it's necessary. We don't understand that big black mushroom. Since even gold-ranked adventurers can't defeat it, it must be quite dangerous. There's no need to complicate things."
Their goal for this trip was to reach the sixth floor and collect paralytic fluid from flower demons. Most of it would be turned in for quest completion, while Phiyin would keep a small portion for crafting items.
Phiyin nodded slightly, agreeing with her sister's assessment.
The sisters' thoughts weren't unexpected to Vera—he felt the same way.
He went back to politely decline the dwarf's offer, and the three of them hurried toward the sixth floor while it was still before nightfall. They even waved goodbye to the dwarf before leaving.
Vera didn't know this would be the last time he'd see that group.
---
Magical radiance flickered in a corner of the mushroom garden.
A large group of adventurers was ganging up on a black giant puffshroom here.
*Bang!*
A mushroom punch sent one person flying. The silver-ranked adventurer landed with both arms broken, letting out agonized screams.
But this didn't affect the other adventurers' actions in the slightest.
Taking advantage of the gap when Little Black threw her punch, two adventurers holding large shields pressed forward, trying to restrain her with their skills.
Little Black shoulder-checked one of them aside and once again opened up some distance.
After the adventurers regrouped their formation, they steadily closed in again.
Little Black tried to retreat, but several ice walls appeared behind her.
She seemed to be in a passive situation.
This was actually Lin Jun's problem.
Lin Jun had long since noticed this group of adventurers sleeping in the stairwell, but wasn't clear on what they intended to do. Since there had been no movement, Lin Jun had focused most of his attention on the scouts instead.
Only when combat erupted in the mushroom garden did Lin Jun discover they had already started fighting with Little Black.
This was completely beyond Lin Jun's expectations.
What were these humans thinking?
He had been constantly advising her before, and Little Black had finally learned not to attack humans. Though she had somehow developed a bit of a collecting habit, she could actually be placated with just empty glass bottles. Her little nest was now full of such "junk."
But this group was actually taking the initiative to come looking for death?
If it were just one or two coming to die, that would be fine—it was normal for some people to die in the dungeon. But twenty-two people! And four of them gold-ranked!
If they all disappeared together, it would definitely cause a huge uproar above!
Lin Jun had no choice but to hold back.
So the moment he discovered the battle, he kept telling Little Black to pull her punches.
Though Little Black was unhappy, she was still obedient enough. Otherwise, that silver-ranked adventurer should have exploded from that earlier punch.
Lin Jun had already dispatched puffshrooms to this area—in just seven more minutes they could surround the area. Then he could beat all these adventurers into serious injuries, strip them bare, and throw them out. The adventurers should learn their lesson after that.
That's what Lin Jun had originally planned...
Originally, he could have spared them like this...
[Charge LV6]
A shield-bearing adventurer charged forward. Little Black kicked straight at him, sending the adventurer rolling away with his shield, but he didn't take much substantial damage.
Because she had to hold back her strength, Little Black couldn't quite control how much force to use.
After another two minutes of entanglement, the dwarf finally found an opportunity and struck with his axe at the big black mushroom's foot.
[Earthbind Slash LV5]
"Hahaha, let's see you run now!"
Chains formed from earth elements wrapped around Little Black. They weren't particularly strong—Little Black could break free through brute force in half a second.
But that half second was enough.
[Piercing Strike LV7]
Sixth-tier magic—Falling Rocks.
Seventh-tier magic—Lightning Strike.
...
Four or five different attacks arrived in an instant, striking Little Black.
"These scales are really tough! Anyone willing to sell me their share of the scales? I guarantee a fair price."
The dwarf moved his arms while making offers for his new armor materials.
In his view, the big black mushroom was just a bit troublesome in terms of speed. Though its scale defense was high, after taking that hit just now, it should be dead or at least crippled.
Next, they just needed to retreat in time to avoid being surrounded by the puffshrooms.
Indeed, Little Black had taken damage.
[HP -120]
Three scales on her right shoulder had shattered.
It wasn't a very serious injury, but [Mimicry] had been dispelled, and Little Black was angry.
"What... what is this?"
"Humanoid?"
After the smoke cleared, what appeared before all the adventurers was a furious dragonkin...
*It's over!*
Lin Jun wanted to cover his nonexistent eyes.
It had taken the adventurers three minutes to find an opportunity to break through her defense.
Little Black spread her wings, charged into the crowd with full force, and killed all the silver-ranked adventurers in just two minutes.
Under absolute speed, each adventurer was isolated, having to face Little Black's assault alone.
Two minutes later, in the center of the corpse-strewn battlefield, the four gold-ranked adventurers huddled together, already drenched in sweat.
"What the hell is going on? Weren't we fighting a puffshroom? What is this thing?"
"Idiot! Can't you tell? It's mimicry!"
"This kind of monster was mimicking a puffshroom?"
"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead..."
Amid the commotion, Lin Jun's puffshrooms finally arrived at the scene.
[Mushroom Cannon LV8] x N
...
Little Black landed on the ground, stomped furiously on a corpse to vent her anger, then flew back to the mushroom house looking aggrieved.
This was because he had made her hold back, resulting in her getting injured.
*Sigh—*
He'd send over some new flavors later to appease her...
What should he do next?
How would the humans react?
Fortunately, he was no longer in the same defenseless state as when he first arrived on the fifth floor.
In any case, he should produce another batch of combat puffshrooms first.
---
One day later.
"This time went really smoothly."
Philin sighed as they returned from the sixth floor.
"Once we turn in this quest, we won't have to be so tight on money for a while. Vera, your sword should get some maintenance too."
"Vera?" Seeing that Vera didn't respond, Philin turned to look at him curiously.
Vera was crouched on the ground, digging a piece of scrap metal out of the dirt.
It seemed to be a fragment that had broken off from some battle axe...
Another day of envying those tentacle monster senior.
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