This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

In the icy river, the Qis trembled under violent shocks.

One puji after another detonated like suicide sea-mines, the resulting shockwaves transmitting layer upon layer down to the riverbed.

Even though the Qis had curled its core deep into the bottom silt, it could still feel the relentless pressure.

Its “heart” was too fragile — it could only rely on other insects forming a meat-shield to protect it, trudging downstream in the turbid water and trying to evade the endless bombardment.

The cost was heavy.

One insect after another had its innards shattered by the shockwaves; the mangled corpses floated up only to be torn into finer bits by subsequent explosions, ultimately becoming purple stains drifting on the river’s surface.

Too many… these mushrooms were far more numerous than it remembered!

Even if the Qis’s army remained intact, it couldn’t match the pujis now.

Realizing the gulf in strength, and that the mushrooms had ambushed it as if they truly wanted to eat it, terror filled the Qis’s heart — it was convinced these mushrooms meant to devour it!

Lin Jun, of course, really wanted to eat it!

And he knew just how hard that would be.

On the river surface, scout pujis kept locked onto the Qis’s core, while several reconnaissance pujis flew upstream and downstream trying to locate any of its split bodies.

Even after flying far, they found no sign of separate bodies.

This made Lin Jun suspect the Qis might have hidden its split parts away from the river channel — that would expand the search area drastically.

This awkward situation stemmed mainly from inadequate preparation.

Had he known the Qis’s location earlier and understood its [Split] ability, Lin Jun would have first located the Qis’s escape routes and then struck simultaneously, leaving it nowhere to run.

Alas, in this unexpected encounter, securing the “heart” was only possible because the Qis hadn’t expected Lin Jun to arrive and had been caught off guard.

The pujis kept plunging into the water to pressure the Qis’s core, preventing a full escape, while intentionally not driving it to certain death — they were stalling to find the split bodies.

But the rapid consumption of pujis imposed a time limit on Lin Jun’s search.

After all, this wasn’t beside the Mycelium Carpet; pujis couldn’t be replenished on the spot.

When more than half the pujis had been expended, Lin Jun finally gave up the search.

“Kill it!”

At Lin Jun’s order, Little Pig immediately changed tactics. Even more pujis dove into the river like dumplings, and the detonations sent tremors that made the feet of those standing on the ice numb. The already fragile ice began to crack widely; clashing floes scraped with a grating sound.

Then the explosions ceased.

For the first time, Little Pig herself struck. She led an exclusive squad of Bloodsucking Pujis into the icy water, wrapping them in lines of blood that formed sharp blood cones as they plunged toward the riverbed.

Cutting through floating mycelial debris and insect remains, and guided by Lin Jun’s positioning, Little Pig rapidly closed on the Qis’s trapped core.

“Mushrooms!”

The Qis seemed enraged; the last insects shielding it charged toward Little Pig.

The sudden mental shout surprised Louisa a little, but it didn’t interfere with her action.

The blood-lines encasing the Bloodsucking Pujis snapped outward; as the pujis spun at high speed, they shredded into countless hair-thin but razor-sharp blood blades that radiated in all directions.

In an instant, the whole river stretch looked as if an invisible razor had sliced through it — countless slashes appeared everywhere.

This was Little Pig’s signature Blood-Blade Storm using Bloodsucking Pujis.

(Anyway, Lin Jun had tried it before — the thrown blood-lines were about finger-thick and could smack someone right in the face…)

After the skill, the area was instantly cleared — even the Qis’s heart was no exception.

Naturally, using it underwater came at a cost: elite Bloodsucking Pujis that had not been pre-equipped with [Underwater Adaptation] lost their blood-wraps and were quickly overwhelmed by the water; their short legs paddled uselessly a few times before they stopped moving.

Paying that price was a gamble on whether the Qis would react in time.

Unfortunately, Lin Jun’s panel showed that after its mental shout, the Qis activated a skill and split.

Seeing the Qis split-body Little Pig hauled up, Lin Jun wasn’t too disappointed.

His preparations had been insufficient anyway, and this run yielded far more than expected.

Besides the Qis’s existing skills, the waterborne Qis carried many aquatic abilities; salvaging the carcasses would yield decomposable resources.

A split-body had been obtained — now Lin Jun would have two split parts of his own later.

The Toothed Beast also carried a special trait, [Giant], which might be useful for creating some unique pujis.

Besides the Qis, the redeemed tribal warriors who had fallen into the water were another harvest.

The Qis had killed them but not yet digested them; many were wrapped in fleshy tumors on the riverbed that had been ruptured by the explosions, so the surface now truly lay full of corpses.

Fortunately the nearby tribe folk had fled; Lin Jun could quietly take these unlucky ones to where they ought to go.

But none of that was the greatest gain — the largest prize was…

…

“What… what are you here to do?” Behind the triple palisade, a half-demon trembled as he asked the Puji Fort force that had suddenly come before their tribe.

After Norris cleared the Qis forces, he left a small detachment to cut up the Toothed Beast and Evil Eye carcasses and transport them in batches.

Then, with pujis swarming, he led most of his men to the Broken Blade tribe.

“We are fellow northerners. We’re here to protect you from the Qis threat! It’s bitterly cold outside — may we come in?” the Lizardman interpreter beside Norris shouted.

Norris was still learning the demon tongue and wasn’t fluent; his external orders came directly from the Mycelial Network, so for diplomacy he temporarily leaned on the stiff persona of a composed Lizardman.

The Broken Blade chief came to the fence and looked at the Lizardmen who, strangely, wore only minimal furs yet appeared unbothered by the cold. “Cold, huh…”

At that moment a familiar voice came from the ranks of the pujis and Lizardmen outside.

“Chief — they really are here to destroy the Qis. I was rescued by them! Those Qis that chased out of the water were all killed!” Broga — whom Norris had kindly supported — called out loudly, emphasizing the last sentence.

Gurgle—

“Open… open the gate!”

Hearing the chief order the gate opened, many warriors in the tribe exhaled in relief.

Norris only sent some Lizardmen and pujis inside; he still had to move on to the next tribe.

Among the tribes were chiefs accustomed to bossing others around who initially refused Norris entry.

But after Norris privately communicated earnestly with one such chief — with a yellow-covered book and open words — the chief finally understood the greater cause, warmly accepted the Puji Fort army, and even entrusted Norris with the tribe’s defense to show his trust!

In an instant, relations between several tribes and the Puji Fort upgraded from occasional neighbors to close military allies.

…

At the western end of the Luo River, in an unknowing corner, a dozen or so aquatic insects escorted the split Qis heart that had crawled ashore and slipped into the sea like lost dogs.

“Once again… everything… lost…”