Chapter 122

"My lord! You must not go in, my lord!"

Two adventurers blocked the path before Solalin and the other church warriors, and behind the adventurers lay a luminous, dazzling mushroom forest.

They had been hired to guide these church personnel, but their contract never said the journey's end would be a rebirth!

Enter the fifth-layer mushroom forest?

What joke is this? They'd never heard of anyone entering and coming out alive!

The beautiful mushroom forest before them was no different from death's own home in their eyes.

If you want to die, just hang yourself with a rope—why drag us along?

"My lord, if you insist on going in, we have no choice but to abandon this mission here."

Seeing the two adventurers so resistant, Main turned to Solalin. "What do we do?"

"Listen to them," said Solalin, her right eye glowing with an arc of silver light.

Seeing the church personnel no longer insisted on entering, the two adventurers immediately sighed in relief.

Main, however, looked at Solalin with mild surprise—she had agreed so readily, unlike her usual demeanor.

【Truth Vision】

The world split into countless color blocks on the retina—a power that distinguished the traces of all things.

The black of vampires and other undead, the pale yellow or milky white of humans, the light green of elves, the brown of dwarves—all monsters had their own colors…

Though individual variations existed, and some strange lifeforms bore unique hues of their own.

But Solalin had never seen a color like the one she witnessed after entering the dungeon—Chaos.

Within the viscous veins of the mycelial carpet, countless colors churned chaotically, blending into this unusual patchwork.

She didn't know what this color meant, but it filled her with deep oppression.

More startling was that since entering the dungeon, all mycelia and Pukiji had appeared as the same "Chaos" in her 【Truth Vision】.

Normally, even individuals of the same monster species showed subtle differences—not uniform color like this.

She didn't know if "Chaos" was inherently this way, or if every mushroom in the dungeon was a single organism.

From gathered intelligence, the latter seemed far more likely.

Entering the dungeon felt like stepping into the belly of some colossal beast; to say she wasn't unnerved would be a lie.

But duty compelled her—she had assembled other squads with no results, so she had to come down herself to confirm the demon's whereabouts.

Thus, when the two adventurers advised her against entering the mushroom forest, which appeared entirely in chaotic colors to her, she readily agreed.

"Let's move on to the next level," Solalin said, expressionless.

She no longer expected to find that demon here; after this trip, she'd write a report to the Archbishop on the Violet Crystal Dungeon.

——

Lin Jun watched contentedly as the church warriors, guided by the adventurers, bypassed the mushroom forest and swamp zone, completely unaware that Solalin, the squad leader, had already decided to file a private report on him.

External affairs were settled—it was time to handle internal affairs.

I'm talking to you—Huang Pishu!

In the mushroom forest, Pukiji slammed the Huang Pishu onto the ground, while around them stood Blackie, freshly awakened and grumpy, and Norris, temporarily released from Shi Laimu Prison for one day to provide translation.

【My lord, I behaved well in the secret chamber—why bring me out?】

The Holy Scripture, aware of what was coming, tried hard to appear obedient, but Lin Jun knew exactly what it was—faking compliance was useless.

Facing the Huang Pishu, Lin Jun rattled off a list of figures:

"Two vampire attacks, two hundred sixty-seven Pukiji lost, over one-quarter of the mycelial carpet destroyed, seven mushroom trees toppled.

To contain you, we must constantly assign four elite Pukiji and thirty regular Pukiji as guards—not to mention this time you drew the attention of the Holy Church.

I have one question: wouldn't it be more cost-effective to just fire you?"

Norris, kneeling before the Huang Pishu, faithfully repeated his boss's words—he'd later have to read aloud the book's written replies in his mind.

His boss said he could have a day off afterward—he planned to spend it all sleeping; splitting every two hours was torture for a slime…

【Um… what does "fire" mean?】

A tentacle swept beneath the mushroom cap, and the Huang Pishu instantly understood.

【My lord, I'm a loyal member of the Mushroom Garden!】

【No guards needed—just toss me into any stone stump like before.】

【I love the Mushroom Garden! Whoever steals me, I'll charm them into bringing me back!】

【Why fire me?】

If the Huang Pishu knew emoticons, it would've used them all right now.

Just reading these words, Norris wondered if his boss was being a bit heartless.

"Alright, I'll give you a chance—tell me what value you bring to the Mushroom Garden."

【?】

What value?

As a Holy Scripture, people either craved it or feared it—no one ever asked this.

Seeing the Huang Pishu remain silent, Pukiji waved a tentacle and called over Blackie.

【I—I can warn you! I can sense outsiders from far away!】

"How far?"

【Even from inside the staircase!】

That's roughly one-third the size of the fifth layer—indeed far, far beyond the adventurers' scouting spells.

But—

"Then it's useless…"

【???】

Xiao Hei's paw had already reached out.

【I, I can also boost people's attributes!】

"Boost a few times and go mad?"

【I can help you control others!】

Lin Jun thought of his 【Fusion Parasitism】 skill and had Xiao Hei pick up the Yellow-Clad Book...

Norris, who was responsible for translation, was already trembling; so the thing he had silently pitied in his heart just now was actually a terrifying evil book?

And the boss seemed to look down on these abilities...?

【No, I have so many functions, why is it not working!?】

"They all feel useless. I could have just left you to gather dust, but since you keep bringing trouble, I can only say goodbye."

【C-couldn't you just throw me out directly?】

"Oh? And let you spill everything about the Mushroom Garden?"

【The Dragonkin can only tear my pages, they can't destroy the whole book! Doing this only makes me suffer for nothing!】

"Try it then; trying costs nothing, and it's not me who feels the pain. Xiao Hei—"

Feeling the dragon scales scrape against the pages, the Yellow-Clad Book suddenly burst into laughter in the face of danger.

【Hahahaha】

Rrrrip—

Xiao Hei tore off a page, which quickly turned to ash and vanished.

【Ah, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain】

【Why do you ask why I laughed!】

Rrrrip—

【Aaaaaah, wuuuuu】

【Stop, stop, I'll say it myself】

Only then did Lin Jun have Xiao Hei pause, to see what last words this fellow had.

【The Amethyst Dungeon is in peril】

Seeing Xiao Hei reaching out again, the Yellow-Clad Book hurriedly blurted out the remaining half of the sentence.

【Has a long-term rift already appeared in the dungeon?】

【This is a dangerous omen; if you don't do something, your Mushroom Garden will be in danger!】

Oh?

Really something there?

Lin Jun, who hadn't expected any gain, became interested; he hadn't mentioned the Slimes or the rifts to the Yellow-Clad Book, unless its perception was even greater than it initially claimed, allowing it to sense the location of the sixth-layer rift across two tiers.

Puji took the Yellow-Clad Book from Xiao Hei's obedient paws and placed it back on the ground.

"Continue, I'm listening."

(End of this chapter)