Chapter 146

Wow!

All that bulk… was it a cocoon, not a nest?

Lin Jun had never seen a demon beast that cocooned before, in this world.

What will the Qianshu Fly become after cocooning is complete?

Will it grow larger, or transform into another form?

Lin Jun didn't know.

He only knew that these hundreds of Pukji were done for—because the 【Stun】 effect on the giant fly below had just vanished.

The fly detached from the rock spire and flew toward the bat Pukji hanging beneath the mycelium platform, like a coiling dragon.

Pop—pop—

Though he felt it was futile, Lin Jun still ordered the Pukji to fire.

The mushroom cannons struck the giant insect's carapace—not entirely ineffective.

They could chip off tiny fragments of the shell, but compared to its thickness, it was negligible.

If these hundreds of Pukji could all hit the same spot simultaneously, they might still inflict meaningful damage.

But such precision—hard enough with a stationary target, let alone a moving one.

Seeing Xiao Hei's acidic breath was effective, but the volume was too small; the damage inflicted on this giant was truly limited.

The lv65 Qianshu Fly didn't even use any attack skills—just drifted back and forth twice.

Wherever it passed, the mycelium platforms shattered; any Pukji it touched died instantly, as if crushed by a mud truck.

It was clear it was still furious about its cocoon being disturbed.

After slaughtering most of the Pukji, it climbed upward, destroying the remaining mycelium platforms.

The Pukji guarding the fork in the road were, unsurprisingly, wiped out along the way.

The destruction lasted half a day; by the time it returned to its original position, Lin Jun's frontline had been pushed back to where it was four days ago.

The remaining Pukji below were being slaughtered by smaller Qianshu Flies, and the mycelium carpets the giant ignored were being slowly cleared away.

In short, they were back to square one overnight…

Lin Jun took a moment to piece it together, finally understanding its behavior.

What Lin Jun originally thought were passages without giant flies were simply areas where the giants had cocooned.

Then, whether by producing them or merely summoning a batch of low-level flies, it had assigned them to bring it food.

The areas with only giant flies were those that hadn't begun cocooning yet.

In other words, almost certainly every area had a giant fly…

And you couldn't ignore the cocooned giants—because if you wiped out all its minions and left it without food, it wouldn't just sit there in its cocoon and starve to death, would it?

The previous one had exited 【Cocooning, Stun】 in just a few minutes.

Clearly, this cocooning was different from the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation of his past life, where it dissolved and reformed itself.

If so, didn't that mean he couldn't go down without fighting a lv60+ Qianshu Fly?

Lin Jun hated fighting giant insects most of all…

And what if, after killing one, another showed up?

The Qianshu Fly population was clearly large.

Tsk!

If only this were aerial combat—the terrain restricted them too much.

Seeing Xiao Hei should still be fine against Qianshu Flies—his 【Strong Acid Breath】 had a counter-effect, and his speed and agility gave him an unbeatable advantage.

Did he really have to risk sending Seeing Xiao Hei down?

…

Did everything now require Seeing Xiao Hei's intervention?

Were Pukji really that inconvenient?

In the end, Lin Jun chose not to send Seeing Xiao Hei down, but quietly increased the production of bat Pukji.

A week later, when the Pukji returned, their numbers had multiplied several times over!

A single layer of mycelium platform couldn't hold them all, and Lin Jun had no intention of cramming them together.

Instead, he organized them into five staggered frontlines.

The vanguard remained the cannon mushrooms, which advanced downward, clearing the low-level flies that had gradually repopulated over the past week.

Though some flies had gathered again, their numbers were nowhere near what they'd been at the start.

After losing fewer than eighty Pukji, the vanguard reclaimed the position where they'd previously been repelled.

Above the inverted rock spire, the giant fly was halfway wrapped in fresh silk—the Pukji, right before its eyes, mercilessly blasted the few low-level flies that approached.

The giant fly not yet in cocooning state had also seen this swarm of pests returning to harass it.

A shrill screech erupted from its mouth.

The giant fly tore through its half-woven cocoon and charged forward!

Though the vanguard fought back fiercely, just as before, the giant's carapace barely cracked—and nearly all hundred-plus Pukji were wiped out.

Lin Jun felt no emotion inside—it was exactly the loss he'd expected.

The giant fly continued upward, determined to smash every mycelium platform that had extended into its territory, just as last time.

But soon it entered a thick purple cloud of spores.

【Hallucinogenic Spores lv7】

The canyon terrain wasn't truly enclosed—the toxic mist would disperse easily.

But with enough Pukji and perfect timing, the effect could still be achieved briefly.

So... what about the effect?

In the poison mist, the great worm's vision was blocked; although it could still locate enemies via 【Vibration Perception】, Lin Jun had the Pujis enter a silent state after expelling all their spores at once.

The great worm could only dash about wildly, relying on luck to cause destruction.

Unfortunately, the lv65 Qianxu Mayfly was still too large in size; so many hallucinogenic spores failed to paralyze it.

However, it was not entirely ineffective; after breaking through the second line of defense, the great worm's movements slowed slightly.

Facing the advancing great worm, the Pujis on the third layer charged down to meet it under Lin Jun's command.

A simple yet efficient 【Self-Detonation】.

Countless fireworks bloomed upon the great worm's body.

After the small fireworks came the big ones; the mycelium platform on the fourth layer was especially thick because the Fatty Pujis sat upon it.

Several Bat Pujis lifted the Fatty Pujis into the air, and after aiming at the position, simply dropped them.

It was just like dropping a bomb; the tricky part was controlling the timing of its self-detonation.

Unlike a bomb that explodes upon impact, if a Puji died from a collision, it could no longer use 【Self-Detonation】.

A full ten Fatty Pujis.

The great worm's carapace had already been cracked in many places by the previous round of Bat swarms' self-detonations; facing the more powerful Fatty Pujis this time, its defense finally broke.

The outer shell of its head shattered, the interior was blasted into a bloody mess, and one Fatty Puji even exploded directly inside its mouth, blasting its mouthparts apart.

The great worm, which had originally been surging with momentum, instantly became unsteady, hovering in mid-air, neither rising nor falling, emitting wails.

Lin Jun had prepared a backup for the fifth line of defense, but now it seemed unnecessary.

A Bat Puji flew lightly to the head of the dazed great worm, its mycelial tentacles coiled around a full bottle of newly collected Acidic Breath Liquid.

There was no intention to save any; it was all poured onto the great worm's exposed head, now unprotected by its shell.

Accompanied by the "sizzle" of corrosion, the great worm's shrieking became even more agonizing.

However, this shrieking did not last long; under Lin Jun's gaze, the great worm's already meager health bar quickly reached zero.

The instant it hit zero, its wings stopped flapping, and its massive body crashed against the rugged stone wall before rolling down.

Haa—

Back then, an lv65 Flame Demon had been able to block Lin Jun's path.

Now, an lv65 giant flying insect had been beaten to death by him.

It was impossible not to feel a little proud.

But Lin Jun did not relax; the speed at which he spread the mycelial carpet below was even faster than before.

The corpses of those low-level Qianxu Mayflies from before were one thing, but he would by no means let this lv65 one be eaten by other monsters.

The lv60+ Qianxu Mayflies possessed an additional 【Cocooning】 skill compared to other lower-level Mayflies.

Lin Jun was extremely curious about what effect this thing had!

(End of Chapter)