Chapter 166: 166 Continue Forward

"Raise shields!" a sharp shout rang through the forest.

Solaline, with 【Truth Vision】 active, served as the main mine-sweeper, constantly scanning back and forth for suspicious traces on the ground.

Some mushrooms growing in the forest caused her no small trouble in distinguishing threats, so she failed to notice the Fat Pujis hiding in the trees in time.

The Church warriors were indeed a unit of tacit understanding and time-tested coordination.

Moments after Solaline issued her command, giant shields bearing holy emblems interlocked above everyone's heads, forming a dome.

Yet it was still one step too late; the golden light of 【Holy Barrier】 had not fully sealed when three Fat Pujis were about to drop down.

Fifteen, at the very rear of the formation, rushed out before Solaline even spoke, stepping onto an adventurer's shoulder to leap into midair.

Slash!

All three Fat Pujis were sliced in two.

However, before the crowd below could rejoice, they saw more Pujis burst out from the bodies of the Fat Pujis.

Some of these Pujis were caught in the slash and killed, others were blocked by the barrier, but a portion still fell into the midst of the crowd.

People near where the Pujis landed instinctively tried to dodge, block, or counterattack, only triggering even more chaos.

One warrior tried to slap away a Puji falling straight at him with his bracer, but at the moment of contact—

Boom!

Blinding green light mixed with viscous corrosive slurry erupted violently! Like a signal, more explosions rose and fell in succession throughout the crowd.

"Ugh—aaah!"

"My eyes!"

"Shields! Raise shields! Protect the casters!"

Screams, explosions, and the sizzling sound of corrosion instantly filled the surroundings.

The adventurers were in complete disarray, yet the Church warriors displayed organizational capability far surpassing that of the adventurers.

Even with Pujis exploding nearby and corrosive slime splashing onto their bodies, they continued to uphold 【Holy Barrier】, blocking most of the shockwaves and debris from above; otherwise, the situation would have been even worse.

Of course, this also had to do with their superior equipment, which could withstand more damage.

The Puji assault did not end there; taking advantage of the humans' chaotic formation, Pujis that had dug tunnels ahead of time to lie in ambush in the forest flanked them from both sides.

"Hold the formation! Don't panic!" a Church squad leader hoarsely roared.

However, while he could command his own Church warriors, he could not command the adventurers.

Amid the chaos, although most adventurers stood together with the Church warriors, some still chose to act on their own cleverness.

Some relied on their speed to flee back toward their entry point, while others used methods like invisibility, attempting to hide aside and wait out the crisis.

Such tactics might indeed have allowed them to escape safely in other situations, but here with Lin Jun, they were clearly the wrong choices.

Under multiple surveillance perspectives, ordinary adventurers could never achieve true concealment within the dungeon.

Those who fled were captured by Pujis lying in wait as soon as they ran back to the first floor.

As for those who turned invisible or disguised themselves, a squad of Pujis would casually pass through their location, and then they truly vanished.

Sixth-tier Mental Magic—Mass Pain Immunity!

As Eding acted, the previously somewhat chaotic formation quickly stabilized.

But Eding's expression was terribly grim.

The moment the ambush occurred, Eding had created several illusions around himself to disperse the attack, but those Pujis ignored the illusions completely, focusing solely on attacking his real body.

Eding had to scramble awkwardly into the Church formation, relying on a group of Gold and Silver ranks to protect him.

This feeling of being tied hand and foot made him somewhat regret following them down.

Fortunately, the crisis did not last long—Fifteen began exerting himself.

Realizing he had been tricked by the Pujis, Fifteen, in shame and anger, finally displayed his true strength.

Empowered by 【Wandering Body Step】 at nearly max level, Fifteen moved through the forest like a gust of wind; wherever he passed, Pujis fell in rows like wheat reaped by a sickle. The self-destructing Pujis initially mixed into the formation caused him slight trouble, but after figuring out the trick, Fifteen stopped engaging up close, instead eliminating the Pujis from a distance with sword winds.

Nearly two hundred Pujis in the area were completely annihilated in less than eight minutes.

Honestly, this was slightly beyond Lin Jun's expectations.

Although he hadn't expected to cripple this squad in one go, Lin Jun had thought the Pujis could harass them for a bit longer; as it turned out, it took less than ten minutes...

"What's the situation?" Fifteen sheathed his sword and asked while adjusting his breathing.

After a brief silence, Solaline's voice responded, carrying a hint of exhaustion and gravity: "Preliminary count: one Church warrior dead, one critically injured. Adventurers... five missing, three dead, three critically injured."

She deactivated 【Truth Vision】 and rubbed her throbbing temples; the ground covered in Puji corpses greatly interfered with her vision, and with the skill active, everything looked like a blurry mess, so it was better turned off.

Solaline did not mention the lightly injured; those would recover quickly under the priests' healing, whereas "critically injured" referred to wounds that ordinary healing spells could not reverse.

Such as blindness, such as severed limbs...

For such critical injuries, there was still hope if, after leaving the dungeon, one could spend a fortune on special potions.

But with the squad still inside the dungeon, they were powerless to help.

"Damn it!" Fifteen cursed under his breath, his face gloomy, showing no sense of victory whatsoever.

He hadn't expected the losses to be so severe from merely the first engagement.

The insidiousness of those Pujis far exceeded expectations; especially the corrosive slime, which was nothing short of a disaster for adventurers lacking heavy armor protection.

He saw several warriors wounded by the corrosive slime, their flesh and blood a mess, even exposing bare white bone, receiving emergency treatment from the squad's priest.

Although the warriors strove to suppress their voices, their twisted faces betrayed their agony.

Eding had to promptly cast another Mass Pain Immunity.

"The problem now is," Eding walked over, frowning as he asked, "what do we do with these casualties?"

"We cannot leave them behind. On their own, they likely won't make it out of this dungeon." After a moment's thought, Fifteen judged, "Since the Pujis have already employed a combination of traps and ambushes, there is a high probability of ambushes on the return route as well."

"Then... split off some people to escort them out?" Eding, knowing it was improper, still hesitantly asked.

"How many?" Solaline bluntly pointed out the crux of the matter. "If we send too many, our pushing combat power will be insufficient; if we send too few, won't encountering an ambush just be serving themselves up as food for the Pujis?"

"What now?"

"The team's core combat power has not truly been lost, and the wounded are few; carrying them will not slow our overall advance."

Soralin's voice was steady and powerful, but her tone immediately shifted, revealing a Solemnity never seen before.

"However, Pujji's displayed combat power far exceeds our previous estimates.

For the exploration ahead, we must proceed step by step, with extreme caution.

If the situation changes, we must retreat decisively, then formulate a new plan once we are back."

As she spoke, Soralin's eyes remained fixed on Fifteen.

In Soralin's view, Aiden was merely a mercenary working for wages; retreating would not cost him a cent, so naturally he would have no objections.

What she feared was that Fifteen, the strongest among them, would refuse to cooperate when the time came.

Fifteen clearly understood her meaning and yielded the floor: "You are the commander; your word is final."

Aiden, standing nearby, nodded in agreement.

In reality, Soralin did not know Aiden well enough.

If she intended to retreat, Aiden would not only have no objections but would even wholeheartedly approve...

(End of this chapter)