Chapter 21: Battle in the Swamp

Morning sunlight pierced through the wisteria curtains, weaving fragmented golden patterns on the oak floor.

The young lady curled up in the velvet cushion slept soundly.

"Mmm... so satisfying..."

Three distinct raps of a knocker woke the young lady from her sweet dream.

"Good morning, Young Lady," the butler Eric's voice sounded from outside the door, "the new magic teacher should arrive shortly; please prepare in advance."

Since Inanna was found, Eric had been ordered by the Duke to serve her exclusively, arranging her daily life while ensuring her safety.

As for the Duke himself, he was forced to stay at the border, unable to leave, due to the constant small-scale military harassment instigated by the Hermit Empire.

"Uncle Eric, I know, I'll be there in a moment."

Once the footsteps faded, Inanna stretched and climbed out of bed, beginning to groom herself.

By custom, the Duke's manor had dedicated maids to help the Young Lady dress, but since Inanna returned, she insisted on doing it herself.

Everyone speculated this was the Young Lady's increasing caution after betrayal, and the entire household deeply sympathized with Inanna's plight.

But in reality, it was not so.

Inanna reached her hand into her pink hair, touching the back of her head—there grew a very, very small pink mushroom cap, the same color as her hair.

Inanna told no one, neither about her experiences in the dungeon nor about this mushroom.

The former was due to Lin Jun's request; the latter, she herself did not know why she wanted to hide it.

Probably because if she spoke of it, everyone would surely try to remove this little mushroom cap, and she wanted to keep it.

After tying up her hair, Inanna came to the window, feeling the warmth of the sun.

"The weather is so nice. I wonder what Lin Jun is doing now; after I left, did he successfully slay a ground worm?"

————

Hahaha!

Yes, yes, blow them up, blow these disgusting things to pieces!

In the fifth layer of the swamp, a fierce war between Pujis and Parasitic Trees was in full swing.

Over a hundred light-armored Pujis, lacking shells but equipped with 【Evasion LV7】, were engaged in fierce firefights with swarms of Parasitic Trees.

These days, the more Lin Jun fought them, the more frustrated he became; the root cause was ultimately a matter of profit.

The skill 【Fusion Parasitism】 was good; it could parasitize any humanoid creature with flesh and blood.

Among the opposing team of Parasitic Trees, there was a small portion parasitizing jackal-wolves as stumps (the easiest type to deal with).

The problem with this skill is that there is no difference between level 1 and level 10!

This skill can only parasitize dying creatures, and its sole upgrade bonus is allowing parasitism on creatures that are not quite so near death.

One could say adding it is the same as not adding it; any creature meant to be parasitized would be captured by Lin Jun anyway, so he could beat them to whatever health point he wanted, needing this slight bonus?

Thus, regarding this skill, there was absolutely no gain.

【Entanglement】 similarly belonged to the category of "good to have, useless at high levels"; his own fighting relied on elegant bombardment, not primitive tactics like mycelial tentacles.

In the end, only 【Resilience】 was somewhat useful, making the mycelium tougher, naturally adding some defense to the Pujis and making the mycelial tentacles sturdier.

Useful, but truly not much.

For such meager gains, the losses incurred were huge...

These past few days, Lin Jun had encountered several high-level parasitized beings, each time causing him considerable losses.

Now, to Lin Jun, these Parasitic Trees were just a bunch of cockroaches; they looked disgusting, yet he had to swat them dead—after all, he still needed to seize their swamp.

One must admit, the swamp really suits mushrooms.

The humidity and temperature were both suitable; more importantly, the swamp soil was rich in mana!

This swamp existed precisely for the establishment of a mushroom garden; it only needed a little cleaning.

After today's battle, he would occupy half of the swamp area; the progress was gratifying.

Watching the Parasitic Trees turn to ash under the mushroom cannons, Lin Jun's main body deep in the occupied swamp area couldn't help but shake with satisfaction.

The Parasitic Trees seemed to be retreating under the Pujis' fierce assault.

Just as Lin Jun thought this round of battle was ending, a crazily spinning individual charged out from the Parasitic Tree formation.

Merely its entrance, with spinning roots, chopped two Parasitic Trees blocking its path into pieces.

【Blade Storm LV8】?!

The parasitized individual was actually level 45!

No way, buddy, you're a Gold-rank adventurer, yet you're still crashing on the fifth layer?

Isn't that embarrassing?

Actually, most melee skills used by Parasitic Trees were severely distorted, with greatly reduced power.

But Blade Storm clearly did not fall into this category.

Like a tornado, it charged into the Pujis' ranks, instantly shredding the surrounding Pujis into a sky full of mycelium.

And the Pujis' mushroom cannon fire was all intercepted by the high-speed spinning roots, causing only minor, painless wounds.

That was not all; a magical fluctuation surged from the Parasitic Tree formation, and two water elementals composed of muddy water, looking filthy, materialized in the swamp.

Summoning magic?!

This was only the second time Lin Jun had seen summoning magic; the last time was at the Balrog's, where he saw it summon a few puppets that seemed quite strong but ultimately proved of little use.

The summoner was hidden within the crowd of Parasitic Trees; it was impossible to tell which tree it was.

Damn it!

The two water elementals were only level 35, but their water flow attacks could wash away a large group of Pujis in one strike.

More critically, these things were summons; if they died, they could be summoned again. Was he supposed to use Pujis to drain the summoner's mana?

The sudden appearance of these two experts caught Lin Jun off guard, and the other Parasitic Trees began to counterattack as well.

Tsk.

Retreat!

A few Puji attacked the Water Elemental and the Blade Storm Parasitic Tree, drawing its attention while running to both flanks, luring it away.

The remaining Puji retreated at full speed.

Fortunately, the Parasitic Tree wasn't all that clever. After wiping out the Puji used as bait and finding no other Puji nearby, it returned to its slow-moving mode.

In the post-battle tally, Lin Jun found that of the hundred-plus Puji sent out, only around forty made it back, with half of the losses caused by that final sneak attack.

The worst part was that since they'd lost, there was no way to collect the Parasitic Tree's remains to replenish their expenditure.

It was foreseeable that the next offensive would have to be postponed.

Damn Parasitic Tree — it still has some heavy hitters it can bring out!

But it doesn't matter; the hidden cards are the real trump. Now that it's been revealed, there'll naturally be a way to counter it.

But Lin Jun also noticed a problem: although his Puji had a Dodge skill that let them easily avoid single-target attacks,

against wide-area attacks like Blade Storm or Water Flow Rush, it was basically useless.

Their little short legs couldn't run fast either, so they were easily caught up to and finished off.

If only there were an Acceleration skill — like the one the Floor 10 Werewolves had, the most plain and unadorned yet most practical 【Acceleration】.

His own 【Rolling Charge】 didn't count — curling into a ball required preparation, reverting to original form also took time, and it was inconvenient to use other skills to attack while rolling.

He wondered if this floor had any good Acceleration skill. While replenishing the Puji stock, he might as well explore around a bit.

(End of chapter)