Chapter 26: 26 The Fifth Floor Is Very Dangerous Recently

Unlike the frantic haste of his departure, Dylan's return journey took a full month and more.

Along the way, he wrapped his face in bandages, looking like a mummy.

He avoided populated areas as much as possible, resupplying only at relay stations or in villages.

Finally back in Silent Wind Town, he didn't linger; after hastily buying supplies, he entered the dungeon alone.

He didn't go to the tavern to gather information; the dungeon had been the same for ten thousand years—what changes could two months possibly bring?

Inside the dungeon, he followed routes with few resources and few monsters, relatively safe paths; his purpose this time wasn't to make money.

He wanted to take another look at that swamp.

He didn't know what he was expecting; whenever he thought of hiding, the scene he had seen in the treasure room back then would float into his mind.

He had considered that this might be some kind of mental suggestion after being parasitized, and that returning would lead to him being completely devoured.

But in the end, he still decided to come and see; if he died because of it... then so be it.

Walking on the blue-stone corridor between the fourth and fifth floors, dozens of meters high, his shoe heels clicked against the steps, the echo bouncing back and forth between the walls on both sides.

The footsteps weren't just his; a group of adventurers appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

As they passed each other, both sides gripped their weapons tighter.

One can never be too cautious; all kinds of people are in the dungeon.

"Friend, wait."

Dylan turned around; the one who called out to him was a youth in leather armor with a curved dagger at his waist.

Looking at a young face barely twenty, yet able to come up from the fifth floor, he was a guy with enviable talent.

"What is it?"

While speaking, Dylan took two more steps down to increase the distance.

Seeing his movement, the youth merely offered a friendly reminder:

"I don't know if you're aware, but something strange has happened on the fifth floor recently; everyone hasn't figured out the situation yet, so it's best not to take risks."

"Something strange? Did the parasitic trees go berserk?"

"Not that; it's the Pujis."

A group of mutated Pujis has occupied most of the floor; their habits are unknown, but it's said that people have already died inside.

We were trying to bypass the Pujis to get to the cave, but we found that Pujis were everywhere on the passable paths, so we turned back."

The youth seemed to be giving a genuine friendly warning; Dylan nodded slightly:

"Thanks."

Then he continued walking down; he had come specifically to find the Pujis.

"Tch, a weirdo who hides and covers up; it's a waste of your kindness, Vera, no one believes you anyway."

Before Dylan had gone far, the female archer in the youth's party voiced her dissatisfaction with sarcasm.

"Alright, alright, this is normal; let's go too; we still need to check the situation on the other passage."

The youth's voice behind him gradually faded away.

Dylan actually had a good impression of such a warm-hearted guy—but his good impression probably wouldn't amount to much anyway.

As for the female archer's sarcasm, he had long passed the age of caring about such things.

There are three connected passages between the fourth and fifth floors; this one is close to the Poison Mist Lake.

Dylan drank the poison-resistance potion early on, but after coming out, he was dumbfounded.

The lake was still there, but where was the poison?

Before, green mist swirled around the entire lake; it was not only poisonous but also severely obstructed visibility.

Now, one could see clearly all the way to the distance.

Dylan saw several Pujis wandering near the lake in the distance, blocking the path to the cave just as the youth had said.

Speaking of which, the reason there was poison mist on this lake was because Green-Eyed Frogs lived here; over time, they spewed green poison mist that covered the entire lake area.

Dylan then noticed that with such good visibility, he couldn't see a single Green-Eyed Frog.

Only a few stray Acid Slimes and Water Spirits were visible.

What exactly happened here?

Continuing forward, Dylan felt somewhat uneasy in his heart.

Fortunately, the Pujis, just like before, ignored his passing, which made Dylan breathe a sigh of relief.

Passing through the Poison Mist Lake, which no longer had poison mist, Dylan walked toward the edge of the swamp.

He planned to bypass those parasitic trees and sneak into the treasure room to check the situation there.

However, upon arriving at the swamp, he saw a similar scene again.

The local monsters had vanished without a trace, replaced by Pujis wandering around...

The youth had told him that the Pujis occupied most of the floor, and he had thought the Pujis had integrated into the fifth floor's ecosystem.

Now it seemed they had simply killed off all the monsters that originally inhabited the place?

Thinking back, those Pujis could easily kill the parasitic trees, so it didn't seem impossible.

Finally arriving before that stone wall, something unexpected happened again—

The treasure room was gone!

It wasn't just closed again; the stone door and everything else had completely disappeared.

Dylan was certain he hadn't mistaken the location.

Just as he was at a loss, a voice popped up in his mind.

"What's up? Want to touch the treasure chest?"

————

Lin Jun had been quite worried lately.

His worry wasn't about the construction of the Mushroom Garden; everything on the fifth floor was proceeding according to plan.

The forest gnolls had now become mushroom gnolls, turning into puppets that, much like Pujis, obeyed Lin Jun's commands completely.

But in reality, Lin Jun wasn't very satisfied with these puppets.

Their combat power wasn't high, yet they consumed a lot of energy and still required meat intake.

In terms of cost-effectiveness, they were utterly outclassed by the Pujis.

Keeping them until now was purely for researching the 【Fusion Parasitism】 skill.

Now that the research was nearly complete, Lin Jun was considering whether to use them up in battle or simply bury them to serve as fertilizer.

The point that worried Lin Jun was that his relationship with humans had recently become somewhat strained.

When adventurers saw Pujis, they would either choose to take a detour or attack first; Lin Jun didn't have a habit of not fighting back...

And the source of all this was a bunch of idiotic adventurers who brought a girl along to dungeon-crawl.

Three Copper-rank adventurers with levels above 25 brought a novice female mage of only level 16 to explore the fifth floor, and they insisted on passing through the swamp area.

It was equivalent to someone wanting to come play an exploration game in Lin Jun's bedroom; naturally, he didn't agree.

He sent Pujis to block their path and even fired a shot at the side to let them recognize the gap in strength.

The three Copper-rank adventurers understood, but that novice mage didn't.

Believing in striking first, she chanted for a long time, finally squeezing out a Lightning Claw spell, and reached out to grab the nearby self-exploding Pujis.

Lin Jun truly didn't understand: why would a mage want to play melee?

Facing someone seeking death, Lin Jun always granted their wish.

Amidst the dazzling explosion, this beauty flew more than five meters into the air, and when she landed, she was already a lump of rotting flesh.

Originally, the matter would have ended there; Lin Jun didn't intend to pursue their trespassing into the swamp or the death of the innocent self-exploding Pujis.

Unexpectedly, one of the adventurers, streaming with tears, rushed over, looking as if he intended to seek revenge.

One of the other two hesitated for a moment before rushing over as well; the result was as expected—rotting flesh plus two.

When the Pujis looked at the last person, he decisively tore open a scroll, and his entire body vanished.

A teleportation scroll!?

I didn't expect such a thing actually existed.

Heaven and earth bear witness; Lin Jun had no intention of killing to silence witnesses; he had been acting in self-defense all along.

However, judging by the reactions of the adventurers afterward, the blame on his back was probably impossible to wash away.

He didn't know what it would eventually develop into.

A full-scale war?

Or abandon the area outside the swamp, lower his presence, and wait for the storm to pass?

But when he discovered that Dylan, the half-human half-mushroom, reappeared on the fifth floor, he immediately formed an idea.

Dylan's personal chapter has finally ended; he and his daughter are quite important, so I spent a bit more ink on them. Next, we return to the Mushroom Garden plot.

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(End of this chapter)