Chapter 29: 29 Extra Information

Under several giant gray mushrooms by the edge of the Poison Mist Lake, three young adventurers lay hidden beneath the mushroom caps, quietly observing the few mutated Pujis in the distance.

Since the Pujis took over the floor, the spores they emitted have spawned a vast number of blue-gray mushrooms of varying sizes.

According to experience, although these mushrooms are produced by Pujis' spores, they have no direct connection to the Pujis themselves.

The only link is that new Pujis may occasionally spawn where the mushrooms grow well.

These few large mushrooms now have wide, low caps, making them very suitable for concealment.

Yet the air between their breaths was filled with the rotting stench seeping from the soil; there must have been monster corpses here before.

The girl carrying a short bow, Feiling, rubbed her nose; she felt as if the stench had almost robbed her of her sense of smell.

"Vera, stop dawdling. Try it and you'll know if it works!"

"Fine."

Continuing to observe seemed pointless; Vera set down the two large cloth bags on her back, and from one of them she drew out a dead two-headed python.

This snake had a head at each end, one black and one white, while its body was black and white striped; it was a common monster on the second floor of the dungeon.

The valuable materials like fangs and poison sacs had already been removed; now it was just a lump of low-value snake meat.

Vera rolled the python into a bundle, hoisted it onto her shoulder, assumed a throwing stance, and softly called out the name of the other girl:

"Feiyin."

"Okay."

A barely audible reply came from behind Vera.

Raising the two-palm-long small staff in her hand, Feiyin cast a buff spell on Vera.

【Strength Amplification】

Vera immediately felt the two-headed python in her hands become much lighter.

She hefted it twice, then hurled it out.

The snake corpse spread out mid-air before crashing heavily near the Pujis.

Boom—

Startled, a Puji immediately fired a shot.

The mushroom cannon, now at LV8, struck the middle of the snake's body; this medium-sized monster from the second floor was instantly blown into two pieces.

The power of that strike made the people under the mushrooms break out in cold sweat.

No wonder many had died at the hands of these Pujis, including experts capable of reaching the sixth or seventh floors.

Just one attack was this powerful, and yet monsters of this caliber acted in groups!

It was said that even if a squad of Pujis was defeated, they would simply be chased down by the main force arriving behind them.

It was no wonder most Silver-rank adventurers crowded into taverns drinking; one after another, they waited for a reliable guide before descending.

After confirming the snake was dead, two of the Pujis with tentacles each lifted a half of the snake corpse onto their mushroom caps.

Then, as if their hunt was complete, the whole group of Pujis headed toward the swamp area.

Just like in the guide, using a monster corpse could lure the Pujis away!

The key was that the valuable materials had already been taken; the remaining corpse was worthless, and the only trouble was carrying it down.

"It actually worked..."

Feiling's small mouth hung slightly open; she still found it hard to believe Vera had gotten lucky enough to buy a genuine first-hand guide.

Vera herself was very excited.

"I knew it was real!

Feiling, Feiyin, let's not rush to the cave to find Tie Xinlan yet.

Let's go check out that extra information first!"

Feiling saw no reason to refuse and nodded in agreement.

The group followed the path toward a spot on the edge of the Goblin Forest.

However, they failed to notice that under another large mushroom farther away, two people had been watching them for a long time.

"They seem to have a guide. Should we attack them directly?"

The speaker was the half-elf Nasar.

With only half an ear left on his left side, sunken cheeks, and heavy dark circles under his eyes, the handsome contours inherited from his elven heritage were still faintly visible, though he looked utterly hollowed out by wine and women.

His companion was a burly dwarf with steel teeth and cold eyes.

As the axe blade flashed with cold light, the mushroom cap above their heads slid off diagonally; Grongba straightened up, stepping on the fallen stalk.

"No rush. We can kill them anytime. Let's see what they're up to before dealing with them."

Various figures wandered in the shadows of the dungeon; since there were adventurers hunting monsters, it naturally bred evil-doers who specialized in ambushing and killing other adventurers for money; such people were called Raiders.

Nasar and Grongba were precisely Raiders disguised as adventurers.

Their combat levels were clearly LV34 and LV36, yet they lingered on the fourth and fifth floors year-round, searching for suitable prey.

The overly youthful faces of Vera's squad made the two set their sights on them.

Moreover, with the Pujis on the fifth floor causing such a commotion recently, three more young deaths there would hardly arouse suspicion.

Nasar took a packet of powder from his bag and sprinkled it over the two of them.

This was a medicinal powder capable of blocking common detection skills, a tool specifically designed to counter adventurers.

Meanwhile, Nasar himself used a detection skill to trail far behind Vera's group.

Relying on this technique, the two of them had repeatedly succeeded in their ambushes.

————

At the edge of the Goblin Forest lay a small cave, its entrance less than two meters high.

Hidden beneath iron ferns and snake vines, it blended seamlessly with the surrounding rock walls, making it very concealed.

The three of Vera were now inside the cave, staring blankly at Pujiji sitting upright in the center.

The blank stare was because this Pujiji was simply too large...

Its height nearly reached the cave ceiling, and its width was no less than its height, completely overturning their perception of what a Pujiji looked like.

Merely sitting there, it occupied one-third of the cave's space.

Fling nudged Vera with her shoulder and asked in a low voice:

"Is this the Pujiji mentioned in the guide, the one that can exchange for various random items?"

Vera really wanted to say he had no idea, but saying that would surely get him beaten.

"Probably. Let me try."

Saying this, Vera took down another sack from his back.

He took out the corpse of a canine monster from inside, stepped forward two cautious paces, and placed it before the fat Pujiji.

The motionless fat Pujiji finally reacted upon seeing the monster corpse; six tentacles made of mycelium extended from its back.

Vera's figure shot backward to his teammates' side, warily drawing his curved blade, though this time he was overthinking it.

The tentacles coiled around the corpse and shoved it into its hollow body.

Afterwards, the fat Pujiji continued rummaging inside itself with its tentacles for a while, finally flinging out an exquisite small round shield.

The carved shield rolled "clang clang clang" all the way to the group's feet.

The three of them looked at each other for a while, seeing expressions of disbelief in each other's eyes.

It wasn't too strange for some high-intelligence monsters to communicate or even trade to a certain extent, but this was a Pujiji!

"This shield can't belong to another adventurer, can it..."

Fling thought of the many adventurers who had recently died on the fifth floor; surely this small round shield couldn't have been crafted by the Pujiji themselves?

"Then we won't take it?" Vera looked a bit reluctant; the small shield looked to be of good quality, and even if he didn't use it, he could sell it for quite a bit of money.

Who knew Fling suddenly became excited:

"Not take it? Why not take it?

Quick, quick, let's go up and kill a few more monsters to drag down!

The good things on this Pujiji are definitely limited; before others discover it, we must exchange as much as possible!"

Saying this, she eagerly bent down to pick up the small shield.

Before her hand even touched the shield, Vera beside her kicked her shoulder; a crossbow bolt grazed Fling's cheek and pinned into the ground, leaving a tiny wound.

"LOOTERS!!!!!"

(End of this chapter)