Chapter 34: 34 Encirclement

At the base of the fourth and fifth flights of stairs.

The rising bonfire burned quietly, its flickering light illuminating the cross-sections of the surrounding circular stone steps.

Inigo and his panther teammate Milo were resting against the wall.

The original plan to reach the fifth floor in half a day ended up taking a full day and a half.

The reason was simple—they were lost.

They had thought their memory from two years ago would be enough to navigate easily, so they hadn't bought a guide map.

Who would have thought that upon actually arriving at the dungeon, their memory wasn't as clear as they remembered?

After wandering around for half a day, they were quite exhausted by now.

They could only rest for the time being.

They didn't choose to take turns keeping watch; instead, they rested simultaneously with great confidence.

First, this was inside the stairwell, a safe zone where monsters couldn't enter.

Second, the innate senses and alertness of the beastmen would allow them to wake up immediately if any adventurers approached.

Just like now, two very faint "pupu" sounds made Inigo, who had already fallen asleep, perk up his ears.

He didn't rush to move; instead, he slightly lifted his tiger eyes to a slit, aiming at the source of the sound.

A mutated Pujiji was standing at the entrance—that was a position monsters absolutely could not reach.

Seemingly not expecting to run into them, the Pujiji stood motionless at the entrance.

After a while, it quietly retreated, stretching its pair of tiny short legs as much as possible with every step, moving slowly, and this time not even making a "pupu" sound.

Seeing the Pujiji was about to truly retreat back to the fifth floor, Inigo hadn't even stood up yet when the panther moved first.

Like a bolt of black lightning, in the blink of an eye, Milo had returned to the bonfire holding half a Pujiji in each hand.

Throwing the two halves of the Pujiji onto the ground, Milo showed no trace of pride on his face; instead, he frowned.

"No wonder the Guild released this personally; this quest probably isn't simple..."

Inigo also nodded in agreement, looking at the cross-section of the Pujiji cut open on the ground and said:

"It ignores the dungeon's 'rules,' shows obvious signs of high intelligence, and its structure clearly indicates it has undergone significant mutation."

"Should we go back first to prepare more thoroughly and then return?"

What Milo actually meant was to recruit one or two more Gold-rank adventurers to come along.

After the team's healer and support died in the Archipelago Mist, they were now left with only two damage dealers.

It belonged to a quite unhealthy team structure.

They had just returned to Silent Wind Town in disgrace, hadn't had time to gather any information, and then saw this quest.

They originally thought that the fifth floor, a relatively simple tier, having an A-rank quest posted must be a loophole.

Two Gold-rank adventurers should be able to handle it easily even without support.

But now, monsters walking into safe zones, something that defied common sense, had happened.

Milo felt this quest would probably be very tricky.

He was a bit inclined to back out.

Inigo stared at the bonfire, pondering for a short while, and finally kicked the Pujiji on the ground, crushing it into mush.

"We've come this far, let's continue forward; these Walking Mushrooms are just a bit strange, not a major threat."

If they went back now, he feared being laughed to death by those who knew him, but just in case, he added a sentence.

"If we do discover there is danger, we can retreat then; can't two of us run even if we can't fight?"

Inigo's confidence wasn't unfounded; as a feline among the beastmen, both he and Milo possessed speed-related skills.

Even if there was danger, it would be too strange if they couldn't escape even when fleeing at full speed.

This was, after all, still the fifth floor.

Hearing this, Milo didn't think there was any problem and nodded, indicating agreement.

Now that they had rested enough, the two extinguished the fire and entered the fifth floor.

"Come to think of it, was the fifth floor this dark before?"

Looking around, only some mushrooms emitted a faint glow; not a single Firefly Grass was to be seen.

"I don't think so..."

Fortunately, both of them had night vision, so the darkness didn't affect them much.

According to the quest requirements, they needed to investigate the entire floor, with a specific indication to focus on checking the swamp area.

Inigo decided to start with the other three areas first; this way, they could roughly judge the quest's difficulty before deciding whether to enter the swamp.

However, after the quest had been underway for half a day, both of their expressions became strange.

They had already visited the cave and the Poison Mist Swamp, yet they hadn't seen a single Pujiji.

If not for seeing a Slime along the way, Inigo would have suspected this floor had been cleared out...

—

What are these two beastmen doing?

Not only did they catch the Pujiji that had secretly snuck up to the fourth floor, but now they are just strolling back and forth here.

Lin Jun, as usual, had moved all the Pujiji away in advance to avoid meeting these high-level adventurers.

But looking at the situation now, could it be that they are coming for him?

Under Lin Jun's surveillance, after the two left the cave, they didn't go to the forest as he had expected, but headed straight for the swamp.

Tsk, troublesome.

Now he had no choice but to stop them; the swamp area was his bottom line.

—

A single mushroom cannonball struck the ground before the two orcs, splashing filthy water all over them.

Inigo watched the ten Pujis that had appeared; after one attack, there was no further action for the moment.

Could this mean... intimidation?

Is the intelligence of these mushrooms perhaps a bit too high?

Inigo looked at Milo, finding the other man staring back at him, waiting for his decision.

The attack power of these walking mushrooms was indeed formidable; if struck, even they would be injured.

But if they missed, it would be meaningless.

A mere ten walking mushrooms...

Inigo gave a signal to his companion, and the leopard-man understood.

The next second, both activated their acceleration skills simultaneously, charging in from the left and right sides together.

The Pujis reacted swiftly, launching an attack the moment the two moved.

But the two orcs lowered their stances and skillfully dodged several mushroom cannonballs.

Soon, Inigo and Milo had charged into the ranks of the Pujis.

Milo was a worshipper of primal strength, relying on his pair of leopard claws to tear apart several Pujis in succession.

Inigo drew a blood-red long blade from behind, capable even of cleaving the magic spheres fired by the mushroom cannonballs.

The ten Pujis were quickly wiped out completely.

Milo instinctively wanted to lick his claws, then suddenly remembered he had killed Pujis; there was no blood on his claws, only filthy water, so he retracted his tongue in time.

"As expected of an A-rank mission; these walking mushrooms actually have organization and can coordinate."

"They are still just a group of mushrooms, though."

Inigo sheathed his blade and prepared to advance deeper into the swamp, but he stopped again the moment he took a step.

"Milo, do you feel like the surroundings have become brighter?"

"Now that you mention it, indeed..."

The two looked around; the edges of their vision were filled with a faint glow that merged into one, growing brighter and closer...

The expressions of Inigo and Milo had completely darkened.

It was Pujis; countless glowing Pujis had surrounded them.

Milo swallowed his saliva with difficulty: "This... how many are there?"

"Three hundred? Five hundred? Or more?" Inigo took a deep breath and drew the blood-red long blade once more. "Uncountable, but prepare to break through..."

(End of this chapter)