Chapter 59: 59 Testing Melee Models

Beside the Poison Lake, the wasteland was as silent as the world of the dead, save for the occasional splash from the lake.

The ground beneath their feet was dark green, and the air was thick with a foul, sour stench.

"This smell is too terrible," the Mage said, covering his nose and casting a Purification Spell on the group. "When the Green-Eyed Frogs were here, there was plenty of green poison fog, but at least it didn't have this pungent odor."

Wells rubbed his nose; he thought it was fine, smelling only a bit worse than the sour wine at the Rotten Willow Tavern.

What concerned him more was the splashing sound in the lake.

They did not take the Mushroom Path; the area nearby was pitch black, the range of the Illumination Spell was limited, and they could not see clearly into the lake.

"What do you think lives in the lake now? Should we catch one to see if it has any value?"

Wells' suggestion made the group somewhat tempted; things they had never seen before always represented more opportunities.

However, the captain, Ralph, vetoed it: "I'm afraid we won't have time."

"What do you mean we won't have time?" Wells didn't understand the captain's meaning.

"You might not have noticed, but in a few minutes we'll be walking barefoot."

Wells lifted his foot with a confused expression...

"What the hell!?"

Those standard adventurer thick-soled boots had already lost half their soles!

The others soon discovered their own soles were in the same state.

"Now I know why my feet feel slippery!"

The worst off was Jenny; her shoes were the thinnest.

Jenny extended both hands, grabbing Wells' sleeve and pleading.

"Wells, will you carry me on your back?"

Her feet shuffled back and forth beneath her priest robes, as if her soles would truly be injured in a moment.

"But I'm still carrying these," Wells said, patting the two bags on his back with his hand, which were filled with monster corpses.

"Please, Wells, you're the strongest among us. Let them split the two bags between them. Don't worry, I'll help too; I won't let you get tired!"

As she spoke, she waved the small staff in her hand.

"I'll carry her." Seeing that Wells was about to agree, Ralph suddenly stepped between the two.

"Tsk." Wells frowned, said nothing, and simply moved aside.

Jenny glanced at Wells with a hint of regret, then climbed onto the captain's back.

"Then it's trouble for you, Captain Ralph."

As she spoke, she waved the small staff in her hand; a flash of gray-white light passed, and Ralph, who had been struggling, suddenly felt much lighter, carrying Jenny and setting off first.

"Let's hurry and get out of this lake's range."

Everyone quickly followed.

Only the Mage was somewhat puzzled—it seemed unnecessary to use Potential Excitation here?

————

Lin Jun's attention had long since shifted away from this Level 42 human killer.

A human killer; what did that have to do with a mushroom like him?

Was it more important than his latest mass-produced warrior, Puji?

【Dodge LV7】 + 【Scale Armor LV5】 + 【Acceleration LV6】 + 【Blade Whip LV5】 + 【Mycelium Reorganization LV3】

Actually, the consumption of the five skills was slightly high, but now that the family business had grown, a little extravagance was acceptable.

Although the turret Pujis were powerful and highly versatile.

After every battle, the ground was a mess, and it took a long time for the mycelial carpet to recover.

Within their own territory, it was more suitable to let those with less destructive power, the melee units, handle many tasks.

This was also the reason Lin Jun had not added self-destruct to the melee Pujis.

The main responsibility of these melee Pujis was to deal with unruly adventurers within the fifth layer.

If they truly encountered an enemy they couldn't handle, it wouldn't be too late to deploy the large-scale mushroom cannon troops.

If they still couldn't suppress it... Lin Jun still had Seeing Xiao Hei...

This batch of Pujis, positioned as security, focused on agile dodging.

The Blade Whip was brought by the Dragon Beasts during the Demon Tide Period; the main representative was the Blade-Tail Whip Dragon.

This skill allowed the Pujis to generate blades on their mycelial tentacles; sweeping them forward carried considerable power.

Unfortunately, the mycelial tentacles couldn't extend from 2 meters to 10 meters like those Dragon Beast tails.

The attack range of the tentacles was limited to 4 meters.

The first batch, freshly produced, consisted of four Long-Whip Pujis.

Their combat capabilities remain to be tested.

Since the hypothetical enemy was an adventurer.

Then the most suitable person to help with the test was—

"Boss, what did you say?"

Dylan, who had just been snoring loudly, was dragged to a small clearing.

He stared blankly at the fine steel longsword Lin Jun had thoughtfully brought him, then at the sixteen tentacles of the four Pujis opposite, where the scales and blades gleamed with cold light.

A shiver ran from head to toe: "Boss, I don't think I can do it..."

"Don't speak such discouraging words; aren't you a Bai Yin Adventurer? An elite who escaped death even from a Demon Clan squad!"

"That was because I could escape, not because I could fight..." Dylan wore a bitter face. "Boss, didn't you say you were letting me take a vacation?"

"I'm doing this for your own good, Dylan," Lin Jun advised earnestly. "More exercise leads to better health; if you keep indulging in the special nutrition every day, you'll become useless in the long run. Just consider it a chance to stretch your muscles; don't worry, there will be no danger."

"Really no danger?"

"Guaranteed you won't die!"

"Wait..."

Before Dilan could continue to make excuses, two of the Pujis received the attack order and charged up.

"Damn!"

【Block LV4】

As soon as Dilan held his sword horizontally across his chest, a tentacle blade stabbed forward, clashing with the long sword and making a "clang" sound.

The next second, two more tentacle blades whipped in from the side; Dilan rolled on the ground to dodge, leaving two deep scratches on the big mushroom behind him.

Two against one, and with long reach versus short reach, a pure melee fighter like Dilan could barely find a way to get close, forced to keep dodging.

After dodging for a while, he seemed to think of a way.

When a tentacle blade flew in again, Dilan actually didn't retreat; instead, he timed it right, stepped forward, and slashed at the middle of the tentacle.

But the moment the sword struck, Dilan knew things were bad; the long sword failed to fully cleave the tentacle covered in scales, and the tentacle blade used that point as a fulcrum, whipping around on the spot to strike at his back.

【Spin Slash LV5】

In desperation, Dilan used a combat skill; not only did it sever the tentacle still half-attached, but it also顺势 counter-sliced, knocking down the tentacle blade behind him, barely neutralizing the attack.

But Dilan couldn't feel proud.

He had only cut off one tentacle; the two Pujis still had seven more waiting for him to deal with...

"This... how can this be fought!"

Dilan simply gave up on attacking and kept circling the big mushroom.

Surprisingly, this method actually worked; whenever a Pujii whipped its blade, it would get stuck in the big mushroom, allowing Dilan to run far away in the meantime.

Continuing further was pointless, so Lin Jun stopped tormenting Dilan.

"Alright, that's enough. Thanks for your hard work, Dilan."

Seeing the two Pujis behind him stop their little short legs from chasing, Dilan顺势 leaned against the mushroom beside him, slumping down and wiping sweat from his face while panting.

Even though the boss said he wouldn't die, what if he got a few cuts on his body? It would kill his old bones with pain.

"Dilan, you're no good at this. It's only two of them. Later, I'll give you an item to boost your strength."

Lin Jun was quite satisfied with this test.

Lin Jun hadn't done any micro-management; the Pujis had simply fought according to instinct after receiving orders.

Although Dilan was considered weak among Bai Yin Adventurers, being suppressed by just two was still somewhat beyond expectations; he had thought at least three would be needed.

Of course, it might be related to Dilan not taking it fully seriously; without life-or-death pressure, failing to unleash full strength was normal.

Besides, adventurers would coordinate with each other, so awkward situations like Dilan being unable to hit the Pujii's main body wouldn't occur.

Next time, he would try it on an adventurer squad that didn't follow the rules.

(End of this chapter)