Chapter 7: 7? A Divine Artifact?

Facing the flying fire mosquitoes, Lin Jun, who had lived alongside them for a long time, was completely unfazed.

Only when they flew within fifty meters did several slimes spit out digestive slime, drenching the unsuspecting fire mosquitoes.

The fire mosquitoes that crashed to the ground tried to shake off the slime and take flight again, but as the hallucinogenic mist enveloped them, they lost all ability to resist, crushed one by one by the slimes' carapaces.

But it wasn't over—more fire mosquitoes surged forward, and Lin Jun and the fire mosquitoes engaged in a bloody, frenzied battle at the tunnel entrance.

Facing fire mosquitoes numbering several times his own, even though the hallucinogenic spores blocked the lower space and restricted their attack directions, Lin Jun couldn't stop all enemies with slime alone.

Occasionally, a fire mosquito would break through the fire net, plunging its proboscis down to pierce a slime, only to be paralyzed by the hallucinogenic spores on the ground.

"Ice Blade! Ice Blade! Water Snake Spell!"

Inanna also had good news—she had finally killed several fire mosquitoes!

Even with eyes closed, the overwhelming swarm of fire mosquitoes could hit targets; their evasion skills had become nearly useless in this scenario.

The first time she cast a spell to kill a beast in real combat, she laughed with excitement; compared to this, her previous hunting expeditions weren't even real battles.

But her excitement ended abruptly—a fire mosquito that broke through the fire net stabbed and pinned one of her cannon slimes to the ground, making her shudder in fright.

What if that fire mosquito had charged at me just now…

"Lin Jun! What do we do now? So many slimes are dead!"

Only a dozen slimes dead? That's nothing.

A creature whose body still hid deep in the mushroom garden sighed at the poor psychological resilience of new recruits.

Still, Lin Jun offered his advice:

"Stop using attack spells. Use Light Spell."

Light Spell?

What use is that?

Inanna couldn't understand, but remembering her promise to obey orders, she cast the Light Spell anyway—it consumed little mana.

To Inanna's surprise, the moment the Light Spell appeared, the fire mosquito swarm erupted into chaos.

The front-line fire mosquitoes flailed like headless flies, colliding with those behind them, or plunging straight into the hallucinogenic mist below.

Inanna stared, dumbfounded.

"It actually works!" Lin Jun was stunned too.

"Wait—you didn't even know it would work?"

"I just didn't expect it to be this effective… Turn it off, then cast again!"

"Got it!"

The deep zone had been perpetually dark or dimly lit; seeing the fire mosquitoes had eyes, Lin Jun had tried the flashbang tactic—never expecting such outstanding results.

At this moment, the mushrooms' advantage of not relying on eyes became clear.

With the Light Spell's assistance, the already inferior fire mosquitoes grew even weaker, falling in droves.

When the fire mosquitoes could no longer densely crowd the tunnel entrance, these nearly mindless creatures finally remembered the taste of fear and scattered, vanishing into other tunnels.

Leaving behind an empty fire mosquito cave and a high-temperature pond teeming with larvae.

"Finally… it's over."

Inanna plopped down on the ground.

Even though they'd held the advantage, she'd cast multiple attack spells in succession, then over twenty Light Spells in one go—she was utterly exhausted, her mana nearly depleted.

Yet though her body was tired, having participated firsthand in such a "grand scene" left Inanna in a state of exhilaration.

"Lin Jun, what's next?"

"Next? Next, of course, is collecting the spoils!"

The twenty ox-horse slimes, who had stayed at the rear and not fought, began their work—using their tentacles to pack the fire mosquito corpses into their bodies.

The number matched estimates; the ox-horse slimes needed only two trips. After Lin Jun decomposed these fire mosquitoes, his heat resistance should level up again.

As for this fire mosquito cave, Lin Jun never considered expanding the mushroom garden here.

This cave connected to too many tunnels, crisscrossing everywhere—impossible to defend.

The mushroom garden was Lin Jun's carefully chosen territory, with only four tunnels on one side—perfect for hiding and growing.

As for the white fire mosquito larvae in the pond, Lin Jun ordered the cannon slimes to expend all remaining mana into the water, turning the larvae into floating debris.

"These are the spoils?"

Watching the transported mosquito corpses, Inanna felt they differed from her imagined spoils by a bit.

"What else would you expect, Young Lady? Do you think defeating beasts yields swords and gold coins?"

Surely you don't expect to rip open their bellies and find treasure inside…

"Not necessarily—there might be something valuable in that pond."

"The pond?"

The pond, still floating with shredded flesh, continued steaming—but what was heating it?

Underground magma?

Unlikely—the demon Flame Demon's territory was far away, and the surrounding environment showed no heat.

Lin Jun suspected something inside emitted continuous heat.

But now the problem arose—

He couldn't swim.

The slimes wouldn't dissolve in water, but after immersion, they'd float helplessly, swollen and motionless.

The fire mosquito larvae had the 【Aquatic Adaptation】 skill, but retrieving and decomposing them would be needed to gain the skill and create new slime variants.

While Lin Jun was still pondering a solution, Inanna had already dived headfirst into the pond to search for treasure.

Only then did Lin Jun remember she had Level 6 Aquatic Adaptation.

Second-generation scions are just awesome...

"Lin Jun! Look what I found!"

Inanna climbed out of the water pool, the Water Snake Technique behind her coiling around a fragment emitting an orange glow, constantly radiating heat and evaporating the moisture around it.

The Water Snake Technique couldn't hold it for long, so Inanna tossed the fragment onto the ground beside the water pool.

"Do you know what this is?"

Lin Jun originally didn't know, but this thing actually has a panel?

As far as Lin Jun knew, he had never seen a panel on an inanimate object before!

【Artifact: Sun Stone (Fragment)】

???

What the heck? Even swarming Level 20 mosquitoes drop artifacts; was the monster drop system not designed properly?

There's no description other than the name; is that because it's just a fragment?

Anyway, putting it away to study later is definitely the right move.

"Lin Jun?"

"Uh, how would I know? But it looks somewhat useful; we can take it back to keep the mushrooms warm."

A beast of burden named Pujiji wrapped the fragment in mud to form a large ball and then carried it away; Inanna had no objections. She was working here for that A-grade Magic Crystal in the first place, so the spoils naturally belonged to Lin Jun; she was just curious.

While Lin Jun and Inanna were happily embarking on a grand expedition here, another group on the surface was losing their minds over Inanna.

(End of Chapter)