"The magic power here is so dense. This place is practically a natural gathering ground for magic power."
"Oliver, keep it down."
Mark raised a hand to signal his companions beside him to be quiet, then cautiously poked his head out and looked below. Amid the many adorable Puchis, several Big Guy Puchis had somehow appeared, each one an enlarged version of a Puchi.
Their bodies were nearly three meters tall. Their formerly round, plump bodies had become packed with muscle, and their limbs were thick and powerful. Every step they took produced a heavy thud. Even from more than ten meters above, Mark could feel the oppressive aura radiating from them.
"What the hell are those things?"
Oliver, who had also poked his head out, saw the Big Guy Puchis below. His handsome face instantly twisted slightly. If those female adventurers who thought Puchis were cute and wanted to take them home as pets saw Big Guy Puchis mutated into such forms,
who knew whether they would still want to keep Puchis as pets.
"What the hell are those things?"
Lucifer, who was also peeking down, was startled by the suddenly appearing Big Guy Puchis. Although he knew that as the Dungeon's level had risen over the past few days, the Fungus Lord had also reached level five, doubling the daily enhancement it provided him.
Now, the Fungus Lord's enhancement alone gave Lucifer an additional 20 points of Primordial Power every day.
But Lucifer had not expected the Fungus Lord to create Big Guy Puchis on the Fourth Layer. As for the Mushroom Forest, Lucifer naturally knew about it. After all, the Dungeon was part of his body, and the environment had changed so drastically.
If Lucifer claimed he did not know, he would simply be playing dumb.
However, regarding his first creation—a monster created using the Dungeon's sole special resource at its birth and possessing limitless potential—Lucifer had always allowed the Fungus Lord to develop and evolve freely.
[Name: Muscle Puchi] [Level: lv4] [Skills: Mycelial Muscles lv4, Mycelial Network lv4, Colossal Strength lv3, Combat Instinct lv2, Spore Fist lv2] [Description: A Puchi born solely for battle. It has abandoned its instinct to reproduce and expand the Mycelial Network. It exists purely to protect the Mycelial Network. Battle, slaughter, and muscles are its entire purpose.]
"Level four, and a Puchi born specifically for battle."
Looking at Muscle Puchi's panel, Lucifer could only say that the Fungus Lord's Adaptive Evolution ability was far too powerful. As a racial consciousness, the Fungus Lord could evolve different abilities and offspring according to different environments and the needs of its population.
Perhaps in the future, the Fungus Lord might evolve into something like the legendary Disaster Zerg.
"Keep it up. I believe in you."
In the deepest room of the Fifth Layer, Lucifer's true body, the giant ball of light, glanced at the Puchis spraying spores around the room and gave them lavish praise.
"So, what do we do? Retreat?"
On the cliff more than ten meters above the bottom of the sinkhole, Ireland looked at the three Big Guy Puchis patrolling below. With their team's strength, defeating those three Mutant Puchis would require them to pay a certain price.
Not to mention the hundreds of ordinary Puchis nearby. If they were surrounded, things would become dangerous.
"Let's rest here for a day first, then investigate the situation further."
Mark was unwilling to leave just like that. His eyes remained fixed on the countless mushrooms growing wildly throughout the sinkhole below. Even from more than ten meters away, he could spot nearly a hundred Mana Mushrooms at a glance.
Those were all gold coins!
And those were only the ones they could see. There were even more Mana Mushrooms in places beyond their sight. If they could wipe out all the monsters below and harvest every Mana Mushroom before taking them out of the Dungeon,
then with that enormous fortune, he could pay experts to instruct him, buy alchemy potions, and break through to become an intermediate knight in one stroke.
"I'll go find a safe campsite first."
Vinnie's voice came from the shadows. She also agreed with staying behind. The countless Mana Mushrooms below were practically gold coins, and no one would be willing to give up such a vast fortune.
A few minutes later.
Vinnie appeared before the group again. She had found a safe campsite nearby, where a five- or six-meter-deep hole had been dug into the wall. There had originally been a Gnome camp inside, but Vinnie had casually cleared it out.
The four of them arrived at the campsite Vinnie had mentioned. After throwing all the Gnome corpses into the deepest part of the cave, Mark and Ireland began setting up the tents and preparing food respectively.
"I'll set up some warning magic."
Seeing that he had nothing to do, Oliver called Vinnie over to set traps and warning magic at the cave entrance. That way, none of the four would need to keep watch at night, and everyone could get proper rest to recover the energy spent today.
Half an hour later.
Oliver and Vinnie returned together, and the tents had already been set up. A rich fragrance filled the air. Milky-white mushroom and meat soup churned continuously in the boiling iron pot. Seeing the two approach, Ireland handed them grilled jerky and bread.
The four gathered around the fire and began enjoying the meal. Since entering the Dungeon, this was the first time they had had the chance to rest and eat.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Within the Venomous Swamp outside the Mushroom Forest, waves of adventurers continued pressing onward. The strongest and best-prepared among them advanced deeper into the Fourth Layer. Some gained rewards along the way, while others died.
Under Lucifer's watch, the luckiest adventurer team did not head toward the Mushroom Forest. Instead, they went directly toward the center of the Fourth Layer, where the layer guardian, the Giant Tree Guardian, stood.
Their luck really was good. Of course, they died quite quickly too.
Before they could even approach the central area, the giant tree that had grown on the Fourth Layer for who knew how many years—its canopy large enough to cover half the Fourth Layer—had already effortlessly killed several adventurers. Aerial roots dangling from its trunk descended like bloodthirsty venomous snakes.
Using the increasingly dense poisonous mist as cover, they silently looped around the adventurers' necks from above. Their natural barbs pierced the major arteries and frantically drained their blood.
That intruding team of adventurers barely managed any resistance before they all became little hanging dolls suspended in midair. Their bodies' essence and souls were absorbed by the Dungeon. As for the husks that remained, Lucifer deliberately left them behind.
Once more and more adventurers died on the Fourth Layer in the future, one day the dangling aerial roots would be covered with adventurer corpses hanging like little dolls.
Primordial Power +136.
"Such a huge increase in Primordial Power all at once—it's enough to level up!"
Looking at the prompt that had suddenly appeared on the panel, Lucifer immediately directed his mental power toward the source of the Primordial Power. In the outer area of the Fourth Layer, the stone boat carrying a large number of adventurers had already sunk into the swamp.
Most of the adventurers aboard had sunk into the swamp with the boat. Only seven or eight managed to escape, led by an adventurer named Norton.
"Interesting."
Lucifer glanced at Norton and the others, who were leaving directly rather than continuing deeper, and seemed to understand something.
"Level up!"
Level lv6 (0/700)
Before you continue