Hero

Pairs of green eyes stared at Linden.

Thirteen Werewolves, the weakest at LV26 (juvenile), the strongest at LV42.

Those stupid dogs looked ready to vent their anger over letting their prey escape on him.

Most of the mutts had the [Acceleration] skill. If he turned and ran, he probably would not get away.

Fortunately, Linden had not planned on running anyway.

Super Puji, transform!

He shrank into a ball.

[Rolling Charge LV5]

This was a byproduct of acquiring the [Chitin Shell] skill. He had extracted it from Rolling Beetles day after day, and in the end, its level had reached LV5 before the shell did.

This skill, which had barely made its presence known in the Mushroom Garden, had finally gotten its moment to shine.

Linden rolled straight toward the stairway to the Ninth Floor.

The forty Pujis behind him did not sit idle either. Their Mushroom Cannons unleashed a furious barrage ahead.

The dogs were nimble, easily dodging such straightforward attacks. Only one unlucky fellow got hit, losing a paw to an explosion.

But Linden had already achieved his goal. The Mushroom Cannons had successfully cleared a path.

One gray-furred Werewolf refused to believe it. Running on all fours through the bombardment, it charged in and used Claw Strike on Linden.

[Evasion LV6]

The Puji ball made a small hop, rolling right over the dog's face before leaping past him and plunging into the stairway.

Safe!

The Werewolf that had been struck crashed hard to the ground. Before it could get back up, seven or eight Mushroom Cannons hit it at once, turning it into a pile of mangled flesh.

He had made it through smoothly, but unfortunately, this Super Puji was the only one that could.

Not one of the Combat Pujis left behind had Rolling Charge equipped.

Seeing Linden enter the passage, the Werewolves all turned their attention to the remaining Pujis.

The facts proved that forty Pujis were indeed no match for twelve Werewolves in a frontal battle.

After injuring only three Werewolves, the Pujis were wiped out.

It was not as though Linden felt particularly bad about it.

He had brought these Pujis out to cover for his main body in the first place, even intending to use them as bait if necessary.

He just had not expected them to be wiped out after they had only crossed a single floor.

Hopefully, the rest of the journey would not be this unlucky...

Without the Pujis following him, Linden's Mycelium Network could no longer provide him with vision.

He could only observe his surroundings through [Airflow Perception] and [Mana Perception].

It was much less convenient.

The Ninth Floor was the most disgusting place Linden had ever seen.

Sarcomas covered every inch of it, and the Monsters were all flesh-and-blood abominations that looked like failed genetic engineering experiments.

Luckily, he was a Mushroom and had no sense of smell. Just looking at the place was enough to guess what it probably smelled like.

Still, the journey through the Ninth Floor went fairly smoothly.

After resting here for a while, the Adventurers successfully made their way up to the Eighth Floor.

But when Linden intended to go up as well, a small accident occurred.

[Native Monster level exceeds limit. Passage denied.]

The Panel that popped up on its own startled Linden. Worse still—the Air Wall had appeared!

There was clearly nothing there, but the closer he got to the stairs leading to the Eighth Floor, the greater the pressure ahead became, as if it were about to crush him apart.

Was this the Dungeon's "rule"?!

A Native Monster... so he was considered part of the Dungeon family too?

Unfortunately, this family was not warm at all.

No!

He still wanted to see the sun one more time!

How could there be a reincarnator as miserable as him?

[Hero, restriction lifted.]

Huh?

He had been preparing to try forcing his way through with Rolling Charge, but the Air Wall that had been squeezing him suddenly vanished.

What was this?

A Hero's privilege?

He took another two steps forward, and sure enough, the resistance was gone.

What kind of outdated operating program was this? Why was the interval between two evaluations so long?

That had scared him.

He had thought he would have to stay in the Dungeon for the rest of his life, playing a family game of you eat me, I eat you with the Monsters.

Thankfully, it had been a false alarm.

But why could he suddenly no longer sense Inanna's location?

On the Eighth Floor, Linden stood frozen as he stared at the four Magic Arrays on the ground.

Unlike the two floors below, the Eighth Floor actually had artificial building materials like stone bricks, as though he had entered some ancient structure.

But the problem was that aside from the four arrays on the ground, the Eighth Floor did not even have a path!

Could these be teleportation Magic Arrays?

If so, that would explain why he could not sense Inanna.

So what was he supposed to do now?

Which one should he choose?

Obviously—

He would choose none of them!

How could he risk having his main body step on Magic Arrays that looked so obviously like traps?!

It was disgusting, but he would settle down on the Ninth Floor for now, grow some Pujis, and then use [Familiar Control] to scout ahead.

Thinking this, Linden was about to return when he sensed a fluctuation of mana behind him.

The second Magic Array from the left lit up.

Three humans stepped out of the array.

[One-Character Slash]

[Wind Blade Art]

[Precision Shot]

Fuck!

After a brief moment of shock, the three Adventurers decisively launched attacks at the Monster before them.

At the same time, they loudly chattered among themselves in a language Linden could not understand.

Evade! Evade! Evade!

Linden dodged while trying to counterattack with Mushroom Cannons. He did not have a habit of taking hits without hitting back!

But being able to fight back was one thing; whether he could win was another.

All three Adventurers were above level forty, and they clearly knew how to coordinate...

Linden tried to retreat to the lower floor, only to find his path blocked by an Ice Wall.

He could shatter the Ice Wall, but the Adventurers' relentless attacks kept him desperately scrambling for his life.

[Skill upgraded: Evasion LV6 → LV7]

Dodging skills until Evasion leveled up was something, but unfortunately, it did little to improve his current situation.

The Mushroom Cannons he fired back were either dodged or blocked.

The Digestive Mucus was blown away by fierce winds.

The moment he released Hallucinogenic Spores, all three of them drank Antidote Potions.

They might not have been as strong as the Diamond Rank group that had taken Inanna away, but anyone who could come to the Ninth Floor was naturally no pushover.

His three tricks had all been instantly countered!

Linden knew his own limits. Even his so-called Strongest Puji would definitely count as weak among those over level forty.

Not to mention facing three professional Adventurers of the same level.

But he had not expected that he would not even be able to escape!

No, he could still run!

Linden curled into a ball, used Evasion to slip past the warrior in front of him, and charged toward the archer in the back.

The Mage at his side cast a spell, blocking the space between him and the archer.

Now! Taking advantage of the gap between spells, Linden made a sharp turn and plunged headfirst into the Magic Array on the right.

As light gradually rose from the Magic Array, the surrounding scene shifted, and Linden appeared somewhere else.

Once again!

He had escaped danger!

If only he had not been hit by that arrow...

The warrior could not catch up, and the Mage had a gap between spells, but the archer's arrow ultimately caught Linden.

An iron arrow pierced straight through the Strongest Puji's butt.

That one hit cut the Puji's health in half. Fortunately, Linden's main body was not in its butt and had not been affected.

Those Adventurers would not follow him, would they?

None had appeared yet, so they probably would not.

That made sense. There was no corresponding Magic Array beneath him after he teleported here, so it was clearly a one-way teleportation array.

Whether those Adventurers knew it was one-way or not, they would not casually step into it.

Seriously, those people had nearly earned the achievement of killing a Hero.

So, what now?

Looking at the stone-brick corridors stretching in every direction before him, Linden fell into thought.