Beneath the Cave

Come on, man, how did it do that?

How had he never seen an LV10 before, yet this thing had them like they were wholesale goods?

Crystal Symbiosis on ordinary bats only increased their power by around 20–30%. How could this raise it to 500%?

Was its body covered in S-Rank Magic Crystals?

If Linden still had eyes, he would definitely have rubbed them hard.

Otherwise, how could he be seeing such an outrageous Panel?

Most outrageous of all was the Beyond Death title.

Titles could only be obtained by meeting the corresponding requirements.

Yet he had seen such an absurdly powerful title on an ordinary Crystallized Bat...

Linden summoned several more Pujis.

This time, they deliberately emerged one after another from two separate passages. The second group only came out after the first had died.

Using the gap between its attacks, Linden finally got a clear look at its true form.

A massive body over three meters long hung upside down in the center of the cave. Dark red veins ran through its wrinkled wing membranes, and pure deep-purple Magic Crystals were embedded at the end of every wing bone.

They really were all S-Rank Magic Crystals!

And they were this huge!

Compared to these, the S-Rank Magic Crystal Linden had on hand could only be called a fragment.

Without the Panel, Linden would have believed this Crystallized Bat was a Dragon just from its appearance.

But the moment he saw it, a question came to Linden's mind: with a body that size, could it fit through the tunnels?

The cave passages here were nothing like those in the Deep Zone, where their diameters could easily reach dozens of meters.

Many of the smaller passages here had been gnawed out by Rock Lizards. They were uneven, and their diameters generally did not exceed two meters.

With a body that large, Old Bat probably could not squeeze through the tunnels, right?

Didn't that mean it was trapped in this cave and could not go anywhere?

Great. At least he no longer had to worry about it running away.

More than a hundred Hallucination Pujis were still scattered throughout the cave, and Linden had them all converge in this direction.

They spread out through different passages without entering, then began spraying Hallucinogenic Spores where they stood.

Old Bat immediately noticed the toxic mist spreading in from every small opening. Clearly not stupid, it had no intention of sitting still and waiting to die.

Old Bat flew before one of the openings and beat its wings with force.

Even without using a skill, the wind it whipped up scattered the still-thin spores.

Then Old Bat brought its mouth to the edge of the opening and directly used [Infrasonic Attack LV10] into it.

The nine Pujis in that passage died instantly, without the slightest suspense.

Old Bat then repeated the process, attacking every remaining passage that was releasing toxic mist.

By the time Linden realized things were going wrong and tried to withdraw, it was too late. Not a single Hallucination Puji remained.

They had been completely wiped out...

His Pujis really were vulnerable to this kind of area attack that they had no way to dodge.

And an environment like cave passages greatly extended the range of soundwave attacks. Linden's final batch of Pujis had already fled far away, yet they were still killed by a single roar.

Tch.

Cannons were useless, poison did not work either—how was he supposed to fight this?

More than a hundred Pujis had not even chipped away at its health.

Even if his operation was much bigger now, he could not afford to keep wasting resources like this.

After thinking it over, the only way to deal with it in the short term was to lure high-rank Adventurers here.

But if Adventurers came, would any of the loot still be his?

At most, they would leave Linden with a corpse.

But the three S-Rank Magic Crystals on Old Bat were its most valuable possessions.

Not to mention whatever secrets it might be hiding.

Of course, Linden could choose to kill the Adventurers and take their loot after they emerged.

But putting aside whether he could pull that off, even if everything went perfectly, it would violate Linden's principles.

So rather than call humans in, he might as well put this aside for now.

In any case, with Old Bat's size, it could not escape this cave.

Things were not going smoothly on the cave side, but establishing rules with the Adventurers was progressing well.

After that group of young people left, several more teams of Adventurers who had bought intelligence arrived one after another.

Most completed their transactions properly. Only one team tried to get clever.

After a thief was blown to death and a healer was dragged away, the remaining two escaped.

It was fine if they escaped. Once word spread, no more fools would come looking for trouble.

It was just that the cave had expanded again, and Linden was worried that after a few more incidents, this rock wall would collapse...

"Boss, I'm back!"

The moment Dylan connected to the Mycelium Network, he greeted Linden. As a seasoned middle-aged veteran, he was always particularly attentive to such details.

After descending to the Fifth Floor, Dylan acted as though he had returned home. He did not even put a hand on his weapon as he swaggered toward the Forest Camp.

Whenever he saw a Puji along the way, he would wave at it. He did not care whether it responded, looking thoroughly delighted.

As he walked, he told Linden about the mission.

"Boss, I sold nine copies of the guide. Have any Adventurers come already?"

"Yes. The plan... has gone fairly smoothly."

"That's good. Oh, right, Boss. This is the money from the sales. I only used a small portion for lodging..."

As he spoke, Dylan took a bag of coins from inside his clothes. He wanted to continue reporting his expenses, but Linden directly cut him off.

"Keep the money yourself. Also, you did well this time. I've prepared some equipment and a bonus for you in the tent."

Although he had already paid Dylan in advance, Linden naturally gave extra rewards when his subordinate performed well. That was the only way to keep him motivated.

"Thank you, Boss!"

Dylan suddenly felt that having a Monster boss who did not care about money was even better than he had imagined.

Food and lodging were provided here, and he even got paid. Making money was much faster than being an Adventurer, and safer too.

He did not need much money in the Dungeon normally, but he could save it and send it to his daughter!

Dylan happily put the money bag away, then remembered something else.

"Oh, right, Boss. I'd like to replenish my nutrition first."

"You know where the coffin lid is. It's available around the clock, so just go. You don't need to ask me for permission."

The corner of Dylan's eye twitched. So Boss also thought it was a coffin lid...

But seeing that Linden had not understood what he meant, Dylan could only continue.

"Boss, I mean... I want the kind of nutrition from last time..."

Huh?

Nutrition was nutrition. What did he mean, the kind from last time...

Ah...

Linden specifically opened the skill Panel to check. It was not addictive either...

No, little brother, what is wrong with you?

In the end, Linden still prepared Specialized Nutrition for Dylan.

He could not exactly refuse such a small request from someone who had just returned from a business trip.

But seeing Dylan lying there with an expression of bliss, Linden was still rather speechless.

Was this guy really going to fall into depravity like this?

He suddenly had the illusion that he was Invincible East, controlling his subordinates with the Three-Corpse Brainworm Pill...

No, no. This was a respectable Mushroom Garden. It was just like having a little drink before bed.

That was all!

Mute Wind Town Adventurer Guild branch.

A report sent by the Guild's Intelligence Analysis Department lay on the desk of Oberon, the branch director.

The report was titled <Analysis of the Fifth Floor Anomaly and Predictions of Its Subsequent Impact>.

Oberon drank hot tea as he read the report from beginning to end, then summoned the head of the Mission Management Department.

"Read this report.

After you're done, issue a mission in the Guild's name to conduct a thorough investigation of the Pujis on the Fifth Floor, especially inside the swamp.

The mission rank... make it A-rank."