Isn't This a Little Different from What Was Promised?

"They're here! The Monsters are here!"

The frightened yet excited cry made the mercenaries leaning in the shadows of the stone walls all straighten at once, their metal armor plates clattering unevenly as they turned sharply.

Everyone's attention locked onto the strange noises beyond the gate.

Vera also tightened her grip on her weapon—a very ordinary curved blade.

The fine steel curved blade she had brought from home had been lost during that Raider incident, so for now, she could only make do with this ordinary one.

Because the Adventurer Guild was offering generous rewards to recruit helpers, even before any fighting began, they could receive a considerable daily wage based on their strength.

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That was why she, Feiyin, and Feiling had all signed up.

Although some Adventurers made the Magic Tide sound terrifying, with so many Adventurers here, there was no way they could fail, right?

They just had to be careful not to get injured during the battle.

She just hadn't expected the Magic Tide to arrive after only one day of guarding.

Vera and the surrounding Adventurers held their breaths and brought themselves into peak condition.

Several Adventurers carrying crossbows and bows gathered by the gap left in the gate, aiming inside and preparing to fire the first volley at any moment.

They waited for ten minutes.

The Adventurers looked at one another, then finally turned their gazes toward the person who had first shouted, "The Monsters are here."

"N-No, that's not right. There really was a Monster..."

The man wiped cold sweat from his forehead and leaned toward the gap for another look.

There was still only Puji's corpse. As for any other Monsters, not even a shadow could be seen.

In the end, Marshall stepped forward to confirm the situation and reassured everyone.

"A Walking Mushroom did indeed wander up to the gate, which means the Dungeon's 'rules' have weakened.

"But the main Monster force probably hasn't arrived yet. It was only a First Floor Walking Mushroom that happened to wander over.

"Stand down for now. I'll keep watch here."

Marshall also breathed a sigh of relief. The Guild had previously estimated that the Magic Tide would not erupt for another three or four days.

Support from the surrounding cities would also take several more days to arrive.

Gathering Adventurers to guard the gate now had merely been a precaution.

Just now, he had thought that precaution had become reality.

After hearing Marshall's words, everyone put away their weapons, and complaints rose one after another.

Vera also heard Feiling and Feiyin sigh in relief beside her.

It was the legendary Magic Tide. Saying they were not nervous would definitely be a lie.

However, Vera had been staring at an unfamiliar Adventurer since earlier.

That curved blade at the person's waist... why did it look so familiar...

Another pulse of magical power traveled up from below into the Mushroom Garden.

It had been happening more and more frequently lately, as though announcing the approach of the Magic Tide.

After learning of the situation, Linden had already begun actively setting up defenses.

Although the Magic Tide seemed incredibly powerful, he had several backup plans.

The best-case scenario, of course, was that he would count as part of the Magic Tide and blend into its ranks as it charged upward.

While the other Monsters and humans fought to the death, he would be responsible for providing both sides with free corpse-collection services.

But that possibility was far too idealistic, and he could not truly place his hopes on it.

The other possibility was that the Magic Tide would attack him as well. If that happened, Linden would have no choice but to fight back for the sake of his Mushroom Garden.

Fortunately, there were only two stairways between the Fifth Floor and the Sixth Floor, so the defensive pressure was not too great.

Put simply, it was a tower defense game. His Puji's greatest specialty, the Mushroom Cannon, was perfectly suited for this kind of battlefield.

He could also pair them with Puji equipped with functions like Mucus Spray, Poison Mist Spray, and Self-Destruct.

Even if all the Werewolves from the Tenth Floor charged upward together, he was confident he could wipe them all out within the stairways.

As for the connection point between the Fourth and Fifth Floors, sending a small number of Puji to block it would be enough.

For one thing, the Monsters should not charge downward in reverse.

For another, even if those low-level Monsters came, around ten Puji would be more than enough to handle them.

What Linden truly feared were those overpowered individuals from the Deep Zone.

What if a Monster on the level of a Flame Demon appeared, or something even stronger?

Linden was not confident he could stop that.

Fortunately, Linden still had a backup plan!

His main body would pilot the Knight and hide deep within the Cave beforehand. If things became impossible, he would blow up the entrance.

He refused to believe those Monsters would dig their way in just to take a bite out of him, a Mushroom!

It would only make digging his way back out afterward a little troublesome.

For that reason, Linden had specially prepared several Puji with [Rock Eating LV3].

Old Bat's former cave, which served as his escape route, was filled with most of Linden's possessions.

This included equipment and items left behind by Adventurers, valuable materials taken from Monsters such as Parasitic Tree seeds, and a small pile of gold coins.

At a glance, it looked like a miniature Dragon hoard.

He had also prepared twenty Puji filled with magical power, meant purely to serve as batteries.

Even if the entire Cave accidentally collapsed, he could hold out until he dug his way free!

Sigh—

Whenever he had to prepare an escape route for himself, Linden could not help thinking of that figure who had unfurled a scroll before him and vanished without a trace.

Unfortunately, he had asked Dylan, and this world did not have anything like Teleportation Scrolls.

The only way to teleport was through a complex ritual formation. A single scroll simply could not support teleportation magic.

And the scroll that person had used was not a Teleportation Scroll, but an Escape Scroll produced in Dungeon treasure chests.

Its principle was to use the Dungeon's own rule-based power to directly eject the user.

Such scrolls were rare, yet they were not particularly expensive.

That was because the ejection only guaranteed that the user would leave the Dungeon's range. As for exactly where they would end up, it was completely random.

A safe landing was a low-probability event. Appearing underground or high in the sky was the normal outcome.

Without some special means of survival, using this scroll was no different from courting death.

Even so, if he could get one, it would be fine to gamble on it when he had nowhere else to turn.

With the abilities on the Knight, his chances of surviving might actually be quite high.

Following Linden's orders, the Puji were more or less fully prepared.

Each of the two stairways leading to the Sixth Floor had been assigned no fewer than four hundred Puji of various types.

The stairways connecting to the upper floors had thirty Puji stationed at each one.

His main body and the Knight, along with around fifty Puji, remained inside the Cave as the final safeguard.

Now all that remained was to recall the more than one hundred Puji that had previously gone down to explore. Those Puji had just all entered the stairway leading to the Fifth Floor.

Another wave of magical power came through, and Linden was nearly used to it by now.

But this tremor seemed different from the previous ones. It appeared to be lasting rather long?

It still was not over...

Wasn't this lasting a little too long?

Not only that, as time passed, the tremor did not weaken. Instead, it grew stronger and stronger!

In the end, it formed a tsunami-like tide of magical power that left Linden dizzy and disoriented.

What the hell was that?

Had the Magic Tide already begun?

When the tide finally subsided, Linden discovered something was wrong.

The more than one hundred Puji that had just been climbing the stairs had all lost contact.

The original stairway had vanished, replaced by a stretch of black space.

Faint beastly roars echoed from within.

This was the Magic Tide?

It seemed billions of times different from what he had imagined.

More importantly, that was not the only stairway that had mutated. The other one leading to the Fourth Floor, guarded by only thirty Puji, had likewise turned into a stretch of black space!

You couldn't play dirty like this!

Before Linden could lose his mind, a head covered in tightly packed hexagonal scales, resembling a Giant Lizard, emerged from the black space.

The creature's vertically narrow, blazing golden pupils shifted slightly as they swept over every Puji present...