Signs of Collapse

[Level increased LV50→LV51]

After fighting for most of the day, Linden leveled up.

It had not been long since his last level-up.

No wonder it was a Magic Tide. The experience gains were abundant.

Inside the stairway, one blast from a Puji could hit six or seven Monsters. Under normal circumstances, where would they find such an ideal environment for dealing damage?

However, as time passed, the Monsters gradually grew stronger.

Besides some Dragon Beasts, Linden also spotted Flesh Monsters from the Ninth Floor.

Those things were even more troublesome than Dragon Beasts—their vitality and regenerative abilities were far too strong.

Strong enough to make him sick.

Even if they were blasted to pieces, as long as their core remained alive, they could absorb the surrounding chunks of flesh and reassemble themselves into a grotesque body.

And now, the stairway was littered with chunks of meat...

Thankfully, each Flesh Monster could only control a limited amount of flesh. Otherwise, if they assembled some colossal monstrosity, Linden would have no way to deal with it.

The current situation was that although the Flesh Monsters were difficult to kill, they were still being suppressed and could not crawl up.

The situation at the Rift was much more difficult.

There was no special terrain like the stairway, where an army of thousands had to cross a single narrow bridge.

Their firepower was gradually failing to keep up with the rate at which Monsters poured out, and the encirclement had turned into a chaotic melee.

Without any reinforcements of Puji, they probably would not be able to hold out much longer. Still, that had been expected.

What had not been expected was the situation with the Dragonkin.

The Giant Rat fighting the Dragonkin had already been reduced to chunks of flesh on the ground.

As the battle went on, the Dragonkin had clearly become enraged. Not only had he crushed the Giant Rat's throat, but after it fell, he had torn it to shreds before finally stopping.

This battle had clearly drained a great deal of the Dragonkin's energy, to the point that he no longer intended to guard all the Puji.

Just moments ago, he seemed to have made up his mind. He directly scooped up six Puji and flew toward the forest.

Without the Dragonkin, the Monsters moved freely.

After entering the Fifth Floor, they began scurrying everywhere like headless flies.

Vast stretches of Fungal Carpet were Trampled, and Mushrooms were crushed.

What Linden had feared had come true.

Although the Monsters had received orders to charge out of the Dungeon, those orders clearly did not include directions.

The only Fungal Carpet on the Fifth Floor that could remain intact would probably be the patches hanging from the Dome.

Fortunately, they had killed enough Monsters by now.

If they could not stop the Mushroom Garden from being destroyed, then they would minimize the time and cost needed to rebuild it.

Nothing could speed up reconstruction better than a large number of corpses.

All the Monsters were now single-mindedly rushing upward and would not sneak a bite from the corpses on the ground.

Only the Dragonkin was an oddity, wholly focused on gnawing on Puji.

They could no longer hold the Rift. If they continued defending the stairway, they would soon be surrounded.

Linden directed the two Puji squads to retreat toward the Swamp Zone while fighting. The terrain there was best suited for the Puji to make their final counterattack.

To maintain maximum firepower even during the retreat, Linden had even developed the Backstep Volley Tactic.

After the front-row Puji fired a volley, they used the gap while gathering Magic again to jump behind the rear row.

As they jumped and fired, the Monsters left behind even more corpses.

Once the Puji entered the Swamp Zone, the battle entered its final stage.

Small Monsters became far less mobile after entering the swamp and posed little threat.

The real threats were the flying ones and the enormous ones.

Fewer than five hundred Puji remained as they began their final chaotic battle against the Monsters pouring in from every direction...

The plan had more or less been carried out by this point. Monsters had already begun wandering near the Cave.

Linden decisively detonated several Self-Destruct Puji at the Cave entrance, sealing it shut.

He also detonated the Fatty Puji in the forest that the Dragonkin was holding and gnawing on.

Did he really think this was an all-you-can-eat buffet?

The Fatty Puji had been hidden in a cave at the edge of the forest, and the Dragonkin had still found it.

The Self-Destruct would definitely not kill him. It would be difficult even to injure him.

Linden had no good way to deal with him right now.

His earlier poisoning plan had also failed. He did not know whether the Dragonkin could tell the difference, but he only chose to eat Cannon Mushrooms or Self-Destruct Puji.

Linden could only hope he would leave the Fifth Floor with the other Dragon Beasts as soon as possible.

But then again, after the Magic Tide, would there not be a great number of high-level Monsters left behind on every floor?

He did not know whether they would automatically return to the Lower Zone, or whether the Dungeon itself would deal with them.

It felt like the Dungeon had more and more problems. That suspicious voice that had triggered the Magic Tide was another one.

Still, he was just a weak little Mushroom right now. He should not be thinking about so much.

Once he reached LV99 someday, he would investigate it properly!

Putting the Dungeon out of his mind, Linden crouched inside the Cave and watched the live broadcast outside.

Although the Fungal Carpet and Mushrooms on the ground had been trampled to ruin, those on the Dome had not suffered much damage.

Thanks to them, Linden could still observe the outside—though the signal underground was a little poor.

The things pouring up from the Lower Zone were becoming increasingly absurd.

A three-headed Snake Monster crawled past, leaving a trail of venom behind it. Linden did not know whether Mushrooms could still be grown there in the future.

A Beetle wreathed in flames successfully set Dylan's beloved little wooden cabin on fire.

There were even gigantic golems. With bodies that large, it was a wonder they could climb up here.

One Monster after another emerged. Those that found the stairway continued charging upward, while those that did not ran around everywhere.

Fortunately, none of them were interested in the collapsed Cave... except for a certain Dragonkin...

Linden watched as the Dragonkin emerged from the forest, heading straight for the Cave.

What was he trying to do?

Had he discovered the Puji inside the Cave?

The Fifth Floor was covered in dead Puji. Did he really have to eat them fresh?

Still, even if he had sensed them, he should not be able to dig his way in.

But... just in case, preparations still had to be made...

"Th-this is impossible to hold!"

At the Dungeon entrance, the Monsters' strength suddenly surged drastically at some point.

Flesh Monsters, high-level Dragon Beasts...

Caught off guard, the Adventurers suffered heavy casualties.

Even two Gold Rank Adventurers had been Sacrificed.

And it was not just this batch that was strong. The farther it went, the more powerful Monsters appeared!

By now, the casualties had reached the limit of what the Adventurers could endure.

Many had already begun thinking of retreating and were waiting for an opportunity to slip away.

"None of you are allowed to retreat!

If you retreat, are you going to let Mute Wind Town suffer instead?

Anyone who dares flee will have their Adventurer status revoked by the Guild!

Reinforcements will be here soon, so hold the line!

Once this crisis is over, everyone's bounties will be paid out at triple the amount!"

Oberon had actually come to the front lines himself.

In truth, he had no choice but to come.

By stepping forward now and putting on a show of fighting to the death,

even if the line fell, he could still earn some sympathy by claiming he had fought to the bitter end and broken out despite severe injuries.

When the Guild held him accountable, they might show him some leniency.

As Oberon shouted, the luxurious and exquisite staff in his hand burst with dazzling light.

Seventh-rank Light Magic—Arrow of the Firmament.

Several arrows made of light shot out, precisely striking several small Dragon Beasts in the air.

With Oberon's encouragement, the Adventurers' morale was finally lifted somewhat.

But he knew that collapse was only a matter of time.

After all, the so-called "reinforcements arriving soon" were actually still a full day's journey away.

And after one day, he did not know how many of these Adventurers would still escape with their lives.

As for himself?

At level 55, he might not be able to stop the Magic Tide, but once morale collapsed, escaping amid the chaos would be easy.