Mass-Producing Troops! The Flame Demon Stirs!

"Don't these need to be buried underground?"

"I'm not a plant..."

Did people in this world seriously not know the difference between fungi and plants?

The Ox-Horse Pujis had already transported all the Fire Mosquitoes and their larvae back to the Mushroom Garden.

Fire Mosquitoes were Monsters built around agility and Evasion, so their bodies were not especially tough. After being hit by Mushroom Cannons or smashed to death by shell-armored Pujis, it was difficult for them to leave behind intact corpses.

They were now spread evenly across the planting area. Mycelium had already begun sprouting from the first batch brought back.

Once these Monster corpses were broken down, they would provide Linden with both skill proficiency and mana. A single Fire Mosquito did not contain much mana, but there were simply too many of them.

Linden would invest all that mana into producing new Pujis.

The Mushroom Garden could currently sustain roughly three hundred Pujis through naturally absorbed mana. One hundred of those belonged to the logistics team, which was needed to keep the Mushroom Garden running. The remainder were Combat Pujis.

This time, Linden planned to exceed the limit and mass-produce four hundred Combat Pujis at once, then commit them all to the upcoming hunt for Earth Worms.

If too many survived after the operation, he could always cut their numbers later. Ensuring success was what mattered most.

There was no second Fire Mosquito nest nearby that could so easily provide him with this much nourishment. If this attempt failed, who knew how long it would be before he could organize a second one.

"Linden, look! I think I got a new talent!"

At some point, Inanna had begun playing around with Water Snake Art nearby. Linden had seen her use this skill in battle before. Calling it unstoppable would be an exaggeration—calling it utterly useless would be more accurate.

Its range was short, its power was lacking, and even a direct hit could not one-shot a Fire Mosquito. Its only advantage was that it could be controlled to a certain extent after firing, but with Inanna's abysmal technique, that had somehow become a drawback.

Compared to Ice Blade, it got completely crushed.

Inanna herself had probably realized this. After using Water Snake Art twice at the beginning, she had never used it again.

But now, the Water Snake she cast swam nimbly around her, like a miniature azure dragon protecting its master.

This definitely was not Inanna's usual level. Linden promptly pulled up her Panel again.

Sure enough, she had reached LV30. Even though she had only received a small share of the experience from the several hundred Fire Mosquitoes, it had still raised her two levels.

A new fixed effect had appeared: [Favor of the Elemental Spirit: Elemental Spirits will assist the caster in controlling spells].

"Try attacking that rock with Ice Blade."

The target Linden pointed out was three hundred meters away from Inanna. He remembered that when they had first encountered the Fire Mosquitoes, she had fired an Ice Blade from this same distance, and it had gone wildly off course.

"Huh? I'll try."

The instant the Ice Blade shot out, Linden knew she had missed again. Yet during its flight, the blade miraculously corrected its course and ultimately clipped a corner of the rock.

"I... I actually hit it!"

Even Inanna looked utterly incredulous.

If her firing angle had not been so absurdly off, the Ice Blade should have hit dead center. It had been that far off and still managed to graze the target in the end. The Elemental Spirit was truly impressive.

Linden also noticed that when Inanna used Ice Blade, the Water Snake Art circling around her had not been canceled.

So it was something like AI-assisted control?

Except the Elemental Spirit was taking the AI's place here.

Come to think of it, this world actually had Elemental Spirits as part of its setting. He had thought magic was simply magic.

Linden had also learned that humans, like himself, naturally gained a fixed effect or skill suited to them every ten levels, like his Mushroom Cannon and Mycelium Network.

Inanna called them talents.

Apparently, this was not unique to him. Humans were like this, and other races or Monsters were probably the same.

Still, there were slight differences. Perhaps because she could not see a Panel, Inanna had gained her talent automatically, while he had been given a choice between three options.

Linden glanced at his current LV44. It would be a while before he could choose another talent.

For the next stretch of time, Linden threw himself headfirst into the massive project known as mass-producing troops.

The good news was that his long-stagnant Mental Integration skill had finally been grinded up to LV6. Otherwise, Linden truly would not have been able to control so many Pujis at once.

Even so, he no longer had time to chat with Inanna.

Inanna, however, did not mind at all. Recently, she had become engrossed in exploring her new talent.

Aside from helping her adjust trajectories and act like an aimbot, the Elemental Spirit could make Illumination Art actively follow her and let Water Mirror Refraction automatically defend in all directions across a full 360 degrees. In any case, it handled those spells far more smoothly than she did herself.

But spells like Purification and Mud Swamp Art showed no changes—the Elemental Spirit did not enhance the spells' power itself.

Day after day passed. Just as everything was about to be ready, an intense mana fluctuation came from outside the Mushroom Garden.

"Linden, what's happening? Why do I suddenly feel so stifled?"

Like the aftershocks of a magnitude-eight earthquake spreading from afar, even Inanna, who lacked Mana Perception, sensed that something was wrong. Linden could directly observe wave after wave of mana tremors crashing toward them, leaving him deeply uncomfortable.

Linden checked the monitoring setup he had placed outside. Those scattered clusters of small Mushrooms could not provide him with vision, but they could sense nearby mana fluctuations.

Very quickly, Linden identified the source of the disturbance—the direction of the Flame Demon nest.

Once he knew it was coming from the Flame Demon's direction, Linden relaxed. He casually soothed the frightened Inanna, then buried himself back in the final preparations for mass-producing troops.

It was not that Linden was unafraid of the Flame Demon. On the contrary, as the strongest Monster discovered so far, he had always been highly alert to its movements.

If he ever found the Flame Demon heading toward the Mushroom Garden, he would grab a bucket and run at the first opportunity.

Fortunately, that had never happened.

In fact, according to Linden's observations, the Flame Demon was practically a shut-in.

Unlike Linden, who was rooted in the ground and inconveniently unable to move, the Flame Demon was simply too lazy to move. It seemed that soaking in lava alone could satisfy most of its needs.

But being a shut-in did not mean it never left home. So far, Linden's surveillance had recorded the Flame Demon leaving its nest three times.

Each time it went out, mana fluctuations would arise nearby, just like today. Linden suspected it had gone off to fight.

But who it fought, and where exactly it fought, remained unknown. He also had no idea what kind of opponent could exchange blows with the Flame Demon. The area Linden had explored was still far too small compared to the entire deep layer.

Linden's original smuggling plan had been to seize the chance while the Flame Demon was away, pass through its nest, and escape to the upper layer.

But that plan was still quite risky. Most importantly, he had no way to know when the Flame Demon would return.

Of the three recorded departures, the shortest had lasted only a few hours, while the longest was estimated to have lasted three or four days.

The smuggling plan was truly a gamble with his life, which was why it had been replaced by the digging plan.

He had no idea how long the Flame Demon would be away this time. Hopefully, it would not cause any unexpected changes that interfered with his hunt for the Earth Worms.