Chapter Summaries

Fahr investigated the blighted fields in Antler Village and discovered a Demon Race spy trying to spread Corruption Potion through the irrigation channels. After capturing the spy, Fahr left for the road to Mute Wind Town, still unsure why the Demon Race would waste its shapeshifting agents to ruin farmland.

• Fahr noticed the wheat closest to the main irrigation channel had withered most severely and suspected the disease had spread through the water.
• Fahr reassured the villagers that he would report the blight, then secretly stayed behind after his convoy appeared to leave.
• A disguised Demon Race spy tried to pour Corruption Potion into a branch channel, but Fahr confronted him and Lillian froze him with Frozen Hand.
• The guards exposed the spy as an Amoeba, and the villagers realized that the real Jacques was likely dead.
• Fahr gave the village chief two gold coins, sent the spy to the chairman, and prepared to continue toward Mute Wind Town.
• Fahr wondered why the Demon Race would risk its rare spies to destroy farmland, while Lillian urged him to rest and he thought about the Dungeon’s mutation and The Church’s planned assistance.

Linden investigated Little Black after her newly awakened breath devastated a third of the Mushroom Forest, then found a way to use the corrosive liquid she expelled against the Thousand-Pivot Mayflies. The test killed a level 31 Mayfly in one shot, leaving Linden encouraged about his plan to conquer them.

• Linden discovered that Little Black had reached level 60 and accidentally destroyed a third of the Mushroom Forest with her Strong Acid Breath.
• Linden’s Pujis rescued Norris, the Yellow Book, and Louisa, then brought Little Black to the basement to prevent another breath attack.
• Linden learned that Little Black’s breath charged inside her and taught her to release it deliberately at Venom Lake.
• The Ox-Horse Pujis found a pool of concentrated corrosive liquid at the center of the damaged area, and Linden had it bottled.
• Linden sent an experimental Bat Puji carrying the liquid to the Thousand-Pivot Mayfly Habitat, where its Saliva Arrow killed a level 31 Thousand-Pivot Mayfly instantly.

Linden advanced through the Rift Valley with the Pujis, luring and killing Thousand-Pivot Mayflies while extending the Fungal Carpet toward what appeared to be the ground. After burning a mayfly nest, he discovered a level 65 Thousand-Pivot Mayfly waking from its cocoon.

• Little Black ate sixteen Strong Acid Pujis before refusing more, so Linden collected acid normally and divided the first bottle into ten portions.
• Linden positioned Bat Pujis on a hypha platform and used three speedy Pujis as bait to lure Thousand-Pivot Mayflies into the Mushroom Cannons.
• When a level 41 mayfly survived the cannons, Little Black killed it with a corrosive Saliva Arrow, while the bait Pujis continued drawing enemies into the trap.
• The Pujis and fungal threads advanced through the valley, clearing mayflies and burning their silk webs as Linden guarded a fork in the route.
• After four days, Linden found and burned a giant silk nest, then discovered a level 65 Thousand-Pivot Mayfly whose cocooned, stiffened status had just disappeared.

Linden lost his first battle against an LV65 Thousand-Pivot Mayfly, which destroyed his platforms and drove his forces back. He later used a layered Puji battle line to kill it and hurried to claim its corpse before other monsters could reach it.

• The Thousand-Pivot Mayfly emerged from its cocoon and killed more than half of Linden’s Puji, destroying his platforms and forcing his line back to its previous position.
• Linden inferred that giant insects were present throughout the area and increased Bat Puji production rather than risking Little Black in an aerial fight.
• A week later, Linden sent a five-layer Puji battle line down and sacrificed its vanguard to draw the Thousand-Pivot Mayfly into a cloud of Hallucinogenic Spores.
• Linden ordered the third layer to self-destruct against the insect, then dropped ten Fatty Pujis from the fourth layer and shattered its carapace.
• A Bat Puji poured Strong Acid Breath onto the insect’s exposed head, killing it as Linden watched.
• Linden accelerated the Fungal Carpet’s advance to secure the LV65 corpse before other monsters could eat it.

Linden drove the monsters away from the Thousand-Pivot Mayfly remains, then spread his Mycelium Network through a new cave and considered using Cave Dwellers as humanoid allies. After he released a wounded Cave Dweller to track its people, it disappeared into a dark crack in the passage floor.

• Linden sent Elite Pujis to attack the monsters eating the Thousand-Pivot Mayfly corpses, and they cleared most of the cave.
• Linden left a turtle sealed inside its shell and captured two low-level Cave Dwellers, then released the one whose leg had been blown off after patching the wound with insect shell.
• The Pujis spread spores through the cave, and Linden joined the new Fungal Carpet to his network and accelerated decomposition of the corpses.
• Linden considered recruiting Cave Dwellers to expand his forces and ordered a Puji to follow the released Cave Dweller.
• The Cave Dweller vanished near a manhole-sized crack, where the Puji found only its broken spear and pitch-black darkness beyond.

Linden discovered multiple rifts in the Deep Zone, including one opening into an empty void, and prepared to expand the expedition deeper into the Dungeon. He recruited Louisa to support the expedition in exchange for fresh blood, leaving her tearfully drinking the blood of a turtle.

• Linden sent Bat Pujis through a large rift, found that it led into a weightless void, and watched them lose contact there.
• Linden's Pujis discovered a tiny, unstable second rift, leading him to suspect the Deep Zone was riddled with openings and might be connected to the Thousand-Pivot Mayflies' homeland.
• Linden sent most of his Puji capacity to the Deep Zone and brought Vampire Louisa along to help the Expedition Team explore downward.
• Linden allowed Louisa to join the expedition as long as she stayed within the Fungal Carpet, and promised to turn her into a puppet if she disobeyed.
• Louisa drained the blood from a turtle Linden gave her, drank it eagerly, and began to sob.

Louisa and the Puji Expedition Team fought the monsters gathered in a freshwater cave, capturing the humanoid Minotaur while wiping out the resistance. With the Shadow Bats falling to the Bat Puji, the battle was decided, and Louisa wished she could remain in the Deep Zone rather than return to the Fifth Floor.

• The Minotaur used the dead giant spider’s abdomen as a shield and charged the Pujis alongside the cave’s other monsters.
• The Minotaur cut down several Pujis, but Louisa pierced it with blood threads and left it gravely wounded.
• Louisa began draining the Minotaur’s blood, then stopped when a cough over the Mycelium Network reminded her to capture humanoid creatures alive.
• Ox-Horse Puji carried off the unconscious Minotaur while Louisa and the Elite Puji Squad attacked the remaining monsters.
• The Puji deployed exploding Bat Puji against the Shadow Bats, settling the battle in the cave.
• Louisa drank the Minotaur’s remaining blood and wished she could stay in the Deep Zone instead of returning to the Fifth Floor.

Linden’s expedition expanded through the Deep Zone but faced dwindling troops, dangerous rifts, and Minotaurs who refused recruitment. He sent Norris into the Deep Zone with the Yellow Book and a small force to search for cave dwellers, leaving their exploration just beginning.

• Linden kept four cocooned Pujis in the Swamp Zone while the expedition occupied four Caves and discovered at least six small rifts.
• Linden’s two Minotaur captives resisted [Fusion Parasitism], so he turned them into puppets instead of recruits.
• Linden realized the Yellow Book’s detection range could help find cave dwellers and brought Norris to the Rift Valley.
• Four Bat Pujis carried Norris down to a cave in the Deep Zone, where he vomited after the descent.
• Linden assigned Norris to search for cave dwellers with the Yellow Book and gave him control of two Minotaur puppets and ten Elite Pujis.

Sophia and Samuel’s ship left Silver Sand Bay despite Oruk’s blockade after Lord Grossa ordered a search for Horn’s killer. Bella climbed aboard in the open sea and asked whether Sophia’s party came from The Church.

• Sophia watched slaves being driven through the docks and asked Samuel whether the island’s master was among the humans she was meant to protect.
• Samuel explained that the Church opposed slavery but currently had to unite with the archipelago’s powers against the Empire.
• Oruk sealed Silver Sand Bay’s docks while searching for the killer of Horn, Grossa’s trusted subordinate.
• Sophia’s ship ignored Oruk’s order and sailed through the blockade after the captain of the guards’ presence deterred him from attacking.
• Bella climbed aboard the ship about half an hour after it left port and tentatively asked Sophia whether she was from The Church.

Aboard Sophia’s ship, Bella explained why she had killed Horn and agreed to stay with Sophia rather than be returned to Silver Sand Bay. Samuel spotted a strange vessel on the horizon, but it turned out to be Puji and Dylan aboard the Mushroom, who chose to steer clear and follow its direction.

• Samuel identified Bella’s silver eyes as the Vision of Truth, and Bella admitted that Silver Sand Bay was hunting her.
• Bella explained that she had killed Horn to avenge her friend, then hoped to search the kingdom for her father.
• Samuel warned that Bella could not be allowed to leave, but Sophia offered her a long-term position, which Bella accepted.
• Samuel noticed a large vessel approaching, but it changed course and passed without coming close.
• Dylan asked Puji whether they should seek directions from the ship, but Puji refused and decided to follow the direction it had come from.

Dylan and Linden reached Silver Sand Bay, where Dylan sought information about his daughter and encountered the Archipelago’s harsh treatment of slaves. They learned that Tanaka Hideshichi was the new garrison commander, and Linden discovered he was a Japanese Hero with Memory Erasure.

• Linden hid the preserved Red Reef Fruit and trimmed Dylan’s hair and beard after they landed on Silver Sand Bay.
• Dylan and Linden went to the Broken Sword and Leftovers tavern, where Dylan saw a slave attendant get tripped and mocked.
• Linden slipped a money pouch to Dylan, who paid the tavern owner and an information broker for news and a name and location related to a specific person.
• A patron accused the slave attendant of stealing his missing pouch, but the tavern owner demanded payment and the patron drew his scimitar.
• Tanaka Hideshichi entered with guards, ordered the patron seized, and left after asserting control as the new garrison commander.
• Linden checked Tanaka Hideshichi’s panel and discovered that he was a Japanese Hero with Memory Erasure.

Dylan sought intelligence about Bella from two demonic informants, but their attempt to Charm him exposed his disguise and led Linden and Puji to subdue them. After leaving the informants unconscious, Linden discovered their files included a mission to monitor Silver Sand Bay’s new garrison commander, Tian Qi.

• Linden spotted a human Hero serving as a garrison captain and told Dylan to avoid him.
• Dylan visited Mengya’s basement and bought intelligence revealing Bella had escaped and that she was his daughter.
• Mengya Charmed Dylan, but her attack exposed his fungal disguise, and Scout Puji captured her and the Goblin ambusher, Stinky Fish.
• Stinky Fish revealed that he and Mengya served Duke Nightkiss and offered their intelligence files to Puji.
• Linden left the two informants unconscious and found a recent mission to monitor the new garrison commander, Tian Qi.

Linden left Silver Sand Bay with Dylan and the Red Reef Fruit, while Fahr arrived in Mute Wind Town and took over the local guild branch. After reviewing reports on the Amethyst Dungeon, Fahr discovered that Oberon had concealed the spread and commercial activity of the Puji.

• Linden concluded that Silver Sand Bay was becoming a dangerous battlefield and left with Dylan, who had given up searching for his daughter for now.
• Fahr traveled to Mute Wind Town, where he saw mushrooms and Fluorescence everywhere and found the town unsettling.
• Oberon transferred the guild branch seal and responsibilities to Fahr, then left without the customary dinner.
• Fahr ordered Mirabelle to gather information about the dungeon after the Magic Tide, and she delivered two stacks of documents before sunset.
• Fahr read that Puji appeared throughout the Amethyst Dungeon and had begun renting out Illumination Puji, then angrily resolved to denounce Oberon for failing to report it.

Linden kept the Yellow Book from feeding on defeated monsters and punished it for failing to report cave dwellers, though it offered a lead in Cave No. 3. Two days later, Norris received the slimmed-down Yellow Book and a Voice Puji that could speak fluently.

• Linden noticed that the Adventurer Guild had a new boss, Fahr Isaacs, and kept his attention on the Deep Zone, where Louisa's team had stalled in Cave No. 8.
• Norris closed the Yellow Book before it could drain a defeated Minotaur's soul, prompting the book to accuse him of betrayal and plead that it was starving.
• The Voice Puji repeated Linden's order, and Linden took control of a puji and seized the Yellow Book from Norris.
• The Yellow Book offered information about cave dwellers near the largest passage in Cave No. 3, but Linden still punished it for knowing and not reporting.
• Two days later, Norris received the slimmed-down Yellow Book and a Voice Puji that could speak fluently.

Linden tracked Cave Dwellers from a barren cave and discovered that they had built a crude fortress in his former Mushroom Garden. He sensed that mushrooms and possibly Pujis remained inside the Living Wood Fortress.

• Linden found fresh three-toed footprints in a desolate cave and hid Mimicry Pujis to watch for Cave Dwellers.
• Seven Cave Dwellers emerged carrying bark to collect moss, while a spear-wielding overseer punished a worker for splashing mud on its foot-claws.
• Linden observed the Cave Dwellers' labor and followed them with a Scout Puji through passages near his former home.
• Linden discovered that the Cave Dwellers had sealed the old Mushroom Garden behind a Living Giant Tree and guarded its entrance with crude weapons and traps.
• Linden sensed Fungal Carpet, mushrooms, and possibly Pujis within the Living Wood Fortress.

Linden halted the assault on the Snake Cave and led his forces toward the Cave Dwellers, preparing to offer them a chance to submit. As the Puji army reached their lair, the frightened Cave Dwellers faced an ultimatum.

• Linden ordered Louisa to withdraw from the Snake Cave and redirected the group to lay Fungal Carpet toward the Cave Dwellers.
• Louisa, Norris, and the Yellow Book traveled with Linden, and he promised Louisa blood and the Yellow Book two souls if they performed well.
• Linden used the approaching Fungal Carpet to connect the old Mushroom Garden to the Mycelium Network and inspect the Living Wood Fortress.
• The Cave Dwellers strengthened their traps and gathered to defend their exit after their scouts failed to return.
• The Puji army arrived, and a mushroom-covered Cave Dweller scout offered the tribe submission or death.

Linden’s forces attacked the Cave Dwellers’ stronghold to reclaim the Old Mushroom Garden, capturing its inhabitants while trying to keep casualties within the limit. The Cave Dwellers’ defenses collapsed, and Norris guarded the escape routes to prevent anyone from fleeing.

• Louisa shattered a boulder thrown at her, killing a Cave Dweller warrior and prompting Linden to remind her that the operation had a strict death quota.
• Linden recognized that the Cave Dwellers’ leaders used high pheromone levels to command their tribe as the Pujis began attacking the stronghold’s entrance.
• Louisa drank Minotaur blood and chopped a second entrance through the living wood wall, then pulled out the Cave Dwellers caught in the falling debris.
• The Cave Dwellers fled when Pujis blocked their retreat through the Mushroom Planting Zone and overwhelmed their leader’s pheromone control.
• Norris intercepted the fleeing Cave Dwellers at the passage entrances and captured them, checking each one to make sure it was alive.

Linden returned to the Old Mushroom Garden, captured the Cave Dwellers, and planned to use them to guard conquered caves. As Louisa led the Expedition Team onward, a level 51 Earth Worm attacked, renewing Linden’s old rivalry.

• Linden’s forces defeated the Cave Dwellers, fused most of them with the mycelium, and divided the spoils among Louisa, the Yellow Book, and Norris.
• Linden reclaimed control of the Old Mushroom Garden through the Mycelium Network and found Snail Wood seeds to provide future shelters for the Cave Dwellers.
• Linden assigned Norris and the Yellow Book to teach the Cave Dwellers to use the Mycelium Network and control Puji, while some Cave Dwellers were tasked with guarding their eggs.
• Louisa left with the main force to retake a cave from the Snake Monster, while Linden planned how to train the captured Cave Dwellers for guard duty.
• An Earth Worm erupted from the ground beside Louisa’s Expedition Team, devouring twelve Puji and killing more with its impact as Linden recognized his old rival.

Linden faced the Earth Worm that had once devastated his forces and defeated it with Louisa and a newly produced army of Pujis. After savoring the victory, he slowly decomposed the corpse and later plundered several of its skills.

• Linden recognized the Earth Worm from his disastrous hunt and ordered Louisa and the Pujis to kill it.
• Linden created a Magic Puji to repeatedly cast Mud Swamp Art, slowing the Earth Worm while turret and bat Pujis attacked.
• Louisa drew the Earth Worm's blood and hacked at its shell, opening a wound for the Pujis to bombard.
• The Pujis blew apart the Earth Worm's body, and Linden kept attacking until its health bar reached zero.
• Linden praised Louisa, sent her to rest with fresh blood, and had the Pujis decompose the Earth Worm's corpse.
• A few days later, Seven Sins: Greed triggered, and Linden plundered Rock Eating, High Temperature Resistance, and High-Temperature Tunneling.

Linden tested a new drilling skill and began building concealed Mycelium Tunnels throughout the Dungeon, while his experiments with Cocooning made no progress. He also caught a man killing and stealing a rented Illumination Puji, and blacklisted him.

• Linden tested [High-Temperature Tunneling], but Drilling Puji No. 2 died after scraping itself against the rock wall; Drilling Puji No. 3 succeeded after gaining Rock Armor from [Rock Eating].
• Drilling Puji No. 3 accidentally broke through into a fissure and disappeared into the void, after which Linden began tunnel excavation across the Dungeon.
• Linden struggled to find suitable tunnel routes through the Third Floor Trap Zone and the groundwater-soaked Sixth Floor, while his cocooned Puji showed no signs of changing.
• Linden watched a guard-looking man stab a rented Illumination Puji, take its corpse to the Adventurer Guild, and added him to the Dungeon Blacklist.