This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

“Sigmund: ‘Left flank, switch from mountain formation to funnel formation, staggered retreat! All archers, take Eagle Eye Potions and Strength Extract now! Pin those rolling fungus spheres to the ground!’”

“Louisa: ‘Here, here, and here! Split the self-destruct puji into three waves—move back and forth, make it look threatening but keep distance, draw their ranged fire! Heavy-armored puji in the front, now’s the time! Charge no matter the cost and tear open that weak spot in their formation!’”

Lin Jun moved the artillery puji a bit to the left, out of the enemy archers’ range.

With Little Pig joining in, Sigmund suddenly felt the pressure multiply. Though the opposing commander’s techniques seemed a bit raw, her battlefield intuition was frighteningly sharp—she always struck right at the moment he switched formations.

That sense of being completely read made him feel as though he were dueling his old rival, Arama. Orders flew rapidly as he tried to respond.

Louisa, on the other hand, though thrilled by her advantage, couldn’t help admiring Sigmund’s terrifying command ability.

Even with the main force tied up by the storm elementals, he managed to coordinate multiple fronts and maintain a solid defense.

If this were a fair fight, she suspected she’d have been crushed already.

But war was never fair!

According to her calculations, if they could just hold out ten more minutes—after two more fierce clashes—she’d have enough momentum to tear open a fatal breach in the enemy’s defense.

With her boss backing her, there was no reason to lose this battle!

“Little Pig, I’m going to lower the number of puji.”

“Eh?”

…

No choice—he couldn’t just keep the numbers maxed out and go all-in openly, could he?

After all, he wasn’t here to crush Sigmund; he only had one objective—the Sunstone!

As a calm, level-headed mushroom, Lin Jun would never let a fleeting impulse derail his goal.

Besides, those storm elementals wouldn’t last much longer.

On the battlefield, one of the storm elementals had just electrocuted a panicked half-vampire into charcoal, only to detonate the next second. The explosion sent both demons and elementals flying in all directions.

It wasn’t an isolated incident—more and more elementals began collapsing one after another.

They were never suited to the outside world; once removed from the elemental distortion zone for too long, the environment itself would destroy them.

From beneath the mushroom cap of a heavy-armored puji, a pair of emerald eyes watched silently.

Inanna couldn’t help feeling sorry for those elementals who had been so close to her.

Lin Jun, however, viewed them as mere tools—after all, through the lens of [Inspiration], they didn’t even have souls.

And now, those tools had fulfilled their purpose—buying Lin Jun enough time.

Suddenly, chaos broke out in the direction of Dragon Roar Valley!

Having waited in vain for Sigmund’s next offensive, Arama naturally decided to investigate—and soon discovered the puji-handling unit.

He suspected at first that it might be a trap—perhaps Sigmund had staged this to mislead him.

So he observed carefully. But once he confirmed the demon casualties were real and severe, he knew Sigmund couldn’t possibly waste that much manpower just to stage a show—especially when the only audience was a desperate, cornered commander like himself.

However, Sigmund had anticipated Arama’s involvement.

Though his main forces were stretched thin, he had deliberately kept Veyralis and her troops back to guard the valley mouth.

There was no way Arama would break through—ordinarily.

…

Among the defenders of the valley, a scrawny goblin fidgeted uneasily, curling its bare toes into the dirt.

Veyralis’s forces were notoriously chaotic—she often mixed goblins and ravenous trolls into the same formation.

So it wasn’t uncommon for goblins to be crushed underfoot—or worse, snatched up by hungry trolls for a quick snack.

Having somehow survived this long, the “experienced” goblin had learned to stay hyper-alert. Its murky yellow eyes darted around constantly, watching for any nearby giant that might squash or eat it.

Puji—

It suddenly felt something soft brush against its side.

Instinctively, it jumped away to avoid being stepped on—but when it turned, it saw only another confused goblin looking back. No one else was nearby.

It cocked its ugly head, puzzled, scanning for the source of that strange touch.

The next instant—an earth-shaking explosion ripped through the ranks.

The goblin, its companion, and dozens of nearby demon soldiers were shredded into flying chunks of flesh.

It would never have to wonder what that touch had been again.

…

Next time, Lin Jun thought, he’d need to optimize the foot structure of the invisible puji—the slight “puji” sound during movement was still too noticeable.

As he gradually lowered the number of puji under Louisa’s command, Little Pig’s frontlines began visibly to struggle.

But Lin Jun didn’t waste the freed capacity.

He used the spare mana to create more self-destructing invisible puji, silently sending them toward the battlefield’s edge until they infiltrated the outermost lines of Veyralis’s army.

He really had to thank her chaotic command style—it made his infiltration far easier.

If it had been Sigmund’s disciplined troops, there’d have been scouts and detection mages in every key position, and the risks would have been far greater.

Besides, Lin Jun didn’t want to deploy an entirely invisible army—that would draw even more attention.

Arama quickly sensed the chaos from the explosions. He personally intercepted Veyralis while ordering Lorenzo to lead a detachment and tear open a breach.

Sigmund’s exhausted subordinates—some already thinking of retreating with Inanna—spotted the opening and immediately moved, escorting the heavy-armored puji carrying her toward the gap.

Sigmund wanted to stop them, but the storm elementals’ collapse caused wave after wave of energy surges, forcing him to focus elsewhere.

Many puji bravely threw themselves into the fray to stall his troops.

In the end, Sigmund could only watch as the Puji Masters were successfully pulled into Dragon Roar Valley by Arama.

“What a glorious battle,” his roommate’s voice murmured in his ear. “Are you angry?”

“No.” Sigmund took a deep breath, his eyes glinting with the sharpness of a hunter. “I underestimated them. That hidden commander behind the curtain—brilliant mind, rare talent.”

“Yeah, I saw that too.”

“But their summoned army is nearly spent. Even if they merge with Arama and hole up in that ruined valley, what good will it do? They’re just putting two problems together—makes it easier for me to crush them both at once! Hmm… Once we take Dragon Roar Valley, I might just offer that new strategist a chance to surrender.”

“???”