This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

“No… don’t… don’t!”

A companion was killed instantly, and his own legs were tightly bound by mycelium tentacles and dragged backward.

The teleportation array was right there within arm’s reach. The blood descendant guarding it stretched out his hands with all his strength, yet they were always just a few inches short. His fingers scraped against the frost-covered ground, carving ten bloody grooves mixed with ice shards and torn flesh.

“AAAAAAAH—!!!”

“……”

Several puji masters had their respective Fatty puji pack up the captured blood descendant along with the spare supplies they had brought, efficiently cleaning up the scene.

Lin Jun, meanwhile, controlled the knight puji and examined the teleportation array before him.

Good grief—this kind of teleportation array in an ancient ruin could actually still be used?!

Without hesitation, he destroyed one corner of the array, preventing these uninvited guests from escaping—or from teleporting in some other strange characters.

Just then, a tremendous roar came from within the spiral structure behind them.

The entire cavern shook in response.

Lin Jun still had a puji under his control inside, so he naturally witnessed the scene of the internal structure reorganizing itself.

Unfortunately, that puji ran into a collapse. Though it wasn’t killed outright, it ended up buried under the rubble.

What the hell—so you can even do that?

He immediately led the team back to provide support, while cautiously leaving behind a squad of soldiers and puji to guard the teleportation array. If any enemies approached, they were to completely destroy it on the spot.

After all, who knew whether that blood race marquis might be carrying materials on him—and just happened to know how to repair a teleportation array?

……

Elsewhere, Norris had already fallen into a crisis.

The resonance cannon on jida’s shoulder had been severed cleanly by crimson blood blades. Its shell was riddled with scars carved by blood-forged weapons, and it was now locked in close combat with two blood descendants.

Not far away, the third blood descendant had half her body mangled into a bloody mess. With her back against the wall, she used her still-functional right hand to continuously form blood arrows and fire them at jida, all of which were blocked by the mana shield.

They had already witnessed the power of the resonance cannon earlier. In order to destroy it immediately, this blood race member had paid a terrible price—but she had indeed secured their advantage.

Without its heavy firepower, jida was steadily forced back under the relentless close-range assault of the two blood descendants.

In the midst of the melee, a long whip formed from congealed blood shot out, wrapping around the scout puji on jida’s head—and yanked hard!

The puji was torn apart on the spot.

Inside jida, Norris instantly lost all external vision. He decisively ejected from the cockpit, using 【Air Step】 midair to forcibly change direction, narrowly dodging the blood spikes pursuing him.

In his arms, the Yellow Book flipped noisily, and the gold-edged page began to glow faintly.

[Kid, watch this—]

Norris suddenly snapped the book shut, pressing it against his chest.

Almost at the same moment, a raging wave of blood slammed down like a warhammer!

The tremendous impact slammed him violently into the wall, ice crystals and shattered stone raining down around him.

When the blood wave receded, Norris swayed and collapsed to one knee. Most of the scales on his body were shattered, blood gushing from the corner of his mouth.

“Still not dead? Tough bastard!” One blood descendant stepped forward, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up, forming a sharp blood spike in her right hand. “These lizardman scales of yours are pretty damn hard.”

“Too… close.”

“Hm?”

“I said… you’re standing too close to me!”

A torrent of mana suddenly erupted from the hollow in Norris’s right chest!

“What the hell is that?!” The blood descendant recoiled in horror, but it was already too late.

The point-blank mana blast sent her flying, her trajectory perfectly aligned—straight toward the now-uncontrolled jida!

The jida that had been motionless ever since Norris ejected suddenly stood up!

“Die!”

Jida stepped forward, the buzzing drill thrusting out and easily piercing through the blood descendant’s chest while she was still midair.

She didn’t die immediately. Skewered on jida’s arm, she let out a shrill, agonized scream.

Her companion transformed into a streak of blood and instantly appeared beside them. A crimson blade slashed down, severing jida’s drill arm at the root!

Witnessing this, Norris burst out laughing wildly.

“Boom!”

A massive explosion engulfed the entire corridor, instantly swallowing both blood descendants—and Norris himself was caught in it as well.

Even as Norris raised the Yellow Book again to block, the violent shockwave still flung him away like a rag doll, smashing him heavily into the distance.

Even the sturdy corridor was blasted open with a hideous gash.

The two blood descendants were reduced to fragments scattered across the floor, mixed in with clumps of mycelium. Norris himself was barely clinging to life, his scales completely shattered, bones starkly exposed in multiple places.

At the wounds, mycelium and flesh writhed as they reformed.

【Regeneration】

【Mycelium Reconstitution】

With regeneration surpassing even that of a troll, as long as he had enough mana, he would be able to recover from these fatal injuries in a few minutes.

Unfortunately, the enemy wasn’t going to give him that chance.

The blood descendant who had been severely wounded at the start had survived by virtue of distance and timely evasion, remaining miraculously unharmed.

She stomped across the wreckage toward Norris, eyes blazing with venomous hatred. “You bastard… I’m going to crush every inch of your bones!”

Norris struggled to roll his eyes, glancing at the Yellow Book lying beside him. “Senior… got… any more tricks?”

[You blocked two hits with me like that—what do you think?]

[Owww… my spine…]

Shk—

A headless corpse collapsed in front of Norris.

Unable to turn his neck, he strained his eyes to glimpse the tall figure standing there.

Louisa held the last blood descendant’s head in one hand. She had been drawn over by the explosion of jida.

She swept her gaze across the gruesome battlefield, quickly grasping the situation.

“Not bad at all,” she commented.

“Heh…” Norris no longer even had the strength to curl his lips.

The nearly collapsing corridor echoed with increasingly urgent cracking sounds.

Louisa bent down, picked up the Yellow Book, then scooped Norris up in a princess carry. She leapt out through the breach, landing on a swarm of Bloodguard puji flapping their tiny wings, using their mushroom caps as stepping stones as she carried Norris toward safety.

……

Elsewhere, atop a collapsed ruin.

Inanna stood nervously facing the blood race marquis across from her.

At her side were only Number Four, Number Ten, and the two frost spirits.

Originally, she had been kept in a rear chamber for safety—but due to the restructuring of the building, she had ended up face-to-face with the most dangerous enemy instead.

“Pink puji, don’t be afraid! I’m here—no one’s going to hurt you!” Number Four rushed forward immediately, then thought better of it and hopped onto a taller pillar, puffing out his mushroom cap proudly.

“Idiot, don’t charge in and throw your life away again!” Number Ten stopped him in time.

However, Number Ten could only stop Number Four.

The Snow Attendant and Frost Knight seemed to sense Inanna’s tension and hostility. Their ice-crystal bodies erupted with piercing cold as they fearlessly lunged toward the marquis!

“Commanding elemental spirits? No… it’s more than that!” Witnessing this, Cassinar’s eyes burst into a blazing light. His voice trembled slightly with excitement. “Such a weak human, yet able to command elemental spirits far stronger than herself… you’re a walking treasure!”

Several blood crystals shattered in his palm. A towering wave of blood rose in response, transforming into countless crimson pillars that swept toward the frost spirits and Inanna!