This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

Ironjaw’s movements in the water were exceptionally agile and swift. His snake tail lashed violently, and before the vortex it stirred could even fully form, the sharp claws wrapped in dense, hardened scales were already upon Louisa, striking viciously toward her throat and the gaps at her waist where the battle armor did not cover.

He could not understand why this bloodkin would choose such a flashy yet impractical suit of armor. If it had any merit at all, it was that the material was abnormally tough—his full-powered attacks could barely leave even a faint white mark on it.

Yet this slight advantage in defense seemed meaningless in the face of the deliberately exposed gaps covering large portions of her body.

If he had seen this armor in another setting, Ironjaw might have thought it was some kind of outfit meant for special entertainment occasions.

Despite his doubts, this did not stop him from precisely focusing all his offensive power on these “weak points” of the armor.

However, the bloodkin’s skill was not to be underestimated.

Though the armor left many openings, her movements were astonishingly fast. With minimal motions, she repeatedly blocked, deflected, or directly clashed using controlled blood, neutralizing every one of Ironjaw’s tricky attacks.

One had to remember—he was a snakefolk, naturally advantaged in underwater combat.

To so calmly withstand his storm-like barrage meant that she too was a true powerhouse who had stepped into the sanctum realm.

This had been expected even before the fight began and did not surprise Ironjaw.

“You’re not going to use that greatsword on your back?” Ironjaw asked during a brief exchange.

“Then you’ll have to try a bit harder,” Louisa replied.

“Hmph! Arrogant woman!”

Unable to break through, a sinister glint flashed in Ironjaw’s eyes as he immediately resorted to a dirty trick.

Dark green venom quietly seeped from his fangs. During their high-speed maneuvers and close passes, the toxin was subtly dispersed into the surrounding water, rapidly diffusing outward.

Some snakefolk who awakened venom talents found them rather limited on land—how often could you really bite your opponent or spray poison directly in their face during battle?

But underwater, the usefulness of this ability increased dramatically.

Venom spread with the water, seeping everywhere.

Now all he needed to do was keep her entangled here, letting the poison accumulate in her body…

…

Louisa felt a bit disappointed.

She had wanted to use this opportunity to thoroughly test the real combat limits of her new battle armor.

But this sanctum-level snakefolk opponent before her… the pressure he brought seemed somewhat lacking.

Even without activating the armor, she felt she could handle him.

This was thanks to the regular distribution of “Water of Life” and other resources from Lin Jun. Louisa’s level had quietly risen to LV58.

Though she still appeared to be at the diamond tier, combined with the many skills Lin Jun had gradually added to her, her true combat power had already stepped into the sanctum realm ahead of time.

The snakefolk’s attacks were indeed vicious. The water currents torn up by his claws were sharp enough to easily slice apart unlucky rock-armored puji tens of meters away, yet they never gave Louisa a genuine sense of danger.

As for the poison?

Louisa was not blind. She had long since noticed the dark green haze quietly spreading through the water.

The snakefolk might have thought his relentless assault had pinned her in place, preventing her from leaving the poisoned area. In reality, Louisa simply did not care.

Poison Resistance LV9

When the boss added skills, passives and resistances were always the top priority.

The poison was not completely ineffective, but if it were to accumulate to the point of affecting her movements, it would probably take at least half a day of constant soaking.

Though her opponent had failed to reach the expected testing intensity, she could not find a better sparring partner for the moment.

The armor…

Activate.

In an instant, the A-rank magic crystals already embedded in the armor all began to emit a purple glow.

Magic power was forcibly drawn in from the surrounding waters, even forming several small mana vortices around Louisa. Chaotic energies collided with each other, triggering faint miniature magic explosions.

Ironjaw’s instincts screamed a warning.

Without a second thought, he whipped his snake tail and retreated rapidly, pulling back dozens of meters. He stared at the figure wrapped in violent magical energy with shock and uncertainty.

“What… what kind of monster is this?!” His hoarse voice could not hide his terror.

Reflected in his constricted vertical pupils, Louisa slowly spread her arms. Her body trembled slightly under some extreme stimulation, and a long, drawn-out moan escaped her throat—half pain, half pleasure.

“Aaah—”

Immediately after, the originally vicious metal barbs on the armor seemed to come alive and soften.

Without hindering joint movement, they bent and branched inward like living things, their sharp tips tearing through the flesh beneath her skin. Like countless greedy roots, they extended deep into her body.

Only then did Ironjaw realize that this piece of equipment was, in truth, half a torture device.

Watching the bloodkin who seemed to find joy within pain, her presence becoming several times more dangerous, Ironjaw could not help but curse through clenched teeth.

“Freak!”

A certain knight puji watching the battle nodded its mushroom cap in agreement.

Blood was drawn out along those barbs embedded deep within her body, flowing through the grooves and gaps of the armor. It interconnected and finally condensed, solidifying into a crystalline dark-red shell that tightly wrapped Louisa from head to toe, leaving only her pale, exhilarated face exposed.

Alarm bells rang wildly in Ironjaw’s mind. He unleashed all his power, twisting his body and slashing out. The surging current was no longer simple water flow, but condensed into four crescent-shaped blades of water that tore through the sea, crossing as they shredded toward Louisa.

Louisa neither dodged nor retreated.

Two of the water blades skimmed past the sides of her blood-crystal-coated body and slammed into the stone wall behind her, carving cuts over ten meters deep. Rubble rained down.

But the other two, which struck her head-on, shattered completely with a dull boom, like waves crashing against a reef. The turbulent currents quickly settled, all force dissipating into nothingness.

Not even a trace was left behind.

This astonishing defense left Ironjaw momentarily stunned. Leaving no mark at all meant that even if he had stronger techniques left, they would likely fail to break through the armor—let alone deal a fatal blow.

At last, Louisa removed the massive greatsword from her back. Her blood climbed onto the blade as well, turning the edge a vivid crimson.

“Didn’t you want to try this sword?” Louisa’s voice sounded a little unfocused. Using so much of her own blood for combat had pushed her into a half-intoxicated state, yet under the armor’s influence, her movements remained perfectly steady.

She swung the sword casually.

The blood clinging to the blade detached, transforming into a blood-red slash as thin as a cicada’s wing, yet so fast it exceeded the limits of vision. It cut through the water and swept past Ironjaw’s position in an instant.

Ironjaw felt a chill on his right arm and turned in shock. A fine line of blood silently appeared where his arm met his shoulder.

He instinctively moved slightly.

His entire scaled right arm, severed cleanly at the shoulder, detached and slowly sank into the dark depths below.

At the far end of the slash’s trajectory, a snakefolk mercenary who had been hiding behind a distant stone pillar froze abruptly.

From the center of his forehead, a bloodline extended straight downward. His body then split cleanly into two even halves, drifting apart in silence.

“Can’t even react?” Louisa muttered in disappointment, raising the crimson greatsword once more.

Terror overwhelmed Ironjaw’s mind. Gritting his teeth to suppress a scream, he dared not hold anything back. He opened his mouth and spat out a second—and final—pearl that stored a rift.

Louisa did not know what it was, but she still slashed at it.

The second rift-sealing pearl was destroyed by the blood blade, triggering prematurely.

A finger-width unstable rift appeared between them, and a horrifying suction force erupted instantly.

Louisa was hit first. Her entire body was dragged toward it by the irresistible pull. She raised her left arm, and the blood-crystal armguard caught on the rift’s irregular edge.

Under the terrifying suction, fine cracks appeared on the previously indestructible blood crystal for the first time. Tiny fragments even flaked off at the edges and were swallowed by the rift.

However, the barbs embedded deep within her body activated again. Louisa let out a muffled groan as even more blood was forcibly drawn out, rushing along the barbs into the armguard.

The cracks were filled and repaired at a visible rate by newly formed blood crystal. Though the repair was slightly slower than the damage, it still forcibly withstood the rift’s tearing force.

Ironjaw was astonished that Louisa’s armor was that durable, and at the same time realized this might be the last chance he would ever get.

The muscles in Ironjaw’s remaining left arm bulged. His snake tail pushed his speed to the limit, using the suction force as he became a blurred afterimage, lunging straight at Louisa’s face—the only part not covered by blood crystal.

The situation was so critical that even Lin Jun was preparing to step in to preserve the fairness of this duel.

However, just as Ironjaw’s razor-sharp claws drew closer, Louisa’s eyes—crimson until now—suddenly lost all color, turning stark white.

Petrification Ray

Ironjaw’s charging body stiffened abruptly. From his chest and abdomen, gray-white patterns spread outward. His hardened scales lost their sheen and rapidly turned to stone.

Though only part of his body was affected, it was enough to cause a momentary freeze.

Louisa did not even move her trapped left hand.

With only her right hand gripping the greatsword, she swung it sideways and smashed it across Ironjaw’s face.

Like swatting away a watermelon, the surrounding water grew even more turbid.

Ironjaw’s headless body retained its forward momentum, sliding past Louisa before losing all strength and slowly sinking into the pitch-black abyss below.

After that, the rift continued to restrain Louisa for a short while longer before finally collapsing and disappearing.

Louisa withdrew her left arm, now fully restored and once more encased in flawless blood crystal. Her pale eyes returned to crimson as she looked toward where Ironjaw’s body had sunk.

“That last choice… at least had a bit of flair.”

A knight puji drifted over lightly and hovered above Little Pig’s head, its tentacles sliding back and forth across her cheek.

“You had your fun, but what about me? A whole sanctum-level enemy, and you just killed him like that?!”

A crisis far greater than the previous battle descended upon Little Pig.