This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

What kind of lunatic does a massive explosion in his own house just to flush out a thief?!

Those chaotic, indiscriminate attacks from the elemental spirits didn’t manage to force the knight out right away. Instead, they ended up injuring quite a few of their own allies.

One fire elemental even self-destructed after receiving an order. The knight puji wasn’t hit at all, but the nearby earth elemental was blown to pieces.

Great. Before even meeting face-to-face, Lin Jun already had a fairly clear understanding of the fire elemental lord’s mental state.

Although Lin Jun managed to avoid being discovered immediately thanks to precise movement and a bit of luck, judging by the situation, exposure was only a matter of time.

Since he was already close enough, the knight puji simply charged straight inward.

Puji puji—

The noise quickly attracted the attention of nearby elemental spirits. Attacks came one after another, almost completely sealing off all routes of evasion.

The knight puji decisively curled into a ball and dropped downward, his speed increasing even further.

With a swing of his tentacles, he temporarily dispersed two fire elementals blocking the way. At last, the knight puji rolled into the area occupied by the fire elemental lord.

The scene before him was nothing short of spectacular.

An unimaginably vast underground cavern stretched out before him. At its center lay a magma lake of indeterminate diameter, bubbling and bursting as waves of heat rolled outward.

Above the lake stood that colossal existence.

A massive body composed entirely of flame, its outline constantly twisting, swelling, and contracting. Every change in its form caused violent fluctuations in temperature and mana throughout the entire space.

Embedded in the center of its chest was a gigantic metal ring engraved with dim runes, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the shattered ring Lin Jun had seen in the Tidal Sanctum.

Behind it, at the far end of the magma lake, a door was set into the rock wall.

That door was unexpectedly small—only seven or eight meters tall. Compared to the vast magma lake and the enormous fire elemental lord, it looked strangely out of place.

But Lin Jun knew that behind that seemingly unremarkable door lay the true heart of the dungeon.

Still, his objective this time wasn’t the core. He only wanted to personally confirm the true form of this fire elemental lord.

And the moment Lin Jun barged in, the fire elemental lord noticed the tiny intruder as well.

“A monster? You’re not a dwarf?!”

“What are you doing here?”

“No—whatever you’re here for, be annihilated!”

On the face formed of fire, flames twisted into something resembling facial features, first showing shock and confusion, then instantly replaced by towering fury.

Its emotions flipped violently in an instant, leaving no room for dialogue at all.

The fire elemental lord didn’t wait for Lin Jun to respond. It directly raised a scorching wave of molten magma and slammed it toward the tiny knight puji at the entrance!

The knight puji turned and tried to retreat, but the fire elemental lord moved faster, transforming the passage the puji had used into a sea of flames.

“You won’t escape. I won’t allow you to escape! Anyone who dares trespass into my domain must die!”

Then, right before its eyes, the knight puji rolled straight into the burning passage, casually dispersing the two fire elementals that had just reformed their flame bodies once again.

His white body was scorched black, but relying on maxed-out resistances, the knight puji still forced his way through the passage.

“ROAR—!”

The fire elemental lord let out an ear-splitting bellow. Its massive body lurched forward as a gigantic arm of flame stretched out, reaching for the tiny figure.

However, at the instant its massive hand was about to touch the edge of the passage, the huge metal ring embedded in the center of its chest emitted a shrill hum!

Countless dim runes lit up simultaneously, erupting with intense fluctuations.

“GRAAAH!”

The fire elemental lord seemed to be injured. Flames along its entire arm flickered wildly as its massive body twisted in agony, releasing a piercing scream.

Forced to retract its arm, it could only watch as the knight puji vanished from its sight during that brief opening.

“Kill it! Chase it! Crush that bug!”

A mental roar of extreme rage swept through the entire dungeon.

Even the fire elemental spirits that had been fiercely battling the dwarven garrison at the entrance all froze for a moment, then abandoned their current enemies and surged back into the depths of the dungeon, leaving behind a group of bewildered dwarven soldiers staring at each other.

Two days later, the knight puji located the delegation in Forgefire Capital.

“You’re finally back. I was worried you might get lost!” Inanna happily picked up the knight puji, then tilted her head slightly as she examined him with some confusion. “Why do you feel… a bit whiter?”

…

To be honest, even Lin Jun hadn’t expected the knight puji to make it out alive.

That was largely thanks to the fire elemental lord’s unstable mental state.

After Lin Jun took one look at it and ran, it immediately issued a kill order. After that, command after command echoed throughout the dungeon.

Although Lin Jun couldn’t decipher the specific content of those orders, he could clearly see the elementals switching behaviors—attacking everywhere to search for the knight one moment, then swarming toward the entrance the next, only to collectively pull back again to block key passages shortly afterward.

It was obvious that a large portion of the fire elemental lord’s commands contradicted one another. Combined with the dwarves seizing the opportunity to retake the dungeon entrance and probing inward, multiple factors aligned just right.

Against all odds, Lin Jun managed to extract the knight puji.

Even if losing him wouldn’t have been a big deal, there was still an S-rank magic crystal inside. If it could be saved, it was better to save it.

After all, you never understand how precious resources are until you’re the one managing the household.

Besides Puji Fort and the Mushroom Garden puji needing high-grade crystals, there was now also that little pig, an absolute resource sink.

An S-rank magic crystal also needed to be prepared for the magic crystal battle armor. It didn’t have to be used, but it had to exist—a hidden trump card.

And this trip had given Lin Jun the answer he wanted.

This fire elemental lord also had no soul.

To be honest, that result was somewhat unexpected.

Although the fire elemental lord was mentally unstable and didn’t seem particularly intelligent, it could speak and possessed rich emotions.

If Lin Jun were to classify it, it would undoubtedly fall under intelligent life.

And yet, it still had no soul.

However, under the perspective of Inspiration, it wasn’t merely a mass of gray matter. At the center of that gray substance, there was a slightly illusory core condensed within.

This form—having a core yet lacking a soul—was strikingly similar to the Yellow Book.

An artificial creation?

The origins of dungeons and the secrets behind these guardians clearly concealed many mysteries. Unfortunately, no matter the race, their records of dungeon origins only documented the time and location of appearance, the resulting impact, and a handful of unproven speculations.

No one could say for certain who created them, or for what purpose.

The only being that might know—the Divine Tree—was an infuriating riddle-spewing old bastard.

The more he thought about it, the angrier Lin Jun got, and he added another mark against the Divine Tree in his mental ledger.

Negotiations on this side had already begun, unfolding more or less as Lin Jun had expected.

The delegation did not immediately raise the issue of demanding methods to seal the elemental lord.

Instead, after witnessing Inanna’s ability to control elemental spirits, the dwarves repeatedly, whether intentionally or not, brought up the disaster of the Moltenfire Dungeon during negotiations—clearly hoping to borrow Inanna’s power.

This gave Ronan and the delegation a great deal of initiative at the bargaining table.

However, after seeing the fire elemental lord’s borderline deranged state, Lin Jun was now facing a new problem.

Although Pink puji’s Elemental Spirit Favor was incredibly overpowered—practically group brainwashing—could it affect an intelligent fire elemental lord?

If it couldn’t, or if it only worked partially without full control, then Pink puji would be in serious danger.

The knight had managed to escape only because there was some distance, and Lin Jun retreated immediately after taking a glance. Even then, he barely escaped with low health after tanking severe terrain damage from the flames.

If Pink puji were sent in, in the worst-case scenario, Lin Jun might not even get the chance to disassemble Pink.

Thinking about that made things very bad.

Should he give up?

Abandon the opportunity to control the fire elemental lord, and instead only demand information regarding sealing methods?

Lin Jun decided that tomorrow, he would first accompany the delegation to meet the dwarven high command, then make further plans.