This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

The pink puji has achieved merit that overshadows its master and now holds heavy power—this must be suppressed immediately!

What truly frightened Lin Jun was not the pink puji itself. He knew perfectly well what kind of puji it was.

What unsettled him was the ability called Elemental Spirits’ Favor. This thing seemed to carry the flavor of a rules-based power.

At the very least, even an existence on the level of a fire elemental lord could only resist it for a brief moment.

In the past, when Inanna commanded storm elementals or even got close to the frost elemental lord, Lin Jun had never thought along these lines.

That was because those elemental spirits all appeared to have rather low intelligence. After using some methods to raise their favorability, it made sense that they would show goodwill toward Inanna.

But this fire elemental lord was clearly different.

Although it also lacked a true soul, like the Yellow Book, it possessed complete intelligence.

Yet such a sentient being went from resisting and attacking one moment to becoming completely docile the next, as if it had been mentally controlled.

In the Inspiration perspective, its core had even been directly dyed pink.

Lin Jun felt this ability should not be called Elemental Spirits’ Favor, but rather Brainwashing Elemental Spirits.

And if there was one rules-based ability, there could very well be more.

This one controlled elemental spirits. What if the next one controlled puji and mushrooms?

Would he himself be unable to resist and end up affected?

Faced with such a possibility, Lin Jun found it very hard to feel at ease.

There was also another concern, regarding the bloodline of the pink puji.

Unfortunately, puji did not have the ability to draw a tube of blood and analyze its components. He could only look for an opportunity later to probe Feixi[‘肥西’] indirectly.

Of course, for now, the fact that the pink puji had successfully controlled the fire elemental lord was definitely a good thing.

Well… it should count as being controlled… probably…

The fire elemental lord that had just whipped up a massive lava wave to incinerate everyone was now half-submerged in the churning lava lake, doing its best to shrink its overwhelming presence to the smallest possible extent.

It cautiously inched toward the shore, stopping after every tiny movement to observe Inanna’s reaction.

Seeing that the existence which made its very being tremble showed no discomfort or fear, it dared to continue forward.

Its posture was cautious to the point of humility, as if afraid that the flames burning around its body might scorch Inanna.

In fact, at this distance, most of the dwarven warriors could no longer endure it. The terrifying heat scorched the air, making even breathing painful, forcing them to retreat while gasping for breath.

Bardo was in a similar state, drenched in sweat. The moment sweat seeped out of his skin, it instantly vaporized, sending wisps of white steam rising from his body.

Yet he remained firmly rooted in place, warhammer clenched tightly, guarding against any sudden violent outburst.

Inanna, on the other hand, did not seem very hot at all.

This calmness clearly delighted the fire elemental lord. It tentatively moved closer again, now less than ten meters from the shore.

The fire elemental lord slowly raised a massive hand formed of condensed flame. From its palm separated a small cluster of pure, deep-red fire, devoid of destructive intent, gently floating toward Inanna.

It wished to bestow a blessing upon her, allowing her to be free from the disturbance of raging flames.

However, just as that warm glow was about to touch Inanna, a crystalline gown formed entirely of ice crystals appeared around her body.

Frost patterns flowed across it, and cold air spread outward.

Blessing of Frost.

Clearly, Inanna had not been resisting the heat through her own resistance.

Faced with a power completely opposed to itself, the ice-crystal gown unleashed its terrifying energy without hesitation.

The cold current not only extinguished the fire cluster but also detonated a ring of ice directly within this lava-churning, scorching space.

“Kh!” Bardo let out a muffled groan. Half his body was coated in frost, and he shuddered violently before finally shattering the ice crystals clinging to him.

If not for his overwhelming strength, he might have accomplished the unprecedented feat of freezing to death beside a lava lake.

The blessing failed to land, and the fire elemental lord fell into a brief silence.

Then—

“Who?! Who is it?! Who dares… who dares to act before me…!!!”

Confusion, disbelief, and rage erupted all at once.

“Unforgivable!”

It forcibly drew out even more power from within itself, transforming it into an even more surging torrent of blazing heat that rushed toward Inanna without restraint.

“Wait—wait, calm down!” Inanna tried to reason with it.

But the fire elemental lord only kept roaring “unforgivable,” its actions not slowing in the slightest.

The ice-crystal gown once again rose up on its own to intercept. Cold winds and heat waves collided violently, actually managing for a time to block the rampaging flames.

However, within the environment of a lava lake, frost was ultimately rootless driftwood. The area it could defend was compressed inch by inch, and the ice crystals began to melt.

In the end, the gorgeous gown dissolved into a pool of clear water, which was instantly evaporated by the terrifying heat with a hiss, vanishing without a trace.

In its place, a robe woven of flames wrapped around Inanna. After flaring briefly, its brilliance receded and quietly faded from view.

Blessing of Raging Flames replaced Blessing of Frost.

Lin Jun had not expected to witness a scene of a “mistress” forcibly taking the throne.

Additionally, it had to be said that aside from visual effects, this flame robe had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever. It lacked any decorative patterns like the ice-crystal gown.

Clearly, when it came to aesthetics, this fire elemental lord was not even on the same level as the frost elemental lord.

The knight extended a tentacle and cautiously touched Inanna in her current state.

The blessing’s effect was similar to the ice gown. As long as it posed no threat to her, it merely made one feel pleasantly warm.

With the blessing applied, the fire elemental lord—its will already tampered with—finally touched Inanna.

Bardo was fortunate enough to witness, up close, the surreal scene of a human petting the fire elemental lord on the head…

With his armor scorching hot and waves of burning pain radiating through his skin, Bardo endured the discomfort as an absurd thought crossed his mind: perhaps… he could try touching it too?

“Get lost—!!”

If Inanna had not stopped it in time, Bardo—who had just started to move—would have been nearly slapped by the fire elemental lord.

In the end, he could only curse under his breath and retreat farther away.

Activating the Ring of Restraint was quite simple. Once the pink puji made its move, the fire elemental lord showed no resistance whatsoever.

Before Inanna, the fire elemental lord was obedient to the point of utter submission.

However, Inanna did not strictly follow the operating instructions provided by the dwarves. Instead, she took into account the fire elemental lord’s own suggestions and made several subtle adjustments to the rune activation sequence.

Under normal circumstances, Lin Jun would have stepped in to warn Inanna to beware of being tricked.

But with the fire elemental lord’s will already altered, there was naturally no possibility of it harming Inanna.

As the adjusted runes lit up one by one, the massive ring embedded in the fire elemental lord’s chest began to rotate slowly, emitting a low hum. The surging flames around its body, along with its enormous form, were continuously drawn into the ring.

Unlike previous instances when the dwarves activated the seal, this Ring of Restraint grew smaller and smaller, eventually shrinking to the size of a ring and landing in Inanna’s palm.

Watching this outrageous scene, the Sword Saint scratched his mushroom cap.

He could not help but wonder: if Inanna had subdued this fire elemental lord back during the Battle of Tri-Mountain City, how much would his chances of victory have increased?

What kind of absurd luck did Arama have, to give birth to a child with such talent?

With the fire elemental lord gone and the high temperature slightly reduced, the dwarves finally dared to gather around again.

They stared at the ring-sized restraint ring in Inanna’s hand, their faces filled with shock and incredulous admiration.

Of course, there was also joy. This meant the Moltenfire Dungeon was finally going to be reclaimed.

However, just as everyone prepared to return, Inanna suddenly ran into an invisible wall.

More precisely, the ring in her hand was blocked by an invisible barrier.

Guardian forbidden to leave the core area.