Recently, the adventurers in Dumb Wind Town discovered that the traces of demons on the fifth floor of the Purple Crystal Dungeon have suddenly decreased.
The Jackal Wolfman Tribe has retreated deep into the forest and no longer goes out to hunt, the Jade-eyed Frogs are nowhere to be found at the Poison Mist Lake, and even the wandering Thick Acid Slimes have reduced significantly.
Only the Crystalized Bat Swarm and the Rock Lizard Race in the cave to the west remain normal.
Speculations about the root cause of the anomaly are varied.
Some say that on a certain quest, they detected violent fluctuations in magic power in the Swamp Area from afar, which must have been caused by the rampaging Parasitic Tree that scared the surrounding demons.
Others speculate it's a sign of an impending Demon Tide, but the Adventurer's Guild is professional in this area, and since they haven't issued a Demon Tide warning, this guess hasn't gained much credibility.
The most ridiculous claim comes from Nick, the drunkard, who swears he saw with his own eyes a group of Pukis annihilating the Jade-eyed Frogs, pond by pond.
This statement drew roars of laughter from everyone who heard it, convinced that Nick must have been drunk even in the dungeon, unable to distinguish reality from his alcohol-induced dreams.
Who doesn't know that Pukis are at the bottom of the food chain even on the first level, let alone slaying Jade-eyed Frogs on the fifth level?
Compared to Nick's words, even the Demon Tide sign seems more credible.
————
Meanwhile, the lone Jackal Wolfman assassin, the instigator behind the near extinction of the Jade-eyed Frogs, and the culprit behind the changes on the fifth level—Lin Jun, launched another territory war against the Parasitic Tree.
The recent active defense withdrawal allowed most of the swamp area to return to the hands of the Parasitic Tree.
But in the short term, the number of Parasitic Trees won't increase because of this, instead, they become scattered due to the larger territory.
Lin Jun, on the other hand, hunted everywhere, accumulating a large amount of magic power and nurturing over a hundred Pukis.
Now, the time has come to counterattack!
A total of over two hundred Pukis, and the moment they met the outermost Parasitic Trees, reduced them to ashes, swiftly pushing the front back to the previous battlefield.
As with the last time, the Demon Martial Double Assassins of the Parasitic Trees made their move.
Again, two filthy Water Elements appeared.
Lin Jun hurriedly commanded 40 Pukis to launch continuous attacks, temporarily suppressing the Water Elements.
On the other side, a Blade Storm was whirling towards the Puki team. If it got in, Lin Jun was sure to suffer heavy losses.
But Lin Jun wouldn't fall into the same trap twice.
The Pukis turned around and leaned down, compressing their bodies into piles in a very short time, and then—
They bounced up!
[Assault Ejection Level 4]
Thanks to the displacement skill contributed by the frogs, the Pukis bounced off in all directions, only one, closest, was caught mid-air by the Blade Storm and sliced into pieces.
It wasn't over yet. The Pukis, ready for self-destruction, rolled out of the team and exploded one by one in front of the Parasitic Trees.
Although each Puki was blocked by the rotating roots and couldn't explode at the trunk, even so, 20 self-destructions later, the life value of this Parasitic Tree was at the bottom.
In truth, this damage was completely insufficient to kill a Level 45 warrior adventurer, but the core of this Parasitic Tree was merely a Level 24, unable to withstand such a chain of explosions.
Now there was only that Parasitic Tree capable of summoning left.
A large number of Pukis bypassed the suppressed Water Elements and charged at the other Parasitic Trees behind.
As yet another unremarkable Parasitic Tree was split midriff, the two Water Elements immediately dissolved, merging into the swampground without a trace.
The most troublesome two Parasitic Trees had fallen, and what followed was merely a tedious sweep.
The Pukis were still suffering minor casualties from the occasional strange skills, but it no longer had an impact on the big picture.
Parasitic Trees, which made ground-level adventurers tremble with fear, posed little threat to Lin Jun.
The reason why human adventurers had to detour upon seeing Parasitic Trees is that they face them in small groups, with naturally low odds of winning.
But Lin Jun was different; he was waging a war, organizing a unified, sacrificial army of Pukis, against demons that fought separately, scattered like sand.
Even if these Parasitic Trees had a variety of tricks, unless their power was overwhelmingly strong, everything else was merely flamboyant.
Lin Jun now had only a small portion of his attention on commanding the battle; most of his thoughts had already started planning the new Mushroom Garden.
Unlike the enclosed terrain of the Mushroom Garden in the Deep Area, the Swamp Area is in the center of the entire fifth floor.
It's just that the difficult terrain here, coupled with the terrifying demons like Parasitic Trees, made adventurers choose to bypass it.
After clearing the Parasitic Trees, the risk reduced, and perhaps someone would choose this route. Lin Jun didn't want his domain to become a highway for adventurers.
Whether through force or certain communication, there must be a way to let them know they still need to take another path.
Additionally, Lin Jun's new Mushroom Garden wouldn't only cover the Swamp Area; in fact, the Swamp Area was just the core of his plan, with the entire fifth floor eventually falling within the Mushroom Garden's range.
The Poison Mist Lake could be used for breeding, though what to rear wasn't determined yet, with plenty of options still.
The cave area was originally a mine, but now it's being exploited by adventurers and is also the area with the most humans on this floor, which is why Lin Jun hadn't headed there during his hunting trips recently.
The output there is still the local specialty of this Underground City—the purple Demon Crystal.
Though the average quality is evidently much lower than that in the Deep Area, Lin Jun had secretly observed it, and even a C Level was considered rare.
But ultimately, it was the mine in his own backyard, and there still needed to find an opportunity to take it over.
Seizing it by force was easy, but he didn't want to display intense hostility towards humans.
It wasn't about any human identity recognition, but more practically, when lacking strength, it should be shown as amiable.
No matter how invincible Lin Jun seemed on this floor, overwhelming ordinary adventurers with a snap, he was still far too weak compared to humans as a whole.
Since interaction would be inevitable in the future, it's best to start well; reaching an agreement, even if some default rules, would be good.
Just that his Human Universal Language was only Level 1, making direct communication a big problem.
He couldn't just go on a killing spree among adventurers, raise his Human Universal Language to Level 10, and then say to them: "Now let us get along peacefully."
This issue was the most crucial, Lin Jun had to plan it carefully.
As for the Jackal Wolfmen in the forest.
Coincidentally he had a Fusion Parasite he hadn't had time to study closely; might as well use them as an example.
All for making the Mushroom Garden great again!
————
Black clouds churned as violent rain turned the road into a muddy mess, each step of the horse's hooves splashing mud.
In such terrible weather, it was very easy for horses to slip.
Despite this, the rider showed no sign of stopping, instead gripping the reins tightly with one hand and fiercely guarding the package in front of his chest, galloping forward at full speed.
The fierce wind carried raindrops, howling past and flipping the hood, revealing Dylan's grotesque half-face covered with mycelium.