Beneath the old fortress, a mushroom forest was slowly spreading.
The cold slowed its growth so much that even after more than a month, it was only a rough outline.
Still, within this half-formed forest, three mushroom houses had already been accelerated with Lin Jun’s magic.
Compared to those in the Amethyst Dungeon, these mushroom houses were shorter, thicker, and their entrances weren’t left wide open. Instead, they were sealed with a flexible slit that could be pushed aside.
This design kept in warmth better—otherwise Norris really would have no choice but to sleep inside a Pujis all the time.
Gray sleepily poked her head out from one of the mushroom houses.
She woke to find the burrowing Pujis in her arms had been attacked by an unknown culprit, dead with half its cap missing. The cold had jolted her awake.
“Boss! Cold! Pujis!”
Tch!
Don’t go chewing up the heater inside the house!Two more burrowing Pujis emerged outside. With sleep already gone, Gray gave up on resting. She scooped up the corpse, shoved her head into Norris’s mushroom house, and found no one.
“Looking for Norris? He went that way.”
A Pujis pointed with its tendril.
Before leaving, Gray remembered to call back: “Shiny stuff, move it!”
“Alright, alright, I remember.”
She meant her stash of shiny treasures stored on the fifth floor needed to be brought here.
Honestly, quite a hassle.
There was enough of it to fill a Fatty Pujis, but those couldn’t be sent climbing stairs—the trip would just end with them eaten halfway.
So the Bat Pujis would have to ferry them bit by bit through the cracks. Fortunately, pressure had been light lately, so there was spare effort to handle it.
Lin Jun had been in the Stone Fortress Dungeon long enough to get a clear picture.
The Chiss were trapped in the middle layers!
After the deep-layer battles, the Sword Saint’s casual slaughter, and the Pujis’ repeated raids, the Chiss were clearly exhausted.
When the Pujis first entered, the Chiss could still mount defenses and harass. It looked like it might turn into a drawn-out struggle. Yet only days later, their decline was obvious.
The fleshy tumors in the middle layers had been replaced by the Mycelium Carpet. Their territory shrank step by step, leaving only one Eye Insect—useless if it fought, useless if it didn’t.
They were finished.
Of course, the Chiss collapsed this fast thanks to three allies.
Gray hated the cold and lacked drive, but she stuck with Norris, who was addicted to piloting the Jigda [battle cart], actively hunting Chiss.
The most tireless was Little Pig. Sleeping less, fighting more, she threw herself into battles every day, strangely energetic even though she’d never liked drinking Chiss blood.
As for the Demonborn tribe…
Lin Jun had planned to extend the Mycelium Carpet toward them, win them over through soft and hard tactics. But… it was too cold outside!
Reaching the upper layers was the Carpet’s limit. Any farther, it simply couldn’t spread—unless [Cold Resistance] leveled up again, brute force was impossible.
Still, if he couldn’t push hard, he could try soft. Recon Pujis reported that the outside world was so barren it was generous to even call it “poor.” This Demonborn tribe clearly survived only by clinging to dungeon resources.
That gave Lin Jun plenty of leverage. And there was no rush.
First, deal with the Chiss.
…
Several Worker Pujis lumbered forward, steadily laying down the Mycelium Carpet. Their huge caps pulsed rhythmically, releasing fine spores like drifting dust.
Above, an invisible Eye Insect briefly scouted, then retreated quietly—without even summoning troops to harass. The Chiss seemed to have abandoned the fight for territory.
On the surface, they still held half the dungeon. But every time the Pujis advanced a step, they were forced back a step. Once Lin Jun located their command tower, it would be over.
Strange, though. Even if they were losing, they should have resisted harder. Knowing the Chiss’ intelligence, Lin Jun couldn’t help but suspect a scheme.
Especially after that mention of the “meatball” last time. Whatever it was, if the enemy wanted it, then the right move was to stop it.
Lin Jun sent many Pujis to block the areas linking the fortress to the upper levels, effectively bottling the Chiss.
It didn’t take long to pinpoint their command center.
The location was a little unusual.
The fortress’s underground was mostly rough natural caverns.
But here, it was clearly part of the fortress structure extending downward—broken brick flooring, a rotting giant doorway, and scattered fragments of what had once been massive magical machinery.
Inside the ruined frame, a colossal living meatball was suspended, pierced through by two thick metal pillars!
【Race: Chiss – Heart】
【Level: LV63】
【Racial Talent: Chiss Breeding】
【Skills: Mental Integration LV9, Minion Control LV8, Cold Resistance LV8… Mental Diffusion LV7, Psychic Magic LV6, Physical Resistance LV5… Division LV3…】
Unexpectedly, it was called “Heart” and not “Brain.”
But it was without doubt their command tower. Not to mention, many of its skills overlapped with Lin Jun’s.
It was the first time he’d seen an entity with no five base attributes listed.
And… what was with this shape?
Like a lump of meat skewered in place. Clearly immobile. Compared to it, his mushroom body was much more convenient.
Either way, now that it was found, it was doomed.
Surrounding the Heart were all the troops it had left:
One massive Eye Insect, and just over seven hundred assorted Chiss.
Compared to their peak, pitifully few.
Lin Jun, meanwhile, had over a thousand combat Pujis on site—even after sending hundreds to block the exits! Plus the fake lizardmen, Gray, and Little Pig.
The outcome was already sealed before the fight began.
Unless… a god descended to save this meatball strung on poles.
Lin Jun was about to order the attack, to send this neighbor off with dignity, when a thought suddenly rippled through the Pujis’ network:
“War… hope… peace… coexist.”
Psychic speech?
Who knew if it was born with the ability, or had learned it—but judging by how broken the words were, likely the former.
Lin Jun had heard from two Demonborn earlier that the Chiss could communicate mentally, but to actually watch a giant meatball trying to talk to him—it was absurdly comical.
He even wondered whether, through this mental channel, he could listen to its dying screams in real time.
“Attack!”
The command pulsed through the fungal web without delay!