“Why would it be in the deep layers?” Fifteen still couldn’t figure it out.
“Maybe after you injured it last time, it hid here,” Aedin suggested.
Lin Jun still had no intention of revealing the secret of fungal-mat vision. So when the group reached the passage, they “happened” to encounter two Pujis guarding the mouth.
The setup instantly reminded the adventurers of the Qis.
Sword Saint Elvien ignored the weak little Pujis completely, his steps never faltering.
But out of caution, Fifteen flicked his sword, neatly slicing them both apart.
The moment they followed the Sword Saint into the cavern, they were greeted by a Puji army already lying in ambush!
The Pujis had gathered in astonishing order and speed, sealing the entrance completely, pinning the adventurers in the narrow bottleneck.
There were no tank-class Pujis here—other than the elite cluster around the knight, the rest were fodder.
To make the “King of Pujis” convincing, it couldn’t just roll over and hand itself over. A farce like that would only make humans suspicious.On the contrary, Lin Jun had decided to pour everything into this fight, as if determined to kill the Sword Saint himself.
And if, against all odds, he did slay Elvien? That would only prove humans posed no real threat at all!
Orders flew out—rolling self-destruct Pujis surged forth, while from the ceiling, bat-winged Pujis swooped down in a deadly dive.
But—
The Sword Saint didn’t even move his feet.
His wrist twitched, sword flashed, and before anyone could register the strike, all charging Pujis froze mid-motion.
The next heartbeat, their bodies split cleanly along flawless cut lines and fell in halves. Not even the self-destructs had time to ignite.
This speed and scope dwarfed Fifteen’s.
Sword in hand, Elvien strode forward.
“Master!” Fifteen suddenly called out.
The Sword Saint cocked his head slightly.
“Please… leave the King of Pujis to me!” Fifteen’s eyes burned with fighting spirit and refusal to accept defeat.
“Fine.” The answer was as curt as it was absolute.
The instant the word left his lips, Elvien’s figure vanished.
All that anyone saw was a radiant silver crescent blaze across the darkness—one dazzling arc of moonlight that carved straight through the densest heart of the Puji ranks.
And this was just as Lin Jun’s “Full Attack” command reached his army.
The mushroom cannons were still charging, the spore-bursters just starting to tense their caps.
Too late.
Except for a few scattered Pujis far enough out of range to lob clumsy shots, the entire army—every shrieking, charging Puji—was reaped down like wheat.
Their bisected bodies littered the fungal mats, eerily identical to the massacre of the Qis cave earlier—only without the splashing purple blood.
In a blink, only a handful of stragglers remained, plus the knight and his bodyguards.
Aedin, though he had seen it before, felt his heart shudder at the display.
Inanna pressed her lips tight, strangely unsettled at the sudden vanishing of so many signals.
And Fifteen… sighed at the sheer gap between himself and his master, but still drew his twin blades, eyes locked on the knightly Puji.
Last time… had been far too humiliating.
“Remember—you need it alive,” Elvien reminded, sliding his blade back into its sheath.
Fifteen nodded hard, aura blazing, and launched forward like an arrow loosed!
He was fast. But compared to Elvien’s near-teleporting slaughter, it was still painfully slower.
Still, it was enough to take on the knight. Lin Jun knew this and didn’t relax.
At his command, ten elite Pujis stepped up.
“Still trying that? You underestimate me!” Fifteen barked.
【Shukuchi LV7】
His body blurred, vanishing—then reappearing in front of the Fat Otaku Puji, blades dripping.
Behind him, all ten elites crumbled into shredded chunks before they could even trigger their 【Subsonic Attack】.
This time, Fifteen had swapped all his potion bottles into tough beast-hide flasks—willing to sacrifice shelf life rather than let the mushrooms shatter them again.
But when he looked up—the knight Puji was already puffing and rolling away, leaving only the Fat Otaku behind.
BOOM!!!
A roaring detonation ripped out, flames and debris engulfing the cavern. The shockwave even tumbled the knight midair.
Fifteen’s pendant shield saved him from injury, but he was left smoking and grimy.
Again!
Again this damned trick!
This cowardly King of Pujis!
Snarling, he darted after it, his 【Flowing Step】 hot on the trail.
He spotted the narrow tunnel ahead—of course. Same as last time, it was making for an escape burrow.
He tore open a flask with his teeth, bitter potion burning down his throat, speed surging.
The knight Puji rolled like a red-caped ball into the tunnel—but Fifteen was already on its heels.
Inside, he saw the cape snagged on a rock again. The Puji fumbled, dropping its shield up defensively in the same clumsy, panicked way as before.
Even now, seeing it repeat the exact same blunder, Fifteen’s lips twitched upward.
Smarter than most monsters, sure—but still just a monster.
“Over!”
Crossing his blades, he vanished—
【Shukuchi LV7】
CLANG!!!
Sparks showered, the dragon-scale shield took another deep cut.
And his other sword? It bit straight into the Puji’s backside—exactly where he’d struck it last time.
“It’s done!”
Except—
It wasn’t the Puji that was finished.
Because beyond the cape, beyond the shield—this tunnel didn’t lead to a burrow.
It ended in a jagged-edged, swirling rift to the void.
“What—?!”
Fifteen’s victorious grin froze solid as his foot plunged into nothingness.