Sacred Tree Dungeon.
Flutter—flutter—
Scout Puji hovered at the edge of the massive spiral structure’s inner ring.
Not far away, a two-headed flying serpent perched on a branch. Four cold vertical pupils locked on the Puji, twin crimson tongues flicking in and out. Though coiled as if ready to strike, it didn’t attack—only watched warily.
Most monsters in the Sacred Tree Dungeon treated the strange Scout Puji cautiously, unwilling to provoke it.
Only a few brainless ones rushed in to devour it, only to die pointlessly.
Against the cautious ones, Lin Jun didn’t bother attacking. He only pulled up their panels, scanning their stats. That was enough.
Above, sunlight filtered down through the spiral skylight, slowly replenishing the Puji’s mana.
Below yawned the vast central hollow, bottomless.
One fall, and you’d drop straight to the lower layers.But the Puji didn’t step forward.
This was already Scout Puji Number Three.
Number Two had merely taken a single probing step into the hollow—and instantly lost all buoyancy. Like a stone, it plummeted straight down, smashing to death at the bottom.
Clearly, no Dungeon would ever allow such an obvious “shortcut.” The central shaft was warded with some kind of anti-flight effect.
The Puji retreated to a safe distance, then took to the air again.
Skimming past the wary serpent, it hugged the spiral wall and descended deeper.
The Sacred Tree Dungeon was vast. Even flying, a full day’s journey only carried the Puji two more circuits—down to the sixth layer.
And that was with [Optical Invisibility] helping it evade nearly every monster along the way.
For an adventurer team, the same trip would have been many times more dangerous and time-consuming.
By that logic, even a top-tier team would need half a month to reach the lowest depths.
So… had anyone really made it to the very bottom?
In Lin Jun’s experience, the deepest point should be where the Dungeon Core lay.
If he reached it, could he seize control of a second Dungeon?
But did he really need one?
He’d taken the Amethyst Dungeon because it was home—his base of operations. Without control, safety was impossible.
Now that his rear was secure, gaining another Dungeon sounded impressive… but in truth, it would only spread his Pujis thinner. Maybe it would even become a burden.
Enough. The Carpet had barely begun here—plans like that were premature.
Bzzz—!
Wings droned closer. A Giant Needlebee had picked up the Puji’s wingbeats through [Airflow Sense LV5].
An inefficient, useless skill—not worth learning.
Lin Jun swatted it from the sky with a lazy whip. As the bee’s corpse dropped, he noted the area for later.
Find the hive, and maybe the queen would have a skill worth stealing.
But since the Puji had been detected once, no sense flying closer yet. The hive wasn’t going anywhere.
A short detour later, [Sonic Detection] pinged something unusual.
Scout Puji cloaked itself, alighting on a branch high above.
Below—elves.
Lin Jun blinked. He hadn’t expected to meet elves inside this Dungeon again.
And seven of them, no less—deep down on the sixth floor!
A glance at their panels: two Diamond ranks, five Gold. What were they doing?
On the ground, they’d drawn a temporary magic circle.
And bound at its center was a Treant.
Lin Jun knew that type well—but this one bore no mushrooms, clearly a native to the Sacred Tree Dungeon.
He’d long suspected Treants were tied to this place. Perhaps some “academic exchange” between Dungeons had left a seed behind.
The Treant strained against its bindings, but the elves forced a fist-sized stone into its chest—dark red, glowing with baleful light.
The crimson veins spread like living fire through its wooden body. Its muffled roars twisted into screams of agony.
When the red light covered it completely, a new status appeared:
【Berserk】
Then, without a word, the elves left it there, bound but seething.
What in the world were they doing?
Lin Jun couldn’t make sense of it.
He had Scout Puji flap silently after them.
Two minutes later—
Crack!
A flash of blue-white lightning ripped through the air ahead.
【Afterburn Jet】
The force nearly knocked the Puji from the sky. It swerved at the last second, ducking behind a colossal tree.
The lightning strike chased but couldn’t curve. It slammed into the trunk, blasting wood chips into the air, flames and smoke rising as the giant tree groaned and fell.
Exposed!
And before the Puji could steady itself—an arrow pierced straight through its body.
From the side?!
But no one was there!
【Sonic Detection】
Yes—one of the elves stood in clear archer’s stance.
The arrow had curved mid-flight.
Lin Jun scrambled to check their skill panel—but too late.
Two more arrows followed, swift and sure, striking home.
The connection snapped.
Game Over.
【Minion Control】, once broken, couldn’t be restored.
Even if [Mycelium Reconstitution] revived the body, Lin Jun would never regain control.
And the elves probably wouldn’t leave a corpse intact anyway.
Tch…
All that sneaking—yet he learned nothing to satisfy Puji curiosity.
Shadows, “Berserk,” scheming elves… none of it looked clean.
—
Fourth-layer fissure. Scout Puji Number Four hopped out, slipping into the fungal tunnels to descend again.
No chance of catching up with those elves. Even if he did, they’d just kill him.
Better to circle back—see what that “Berserk” Treant had become.
—
Sixth layer, by the fallen burning tree.
Seven elves stood around the unmoving corpse of a Scout Puji.
One drew a curved blade, slicing it open—revealing the B-rank magic crystal inside.
The bow-wielding leader’s face went hard.
“A modified familiar. We’ve been exposed.”