After dealing with the Slime, Lin Jun faced no obstacles on the sixth layer.
With the Tree Demon leading the way, they could go anywhere.
"Help me~ help me~"
A faint and weak call for help came from behind a small hill.
However, neither the leading Tree Demon nor Puki, controlled by Lin Jun, went to check the situation behind the hill.
Honestly, when you've seen enough Flower Demons, you really start to think they're quite dumb.
Their voice system only has this one age-old line.
If one were to appear occasionally in the wilderness, it might actually fool an adventurer, but this is the sixth-layer Botanical Garden, for crying out loud!
Everywhere you go, it's "help me," as if afraid others wouldn't know where you are!
Fortunately, plant-type demons still retain the ability to absorb nutrients from the ground, otherwise, these Flower Demons would all starve to death.
Xiao Lv blazed a path all the way to a rarely visited corner on the sixth layer.
The reason few visit here is that there are no herbs to gather and no demons to kill for materials, only dozens of cracks, both big and small, extending down to the edge of visibility.
The edges of the cracks are stained with deep brown weathering marks, like congealed scabs of blood.
When Puki stood on the edge and leaned over, it could feel the chilly dampness emanating from below.
These cracks look largely similar, not necessarily vertical, but each is bottomless.
[Sound Wave Detection Level 6]
Here, this skill is much more convenient than other observation methods.
Through detection, Lin Jun discovered that the cracks were not as entirely separated as they appeared on the surface.
Some adjacent cracks would converge as they extended downward, while others would fork off into new branches at a certain depth.
This structure really suggests they lead to the unknown without a doubt.
Unfortunately, Lin Jun's detection skill has a limited range and couldn't directly observe the bottom.
"Boss, why did we come here?"
Xiao Lv had been pretty content recently.
The A Level Demon Crystal given by the boss had accelerated the magic power absorption through its roots, nudging the long-stagnant level.
From level 29, it reached the maximum layer level of 30.
Lin Jun would periodically give them a batch of Low Level Demon Crystals as a salary, all of which were inserted into the forest, helping new Tree Demons to awaken consciousness.
Because it brought tangible benefits to the Tree Demon Forest, more and more Tree Demons joined the ranks serving the boss, and as long as they connected to the Fungal Network, they could naturally feel the boss's unfathomable will and understand that this was the best choice for the Tree Demons!
The situation now was such that it was about to become the leader among the Tree Demons.
Only a few stubborn old ones hid deep in the forest, unwilling to come out.
This time Lin Jun wanted a Tree Demon to lead the way. Xiao Lv had just finished resting and came forward willingly, not expecting the destination to be this dead zone.
To demons unable to leave the layer, this was indeed a dead zone.
The Pukis dragged an unconscious Stone-skinned Wild Boar to a relatively vertical rift and threw it down.
The boar quickly fell, and once it exceeded the layer's range, a tiny electric arc flashed, and the boar's status vanished.
Instant death.
The maze's rules apply even in the rift, although in a different form.
Seeing this, Xiao Lv felt a bit empathetic, being a layer demon itself, and knowing its fate would be the same as the boar's if it jumped down.
Lin Jun finally answered Xiao Lv's earlier question:
"Why come here? Because... below is my homeland..."
Homeland?
So that's it, the boss came from further below, no wonder they're so powerful!
In no time, Xiao Lv's imagination ran wild with various possibilities.
Then, Lin Jun shouted in the Fungal Network, "Homeland, here I come!"
A Puki leapt down, four fungal tendrils unfurling a blanket— a parachute.
Then it fell freely, with a "bang" crashing into a section of the rock wall, sacrificing itself...
Well, seems like the simplistic parachute they hastily made was useless.
But it's okay, there's more than one plan!
A round, thick fungal-coated Puki rolled out, with other Pukis working together to find some opening and push it down.
The fungal ball hit the rock wall, bouncing and banging, spewing out a plume of fungal threads and soon disappeared from sight.
Xiao Lv really wanted to ask if it was too reckless to return to the homeland like this but didn't dare to speak up...
In fact, Lin Jun wasn't even sure if below was the Mushroom Garden, just checking if it could directly reach the Deep Area.
The chosen path wasn't very vertical, the fungal ball, bouncing around, consumed most of the cushioning fungal threads before landing, clearly unsafe for landing.
It was probably going to break.
A thick white thread caught Puki!
Puki twisted around, its strong stickiness preventing escape.
Spider?
Indeed, the Deep Area had several types of spiders.
Still unable to feel the ground below, why did the spider make the web so high?
The vibration of the sticky thread seemed to disturb the owner, and soon, this demon crawled along the thread.
A creature with a centipede-like segmented body and dragonfly wings appeared before Puki.
Wait, what happened to the spider?
Spiders are gross enough, but this thing is even worse.
Puki aimed the Mushroom Cannon at the monster and fired, hitting it squarely on the head!
Apparently not expecting its prey to fight back, the monster shook, its head quivering momentarily, then crawled directly over, showing no visible signs of injury.
Once close, the monster extended its slender proboscis, stabbing into Puki, and began sucking magic power directly.
With one gulp, it drained a third of the magic, visibly withering Puki.
Before it went down, Lin Jun only managed a glance at the monster's panel.
[Race: Thousand Core Mayfly]
[Level: 62]
Ah, no wonder the Mushroom Cannon didn't work!
This is very much the Deep Area!
As the Thousand Core Mayfly took another powerful sip, Puki lost contact.
Although Lin Jun confirmed the area indeed led to the Deep Area despite losing Puki.
With demons at level 62, far exceeding the tenth-layer level cap, where else could it be but the Deep Area?
But this rift is certainly not the one leading to the former Mushroom Garden, where Inanna slowly descended without hitting a rock wall or encountering a demon.
Although it didn't make much sense, Lin Jun still wanted to see the hometown.
But there was no rush for today.
After confirming the connection to the Deep Area, Lin Jun planned to spread fungal threads along the rock wall to see if a fungal mat could be used to go directly down.
"Let's head back," Lin Jun ordered.
The remaining Pukis were originally sent for exploration, but after the second one completed the work, the rest didn't need to be sacrificed.
Xiao Lv had no clue about what happened below, only that two Pukis were sent to their deaths.
It turned around to clear a path for the Pukis to return.
As they passed the small hill, the cries for help still hadn't stopped.
"Save me~"
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