"Here, your X."

"Luckily, X-ed a XXXX snake, or I would have X-ed the X mushrooms."

"Speaking of which, XXXX cut into strips tastes really good."

A certain mushroom was engaged in its usual peeping activity.

A few days ago, it hung twenty-two humans in the swamp at once, plus a little it learned from Dylan.

[Human Universal Language Level 5]

Lin Jun always felt that the vocabulary taught by this skill upgrade wasn't in the order of common usage, but rather randomly.

In other words, you could reach Level 9 in the Universal Language and still not know the word "walk."

That's quite a trap.

Fortunately, the self-learned part wasn't affected.

Now that Dylan had met his "good senior," the conversation volume increased, greatly benefiting Lin Jun.

It was foreseeable that language would soon not be a weak point.

Similarly, due to the impact of the large number of human losses last time, the number of adventurers coming down to the fifth floor had significantly decreased recently.

Faced with the unknown Advanced Adventurers, Lin Jun made quite a few preparations.

In addition to the regular increase in the number of Cannon Mushrooms and Whip Mushrooms, he also developed two new defensive Pukis.

On the dome of the fifth floor, a special Self-Destruction Puki had already been nurtured.

The Puki wriggled its body, kicked with its short legs, and successfully detached from the fungal mat, starting a free fall.

Then it... spread its wings!

More accurately, it looked like flying squirrel wings.

It was quite difficult for Puki to fly. It had to create a wing prototype using a skeleton, find a way to get feathers, and add the power to flap the wings, plus...

Though flying was impossible, adding "wings" for gliding was relatively much easier.

Dive directly onto the enemy's face, then self-destruct!

However, reality slightly deviated from expectations.

The Puki struggled to wriggle its body in the air but never managed to maintain balance.

Finally, in chaos, it directly used [Dive Level 3] and hit the cap of a Mushroom Tree, exploding...

Throughout the process, Lin Jun didn't control it, as he certainly wouldn't have the time to control each one during actual combat.

But now it seemed that the Puki's intelligence level on its own seemed insufficient to complete this aerial assault.

It made sense, as Puki's body surely lacked any inherent flying instincts.

What a pity. Lin Jun thought he could lead a swarm of Self-Destruct Pukis flying toward the invader. How amazing would that be...

Fortunately, the second type of Puki did not have such high requirements.

[Self-Destruction Level 5] + [Mimicry Level 4] + [Assault Ejection Level 5]

The purpose of adding a mimicry was that these Pukis were usually buried in the ground, leaving only a color-changing mushroom cap on the surface.

A layer of fungal mat would cover the top, making it undetectable.

But as soon as it was stepped on, it would explode!

Even if it wasn't stepped on, it could eject from the ground and self-destruct upon entering the ambush area.

Furthermore, since it only required three skills, the Magic Power consumption was relatively low.

Lin Jun planned to deploy more.

There was also something that could only be considered a hobby.

A Puki was spinning in place, with four fungal tendrils dancing into a circle.

[Blade Storm Level 1]

No one knew which human had dropped it.

Currently, it had no practical value, but it looked very impressive when spinning!

The last and most important setup—the escape route.

In Lin Jun's room at the bottom of the swamp.

Countless web passages woven with fungal threads already stretched toward five staircases.

Upon reaching the edge of the swamp, they connected with the dug-out underground tunnels.

This ensured that if an army was wiped out and Xiao Hai was defeated, a knight could use Rolling Charge to escape with the main body in any direction.

As for fighting to the death?

That was impossible.

From the Deep Area to the fifth floor, everything that needed to be risked had already been risked.

Humans could no longer completely eradicate the fungal mat on the first five levels. As long as Lin Jun didn't die, even if there was a temporary failure, he could quickly make a comeback.

This was just the worst-case contingency plan. In fact, Lin Jun had never seen anything that could threaten both himself and Xiao Hai when going all out.

The Diamond-level adventurer team that took down the Flame Demon in the Deep Area couldn't do it back then.

Of course, if things could be minimized and humans pretended nothing happened, all the better!

-----------------

The aroma of ale lingered in the hall of the Golden Sun Wood Tavern. Since the Rotten Willow Tavern ceased operations, business here had almost doubled.

"These butter oysters are so delicious, Vera, you should order a serving too!"

The trio who had profited from the last trip finally spent a bit more on food and lodging.

Fei Ling was even so delighted with the food that misfortune dashed her joy—she got something stuck between her teeth.

Vera looked down, avoiding looking at Fei Ling's awkward tooth-picking scene.

Since the Raider had knocked out one of Fei Ling's teeth, due to the group's financial situation, it was left unrepaired.

Vera silently decided to go back to town after the next Underground City trip and find a professional to fix Fei Ling's tooth.

Bam—

The door of the Golden Sun Wood Tavern was pushed open violently, capturing everyone's attention. The owner looked at the wooden door slammed against the wall, eyes filled with displeasure.

The stumbling shadow cast a long silhouette under the oil lamp.

"Beigong!" his hoarse voice sounded like scraping over rocks, "Beigong's Steel Heart Squad... completely wiped out!"

It was like tossing a red-hot iron ball into a cup of water, causing an uproar in the Golden Sun Wood Tavern.

"Bullshit!" A Cat Race adventurer smashed the wooden ale mug in hand, the scar on his mottled face twisting with agitation, "That damn Golden-level squad! And they had more than ten Silvers with them, and you're telling me they were wiped out?"

This statement prompted immediate agreement: "Yeah, a twenty-plus-member Adventurer's Group not going to some bottom layer, how could they be wiped out?"

The messenger wanted to say more but was out of breath, so a nearby patron offered him a mug of ale.

Not hesitating, he tilted his head, pouring it all down, not caring whether he drank or it dribbled away.

Satiated, he quickly spilled the rest of the intel:

"An adventurer exchanged Gorn Squad members' equipment at the mushrooner on the fifth floor, and it was recognized at the trading market.

Now there's a large crowd over there; if you don't believe me, go see for yourself!"

With that said, most people believed it, and those skeptical rose and darted out, wanting to see with their own eyes.

All other topics vanished in the tavern as everyone discussed the Gorn Squad and their target, the Big Black Mushroom.

The Golden Sun Wood Tavern wasn't cheap, and regulars here typically reached Silver Level and above.

The Big Black Mushroom roamed levels five and six.

They couldn't help but focus on it.

After all, if Beigong's Golden Squad was wiped out, it meant ninety-nine percent of adventurers facing the Big Black Mushroom were on a sure path to death.

Of course, some believed Beigong's group died because they challenged it first.

According to these people, they, too, encountered the Big Black Mushroom, safely leaving after tossing a few glass bottles.

The rumor of the Big Black Mushroom's fondness for bright crystal things has been around for a while, generally believed to some extent.

But concerning one's life, one could never be too cautious.

"I didn't expect Mr. Beigong's team to be wiped out entirely."

Fei Ling gulped several mouthfuls of beer, her bitterness showing, "Yeah, I really didn't expect that, even four Gold-level, yet they were wiped out on the fifth floor..."

Vera's face also showed surprise at the news, and Fei Yin's reaction was even more affected; the three of them had narrowly avoided adding themselves to the wipeout list!

If anyone was the most shaken, it was definitely the trio. After all, they had nearly ended up on the all-wiped-out list!

Amid all this, thoughts circled back to the often-criticized Adventurer's Guild.

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