This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 144, Section 143: Advancement
"Come on, Little Black, eat some more."

One by one, the poopy dumplings filled with strong acid gathered around Xiao Hei, constantly moving closer to her, almost as if they were about to run straight into her mouth.

Little Black opened its mouth, and the half-chewed food fell out of its mouth and landed on the ground.

After a while, Xiao Hei suddenly dropped the Puji in his hand, and quickly climbed up a mushroom tree, hiding on top of the mushroom cap.

The little black cats couldn't reach Xiao Hei, so they could only wander around under the mushroom tree.

Seeing this, Lin Jun could only let the noises dissipate.

It seems that Xiao Hei's belly isn't infinitely big. Usually, she seems to eat non-stop, so if you really force her to eat, she'll eat it... Hmm, 16 pieces.

Of course, for a humanoid creature that is only 1.5 meters tall, being able to eat 16 half-human-sized Puji in a row is quite an impressive digestive ability.

It took Xiao Hei most of the day to jump down from the mushroom tree, and he refused to eat the strong acid Puji anymore, only eating the mild-tasting ordinary magic Puji.

The induction plan failed, and we can only collect samples once every two days as usual.

Unfortunately, most of it is gaseous exhalation, and only a small half bottle of concentrated acid can be collected.

After a week, she had only collected a little over one bottle of acid, which she divided into ten portions.

Bats flew down one by one from the edge of the rift valley.

On the bare rock face, several mycelium strands woven into nutrient supply tubes pushed the fungal carpet to the edge of the mayfly's habitat.

And in this location, a platform with several tiers was woven, like a bird's perch, and the bats hung upside down on it one by one.

Seeing that the first batch of Puji were almost in place, three faster Puji flew out.

Although they are all bats, there are actually multiple species involved this time, making it a mixed force.

These three are speed-specialized, and they are used as bait, like Puji.

The three baits flew down a short distance and soon arrived at the edge of the mayflies' territory.

Below the rift valley are mayflies, either in large groups or as highly evolved individuals.

After exploring each area, Lin Jun chose this one, an area with a low density of mayflies and whose level did not exceed LV50, making it a relatively "simple" area to conquer.

As soon as the three baits appeared in the territory of the Thousand-Hole Mayfly, seven mayflies immediately flapped their wings and flew over from afar, dragging their segmented bodies.

Mayflies possess vibration perception, giving them a fairly large detection range.

This allows the bait puffs to lure the mayflies from a sufficient distance before retreating.

The bodies of the Puji are really not suited for flying. Even with the addition of [Speed ​​LV6], they can't compare to a natural flying monster like the Thousand-Headed Mayfly.

Since they weren't far apart to begin with, the three little birds quickly fluttered back to the mycelium platform.

When the seven mayflies caught up, they were greeted by a dense mass of mushroom pods hanging upside down on the mycelium rack.

Seven ordinary mayflies, all below level 30, were killed almost instantly by the mushroom cannon, their mangled bodies falling straight into the bottomless abyss below.

Lin Jun felt extremely uncomfortable watching this.

That's why we didn't plan to go through the rift valley in the first place!
Putting aside the difficulty of the strategy and the difficulty of resupply, you can't even get the monster's corpse after killing it, so there's no reward at all. It's a complete waste of effort.

After finishing, the three baits set off again.

A few minutes later, it led six more mayflies into the trap.

However, this time, there's a big guy at level 41.

It is larger than other similar species and has more body segments.

After a round of mushroom fire, the other mayflies fell down, but it remained flying in the air, rushing towards the position.

[Spit Arrow LV5]

A jet of black liquid shot onto its head, instantly corroding its sturdy shell like brittle paper, and the venom went directly into its brain.

Less than two seconds later, the giant mayfly also fell down, just like its companion.

The limited amount of Black Venom makes it suitable for targeting and eliminating high-level units.

The simplest solution is actually to bring Xiao Hei down. Xiao Hei can fly, so taking down these Thousand-Hole Mayflies shouldn't be too difficult. But the problem is, what lies below isn't some fixed, limited level, but rather a deep zone whose exact size is still unknown.

Without the mushroom net, Xiao Hei would be disoriented and disappear without a trace, and Lin Jun wasn't confident she could find her.

Just to be on the safe side, let's endure the hardship first.

Once the outermost mayflies have been lured away, the bait's work becomes increasingly dangerous.

As the distance increased, even though the Puji were struggling to fly back, the Thousand-Headed Mayfly was beginning to catch up with the bait Puji.

As they got closer, the decoy had no choice but to use its backup skill.

[Wake Jet LV4]

Gas spurted out from under the puffy creatures, and the two puffy creatures immediately shot upwards, leaving the mayfly behind.

But the other Puji was propelled out of control by the jet propulsion, spinning wildly in the air like a deflated balloon, and was finally poked by a mayfly, resulting in its immediate demise.

There's nothing we can do about it; the Puji's self-control is just so-so. This skill is only for emergencies, and it gives them a 60% survival rate, which is acceptable. Anyway, there are plenty of decoy Puji...

As the mayflies below were cleared away, the mycelium continued to spread downwards. After spreading for about a hundred meters, it began to generate new mycelial platforms, advancing little by little.

We also need to clean up all the webs set up by the Thousand-Headed Mayfly.

For this reason, Lin Jun specially created a magical creature called "Puji" to cast fireballs to burn the mayfly silk.

……

The next day, after advancing a kilometer, Lin Jun encountered a fork in the road.

The fork in the road seemed to lead to another mayfly colony. Lin Jun didn't choose to attack both at the same time, but instead placed a group of puffies there to guard the entrance.

To prevent the mayflies that have wandered over from breaking the fungal carpet behind them.

On the fourth day, after advancing more than two thousand meters from the starting point, Lin Jun finally saw something different—the nest.

A giant cocoon woven from the silk spun by a mayfly, attached to the base of an upside-down mountain.

You can see some mayflies carrying prey from below, going in and out of several burrows.

Putting aside the nest, seeing the mayfly carrying its prey meant it was probably not far from the ground, which greatly excited Lin Jun.

The battles that yielded no results these past few days have almost made it sick to its stomach. Every now and then, it encounters a swarm of mayflies charging in, causing considerable losses.

Fortunately, there were plenty of spare parts, so these losses did not delay the progress.

Looking down at the nest, Lin Jun controlled her long-winged magic and flew up with a whoosh, conjuring a large fireball with her hand.

The silk threads used to burn one by one, but this one gathers the threads into a nest, so burning it must be much more satisfying.

The fireball struck, igniting a patch of insect silk that quickly spread.

In just a few minutes, the entire nest turned into a burning fireball.

Many Thousand-Hole Mayflies shrieked as they emerged from inside, while those that flew upwards were blasted down by the mushroom cannon array that Lin Jun had prepared in advance.

In that case, we can pretty much consider this passage completed.

After that, all that's left is a little finishing touches...

The insect silk in the nest quickly burned out, revealing a huge insect body coiled at the base of the upside-down mountain.

[Race: Thousand-Hole Mayfly]

[Level: LV65]

[Fixed state: cocooning, rigidity]

Not long after Lin Jun opened the panel, the last fixed state disappeared right before her eyes.

The giant insect began to move its body, which had not moved for a long time, and red light reflected from its semi-circular eyes.

Although the Thousand-Headed Mayfly has no pupils, Lin Jun felt that its gaze was already fixed on the Puji.

So... what kind of ecosystem is this?
(End of this chapter)