This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 176, page 175: First Contact

A few truly suitable and high-quality items were carefully added to Lin Jun's ever-growing treasure trove.

As for those mountains of armor and longswords that are of little use...
They were all stuffed into the bellies of five round, chubby "fat otaku" babies!

Once you've finished one, switch to another; the drop rate has been a bit higher lately.

Knight Puji is repairing his backside at Lin Jun's old hideout in the swamp area.

Unlike regular mushrooms, which can be easily brought to life by simply slapping some fresh mycelium on them and wriggling around a few times.

Repairing high-attribute Puji takes more time and mana.

It's alright that Puji's injury can be repaired, but what Lin Jun feels most sorry for is the Dragon Scale Shield.

Two sword marks, one deep and one shallow, were etched on it. The deep one was from the sword strike when the robe was caught and the sword was blocked from a distance.

I thought this sturdy dragon scale shield would be a long-term reliable weapon, but now it seems that it will be completely destroyed after a few more impacts of the same level.

According to the information sent back by Aiden, the guild still hasn't given up on resolving the situation, which is somewhat expected.

Lin Jun is now just waiting for Fenpuji to come over so she can reason with her and persuade her to join forces and put on a show for humans.

Of course, he hadn't ruled out the possibility that Fenpuji might betray the web.

If so...

Therefore, Aidin, who was supposed to contact her directly, would have no choice but to reluctantly give up.

Actually, it's alright. We just got together, so we're not very emotionally attached yet.

However, the plan to develop on the surface had to be put on hold.

The strategy will shift to: wage guerrilla warfare against humans in the first few levels; at the same time, accelerate exploration in the deeper areas at all costs to seize the core of the dungeon as quickly as possible!
As for an even worse scenario—human encirclement and suppression combined with the collapse of the Amethyst Dungeon.

Lin Jun still has the worst-case scenario plan: either find a way to escape the underground city and dig a hole in a sparsely populated area on the surface to lie dormant; or transfer to another underground city through a rift and start developing again.

Anyway, there are plenty of contingency plans. As a mushroom, as long as you want to live, you can always survive.

However, once they are truly driven out of the Amethyst Dungeon, the grudge between humanity and themselves will be truly deep...

After dealing with these post-war matters, Lin Jun originally planned to try out new skills, but due to an unexpected incident at the caveman training base—Norris was almost killed.

Lin Jun first had most of the Puji return to the deep zone through the network of the six-layered rift valley to deal with any emergencies.

……

While Lin Jun was outwitting and outmaneuvering Shiwu, a completely different, primitive farce was unfolding at the caveman training base.

Two cavemen stood a few steps apart, each gripping a rough, bone spear, facing each other.

They made no sound, yet they frantically threatened each other within the fungal web.

Communicating through the fungal network allows thoughts to reach the other person's mind directly, which is far more efficient and direct than their primitive and clumsy caveman language, which is like the friction of stones.

Since being incorporated into the microbial network and becoming accustomed to this convenient "mind language," most cave dwellers have almost abandoned the bad habit of speaking aloud.

Just as the battle was about to break out, a flash of silver light appeared, and the short spears of the two cavemen snapped in two.

"Ugh--"

Norris appeared in the middle, looking annoyed, glaring at the two men.

"How many times has this happened recently? Fighting each other over mating rights!?"

[7th time]
The yellow book kindly offered this reminder.

"Tsk!"

Primitive! Ignorant!
In the past, when social classes were determined by pheromones, only a small number of high-ranking individuals had the right to mate.

Things are different now. Everyone is equal, and they are now seizing power through force.

If these cavemen were just fighting and getting bruised and battered over something like this, that would be one thing, but when they actually start fighting, they really go all out!

To be fair, without Lin Jun's intervention, using pheromones to create a class system might actually be a good option for cave dwellers, at least it would be more orderly.

Norris noted down all the questions about the cave dwellers during this time, and reported them all after his boss finished what he called "entertaining guests."

Now, he had to personally beat up the two cavemen, otherwise they would dare to come back after repairing their short spears.

Norris had just raised his hand, ready to teach the two cavemen a lesson, when he caught something unusual out of the corner of his eye—a dark red light flickering eerily at the far end of the dim cave.

Red light? The lighting in the cave is almost entirely provided by fluorescent mushrooms, and the fluorescence of mushrooms obviously does not include red.

Therefore, the red dot in the distance was particularly conspicuous to Norris.

"Senior, what is that?" Norris couldn't see it clearly from a distance, so he asked the yellow book directly.

However, the Yellow Book, which is usually good at investigation, reacted even slower than Norris this time.

[What is that?]
After a brief pause, the Yellow Book seemed to finally "focus" on its objectives.

[Huh?]
[There really are, balls floating in mid-air?]
While Norris and the Yellow Book were still investigating what it was, a sudden change occurred!
puff!puff!puff!

The dull thud of a sharp blade cutting through flesh suddenly rang out!

The two cavemen in front of Norris, who had been holding broken spears just a second ago, didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were instantly dismembered as if by an invisible attack!
Blood splattered, but did not land directly on the ground.

Some of the blood droplets seemed to have struck an invisible barrier, briefly outlining a blurry monster's figure in mid-air.

!!!

The enemy! An invisible enemy! And they're right here!

Norris retreated hastily, simultaneously using [Sonic Detection LV6].

Norris groaned as a flood of chaotic information rushed into his brain, making him dizzy. He was prepared for this moment and didn't fall to the ground immediately.

At the same time, he also "saw" the enemy—three invisible six-clawed monsters, each 3 meters tall!
And that red dot in the distance is a flying eyeball!?

Without time to think, Norris scrambled to dodge the attacks of the three monsters.

The Yellow Book, on the other hand, was completely bewildered.

[what happened? ]
[What kind of monster is this?]
[Why are there no emotional fluctuations?]
"Damn it!" Norris tumbled and dodged in the cramped space, narrowly avoiding one deadly blow after another.

The hard rocky ground was carved with deep grooves by invisible claws, and gravel flew everywhere!
He is now completely on the defensive.

Without [Sound Detection], he was like a blind man; with [Sound Detection], the terrifying burden of the massive amount of information made his brain feel like it was being hammered.

His reaction speed plummeted, his head throbbed with pain, and his once-proud speed advantage was suppressed to the point where he couldn't even utilize half of it!
Every probe felt like I was overdrawing my nerves.

After another probe, Norris finally couldn't withstand the feedback and collapsed to the ground, losing his balance.

In that life-or-death moment, Norris's mind went blank, and his body's instincts beat his thoughts!
Almost reflexively, he yanked the yellow book up and held it up like a shield in front of him!
[Norris! You fucking bastard—!!!]
However, the expected attack did not occur.

Pfft——!
A sickeningly loud thud, like flesh being torn apart by immense force, exploded in the air!

Immediately afterwards, a large spray of hot, foul-smelling monster blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly soaking Norris and the Yellow Book!

Amidst the billowing blood mist, Xiao Hei's figure appeared before Norris, holding in one hand a thick, grotesque monster forelimb that had lost its invisibility effect!

The owner of the limbs had become a headless corpse, lying to one side.

Blackie looked Norris up and down, and finding no missing limbs, turned around and threw the monster's arm directly out.

The severed arm tore through the air, emitting a muffled whistling sound!

Another dull thud as flesh was pierced!
In the distance, another invisible monster was precisely pierced through the chest by the severed arm of its own kind. The enormous impact sent it flying backward, crashing heavily against the rock wall. It twitched twice and then fell silent.

Almost simultaneously, the monster's blood on the ground condensed into a spear, which shot out and pierced the head of the last monster that was trying to pounce—Luisa, who had been notified by Lin Jun, also rushed over at this time.

"There's...there's still one eyeball!" Norris, though still shaken, immediately reminded them.

However, when they looked again, the area that had previously been lit up with red light was now completely dark, with nothing there.

Louisa transformed into a bat and chased after Norris in the direction he pointed for a distance, but to no avail.

[You heartless bastard! You used me as a shield again!]
While cursing Norris for being ungrateful, Yellow Book also questioned himself, wondering what was wrong with him that he couldn't sense the enemy.

In the process, it also secretly and unknowingly smuggled the souls of the two cave dwellers on the ground into its pages.

Little Black squatted on the ground and picked up all the silver scales that Norris had dropped.

Then she stood on tiptoe and slapped Norris's lowered head twice with her slightly bloodstained paws.

Norris felt a warmth in his heart; this clumsy act of concern brought a slight lump to his throat… If only the comforting force hadn’t been so strong!
Louisa looked at the purple blood orb formed from the monster's blood in her hand, wondering if she could eat it.
For the rest of the time, Norris didn't dare to stray too far from Little Black or Louisa, and remained elusive until the Puji army came down.

Lin Jun looked at the six-clawed monster that had been partially decomposed and was lying in the fungal carpet.

What the hell is this?
(End of this chapter)