This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 561, Section 560: Gains and Losses
"This... can it be taken off later?" Lin Jun looked at the scepter firmly embedded in the seal and felt a pang of heartache.

"Once the seal is repaired, it can be removed," the old fishman explained.

"then you……"

"Master Puji, I regret to inform you that I do not know much about this seal."

Well, the biggest gain from this trip has turned out to be a seal patch that can only be looked at but not touched.

Having lost the scepter, even the advantage of freely moving through the secret passage was gone...

No, how did Tanaka, who betrayed the path of the hero and chose to collude with the Demon King, get through the secret passage?
Lin Jun immediately ordered that all the magical items left behind by Tanaka be gathered in front of them.

After trying them one by one, they quickly settled on a seemingly simple silver ring.

With a small amount of magic infused, intricate rune circuits appeared on the ring's surface. No matter which secret passage's entrance it was aimed at, a portion of the runes would always resonate with the passage's activation pattern, making it a veritable universal key crafted specifically for the Tide Saint.

Although the runes have a very high degree of integration and a complex structure, their manufacturing process is not difficult, and it is not hard to replicate them.

Lin Jun could have had her craftsmen make a batch of replicas based on this model.

But this also means that there may be other holders who also possess this key.

The secret passage can no longer be assumed to be an exclusive advantage for our side, or we will suffer a loss like we did this time.

Apart from the key ring, the other items, such as the protective bracelet, the underwater breathing pendant, and the concealment ring, might be a considerable fortune for a solo adventurer, but they were nothing special to Lin Jun.

But this broken seal stone slab can actually break the Demon King's seal!
A portion of the Demon King is also sealed away in the Puji Dungeon. Lin Jun had studied it carefully; the seal was closely connected to the structure of the dungeon and was almost impossible to break by brute force.

But this stone slab did just that.

It is undoubtedly a treasure.

I just don't know if its effect is only for sealing the Demon King, or if it has a miraculous effect on all magical seals and even magic circles... I'll definitely have to analyze it properly later.

Lin Jun noticed that the old merman was staring intently at the broken metal ring next to him, his gaze somewhat lost in thought, so she asked, "What's so special about this thing?"

Only after the old murloc explained to Lin Jun did she learn that a water elemental lord had previously guarded this place.

The enormous ring in front of us, with a diameter of over ten meters, is the very thing that lord possessed.

However, even such a powerful water elemental lord vanished silently during the mist.

Turns out there really was a watchdog, but it got taken away by the mist!

Thinking about it this way, it seems that the core of the dungeon probably has a similar guardian.

Let's leave aside the Stone Fortress Underground City, that ancient relic that has long since declined to the point where even its rules can no longer be maintained.

Puji Dungeon has two S-rank battle puppets, while the Divine Tree Dungeon has those Pale Pilgrims, or perhaps the Divine Tree Elder himself is the gatekeeper. Although the Dwarf Dungeon has not been explored in depth, the fire elemental lord who caused chaos in the Dwarf territory is probably also a gatekeeper in essence.

Where is the Scarecrow Abyss?

It seems that no one has ever found its true core location. The mechanism of that underground city is too bizarre, involving multiple overlapping spaces, making it significantly more difficult to explore than other places.

As for the underground cities within the empire, Lin Jun knew very little about them.

"Boss, who was that... oozing liquid man just now?" Norris asked.

Lin Jun thought for a moment and decided it wouldn't hurt to tell the core members: "He's just a bunch of demons."

"The Demon King?!" Norris instinctively shuddered.

Almost simultaneously, fragments buried in the corners of his memory surged up—fragments of stories he had heard from bards and drunken old adventurers when he was still being chased by debts.

It is said that humans once lived in the fertile plains of the central region for generations.

Until the Demon King descended, ruling over countless evil races and unleashing boundless slaughter.

The survivors were forced to abandon their homeland and flee to the south, which was then a wild jungle, where they struggled to survive amidst miasma and monsters.

Even so, the Demon King was still not satisfied.

He yearned to seize the entire continent, enslave all races, and leave only his empire to exist. How utterly...

For some reason, when Norris thought of this, images of a creeping carpet of fungi covering the earth and the various races living in symbiosis with the mycelium appeared in his mind.

He shook his head violently, trying to banish the abrupt association from his mind.

Although the boss always liked to cause trouble, constantly thinking about spreading the fungal carpet to every corner of the world, and secretly using criminals to conduct some chilling experiments... Norris still believed in his heart that the boss was ultimately a good person.

At least... probably... it can't be compared to a legendary evil being like the Demon King, right?
Realizing that the phantom was the Demon King, the slight goodwill she had felt earlier because she was "recognized as human" instantly vanished.

No human being could help but hate the creator of this empire.

If it weren't for the appearance of a hero, humans would probably have long since become livestock for the vampires, or worse.

The title of Demon King filled Norris with fear and worry, but Ming's reaction was completely different; he felt nothing at all.

If Xinghuo, Shou, or Qiong were present at this moment, they might fall into a brief silence and sigh.

Although these younger generations did not personally experience the years of the Demon King's rule, they had heard about the glory of that era from the fragments of their elders' recollections of the past.

Now that the alliance has shifted, and we're actually going to be enemies with the legendary Demon King, it's inevitable that we'll have mixed feelings.

But Ming is different. He is a pure Mushroom descendant and has no feelings for the Demon King. To him, the Demon King is just his boss's enemy, a powerful and hateful enemy!
The pig's reaction was much more interesting.

Upon first hearing the words "Demon King," her pupils contracted sharply, and a trace of fear instinctively flashed across her face.

But then, as if remembering something, that fear quickly faded away.

Instead, a burning light shone in her eyes, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, revealing an irrepressible excitement.

Lin Jun didn't know what she was excited about, but it was better than simply being scared.

The matter of the seal and the scepter can only be left as it is for now.

However, the cleanup of the Tide Sanctuary is not yet over.

They have successfully occupied the gate, set up a defensive line, and killed all the mist monsters that entered the dungeon one after another.

These fog monsters seem to have no brains; they don't even understand the principle of gathering a group of people before attacking together.

Although the gate has been occupied, a considerable number of mist monsters still roam the interior of the Tide Sanctuary and need to be cleared out.

This is not just for the trade with the murlocs; the Tide Sanctuary itself has considerable value.

The underwater environment allows Lin Jun to use it as a base to develop the Puji Navy.

The underground city's own attached spaces also appealed to Lin Jun.

If we can control this subordinate space, we won't need to go through the trouble of searching for that unknown space within the Empire, or at least we won't be in a hurry to go there.

Furthermore, the exit of the Tide Sanctuary is now quite close to the edge of the mist, which is why so many mist monsters appear here.

For others, the fog is a calamity to be avoided at all costs.

But since Lin Jun intends to save the world for herself, the fog is an unavoidable problem.

Rather than waiting on the mainland for the fog to spread again and threaten their base, they should...

It would be much better to take advantage of the location of the Tide Sanctuary, which is similar to a frontline base, to thoroughly study the Fog of War in advance.

If the mist really does engulf the Tide Sanctuary one day, Lin Jun can simply retreat; the loss won't be too great.

With Lin Jun's order, the little pig began its sweeping operation within the Tide Sanctuary.

Meanwhile, the delegation led by Inanna, after a long journey, finally arrived at the border of the Dwarf Mountain Kingdom.

However, the dwarves' gazes toward the delegation did not seem particularly friendly.

(End of this chapter)