This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 23 23. Changes on the Fifth Floor
Recently, adventurers in Mute Wind Town discovered that the number of monsters on the fifth floor of the Amethyst Dungeon has decreased sharply.

The gnoll tribe retreated deep into the forest and no longer went out hunting. The green-eyed frogs were no longer to be found in the Poison Mist Lake, and even the acid slimes roaming everywhere were fewer in number.

Only the crystal bats and rock lizards in the western cave remained normal.

There are many different speculations about the root cause of the mutation.

Someone said that during a certain mission he detected from afar a violent fluctuation of magic power in the swamp area. It must be that the parasitic tree went out of control and scared the surrounding monsters.

Some people also speculated that it was a sign of the coming demonic tide, but the Adventurer's Guild was professional in this area, and the guild did not issue a demonic tide warning, so few people believed this speculation.

The funniest thing is that the drunkard Nick swore that he saw with his own eyes that a group of Puji killed all the green-eyed frogs in the pond.

This statement caused everyone who heard it to burst into laughter, and they concluded that Nick must have been so drunk even in the dungeon that he couldn't distinguish between reality and his own drunken dreams.

Who doesn't know that Puji is at the bottom of the food chain even on the first level, yet he slaughters the green-eyed frogs on the fifth level?

Compared to what Nick said, the signs of the demonic tide seemed much more reliable.

----

At the same time, Lin Jun, the lone werewolf killer, the instigator of the near extinction of the blue-eyed frog, and the culprit of the fifth-level changes, once again launched a territorial war against the parasitic tree.

The active contraction defense during this period has allowed most of the swamp area to return to the hands of the parasitic tree.

However, the number of parasitic trees will not increase in the short term. Instead, they will become more dispersed due to the large territory.

Lin Jun went hunting everywhere, accumulated a lot of magic power, and bred more than a hundred Puji.

Now, it's time to counterattack!
There were more than two hundred Pujis, and the few parasitic trees on the periphery were reduced to ashes as soon as they came into contact, and the battle line was easily pushed back to the previous battlefield.

Just like last time, the demon and martial arts duo of the parasitic tree took action.

Two more dirty water elements.

Lin Jun quickly mobilized 40 Puji to attack continuously, suppressing the water element for a short time.

On the other side, the blade storm swirled and pounced on the Puji team. As long as it was allowed in, Lin Jun would suffer heavy losses.

But Lin Jun will not fall into the same trap twice.

All the Pujis turned around and pressed down, squeezing their bodies into a heap in a very short time, and then—

It bounced up!

【Assault Ejection LV4】

Thanks to the displacement skills contributed by Frog, the Pujis bounced away in all directions. Only the closest one was caught up by Blade Storm and cut into pieces when it jumped in the air.

It wasn't over yet. The self-destructive Pujis that had been prepared long ago rolled out of the team and exploded one after another in front of the parasitic tree.

Although each puff was blocked in the outer circle by the rotating roots and failed to reach the trunk and explode, even so, after 20 explosions, the health of this parasitic tree was exhausted.

In fact, these damages are not enough to kill a LV45 warrior adventurer, but the main body of this parasitic tree is only LV24 and cannot withstand such a series of explosions.

Now the only thing left is the summoning parasitic tree.

A large number of Puji bypassed the suppressed water element and pounced on the other parasitic trees behind.

When another ordinary parasitic tree was broken in half, the two water elements immediately dispersed and disappeared into the swamp without a trace.

The two most troublesome parasitic trees have fallen, and the rest is just a boring push.

Puji was still suffering sporadic casualties from the occasional strange abilities, but it no longer had any impact on the overall situation. The parasitic tree, which had terrified lower-level adventurers, posed little threat to Lin Jun.

The reason why human adventurers have to take a detour when they see a parasitic tree is because they face an endless stream of parasitic trees in the form of a small team, so their chances of winning are naturally very low.

Lin Jun is different. He is fighting a war, unifying and organizing the Puji army that is not afraid of sacrifice, and fighting against the monsters that are scattered and fighting each other.

Even if these parasitic trees have more tricks, as long as they don't have super-powerful combat capabilities, the others can only be classified as fancy.

Now Lin Jun only has a small amount of attention left on commanding the battle, and most of his mind has begun to think about the planning of the new mushroom garden.

Unlike the enclosed terrain of the mushroom garden in the deep area, the swamp area is located in the center of the entire fifth layer.

It's only because the terrain here is difficult to pass and there are terrifying monsters like parasitic trees that adventurers choose to take a detour.

After the parasitic tree was cleared, the danger was reduced, and it was possible that someone would choose to walk through it. Lin Jun didn't want his nest to become a highway for adventurers.

Whether it's through force or some kind of communication, we have to find a way to let them know that they'll have to continue taking detours in the future.

In addition, Lin Jun’s new mushroom garden is not limited to the swamp area. In fact, the swamp area is only the core of his plan, and the entire fifth floor will eventually be included in the mushroom garden.

The poisonous fog lake can be used for breeding. I haven't decided what to breed yet, but there are many options.

The cave was originally a mine, but it is now mined by adventurers. It is also the area with the most humans on this floor, which is why Lin Jun did not go there hunting recently.

What it produces is still the local downtown specialty - purple magic crystals.

However, the average quality is obviously far inferior to that of the deep area. Lin Jun secretly went to see it and found that even C grade is rare.

But after all, it is the mine in his own backyard, so he still has to find an opportunity to take it over.

It would be easy to occupy them by force, but he did not want to show strong hostility towards humans.

It’s not about human identity, but it’s more realistic. If you don’t have enough strength, you should act more friendly.

Even though he seemed to be invincible on this level and could easily kill any ordinary adventurer, he was still too weak compared to the human group.

Since communication is inevitable in the future, try to make a good start and reach an agreement, even if it is some tacit rules.

However, my own human common language is only level 1, and the inability to communicate directly is a big problem.

You can't just start by killing adventurers en masse, raise your human language to level 10, and then tell them, "Now let's get along."

This issue is the most important, and Lin Jun needs to plan it carefully.

As for the gnolls in the forest.

I just happen to have a fusion parasite on hand that I haven't had time to study in detail, so I'll use it as a sample.

All to make the mushroom garden great again!

----

Dark clouds rolled in, and heavy rain turned the road into a muddy mess, splashing mud with every step of the horse's hooves.

It is very easy for horses to slip in such bad weather.

Even so, the rider had no intention of stopping. Instead, he held the reins in one hand and protected the package in front of his chest with the other hand, moving forward at full speed.

The strong wind whistled past, carrying raindrops, and blew off his hood, revealing Dylan's hideous half face covered with mycelium.

(End of this chapter)