This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 34 34. Surrounded
At the bottom of the fourth or fifth floor stairs.

The raised fire burned quietly, its flickering flames illuminating the cross-section of the surrounding circular stone steps.

Inigo and his Leopard teammate Milo were resting against the wall.

The original plan of walking to the fifth floor in half a day ended up taking a full day and a half to reach the destination.

The reason is very simple - I got lost.

I thought I could easily follow my memory from two years ago, so I didn't buy a strategy map.

Who would have thought that when I really got to the dungeon, I found that my memory didn't seem to be that clear.

After wandering around for a long time, I was already quite tired.

I can only rest for a while.

Instead of taking turns on guard, they rested at the same time quite confidently.

Firstly, this is inside the stairs, a safe area where monsters cannot enter.

Secondly, the orcs' innate five senses and vigilance allow them to wake up immediately when adventurers approach.

Just like now, two very subtle "puff" sounds made Inigo, who was already asleep, perk up his ears.

He did not move in a hurry, but raised his tiger eyes slightly and aimed at the source of the sound.

A mutated Puji was standing at the entrance—a place that no monster could possibly reach.

As if he didn't expect to run into them, Puji stood at the entrance motionless.

It took a while before it quietly retreated, stretching its short legs as far as possible with each step. Its movements were so slow that this time it didn't even make a "puff puff" sound.

Just as Puji was about to retreat back to the fifth floor, the leopard man moved before Inigo could even stand up.

Like a flash of black lightning, in just the blink of an eye, Milo returned to the fire with half a bowl of Puji in each hand.

Throwing the two halves onto the ground, Milo didn't look pleased at all, but rather frowned.

"No wonder it was issued by the guild itself. This mission is probably not easy..."

Inigo nodded in agreement, looking at the cut section on the ground and said:

"It disregards the dungeon's 'rules' and displays a clearly advanced intelligence. Its structure has clearly undergone significant mutation."

"Then why don't you go back and prepare more thoroughly before coming back?"

What Milo actually meant was to recruit one or two more gold-level adventurers to come along.

After the team's nurse and support died in the island fog, they now only have two output players left.

This is a rather unhealthy team structure.

They had just returned to Yafeng Town in disgrace and had no time to inquire about any news when they saw this task.

I thought it must be a loophole that an A-level task was missing from the relatively simple fifth floor.

Two gold-level adventurers should be able to handle it easily even without assistance.

But now something that goes against common sense has happened, such as monsters entering the safe zone.

Milo felt that this task might be difficult.

He's kind of backing off.

Inigo stared at the fire and thought for a while, then finally stepped on the puff on the ground and crushed it to pieces.

"We're already here, let's keep going. This walking mushroom is just a little weird, not a big threat."

If he went back now, he would probably be laughed to death by those who knew him, but he added a sentence just in case.

"If we really find there's danger, it won't be too late to retreat. If we can't fight, can't we just run away?"

Inigo's confidence is not groundless. As cats among orcs, he and Milo both have speed-related skills.

Even if there was danger, it would be strange if they couldn't escape even if they tried their best to run.

After all, this is still the fifth floor.

Milo didn't think there was anything wrong with it and nodded in agreement.

Now that they were almost done resting, they turned off the engine and headed to the fifth floor. "Speaking of which, was the fifth floor this dark before?"

Looking around, there were only some mushrooms glowing dimly, and not a single firefly could be seen.

"It seems not..."

Fortunately, both of them have night vision, so the darkness does not affect them much.

According to the task requirements, they need to investigate the entire floor, and specifically focus on the swamp area.

Inigo decided to start with the other three areas first, so that he could roughly judge the difficulty of the task before deciding whether to enter the swamp.

However, after the mission had been going on for half a day, the expressions of both of them became strange.

They had already been to the cave and the poisonous fog swamp, but they didn't see a single Puji.

If he hadn't seen a slime on the road, Inigo would have suspected that this level had been cleared out...
-
What are these two orcs doing?
Not only did he get caught sneaking up to the fourth floor, but now he's shopping here again.

As usual, Lin Jun sent all the Pujis away in advance to avoid meeting these high-level adventurers.

But looking at the situation now, could it be coming for me?

Under Lin Jun's surveillance, after leaving the cave, the two did not go to the forest as he expected, but went straight to the swamp.

Tsk, trouble.

This time he had to stop him, the swamp area was his bottom line.
-
A mushroom cannon hit the two orcs, splashing dirty water all over them.

Inigo looked at the ten Puji that appeared in front of him. After one attack, they stopped for a while.

Does this mean... deterrence?
Are these mushrooms a little too smart?

Inigo looked at Milo and found that he was also looking at him, waiting for his decision.

The attacks of these walking mushrooms are indeed very powerful, and even they will be injured if they are hit.

But if you can't hit it, it's meaningless.

Just ten walking mushrooms...

Inigo winked at his companion, and the leopard man understood.

The next second, both of them activated their acceleration skills at the same time, rushing forward from the left and right sides respectively.

The Pujis reacted quickly and attacked as soon as they moved.

But the two orcs lowered their bodies and nimbly dodged several mushroom cannon shots.

Soon Inigo and Milo rushed into the Puji team.

Milo is a worshiper of primitive power, and he uses his leopard claws to tear apart several Pujis in succession.

Inigo pulled out a blood-red long sword from his back, which could even directly split the magic ball shot by the mushroom cannon.

All ten Puji were killed quickly.

Milo habitually wanted to lick his paws, but suddenly remembered that he had killed Puji. There was no blood on his paws, but instead it was all dirty water, so he retracted his tongue in time.

"As expected of an A-rank mission, these walking mushrooms are surprisingly organized and cooperative."

"It's still just a bunch of mushrooms."

Inigo retracted his knife and prepared to go deeper into the swamp, but he stopped after taking a step.

"Milo, do you feel like the surroundings have become brighter?"

"Now that you mention it, it is true..."

The two looked around, and the faint light at the edge of their vision merged into one, becoming brighter and closer...

Inigo and Milo's expressions were completely gloomy.

It was Puji, countless fluorescent Puji surrounded them.

Milo swallowed hard, "How much...how much is this?"

"Three hundred? Five hundred? Or more?" Inigo took a deep breath and drew out his blood-red sword again. "I can't count them, but get ready to break out..."

(End of this chapter)