A pair of green eyes stared at Lin Jun.
Thirteen werewolves, the lowest at Level 26 (underage), the highest at Level 42.
This pack of dumb dogs looked like they wanted to take out their anger on him for letting the prey escape.
The dogs generally have the skill "Acceleration," so turning and running would likely be in vain.
Fortunately, Lin Jun didn't plan to run anyway.
Super Puki, transformation!
He shrank into a ball.
"Rolling Charge Level 5"
This was a byproduct during the acquisition of the "Chitin Shell" skill, extracted day by day from the Rolling Beetle, resulting in this skill reaching Level 5 before the shell skill did.
This skill, which barely made its presence known in the Mushroom Garden, finally had a moment to shine.
Lin Jun rolled directly towards the entrance of the Ninth Floor staircase.
Forty Pukis behind him weren't idle either, bombarding in front with Mushroom Cannons.
The dogs were very agile, and could easily dodge this kind of linear attack, only one unlucky dog had a paw blown off.
However, Lin Jun's purpose was achieved; the Mushroom Cannon successfully cleared a path.
A gray-haired werewolf, not convinced, charged through the cannonfire on all fours and used Claw Strike on Lin Jun.
"Evasion Level 6"
The Puki ball made a small jump, rolling over the dog's face perfectly, and rushed into the staircase.
Safe on base!
The werewolf hit down hard and fell, and before it could get up, it was hit by seven or eight Mushroom Cannon shots, turning into a pile of mush.
Successfully passed, but unfortunately, only this Super Puki made it through.
The Battle Pukis left at the spot weren't equipped with Rolling Charge.
Seeing Lin Jun had entered the channel, the werewolves turned their targets to the remaining Pukis.
Proven by facts, in a direct confrontation, just forty Pukis were no match for twelve werewolves.
After injuring only three werewolves, the Pukis were wiped out.
It's not that Lin Jun felt sorry.
These Pukis were originally brought out to cover the main body, even to be used as bait if necessary.
I just never thought they'd be wiped out after just one floor.
Hope the journey ahead won't be so unlucky...
————
Without the following Pukis, Lin Jun's Fungal Network couldn't provide visibility anymore.
He could only rely on "Air Flow Perception" and "Magic Perception" to observe the surroundings.
This was inconvenient in many ways.
The Ninth Floor was the most disgusting place Lin Jun had ever seen.
All around were lumps of flesh, and the demons here looked like failed genetic engineering experiments.
Good thing he's a mushroom without a sense of smell, just looking at it could tell what the place might smell like.
However, the journey on the Ninth Floor was relatively smooth.
Adventurers rested here for a while before smoothly ascending to the Eighth Floor.
Just as Lin Jun was planning to go up, a small accident occurred.
"Native Demon Level Exceeded, Passage Denied"
The panel that suddenly popped up startled Lin Jun, and worse—an air wall appeared!
Clearly, there was nothing there, but the closer he got to the staircase leading to the Eighth Floor, the greater the pressure became, as if about to crush him.
Was this the "rule" of the maze!?
A native demon, meaning he was considered part of the dungeon family?
Unfortunately, this family wasn't warm at all.
No!
He still wanted to see the sun again!
How could there be such a miserable reincarnator like himself?
"Hero, Restriction Lifted"
What?
He was just about to try forcing his way down with Rolling Charge when the air wall squeezing him suddenly vanished.
What is this?
Hero privileges?
Taking another couple of steps forward, the resistance had indeed disappeared.
What an outdated procedure with such a long interval between judgments?
It gave him a scare.
Thought he was going to be stuck in the Underground City forever playing a family game of you-eat-me-I-eat-you with the demons.
Luckily, it was just a false alarm.
But why did he suddenly lose track of Inanna's location?
————
Eighth Floor, Lin Jun stared dazedly at the four magic arrays on the ground.
Unlike the previous two floors, the Eighth Floor actually had stone bricks, a man-made construction material, as if entering some ancient building.
But the problem was, aside from the four arrays on the ground, there was no path!
Could these be Teleportation Magic Arrays?
If so, it would explain why he couldn't sense Inanna.
So, what should he do now?
Which one to pick?
Of course—
He won't pick any of them!
There's no way he'd risk using his main body to step on these obvious trap-like magic arrays!
Though it's disgusting, he'll temporarily settle on the Ninth Floor, grow some Pukis, and use Subordinate Control to scout ahead.
While thinking this and preparing to return, Lin Jun felt magical fluctuations behind him.
The second array from the left lit up.
Three humans walked out of the array.
...
"One-Character Slash"
"Wind Blade Technique"
"Precise Shooting"
Damn!
After a brief moment of shock, the three adventurers decisively launched an attack on the demon before their eyes.
At the same time, they loudly communicated in a language Lin Jun couldn't understand.
Evade! Evade! Evade!
Lin Jun dodged while attempting to counter with Mushroom Cannon. He wasn't someone to not fight back when actively attacked!
But fighting back was one thing, whether he could win was another.
All three adventurers were above Level 40 and clearly cooperated...
Lin Jun tried to retreat back to the lower floors but was blocked by an ice wall.
The ice wall could be broken, but the continuous attacks from the adventurers kept him on the defensive.
"Skill Upgrade: Evasion Level 6→Level 7"
Dodging so much his evasion skill upgraded, how about that; unfortunately, it didn't help much with the current situation.
The Mushroom Cannon counterattacks would be dodged or blocked.
The Digestive Mucus was blown away by strong winds.
The Hallucinogenic Spores were quickly counteracted by the three drinking Antitoxic Potion.
Although not as strong as the Diamond Level group that captured Inanna, those on the Ninth Floor were clearly not pushovers.
His trump cards were instantly broken!
Lin Jun knew his limits; even at his so-called strongest Puki state, he'd be considered weak at the 40+ level.
Let alone taking on three equally leveled professional adventurers.
But he didn't expect he couldn't even escape!
No, he still could escape!
Lin Jun shrank into a ball, evading around the warrior in front, charging towards the archer in the back row.
The mage on the side cast magic, blocking his path to the archer.
Now's the chance, during the casting gap, Lin Jun made a sharp turn and plunged into the right-hand array.
As the light from the array gradually grew, the surroundings shifted, and Lin Jun found himself in another location.
Once again!
Escaped danger!
If only he hadn't been hit by that arrow...
The warrior couldn't catch up, the caster had to wait between spells, but the archer's arrow finally caught up to Lin Jun.
An iron arrow pierced through the strongest Puki's rear.
That single hit halved the Puki's blood volume, but luckily, Lin Jun's main body wasn't in the rear and wasn't affected.
The adventurers wouldn't follow him here, would they?
They hadn't shown up by now, so they probably weren't coming.
It made sense; after he transported, there was no corresponding magic array under him, obviously a one-way Teleportation Array.
Whether or not those adventurers knew it was one-way, they wouldn't step in carelessly.
Geez, they almost earned the achievement of slaying the hero.
Now, what should he do?
Gazing at the stone brick corridors extending everywhere, Lin Jun began to ponder.
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