On the outskirts of the sub-dimension, the workers of Fungus Fortress were directing the beasts of burden Pujis, moving various experimental jars of all sizes that Lin Jun had transferred while bringing in a large amount of ritual materials.Ultimately, Lin Jun had gone through all the trouble of moving this sub-dimension here to play... to study dangerous Abyssal Magic.As for the information cubes inside, they were merely incidental gains.Moreover, while called gains, there weren't many substantial benefits; at most, they supplemented some historical knowledge.To truly utilize this information, Lin Jun would have to wait until he reclaimed the blood calamity.While his subordinates were busily preparing the Abyssal Magic laboratory, Lin Jun found the perfect place to train his Soul Touch—the area sacrificed by the Hand of Death Passage!Countless souls that had left their physical bodies were now wandering there.Lin Jun discovered that for the Soul Touch skill he was tempering, these drifting souls were a perfect source of experience.Just when he was worried that his own D-Rank Personnel were insufficient, these spirits were like experience points picked up for free!Even better, because this area was overrun with souls, the Imperial Army stopped entering after clearing out the cultist remnants, only setting up guards on the perimeter.Therefore, Lin Jun's Pujis didn't need to hide carefully; they only needed to focus on swinging their tentacles to poke the approaching undead.He was, in a sense, reluctantly acting as a cleaner to purify the environment for the Empire.Finally, there was the duke named Eugene.He had originally planned to march his troops against Fungus Fortress, but the Red Dragon had disrupted his plans.He was extremely worried that his massive army marching across the open Northlands would become conspicuous prey for that overlord of the sky, so he hesitated to deploy his forces.Now, more than a month had passed, and the Red Dragon showed no sign of returning. This seemed to give Eugene some confidence, and after much deliberation, he finally launched his attack!Of course, he didn't send everything. The first group dispatched was a vanguard force of one thousand five hundred Demon Race Soldiers.This unit was well-equipped and led by experienced generals under his command.In fact, he felt that this vanguard force alone would be enough.It wasn't that he didn't know about the time the Imperial envoy gathered two tribes to crusade against the Demonkin tribe; the Demonkin Duke, Dean, had shared information with him about how that tribal army of several thousand had been utterly defeated.However, that was then.Since the cold wave that swept through the Northlands, even his own territory had been heavily damaged, and the vitality of the Northlands had been decimated.Even if the scattered tribes that fortunately survived huddled together for warmth, how much of their strength could possibly remain?Moreover, the vanguard he sent this time was not something a ragtag bunch of tribes could compare to.Behind this vanguard, Eugene himself and his ally Dean had a combined main force of six thousand troops ready for battle.It could be said that Eugene did not take the Northlands seriously at all.The main reason for sending so many troops was the manpower needed to split into small teams and search every area of the Northlands later.As for the tribes blocking the way—the ones who had dared to capture his scouts—he would simply crush them in passing.Amidst the quiet grumbling of the soldiers, the vanguard force set out.Almost immediately, Lin Jun noticed the movements of this Imperial vanguard force.Facing these somewhat late guests, Lin Jun decided to proceed according to the original plan: display a level of strength that seemed equal to theirs to block their advance without appearing too threatening.Of course, times had changed; for battles of this minor friction level, Lin Jun no longer needed to intervene personally.After transferring the real-time monitoring of the Imperial vanguard directly into Little Pig's mind, Lin Jun focused his attention on the task of poking undead to level up his skills."Finally, they're here!" Inside the Fungus Fortress command center, Little Pig's eyes lit up with excitement as she received the real-time images, and she tapped the wooden table with moderate force.She had been waiting for the Empire to arrive for so long she was practically growing mold!Although she had to hold back this time, having an opponent was better than none!Under Little Pig's arrangement, a Fungus Fortress unit of a thousand men set out only three hours after Eugene's vanguard.It was said to be a thousand men, but if the Pujis were included, the total actually exceeded twenty thousand.Looking down from high above, this army resembled a moving sea of Mushrooms.Of course, Little Pig soon split this great army into five units, each guarding one of the several key paths leading from the Northlands to Fungus Fortress.This way, no matter which route the Imperial vanguard chose, they would encounter at least one blocking force composed of over four thousand Pujis.The number four thousand was also carefully calculated.Although the Pujis were numerous, the individual strength of those commanded by ordinary soldiers certainly couldn't match the Imperial regular army.According to Little Pig's expectations, the number four thousand was just enough to cause trouble for the vanguard while still being at a disadvantage.Furthermore, if she had misjudged the strength of the Imperial vanguard and the four thousand Pujis were quickly wiped out, other nearby teams could arrive to assist in a short time.It could be said that she was fully prepared for any eventuality.However, on the battlefield, surprises always come unannounced... An ordinary melee Puji was fighting with a fully armed Demon Race Soldier who was charging and shouting.The soldier's longsword slashed down with a whistling sound, but the Puji dodged nimbly left and right. When the soldier made a large downward swing, it parried the heavy blade perfectly.Immediately after, the Puji leaped and bypassed the soldier, its tentacle blade slicing through a gap in the Demon Race Soldier's armor from a tricky angle, inflicting a heavy wound.The wounded soldier fell to one knee. In the next moment, a Self-Destruct Puji rolled out from the group and made zero-distance contact with the incapacitated soldier.Boom!Watching this scene through the mycelial network, Little Pig couldn't help but lick her dry lips.You have to realize, that was just an ordinary elite melee Puji!And that Demon Race Soldier opponent, in Little Pig's eyes, was a perfectly qualified Imperial regular.To think that just two Pujis could kill him?!Did the Boss not resist coming to play personally?This possibility was dismissed by Little Pig as soon as it surfaced in her mind.Setting aside whether the Boss had that kind of movement skill, this phenomenon wasn't an isolated case; it was happening across the entire battlefield.The four thousand elite Pujis were beating the fifteen hundred vanguard troops into a steady retreat.Realizing something was wrong, Little Pig hastily issued a retreat order.They couldn't keep fighting; if they did, this Imperial vanguard force would be wiped out!Little Pig even ordered the soldiers to intentionally sacrifice a wave of Pujis so the enemy could gain some results, lest the post-battle damage ratio look too ugly.But even so, it could only be considered "damage control.""How can this be? How are these four thousand Pujis so strong?" Faced with her command error, Little Pig anxiously tried to find the reason.Lin Jun: "Um... could it be because of the [Combat Intuition] I newly added?"