"You. Say that again."
Duke Alama's knuckles turned bone-white as he gripped the armrest. The mahogany throne groaned under the pressure.
Butler Eric's nape glistened with cold sweat, yet he still pronounced every syllable clearly.
"After Pero and Oakes lured the young miss away under your name, they first headed to the Amethyst Dungeon, then crossed the border and fled into the Hermit Empire. Judging by their route, they're most likely seeking refuge with Duke Sigismond."
"Damn traitors! Damn vampires!" The solid-wood armrest shattered. Blood-red flames raged in the duke's pupils. "Inanna is still alive—the Tracking Marker is active, and the Revenge Brand hasn't transferred. I have to go save her."
"My lord!"
Seeing the duke snatch up his massive greatsword, ready to charge off without a second thought to rescue his daughter, Eric had no choice but to roar.
"The moment you leave, Duke Sigismond will march the Blood Knights straight through Highfort Fortress. Once Highfort falls, there will be no more defensive chokepoints. Not only your duchy, but the entire Southern Federation will be in danger."
"So you want me to sit here and watch my daughter die?!"
The blue-stone tiles beneath Alama's feet cracked. Spiderweb fissures spread rapidly. The overwhelming aura of an LV70 peak human powerhouse forced Eric down onto one knee.
"The diamond-rank adventurer party 'Silver Thorn' is operating nearby. We can privately commission them to search for the young miss inside the Amethyst Dungeon. Meanwhile, you can pretend to leave Highfort Fortress, lure Sigismond in, and then deliver a crushing counterattack to avenge the assassination attempt."
After speaking in one breath, Eric nearly collapsed to the floor.
The crushing pressure on him gradually vanished. Duke Alama sat back down, stretched out a hand, and condensed the coordinates tracking Inanna into a crystal before handing it to the butler.
"Do exactly as you said. Tell those adventurers: if they bring my daughter back alive, I will grant them an entire city! But if anything happens to her…"
"Yes, my lord."
————
Deep inside the dungeon, in the Mushroom Garden.
Inanna, completely unaware that her father had already begun searching for her, stood at the edge of the breeding zone, watching the scene before her with wide-eyed horror.
Beside the deep slime-breeding pit, a hollow-bodied Puji finished dumping a full load of ordinary mushrooms as feed. The moment it poured them in, one slime leaped up, stuck to its leg, and dragged the Puji straight down into the pit.
The next second, the slimes inside swarmed over it, completely enveloping the creature.
The trapped Puji was still struggling—it almost looked like it could still be saved.
"Lin Jun! Lin Jun! Your slimes are eating a Puji!"
Busy as he was, Lin Jun flicked a sliver of attention over at the shout.
"I know. I'll send a new one over right away. I already warned you the breeding zone is dangerous—stay away from there."
Inanna wanted to say that wasn't what she meant, but when she saw the Puji inside the slime stop moving and begin to dissolve, she swallowed her words.
The underground world truly is cruel…
————
The underground world truly was cruel.
To survive in such a brutal place, Lin Jun was never not busy.
The Puji themselves had intelligence barely high enough to automatically pathfind once given an order.
Breeding, mining—everything required his constant micromanagement. Not to mention the Mushroom Garden's borders were constantly harassed by all kinds of monsters.
Even with LV5 Mental Integration, it was still extremely taxing.
Being able to spare any energy at all to show Inanna around had already been a luxury.
Though he never showed it, Lin Jun was genuinely happy to finally have someone he could talk to.
At least from now on he wouldn't have to mutter to himself just to keep his language skills from rotting away.
After that, however, he no longer had time to babysit her and could only let her wander around on her own.
Lin Jun had to focus his full attention on the garden's border—another swarm of fire mosquitoes was approaching.
These flying bugs looked like giant mosquitoes, slightly larger than Puji, with an average level around LV20.
They were far from the strongest monsters here, but they were without doubt the most annoying.
They could fly, were agile, moved in huge swarms, and would skewer any lone Puji with their needle-like proboscises the moment they got the chance. They had been Lin Jun's greatest nightmare during his early growth phase.
Fortunately, he already had a well-practiced countermeasure.
Facing the incoming swarm of fire mosquitoes, several Puji whose caps had been replaced by sprayers forcefully ejected a sky full of slime mucus.
The mucus was extremely adhesive and corrosive. Any mosquito that touched it could no longer fly and was forced to the ground.
Patches of purple mushrooms on the ground then released hallucinogenic spores, rendering the grounded mosquitoes helpless.
Soon, after losing seven of their companions, the rest of the swarm fled without looking back.
Lin Jun knew these creatures had no memory—they would definitely come again.
Puji with hard chitin shells on their heads moved in and delivered the finishing blows to the unconscious fire mosquitoes. The corpses were then tossed into the Mushroom Garden as fresh fertilizer.
[Greed of the Seven Sins triggered] [Plundered Skill: Heat Resistance LV5 → LV6]
Leveled up?
Nice. Once his Heat Resistance got a little higher, he could try sneaking past the Flame Demon's lair and see what the upper layers looked like.
He opened his status panel.
[Race: Mushroom – Mycelial Lord] [Level: LV42] [HP: 420/420] [Mana: 8045/12450]
[Racial Talents: Mana Harvest (Mycelium can absorb ambient mana to continuously provide experience) Scavenger (Decompose corpses to obtain nutrients and experience)]
[Fixed Status: Mycelial Network Connection]
[Skills: Puji Creation LV5, Mana Storage LV4, Mana Perception LV4, Entangle LV3, Mushroom Cannon LV6, Precision LV4, Mimicry LV2, Storage Sac LV4, Mycelial Network LV6, Minion Control LV6, Mental Integration LV5, Airflow Perception LV6, Heat Resistance LV6, Dodge LV6, Peck LV7, Hallucinogenic Spores LV4, Chitin Shell LV4, Digestive Mucus LV3, Rolling Charge LV5]
[Titles: Greed of the Seven Sins (Unique Title): Randomly plunder a skill or fixed bonus from corpses Mosquito Slayer: 10% increased damage against mosquito-type creatures Hero: Unaffected by racial level limits; can randomly draw one special title or skill (already used)]
Lin Jun's panel didn't even have basic attributes. His main body was just an ordinary-looking mushroom.
420 HP at LV42 was exactly what a mushroom should have. Inanna's 3,000+ HP was completely ridiculous by comparison.
His abnormally high mana pool actually included the entire Mushroom Garden.
The most outrageous thing on the panel was the Hero title—even he thought it was absurd.
How the hell did a mushroom end up with a title like that?
Lin Jun had never met his summoner and had no idea whether it was a crazy archmage or some god with a twisted sense of humor.
One thing was certain: whoever it was had a seriously messed-up brain.
Who in their right mind would specifically summon a mushroom as a hero?
Still, thanks to that title, he had drawn Greed with the Hero privilege, constantly plundered skills from the underground monsters, and used those skills to arm his Puji.
From being chased and nearly eaten by slimes in the beginning to now claiming territory and farming in a corner of the dungeon, the entire journey had been nothing but blood, sweat, and tears.
It was terrifying to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't drawn Greed—he would probably have become fertilizer long ago.
So why the hell was he summoned as a mushroom in the first place?
That question had almost become his greatest obsession, second only to reaching the surface.
...
After dealing with the fire mosquitoes, Lin Jun finally had a moment to check on the new kid and see what she was up to.
Ah… she was secretly picking up the freshly mined amethyst crystals…