Facing the incoming fire mosquitoes, Lin Jun—who had been their neighbor for quite a while—didn't panic at all.
He waited until they flew within 50 meters before several Slime Puffballs sprayed out digestive mucus, drenching the unsuspecting fire mosquitoes.
The fire mosquitoes that fell to the ground still tried to shake off the mucus and take flight again. However, once the hallucinogenic Puffballs released their mist to envelop them, these creatures completely lost the ability to resist and were smashed to death one by one by the hallucinogenic Puffballs using their shells.
But it wasn't over yet. More fire mosquitoes swarmed in. At the entrance of the passage, Lin Jun and the fire mosquitoes engaged in a brutal, meat-grinder-like battle.
Even with the hallucinogenic spores blocking the lower space and restricting the fire mosquitoes' attack direction, facing several times their number, Lin Jun still couldn't intercept all the enemies with mucus alone.
From time to time, a fire mosquito would break through the defensive net, stab its proboscis into a Puffball and skewer it to the ground. The mosquito itself would then be paralyzed by the hallucinogenic spores on the ground.
"Ice Blade! Ice Blade! Water Serpent Technique!"
Inanna had some good news on her side—she had finally killed several fire mosquitoes!
With so many fire mosquitoes filling the air, even attacking with eyes closed would hit something. In this kind of scenario, the fire mosquitoes' evasion skills were practically useless.
Killing monsters with magic in a real battle for the first time made her so excited that she even laughed out loud. Compared to this, the hunts she had participated in before could hardly be called real combat.
However, her excitement didn't last long. A fire mosquito that broke through the defensive line stabbed its proboscis into a cannon Puffball right next to Inanna, pinning it to the ground. The sight made her shudder.
If that mosquito had charged at her instead…
"Lin Jun! What do we do now? So many Puffballs have died!"
Only a dozen or so Puffballs dead… and she's already like this?
The main body, still hidden deep within the Mushroom Garden, secretly sighed at the new recruit's lack of mental resilience.
Still, Lin Jun gave his suggestion:
"Stop using attack magic. Use Illumination Spell instead."
Illumination Spell?
What use could that be?
Inanna was confused, but remembering that she had promised to follow his commands, she cast the spell anyway. The mana cost was quite low, after all.
To Inanna's surprise, as soon as the Illumination Spell was cast, the swarm of fire mosquitoes immediately fell into chaos.
The front-row fire mosquitoes began flying around like headless flies. Some crashed into the ones behind them, while others simply dove straight into the hallucinogenic mist below.
Inanna was stunned.
"It actually worked!" Lin Jun was also surprised.
"Huh? You didn't know it would work?"
"I didn't expect the effect to be this good… Turn it off, then cast it again!"
"Okay!"
The deep underground area was perennially dark or only dimly lit. Since Lin Jun noticed that the fire mosquitoes had eyes, he figured he might as well try a flashbang tactic. He never expected it to be so ridiculously effective.
This was where the advantage of mushrooms, which didn't rely on eyesight, really showed.
With the help of the Illumination Spell, the fire mosquitoes—which were already at a disadvantage—became even weaker, falling in droves.
When their numbers were no longer enough to completely block the passage entrance, these nearly brainless monsters finally seemed to remember the taste of fear. They scattered and disappeared into the other tunnels.
All that remained was an empty fire mosquito cavern and a high-temperature pool full of larvae.
"It's… finally over."
Inanna plopped down on the ground.
Even though they had been in an advantageous position the whole time, she had first cast several attack spells in a row, then followed up with more than twenty Illumination Spells in one go. Inanna felt utterly exhausted, with almost no mana left.
However, although her body was tired, having personally participated in such a "grand battle" for the first time left her in an excited state.
"Lin Jun, what do we do next?"
"Next? Next is obviously collecting the spoils of war!"
The twenty Bull-Horse Puffballs that had stayed at the very back and not participated in the fighting finally began their work—using their tentacles to stuff the fire mosquito corpses into their bodies.
The quantity was about what Lin Jun had estimated. Two trips from the Bull-Horse Puffballs should be enough. Once he finished decomposing these fire mosquitoes, his heat resistance should level up again.
As for expanding the Mushroom Garden into this fire mosquito cavern, Lin Jun didn't consider it.
This cavern was connected to too many passages—completely interconnected and impossible to defend properly.
The Mushroom Garden was a carefully chosen base by Lin Jun. It only had four passages on one side, making it especially suitable for safe, steady development.
As for the white fire mosquito larvae in the hot spring pool, Lin Jun had the cannon Puffballs dump all their remaining mana into the pool, turning the larvae into floating debris on the surface.
"So these are the spoils of war?"
Looking at the mosquito corpses being carried away, Inanna felt that they were a tiny bit different from what she had imagined as war trophies.
"Otherwise what, Miss Duchess? When subjugating monsters, what kind of spoils did you expect?"
It's not like cracking open their stomachs would drop magic swords and gold coins…
"Wait, actually… maybe not entirely impossible. There might be something good in that pool."
"The pool?"
The pool, still filled with floating chunks of flesh, continued to emit white steam. But what exactly was heating it?
Underground magma?
Unlikely. The area where the Flame Demons lived was quite far from here, and the surrounding environment wasn't particularly hot.
Lin Jun figured there was a high chance something capable of continuously generating heat was inside.
But now there was a problem—
He couldn't swim.
Although the Puffballs wouldn't dissolve in water, once soaked they would just turn into bloated, immobilized blobs floating on the surface.
These fire mosquito larvae did have the [Water Adaptation] skill, but that would require transporting them back, decomposing them to obtain the skill, and then creating a new variety of Puffball to make use of it.
While Lin Jun was still thinking of a solution, Inanna had already dived headfirst into the pool to look for treasure.
Only then did Lin Jun remember that she had LV6 Water Adaptation.
Second-generation beings really are something else…
"Lin Jun! Look what I found!"
Inanna climbed out of the pool. Behind her, a Water Serpent spell was carrying a glowing orange fragment that continuously emitted heat, evaporating the water around it.
The Water Serpent couldn't hold it for long, so Inanna tossed the fragment onto the ground beside the pool.
"Do you know what this is?"
Lin Jun originally didn't, but this thing actually had a status panel?
Up until now, Lin Jun had never seen a status panel appear on any inanimate object!
[Artifact: Sunstone (Fragment)]
???
What the hell? Killing a bunch of LV20 mosquitoes can drop an artifact? Was the monster loot table designed poorly?
There was no other description besides the name—probably because it was only a fragment?
Anyway, better to take it back and study it.
"Lin Jun?"
"Uh, how would I know? But it looks somewhat useful. We can take it back to keep the mushrooms warm."
A Bull-Horse Puffball wrapped the fragment in mud, forming a large ball, and carried it away. Inanna didn't object. She was only working here for that A-rank magic crystal anyway. The spoils naturally belonged to Lin Jun. She was just curious.
While Lin Jun and Inanna were happily carrying out their grand expedition underground, another group of people on the surface was worrying themselves sick over Inanna's disappearance.