For some reason, when the cave-dweller Lin Jun had “converted” into his envoy stepped forward and bellowed, the enemy ranks only grew more chaotic.
Its proclamation had barely ended before a cave-dweller warrior yanked the vine suspending a massive boulder.
The polished stone rolled thunderously down, straight at Louisa.
Blood morphed in her hands into a spear.
Though she preferred the precision of blood threads, that didn’t mean she lacked other techniques.
Body bent like a bow, she hurled the spear with all her strength. It shattered the boulder—and didn’t stop there, impaling the warrior who had pulled the vine, bursting his head.
Debris flew everywhere.
A shard hurtled for Norris’s face.
Quick as a flash, he raised Huang Pishu to block it.
[You used me to block a rock?][Norris! My noble cover! You dared use it to block a stone!]
“S-sorry! Reflex…”
[That damned vampire!]
Norris was fine. The Pujis were not.
Over twenty were crushed by the rain of rubble.
Lin Jun paid no mind to Puji losses. What caught his attention was the dead cave-dweller.
“Louisa, that’s one.”
Smug from her display, Louisa stiffened—remembering the boss’s order: no more than five cave-dwellers were to be killed.
Catch ants without squashing them?
This task was harder than conquering a cavern.
Maybe if she just broke their limbs… they wouldn’t die?
Even so, the cave-dwellers did not collapse entirely.
Fear was thick among them, but when a bloated, elderly one appeared, the others all gripped their weapons tighter.
Suspicious, Lin Jun pulled up its status.
【Skill: Pheromones LV6】
A quick comparison showed all the fat ones in the nest had it at LV6.
He understood—obedience to higher pheromone concentration.
He had the same skill, though low-level, never used.
Not a charm or control, just chemical signals, only usable on kin that could detect them.
Useless to him, with the fungal network.
But to cave-dwellers, it defined their hierarchy.
It made sense. Obedience to high-pheromone individuals allowed for cohesion, helping survival.
But nothing beyond that.
Once survival was secured, such parasites became deadweight, stunting advancement.
Their slavery system no doubt stemmed from this.
No wonder, then, that despite their trap-making smarts, they remained a bottom-tier race.
As Lin Jun mused over their anthropology, the battle for his old mushroom garden began.
To avoid needless slaughter, he hadn’t brought artillery Pujis—only melee ones with tendrils.
It gave the cave-dwellers some chance to resist… a little.
They blocked the entrance, spears stabbing again and again, skewering Pujis that pushed forward.
But tendrils would lash out, snagging a cave-dweller, and drag it out.
Once pulled even a little, more tendrils swarmed, hauling the captive away.
The rest could only thrust harder, desperate to hold the tide.
Louisa avoided the crowded gate. In that crush, she might kill too many by accident. And she knew her boss—if she exceeded the death limit, she wouldn’t just miss her meal; she might end up half-starved or sprouting mushrooms.
So she stayed clear of the choke point.
But she couldn’t idle either. That would draw blame too.
【Blood Manipulation LV8】
The blood she carried shaped into a massive axe. She raised it and struck the living wood wall with all her might.
The blade sank deep but didn’t cleave through.
Louisa frowned.
She drank a lump of minotaur blood.
【Blood Frenzy LV7】
“Ha—!”
Her eyes flared crimson, muscles swelling, and she hacked again.
Wood exploded. A huge section was split open. Several cave-dwellers behind it were blasted down by flying debris. Dead or alive, she couldn’t tell.
Her face changed. She rushed in, dug them out, and tossed them to the Pujis.
…
The sudden breach threw the defenders into chaos.
Pujis swarmed in, tendrils seizing warriors, overseers, and slaves alike.
The bloated leader shrieked, ordering them to retreat deeper, where the terrain might help.
But when they fell back to the mushroom beds, they found only more tendril Pujis—thirty or more already.
These had formed from the very mycelium they had nurtured for food.
The number wasn’t large compared to the swarm outside, but enough to cut off escape.
And it shattered their last hope.
Even their obese chieftain’s pheromones could no longer suppress the panic.
They scattered, desperate to flee.
A few managed to break through—but only to reach other tunnels, where Norris was waiting, Huang Pishu in hand.
His armored, swift form and Puji allies made short work of the stragglers.
He watched as another cave-dweller was tripped, bound, and dragged away.
“This task… is so easy.”
Though the territory was wide, few even made it out. Their levels were low—most barely over ten, with only a handful above twenty.
Their skills were pathetic. Under Huang Pishu’s scanning, they couldn’t even avoid Norris. Not one escaped.
And before each was sent away, Norris checked carefully that it was alive. Whether he feared his own heavy hand—or a certain book sneaking a meal—was unclear.
[…]