Inside the cavern, the forcibly released souls gave out shrill wails, like invisible smoke drifting away into the cold air, vanishing without a trace.
At this moment, the Yellow Tome’s heavy covers sagged weakly like withered petals. Its spine was empty, holding only a single, lonely page—left solely for communication.
[Wuuu wuuu…]
[Boss… you… you must remember your promise!] The words scrawled on the page looked frail and pitiful.
“Relax,” said the speech-capable Puji soothingly. “I keep my word.”
After sending the helper Gray back to the fortress with a fat Puji, Lin Jun carried the Yellow Tome to the core chamber.
Truthfully, Lin Jun disliked this sort of thing—beating an “employee” before letting it work.
But… the Yellow Tome was an existence he couldn’t see through at all. He had no choice but to guard against it.
And the only method he knew to restrain it was its soul-storing pages.
…[So this is the core!]
Even reduced to a single page, the Yellow Tome trembled with awe as it entered the chamber.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be the repair expert? Why are you reacting the same way I did when I first came in?” Lin Jun couldn’t help but say.
[Because this really is my first time inside a Dungeon core!]
[Though I was born with repair knowledge, I’ve never had a chance to use it before!] The page fluttered with a strange excitement.
“Fine, fine. So? Where do we start?” Lin Jun urged.
[That crystal!] The Yellow Tome answered without hesitation.
A Puji carefully held the book near the crystalline stele swirling with nebula-like motes.
Then, a strange sight—countless motes inside the crystal seemed summoned, streaming out in threads, circling the Yellow Tome and forming a radiant halo.
The book floated of its own accord, weightless, its single page swaying rhythmically in the starlight.
Lin Jun thought: if it still had its full pages, flipping wildly with these special effects, it would actually look pretty impressive…
[Boss, do you remember I once said the Dungeon collapses from insufficient computing power?] The words written now carried a calm, almost solemn tone.
“Obviously. I harassed the war puppets just to drain its processing.”
[Do you know, then, the true source of that computing power?]
Lin Jun tilted his cap. “The core itself generates it?”
[Of course not. The core is just a controller.]
The Yellow Tome’s words darkened.
[Souls! The souls of intelligent beings who die inside the Dungeon! Before returning to the world’s origin, the Dungeon’s rules briefly capture and absorb them!]
[Their final flicker before dissolution fuels the Dungeon’s immense computational strength!]
“…” Lin Jun stayed silent. The chamber’s only sound was the low hum of its energy conduits.
[Boss, have you realized?]
[Do you know what you look like to me?]
“…”
Even as Lin Jun said nothing, the book pressed on:
[You are a greedy devourer!] The words slashed across the page.
[You use the Mycelium Carpet to decompose corpses, consuming their soul force entirely—erasing even the traces of their existence!]
[Then you discard the stripped, pure essence directly back to the world!]
[They never pass through the Dungeon’s rules! Never fuel its power at all!]
[You—are the true culprit behind this Dungeon’s destruction!]
The air froze. The speech-Puji’s mushroom cap stopped swaying.
“You choose to say this now,” Lin Jun’s voice was low and terrible, “which means…”
[Which means I deliberately never told you!]
The Pujis’ tentacles shot forth like arrows, but just before touching the book, they struck an invisible wall—an absolutely solid air barrier!
【Access Denied】
The icy system message appeared. Even the “Hero” title was useless.
BOOM!
A fat Puji triggered self-detonation. The blast shook the chamber.
Yet when the smoke cleared, the wall was unscathed, still protecting the Yellow Tome. The core chamber itself remained spotless, cold, and silently running.
The book ignored the failed attacks, floating serenely in its halo as it continued its proclamation:
[Repairing the Dungeon is simple—feed it souls.]
[Controlling it is normally nearly impossible. But now? Different.]
[In its weakened state, flooding it with a torrent of souls—all mine to command—will seize full authority with ease!]
[All thanks to you!]
[Oh, Boss… Did I ever mention? My cover… is the perfect soul vault.]
At that, a deluge of twisted, howling souls erupted from the book’s cover.
They spiraled madly through the chamber, screaming, then merged into a single gray-black torrent, crashing into the crystalline stele.
Darkness seeped in like ink in water, spreading corruption through the once-clear crystal.
[Hahahahaha!] The lone page flapped in smug delight.
[Do you see? You lost because you knew nothing!]
[Distrusted me? So what! Who else could you rely on?]
[The gulf of knowledge doomed you from the start!]
[Boss?]
“Tch.”
[Tsk tsk, little Puji~]
[If you kneel now, maybe I’ll graciously leave the fifth floor as your eternal nest~]
“Quit your act!”
Lin Jun had already tried explosions and artillery to no avail. The barrier made the Yellow Tome untouchable.
Tricked.
The whole Amethyst Dungeon was about to be stolen, and Lin Jun’s teeth ground in fury.
But bad as it was, he had contingency plans for betrayal.
At once, his body on the sixth floor dissolved into a clone, consumed by the Mycelium Network.
【Sin of Greed Activated】
【Skill Stolen: Clone LV1】
Lin Jun’s true body shifted to the fortress Dungeon, hidden beneath a knight Puji’s cap.
He immediately split another clone, hiding it elsewhere.
At the core, the Pujis ceased attacking pointlessly.
“Fine, you win this round. We’ll see.”
[Little Puji~]
The Yellow Tome’s words curved with mockery.
[You don’t actually think I’ll let you leave, do you?]
???
The next instant, a soul-level suction erupted from the tainted crystal.
No physical damage touched the Pujis, yet their life-fire was ripped away. Caps toppled, bodies slumped lifelessly.
The suction spread through the whole Dungeon. Even though Lin Jun cut off all fungal connections outside the fortress, the force had already latched onto his soul.
[Tsk, what a pity.]
[You rejected my mercy.]
[Now become the sacrifice for my absolute dominion over this Dungeon!]
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
The single remaining page spasmed as mad “ha” characters cascaded endlessly, drowning the parchment in lunatic laughter.