Norris leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding Karen’s ferocious pounce. At the same time, the mushroom cannon at his chest fired, the mana blast striking her reaching claw. With a loud bang, a spray of blood burst open.
Using the recoil of the explosion, Norris twisted his body midair, evading pursuit again. Then, with a clean double jump, he shifted his trajectory.
Almost simultaneously, the charging Jida coordinated with him—its scout Puji ejected from its head, springing upward to create an opening for Norris.
Norris slipped smoothly inside, even slotting the Yellow Hide Book into the dedicated groove on his left-arm shield as he entered the cockpit.
Jida swung its yellow hide shield, blocking Karen’s renewed rush.
The scout Puji fell neatly back into place, locking into the head slot once more.
Karen was a wild golden-ranked werewolf. Even with her racial edge, she couldn’t overcome a fully armed Jida.
And because Norris worried he might accidentally kill her, he deliberately refrained from using the shoulder resonance cannon. Even relying only on Jida’s shield and drill, he thoroughly suppressed her.
Finally, battered and covered in superficial wounds, Karen was pinned to the ground under Jida, unable to move.
Norris pushed aside the scout Puji and leaned out of the cockpit, staring down helplessly at Karen.“Can we stop now? If you promise not to chase me anymore, I’ll let you up.”
But instead of answering, Karen’s wolf eyes burned even hotter. Gasping, she fixed on him and said, “Little lizard… I didn’t expect you to be this strong!”
Norris’s face sank, and he ducked back inside the cockpit. Just as he was at a loss, Little Blue shouted from afar with a helpful suggestion:
“Norris! Just knock her out! Kill her if you want!”
The other werewolves seemed to agree wholeheartedly, nodding.
What a… savage custom…
Seeing no better choice, Norris maneuvered Jida’s left arm, raising the yellow hide shield and slamming it heavily into the back of Karen’s head. With a dull grunt, her eyes rolled white, and she collapsed unconscious.
At that moment, the first ray of dawn spilled across the sky, falling upon Jida and Karen beneath it. Bathed in sunlight, her body visibly shrank and transformed.
“What… what’s happening?!” Not just her—every werewolf exposed to the morning light began shrinking. The overwhelming power of moonlight ebbed away like a retreating tide.
With a few plops, their already-loose hide pants dropped to the ground.
And in the light of dawn, twelve naked figures remained, human-shaped but with wolf ears and tails.
“You turned into a human!”
“You too—wait, not really human, right?”
“My fur! Where’s my thick fur?!”
These werewolves, who had never once seen the sun, were utterly unprepared for such a change. Stripped of their insulating coats, they could no longer withstand the freezing northern air.
Each one clutched a burrowing Puji for warmth and scrambled back into the fortress.
Norris looked down at the still-unconscious, now human-shaped Karen. His head throbbed in frustration. In the end, he hurriedly hoisted her onto his shoulder, rushed her into his mushroom hut, and tossed in a warm burrowing Puji to keep her heated.
[For just a second… didn’t you regret rejecting her?]
“Senior, please… don’t joke at a time like this!” Norris was profoundly thankful his scales kept his blushing hidden. “What the hell is happening?!”
[Just as vampires weaken in sunlight, werewolves of insufficient strength also lose most of their racial bonuses under the sun, reverting to a near-human baseline form.]
“That’s… bizarre…”
<hr>[Daylight Weakness (Loss of racial bonuses)]
It was even a long-duration effect—they couldn’t return to wolf form until night.
Right now, Little Blue and the others were huddled in shock, staring at their humanoid bodies, chattering nervously, terrified they’d never change back.
But in truth, “losing racial bonuses” simply meant falling back to the average stats of humans of the same level. With proper equipment, they could still fight decently.
Comparing them to vampires, who also weakened under the sun, it only made the stable performance of the demonkin across any environment look even more superior.
Lin Jun, however, wasn’t bothered about individual combat strength. As long as their brains were usable, that was enough.
Still… perhaps it would be worth testing whether sunlight stones could also force this “transformation into humans” effect.
<hr>Lately, Inanna’s mood had been anything but bright.
There were more and more Puji Masters.
Just today, she’d caught two of them commanding their Pujis to battle each other—while onlookers cheered and even ran betting pools on the outcome.
Though her icy glare made the fight end quickly, Inanna knew it meant nothing. Out of her sight, those innocent, adorable Pujis would still suffer cruelty.
These Puji Masters enjoyed the conveniences and power of the Mycelium Network and Pujis, yet felt not a shred of gratitude, treating them only as tools.
She despised them.
And lately, another matter weighed heavily on her—she kept dreaming of her mother.
Did that mean… she was beginning to long for that long-faded figure?
On her vast bed, Inanna clutched her knight Puji tightly, trying to banish the day’s unhappy thoughts. Slowly, she drifted into slumber.
<hr>In her dream was a dazzling ballroom, golden and resplendent.
Gentle music filled the air as countless Pujis twirled across the dance floor in pairs.
Inanna, clad in a gorgeous gown, held a Puji’s tendril delicately, guiding it across the radiant floor.
In the distance, servant-like Puji Masters bustled about, carrying golden goblets brimming with glowing mana potion, pouring it tenderly onto the tired Pujis’ caps.
Everything was so beautiful, so dreamlike.
Knock, knock—
Suddenly, heavy, jarring knocks shattered the harmony.
A strange foreboding stirred in Inanna’s chest as she walked slowly to the great door. As it opened inward, a woman stood outside—a cascade of pink hair falling like a waterfall.
This scene… it felt like she had lived it countless times. Yet, within the dream, no memory stayed clear.
“Mother,” she whispered, “have you come to join the ball too?”
The woman did not answer.
After a brief hesitation, Inanna decided to invite her inside.
At once, the Puji beside her wrapped a tendril gently around her wrist, tugging her back.
Inanna laughed and stroked its cap. “It’s fine. I’ll dance with you again later.”
She pulled free and swung the door wide, taking her mother’s hand to lead her in.
But the instant their fingers touched, the woman’s grip clamped tight—icy cold, sending shivers racing down Inanna’s body. Alarm bells rang in her mind.
Behind her, the Pujis surged forward in unison, sensing danger.
The woman slowly lifted her head.
Beneath the pink hair was no face—only two black, twisting voids. A stranger’s voice spoke:
“At last… I’ve caught you!”