Chapter 12: The Arrival of 12 Adventurers
The dim tunnel was filled with a nauseating odor, and the giant spider's green blood dripped continuously from its own massive web.
Like its spider relatives, Arakno was always referred to as a "giant spider monster" by most illiterate adventurers.
Only those who truly understand them know that it is a special giant spider capable of weaving toxic webs.
The thick spiderwebs are highly conspicuous, and weaker monsters always keep their distance.
However, there are always some monsters that, relying on their strength and power, have never taken spiderwebs seriously.
Arakno's prey are precisely these creatures.
However, today, it clearly met its match.
A massive axe struck the center of the spider monster's head, shattering it into pieces.
Huff—huff—
The bull-headed, human-bodied monster panted as it lifted the axe, giving it a slight flick to shake off most of the sticky blood.
Its four-and-a-half-meter-tall, muscular body was covered in bulging muscles that rippled beneath its fur with each breath. This was an exceptionally strong individual, even among the Minotaurs.
Under its frenzied attack, the hunter became the hunted.
But it wasn't unscathed either.
The toxin from the spider web had spread through its left arm's veins, and even its LV5 poison resistance could only prevent further spread.
Losing an arm in the short term would undoubtedly make survival in the dungeon extremely difficult.
Fortunately, this problem would soon no longer bother it.
A pure black dagger emerged from the shadows, circling the Minotaur's thick neck with a gentle twist, slicing its throat as easily as tofu.
Watching the Minotaur lying on the ground, twitching helplessly, the Night Owl emerged from the darkness and complained to the other three who had just arrived:
"At least a Level 40 Minotaur—this thing could serve as a treasure chest guardian on the eighth floor. If it weren't in such poor condition, I'd have to go through some trouble.
I have a feeling that if we keep wandering around like this, we'll eventually run into some real trouble.
Nova, how much further do we have to go?"
Nova touched the guiding crystal in her hand: "Not much further. The changes in direction are becoming more frequent, which means we're very close."
"Gal, help me cut open its abdomen."
Ivan pointed at the spider's corpse and ordered his teammates.
"What? The giant spider's bodily fluids are disgusting…"
Gal looked reluctant, but he still pulled out his scalpel and slit open the spider's abdomen.
Sure enough, a foul stench hit his nose, and he quickly waved his hands and stepped back.
Ivan, however, rushed over with shining eyes, completely unaffected by the stench, and reached inside to retrieve an organ.
"It's definitely an arachnid. Its venom sac is the perfect material for a poison cloud ritual!"
Watching Ivan carefully place the foul-smelling venom sac into a精致 box, Nova finally directed the group to continue forward.
He had a premonition that they would reach their destination within three more caves at most.
————
In fact, after passing through another cave with scattered fire mosquitoes, they arrived at their destination.
Outside the mushroom garden, the four of them stared in disbelief at the scene before them—a group of Puji had managed to claim a territory even in the deep layers!?
No, rather, how could there be Puji in the deep layers?
Indeed, the deeper layers had monsters of all levels, but that didn't include Puji, which had no chance of survival...
Not to mention, wouldn't the fire mosquitoes next door eat them like a buffet every day?
Gal opened his mouth, then murmured after a long pause, "If it's here, I think I understand why that young lady is still alive..."
"One is coming over."
A Puji walked toward them on its short legs.
Ivan finally remembered to use his scouting skill to investigate.
"It's LV1, as expected… Hmm? Skills? It has some…"
Someone reacted faster than him, and as the puffball approached, the night owl's figure vanished.
[Shadow Shuffle LV9]
As an experienced adventurer, he wouldn't be distracted by the seemingly harmless scene before him; he struck with full force.
In an instant, he appeared behind the puffy creature, swinging his black blade down—
Boom—
"Night Owl! Be careful…"
Ivan's warning came too late.
Fortunately, it was only a small explosion and did not really hurt the Night Owl.
However, she emerged from the smoke covered in dust and dirt, glaring at Ivan, almost ready to confront him.
"Haha... Sorry, it was too surprising, I got distracted..."
"I've never heard of walking mushrooms exploding before, and the others don't seem like ordinary walking mushrooms either."
Nova pointed to the few cannon mushrooms over there, skillfully changing the subject.
Ivan cast another scouting spell: "Those few can fire magic cannons, but the power isn't great, and they don't seem very aggressive?"
Indeed, his group had taken the initiative to kill one that had self-detonated, but the others still didn't react, neither attacking nor fleeing.
It was very strange.
"Should we eliminate them all?"
Night Owl asked, but her body was already preparing to move. She was still holding a grudge after losing face earlier.
However, she was held back by Nova beside her.
"Wait, the Duchess is still inside. Causing chaos could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Anyway, they're not a big threat and aren't attacking us. Let's just go in.
Stay alert at all times."
The last sentence was directed at the half-dragon, who needed to protect his companions in case of a sudden attack.
[Heal Wounds LV7]
[Shield Domain LV8]
[Group Defense Boost LV8]
The half-dragon cast several protective skills in succession.
"Alright, let's go in."
————
As soon as the group entered the passage leading to the fire mosquito nest, Lin Jun detected their presence through the mushrooms in the passage.
The Archmage Ivan did not notice Lin Jun secretly monitoring the entire mushroom garden, and their conversation was overheard word for word by Lin Jun.
However,
I can't understand it...
As expected, the language of the other world is indeed not Earth's language?
Communicating with Inanna through the fungal network was essentially a form of telepathic local area network, transmitting thoughts rather than language, so there was no language barrier.
Now that I've encountered someone who actually speaks the language of the other world, I really can't understand it...
Even though I can't understand it, I haven't seen any humans in all the years I've been here, and now I've encountered a group that is clearly targeting the mushroom garden.
Nine out of ten chances they're targeting Inanna.
I just don't know if they're here to kill her or save her.
Inanna has a [Tracking Mark] on her, which must have been placed by her duke father.
So this group is probably here to save her.
Even if they're not, Lin Jun doesn't have any good options right now.
It's not that he doesn't want to protect this little sidekick he picked up, but he only has 40 combat Puji and 100 logistics Puji at his disposal.
He's also checked out the four on the other side—the lowest is LV52, and the highest is LV58.
Each of them is higher in rank than the Earthworm, and their stats show a bunch of well-coordinated high-level skills.
Even if he were to deploy his strongest Puji as a trump card, he would have no chance of winning.
As for escaping?
They've already pinpointed her location and come looking for her—where could he take her to escape?
Looking at the pink Puji still practicing magic in the garden, Lin Jun felt he should remind her.
"Inanna."
"What's up, boss?"
"Your family sent someone to pick you up. Probably…"
"My family? Probably?"
"Or maybe they're here to kill you…"
"…"
(End of chapter)