Chapter 16: Heroes
Pairs of green eyes stared at Lin Jun.
Thirteen werewolves, with the lowest at LV26 (minors) and the highest at LV42.
This group of idiots looked like they were going to take out their frustration on him for letting their prey escape.
Most of these dogs had the skill [Acceleration], so turning and running was unlikely to work.
Fortunately, Lin Jun hadn't planned to run anyway.
Super Puchi, Transform!
Shrunk into a ball.
[Rolling Charge LV5]
This was a byproduct of obtaining the [Chitin Shell] skill, extracted day after day from the rolling beetle, and eventually reached LV5 before the shell did.
This skill, which had little presence in the mushroom garden, finally had its moment in the spotlight.
Lin Jun rolled directly toward the entrance of the nine-story staircase.
The 40 Puji behind her weren't idle either, firing mushroom cannons at the front in a barrage of attacks.
The dogs were agile, and such linear attacks were easily dodged. Only one unlucky one was hit by a cannonball, shattering one of its paws.
However, Lin Jun had achieved his goal; the mushroom cannons had successfully cleared a path.
A stubborn gray-haired werewolf used all four limbs to charge in despite the炮火 and attacked Lin Jun with a claw strike.
[Dodge LV6]
The Puchi Ball made a small jump, landing precisely on the dog's face, then continued over him and into the stairwell.
Safe on base!
The wolfman, struck by the cannonball, fell hard to the ground. Before he could get up, he was hit by seven or eight mushroom cannons at once, turning into a pile of flesh.
They successfully cleared the stage, but unfortunately, only this super Puchi could do so.
None of the Puchis still on the battlefield had equipped Rolling Charge.
Seeing that Lin Jun had entered the passage, the werewolves all targeted the remaining Puchis.
As it turned out, a direct confrontation between 40 Puji and 12 werewolves was no match for the werewolves.
After only injuring three werewolves, the Puji were completely wiped out.
To say that Lin Jun felt sorry would be an exaggeration.
These Puji were brought along to protect his true form, and if necessary, even used as bait.
He just didn't expect them to be completely wiped out after only completing the first level.
He hoped that the rest of the journey wouldn't be so unlucky...
————
Without the Puji to follow, Lin Jun's fungal network could no longer provide him with vision.
He could only rely on his "airflow perception" and "magic perception" to observe his surroundings.
This made things much more inconvenient.
The ninth floor was the most disgusting place Lin Jun had ever seen.
It was filled with flesh tumors, and the monsters were all blood-soaked creatures resembling failed genetic engineering experiments.
Fortunately, as a mushroom, he had no sense of smell, but just looking at it was enough to guess what it might smell like.
However, the journey through the ninth layer went relatively smoothly.
After resting for a while, the adventurers successfully reached the eighth layer.
However, when Lin Jun tried to go up, a small accident occurred.
[Native monster level exceeded limit, access denied]
The panel that popped up startled Lin Jun, and worse still—an air wall appeared!
There was nothing there, but the closer he got to the stairs leading to the eighth floor, the greater the pressure ahead, as if it were about to crush him.
Is this the "rule" of the labyrinth?
Native monsters—does that mean I'm also considered a member of the labyrinth's family?
Unfortunately, this family isn't very warm.
No!
I still want to see the sun one more time!
How could there be such a pitiful reincarnated being like me?
[Hero, restrictions lifted]
Hm?
He was about to try forcing his way down with a rolling charge, but the air wall that had been squeezing him suddenly vanished.
What is this?
A hero's privilege?
He took two more steps forward, and the resistance had indeed disappeared.
What kind of outdated program is this, with such a long interval between two judgments?
It startled him.
He thought he'd have to stay in the dungeon forever, playing a game of "you eat me, I eat you" with the monsters.
Thankfully, it was a false alarm.
But why can't he sense Inanna's location anymore?
— — — — —
On the eighth floor, Lin Jun stared at the four magic arrays on the ground, frozen in place.
Unlike the lower two floors, the eighth floor actually had artificial building materials like stone bricks, as if he had entered some ancient structure.
But the problem was that besides the four magic arrays on the ground, there were no paths at all!
Could these be teleportation magic arrays?
If so, that would explain why she couldn't sense Inanna anymore.
So what should she do now?
Which one should she choose?
Of course—
None of them!
How could he risk using his true form to step on these magic circles that were clearly full of traps?
Although it was disgusting, he would temporarily settle on the ninth floor, grow some puji, and use [Familiar Control] to scout the area.
As Lin Jun was thinking this and preparing to return, he sensed a magical fluctuation behind him.
The second magic array on the left lit up.
Three humans emerged from the magic array.
...
[Single Slash]
[Wind Blade Technique]
[Precision Shooting]
Damn it!
After a moment of shock, the three adventurers decisively launched their attack on the monster before them.
At the same time, they were chattering loudly in a language Lin Jun couldn't understand.
Dodge! Dodge! Dodge!
Lin Jun dodged while trying to fight back with his mushroom cannon. He wasn't the type to take an attack without retaliating!
But even if he could fight back, it was another matter whether he could win.
All three adventurers were above level 40 and clearly coordinated their attacks...
Lin Jun tried to retreat to the lower level, but was blocked by an ice wall.
He could break the ice wall, but the adventurers' relentless attacks left him exhausted.
[Skill Upgrade: Dodge LV6 → LV7]
Dodging skills until evasion upgrades—it's possible, but unfortunately, it doesn't help much in the current situation.
The mushroom cannons fired in retaliation were either dodged or blocked.
The digestive mucus was blown away by the gale.
The hallucinogenic spores were released, but the three of them immediately drank the antidote.
Though not as formidable as the diamond-tier group that took Inanna, those who made it to the ninth layer certainly weren't pushovers either.
All three of his signature moves were instantly countered!
Lin Jun was self-aware; even his so-called strongest move would be considered weak at the 40-plus level.
Let alone taking on three professional adventurers of the same level.
But he didn't expect that he wouldn't even be able to escape!
No, he could still escape!
Lin Jun curled up into a ball, dodged the warrior in front of him, and charged toward the archers in the back row.
The mage on the side cast a spell to block him from the archers.
Now was his chance. Taking advantage of the spell's casting interval, Lin Jun made a sharp turn and plunged into the magic array on the right.
As the light from the magic array gradually rose, the surrounding scene changed, and Lin Jun appeared in another place.
Again!
Escaped danger!
If only that arrow hadn't hit...
The warrior couldn't catch up, and the mage was casting spells, but the archer's arrow finally caught up with Lin Jun.
An iron arrow pierced the strongest Puji's buttocks.
With just that one hit, Puji's health dropped by half. Fortunately, Lin Jun's main body was not in the buttocks, so she was not affected.
Would those adventurers follow her?
They hadn't appeared yet, so they probably wouldn't come.
That makes sense. After teleporting here, there was no corresponding magic array beneath him, clearly indicating it was a one-way teleportation array.
It's likely that those adventurers, whether they knew it was a one-way teleportation array or not, wouldn't dare to step into it carelessly.
Phew, they almost got the achievement of killing the hero.
So, what should we do now?
Looking at the labyrinthine stone corridors before him, Lin Jun fell into deep thought.
(End of this chapter)