There’s actually such a huge ruin under my own territory?!
Most of this city sealed away by time was still structurally intact. The rest was scattered in the surrounding rock layers like the scattered cavities they had dug up before.
Uncovering a ruin… should count as a good thing, right?
Lin Jun wasn’t sure.
After all, the rescued dwarves said there was ancient war-golem technology inside, which reminded Lin Jun of the two war golems guarding outside his dungeon core area.
As exploration of the crystal stele neared its end, Lin Jun’s control over those two golems had increased significantly.
At least now he could set friend-foe identification when they activated.
He had also found a special mode that turned their whole-body crystals from purple to red.
Suspected berserk state.
The reason it was only suspected was that there was no safe way to test their combat power.
The last time he accidentally triggered it, even doing nothing afterward, tiny cracks appeared on the crystals when they reverted. Clearly not something to use casually.
The golems in the ruin looked very different from the dungeon’s two, but the technology inside still made the mushroom excited.
However, exploring the ruin wasn’t easy. The biggest problem was that Frenzied Spirit.
Back when he fished two Frenzied Spirits from the abyss, one turned into a storm elemental lord on the spot, the other fell into the north and apparently became a frost elemental lord.
The storm elemental lord had only rampaged along one path without lingering, yet caused elemental chaos on that route for nearly three months.
The one in the north seemed to have never moved its butt after landing.
According to the yellow-skinned book, the ruin’s environment was already very close to being fully converted.
By the time that happened, even if the elemental lord was killed, the regional elemental chaos wouldn’t naturally recover over time. Unless he was willing to hire a huge bunch of water mages to painstakingly comb it back.
At a corner of the ruin, in a newly built temporary camp, Louisa was arranging rotations for her soldiers.
The sounds of battle outside never stopped.
Not long after Norris rescued the three missing workers, Louisa had rushed over with a Puchi master army and established this camp.
Frost Spirits weren’t particularly hard to deal with. Even when flying ones that could shoot ice crystals appeared later, they posed no real threat to the fortress army—just cost some Puchis at most.
But the inability to permanently kill them was endlessly annoying.
Louisa had tried trapping them, but after being confined for a while, Frost Spirits would abandon their shells, return to their inviolable primal state, then reform elsewhere.
[Stop wasting effort, stupid troll]
[The only way to truly deal with elementals is the environment]
[Either restore this area’s elemental balance or drain the entire ruin’s mana—you can do neither]
Louisa ignored the yellow-skinned book advisor’s sarcasm and directly requested from Lin Jun:
“Boss, we just need to take out the elemental lord.”
“Please let me mobilize the entire fortress army. It’ll be enough to suppress these endlessly regenerating Frost Spirits and push straight to the elemental lord to finish it!”
Louisa’s finger pointed at the massive spiral building in the distance—the source of the elemental chaos.
Torin’s group had been lucky to fall on the edge, where only weaker Frost Spirits roamed, giving them time to be rescued.
The current situation: the elemental lord had to be dealt with!
The temperature drop hadn’t brought disaster to the fortress; it had actually helped the Northern Alliance absorb nearby tribes.
But though the fortress looked thriving, the current north had long become a life-forbidden zone.
Over ninety percent of the already scarce wild monsters had frozen to death. Tribes that hadn’t joined the fortress migrated to the northern edge, fighting other migrating tribes for survival rights.
The fortress’s prosperity was built on fungal carpet mushrooms, Puchi heating, and universal [Cold Resistance LV10].
And most critically—the temperature drop hadn’t stopped.
Though much slower than at first, temperatures were still slowly falling. No one knew where the limit was.
Little Pig’s plan was simple.
No pointless attrition with these Frost Spirits—just one big push straight to the dragon’s lair.
Solve the elemental lord quickly, and afterward they could either let it recover naturally or send mages to actively fix it at leisure.
However…
Lin Jun recalled that storm elemental lord.
Though his controlled Puchi got lightning-zapped before even seeing what it looked like, combined intelligence reports still painted its rough strength.
Panel showed only seventies lord-tier, but actual combat performance far exceeded ordinary dukes on both sides.
Lin Jun wasn’t sure if this frost elemental lord would be weaker or stronger, but if compared to the storm lord’s standard…
Victory was possible, but losses would probably be heavy.
After solving the elemental lord, the climate would gradually warm.
With no more obstruction, the Empire would soon notice the north’s changes.
Though the fortress’s current strength was not to be underestimated, if the Northern Alliance was seen as a continental power, they were clearly the weakest.
Thus every bit of strength was precious; waste nothing if possible.
Time to bring out Pink Puchi…
…
Saint-Clair Ducal Mansion.
The kingdom was pouring all effort into rebuilding the army and new defense lines.
Alama was fully in charge of fortifications, while new soldier training and Puchi legion reorganization fell to Inanna’s former adjutant Warren.
War heroine Inanna herself had become idle again and returned to the ducal mansion.
Inanna herself had no desire for power and now had two numbered Puchis with her, so she had no complaints.
No. 10 was quiet and low-key, staying unnoticeably among the Puchi crowd unless needed, earnestly protecting Pink Puchi.
But some mushrooms were unhappy.
No. 4 was very unhappy.
After being beaten senseless by Wrath last time, reborn No. 4 had reverted to cannon-fodder Puchi.
Having tasted power…
Though it kept getting beaten, it really had been strong…
The gap between that power and its current cannon-fodder body was too huge.
More importantly, the ducal mansion was boring!
It was constantly borrowed by that stern-faced human butler for all kinds of magical instrument prodding.
Rude non-mushroom…
Such an unglorious life!
It began to miss the days fighting the black devil…
Just then, the Fungus Lord’s new decree shone like dawn, re-illuminating its gloomy mushroom life!
“Yay!”
No. 4 excitedly yanked No. 10 from the Puchi pile and bounced around. The latter looked utterly disgusted at being dragged.
Meanwhile.
Inanna, mouth stuffed with “experience potions,” asked Lin Jun through the mycelial network, “Boss, I inexplicably gained two levels recently. Is it because of this water you’re feeding me?”
“Shh—! Don’t tell anyone else. If they ask, make up an excuse! Good stuff is for us insiders to share quietly!”
“Boss, you’re the best!” Inanna happily squinted.
“Right, Little Pink, there’s something in the dungeon that needs your help… might be a bit dangerous…”
“I’ll help! I’ll help!” The girl eagerly raised her hand, letting tentacles ruffle her hair as she giggled idiotically in the sunlit room.
Eric, vaguely hearing sounds from the young lady’s room, looked over with worry—Miss’s mushroom obsession was getting worse…
(End of Chapter)
