What was the greatest failure in Lin Jun’s career?
It wasn’t being chased around for dinner by slimes when he first arrived—that was just how the newbie period went.
It wasn’t nearly being killed by three Gold-rank humans either—aside from taking an arrow, Lin Jun suffered no real losses in that encounter.
The greatest failure was the earthworm hunt!
He’d consumed all the resources generated by the fire mosquitoes, burst out an over-limit army of 400 puffshrooms, and even threw in the massive stockpile of magic crystals he’d accumulated over two years.
The result? He gained absolutely nothing. Not only that, but only a precious few of the puffshrooms that went on the expedition escaped back alive, and even his great general Inanna nearly fell in the process.
Recovery seemed impossibly distant, directly leading to Lin Jun’s decision to risk relocating.
What a twist of fate—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Lin Jun’s current success was all thanks to those two earthworms.
Lin Jun had never forgotten that humiliation for even a moment.
Yet the Deep Layers were so vast that he’d assumed their next encounter would have to wait until after he’d gained control of a core and could actively search them out with great effort.
He never expected this! Never expected it!
Was it because your activity zone was nearby all along? Or was it because you sensed the aura of the puffshrooms that once dealt you such massive trauma, and deliberately showed yourself?
Whether intentional or coincidental, it didn’t matter.
Today, he absolutely would not let it escape!
“Little Pig, coordinate with me to kill this earthworm with everything we’ve got!”
“Boss?” Louisa had never heard such excitement in her boss’s voice, but she still raised an objection. “But most of this batch of puffshrooms are melee fighters!”
That was indeed the case—cannon puffshrooms made up only a small portion.
But there were still several hundred of them. Could it really be worse than last time?
“Everything! Louisa! Kill this earthworm and I’ll let you drink your fill! I’ll even reward you with equipment! But if you let it escape… you can expect to spend your nights plucking mushrooms off your body!”
This time she wasn’t called Little Pig, but Louisa was even more frightened.
The boss clearly wasn’t joking!
Not daring to hold back, blood rapidly gathered in her hands. Even the blood she’d just drained from the fat cave dweller and preserved as provisions—she brought all of it out for battle.
The puffshrooms’ cannons unleashed their firepower without reservation. Even the melee puffshrooms, despite being unable to deal much damage, crowded nearby to draw the earthworm’s attention.
Simultaneously, countless streams of magic power flowed through the mycelial carpet into this cavern.
Naturally, Lin Jun wouldn’t rely entirely on Louisa.
[Puffshroom Creation LV8]
Under the catalysis of magic power spent without regard for cost, puffshrooms were rapidly produced.
And the first puffshroom to drop was a magic puffshroom!
The magic puffshroom’s mycelial tendrils connected to the carpet, and a magic crystal scavenged from the cave dweller warehouse was placed upon its cap.
Lin Jun took direct control and began casting magic—Swamp Technique!
As a first-tier spell, Swamp Technique wasn’t difficult to learn, and how could Lin Jun possibly not learn this magic that had left such a deep impression on him!
Though he wasn’t particularly skilled, though his casting time was even longer than Inanna’s, Lin Jun still managed to release the spell!
The earthworm, which had been swiftly shuttling between the puffshrooms, suddenly staggered. This familiar sensation gave it an ominous premonition.
And this was just the beginning.
The magic puffshroom was connected to the mycelial carpet, completely unconcerned about magic power consumption. Lin Jun simply cast Swamp Technique over and over again, turning to mud all the ground the earthworm touched.
New puffshrooms continued falling onto the carpet.
Aside from the first magic puffshroom, all the others were cannon puffshrooms.
Occasionally, a few bat puffshrooms would be generated to fly over and self-destruct.
Louisa also gave it her all. When the earthworm was shuttling back and forth at high speed initially, she’d been somewhat at a loss for where to strike.
Now that the earthworm’s movement was restricted, she decisively condensed her blood into an axe shape and hacked repeatedly at the same section of shell, seemingly trying to cut the earthworm in half.
The earthworm’s counterattack came in the form of its massive swaying body. With just one twist, it sent Louisa crashing into the rock wall.
But relying on her high recovery ability, Louisa would always charge back quickly, even directly draining the earthworm’s blood during the intervals.
The entire battle could hardly be called elegant—it even gave off a primitive, savage feeling.
You could tell they were truly going all out.
However, asking a vampire to clash head-on with an equal-level, super-large earthworm was still asking too much of Louisa. After being slapped into the wall yet again, she couldn’t emerge as quickly as before.
Lin Jun spared a glance at her status panel—one-third health remaining.
She definitely still had strength left, but she’d fought hard enough. Lin Jun didn’t hold it against her.
Louisa had successfully opened a large gash on the earthworm’s body, and under Lin Jun’s control, the puffshrooms focused their fire on the area around the wound as much as possible.
The earthworm had lost its initial arrogance of drilling back and forth to crush puffshrooms, and was desperately trying to burrow back underground.
Now it finally remembered—last time, it had been just as pathetic.
If not for that other earthworm…
So would the other earthworm come this time?
Lin Jun speculated while attacking with everything he had.
The ground beneath the puffshrooms’ feet kept trembling, but this was caused by this earthworm’s constant impacts, not the vibrations of another earthworm digging.
More than ten bat puffshrooms burrowed into the earthworm’s wound, which had expanded several times over, followed by another series of explosions.
The earthworm’s body was directly blown apart, flesh separating from flesh, held together only by its rocky shell connecting the two halves of its body.
Looking at the worm collapsed on the ground, Lin Jun didn’t hesitate and continued controlling the puffshrooms to finish it off.
Only when its health bar reached zero and its status panel disappeared did Lin Jun stop attacking.
This time, the earthworm’s hero didn’t come!
…
He stopped the puffshrooms that were still continuously being produced. Even with Lin Jun’s abundant magic power, this bout had consumed more than half of his stored magic.
As for the expedition force?
More than half had died and a few had been replenished—the numbers were much reduced. The plan to return to the front lines would have to be delayed by several days.
The puffshrooms dug Louisa out. Though judging from her status panel, she could have gotten out on her own.
“My strength was insufficient. I’ve failed to live up to boss’s expectations,” Louisa said weakly.
“Not at all, Little Pig, you did very well. Rest well, and as promised before, blood aplenty! I’ll also reward you with equipment!”
“Boss!”
“Little Pig!”
Though Louisa had slacked off a bit, she’d still made contributions.
Having just slain the earthworm, Lin Jun was in excellent spirits and didn’t mind playing along with this scene of harmonious ruler and subject.
He had the puffshrooms carefully carry Louisa away to rest, and sent the two captured minotaurs over to her as well.
Now that he had cave dwellers, Lin Jun was too lazy to waste effort on these single-minded fools anymore.
…
The magic puffshroom stepped onto the motionless earthworm corpse.
Lin Jun savored the fragrance called victory, letting it permeate every strand of mycelium.
This taste was far more intoxicating than conquering ten caverns.
The ugly worm corpse beneath his feet marked his break with the past—that weak mushroom who lived day to day, struggling to survive in the shadows, had been completely crushed.
The current Lin Jun could not only grasp his own destiny, but his every move could even influence the fates of others, whether earthworms, cave dwellers, or Louisa…
If there was any regret, it was that his greatest fear from the past—the Flame Demon—had been killed by adventurers.
If he could have personally finished off that monster that had terrorized Lin Jun for two years… just imagining that sweet scene was enough to make his soul tremble with excitement!
What a pity…
Even in his intoxication, Lin Jun didn’t forget to collect the spoils of war.
The puffshrooms scattered spores, mycelium covering the worm corpse, slowly decomposing everything except the rocky armor.
Lin Jun didn’t accelerate this process, instead slowly enjoying this harvest.
Several days later.
[Greed of the Seven Sins Triggered]
[Plundered Skill: Rock Devouring LV5→LV7]
[Plundered Skill: High Temperature Resistance LV7→LV8]
…
…
…
[Plundered Skill: High Temperature Drilling LV1]
Justice.