Within the cave, before the three companions, a puffshroom leaped out from the fissure, landing domineeringly atop the broken straw body of a scarecrow and casting an imperious gaze around its surroundings.
Then it was immediately seized and killed by a scarecrow’s claw, its remains falling precisely at the edge of the spatial rift, where invisible spatial forces sliced it cleanly in two.
But this was merely the beginning.
The next second, several mushroom cannons tore through the air, firing intensely from across the fissure!
The scarecrow at the rift’s edge was instantly blown to smithereens, transforming into scattered straw fragments.
Immediately after, new puffshrooms leaped ceaselessly from the fissure, landing without hesitation and attacking the nearest scarecrows!
Dense mushroom cannon fire poured frantically within the cramped cave, the explosive shockwaves shaking the cave walls until they trembled, causing a continuous rain of falling stones.
Vera and her two companions pressed themselves against the cold rock walls, huddled in a corner as Phion struggled to maintain a thin protective barrier, barely managing to keep the chaotic energy currents at bay.
The scarecrows surrounding them numbered quite a few—nearly thirty in total.
And now, they were being overwhelmed by the puffshroom horde…
Puffshrooms competed to leap from across the fissure, and in the blink of an eye, their numbers had already exceeded a hundred!
The small cave became packed with white, round, rolling figures. Several puffshrooms were even pushed by their companions against Phion’s trembling barrier.
The scarecrows were quickly submerged in the ocean of puffshrooms and disappeared from sight.
After eliminating these scarecrows, the puffshrooms all rushed out in a collective surge.
“Vera… what do we… do now?” Phion’s voice carried obvious trembling. Continuous spellcasting and extreme tension had left her mentally exhausted, while the cold seeping from across the fissure made her voice shake even more.
“The puffshrooms aren’t attacking us—let’s get out while we can!”
In truth, rather than saying the puffshrooms weren’t attacking them, it would be more accurate to say the puffshrooms completely ignored the three humans, focusing all their attention on the magical beasts instead.
Philing also nodded vigorously, hope kindling in her eyes: “If only the puffshrooms could… completely eliminate all those creatures outside…”
However, when the three carefully stepped out of the cave, the scene before their eyes made them instantly hold their breath.
The entire fifth floor had been turned upside down!
As far as the eye could see, it was all battlefield.
Puffshrooms and scarecrows fought madly, the “pop-pop” sounds of mushroom cannon fire rising and falling continuously, intermittently mixed with the “rumbling” sounds of puffshroom self-destructions.
Not only that, but besides the scarecrows, they also saw many magical beasts that clearly didn’t belong to the Amethyst Dungeon.
One puffshroom was wielding sharp tentacle blades, engaging in close combat with a scarecrow. Not far away, a massive armored worm came crashing through, completely ignoring Vera’s trio who were close by. Its enormous body carried the momentum to crush everything in its path as it charged straight toward the puffshrooms and scarecrows locked in battle!
Relying on its own weight, it directly crushed both parties beneath itself, then the worm coiled and crouched in place, its massive mouthparts writhing as if chewing the prey it had just captured.
Occasional attacks from other scarecrows or puffshrooms struck its shell without causing any pain or damage.
The three also encountered a type of crawler covered in mucus that hissed and spat corrosive venom at them, but before they could engage in combat, the approach of several scarecrows forced the crawler to redirect its target and wrestle with these new threats.
The chaos wasn’t limited to the ground. Beneath the dome, under the fluorescent glow of mushrooms, countless bat-type puffshrooms were engaged in fierce aerial combat with a flock of large moths, with figures constantly falling and exploding on the spot, turning into fragments.
The fifth floor seemed to have become a mad battlefield for frenzied magical beasts!
In the midst of this extreme chaos, a swift black shadow suddenly burst through the smoke and dust, lunging straight at the three!
Philing, who had just finished nailing a poisonous lizard with an arrow, had no time to distinguish the threat and reflexively turned, drew her bow, and shot!
The arrow grazed past the black shadow and missed!
Vera instantly stepped forward, shielding the two girls behind her.
At the critical moment, a melodious voice spoke in somewhat stilted human language: “Wait! I’m not a magical beast! Three human friends, could you tell me… where exactly is this place?”
As the smoke cleared somewhat, the black shadow’s true form was revealed.
An exquisitely beautiful face marked with two green tattoos, slender and elegant pointed ears, and a pair of deep, bright emerald eyes that seemed to contain fragments of stars—
An elf!
“This, this is…” Philing obviously hadn’t grasped the key point of the question, repeating somewhat bewilderedly, “A dungeon…”
Phion immediately caught on, her voice clear and urgent as she added: “The Amethyst Dungeon! Fifth floor!”
“I see!” Understanding flashed in the elf’s eyes. “It’s that dungeon controlled by you humans!”
“This isn’t the time for talking! Let’s go!” Vera gripped her curved blade tightly, its edge warily pointed toward the direction where the battle still raged.
“I can’t return to where I came from—let me follow you!” As the elf spoke, her hands had already crossed swiftly before her chest, forming a strange hand seal.
Emerald magical light instantly flowed and gathered in her palms!
Not far away, at the feet of two scarecrows attempting to pounce, tough vines burst from the ground, instantly binding their straw bodies so tightly they couldn’t move.
A druid!
Vera glanced over and nodded: “Let’s go!”
Using the battlefield chaos as cover, the group finally managed to retreat to the stairway entrance with great difficulty.
As soon as they stepped onto the cold stone steps, a familiar figure came into view—it was the swordsman they had been separated from!
However, his teammates were nowhere to be seen, and the swordsman himself was severely injured and unconscious, collapsed on the steps with a pool of dark red blood spreading beneath him. A ghastly wound on his waist and abdomen continued to seep blood, and his face was pale as paper.
Beside him lay several scarecrow corpses—the safe zone seemed to be gradually failing.
Vera immediately reached for the healing potion at her waist, but was stopped by the elf.
Vera looked at her questioningly, only to see the elf had already crouched beside the swordsman. She extended her slender fingers, hovering them an inch above the wound. Her fingertips glowed with gentle, life-filled emerald light, stopping the continuously bleeding wound.
The swordsman’s tightly furrowed brows twitched slightly, and his heavy eyelids struggled to open a crack.
“Cough… cough…” He tried to prop himself up, but this aggravated his waist wound, and cold sweat instantly covered his pale forehead.
“Don’t move!” Vera immediately knelt halfway down, one hand steadily pressing his trembling shoulder, her voice filled with concern. “How do you feel?”
“…All gone… they’re… all finished in there…” The swordsman began coughing violently, bringing up traces of blood foam. His eyes looked defeated as he gazed toward the dark depths of the stairway. “I can’t get out either, don’t… don’t waste your magical power on me…”
“What defeatist talk!” Vera’s voice suddenly rose sharply. Without the slightest hesitation, she quickly retrieved a deep purple potion from the leather pouch at her waist and poured it down the swordsman’s throat under his astonished gaze.
“Ugh—!” The swordsman was caught off guard as the pungent, burning potion liquid seared his throat like lava, instantly flooding into his stomach.
An indescribable violent heat current exploded throughout his body. Blue veins bulged on his neck and temples, his originally pale complexion instantly flushed with an unnatural redness, and his pupils contracted violently.
“What is… this?!”
“‘Boiling Blood Potion’—it stimulates potential,” Vera watched the swordsman’s reaction intently. “It can temporarily get you back on your feet. After the effects wear off, there will be severe backlash, but it’s better than dying here!”
“Haha… cough… haha,” The swordsman stared at Vera for a long while, then suddenly began laughing while coughing. “So it’s ‘Good Guy Vera’… Do you know that when everyone’s drinking, they all say you’ll eventually fall because of your meddling?”
Feeling the strength returning to his body, the swordsman stood up with Vera’s support: “Vera… if… if I really can get out alive this time, this life… belongs to you! I owe you!”
“Then you’d better work hard to stay alive, or I’ll have made a loss.” Vera smiled.
Philing and Phion had long been accustomed to Vera’s way of handling things and weren’t surprised.
However, the elf’s gaze lingered long on Vera’s back, her eyes stirring with unknown thoughts.
With a severely wounded member added to the team, their progress inevitably slowed.
Fortunately, the situation on the upper floors was much better than the magical beast battlefield of the fifth floor.
The scattered magical beast attacks they encountered along the way were also resolved without major incident thanks to the powerful natural magic assistance of this druid elf.
When they finally saw daylight again, they were greeted by the guards’ incredulous exclamations.
“Hell! At a time like this, there are still people who can come out alive?!” One guard suddenly snapped back to his senses and shouted hoarsely at his companion, “Quick! Stretcher! We have a severely wounded person here! Move fast!”
And the group that had finally returned to town saw people in the midst of a collective evacuation…
