Louisa stood wielding her crimson greatsword, towering in the central waters of the battlefield, surrounded by water currents and magical radiance not yet fully settled.
Below, Ironjaw’s broken corpse—headless and missing an arm—had already sunk to the bottom, leaving only a few wisps of undispersed dark green venom intertwined with bright red blood.
Though Boss was watching her, current matters still needed completing.
She kept her expression stern and extended a hand, grasping at empty space!
Blood accelerated flowing from Ironjaw’s corpse, all gathering in Louisa’s palm to form a blood sphere.
At this moment, the mycelial network filled with soldiers’ cheers.
“Marshal is invincible!”
“Did you see that blood armor? Even a space rift couldn’t tear it!”
“Marshal is undefeated in battle!”
However, in the eyes of the remaining snakefolk mercenaries, what they witnessed was another chilling scene.
Their company leader was killed by a vampire female commander like a demon god. Even his blood became the opponent’s weapon.
And those surrounding half-demon soldiers, each baring fangs in grins yet utterly silent.
This silence shattered what little courage the snakefolk had remaining.
Their leader—the strongest hall-level leader among them—was brutally slaughtered with crushing superiority by the serious vampire in single combat, without even room to struggle.
Even his final trump card only trapped the opponent briefly.
The strength gap was desperately wide.
Their backbone had become a headless corpse on the seabed.
Resist? Honor? They were just mercenaries.
When the first snakeman let his weapon slip from trembling claws, other snakefolk finally reacted and successively lowered their weapons. They hung their heads or averted their gazes, not daring to meet those enemies’ eyes again.
Not that there was no resistance—a few snakefolk’s eyes burned with fury and unwillingness. Not only didn’t they lower weapons, they gripped them tighter.
However, before these few snakefolk could charge out, they were held down first by nearby companions.
Louisa waved her hand. Dealing with prisoners was left to subordinates.
Soon, Puchis’ tentacles wound around them.
The snakefolk curled up, only able to place survival hopes on enemy mercy.
Fortunately, Lin Jun was indeed a merciful mushroom—they’d know this later.
Louisa withdrew back into the military formation. With a thought, the A-grade magic crystals embedded in the armor dimmed in sequence.
As magic supply ceased, the blood-colored crystal armor covering her body cracked and fell away. Those soft barbs spreading throughout her body also slowly retracted amid Little Pig’s low moans, returning to their original short, hard appearance.
Then came a series of subtle cracking sounds.
Without even touching them, those already crack-filled magic crystals transformed into crystal powder and scattered into surrounding currents, disappearing without trace.
The magic crystal armor could release such might because its principle was forcing magic crystals to operate beyond capacity, gathering far more magic power than normal to strengthen both armor and wearer.
The principle was similar to Lin Jun’s initial use of magic crystal self-destruction, but the technical sophistication was worlds apart.
The battle with Ironjaw wasn’t particularly long. This set of A-grade magic crystals was far from usage limits.
But the magic crystal armor had no concept of “use half this time, continue with the rest next time.”
Once magic crystals were activated to overload state, even stopping midway, just the startup and shutdown phases were enough to completely destroy the crystals.
Though all A-grade magic crystals, converted, it approximately equaled consuming one S-grade magic crystal capable of housing a knight Puchi.
Truly a luxurious expenditure.
As for all S-grade magic crystals?
Could afford it by emptying coffers, but reluctant to.
On the other side, Tanaka wasn’t having it easy either.
…
In a small passage—
White light flashed. The mushroomkin youth before him froze, expression vacant. Tanaka seized the chance to turn and flee with all his might.
But before running far, Ming shook his head and his eyes refocused.
Though he’d completely forgotten why he was here, Norris-senpai’s repeated commands through the mycelial network were crystal clear: Catch that fleeing human!
Obedience was almost an instinct engraved in Ming’s body.
Boss always praised him as “the most obedient good child.”
In his understanding, when Boss wasn’t present, he should follow Norris-senpai’s instructions.
Just as fingertips nearly touched the other’s hem, Tanaka turned and delivered another [Memory Erasure].
Ming’s form paused, falling into brief blankness again.
Not that Tanaka was kind-hearted, unable to bear attacking the youthful-appearing Ming, but rather…
“Damned physical immunity! Does this world follow any logic? What kind of monsters are these!”
Forget killing—he couldn’t even knock the opponent out.
Could only utilize flash-deletion of recent memories when about to be caught.
Tanaka could also delete long-term memories, even specific event memories, but those required more precise operation unsuitable for combat.
In this chase, Tanaka stumbled out of the small passage.
Then he encountered the over-four-meter-tall super Puchi.
Ming couldn’t handle this human—something figured out not long after their encounter. But Norris still had Ming keep chasing to use Ming to locate Tanaka’s approximate position.
The super Puchi couldn’t enter small passages but could block exits!
“This… what is this now?”
Tanaka tried memory erasure on the super Puchi.
White light flashed. The super Puchi showed no reaction.
Norris only “saw” Tanaka raise a finger at him, didn’t even know about any white light.
Norris in the super Puchi perceived the outside through co-sensing with head reconnaissance Puchis, and Puchis didn’t observe the world through eyes.
Looking at this super Puchi covered head-to-toe in panels, Tanaka realized trouble and turned to flee.
[Gravity Field]
Tanaka’s foot slipped and he fell.
Next second, a sharp-tipped tentacle pierced through his right leg, then wound tightly.
Tanaka immediately collapsed to the ground, dragged backward bit by bit by that tentacle.
No matter how he struggled, completely powerless to break free.
And Ming then barely caught up from the small passage—no hope left.
Clap!
On Kiro’s fox face, fur on one side of his mouth was noticeably sparse, yet he remained unaware.
“I’ve passed through this corridor. Where next?” Tanaka’s inquiry came from beside him.
Kiro fell silent.
The opposition’s perception range was shockingly vast. Previous attempts guiding Tanaka to change exit positions were quickly detected and intercepted.
Clearly not far from the core area, yet always failing at the last moment.
He didn’t have infinite chances. Each short simulation caused real-world time to synchronously flow forward a bit.
If unable to find a way out in time, he’d ultimately face a dead-end predicament with no choices.
Time quietly passed. With each clap, accumulated fox fur on the floor grew.
When fallen silver-white fluff nearly buried his boot tops, bloodshot-eyed Kiro finally grasped that fleeting sole possibility.
Under his guidance, Tanaka circumnavigated an extremely large arc-shaped path.
This time, he finally reached the core area before being intercepted.
[Hero, Restriction Lifted]
Similar to Puchi Dungeon, this core also had powerful guardians.
However, the water elemental lord that should have guarded here was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a massive restraining magic circle sunk on the seabed.
No obstacles. Tanaka swept past the core, pressing a long-prepared item against the central seal.
Crack!
A small break appeared in the seal and kept expanding.
However next moment, a tentacle flashed before Tanaka’s eyes.
His right hand gripping the item, along with half the forearm, disappeared from view.
Lin Jun controlled the knight Puchi, using tentacles to roll up that severed hand and examine the strange plate-like object in it, heart filled with shock and uncertainty.
To show loyalty, the yellow book had long disclosed many of the Demon King’s secrets.
Six seals—it told Lin Jun five. The remaining one it also didn’t know.
Lin Jun originally felt this matter had little to do with him. Given current circumstances, besides the yellow book, beings truly capable of unsealing seemed not to want the Demon King released.
Never expected someone would actually be trying to release the Demon King!
And moreover…
Lin Jun looked at this guy he’d met once at the archipelago.
You’re supposed to be a hero, damn it!
Going to such lengths to release the Demon King—is your brain broken?
Has this script gone wrong somewhere?
Could it be that kind of… release then defeat to return home setting?
But he’d never heard heroes could return home!
Right now, Lin Jun’s heart was full of questions.
And this Tanaka too—able to utilize secret passages with good luck, appearing at the timing closest to the center yet furthest from the knight Puchi.
Otherwise given their speed comparison, Lin Jun absolutely wouldn’t have let him touch the seal.
Regardless, Lin Jun couldn’t possibly agree to an over-spec existence like the Demon King emerging.
The seal was slightly damaged but still barely functioning.
The knight tentacle extended, instantly wrapping around the powerless Tanaka.
Fellow hero—Lin Jun originally didn’t plan early contact, but this guy had provoked trouble right on his mushroom cap. No reason to let him go!
Parasitize, interrogate, then depending on circumstances either kill or recruit.
[Memory Erasure] skill looked quite useful…
Just as Lin Jun thought this, Tanaka’s figure blurred and disappeared!
Leaving only a few magic items slowly sinking in the water.
Hm?
What ability was this? Space teleportation? Illusory substitute?
“Little Pig!” Lin Jun immediately transmitted through the mycelial network. “Lead troops out of the dungeon immediately! Find the ship those snakefolk came on!”
Boss’s slightly angry command meant Louisa didn’t dare delay a moment. She led the team straight out of Tidal Sanctuary.
Just leaving the relatively stable sanctuary area, violent magical turbulence and regathered mist monsters swept in. The force suffered first casualties during rapid advance.
Louisa paid no heed. She was first to break the sea surface.
However on the vast ocean, besides endless mist in the distance, there was nothing.
(End of Chapter)
