Facing the fire mosquitoes flying toward them, Lin was not panicked at all.After all, he had been neighbors with these creatures for quite some time.
He waited until they entered a range of fifty meters. Only then did several Slime Puji suddenly splurt digestive slime, drenching the unsuspecting fire mosquitoes and knocking them straight down.
The fire mosquitoes that fell to the ground struggled, trying to shake off the slime and take flight again. However, as the Hallucinogenic Puji released its mist and enveloped them, the insects completely lost the ability to resist and were smashed to death one by one by the Puji's hard shells.
But it wasn't over yet.
Even more fire mosquitoes swarmed in, and at the entrance of the tunnel, Lin Li and the fire mosquitoes began a frenzied, meat-grinder-like battle.
Facing enemies several times their number, even though the hallucinogenic spores sealed off the lower space and limited the attack directions of the fire mosquitoes, Lin Li still couldn't rely on slime alone to intercept all of them.
From time to time, some fire mosquitoes broke through the defensive net, thrusting their mosquito-like proboscises downward and piercing a Puji, only to be paralyzed moments later by the hallucinogenic spores on the ground.
"Ice Blade! Ice Blade! Water Serpent Spell!"
There was good news from Inanna's side as well—she had finally killed several fire mosquitoes!
With fire mosquitoes filling the sky, even casting spells with her eyes closed would still hit something. In this kind of situation, the evasion skills of the fire mosquitoes were practically useless.
It was her first time killing magical beasts through spellcasting in a real battle. The excitement made her laugh out loud. Compared to this, the hunting operations she had participated in before could hardly be called combat at all.
However, that excitement didn't last long.
A fire mosquito that broke through the firepower net—whoosh!—pinned one of the turret Puji beside Inanna to the ground, frightening her so much that she shuddered instantly.
If that mosquito had gone for me just now…
"Lin Li! What do we do now?! So many Puji have died!!"
"Only a dozen or so died. What's that supposed to mean?"
Deep in the mushroom garden, a certain core consciousness sighed inwardly at the poor psychological resilience of new recruits.
Still, Lin Jun gave his suggestion:
"Stop using attack magic all the time. Use Light Spell."
"Light Spell?"
What could that possibly be used for?
Inanna couldn't figure it out, but remembering that she had promised to follow orders, she cast Light Spell anyway. The mana cost was low, after all.
To her surprise, the moment the Light Spell appeared, chaos immediately erupted among the fire mosquitoes.
The front-line fire mosquitoes began flying around like headless flies. Some crashed into other mosquitoes behind them, while others simply dove straight into the hallucinogenic mist below.
Inanna was stunned by the sight.
"It actually works!" Lin Li was shocked as well.
"Eh? You didn't know it would work?" Inanna asked.
"I just didn't expect the effect to be this good… It's about to fade—keep casting!"
"Okay!"
The deep underground regions were shrouded in darkness all year round, with little to no light. Seeing that these fire mosquitoes had eyes, Lin Jun figured he might as well try a flashbang-style tactic. He just hadn't expected the results to be so outstanding.
At moments like this, the advantage of mushrooms not relying on vision to perceive the world truly shone through.
With the support of Light Spell, the fire mosquitoes—already outmatched—became even weaker, falling down in large groups.
When their numbers could no longer completely block the tunnel entrance, these almost brainless monsters finally seemed to remember the feeling of fear and fled, disappearing into other tunnels.
What remained was an empty fire mosquito cavern and a high-temperature pool filled with larvae.
"Finally… it's over."
Inanna plopped down onto the ground.
Even though they had the upper hand the entire time, she had consecutively cast several attack spells and then more than twenty Light Spells in one go. She felt completely exhausted, with barely any mana left.
Her body was tired, but having personally taken part in such a large-scale battle for the first time, Inanna was still riding a wave of excitement.
"Lin Jun, what do we do next?"
"Next? Next, of course, we collect the loot!"
The twenty Beast-of-Burden Puji that had stayed at the back and not participated in the fight finally began their work—using their tentacles to pack the fire mosquito corpses into their bodies.
The quantity was roughly as estimated. Two trips would be enough for the Beast-of-Burden Puji. By the time Lin finished decomposing these fire mosquitoes, his high-temperature resistance should level up again.
As for this fire mosquito cavern, Lin Jun had no intention of expanding the mushroom garden into this area.
There were simply too many connected tunnels here, extending in all directions—impossible to defend properly.
The mushroom garden was territory Lin Jun had carefully selected. It had only one side with four tunnels, making it especially suitable for laying low and developing.
As for the pale fire mosquito larvae in the pool, Lin Jun ordered the turret Puji to expend all their remaining mana firing into the water. Soon, the larvae turned into fragments floating on the surface.
"So… this is the loot?"
Looking at the transported mosquito corpses, Inanna felt there was a tiny difference between this and what she had imagined.
"What else did you expect, Duchess? When you hunt magical beasts, what kind of loot were you hoping for?"
"Don't tell me you thought splitting open their bellies would make swords and gold coins pop out…"
"Wait—maybe not. There might actually be something good in that pool."
"The pool?"
The pool, still filled with minced flesh, continued to emit white steam. But what exactly was heating it?
Underground magma?
Unlikely. The habitats of flame demons were far from here, and the surrounding environment wasn't hot at all.
Lin Jun felt it was far more likely that something inside the pool was continuously generating heat.
But then came the problem—
He couldn't swim.
The Puji wouldn't dissolve immediately in water, but once submerged, they would simply swell up and float on the surface, completely unable to move.
The fire mosquito larvae did have the [Underwater Adaptation] skill, but that would require transporting them back, decomposing them, acquiring the skill, and then creating a new Puji variant—too troublesome.
While Lin Jun was still thinking about a solution, Inanna had already dived headfirst into the pool in search of treasure.
Only then did Lin Jun remember—she had Lv.6 Underwater Adaptation.
Second-generation nobles really were something else…
"Lin Li! Look what I found!"
Inanna climbed out of the pool. Behind her, Water Serpent Spell was coiling around a fragment glowing with orange light, constantly radiating heat and evaporating the surrounding water.
Water Serpent Spell couldn't hold it for long, so Inanna tossed the fragment onto the ground beside the pool.
"Do you know what this is?"
Lin didn't know at first—but this thing actually had a status panel?
Up until now, Lin had never seen a panel appear on an inanimate object!
[Divine Artifact: Sunstone (Fragment)]
???
What the hell? Killing a bunch of level-20 mosquitoes can drop a divine artifact?Is this monster loot table even properly designed?!
Other than the name, there was no additional description. Was it because it was only a fragment?
Either way, it was definitely worth keeping and researching later.
"Lin Li?"
"Uh… how would I know? But it looks useful. We can take it back and use it to keep the mushrooms warm."
One Beast-of-Burden Puji wrapped the fragment into a large mud ball and carried it away.
Inanna didn't have any objections. She was only working here for that A-rank magic crystal in the first place. The loot naturally belonged to Lin Jun—she was just curious.
While Lin Jun and Inanna were happily enjoying their grand expedition underground, another group on the surface was racking their brains because of Inanna…