CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 39: THIS ISN’T QUITE WHAT WE AGREED ON, IS IT?

"They’re coming! The demons have appeared!"

The voice, a mix of fear and excitement, made the mercenaries leaning against the shadow of the stone wall straighten their backs, with the hasty turning movement causing the metal armor plates to clatter out of sync.

Everyone’s attention was focused on what lay beyond the large door.

Vera also gripped the weapon in his hand tightly—a very ordinary curved saber.

His fine steel scimitar was lost during that raider incident, so now he could only use this ordinary iron tool.

Because the Adventurer’s Guild offered generous rewards and fully recruited assistants, he could get a considerable amount of gold every day even before the battle began.

So he, along with Fei Yin and Fei Ling, came.

Even though some adventurers depicted the Demon Tide as terrifying, surely this many adventurers couldn’t fail, could they?

All they had to watch for was not to get injured in the battle.

They hadn’t expected the Demon Tide to come just after guarding for a day!

Vera and the adventurers around him all held their breath, adjusting themselves to their best status.

Several adventurers holding crossbows crowded near the door’s gap, aiming inside, ready for the first wave of shooting at any time.

And they waited for ten minutes like this.

The adventurers looked at one another and finally stared at the person who first shouted, "The demons have appeared."

"No... no, indeed, there were demons..."

The person wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and leaned to the gap for another look.

It was still only the corpse of Puki, no sign of other demons, not even a shadow.

Finally, Marshall stepped up to confirm the situation and reassured everyone:

"Indeed, there was a Walking Mushroom in front of the door, which indicates that the ’rules’ of the Underground City have weakened.

But the main force of the demons hasn’t come yet; it was just a Walking Mushroom from the first layer happened to wander over.

Stand down from alert for now, I’ll keep watch here."

Marshall also breathed a sigh of relief, as the guild predicted the Demon Tide wouldn’t erupt for another three to four days.

The support from surrounded cities would also take a few more days to arrive.

Gathering adventurers to guard the gate now was just in case.

He just thought that the ’just in case’ had arrived.

Upon hearing Marshall’s words, everyone put their weapons away, and complaints arose one after another.

Beside Vera, Fei Ling and Fei Yin also sighed in relief.

After all, the legendary Demon Tide is said to be nerve-wracking, so it’s impossible not to be tense.

However, from the beginning, Vera kept staring at an unknown adventurer.

That person’s belt had a curved saber... why did it look so familiar...

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Another wave of magic power surged from below into the Mushroom Garden.

It’s becoming more frequent lately, as if announcing the Demon Tide’s approach.

Knowing the situation, Lin Jun had already actively started arranging defenses.

Although the Demon Tide seems very dangerous, he also has multiple preparations.

The best-case scenario would be him being part of the Demon Tide and charging upward with the wave.

While other demons and humans are battling, he would take care of collecting the free corpses from both sides.

However, such an ideal situation can’t truly be relied upon.

Another scenario is that the Demon Tide will also attack him, and he would have to fight back for his Mushroom Garden.

Fortunately, there are only two staircases between the fifth and sixth layers, so the defense pressure isn’t too big.

Simply put, it’s like a tower defense game, and his Puki’s adept Mushroom Cannon is perfect for this situation.

Then matched with some Pukis with functions like spraying mucus, toxic mist, and self-destruction.

When the time comes, even if a horde of werewolves from the tenth layer charges up, he has the confidence to annihilate them all at the staircase.

As for the connection points between the fourth and fifth layers, a small number of Pukis can block them.

Firstly, the demons shouldn’t be expected to rush back downward, and secondly, even if those low-level demons come, ten or so Pukis would be enough to handle them.

The thing Lin Jun truly fears is the oversized entities from the Deep Area.

If a Flame Demon level or even stronger demon appears!

Lin Jun has no confidence in stopping them.

Luckily, Lin Jun has a backup plan!

By equipping himself with armor, he can hide in the depths of the cave and destroy the entrance if things go south.

He doesn’t believe the demons would dig through for just a bite of his mushrooms!

Although it would be slightly troublesome to dig back out afterward.

For this reason, Lin Jun specially prepared several Pukis with Rock Eating Level 3 abilities.

The cave previously made by the Old Bat serves as an escape route, piling up with most of Lin Jun’s fortunes.

This includes equipment and items left by adventurers, parasitic tree seeds, valuable materials taken from demons, and a small pile of gold coins.

At first glance, it looks like a mini version of a giant dragon’s treasure.

Additionally, 20 Pukis filled with magic power, purely as batteries, have been prepared.

Even if the whole cave collapses unexpectedly, he can hold out until he digs through!

Alas—

Whenever he has to prepare a retreat for himself, Lin Jun always remembers that figure who opened a scroll in front of him and vanished without a trace.

Unfortunately, he asked Dylan, who said this world doesn’t have such things as teleportation scrolls.

The only way for teleportation is through complex ritual arrays, and a single scroll can’t possibly support teleportation magic.

The scroll used by that person wasn’t a teleportation scroll but an escape scroll from treasure chests in the Underground City.

The principle is using the power of the Underground City’s rules to directly eject the user out.

These scrolls are few in number but not too expensive.

The reason being the ejection only ensures the user leaves the Underground City area, while the ejection location is entirely random.

A safe ejection is a rare occurrence, while ending up underground or in the sky is more normal.

Without some special survival skills, using this scroll is no different from seeking death.

Even so, getting one to bet on when at a dead end wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Relying on his armor’s abilities, the chance of survival wouldn’t be that slim.

-----------------

With Lin Jun’s mobilization, the Pukis were almost all ready.

At the two staircases leading to the sixth layer, no fewer than four hundred Pukis of various types were stationed.

At the stairway connecting to the upper layer, 30 were assigned to each.

The main entity and the knights, along with about 50 Pukis, stationed within the cave as the final insurance.

Now, it’s just about retrieving the over one hundred Pukis that went exploring downward, and these Pukis just entered the staircase leading to the fifth layer.

Another wave of magic power arrived, and Lin Jun was almost getting used to it.

However, this vibration seemed different from before, lasting quite a long time.

It wasn’t over yet...

Isn’t it lasting a bit too long?

Moreover, as time progresses, the shaking not only didn’t weaken but grew stronger!

Eventually, it formed a tsunami-like wave of magic power that overwhelmed Lin Jun and spun him around.

What is this?

Has the Demon Tide begun?

...

When the wave finally subsided, Lin Jun noticed something was wrong.

The more than one hundred Pukis that were just climbing up the stairs were all out of contact?

The original staircase was gone and replaced by an ever-expanding dark rift!

Inside, there were faint roars of beasts coming through.

Is this the Demon Tide?

It seems a bit different from what I imagined?

More crucially, the mutation didn’t just happen to this staircase; the other one, only guarded by 30 Pukis and connecting to the fourth layer, also turned into that kind of rift!

They can’t be playing dirty like this!

Before Lin Jun could go crazy, a head covered in hexagonal scales, resembling a giant lizard, poked through the rift.

The monster’s vertically slit golden eyes swept over all the Pukis present...