CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 59: TESTING THE MELEE MODEL

On the desolate land beside the Venom Lake, apart from the occasional splashing sound from the lake, it was as silent as the world of the undead.

The ground beneath was a dark green, the air filled with an unpleasant sour and pungent smell.

"This smell is just too awful," the Mage covered their nose and cast a Purification Technique on the group, "When the Jade-eyed Frogs were here, it was all green toxic mist, but at least there wasn’t this pungent odor."

Wells rubbed his nose; he thought it was alright, just a bit worse than the sour wine smell of the Rotten Willow Tavern.

What concerned him more was the splashing sound from the lake.

The group didn’t walk along the Mushroom Road; the area nearby was pitch black and the Lighting Technique’s range was limited, so they couldn’t see the situation in the lake.

"What do you think is living in the lake now? Should we catch one to see if it’s worth anything?"

Wells’ suggestion intrigued the group, as new things always meant more opportunities.

However, the team leader Ralph vetoed, "I’m afraid there’s no time."

"No time for what?" Wells didn’t understand the leader’s meaning.

"You might not have noticed, but in a few minutes, we’ll have to walk barefoot."

Wells raised his foot with a puzzled look...

"What the heck!?"

Those standard adventurer’s thick-soled shoes had only half of their soles left!

The others quickly realized their own soles were in the same condition.

"No wonder my feet felt slippery!"

Jini was the unluckiest; her shoes were the thinnest.

Jini reached out her hands, pleadingly grabbing Wells’ sleeve.

"Wells, could you carry me, please?"

Under the Priest Robe, her feet were tapping back and forth, as if they’d really get hurt soon.

"But I’m still carrying these," Wells patted the two bags on his back, which were filled with demon corpses.

"Please, Wells, you’re the strongest among us. They can share these bags. Don’t worry, I’ll also put in the effort so you won’t be too tired!"

She shook the Magic Staff in her hand as she spoke.

"I’ll carry," Ralph suddenly intervened between them as Wells was about to agree.

"Tch," Wells frowned but said nothing, just stepped aside.

Jini, a bit regretfully, winked at Wells and then climbed onto the captain’s back.

"Then sorry to trouble you, Captain Ralph."

She waved the Small Magic Staff, a grayish white light flashed, and Ralph, who was originally struggling a bit, suddenly seemed relaxed, carrying Jini and leading the way.

"Let’s quickly leave this lake’s vicinity."

The group hurriedly followed.

Only the Mage seemed puzzled—was there really a need for Potential Activation here?

————

Lin Jun’s attention had long shifted away from this Level 42 human killer.

What did a human killer have to do with a mushroom like him?

Was he as important as his latest production model warrior, Puki?

[Evasion Level 7] + [Scale Armor Level 5] + [Acceleration Level 6] + [Blade Whip Level 5] + [Fungal Filament Reassembly Level 3]

Actually, five skills consumed a bit much, but now with a large business, a little extravagance was possible.

The Puki cannons, though powerful and versatile...

But after every battle, the mess they left behind took a long time to restore the Fungal Mat.

At home, it was more suitable for less destructive melee combatants to handle many things.

This is why Lin Jun didn’t add Self-Destruction to the melee Puki.

The main responsibility of these melee Puki was to deal with unruly adventurers within the five layers.

If they met an enemy they couldn’t handle, then deploying a large-scale Mushroom Cannon unit wouldn’t be too late.

If that still couldn’t suppress them... Lin Jun still had Xiao Hai...

This batch of Puki security were mainly focused on agility and evasion.

The Blade Whip was brought in by Dragon Beasts during the Demon Tide, mainly represented by the Blade-tailed Whip Dragon.

This skill allowed the Puki to generate blades on the fungal filament tentacles, sweeping with considerable power.

Unfortunately, the fungal filament tentacles couldn’t be stretched like those dragon beast tails from 2 meters to 10 meters.

The attack range of the tentacles was limited to 4 meters.

The first batch of freshly made, four Long-whip Puki.

Their combat ability was yet to be tested.

Since the imagined enemy was adventurers.

Then the most suitable person to help test was—

"Boss, what did you say?"

Dylan, who had just been sound asleep, was pulled to a small open space.

Blinking at Lin Jun, who considerately brought him a Fine Steel Longsword, then looking at the sixteen tentacles of the four Puki opposite, with their scales and blades glittering coldly.

A shiver ran from top to bottom: "Boss, I’m not capable of this..."

"Don’t talk down; you’re a Silver Adventurer, aren’t you? An elite who survived under a demon squad!"

"That’s because I could escape, not because I could fight..." Dylan said with a bitter face, "Boss, weren’t you going to give me a break?"

"I’m doing this for your good, Dylan," Lin Jun earnestly advised, "Exercise more to stay healthy, you’ve been indulging in specialized nutrition every day, you’d waste away over time. Just think of it as stretching your muscles, don’t worry, there won’t be any danger."

"No danger, really?"

"I guarantee you won’t die!"

"Wait..."

Before Dylan could continue to make excuses, two of the Puki received an attack command and rushed forward.

"Damn!"

[Block Level 4]

As Dylan held his sword horizontally in front of his chest, a tentacle blade stabbed over, colliding with the longsword with a "clang."

The next second, two more tentacle blades swung from the sides, Dylan rolled to the ground to dodge them, leaving two deep scratches on the Big Mushroom behind him.

versus 1, with the long arms against the short-hand melee, Dylan couldn’t find a way to get close and could only keep dodging.

After dodging for a while, he seemed to think of a way.

When a tentacle blade flew over again, Dylan surprisingly didn’t retreat, but instead took a step forward at the right time and slashed at the middle of the tentacle.

But as soon as he struck, Dylan knew he was in trouble, as the longsword couldn’t fully cut through the scale-armored tentacle, and the tentacle blade took advantage of this point, looping around to attack his back.

[Vortex Slash Level 5]

In a panic, Dylan used his combat technique, not only cutting off the half-connected tentacle but also following through with a backslash to knock away the tentacle blade behind him, barely defusing the attack.

However, Dylan couldn’t be proud.

This was just one tentacle; the two Puki still had seven more waiting for him to solve...

"This...how am I supposed to fight this?"

Dylan simply gave up on the thought of attacking, running circles around the Big Mushroom.

Surprisingly, this method worked, as every time a Puki swung a blade, it would get stuck in the Big Mushroom, giving Dylan a chance to run far away.

Continuing was meaningless, and Lin Jun decided not to torment Dylan any longer.

"Alright, that’s it. Thank you for your effort, Dylan."

Seeing the two Puki behind him stop their little legs from chasing, Dylan leaned against the mushroom beside him, going soft and wiping the sweat from his face while catching his breath.

Even if the boss said he wouldn’t die, if he got a few cuts, the pain would kill his old bones.

"Dylan, that won’t do, only two? I’ll give you an item later to boost your strength."

This test made Lin Jun quite satisfied.

Lin Jun didn’t micro-manage, and the few Puki fought based on instinct after receiving the command.

Even though Dylan was on the weaker side among Silver Adventurers, two could suppress him, which was a bit beyond expectations, given that Lin Jun thought at least three would be needed.

Of course, it might be because Dylan wasn’t taking it completely seriously; without the pressure of life and death, it’s normal for him not to unleash his full strength.

Moreover, adventurers usually cooperate with each other, and a situation where Dylan couldn’t hit the Puki’s body like this wouldn’t happen.

Next time, try it on an unruly adventurer party.