The crystal atop Inanna’s cap flared. Flustered, she cast Swamp.

The firm cavern floor beneath the Earthworm liquefied into mire, the rocks it churned up dissolving into sludge.

But the swamp’s depth was limited. Farther below, its tail still touched solid stone.

Anchored by that, the worm continued inching down.

Lin Jun wasn’t about to watch it escape.

“Inanna—keep casting Swamp! Don’t stop!”

“Okay!”

Meanwhile, the Pujis—until now being slaughtered—finally opened fire. The “pop-pop” of Mushroom Cannons filled the cavern.

Lin Jun directed concentrated volleys at the torn gaps in its armor.

On his panel, its HP bar was steadily draining. At this rate, it wouldn’t get away.

Yes. Yes!

This was it—the key to escaping the Dungeon!

If he could butcher the Earthworm, absorb its skills, he could dig upward. See the sun again!

How long had it been since sunlight?

But then…

Why was the ground trembling again?

And from… that direction?!

“Inanna—run! Retreat!”

“Eh?”

Still focused on maintaining Swamp, she barely reacted, stumbling back two steps.

The next instant—another Earthworm erupted right before her.

Its jagged carapace clipped her like an uppercut, sending her flying down the tunnel.

“Inanna?! Inanna!!”

No response. He snapped her panel open—she’d lost 400 HP.

Thankfully, with over 3,000 total, she wasn’t dead—just unconscious.

Four Pujis scrambled, hauling her limp body and the fallen A-rank crystal back down the passage.

For now, she was safe.

But the battlefield was a disaster.

The second worm tore through the cavern in frenzy, crushing Pujis wholesale.

Without Inanna, the swamp dissolved. The first worm accelerated, digging down faster.

Why was there a second one?

Had his bait been too strong?

Or did Earthworms… help each other?

No time to think. The second was impossible to handle. He could only pour every cannon into finishing the wounded one.

Ignoring casualties, he unleashed everything.

If he could just drop its HP to zero before it escaped—!

“…Wait. You mean I got knocked away by another Earthworm?”

Twenty-three Pujis. One groggy, confused, and even faintly cheerful Inanna.

That was all that made it back to the Garden.

The wounded Earthworm, bleeding but alive, burrowed away. Under the second’s rampage, his army was annihilated.

Worse—cave-ins blocked tunnels. Many Pujis couldn’t retreat at all. He’d had to abandon them.

The only silver lining? Their explosive battle had scared every minor monster in the area into fleeing.

The return march was mercifully safe.

Otherwise, none of them might have survived.

Lin Jun now felt like a stock trader who’d thrown everything into A-shares, only to crawl out naked and penniless.

Everything gone.

At least the Dungeon had no debt collectors. He still had his Garden…

But mushrooms did not share the same joys or sorrows.

While he mourned his losses, Inanna was in good spirits.

She didn’t know the Earthworm Hunt had been his desperate gamble for freedom, nor how much he’d staked on it.

From her view, they could always try again. Surely not every hunt would draw two Earthworms.

More importantly—Lin Jun had kept his promise.

The A-rank crystal was tied back onto her cap. Hers, truly hers now.

She decided she’d start calling him Boss Lin from now on.

As for almost being eaten? She barely remembered it.

One moment she blacked out. Then her LV4 regeneration ticked her back to full HP.

No real pain. No real danger. She’d practically slept her way to a free treasure.

She was even dreaming of the next hunt—maybe she’d snag a second A-rank crystal!

Deep within the Garden, beneath a great mushroom, a passage of mycelium extended downward ten meters, opening into a 3×3 chamber.

Here sat Lin Jun’s true body: a plain green mushroom.

And beside him, radiating power, a unique Puji.

Unlike cannon-fodder spawn, this one had been nurtured since the Garden’s founding, pushed to the absolute limit of Lin Jun’s skills and levels.

It was his personal war mount.

Now, Lin Jun faced a choice:

Spend countless days rebuilding strength for another Earthworm Hunt?

Or return to his original plan—waiting for the Flame Demon to leave its lair, then gambling everything on smuggling his true body upward, riding the Super Puji?

Meanwhile, at the junction between the Deep Zone and the 10th floor—the Flame Demon’s domain.

“So hot! This is Amethyst Dungeon’s deep zone? Don’t tell me it’s all lava here. Are you sure that young lady is even alive in this?”

Night Owl tugged at her collar, miserable.

She had no fire resistance—only a Flame Resistance potion let her endure at all. Even so, the heat was unbearable.

A refreshing spell washed over them, and relief flooded her face.

“Ahhh, lifesaver.”

The glow faded from Ivan’s staff. The halfling archmage smiled faintly—sober, reliable for once.

Captain Nova held a locator crystal, eyes narrowing.

“Yes… the signal’s steady now. She’s in the upper section of the Deep Zone.”

“Deep Zone, huh…” Night Owl muttered. “Give me a month here and I’d still die.”

Unlike the clearly tiered first ten floors—with their defined monsters and exploitable rules—the Deep Zone was chaos.

Monsters of any level might appear, roaming unpredictably.

Their map was three years old, claiming a LV59 Flame Demon dwelled here. Yet now, nothing but molten rock.

Good fortune, perhaps.

But also proof the Zone had shifted again. Their intel was obsolete.

“Well,” rumbled the half-dragon Gal, “once we find her, we’ll know how she survived.”

His gloom had lifted.

The worst-case fates—ensnared by the Parasite Tree or the Tentacle Hive—were off the table.

If the Duke’s daughter was alive and sane, her odds were far better than he’d feared.

Maybe not great—20% instead of 2%—but better.