A dozen pairs of glowing green eyes fixed on Lin Jun.

Thirteen werewolves. The weakest, Level 26—still a child. The strongest, Level 42.

And every last one of them looked ready to vent their frustration for the prey they had just lost—on him.

Worse, nearly all of them carried 【Acceleration】. If he turned to flee, odds were slim.

Fortunately, Lin Jun hadn’t planned on running.

Super Puffshroom, Transform!

He curled into a ball.

【Rolling Charge LV5】

A byproduct from acquiring 【Chitinous Shell】, this skill had been painstakingly leveled day after day from pill bugs, surpassing even its parent skill in level.

At last, its moment of glory.

Lin Jun rolled forward at speed, charging straight for the stairway up to the 9th floor.

Behind him, forty puffshrooms unleashed a barrage of mushroom cannons.

The wolves were fast—most dodged with ease. Only one unlucky greyback caught a direct blast, its paw shredded.

But Lin Jun’s goal was achieved. A path lay open.

One defiant wolf hurled itself through the cannon-fire, claws slashing.

【Evasion LV6】

The puffshroom ball gave a hop—rolling neatly across the wolf’s face before bouncing past, bursting into the stairwell.

Safe!

The wolf crashed to the ground—only to be pounded flat by seven or eight simultaneous mushroom blasts.

Lin Jun had cleared the hurdle.

But only this Super Puffshroom had made it through.

The puffshroom squad left behind had no Rolling Charge.

The wolves turned on them.

And the truth was brutal—forty puffshrooms were no match for twelve wolves.

They managed to wound three. Then were slaughtered to the last.

Lin Jun felt no grief.

They had been meant as cover—decoys if need be.

Still… he hadn’t expected them to be wiped out in a single floor.

Hopefully, the road ahead would prove less unlucky.

Without his puffshroom followers, Lin Jun’s mycelial network lost its reach.

He now relied only on Airflow Sense and Mana Sense.

It was clumsy.

The 9th floor was the most revolting place he’d yet seen.

Tumorous flesh clung everywhere, the monsters malformed lumps of meat, failed experiments of some mad fleshcraft.

Good thing he was a mushroom with no sense of smell. The sight alone was enough to imagine the stench.

Yet the road proved smooth.

The adventurers had paused here to recover, then climbed safely to the 8th.

Lin Jun followed—only for something strange to happen.

【Native monster level exceeded. Passage denied.】

A panel blinked.

And worse—an air wall appeared.

Invisible, yet the pressure grew unbearable as he neared the stairs upward, like being crushed.

So this… this is the Dungeon’s “rules”?!

Native monster… they count me as one of the Dungeon’s own?

But this family was anything but warm.

No! He wanted to see the sun again!

How pitiful, to be reborn only to rot here forever—

【Hero: Restriction lifted】

…Huh?

Just as he braced to attempt a forced Rolling Charge through, the crushing wall simply vanished.

A Hero’s privilege?

He stepped forward. No resistance.

So sloppy—was this system running on outdated code, with long gaps between checks?

It had nearly scared him to death.

He’d thought he’d be trapped forever, doomed to play eat-or-be-eaten with Dungeon monsters.

But no—false alarm.

…Wait.

Why couldn’t he sense Inanna anymore?

8th floor.

Lin Jun stood frozen.

Unlike the last two levels, this one had stone bricks—man-made construction. Like walking into an ancient ruin.

But the floor held no corridors.

Only four glowing magic arrays.

Teleport circles?

That would explain why he couldn’t sense Inanna.

But which to choose?

Of course—

None!

What fool would risk stepping on such obvious traps with his real body?

Disgusting as it was, he would hole up on the 9th for now, spawn puffshrooms, and scout with Familiar Control.

But just as he turned to retreat—

The second array on the left lit up.

Three humans emerged.

…

【One-Stroke Slash】

【Wind Blade】

【Precision Shot】

“Shit!”

The trio, startled only for a breath, immediately launched attacks.

They shouted in a tongue Lin Jun couldn’t understand.

Dodge! Dodge! Dodge!

He rolled frantically, firing mushroom cannons in return. He was no pacifist—if attacked, he fought back.

But winning was another matter.

Three adventurers. All above Level 40. Coordinated.

When he tried to retreat down the stairs, an Ice Wall sealed the path.

He could smash it—but not while dodging their endless attacks.

【Skill Up: Evasion LV6 → LV7】

He had dodged so much his evasion leveled up. Yet it wasn’t enough.

His mushroom shots were avoided or blocked.

Digestive Slime blown away by wind.

Hallucinogenic Spores neutralized instantly with antidotes.

Not Diamond-rank, perhaps—but anyone reaching the 9th was no weakling.

Every one of his tricks, countered.

He knew his place. Even his strongest puffshroom was weak among Level 40s—much less against three specialists.

Still, he hadn’t expected even escape to be this hard!

No—he could still flee.

Curling into a ball, he darted past the warrior, angling for the archer.

The mage cast again, cutting him off.

Perfect.

He feinted, swerving hard—then dove headlong into the rightmost teleport circle.

Light rose. The world warped.

He reappeared elsewhere.

Escape—once more!

If only not for—

Thwack.

The archer’s arrow, loosed at the last instant, pierced his puffshroom’s rump clean through.

Half his HP gone in one hit.

Thank goodness his true body wasn’t there.

The adventurers didn’t follow.

Of course not—he saw no return circle beneath his feet. A one-way teleport.

They wouldn’t risk stepping in blind.

Good.

So close. They had almost earned the achievement: “Slayer of the Hero.”

Lin Jun stared down a stone-bricked corridor, splitting in four directions.

“…Now what?”