While Dylan went out to spread “strategies,” Lin Jun wasn’t idle either.

His research into [Fusion Parasitism] was more or less complete, and it was time to dispose of the low-value Gnolls.

After recent clashes with adventurers, silver-rankers and below had almost stopped coming to the fifth floor.

Only a handful of higher-ranked adventurers still passed through—and their only goal was to descend deeper.

As long as they didn’t try to cross the swamp, Lin Jun simply had his Pujis hide from them.

With his mycelium and mushrooms spreading everywhere now, he could detect adventurers early and steer clear.

With silver-rankers avoiding the fifth floor, the caverns had fallen quiet.

The Crystallized Bats and Rock Lizards dwelling there were the happiest of all—without pesky adventurers, they could hunt freely across the caverns.

But their joy was short-lived, for Lin Jun marched in with his Gnolls and Pujis.

The Rock Lizards weren’t worth much—their rocky armor was too heavy. At best, they’d serve as fixed turrets if Pujis attached to them.

But the Crystallized Bats’ [Crystal Symbiosis] skill was valuable.

They could devour mana crystals, transform them within their bodies, and embed them as part of themselves, amplifying their powers.

If it were just sticking crystals onto their bodies, it wouldn’t matter.

Lin Jun wasn’t exactly lacking in firepower—when one mushroom artillery shot wasn’t enough, he could simply fire ten. He had endless Pujis.

But the hidden effect of the skill was purification!

Lin Jun only realized it after seeing that the crystals growing on the bats’ wings were higher in quality than the raw crystals mined from the cavern.

Of course, the improvement was small—from D to C rank.

That was only because their skill level was so low, usually just level 3 or 4, unable to show its true potential.

But if the skill were leveled high enough, could he refine heaps of low-grade crystals into one massive S-rank crystal?

Lin Jun wasn’t sure—but it was worth testing!

The Gnolls and Pujis swarmed into the cavern. The monsters inside grew restless.

But to Lin Jun, they were no different from fire gnats—hardly worth noting.

A single volley from the mushroom cannons reduced them to dust.

When the trembling finally stopped, nothing remained—not the bats, not the lizards, not even the cave entrance.

“…What?”

So fragile?

He thought back to the deep floors—wait.

Those caverns had been dug out by burrower worms. When the worms dug, they reinforced the rock walls by compacting the stone they ate.

That was why he had never worried about collapses there, no matter how much artillery he fired.

But this—the fifth floor—this was what a normal cavern was like.

At least it hadn’t collapsed completely. The Gnolls cleared rubble for half a day before opening the entrance again.

But now what?

His proud mushroom cannons couldn’t be used. Exploders neither.

And the new skills he’d acquired from adventurers were all too low-level to be useful.

Would he really have to rely on those worthless Gnolls?

Without artillery, those idiots couldn’t even scratch Rock Lizard shells.

Wonderful. His grand cavern conquest plan had hit a dead end before it even started.

He had no choice but to open his panel and dig through the pile of miscellaneous skills for inspiration.

Magic?

Thanks to adventurers, he now had mana manipulation. But spells required learning—and where was he supposed to learn them?

So, no.

Using carapace plus rolling charge?

He thought of the Rock Lizards’ stone shells and dismissed it.

Slime digestive fluids, or the strong acid skill he’d recently acquired?

Maybe useful against bats, but not stone armor.

The hardest nut to crack was clearly the Rock Lizards, those turtle-types.

Wait… would they take poison?

With names like “crystal” and “rock,” he had assumed they were like inorganic matter and hadn’t considered it.

And besides, he hadn’t used poison tactics in ages.

No reason not to try. Lin Jun quickly bred a few Hallucination Pujis, sending them to spray spores inside.

Soon the cavern was tinted purple.

The spores lingered easily in the narrow tunnels. Bats dropped from the ceiling one by one, and Rock Lizards soon collapsed motionless.

So they did take poison!

It was easier than his original plan of brute force.

He dragged their bodies out for the first round of decomposition.

[Seven Deadly Sins: Greed Triggered]

[Ability Theft: Crystal Symbiosis LV1]

[Ability Theft: Infrasound Attack LV1]

[Ability Theft: Echolocation LV1]

[Ability Theft: Rock-Eating LV1]

…

Unfortunately, the cavern stretched in all directions, with no telling how deep it went.

A handful of Hallucination Pujis wouldn’t be enough.

He’d need to wait until a proper swarm was ready.

In the end, the Gnolls had done nothing.

Truly so useless, it was hard to even get rid of them.

And Lin Jun had a reason to be rid of them.

Covered in mushrooms, they looked far too similar to Pujis.

It was bad enough that Pujis had taken over an entire floor. If adventurers discovered he could parasitize humanoids like Parasitic Trees—unthinkable.

He was destroying evidence, really.

If worst came to worst… he’d just decompose them.

But creatures fully parasitized by him yielded only mana, no skills—just like the humans controlled by Parasitic Trees.

Why? He didn’t know.

But he was used to it. There were countless mysteries in the Dungeon he didn’t understand.

Like—who set the “rules” on the Dungeon stairways?

Or—how did the Dungeon make an entire hidden room vanish?

When the swamp’s stone door disappeared, he hadn’t sensed a thing.

He now strongly suspected hidden rooms and treasure chests refreshed together. Last time, he must have been teleported along with one.

And he hadn’t even noticed.

He needed to learn more about the Dungeon itself.

Maybe Dylan would know something when he returned.

———

A guestroom door rattled softly. Outside, the voice of the young adventurer Veyra—who had once crossed paths with masked Dylan—called out:

“Phylline, Phyine, are you inside?”

Inside, the twin sisters, dressed only in undergarments, exchanged glances and hurriedly threw on clothes before letting him in.

“It’s late. What is it?”

The elder sister, Phylline, gave him a look that said: if this isn’t important, you’re dead.

Veyra ignored it, too excited as he handed her a piece of parchment.

“The latest fifth-floor strategy?” Phylline scanned it, frowning strangely. “Isn’t this a bit too detailed? Where’d you get it?”

“From an adventurer named Dylan. Paid fifty silver for it. He even said we got along well, so he gave me a special extra tip at the end.”

“Fifty silver!?” Phylline’s voice cracked with outrage. Got along well? That sounded like a scam. “That expensive? You didn’t get conned again, did you?”

Memories of less-than-pleasant past incidents with her childhood friend surfaced. She was already imagining wringing his neck.

Veyra winced, quickly explaining:

“I asked the tavernkeeper. He knows Dylan—he’s been an adventurer here for a long time.

Good reputation, retired for a while, but recently came back.

So it’s credible.

Besides, look at the info in this guide. If it’s true, fifty silver is worth it.”

Phylline pouted at the parchment. It was too late now—already bought. What could she do?

If it turned out false, she swore she’d hang Veyra up and beat him herself.

While the two bickered, the younger twin, Phyine, stayed quiet as always—watching like a transparent shadow, agreeing with whatever the other two decided.