【Level Up: LV50 → LV51】

After fighting for most of the day, Lin Jun leveled up again.

It hadn’t even been that long since his last upgrade.

As expected of a Demon Tide—experience points came pouring in.

On the stairwell, each mushroom shell could blast through six or seven monsters at once. Nowhere else could he dream of such an ideal damage environment.

But as time passed, the monsters grew stronger.

Among the dragon-beasts, Lin Jun even spotted those flesh-and-blood abominations from the ninth floor.

Those things were worse than dragon-beasts—their vitality and regeneration were nauseatingly strong.

Even if blasted into chunks, as long as the core survived, they could suck in surrounding meat scraps and cobble together a new twisted body.

And now the stairwell was littered with meat scraps…

Thankfully, each flesh monster had a limit on how large a body it could control. If they could build a giant out of all that meat, Lin Jun would be helpless.

For now, they were contained, unable to climb.

The fissure, however, was far more dangerous.

Unlike the choke-point of the stairs, there was no terrain advantage.

Firepower gradually fell behind the tide. What had started as encirclement was devolving into a chaotic melee.

Without reinforcements, the Pujis wouldn’t hold for long. Lin Jun had expected that much.

What he hadn’t expected was the Dragonkin.

The Frostbone Giant Rat it had fought was now nothing but shredded meat.

By the end, the Dragonkin was enraged—crushing its throat and then ripping the corpse to ribbons before stopping.

But the battle drained him.

So much so, he no longer guarded all the Pujis.

Just now, as if he’d made up his mind, the Dragonkin simply scooped up six Pujis and flew off toward the forest.

Without him, the monsters spilled freely into the fifth floor.

Directionless, they rampaged like headless flies.

Vast swathes of mycelium carpet were trampled, mushrooms crushed underfoot.

Exactly what Lin Jun feared.

The monsters had received a command: escape the Dungeon. But that command clearly hadn’t included navigation.

The only mycelium likely to survive intact would be the patches clinging to the ceiling.

Still, he had at least one consolation—he had killed plenty already.

If the mushroom fields couldn’t be saved, he could at least reduce the cost of rebuilding.

And nothing sped recovery like mountains of corpses.

With every monster charging upward, none stopped to devour the dead.

Only that Dragonkin was different, obsessed solely with eating Pujis.

The fissure was lost, and if they held the stairwell any longer they’d be surrounded.

Lin Jun ordered two Puji squads to withdraw toward the marshlands, the best terrain for a last stand.

To keep firepower high during the retreat, he even developed a new “leapfrog barrage tactic.”

The front line fired, then hopped back to recharge while the rear line stepped forward to fire.

Hop, shoot, retreat—step, shoot, advance.

This dance left many more corpses along the way.

By the time they reached the marsh, the final phase had begun.

Small monsters bogged down in the muck posed little threat.

The real dangers were the flyers and the colossal beasts.

Less than five hundred Pujis remained, fighting a desperate brawl against swarms on all sides…

……

By then, Lin Jun’s plan was mostly complete.

Some monsters had already wandered near his cave.

He detonated a cluster of Exploding Pujis at the entrance, sealing it off.

At the same time, he triggered the self-detonation of the “fat recluse” Puji in the forest—the one the Dragonkin was chewing on.

Did he think it was an all-you-can-eat buffet?

That fat one had been hidden all the way in a cave at the forest’s edge, and he’d still sniffed it out.

The explosion wouldn’t kill him. Probably not even wound him.

Lin Jun had no way to deal with him.

His poisoning plan had failed too. The Dragonkin seemed able to tell the difference—he only ate Artillery or Exploding Pujis.

Lin Jun could only hope he would leave with the other dragon-beasts soon.

Still… after this Demon Tide, wouldn’t every layer of the Dungeon be crawling with high-level monsters?

Would they retreat back down?

Or would the Dungeon itself clean them up?

This place had more and more problems. That strange voice that triggered the Tide was suspicious, too.

But… right now, he was just a weak mushroom. No point worrying.

When he reached LV99, then he’d investigate.

Shoving the thought aside, Lin Jun squatted in his cave and switched on the “live broadcast.”

The ground fungus was crushed, but the ceiling growth remained.

Thanks to them, he still had a view outside—though reception was spotty underground.

What he saw made his skin crawl.

From the lower zones crawled horrors:

A three-headed Snake Monster, leaving rivers of venom wherever it passed. (Would he ever be able to farm mushrooms there again?)

Beetles wreathed in flames, one of which torched Dylan’s little log cabin of love.

Even gigantic golems, somehow hauling their titanic bodies up the stairs.

Monster after monster spilled out—those who found the stairwell climbed, those who didn’t ran rampant.

None paid his collapsed cave any mind.

Except for one.

The Dragonkin.

Lin Jun watched him emerge from the forest, walking straight toward the cave.

What the hell was he doing?

Had he sensed

the Pujis inside?

There were already Puji corpses everywhere on the fifth floor. Why insist on fresh ones?

He shouldn’t be able to dig in here… right?

But just in case, Lin Jun began to prepare…

————

“No… no way we can hold!”

At the Dungeon’s gate, the monsters’ strength suddenly surged.

Flesh abominations. High-ranked dragon-beasts.

The adventurers were caught off guard. Casualties spiked.

Even two gold-ranked fighters had fallen.

And each new wave was stronger than the last.

The survivors were at their breaking point.

Many were already glancing back, scheming to escape.

“NO ONE LEAVES!

“If you retreat, will you let Yafeng Town perish?

“Whoever runs will have their Guild credentials revoked!

“Reinforcements are almost here—hold the line!

“When this is over, everyone’s bounty will be tripled!”

Oberon himself had come to the front lines.

Not by choice. He had no option.

Now he stood as if ready to die at the gates.

When they inevitably fell, he could claim to have “fought to the last” and fled only after grievous wounds.

That might win him some mercy when the Guild headquarters demanded accountability.

He raised his ornate staff high. Light flared brilliantly.

Seventh-tier Light Magic—Skyfall Arrows.

Lances of radiance streaked out, skewering several flying dragon-beasts in the air.

His presence steadied the adventurers for the moment.

But Oberon knew the truth. Collapse was inevitable.

The “reinforcements that were almost here”? In reality, still a full day away.

And who knew how many of these adventurers would still be alive then?

As for himself?

Level 55. He couldn’t withstand the Demon Tide.

But when morale broke, slipping away in the chaos would be child’s play.