Dungeon, second floor.

The breeze rustled through the woods, carrying the pure scent of grass and trees. Clear water from a rocky stream reflected the orange-white glow of firefly grass.

At first glance, this place seemed like a lush, tranquil forest with sparkling waters.

But in reality, the small monsters here were all adept at hiding and ambush, many of them poisonous.

Newcomers unprepared with antidotes often died here without ever knowing what hit them.

Gray’s longsword thrust into waist-high grass. With a flick, he skewered a green scorpion the size of a man’s palm.

“Weren’t monsters supposed to decrease after the Demon Tide? We’ve barely walked and I’ve already killed three spiders, six scorpions, and four snakes…”

Calvin, flipping through his dungeon guidebook, explained without looking up:

“That decrease only applies to high-level or large monsters. After a Tide, the dungeon’s mana density spikes. It’s the little creatures that benefit most—they multiply like crazy. That’s normal.”

He pointed at a passage in the book. “See? This floor usually has lots of black-and-white pythons. Notice we haven’t run into any yet.”

Gray swung his sword upward, cleaving a snake hanging from above in two. He glanced briefly at the book.

“Five snakes now… Annoying. How much farther until the next floor?”

“Still a ways,” Calvin muttered, studying the map. “Let’s detour through a natural tunnel. Less small fry that way.”

Gray narrowed his eyes. “And what’s in that tunnel?”

“Spiders. Big spiders.”

——

Gray lifted his torch high, revealing gray-white stone walls draped with ragged, torn webs. The place still bore scars of the Demon Tide.

“Where are the spiders?”

Calvin pointed upward. Sure enough, faint red dots glowed in the darkness.

“Don’t worry. They’re actually timid. As long as you don’t get stuck in their webs, they won’t attack.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s in the guide.”

Gray nodded, then asked, “Then why aren’t they eating that?”

He thrust the torch forward, illuminating a Puji struggling in a web.

“A Puji? They’re carnivores. Not eating it makes sense.” Calvin frowned. “But why is there a Puji here?”

“What’s the big deal? Didn’t we see them on the first floor too?”

“That’s because you never read. You don’t get it.”

Leaning closer to examine the strange Puji, Calvin explained:

“During the Tide, monsters may wander between floors—but always from lower to higher. It’s almost impossible for upper-floor creatures to move downward.

And this Puji is weird. It has… tentacles.”

“Then that just means deeper floors also have walking mushrooms.”

“But the guide says Pujis only appear on the first floor.”

“When was your guide written? Could be outdated.”

“Three years ago… it shouldn’t be outdated, right?” For the first time, Calvin hesitated. If the guide was wrong, unexpected dangers could lurk anywhere.

Gray casually plucked the Puji off the web.

“Gray, what are you doing?! It’s a mutant—it could be dangerous!”

Gray shrugged. “How dangerous can a walking mushroom be? I just want to see what it does.”

The moment the Puji hit the ground, its four tentacles shot upward, piercing the darkness.

A shriek rang out, and a massive spider, two meters wide, was yanked down and slammed against the ground. It died instantly.

The Puji then began slowly dragging the carcass outside.

Gray turned to see Calvin staring at him, wide-eyed.

“…Fine, I admit, that was a little dangerous. Want to follow it?”

The Puji was nearly out of sight, heading a different direction.

Curiosity sparked in Calvin’s eyes. After a moment, he nodded.

“We’ve got time. Let’s see where it goes.”

They trailed the creature as it smacked aside ambushing scorpions with its tentacles, passed through hidden paths, and finally slipped into a small cave glowing faintly from within.

Peeking inside, they froze.

The cave’s walls were carpeted in mycelium. Bioluminescent mushrooms of all sizes filled the chamber with ghostly light.

And on the ground—bones.

Wolf corpses, black-and-white pythons, giant spiders, even dragon-beasts. Piled together.

Some bodies were covered in fungal growth, while others were fresh, blood not yet dried.

Several tentacled Pujis worked together, carefully hauling the newly killed spider into an empty space—making sure not to damage the mycelium carpet beneath.

Gulp—

Gray and Calvin exchanged a look of shock, then retreated quietly, step by careful step.

Only when they had left the cave far behind did they relax.

Calvin tried to sound casual, though his voice still shook. “W-what’s the big deal? This is just the second floor. You’re level 31, why so scared?”

“Weren’t you the one panicking first?”

“…Fine, but tell me that wasn’t creepy! Where else do you see Pujis this brutal? I’m reporting this to teacher when we get back.”

He glanced behind them—no Pujis were following.

“Let’s hurry to the fifth floor.”

——

Hm?

In the forest above, as Lin Jun was cultivating large mushrooms, he suddenly received an image from the second-floor outpost—two human adventurers snooping around.

So the dungeon was finally open again?

He’d need to accelerate the growth of large mushrooms.

And replenish more combat Pujis. Otherwise, if trouble came and he lacked defenses, it would be a problem.

As for those two adventurers—Lin Jun ignored them.

He’d never planned to hide from humans. Even if he wanted to, it wasn’t possible.

The cave had been chosen only to minimize monster disturbances.

And in truth, even if he wanted to intervene, he couldn’t.

Unlike direct mycelium connections, images sent via mushroom relay nodes arrived with a slight delay—about six minutes.

The Pujis outside acted autonomously according to preset tasks.

Unless adventurers attacked or tried to steal monster corpses, they wouldn’t retaliate. That was Lin Jun’s consistent neutral policy.

If someone destroyed an outpost, well—he’d just have to accept it… and wait to repay them on the fifth floor!