For those who walk the road alone.

“Where is it?” A rare urgency sharpened Solaryn’s voice.

She hadn’t been in the meeting hall when the message arrived. Mayne had already summoned her out of the Guild, and the two of them were now threading their way through the noisy open market.

The place was a paradise for adventurers and small-time merchants. The air smelled of leather, herbs, cheap tobacco, and sweat, while haggling and shameless boasting rose from every direction.

“Over there!” Mayne pointed toward a small stall wedged against the edge of the crowd.

Its owner was a shifty-looking middle-aged man. Two Church warriors stood beside the stall.

Solaryn’s gaze swept across the jumble of battered goods. Then her breath caught.

There, at the edge of a heap of tarnished copperware, lay a simple silver pendant.

Like a fallen star, found again.

Recently, equipment stripped from the Church warriors had been won in the Puffcap lottery, one piece at a time. The aggrieved warriors had been forced to roam the market every day like treasure hunters, buying back suits of armor that might not even have belonged to them in the first place.

Today, while rummaging through a heap of miscellaneous goods, these two warriors had discovered the tiny group portrait inside the pendant. The two warriors stood guard over the stall as though facing a deadly enemy and immediately sent someone to fetch Solaryn.

Solaryn’s hand trembled slightly as she picked up the pendant and opened it. The familiar photograph was still inside.

She had thought it lost forever. Yet somehow…

“This…” Solaryn forced down the emotions surging through her and turned to the merchant. “How much?”

Lost property or not, the pendant currently belonged to the man standing before her.

The merchant’s eyes darted about. He glanced at the two rigid, expressionless Church warriors beside him, then at the obvious urgency on Solaryn’s face. A greedy smile spread across his features as he raised one finger.

“Fixed price. Ten gold coins!”

“You greedy cur!” The absurd demand lit a fuse beneath the two Church warriors. One of them stormed forward, eyes blazing. “Ten gold coins for a silver pendant? You’re asking for trouble!”

The merchant clearly knew who the warriors were, and a trace of fear lurked beneath his expression, but it did nothing to diminish the greed in his eyes.

He snatched the pendant back, clenched it in his filthy palm, and held it protectively against his chest. Raising his voice until its shrill pitch cut through the surrounding din, he cried, “Now, now, my lords, that’s hardly fair! A sale requires a willing buyer and seller! An item’s value depends entirely on who treasures it, doesn’t it? Besides…”

He drew out the last word, his gaze sweeping provocatively across the holy emblems on the warriors’ chests.

“This is an honest business. I never cheat my customers. Free trade! Great Ixion above, surely the esteemed servants of the Church wouldn’t be the first to break the market’s rules?”

He placed deliberate emphasis on “free trade” and “the Church.” His booming voice soon drew a crowd of adventurers eager to watch the spectacle, and whispers spread as fingers began to point.

“You miserable bastard!” A vein throbbed at the hotheaded warrior’s temple as he endured the public humiliation. He was on the verge of drawing his sword, sending the merchant stumbling backward in alarm.

Before he could draw it, Solaryn reached out and placed a steady hand on his arm.

Her face was cold as frost, but her eyes were unnaturally calm.

She spared the merchant no further glance and ignored the crowd around them. Silently, she untied the heavy leather purse at her waist and counted out ten gold coins.

The merchant’s eyes flashed with the hungry gleam of a wolf. He lunged forward, his clawlike hand moving with astonishing speed as he swept every coin into his palm.

His wrinkled face puckered like a rotting flower, overflowing with servile delight. He bent at the waist and presented the pendant to Solaryn with both hands.

“Heh, my lady certainly knows how to do business! Please, take it!”

Solaryn didn’t look at him. She pinched the pendant’s chain and lifted it from his palm.

The cold chain rested against her palm, its familiar touch stirring a faint tremor of relief.

She didn’t close her fist around it. Instead, she lowered her gaze to the tiny photograph once more. Her fingertip brushed the two young, smiling faces with exquisite tenderness.

A complicated smile slowly formed on her lips.

* * *

What did Alden mean, the Sword Saint was coming to take a look around his home?

He was supposed to fight the Sword Saint? Seriously?

Alden had naturally informed Evan as soon as he received the news.

At that very moment, a certain mushroom in the dungeon was quivering in terror.

Evan had only wanted to bring the pink Puffcap over and put on a little performance. How had it ended up joining that “expert team”? He had no idea.

Still, once he sorted through the situation, his fear began to seem unnecessary.

Unknown experts were one thing, but the Sword Saint?

Evan had actually seen him before.

Back then, the Sword Saint had merely sensed something unusual about the scout Puffcap. He hadn’t immediately attacked and eliminated it. What did that mean?

It meant he wasn’t particularly skilled at detection.

At the very least, he couldn’t see through every nonhuman disguise at a glance.

Alden might even be the one responsible for scouting when they arrived.

As long as Evan kept his main body well away from them, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Besides, a Sword Saint obviously fought with a sword. He wasn’t a mage. Surely he wouldn’t swing his blade through the entire dungeon and scrape away every mycelial mat Evan had laid down.

At worst, Evan would lose a few expendable Puffcaps.

Of course, he still had to consider the possibility that the Sword Saint might work with a mage to scour the entire dungeon.

That might have frightened Evan once, but now?

The Mycelial Tunnels had long since spread throughout every level of the dungeon, forming an interconnected network in all directions.

Removing the surface mycelial mats would amount to nothing more than scraping off a layer of skin. It couldn’t harm his foundations.

Most importantly, none of this conflicted with Evan’s original plan. All he needed was for the pink Puffcap to cooperate. Whether the people coming were strong or weak made no difference.

As his thoughts turned in that direction, Evan’s concern about the Sword Saint quietly shifted away from his own survival and toward something far more intriguing.

The Sword Saint was one of humanity’s most powerful combatants.

Just how strong was he?

Evan had already gotten a taste of the Sword Saint’s Level 61 disciple. The man was strong, extremely strong, but not impossible to contend with. He might not even be impossible to defeat.

So what about the Sword Saint himself, whose Level was less than ten higher?

Alden had repeatedly described the Sword Saint’s incredible strength, the countless members of Demonkind he had slain, and the glorious feats he had accomplished.

But hearing about someone’s achievements could never compare to testing their mettle firsthand.

It didn’t matter if Evan couldn’t win. He was prepared for that.

He merely wanted to find out where his own strength stood in this world.

Looked at that way…

Damn. He was actually starting to look forward to it.

According to Alden, however, the “expert team” would not arrive for roughly another fifteen days.

Before then, Evan wanted to deal with the trouble in his own backyard.

* * *

An invisible scout Puffcap silently folded its wings and hung upside down from a jagged ridge of stone.

At the opposite end of the cavern, a spatial rift had torn a gaping wound through the rock wall with overwhelming force. Aside from the Monster Tide, it was the largest and most vicious rift Evan had ever seen.

An unnatural glow flickered within it as a deathly chill poured ceaselessly from its depths.

Everything ahead of the Puffcap’s perch lay beneath a layer of ice.

Evan was still debating whether to send the scout Puffcap closer despite the bitter cold when an enormous Eyebeast silently “swam” out of the dark rift.

Its colossal eye fixed instantly and unerringly upon the invisible Puffcap hanging from the distant cavern ceiling.

A deathly pale ray crossed most of the cavern in an instant and struck the Puffcap with perfect accuracy.

The moment it was hit, the Puffcap’s transparent body stiffened and froze. Unable to maintain its grip, it fell straight from the rocky ledge.

As it plummeted, its body visibly turned to lifeless gray-white stone, inch by inch.

It slammed into the ice-covered ground below. With a dull, brutal crack, it shattered into a cold heap of rubble devoid of any trace of life.

The encounter had been so brief that Evan managed only a single glance at the creature’s basic information.

[Species: Kyth Evil Eye]

[Level: LV50]

How had the rift already grown so large?

If it grew much larger, it would rival the rift from the Monster Tide.

Come to think of it, the rift suppressed by the Slime had grown considerably as well. What had once been the size of a fist was now roughly half again as large. Fortunately, the bicolored Slime was enormous and looked capable of keeping it sealed for quite some time.

What Evan feared most was one crisis following another until the Deep Strata became a free-for-all with only one survivor—or none.

The cavern containing the Kyth rift was separated from the former Serpent Den, now Puffcap Fortress, by only three interconnected caverns. It was neither particularly close nor comfortably distant, occupying a troubling position just within the perimeter Evan needed to watch.

In fact, ever since their defeat at the Serpent Den, the Kyth had clearly begun avoiding areas covered by his mycelial mats. They seemed wary of the Puffcaps.

Evan had nevertheless tracked them down with his scout Puffcaps.

The search proved much easier than expected. Every cavern the Kyth cleared was far too “clean.”

Their near-predatory harvesting left no trace of life behind. Even the moss and lichen were stripped away, leaving nothing but bare, lifeless rock.

By following the trail of emptied caverns, Evan located the rift within a few days.

After scout Puffcap Number One was killed in action, Evan immediately sent out Numbers Two and Three to conduct a circular reconnaissance sweep around the rift.

Their findings were simple. The Kyth were conducting a vast and bloody hunt throughout the dungeon depths.

Like tireless butchers, they swept through the dark underground caverns.

Flesh, plants, and even Mana Crystals were collected and transported back to their lair.

Evan even discovered their “supply wagons,” a type of monster called the [Kyth Hauler].

Each creature had eight short, thick legs covered in hard calluses, supporting a cumbersome but remarkably stable body.

Their most striking feature was an enormous stomach sac that nearly dragged along the ground, releasing dull gurgles as it slowly churned.

Their heads resembled oversized suction devices. Whenever their vast mouths opened and closed, they produced a deep droning hum. Scattered scraps of meat, broken carapaces, and even nutrient-soaked dirt and gravel were all sucked inside at once.

Once their stomach sacs were full, the Haulers turned around and slowly crawled back into the depths of the rift.

Every group of Kyth Haulers traveled with an armed escort, evidently because these “transport wagons” possessed little ability to defend themselves.

Evan’s expansion brought life and order to the caverns.

Whenever he conquered a new cavern, he built a thriving kingdom of mycelial mats. Mushrooms dotted the landscape while Puffcaps traveled through it, transforming each cavern into a self-sufficient ecological node.

The Kyth were different. They knew only destructive plunder.

They didn’t appear to have any intention of moving their nest out of the rift. They merely wanted to use it as a base while stripping the surrounding region of resources.

Of course, they didn’t enter every cavern. They avoided those occupied by powerful monsters, stayed away from the intense heat of volcanic caverns, and now steered clear of mycelial mats as well.

Their harvesting had even significantly reduced the pressure from wild monster incursions on Evan’s first few caverns.

Honestly, if the Kyth had been farther away, perhaps seven or eight caverns distant, Evan wouldn’t have bothered with them.

Their operational range was limited by their supply lines, after all.

But with only three caverns between them, Puffcap Fortress was close enough to suffer an attack at any moment.

Driving the Kyth back through their rift clearly wouldn’t be easy.

Even setting aside whether Evan could defeat them, the frigid temperatures around the rift were more than his Puffcaps could endure.

After digesting the last batch of beetles, Evan’s [Cold Resistance] had finally reached LV5. That was enough for his Puffcaps to operate near the rift, but their condition would deteriorate.

In Evan’s estimation, [Cold Resistance] would need to reach LV6 or even LV7 before the Puffcaps could function normally in that bitter cold.

Naturally, the best way to improve [Cold Resistance] was through the Kyth emerging from the rift.

His mycelial mats had already begun advancing toward Kyth territory along two fronts, one visible and one hidden. The hidden advance consisted of burrower Puffcaps tunneling forward while scattering spores throughout their underground network.

The time for a decisive battle was still far off. Evan couldn’t allow the Kyth to interfere with the progress of his expedition, or he would be sacrificing his true objective for a secondary concern. That left him with enough capacity for only about six hundred Puffcaps.

With his forces below full strength, Evan naturally turned his attention toward the comparatively weak “supply units.”

* * *

In a cavern filled with enormous webs, several agile, reptilian Kyth used sharp blades to sever the points where the webs connected to the rock walls.

Once every connection had been cut, the webs and the remains of the prey tangled within them fell to the ground, where more than a dozen Kyth Haulers swallowed everything.

As for the webs’ original owners, the Kyth assault force had exterminated them the previous day.

An Eyebeast the size of a ball floated in the center of the cavern, turning continuously as it scanned its surroundings.

At a certain moment, its half-closed eye snapped fully open. A silent signal spread throughout the cavern and traveled into the distance.

It had spotted the approaching Puffcaps.

Every Kyth Hauler stopped feeding and began lumbering toward the rift. Unfortunately for them, even at full speed, they were painfully slow.

The escorting monsters charged in the opposite direction, attempting to occupy favorable ground near the tunnel entrance.

Its experience during the previous battle had taught the Eyebeast that the Puffcaps possessed overwhelming ranged firepower. The Kyth needed to engage them near a tunnel entrance, where the bend in the passage would provide cover and force the enemy into close combat.

Unfortunately, the Puffcaps were faster.

More than a dozen scale-covered Puffcaps rolled into balls and burst from the tunnel first. They plunged straight into the Kyth ranks and detonated with thunderous blasts, never slowing for an instant.

The explosions hurled their scales in every direction like shrapnel. Scores of Kyth were pierced through. They survived, but could no longer fight.

The devastating attack brought the Kyth charge to a brief halt. They attempted to spread out instead of remaining packed together in such a dense formation.

Otherwise, Evan wouldn’t even need his ranged Puffcaps. A few more waves of Detonation Puffcaps would annihilate the entire escort force.

The Kyth were trying to reorganize, but Evan had no intention of waiting.

The Puffcaps smoothly took up their firing positions and subjected the Kyth to a barrage.

The already limited escort force was almost completely wiped out after three volleys from the Spore Cannons.

Meanwhile, the Kyth Haulers hadn’t even made it out of the cavern and into the passage. They were helpless prey awaiting slaughter.

Realizing the battle was lost, the Eyebeast attempted to flee.

Its body blurred and vanished from sight.

Under the combined perception of [Mana Sense] and [Echolocation], however, Evan could still see its position perfectly.

The Eyebeast was high overhead, making it difficult for the Puffcaps on the ground to hit. Several batwing Puffcaps soon blasted into the air after it.

Half of them lost control and spiraled wildly through the cavern, but four managed to catch up using [Jetstream Propulsion].

Four explosions rang out. The Eyebeast’s shattered body plummeted alongside a cloud of drifting hyphae.

Despite being above LV30, the creature had pitifully little HP. It couldn’t have survived the Detonation of two Puffcaps, much less four.

Once the Eyebeast was destroyed, the dozen or so Kyth Haulers on the ground descended into chaos. They huddled together, trembling, while the Puffcaps swaggered toward them.

Then [Echolocation] detected something large approaching from the direction of the Kyth’s lair.

It was round, but it wasn’t an Eyebeast. The thing was nearly the size of a hot-air balloon.

Evan easily guessed what it was. The Kyth Evil Eye from last time!

He assessed his own forces. He called it an army of six hundred Puffcaps, but nearly a hundred of them were pack Puffcaps.

Killing the enemy wasn’t the true objective. Hauling the corpses back for decomposition was.

Could fewer than five hundred Puffcaps defeat a LV50 monster?

Evan honestly thought they could.

Eyebeasts were terribly fragile. Surely the similarly eyeball-shaped Kyth Evil Eye couldn’t have much HP either.

Besides, he had brought a full range of Puffcap variants this time.

There were rolling Puffcaps equipped with Detonation, batwing Puffcaps equipped with Detonation, artillery Puffcaps, and even an artillery Puffcap variant capable of spraying Digestive Ooze.

Even if the Kyth Evil Eye’s ray could kill an entire row of Puffcaps in a single shot, the rest should still have plenty of time to attack.

The Puffcaps didn’t have to wait long. Although the Kyth Evil Eye moved by floating, it wasn’t slow. It soon entered the cavern.

The moment it came within range of [Mana Sense], Evan opened its Status Panel.

[Level: LV50]

It was indeed the same one as before.

[HP: 1480]

Despite its enormous size, it had only that much HP. It truly was a fragile monster.

As soon as the Kyth Evil Eye entered the cavern, the Puffcaps spread out and charged.

Based on their previous encounter, the Kyth Evil Eye’s range far exceeded that of the Puffcaps. This time, it was their turn to close the distance.

The batwing Puffcaps and rolling Puffcaps once again led the charge.

The Kyth Evil Eye stopped at a distance. Faced with the surging Puffcap army, its colossal pupil abruptly dilated to its limit.

[Petrifying Ray LV8]

Every batwing Puffcap and rolling Puffcap at the front was struck by the petrification effect. Gray-white patches of stone immediately appeared across their bodies.

The petrification wasn’t as rapid as it had been with the scout Puffcap, but even the sudden stiffening of part of their bodies was enough to throw them completely off balance at such high speeds.

In an instant, the Puffcaps lost control. Some smashed into the jagged cavern walls and shattered. Others tore themselves apart from the friction of tumbling across the ground and collapsed where they fell.

The entire Detonation force had been wiped out in a single attack!

Strangely, the artillery Puffcaps that had yet to approach were completely unaffected by the petrification.

It seemed that using the attack over such a wide area weakened both its potency and its range.

Even so, Evan didn’t dare let the Puffcaps move any closer.

Against a midrange area attack, their numerical advantage meant nothing. They were better off sacrificing accuracy and attacking from extreme range.

Evan ordered the Puffcaps to open fire from their current positions.

At a distance of nearly five hundred and fifty yards, their accuracy was appalling even with [Precision], despite the Kyth Evil Eye’s enormous size.

Evan couldn’t determine the exact range of its area attack, so he could only order his forces to keep firing and wear it down as much as possible. Any damage they could inflict was better than none.

But then…

A few lucky shots finally crossed the distance and hurtled toward the Kyth Evil Eye’s massive body, only to strike an invisible mana barrier a moment before impact. The barrier rippled faintly, and the shots vanished without a trace.

The Kyth Evil Eye took no damage whatsoever.

Evan had no choice but to examine its Skill List more carefully.

[Skills: Petrifying Ray LV8, Mana Shield LV8, Cold Resistance LV8, Mana Sense LV7…]

Mana Shield?

The Kyth Evil Eye’s massive body had already floated within three hundred and thirty yards. More and more Spore Cannon shots began finding their target.

Yet all they produced were rings of futile mana ripples. They inflicted no damage at all.

Since the Spore Cannons were ineffective, Evan wanted to test whether Digestive Ooze could hurt it. Unfortunately, that attack had an even shorter range, and the Kyth Evil Eye had already unleashed [Petrifying Ray] again.

Under the deathly pale light, whole swaths of Puffcaps turned to stone. The dozen or so Kyth Haulers were petrified along with them.

Apparently, the area attack couldn’t distinguish friend from foe, just like Evan’s [Infrasonic Attack].

Before long, hundreds of stone figures stood throughout the cavern in different poses, silent and lifeless.

The force Evan had sent to launch the ambush…

Hadn’t been completely wiped out!

Three batwing Puffcaps had escaped the attack.

Some had hidden behind rocks, while others had taken cover behind fellow Puffcaps.

[Petrifying Ray] clearly couldn’t penetrate obstacles.

When the Kyth Evil Eye stopped attacking, believing its work complete, three dark shapes burst from their hiding places like arrows loosed from bowstrings.

[Jetstream Propulsion]

One immediately lost control, slammed into the ground, and destroyed itself.

The other two made it through.

Caught off guard, the Kyth Evil Eye had time only to glare. A single-target shot turned one Puffcap to stone in midair, but the last batwing Puffcap successfully reached it.

The Kyth Evil Eye tried to strike the Puffcap with the tentacles floating around its eye, but the Puffcap triggered Detonation first.

The Mana Shield rippled violently, no longer repelling the attack with the effortless ease it had shown against the Spore Cannons.

It was like setting off a small charge of gunpowder beside an eye. The explosion nearly knocked the Kyth Evil Eye out of the air, and the light within its pupil dimmed considerably.

Although it had lost less than one-sixth of its HP, the Kyth Evil Eye no longer dared to advance. Its enormous body wheeled around in panic, then fled into the dark passage at an even greater speed than it had arrived.

It quickly vanished beyond Evan’s detection range.

…

…

…

A costly draw, then!

The Kyth supply column had been wiped out, but so had Evan’s ambush force.

Still, he had gained a considerable amount of information.

Evan now had a general understanding of the Kyth Evil Eye’s attack patterns. As for its [Mana Shield], it appeared highly effective against mana-based attacks. It still offered some protection against physical attacks, but the effect was clearly much weaker.

That meant Evan could devise specific countermeasures for their next encounter.

None of that was the real issue, however.

This was the first enemy Evan had encountered that could eliminate cannon-fodder Puffcaps over such a vast area.

Even Fifteen could only shred everything within thirty-three feet. The Kyth Evil Eye’s area attack, by contrast, had a radius of roughly three hundred and thirty yards.

The result was clear. Evan’s tactic of spreading a battle line across the field with overwhelming numbers of Puffcaps had failed.

After some consideration, Evan decided to improve the Puffcaps’ base attributes and create several specialized variants.

His first priority was countering the Kyth Evil Eye. He needed Puffcaps capable of holding the front line and blocking its vision.

Bulwark Puffcaps came to mind. Their large bodies made them suitable cover for other Puffcaps.

A massive body and high Constitution wouldn’t be enough, however. Their Strength stat would also need to be raised appropriately, or the bulwark Puffcaps would move too slowly.

To resist petrification, Evan planned to give them either [Stone Eater] or [Chitinous Shell].

The former could encase their bodies in thick stone armor. Surely [Petrifying Ray] couldn’t petrify something that was already stone.

Evan wasn’t certain whether [Chitinous Shell] could stop petrification, but a carapace was obviously much lighter than stone armor and would require far less stat investment.

He also intended to equip them with [Magic Resistance LV6], a skill he had barely used before. As Evan understood it, petrification should qualify as a magical attack.

Finally, there was [Heavy Armor Mastery LV5], contributed by the humans. The skill both enhanced defensive effectiveness and reduced the restrictions heavy armor placed on movement, making it essential for any proper tank.

Using that foundation, Evan also planned to create several variants equipped with additions such as Spore Cannon, Hallucinogenic Spores, and Detonation.

Fifth Stratum, mushroom forest.

Standing ten feet tall, clad in scales beneath a heavy layer of rock armor, and even capable of spewing poisonous mist, the heavy-armored Puffcap made its dazzling debut with 50 Stamina and 30 Strength!

Incidentally, Evan had saved it a skill slot by having another bulwark Puffcap use [Stone Eater] to produce the rock armor, then removing the armor afterward.

The process inevitably stripped away a layer of hyphae from the bulwark Puffcap, but that would grow back, so it wasn’t a serious problem.

Among the different variants Evan had considered for the heavy-armored Puffcap, [Spore Cannon] was the first to be eliminated.

Its supporting build required too many skills, making it prohibitively expensive. Its stat requirements also favored Intelligence, which didn’t suit the heavy-armored Puffcap’s role at all.

[Hallucinogenic Spores] was a better fit, since it wasn’t constrained by stat requirements.

The most compatible option should actually have been [Detonation]. The higher the Stamina stat, the more powerful Detonation became.

But these heavy-armored Puffcaps were supposed to serve as tanks.

All of Evan’s damage dealers would be standing behind them. If one of the tanks used Detonation, it might wipe out its own side.

There was a reason this heavy-armored Puffcap had been created on the Fifth Stratum instead of in the Deep Strata.

Evan needed Sable to help test its defenses. Accordingly, this heavy-armored Puffcap had been equipped with [Physical Resistance LV7] instead of [Magic Resistance LV6].

“Sable, wake up. No more sleeping.”

“Mmm…”

Inside a room covered in silver scales, Sable’s head emerged from a pile of glass marbles.

She remained groggy for some time before finally realizing that Boss was calling her.

Sable carefully tried to pull herself free of the pile. Despite moving as gently as possible, she still heard two crisp cracks.

She picked up the two crushed marbles, and her spirits visibly sank.

Evan had no words.

Ever since Sable had collected enough glass marbles to fill her room, she had gone through this ritual every morning.

Normally, Evan would leave her alone until she finished mourning them. Today, however, he had a test to conduct.

“Sable, come help me. I’ll give you a ruby when we’re done!”

Sable’s sadness vanished at once. Even her golden pupils seemed to shine brighter.

A gemstone!

She knew those were shinies even prettier than glass marbles!

They were like the pair of earrings hanging from the scales on her tail.

Unfortunately, gemstones were much harder to find than glass marbles. Usually, only Boss had them.

Although she had stopped grieving, Sable still carefully buried the two broken marbles in a small hole beside her mushroom house. Only then did she hurry to the clearing as Evan had instructed.

Clad in thick rock armor, the heavy-armored Puffcap stood twice as tall as Sable. Side by side, it looked as though it could send her flying with a single kick.

“Sable, hit it!”

“Hit Puffcap?” Sable was confused.

She loved eating Puffcaps, but she never hit them. Puffcaps were too fragile. Even a slightly forceful touch could break them.

“Yes. Hit that Puffcap as hard as you can, and you’ll get a ruby!”

Sable was still confused, but Boss had said she would receive a shiny if she used all her strength. Obediently, she raised one of her rather sizable claws and drew her body taut like a bow.

Evan was confident. In terms of raw defense, this Puffcap was even tougher than a knight Puffcap.

Knight Puffcaps needed to remain agile, so Evan had never covered them in rock armor.

This wasn’t ordinary stone, either. Rock armor produced by [Stone Eater LV8] was immensely dense and extremely durable. Combined with the Puffcap’s scales and resistance, it could withstand a prolonged barrage from Evan’s own Spore Cannons.

Even Sable should need several full-strength blows to break through it.

A black blur flashed.

BOOM!

The ten-foot heavy-armored Puffcap and its supposedly indestructible rock armor exploded without warning, as though someone had packed its insides with gunpowder and set it off.

Dust billowed through the clearing. Fragments of stone and Puffcap tissue rained down, shattered so thoroughly that there was no hope of putting them back together.

“Ah… Well… You didn’t have to hit it quite that hard…”

Now Evan felt like crying.

Seriously? Was his strongest defensive build really that fragile?

Was LV60 truly this powerful?

Sable stood amid the wreckage, fidgeting with her claws.

“Can I have gemstone?”

“Yes, yes…”

A nearby Puffcap produced a crystal-clear ruby. Sable reached out in delight and carried both the ruby and the Puffcap back to her nest.

Evan noticed that one of the black scales on the back of her claw had been knocked slightly askew, with a thin trace of blood seeping from beneath it.

He opened her Status Panel. She had indeed lost a sliver of HP, though it returned to full almost immediately.

So Sable had only just managed to shatter it with a full-strength blow?

That made Evan feel a little better.

This was an expensive unit. If it died in one blow like any ordinary grunt, all that mana would have gone to waste!

* * *

Deep Strata.

Evan’s twenty painstakingly designed heavy-armored Puffcaps had only just been deployed when the front line delivered what could only be called “good news.”

“Boss! We… We lost!”

Covered in dust and grime, Piglet fled back to the forward base with barely a hundred Puffcaps remaining. The base was situated in the former Serpent Den.

A ferocious Kyth pursuit force followed close behind them.

The Serpent Den, however, had changed beyond recognition.

After relentless reconstruction by the Puffcaps day and night, the natural labyrinth of winding passages and narrow tunnels had been transformed into a fortress of death.

The cramped corridors had been reinforced layer upon layer. Concealed Spore Cannon firing ports and lethal crossfire positions covered every approach.

Detonation Puffcaps lay buried beneath the floors, while spore Puffcaps capable of releasing poisonous mist hid along the ceilings.

With the hundred Puffcaps already stationed inside the fortress joining the defense, Louisa managed to halt the pursuing Kyth by relying on the fortifications. Once reinforcements arrived, they finally drove the attackers back.

“B-Boss…”

Louisa knelt obediently with her head bowed after the defeat. Behind her stood the five heavy-armored Puffcaps that had rushed over as emergency reinforcements.

Evan didn’t make things difficult for Piglet. This truly hadn’t been her fault.

The Expeditionary Force had been fighting a motley assortment of wild monsters in another cavern when the Kyth suddenly attacked from a passage behind them, catching the entire force by surprise.

This wasn’t a formation composed of a single type of monster, either. It was a mixed force built around a Kyth Evil Eye. In addition to familiar species such as Kyth Pincer Beetles and Kyth Sixclaws, Evan saw many other varieties of Kyth.

The Kyth Evil Eye’s arrival had been nothing short of catastrophic for the Puffcap army. Entire swaths of cannon-fodder Puffcaps were turned to stone.

Louisa attempted to launch a surprise attack, but the equally fearless Kyth forces blocked her with their own bodies.

During the attempt that came closest to succeeding, Louisa used the complex terrain and the Detonations of several guard Puffcaps as cover. She tore open a path through the enemy and forced her way within one hundred and ten yards of the Kyth Evil Eye.

She gathered the surrounding Kyth blood into a purple spear and hurled it at the Kyth Evil Eye.

The Mana Shield delayed it for a moment. That brief obstruction was enough to divert the lethal strike, and the spear ultimately pierced only the tip of one of the Kyth Evil Eye’s thrashing tentacles.

The assault failed. With most of the Puffcap army dead, Louisa could only lead the survivors from the battlefield while the Kyth pursued them relentlessly.

The Kyth had suffered one minor setback and immediately rushed to retaliate.

What they didn’t know was that Evan had originally intended to use a force of only six hundred Puffcaps to conduct small-scale harassment operations against them in the Deep Strata, minimizing any disruption to the Expeditionary Force.

Now the Kyth had attacked the Expeditionary Force directly.

In that case, Evan would make this a full-scale war.

“Cheers!” all four shouted together.

Bugle, Old Hammer, Amie, and Noah had gathered around a table at the first light of dawn. The tavern’s murky light had yet to dispel the shadows of the previous night, but amid a wreckage of cups and plates, the four had already begun another day of debauchery.

As the first party to think of taking advantage of the “Puffcap lottery,” they had spent two full days dawdling between the dungeon’s Fourth and Fifth Strata. Only when their packs could no longer hold another prize had they reluctantly returned to the surface.

Without question, they had profited more than anyone else from the lottery frenzy.

The parties in the second wave, including Vera’s, had also gained their share of benefits, but none could compare to them.

They had made more than two hundred gold coins. Even divided four ways, their earnings surpassed those of the adventurers who had joined the expedition and risked their lives in the dungeon.

What did adventurers do when they came into money?

Noah deposited most of his share. The other three immediately plunged into a celebration.

They no longer drank the Bent Willow Tavern’s cheapest swill. The rich aroma of proper ale had taken its place.

Several rounds later, cups clinked across the table as Old Hammer picked at his teeth. He narrowed his eyes and nodded toward Bugle.

“Hey, Bugle. Remember pulling a silver pendant from the lottery?”

“What… what pendant?” Proper ale had a kick to it, and Bugle was already slurring his words. His unfocused eyes wandered as he searched the depths of his memory.

“The one that sly bastard Buck bought from you afterward,” Old Hammer added, taking another sip of ale.

Bugle had won a heap of miscellaneous trinkets on that trip. How could he possibly remember one specific piece? He did, however, remember the name Buck. That was the merchant who had bought a large bundle of their assorted jewelry.

“Oh… Right, there was something like that. What about it?” Bugle asked, swaying in his seat.

“That pendant,” Amie cut in, sounding deeply aggrieved on Bugle’s behalf, “belonged to Solaryn, squad leader of the Wings of Judgment! Buck had some nerve. He turned around and sold it back to its original owner for ten whole gold coins!”

Buck had raised his voice to draw attention and protect himself at the time, but in doing so, he had also spread the news.

“Ten gold coins?!” Bugle nearly sprayed a mouthful of ale across the table. His eyes bulged, and it took him several moments to recover. Then he waved a hand dismissively. “He had the nerve, so good for him. I’d never dare name that price to the Church.”

“But here’s the thing.” Old Hammer set down his cup and tapped one finger softly against the table. His voice dropped, taking on a mysterious edge. “No one’s seen Buck for several days.”

“What do you mean?” The news seemed to sober Bugle somewhat.

“Exactly what I said.” Old Hammer shrugged, his gaze moving across the table. “I went to the places he usually frequents and asked around. Everyone said they haven’t seen him at all these past few days.”

“You mean… the Church…?” Amie frowned slightly, uncertainty coloring her voice.

Noah, who had been listening quietly, abruptly raised his head. His brow furrowed as he cut her off in an unusually grave tone.

“The Church would never do such a thing!”

He didn’t speak loudly, but his conviction left no room for doubt. Even if he was only an apprentice priest, Noah wouldn’t tolerate anyone slandering the Church.

Old Hammer glanced at him without expression. “I never said the Church did it. Maybe Buck felt guilty and left Hushwind on his own.”

A brief silence settled over the table, broken only by clinking cups and the muffled din from farther inside the tavern.

Amie cleared her throat and broke the uncomfortable lull, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. “Speaking of strange things, have you heard? There seem to be a lot fewer Puffcaps in the dungeon lately. Do you think something’s about to happen?”

* * *

Something was indeed happening, but it was taking place in the Deep Strata.

In Cavern Four, a modestly sized Snailwood grew at the center of a mycelial mat. Ten Cavernkin guards lived inside it.

Now only eight remained.

When the Kyth Sixclaws crept in, Evan detected them immediately. Even so, two confused Cavernkin were killed in the surprise attack before they understood what was happening.

The survivors retreated into the Snailwood with the Puffcaps and used the natural fortress to resist the Kyth Pincer Beetles that followed.

The Snailwood had yet to mature, however, and its walls weren’t hard enough. A Kyth Sixclaw tore frantically at the wooden barrier, sending splinters flying.

It was about to break through.

A bat streaked through the air, but instead of diving toward the battle, it pursued an Eyebeast hovering near the edge of the passage.

The Eyebeast sensed the threat. Several tailed Kyth nearby immediately curled their tails around stones and hurled them at the bat.

The bat darted nimbly between the flying rocks without suffering a scratch.

By the time the Eyebeast tried to flee, it was already too late.

The bat plunged sharply downward. Louisa’s form emerged in midair, carrying the full momentum of the dive. Blood instantly wrapped around her right arm, and with a fierce whistle through the air, she crushed the fragile Eyebeast in one hand.

Purple fluid sprayed everywhere.

The Kyth besieging the Snailwood immediately fell into disarray. Puffcap reinforcements arriving from a neighboring cavern seized the opportunity to attack and quickly slaughtered the remaining enemies.

After the battle, the Cavernkin helped the Puffcaps throw the corpses onto the mycelial mat for decomposition.

Evan planned to enhance the Cavernkin that had performed best and reacted fastest. Nothing excessive. He would simply strengthen one of its skills as a reward, allowing it to distinguish itself from the others.

Elsewhere, a group of Puffcaps ambushed a Kyth supply column and swiftly eliminated eight Kyth Haulers and their escort guards.

When they cut open the Haulers’ swollen abdomens, however, the expected supplies didn’t spill out.

Only heavy stones rolled onto the ground.

A trap!

By the time Evan realized it, it was already too late. Tides of Kyth forces surged from three surrounding passages and soon swallowed the three-hundred-strong Puffcap strike force.

The chain of more than twenty interconnected caverns between Evan and the Kyth had become a brutal meat grinder. Both sides shifted constantly between attack and defense, striking and counterstriking without pause.

The vicious tug-of-war had reduced the battlefield to barren stone. Apart from scattered hyphae, every other monster had naturally disappeared.

Now that the conflict had escalated into a full-scale war, Evan had finally witnessed the Kyth’s intelligence.

They were capable of more than ambushes and surprise attacks. Their ability to learn was astonishing.

The same trap almost never worked twice. Worse, they would learn from it and use it against Evan, biting back hard.

This annihilation battle, in which they had used a supply column as bait to lure their enemy into an ambush, had been learned directly from Evan’s previous tactics.

The current situation was simple. The Kyth continually learned Evan’s tactics, while Evan continually absorbed the Kyth’s skills, primarily [Cold Resistance] and [Refractive Invisibility].

The Eyebeasts also possessed useful reconnaissance skills, but there were too few of them to provide much proficiency.

Evan coveted the Kyth Evil Eye’s skills even more, but he had yet to find an opportunity to kill it.

The problem wasn’t that his heavy-armored Puffcaps were insufficiently powerful. Evan was deliberately holding them back from the ongoing war of attrition.

The heavy-armored Puffcaps weren’t exactly sluggish, but they certainly weren’t fast. They had no hope of matching the Kyth Evil Eye’s floating speed.

If the enemy discovered how difficult the heavy-armored Puffcaps were to defeat, the intelligent Kyth would undoubtedly withdraw the Kyth Evil Eye without hesitation. After that, they would probably switch to even more troublesome hit-and-run attacks.

Evan didn’t have time to waste on that.

He was waiting for the decisive battle, a killing ground where the Kyth Evil Eye and a vast number of Kyth forces could be trapped with no avenue of escape.

That final battlefield was almost ready.

A colossal mushroom towered from the center of Cavern Eight, which connected directly to the forward base. Nothing else like it had ever appeared before. Its cap nearly touched the cavern ceiling, radiating a faint but steady glow that made it the undisputed center of the entire space.

Puffcaps emerged from beneath the giant mushroom one after another, like soldiers rolling off an assembly line.

As soon as they appeared, they rapidly assembled into silent, orderly formations. Then they were dispatched to other caverns and thrown into battle against the Kyth.

The cavern’s defenses were extraordinarily tight. Puffcap patrols moved constantly through every connecting passage, while dense flocks of batwing Puffcaps swept through the air, searching every corner.

Despite its best efforts to conceal itself with [Refractive Invisibility LV7], an Eyebeast was driven into a corner by several batwing Puffcaps, which eventually detected its presence.

The surrounding batwing Puffcaps pounced at once. After a series of brief explosions, nothing remained of the Eyebeast but a heap of mangled flesh giving off wisps of smoke.

Similar incidents had occurred repeatedly over the past two days. The Kyth had persistently sent reconnaissance units to infiltrate the cavern in an attempt to gather intelligence.

Today, they finally succeeded.

While the explosion drew away most of the batwing Puffcaps, another Eyebeast seized upon the resulting gap. It silently slipped through what had been an airtight surveillance net and successfully infiltrated Cavern Eight.

Then it saw everything.

T