Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 442 - 433: Return to the Original Owner

Looking at Edin, who returned to the basement with the night owl, and the Puki surrounding him, Nova felt as if an invisible hand had clenched his heart tightly, an indescribable sourness and regret surging within him.

"So... I used it too soon?" The tone of this capable captain rarely carried a trace of tearfulness.

The night owl wiped the bloodstains off her face, showing a hint of sympathy, and nodded lightly.

She raised the wood core in front of Nova’s eyes and tentatively asked, "Well... can it be replenished?"

Nova bitterly smiled and shook his head. Where is it so easy?

The life force he sacrificed entered the night owl’s body but did not transform into her lifespan; it merely fully restored her physical state.

Even if the night owl now used the same method to give back, it could only improve his current weakness, with no benefit to the life force that had already slipped away.

Instead, Gall needed to supplement this state more.

"There’s a simpler method to treat Gall." Edin timely interjected, pointing at the knight Puki perched on his head.

Nova and the night owl exchanged a glance; they knew about Puki Masters, having even seen quite a few, understanding somewhat about their robust life force reputation.

In the past, they despised this way of symbiosis with alien objects, but the current dire situation made this a much better option than further consuming the night owl’s life.

They just had never witnessed the transformation process firsthand, inevitably hesitating.

"Are you confident?" the night owl cautiously asked.

Edin’s tone was confident, "Rest assured, I have plenty of experience."

Looking at the powerful Puki around Edin, particularly the one perched on his head, he had never heard of such a formidable Puki Master, making Edin’s words rather authoritative.

After a brief exchange, the two agreed to Edin’s suggestion.

Edin gently shook the knight Puki, and spores evenly sprinkled on Gall’s dying body, quickly completing the parasitic process.

However, to appear more reliable, Edin feigned seriousness for a while longer before stopping.

With the mycelium merging into flesh and blood, Gall’s breathing became steady and strong in less than half an hour, and his injury visibly improved.

Nova and the night owl finally sighed in relief.

Then they looked over at Ivan.

Unfortunately, Ivan’s vital signs were almost intact; his coma purely resulted from the side effects after using an S-Class Demon Crystal.

[Status: Super Magic · Mental Overload]

The name of this adverse status sounded mighty, but unfortunately, the mycelium was powerless against non-physical damage.

Edin looked at Nova again, "Do you want to also...?"

Nova thought for a moment but still declined.

The night owl had already quietly withdrawn to the far distance, and Edin wisely did not ask further.

After roughly stabilizing, Edin took out the only remaining S-Class Demon Crystal on him, "Nova, you know my purpose for this trip."

Nova gently pushed the Demon Crystal back, "Edin, thank you for risking to save us; without you, we might have already died here. We cannot accept this Demon Crystal anymore; once we reach a safe area, treat that piece of wood core as gratitude for saving us."

Nova’s gratitude was genuine, but the implication was that the wood core as repayment would be presented only after they reached a safe place.

Lin Jun looked at the panel of the Yesheng Wood Core, eager to keep it stored away. Having his belongings with others never felt secure; if any further complications arose...

The knight Puki increased its grip on Edin’s head slightly.

"I will escort you out of this elemental spirit-devastated area," following the instructions, Edin ultimately chose a compromise, "but afterwards, I must return immediately to report."

Nova and Edin exchanged a glance and finally nodded, agreeing to this transaction.

With the aid of the Puki Army, breaking the siege became much easier.

The Puki steadily lifted the three injured individuals, while Edin, the knight Puki, and the night owl focused all their efforts on handling the threats along the way.

Although there were quite a few elemental spirits around, Diamond Level ones were relatively rare.

And guided by Lin Jun’s sense, they could always avoid these threats in advance.

Finally, they smoothly reached the edge of the fungal mat discovered by Edin on his way here, and by then, the fungal mat had extended quite a distance forward.

At the agreed location, as promised, Nova let the night owl take out the wood core, while Edin insisted on returning the S-Class Demon Crystal to Nova.

Nova: "No... we said this wasn’t going to..."

Edin interrupted him, glancing at Ivan, who was placed on the fungal mat, "He also saved my life back then. This is to repay him."

Hearing Edin say this, Nova no longer declined.

He accepted the Demon Crystal, sincerely thanking with the night owl, then they each carried a team member on their backs, heading south.

In the low murmur of the night owl grumbling in Elf Language about Gall’s weight, the figure of the Silver Thorn Squad gradually faded from Edin’s sight.

Of course, Lin Jun could still track them at any time through the fungal mat network.

However, all his attention was now drawn to that super skill, having no time for anything else!

The knight Puki eagerly took the wood core from Edin’s hands and inserted it directly into its body.

Afterwards, more than thirty Elite Puki under Edin’s command all scrambled back to form a line, diving into the underground fungal mycelium network one by one.

The Puki joined like links in the network, with the knight Puki carrying the wood core tightly guarded in the center, while cannon fodder Puki continuously emerged from branches of the network, joining in defense, ensuring absolute safety.

A long line of Puki moved underground unnoticed, rolling towards the Pujie Dungeon direction.

And then, there was Edin.

"Edin! You’ve done brilliantly this time! I must reward you with an oversized S-Class Demon Crystal! Oversized!" Lin Jun’s excited voice echoed in Edin’s mind, then he thoughtfully asked, "By the way, can you return by yourself? Do you need some Puki for escort?"

Edin tactfully declined the boss’s courteous arrangement of thirty cannon fodder Puki, expressing that it was more convenient to use the Illusion Technique for stealth alone.

Lin Jun felt gratified, promptly focusing all his attention on escorting the knight Puki, even causing a slight disorder in Inanna’s troop of "eighty thousand Puki."

...

Meanwhile, deep inside the Divine Wood Dungeon.

A cannon fodder Puki, carrying a voice Puki, arrived at the sapling.

"Boss! Boss! I’ve got the goods you wanted!"

After the last incident, Divine Wood shut the back door, and Lin Jun didn’t know how to contact Divine Wood, so he could only shout repeatedly outside.

The voice of the voice Puki echoed repeatedly in the space.

After a long time, the scene suddenly went dark, familiar Abyssal Space, familiar glowing tumbleweed.

The tumbleweed rolled around the Puki in a circle, "Where’s the fragment?"

"I just got it, it’s being delivered, just giving you a heads up, so you won’t..."

Splut—

Before finishing the sentence, both Puki got thrown out.