"Cheers!" X4

The Horn, Old Hammer, Ai Mei, and Noah gathered before dawn, the murky light of the tavern yet to dispel last night's shadows, as they sat around the table in disarray, beginning the prelude to another decadent day.

As the first team to recall the delightful "Puki Lottery," they dawdled between the fourth and fifth floors of the maze for two whole days, reluctant to return to the surface until their bags could no longer hold any prizes.

Without a doubt, they were the most prolific winners of this lottery fever.

Besides them, other teams like Vera's who came down in the second wave got a taste too, but none could match them.

A total of over two hundred gold coins split among the four of them was more lucrative than what the adventurers who risked their lives in the Underground City earned.

What do adventurers do when they get money?

Besides Noah saving most of the gold coins, the other three immediately plunged into revelry.

In the Rotten Willow Tavern, they no longer drank the cheap stuff, instead savoring the rich aroma of malt beer.

After three rounds of drinks, cups clinking, Old Hammer picked his teeth and suddenly squinted, nodding toward Horn, "Hey, Horn, do you remember drawing a silver pendant during the lottery?"

"Wha... what pendant?" Genuine malt beer packs quite a punch, and Horn, already slurring his words and his eyes unfocused, tried to sift through the fog of his memory.

"The one that later got taken by that sly Buck," Old Hammer added, taking another sip of his drink.

With so many random trinkets from Horn's draw, how could he remember any specific item? But the name "Buck" did trigger his recollection—a vendor who had bundled up and taken away their pile of miscellaneous trinkets.

"Oh... yeah, that did happen. So, what of it?" Horn asked, shaking his head.

"That pendant," Ai Mei interjected suddenly, her tone somewhat pained, "belongs to Solalin, the squad leader of the Wing of Judgment! That bold Buck resold it to the original owner for a whopping 10 gold coins!"

Buck's raised voice at the time drew quite a bit of attention, protecting him while also spreading the news.

"10 gold coins?!" Horn almost spat out the beer in his mouth, staring wide-eyed, taking a moment to regain his composure before waving it off, "Well, he's got guts, that's clever. No way I'd dare quote such a price to the Church."

"But what I wanted to say," Old Hammer put down his glass, lightly tapping the table, lowering his voice with a touch of mystery, "is that Buck... hasn't been seen for several days now."

"What do you mean?" Horn's intoxication seemed to lift slightly at the news.

Old Hammer shrugged, his eyes scanning the tabletop, "I mean just that. I've specifically checked the places he frequents, and others say they haven't seen him around lately."

"Are you suggesting... the Church...?" Ai Mei's brows furrowed slightly, a hint of uneasy doubt in her voice.

Quietly listening at the side, Noah suddenly lifted her head, her expression serious as she interrupted, "The Church would never do such a thing!"

Her voice was calm yet firm, carrying an undeniable certainty. Even as an apprentice priest, Noah still wouldn't allow others to slander the Church.

Old Hammer glanced at her with a neutral expression, "I didn't say the Church did anything. It's entirely possible he left Dumb Wind Town of his own accord because of a guilty conscience."

A brief silence settled over the table, only the clinking glasses and distant muffled chatter filling the air.

Clearing her throat, Ai Mei broke the subtle quiet first, trying to change the subject, "Speaking of which, have you heard? There seem to be fewer traces of Puki in the Underground City lately. Is something big about to happen..."

-----------------

Indeed, a change is underway, but it's occurring in the Deep Area.

In the fourth cavern, a not-so-large snail wood stands at the center of a fungal mat, housing ten Cave Dweller guards.

Now, however, only eight remain.

When Chis's Six Claw crept in, even though Lin Jun detected its presence immediately, two bewildered Cave Dwellers were still ambushed and killed.

The remaining Cave Dwellers retreated into the snail wood with the Puki, using this natural fortress to fend off the advancing Chis beetles.

However, the snail wood was yet to fully develop, lacking in hardness. Six Claw tore at the wooden walls frantically, sending splinters flying—it was on the verge of breaking through!

In mid-air, a bat swooped in, not targeting the battlefield, but lunging toward an Eye Worm prowling at the edge of the passage!

Sensing the threat, several Long Tail Chis around it immediately hurled stones at the bat.

The bat nimbly wove through the flying stones, escaping unscathed.

The Eye Worm tried to flee but it was already too late.

The bat suddenly plummeted, and mid-air, Louisa's form appeared, enshrouded in her descent, blood swiftly entangling her right arm, and with a fierce whooshing sound, she crushed the fragile Eye Worm, purple pulp splattering everywhere.

The Chis besieging the snail wood instantly fell into disarray, and the Puki reinforcements from neighboring caverns seized the chance to slaughter the remaining foes quickly.

After the battle, the Cave Dwellers cooperated with the Puki to discard the corpses onto the fungal mat for decomposition.

Lin Jun planned to enhance the Cave Dweller that performed best, with the quickest reaction, albeit slightly, by casually upgrading one of its skills as a reward to make it stand out among the other Cave Dwellers.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, a group of Puki ambushed a Chis convoy, decisively handling eight Clumsy Beasts and their guards. However, upon cutting open the Clumsy Beasts' bulging bellies, instead of the anticipated supplies, only heavy stones rolled out!

A trap!

By the time they realized it, it was too late. From three surrounding passages, a tidal wave of Chis troops surged forth, quickly overwhelming the Puki's three-hundred-strong raiding party.

The twenty or more interconnected caverns between Lin Jun and Chis had devolved into a brutal meat grinder, with both sides exchanging offense and defense.

The terrible seesawing battle turned the battlefield into barren ground, with only sporadic mycelium remaining, as other demons naturally vanished.

Upon escalation to full-scale war, Lin Jun became well-acquainted with the Chis's intelligence.

Not only would they ambush and attack, but they also possessed astonishing learning abilities.

The same trap would rarely succeed twice and would often be turned against Lin Jun with a vicious bite.

The current annihilation battle using a transport team to ambush and lure the enemy deeper was precisely a tactical maneuver learned from Lin Jun's earlier strategies.

Now, Chis continuously studies Lin Jun's tactics while Lin Jun absorbs Chis's skills, focusing on [Cold Resistance] and [Refraction Invisibility].

The scouting skill from Eye Worms could work too, but there are too few to boost proficiency significantly.

The skills from Evil Eyes are more enticing, yet Lin Jun hasn't found an opportunity to take it down.

It's not that the Heavy Armor Puki is not fierce enough, but Lin Jun deliberately kept them out of the seesaw battles.

While not slow, the Heavy Armor Puki's movements aren't quick enough to catch up with the floating speed of Evil Eyes.

Should the opposing side realize the challenge Heavy Armor Puki posed, with Chis's cunning, they'd undoubtedly withdraw the Evil Eyes promptly, possibly shifting to more troublesome guerrilla harassments. Lin Jun doesn't have time to be stuck in that.

Lin Jun is waiting for a decisive moment, a lethal situation that would trap the Evil Eyes and many Chis troops completely, leaving them nowhere to escape.

And this decisive battle, Lin Jun is almost ready for it!

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