Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Dragon Roar Valley.

"One, two, push! One, two, push!"

Under the command of Inanna’s deputy, Warren, the soldiers shoulder to shoulder, exerted all their strength to push against the large, round rear of the Drilling Puki ahead.

Their bodies sank deeply into that soft but extremely resilient fungal body, advancing bit by bit with the rhythm.

The high temperature gathered at the head of the Drilling Puki didn’t directly burn the soldiers, but the escaping heat waves still made the entire tunnel like a steamer.

Including Warren, everyone was drenched in sweat, and they had to rotate a batch of soldiers every quarter of an hour, otherwise, none could bear the stuffy environment.

Even Duke Alama, whose wounds had just barely healed, personally joined in to try.

Unfortunately, his strength surpassed others, and with too much force, he ended up squeezing a small tear in the Puki’s rear. Since then, Inanna forbade him from joining the pushing team again.

Suddenly, the resistance ahead vanished, and the soldiers couldn’t stop their momentum, pushing the Puki forward several feet, with several people sprawling from a loss of balance.

When they looked up, blinding daylight poured in from the entrance ahead, dazzling them so much they couldn’t open their eyes.

After exactly three days, the valley had been dug through!

Warren stared blankly at the shaft of sunlight, momentarily speechless.

Not just him, all the soldiers involved in the project wore expressions of disbelief.

In a world where magic exists, opening mountains and building roads was still a colossal undertaking.

Three days to tunnel through an entire valley? It was simply unheard of!

What’s even more astonishing was that the only magic used throughout the process was a mere Lighting Technique!

More incredible was the fact that the entire project had only relied on the most basic Lighting Technique.

The unique magic interference in Dragon Roar Valley greatly reduced the effectiveness of any High Tier Magic; relying on traditional magical construction, the work might not have been completed even in half a year.

But now, it was achieved in just three days, and fairly easily at that.

This Drilling Puki was not only incredibly efficient but could pulverize rock debris around its body and automatically compress and firmly attach it to the tunnel walls, leaving little worry about collapse.

The only trouble was that the Fungal Mat couldn’t cover such a long tunnel in time, and the continued operation of the Puki consumed an astounding amount of magic power, with more than half of the remaining magic potion in the army being poured over the Puki’s rear.

News spread, and Alama and Lorenzo rushed to the scene immediately.

Seeing this miraculous tunnel, Alama was so excited that he repeatedly praised it, his rough hand repeatedly caressing the tunnel walls, and he happily patted the short legs of the Drilling Puki, which was still lying on the ground and couldn’t stand on its own, causing its legs to twitch wildly.

Inanna arrived a step later.

She held No. 4 Puki comfortably curled up in her arms, with No. 10 Puki sprinting quickly behind her to keep up.

No. 4 Puki was now completely accustomed to being held by Inanna.

As a noble member of the Mushroom Race, it initially resisted such treatment.

But Inanna’s embrace was just right, and her technique of stroking the mushroom cap was exquisite, especially the comfortable feeling when she gently scratched the edge of the mushroom cap...

In merely a few days, No. 4 Puki had convinced itself with the reason "it’s to better perform its duty and protect the Pink Puki," and had come to enjoy it with peace of mind.

As for No. 10 Puki, Inanna did not play favorites.

But No. 10 was unmoved by Inanna’s technique, only feeling that being held would be inconvenient in dealing with unexpected situations, thus it refused Inanna every time.

The three gathered at the newly opened tunnel exit, exchanged brief opinions, and immediately took separate actions.

Alama and Warren returned inside the valley to organize the soldiers to pass through the tunnel in batches, while Lorenzo cast reconnaissance magic to monitor the movements outside the valley, guarding against potential ambushes, and Inanna naturally managed the Puki teams inside.

In the days that followed, under the "efforts of Inanna," a massive number of Pukis emerged from the Fungal Mat inside the valley.

Not only did they fill the quotas under the Puki Masters, but Inanna’s forces also raised thousands of Elite Pukis again.

When the remaining soldiers and swarms of Pukis aligned, they formed a grand army numbering tens of thousands, appearing quite formidable at first glance.

Alama was naturally going to lead his troops to support Three Mountains City, but not all of them.

Consecutive fierce battles had left too many wounded soldiers.

A portion, injured in the Battle of Dragon Roar Valley and parasitized by mycelium, were converted into Puki Masters and still had some combat capability.

But those who were earlier injured and disabled were completely unable to fight, unless each was given a dagger to be parasitized, which might affect military morale, so Alama couldn’t enforce it.

These wounded would retreat to the rear under the protection of a few soldiers.

When Alama’s gaze fell on Inanna, he hesitated quite rarely.

He so desired to assign the task of escorting the wounded to his daughter!

Rushing to support Three Mountains City was akin to embarking on a death mission; he could face death calmly, and lead his brave subordinates to fight to the end without hesitation, but to let Inanna join in this mission was an incredibly difficult decision.

Humans, after all, have their selfishness.

Or one might say, a large part of why Alama could fearlessly fight on the frontline was because of Inanna.

Bringing Inanna to the frontlines felt somewhat like putting the cart before the horse to him.

"Old man," Inanna firmly clasped No. 4 Puki in her arms, "No matter what you say, I have to go with you!"

Hearing these words, Alama realized that the Inanna before him was no longer the little girl who allowed him to arrange her comings and goings.

Lorenzo also comfortingly patted Alama’s shoulder, hoping he would accept that the child had grown up.

The top supporter of this decision was none other than No. 4 Puki, which excitedly waved its tentacles in Inanna’s embrace, "Yes, yes, yes! Let us fight side by side, this battle will surely echo the Mushroom Race’s fame across the lands!"

Meanwhile, No. 10 Puki quietly stood aside, calmly pondering the difficulty of protecting the Pink Puki on this trip.

But Lin Jun thought it safer to recall Inanna.

Having achieved the original goal of obtaining the Sunstone, there was no longer any need to risk her further.

While the Battle of Dragon Roar Valley seemed dangerous, both time and geography were in his control.

The terrain suited the Pukis, with fully transparent intelligence, and even the Demon Race commander was under his covert influence.

If something really went awry, he could step on the "Little West" brake anytime.

But the situation in Three Mountains City was entirely different.

The fungal mat coverage was incomplete, and powerful beings like the Sword Saint and Blood Race Prince existed within enemy lines, far beyond Lin Jun’s control range.

He had long arranged for No. 9 Puki to follow Shi Wu into Three Mountains City and act at the opportune moment, truly deeming it unnecessary for the Pink Puki to be personally present on the frontlines.

If any unexpected incidents occurred over there, Lin Jun might have no choice but to disassemble the Pink Puki, although part of him felt it might not be entirely a loss...

However, this time Inanna proactively made a decision: "I can’t watch the old man go to his death alone, can you help me, Lin Jun?"

Hearing her name, Lin Jun was slightly taken aback.

Almost forgetting that he had disclosed his real name to Inanna before.

Whew—

"Then you have to follow orders, rookie!"

"Yes, boss!"