Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 416 - 407: Hold the Line
The dawn rose, golden-red light spreading across the land, illuminating Dylan’s mud-covered face.
Leaning on his iron shovel, his voice was hoarse, tinged with a tremor of disbelief, "Boss, what you said... is it true?"
"Of course it’s true, when have I ever lied to you?"
Dylan tightly gripped the repeatedly crumpled note in his hand, saying nothing.
But soon, the gloom in his heart was swept away by this sudden good news, tears uncontrollably streaming down, mixing with the mud on his face, leaving clear streaks.
"Bella... Bella is really alive!" He laughed and cried like a child, repeating over and over, "I knew it! I knew she wouldn’t leave so easily! She’s my daughter, Dylan’s daughter!"
"Oh, come on, you’re not that special. I say your daughter is much stronger than you, already level forty-eight and nearly reaching Diamond Level Adventurer standard."
Suddenly recalling something, he threw aside the iron shovel and scrambled out of the pit with hands and feet, "I have to find her! I’ll go now!"
At this moment, a Puki leapt to the edge of the pit, its mycelium tendrils whipping out like lightning.
Dylan felt the world spin, his whole body twirling in the air like a top two and a half times before plummeting back to the bottom of the pit with a "thud".
"Feeling better?" Lin Jun asked.
Lying at the pit bottom, Dylan nodded with difficulty after a long while.
Things were different now, it was chaotic on the West Bank, Dylan going there might not even guarantee his own life, let alone find Bella adrift at sea.
"Don’t worry too much, their group seems quite strong, probably won’t run into any problems." Lin Jun was impressed by the marksman who could kill from three kilometers away.
After a long time, Dylan finally sat up slowly, wiped his face: "Boss, you’re right... I was muddled."
No matter what, knowing his daughter was still alive and seemingly living well, it was hugely good news.
He thought about his daughter all the way, anxiously, until he returned to Puki’s House at noon.
As he opened the door, he heard Bianca’s enthusiastic voice:
"Welcome... Boss? Where have you run off to? Do you know... Oh wow, you’re filthy!" Bianca, who initially wanted to grill Dylan, took a few steps back after seeing his dirt-caked state, clearing a path and pulling aside a maid Puki.
She was responsible for cleaning if these maid outfits got dirty.
Seeing Dylan sit down at the counter, Bianca grumbled angrily while mopping the muddy prints on the floor, "Several groups of customers came this morning asking about the price of those newly formulated potions, and I didn’t know, so I had to turn them all away! Lost several deals for nothing!"
No wonder Bianca was so concerned, she could earn a few copper coins selling just one bottle of those potions.
Unfortunately, Dylan still seemed lost, merely muttering absent-mindedly, "Alright, alright..."
Suspiciously squinting, Bianca swallowed the remaining half of her complaints, secretly watching the boss’s unusual behavior.
Absent-minded, sometimes sad, sometimes happy.
Clearly symptoms of falling in love!
Bianca made this judgment based on her "rich" life experience.
Returning to the kitchen, Bianca sighed, unsure whether her work would be as enjoyable now with a boss lady...
...
Meanwhile, in Golden Valley City.
Although half of the transport team was sacrificed, they successfully brought back a large number of bodies.
Compared to the expected bodies of civilian or ordinary soldiers, the fresh corpses of Pigman Warriors evidently provided more Magic Power to the Fungal Mat.
Under Lin Jun’s deliberate subsidy, more Puki emerged from the Fungal Mat.
Simultaneously, the ordinary soldiers were also arranged to switch professions to Puki Master.
In a few days, the number of Puki Masters approached a thousand.
Angela, who became a Puki Master inexplicably, was now truly a Puki Master Commander.
And the anticipated attack from the Demon Race arrived as expected.
Snake-men they had previously encountered, and a group of unfamiliar Lizardmen.
The number of enemies exceeded four thousand.
The most worrying for Angela were those Lizardmen.
Lizardmen weren’t as robust as Snake-men, but their use of bows was the highest among them.
Puki feared such ranged units the most.
After Angela expressed her worries to the Viscount, he made an unexpected decision.
He abandoned the city walls, ordering everyone to hide in the more complex terrain of the city.
Another commander protested, providing valid reasons.
Street battles would scatter the troops throughout the city, a great test for morale.
These guys were only a garrison force, the morale wasn’t high, street fighting might lead to a quick collapse.
However, the Viscount believed facing the enemy head-to-head had lower odds of success, the enemies were aware of the Puki’s existence this time, no longer sending sacrifices.
Puki Mushroom Cannon had only a hundred-meter range, not comparable to Lizardmen archers.
As for having the soldiers counter-shoot, the numerical disparity was hard to bridge; only street battles held hope.
Sure enough, when the Demon Race launched their attack, the Lizardmen first washed the city walls with arrows, shooting down most of the Puki, and only after confirming no obstacles did they press forward in waves.
Climbing the deserted walls, they thought humans had abandoned them, even speculating which direction they might escape from.
But whatever the direction, most would be caught and taken back to the Empire as slaves.
Then in the city, they ran into Puki once more.
In street battles, Puki performed beyond the Viscount’s expectations.
Snake-men remained resistant to surprises, but Lizardmen suffered heavy losses instantly.
If even one Self-destructive Puki slipped into the ranks, four or five half-dead, wailing Lizardmen would pop up instantly.
Puki, small in size, darted between houses or simply hid in roadside trash, suddenly charging out when Demon Race approached.
And those Puki Masters typically stayed at a safe distance of one or two hundred meters, not micromanaging, merely issuing attack commands when close enough.
One Puki Master sensed his Puki had almost died out, decisively ran to the rear.
However, a stray arrow shot by a Lizardman struck him, piercing his chest, leaving the Puki Master howling on the ground.
Angela walked over, broke the arrow and pulled it out with one motion, "What are you howling about? You’re not dying! Take him away!"
A soldier took away this first-time Puki Master, unaware of his strong Life Force.
Puki Masters are generally hard to kill if not shot dead outright.
The most tenacious had arrows pierce their heart and lungs, survived after timely arrow removal, let alone only chest pierced!
Angela watched the Demon Race soldiers trapped in poison fog and explosions from afar, knowing they had won this battle again.
Puki Master street fights didn’t rely on morale as traditional fights did, but wore down the opposing forces with expendable Puki.
As long as they could approach, these little creatures were a nightmare for any army!
Sure enough, less than a kilometer into the city, Snake-men and Lizardmen leaders saw something wrong and hastily called back their troops.
After fighting so long, only unknown numbers of Magic Pets had been eliminated, seemingly far from exhausted.
Who dared continue fighting?
Helplessly, they retreated. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The Snake-men leader wished he could slap himself, why was he thinking of this damned place again?
He couldn’t fathom why, after so many days, the Puki in this city seemed even more numerous than last time!
How did these humans replenish their Magic Pets?
Before leaving, he glanced at a city Fungal Mat, gaining a hint of understanding.
...
And after they retreated, the news of Golden Valley City’s resilience spread thoroughly among the Demon Race’s raiding forces.
Until the Demon Race Duke recalled these troops to the main army, Golden Valley City didn’t face any more large-scale attacks, becoming one of the few cities on the west that held out till the end.
