Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 419 - 410: Misunderstanding

After Xing Huo warned of a possible siege, Lin Jun marked the three tribes closest to the Fungus Castle as surveillance targets.

Although there could be more than just these three, since they are coordinating their actions, keeping a close eye on a few key tribes should be enough to grasp the overall movement.

As expected, these tribes began war preparations actively, stockpiling mushrooms and other food in large quantities, organizing tribe warriors for training day and night, with an atmosphere of impending war pervading the entire camp.

For this, Lin Jun had already prepared various surprises for them along the way, just waiting for these foolish guys to walk into the trap.

If this could be lost, Lin Jun would feed his body to Xiao Hai!

However, unexpectedly, after these tribes assembled their warriors, they did not directly head towards the Fungus Castle but instead turned south.

What are they planning to do?

They can’t possibly have the audacity to attack the Empire, can they?

Don’t be fooled; while the Empire might seem to crush humanity easily, in reality, they have yet to exert their full strength. It’s not something these ragtag bands from a few tribes can invade.

Since attacking the Empire is out of the question, what is the purpose of their southern advance?

After pondering, Lin Jun believed they might be planning to complete a full army assembly first before launching a unified attack on the Fungus Castle.

This strategy is indeed smarter, at least much better than fighting separately and being defeated one by one.

At the edge of the fungal mat area, a vortex of magic power suddenly emerged out of nowhere, consuming the surrounding mycelium and the magic power it contained.

When the vortex dissipated, a newly born Scout Puki stood on the barren ground.

[Patron Creator]

The Scout Puki’s surroundings subtly distorted the light, quickly blending into the environment.

Silently, it trailed behind a tribe force moving south, starting its tracking mission.

Meanwhile, at the Fungus Castle, a two-thousand-strong army had been assembled, plus the vast Puki sea formed by tens of thousands of Pukis.

These were troops trained to varying degrees by Little Pig, and within the Fungus Castle, nearly three thousand people remained to keep operations running.

Diversified demons stood alongside humans, wolves mixed with cave dwellers, and even a few dwarfs, slightly taller than the Puki, stood at the edge of the ranks, purchased as slaves from the tribe, just like those humans.

Such an absurd combination would likely invite an attack as enemies from any external nation.

The ranks couldn’t be called very disciplined, with constant whispered discussions, but at least everyone stood at the designated positions without pushing or chaos.

This basic order owed much to Little Pig’s relentless drilling over time.

Norris also appeared in the ranks, although not mixed into the main array.

He led the Jida squad at the back of the ranks, each bearing a resonance cannon on their shoulder, functioning as mobile long-range artillery. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

They formed the army’s mobile artillery regiment.

Although they couldn’t match the magical archery Lin Jun had seen, with precision kills three kilometers away, the sheer volume of the resonance cannon’s barrage should be more effective against the tribe coalition mainly comprised of rabble.

Further north of the Fungus Castle, in a place where even those with [Cold Resistance Level 8] would feel chilled, a towering mutated Jida composed of 1500 Puki quietly leaned against a protruding ice wall at Lin Jun’s extreme north laboratory.

This was the super Jida employing the [Resonance] skill to its limit, an experimental unit Lin Jun prepared to cope with the current situation.

Most inhabitants of the Fungus Castle are unaware that everyday a Puki squad delivers supplies there.

These include minerals necessary for generating chitin shells and low-tier demon crystals required for [Crystal Symbiosis].

Now, the outer shell coverage of this super Jida has exceeded eighty percent, its massive body shimmering in the snow’s reflection. However, within the core Puki group forming the large magic shield and the giant resonance cannon, the successful A-Level demon crystal symbiosis rate was still below forty percent.

As for using all S-Level demon crystals for symbiosis... let’s just say even Lin Jun can’t afford such luxury. Merely maintaining this project already had the Underground City’s mines operating at full capacity.

Lin Jun’s consciousness swept over this semi-finished super Jida, then abandoned the thought of deploying it.

First, it was incomplete, and second, the existing military strength was more than enough to handle the trivial threat from the Northern Territory tribes. Exposing a trump card in this trivial battle only to attract the Empire’s focused attention would be foolish.

Though the tribal army didn’t march straight for the Fungus Castle, Marshal Puki leaped to the top of Little Pig’s head and announced the marching orders in a voice that made everyone tremble.

To be fair, it was a very brief marching order.

From sudden assembly, counting of the Puki and equipment, to the departure, all took less than half a day. Regular armies couldn’t prepare everything in such a short time.

But for Lin Jun, that wasn’t an issue. As long as the march was on the fungal mat, it was a local battle, with logistics not being a worry. Wherever they went, mushrooms would grow.

After a battle, they could supplement new Puki on the spot, eliminating the logistic nightmare of typical armies, thereby enhancing efficiency.

Lin Jun instructed Little Pig to lead this mixed army advancing south at normal speed, while Lin Jun figured out the opponent’s marching route before giving further instructions.

However, two days after the army’s departure, Lin Jun, through the Scout Puki, discovered an awkward fact: the target of this joint military action by the tribes seemed not to be Lin Jun at all...

...

The Gong River, the Northern Territory’s only seasonal river, partially thawed in the spring and would fully thaw not until summer.

This time, the target of the hunting joint by the five tribes near the Gong River was new demons that had appeared near the riverbank.

Five tribes, in total, dispatched over three thousand warriors to encircle a large area.

They scattered powdered stone on the ground, gradually advancing inward in circles.

Broga, the upper-level warrior of the Broken Blade Tribe, wandered among his subordinates who were spreading the powder.

At one moment, he noticed an unexpected paw print appearing in the dust beside one of his subordinates.

Without hesitation, the ring-headed blade in his hand flipped, and with a forward dash, he appeared a few meters away.

In a burst of purple blood, a Six Claw, whose claw was almost about to reach his subordinate, suddenly appeared before everyone.

With a screech, its whole body was severed in two.

"Continue forward!"

Under Broga’s command, his subordinates suppressed their fear and continued spreading the powder.

However, this time, they evidently exerted more effort, trying to cast the powder as far as possible.