Chapter 547, Section 546: Small-Scale Encounter

Norris and Min both seemed quite uncomfortable when they first entered the water.

Despite being equipped with underwater adaptability and having Puji ready to provide emergency oxygen, Norris instinctively flailed his limbs the moment his body was completely submerged in the water, thrashing about like a frightened land animal for a while before he could barely control himself and stop spinning in place.

Ming, on the other hand, felt completely disoriented by the weightlessness he experienced while in the water.

He was used to putting his feet firmly on the ground, but at this moment he felt lightheaded and had no strength to rely on. He tried to stand up, but his body swayed slightly with the current, as if it were not under his control.

Little Pig didn't have these problems. She seemed to have received professional training. After entering the water, her body naturally relaxed, and she gently swayed her body with the rhythm of the water flow. Her movements were coordinated and effortless, and she appeared calm and unhurried.

As for Xiao Hei, she darted away incredibly fast!

Its sharp claws easily dig into hard walls, and when it quickly climbs up, it looks just like a giant cockroach. It also has a pair of wings that can fan water to provide explosive power.

While the others were still trying to adapt to their surroundings in the room at the entrance of the rift, Xiao Hei had already transformed into a blurry black shadow and rushed into the passage ahead with a "whoosh".

About ten seconds later, Xiao Hei returned.

She was holding a writhing, struggling merman in her claws.

The fish-man was clearly terrified by the sudden attack; his bulging fish eyes were wide open, filled with pure fear, and a string of bubbles frantically escaped his mouth.

"Seashell?" came the expectant question from Xiao Hei through the mushroom net.

The eldest sister had told her that there were shiny things called pearls inside seashells, but she obviously didn't know what a seashell was.

"Uh...this is a fish-man, he's a friend."

Upon hearing that it was a "friend," Xiao Hei loosened its paws in disappointment.

The fishman, still shaken by his newfound freedom, swam away hastily, one hand covering his back where several white marks had been scratched by sharp claws, while muttering something unintelligible.

This fish-man was sent by the wise man Gugu Lu to meet the team sent by Lin Jun, but he did not expect to suffer an unexpected disaster first.

However, after grumbling and complaining in fear for a while, it obediently swam to the front of the group and took on the role of guide.

Following Norris, Ming, Little Pig, and Little Black, there was another 300-strong army of soldiers from the Fungus Castle.

They were all carefully selected, and most of them were half-demons with some aquatic bloodlines, possessing a certain degree of underwater activity ability.

The creatures that followed them, the Puji, were incredibly diverse and bizarre.

Lin Jun tried combining almost every skill that seemed to be related to the underwater environment, creating a large number of experimental Puji with different shapes and functions.

The plan is to use this practical opportunity to see which combinations are truly useful, so that we can then select the best ones and mass-produce them.

We encountered a small problem while passing through the secret passage; the Jida was a bit too big.

Fortunately, Jida is essentially a bunch of Puji, so you can just disassemble them by following the joints.

A group of this size naturally cannot stealthily move like the previous few Puji fish.

The flow and movement of the water eventually attracted uninvited guests.

Two carapace-like monsters wielding enormous bone pincers followed the disturbance of the water flow and found the rear of the group.

Upon seeing the three Fungus Fortress soldiers and dozens of Puji, the two monsters did not hesitate at all. The muscles under their carapace contracted sharply, and they swung their limbs, launching a fierce charge!

The soldiers, naturally, did not panic because of the attack from two enemies, and decisively commanded Puji to launch a counterattack.

Some puffies covered in rock armor stood at the front.

Although the rock armor greatly slowed down the movement speed of the Puji, it also made them as stable as rocks in the water, with each Puji as solid as a stone pillar.

One of the rock armored creatures, Puji, stood at the very front, activated its skill, and an invisible force field spread out.

Gravity Field LV6

A skill that shouldn't be in the water.

After all, the original owner of this skill, Earth Bear, would never go to the sea in his entire life.

The two armored monsters that were charging at them suddenly sank.

They were not known for their agility to begin with, and under the sudden increase in gravity, their swimming posture became completely out of control. They futilely paddled their limbs, but could not control themselves as they fell downwards into the passage.

The aura skill could not distinguish between friend and foe. Even the three soldiers in the fungus castle behind him felt a sudden heaviness in their bodies and had to reach out to hold onto the wall to steady themselves.

Only the rock-armored Puji were almost unaffected. Puji themselves are very light, and the thick rock armor covering their bodies provides sturdy support. When stationary, the effect of the gravitational field on them is almost negligible.

While Gravity Puji maintained its aura, the other Rock Armor Puji were also ready.

The ends of their protruding hyphae are not the usual whip-like structures, but rather sharp thorns.

Faced with an enemy still struggling to get closer under the influence of gravity, these spikes begin to slowly compress inward, and after reaching their limit, they suddenly pop out!

More than twenty spikes shot out simultaneously!

The sharp LV10 spikes easily pierced the armored monster's proudly hard shell.

Aside from the ones that missed, each of the two armored monsters was pierced by seven or eight tentacles, and pale blue blood oozed from the holes, staining the surrounding seawater.

After the spike pierced through the enemy's body, its momentum continued, driving straight into the stone wall behind, hanging the two armored monsters up.

One of them was pierced through the head and died instantly.

The other one, with several thorns piercing its chest, abdomen, and joints, was not dead yet and was still struggling and twisting frantically, trying to break free of its restraints.

Its enormous pincers flailed wildly, trying to snap off the mycelial tentacles that were piercing its body.

However, these are all mycelial tentacles of [Toughness LV9]. Even with its strong pincers, it takes multiple full-force applications to break off a single one.

But it clearly doesn't have that time.

An ordinary-looking puffy fish had already swum up to it.

At the top of its mushroom cap, two specialized mycelial tentacles quietly rise, their tips gleaming slightly.

【Arc Level 7】

A blinding blue-white arc of electricity flashed in the water and struck the shelled monster's torso.

The monster's body instantly stiffened, a string of bubbles emerged from the gaps in its shell, and all its struggles ceased.

Although the outer shell did not change much, its internal structure had been carbonized under the high-voltage electric shock.

However, the matter was not over.

However, the electric arc did not stop after hitting the shell monster, but automatically chained to the nearest rock armored puffies, and then jumped all the way to the back row!

The mycelial tentacles extending from the stone blocks turned charred black, lost all vitality, and broke off or drooped down limply.

"Ugh!"

The three of them shuddered violently at the same time, their hair standing on end. Although they were far away and the electric current was not strong enough to be fatal, they were still thoroughly numbed and burned.

“Which… idiot… released… electricity…” a soldier stammered, his voice trembling as he squeezed out broken curses from within the mushroom net.

Thus, in their first underwater encounter, the expedition team achieved an impressive record of three for two.

...

Indeed, underwater is not suitable for installing electrical skills; at least appropriate insulation or resistance measures are required.

Lin Jun's team has the advantage of extremely fast information transmission.

Even when outside the coverage area of ​​the fungal carpet, the members of the fungal network within a certain distance will automatically form a temporary "local fungal network".

Therefore, the little pig at the front of the group quickly learned of the accident that had happened behind it.

Thanks to her quick arrangements, the three soldiers who were accidentally wounded were transported back to the fortress by their comrades.

However, when the team transporting the wounded returned to the rift room at their starting point, they were surprised to find something new there that they had never seen before.

It was a ribbon-like structure woven from milky-white mycelium, resembling a giant kelp, swaying gently with the pulse of the water.

On either side of this mycelial kelp, clusters of mushrooms emitting a soft, bluish-green fluorescence grow, standing out like stars in the dark underwater world.

This prevented them from noticing that a layer of algae-like mycelium was floating above the water.

This is Lin Jun testing which form is suitable for laying bacterial mats in water.

(End of this chapter)