"This... what is this!"
At the boundary of the mushroom garden, 120 Puff stood neatly in 6 rows.
40 Turret Puff: [Magic Storage LV4] + [Mushroom Cannon LV6] + [Precision LV4] 40 Mucus Puff: [Magic Storage LV4] + [Mushroom Cannon LV6] + [Digestive Mucus LV3] 20 Hallucinogenic Puff: [Hallucinogenic Spores LV4] + [Chitinous Shell LV4] 20 Workhorse Puff: [Storage Sac LV4] + [Entanglement LV3]
This was the configuration for Linden's 14th expedition team.
It wasn't that Linden didn't want to stuff all the skills into one Puff, but the more skills a Puff had, the more magic and time it took to produce.
The increase in consumption was exponential, so keeping the skills within four was a cost-effective and practical choice.
"So there are so many types of Puff!"
Inanna felt that she was too inexperienced, she hadn't even heard that Puff had so many subspecies.
Some had mushroom caps that looked like pots.
Some had full body shells, but unlike the miner Puff in the mining area, their shells had many more pores.
There were even some with tentacles!
How nice, if I also had tentacles, I wouldn't need to tie the magic crystal to my head...
"Linden, you said they are an expedition team, what are they going to do?"
"This is a dungeon, so of course they are going to hunt monsters."
"E-earthworms?"
Inanna looked like she would say "if it's earthworms, I'm not going".
She really didn't think earthworms were something that could be piled to death by Puff using sheer numbers.
"I already said it's not earthworms, the target this time is Fire Mosquitoes, those parasites who fly to the mushroom garden for no reason, don't produce anything themselves, and only know how to live by plundering! This time we're going to wipe out their old nest in one go!"
Linden was also fed up with being harassed from the sky every now and then. He had found the nest of these Fire Mosquitoes a long time ago. The reason he hadn't eliminated them before was actually to sustainably stack the High Temperature Resistance skill.
Now High Temperature Resistance was LV6, and wiping out the Fire Mosquitoes in one go could probably raise it to LV7, which was enough.
Moreover, his preferred escape plan had now changed to using Inanna to hunt earthworms, rather than smuggling under the Flame Demon's nose, so there was even less reason to keep these annoying bugs.
Let them do their last bit for him and become the whetstone for the team.
"Inanna, you follow in the middle of the team and listen to my command."
"Understood, understood."
Inanna was also relieved when she heard they were going to fight mosquitoes.
She knew about Fire Mosquitoes, their average level was LV20, and their attacks were straightforward and not difficult to deal with.
The troublesome part is that they can not only fly but also have evasion skills, making them hard to hit, and they also like to appear in groups.
However, facing them, even if she couldn't defeat them with magic, she could at least protect herself.
Speaking of which, this could be considered a war, although it's a war between monsters.
The old man never allowed her to get involved in military adventures before, so facing this for the first time, she felt a little excited!
But these Puff teams are so neat and uniform in their steps, even armies can't compare.
Is it because they are all controlled by Linden?
Indeed, that's the reason.
With skills like Familiar Manipulation, Mycelial Network, and Mental Integration, Linden controls these Puff like in an RTS game, only it consumes more energy points.
It's also thanks to the advantage of unified command that he can gain a foothold in the dungeon with Puff that have only 1 in all attributes.
After all, using strategies like luring the enemy deep or feigning an attack on the east while attacking the west against a group of monsters with almost no intelligence is a genuine dimensionality reduction strike.
But this time, no strategy is needed. Strategies are only necessary when trying to win against a stronger opponent.
And now, compared to the Fire Mosquitoes.
He is the strong one!
Isn't it satisfying to just charge in with F1-F3?
He can also take the opportunity to show off his strength and boost the confidence of the newly joined little pink one.
The so-called deep levels of the dungeon refer to the general area from the 10th level downwards, because from here on, there are no longer clear passages connecting different levels.
The entire deep area has countless crisscrossing three-dimensional passages. These passages connect one large cave after another, just like the Fire Mosquitoes' lair and Linden's mushroom garden are connected by a passage over fifty meters in diameter.
Between the rock crevices along the way, scattered mushrooms grow hidden. These are both Linden's extended eyes and connection points that help him expand his mycelial network beyond the mushroom garden.
The Mycelial Network allows Linden to command the Puff army in a semi-managed way.
Otherwise, relying solely on manually controlling them with Familiar Manipulation would be much more exhausting.
The sound of the Puff's short legs stepping on the ground, "puji puji," echoed in the passage. Three hundred meters ahead, several scarlet light spots suddenly appeared. A few Fire Mosquitoes had discovered the expedition team.
"Ice Blade!"
A two-meter-long Ice Blade shot out, but it was completely off target. The Fire Mosquitoes didn't even need to use their specialty evasion; the Ice Blade shot into the rock wall above.
"New recruit, don't waste magic."
"Yes, I'm sorry."
Only then did Inanna realize that the surrounding Puff were maintaining their speed and steadily advancing, not stopping at all because of the appearance of the Fire Mosquitoes.
And the few Fire Mosquitoes didn't approach either. Instead, seeing the approaching expedition team, they chose to flee and quickly flew away.
Watching the Fire Mosquitoes disappear from sight, Inanna said with some worry, "Will they go back and report?"
"Of course they'll report back."
"Even if they're just low-intelligence monsters, they still have the instinct to protect their nest. I'm sure we'll face a swarm of Fire Mosquitoes in a bit."
Inanna really wanted to say, Aren't you a monster too...?
"Then why let them go?"
Because they were too far away to hit.
"Of course, it's to catch them all in one go."
Beneath the steaming dome, hundreds of Fire Mosquitoes buzzed loudly as they flew up and down around the large pool in the center.
These Fire Mosquitoes needed high-temperature water pools similar to hot springs to reproduce. Their entire larval stage was spent in the pool, waiting for the adults to feed them. Therefore, destroying this pool would naturally cause the Fire Mosquitoes in this area to die out.
The Fire Mosquitoes would naturally do their best to protect their nest.
So when Inanna followed the Puff to the end of the passage, the glowing glands on the abdomens of all the Fire Mosquitoes lit up with an orange color, indicating danger.
Several Fire Mosquitoes that were close by were the first to flap their wings and fly over.
"Water Snake Technique!"
It was Inanna again. Facing the flying monsters, she couldn't help but cast a spell first.
It was a little better than last time; at least she knew to use the Water Snake Technique, which could be controlled to some extent, instead of the straightforward Ice Blade. Unfortunately, it wasn't much better.
Unfortunately, the targets were Fire Mosquitoes with evasion skills. A Water Snake grazed one Fire Mosquito, but the Fire Mosquito only dropped a few meters before regaining its balance.
Linden shook his head at the sight.
"Sigh, a rookie."