BZZZZZ—!!!
With a piercing roar, the drill shuddered violently, tearing into the rock wall and spraying shards everywhere!
But the scout Puji moved with stunning agility. It rolled nimbly, landing square on Mushidah(Puji cha)’s trembling arm, the vibrations from the drill still rippling through the armor.
“Ssshhhhh!” The scorching-hot shell burned away a layer of the Puji’s mycelium, but the injury was trivial.
In a flash, its whip-blade lashed out. Empowered by [Sharpness LV10], it carved deep lines into Mushidah(Puji cha)’s armored carapace.
Then, with a deft hop, the scout Puji vaulted upward, its artillery locked on Mushidah(Puji cha)’s head!
At the last second, Norris yanked Mushidah(Puji cha) backward. The blast hamred into its chest, but the strongest defense—an enchanted yellow book cover etched with blue patterns—absorbed the hit without a scratch.
Not even a dent.
Nobody knew what the Yellow Book was thinking. It no longer had pages to type with.
Norris countered, shoulder cannons thundering. But Lin Jun had anticipated this—jet vents flared from the scout’s tail, blasting it into evasive flight.
It darted around Mushidah(Puji cha), not aiming for a decisive blow, but piling on damage piece by piece.
“Norris, Mushidah(Puji cha) isn’t fast. Cannons only fire straight lines, but a whip-blade covers wide mid-range arcs! You swapped it for a drill—great against heavy armor, but what about swift enemies like this?”
As he spoke, a second scout Puji joined the fray. The 2-on-1 instantly pushed Mushidah(Puji cha) into a desperate struggle.
“Too weak, Norris! Is this the limit of your combat strategy?!”
Norris twitched. Lately, his boss sure talked a lot of trash.
Scarred and battered, Mushidah(Puji cha) raised its massive stone shield. With a roar, it took a direct artillery hit head-on.
Instead of retreating, Norris had Mushidah(Puji cha) slam forward, shield-bashing the scout that had just fired.
“Too slow. You’ll never—”
BOOM!!!
The stone-shield Puji self-destructed!
The shield exploded into a storm of razor shards. One scout Puji was caught midair, a jagged fragnt severing its leg clean off.
The blast was brutal.
Mushidah(Puji cha)’s left arm and shoulder were destroyed. Its shoulder cannons, already fragile, blew apart. Its armor cracked like spiderwebs.
Only the yellow cover glead unbroken, glowing faintly.
But Norris seized the opening. As the crippled scout tumbled, Mushidah(Puji cha)’s right arm thrust forward—its drill whirring like a hurricane.
The Puji was torn apart in an instant, shredded into a storm of mycelium.
“A bit ruthless,” Lin Jun remarked, “but what will you do now?”
The second scout’s whip cracked, slicing through Mushidah(Puji cha)’s fractured leg joint. The limb shattered, Mushidah(Puji cha) collapsing sideways.
Norris desperately swung the drill with his remaining arm, but the scout rolled smoothly aside and counter-lashed—severing the recon Puji serving as Mushidah(Puji cha)’s “eye.”
Sightless, Mushidah(Puji cha) was finished.
Lin Jun declared, “It’s over, Norris. You are—”
“Not done yet!”
With a burst of force, Norris leapt from the wreckage!
From his chest, a cannon mouth glowed, energy charging, aid square at the scout!
Stubborn bastard!
But…
The scout’s jets flared, propelling it upward, beyond his narrow firing arc.
The cannon missed.
Yet instead of adjusting, Norris stomped midair.
[Air Step LV3]
Like stepping on invisible ground, he vaulted higher, closing the gap!
BOOM!
The cannon erupted point-blank.
The scout burst apart, raining glowing strands.
Norris tumbled from the recoil, spinning, then smacked the floor face-first with a loud “splatt!”
He spat dirt, grinned, and shouted, “I won!”
“Tch… true enough. But tell —what did that have to do with your new drill?”
The drill hadn’t won him anything. The first kill was from a self-destruct. The second from his new skill. The drill might as well not exist.
Norris’s grin froze.
Around them, labor Pujis arrived to clean up.
…
He actually lost to Norris.
Lin Jun twisted in frustration. He should have waited before announcing victory!
If this happened in public—declaring victory then being overturned—he’d die of embarrassnt! Next ti, he needed to trash-talk more carefully.
Still, Norris exceeded expectations. Lin Jun had only hoped he could take down one scout Puji.
That clutch [Air Step LV3]—Norris’s new Silver-rank skill—was the key.
Basically a double jump. Higher levels would reduce cooldown, maybe even allow triple jumps.
Lin Jun had dismissed it as useless. Why hop when you could fly?
But in this fight, it mattered.
He could have countered with a suicide whip trade, but that would have been cheap. The goal was testing Norris, not beating him down.
The scouts had done fine. Their job wasn’t combat anyway.
Now it was ti to scout the rift forests.
But just as he prepared to send them, a rift stirred first.
On the fifth floor, a floating fissure seeped faint curse energy. From it, two dwarves tumbled screaming, crashing into the swamp—startling Dylan, who was still dozing amid incense smoke.
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