On the thick branch of a massive ancient tree, a forest frog that blended almost seamlessly into its surroundings fixed its eyes on the figure passing below.

Its muscles tensed, waiting for the prey to come just a little closer—then its tongue could lash out, seizing life in an instant and earning it a fine meal.

But this time, the prey stopped just outside its striking range.

A twang of bowstring followed. The frog startled, thinking it had been discovered, but the arrow was not aimed at it.

Seeing this, the frog suppressed its urge to leap away, choosing instead to keep observing the prey’s next move.

The very next second, though, a sharp whistle of something cutting through the air came from its side—completely without warning!

The frog tried to jump, but it was too late. The arrow buried itself in its head, ending its life instantly.

Its body twitched and dropped from the branch.

Pelagel walked up to the still-quivering corpse, smoothly retrieved his arrow, and moved on without harvesting any material.

His purpose here was to investigate the spread of the “Frenzy” phenomenon within Divine Wood Dungeon.

During the last operation, they had successfully converted five treants. But because a magical pet had accidentally noticed them, they were forced to stay low-key for a while to avoid trouble.

That meant they couldn’t keep monitoring the dungeon’s situation.

In theory, the first step of their plan should have gone smoothly. But theory was only theory.

At their meeting place, Pelagel and his comrades encouraged one another with words, yet deep down, none had real confidence. Each worried silently about unforeseen problems.

With so much time passed, they finally decided to send Pelagel alone to the lower floors to confirm progress.

Only him—not just because of his superb skills, but also because, if something went wrong, the losses would be minimized.

After another spiral descent, Pelagel reached the Sixth Floor at last. In the distance, some fungal threads caught his eye.

His vision was excellent. Even at such a distance, he could clearly pick out the tiny strands.

These newly appeared threads reminded him of that Puji pet.

To be safe, he chose to avoid the area and detour.

But with Lin Jun already watching, there was no way he could “detour” anymore.

Half an hour later, Pelagel came to a small slope. Just ahead lay the territory of migrating trees.

But he stopped.

From the slope, a seemingly natural shadow of rock shifted ever so slightly. It was almost imperceptible, but Pelagel’s eyes did not miss it.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he snapped his bow up and loosed an arrow!

The bowstring thrummed, and the arrow did not fly straight. Instead it curved unnaturally, arcing around the cover and punching into the belly of a half-demon hiding there.

“Argh!”

As the cry rang out, Pelagel already had a second arrow nocked.

He didn’t yet know who the ambushers were, but even against an entire squad of elf rangers, he trusted his skill and the terrain to let him fight to the end.

Then his pupils shrank—

From behind the slope, countless round Pujis surged forth like a bursting dam, rolling, wriggling, pouring toward him in waves!

There were more of them than arrows in his quiver, and still more kept coming!

He didn’t know exactly what they intended, but as an archer, avoiding melee was instinct.

His body flashed in quick leaps, darting up into the branches of a giant tree.

Along the way he twisted to narrowly evade several blasts from Acid Artillery Pujis and a blazing fireball.

That fireball had come from a lizardman mage—whose comrade had just been pierced by Pelagel’s arrow. Fueled by rage, the mage had recklessly exposed himself to cast a spell.

“Idiot asking to die,” Louisa muttered from the back of the formation as she observed.

She had emphasized many times: stay hidden, let the Pujis engage first. Yet someone always forgot.

Sure enough, the moment Pelagel steadied himself on the branch, he whipped around and fired like lightning.

This time it wasn’t a curving trick shot. It was pure speed and precision. The lizardman mage had no time to react—an arrow pierced his skull.

The mage fell, and the Pujis he controlled froze in place.

This sudden shift brightened Pelagel’s eyes. From crushing pressure, he now saw a chance to break free!

His bow thrummed again—two more arrows curved out, injuring two more enemies behind cover, though not fatally.

But now the Pujis swarmed upward, forcing him to leap and dash frantically among the branches of the giant trees.

Just as he picked out his next target tree and launched himself into the air, a Ji-da with twin blades cleaved through the trunk below. The massive tree toppled. Mid-leap, Pelagel lost his foothold and fell.

As the Ji-da charged toward him, Pelagel showed astonishing composure. Mid-fall, his bowstring snapped twice—

One arrow pierced the Ji-da’s head, another sank into its knee joint.

But the Ji-da had no true joints. The knee shot barely mattered.

As for the head, the scout Puji there was no vital spot. Though its sight was gone, the Ji-da continued its preset charge and slammed into the falling elf.

The impact was sickening. Pelagel was hurled like a broken kite, smashing into the trunk of a distant tree before sliding limp to the ground. His bow flew from his hands.

One leg had brushed against the Ji-da’s blade mid-fall. Under the combined force of [Sharpness LV10] and [Claw Strike LV10], flesh and bone not reinforced by defense were fragile. His leg was sliced clean off.

Pujis quickly swarmed and bound the downed elf.

“The enemy’s an elf! This is my first time seeing one!” Barok, clutching his arrow-struck shoulder, ran up beside the Ji-da, staring in disbelief at the tied-up elf.

Then his tone turned envious. “That’s a huge achievement! Wonder how many contribution points the reward will be!”

“Mmmph! Mmmph mmph!” came the muffled, excited voice from within the Ji-da.

“Can’t understand a word! Where’s Ergen? He didn’t get shot, did he?”

“He says,” Ergen’s calm voice came from the side, apparently unharmed, “he’s never felt this powerful before—like he’s invincible.”

Hearing that, Barok looked at the formidable Ji-da and nodded with genuine admiration. “That’s great… Too bad I don’t have that talent…” Indeed, few had the qualification to control a Ji-da.

Even injured, the recruits were excited after their first real battle controlling Pujis.

The elf’s strength was clearly at the diamond level, while they were only gold or silver. Yet they had managed to defeat him… even if most of the credit belonged to the Ji-da.

With the elf captured, Louisa noted each mistake the recruits had made, planning to have them reflect and correct themselves later.

Throughout the battle, Lin Jun had never intervened. Beyond Louisa, a reserve squad of elite Pujis had also been on standby farther back—unused.

Pelagel’s bow lay on the ground. It seemed to be a skill weapon!