“Gray, listen—two arms and two legs means not a monster. You can’t just go around killing them.”

“Oh… But green ones are okay?”

Green ones?

Did she mean the flower sprites on the sixth floor?

Whenever Gray grew restless after clearing most of the monsters on the fifth floor, Lin Jun would let her “go play” down below.

He never really knew what she got up to. At first, she kept getting lost and had to be fetched back. Later, once she learned the way, she would sometimes drag back monster corpses—he remembered a few times she brought green-skinned flower sprites.

But flower sprites didn’t even have legs—their lower halves were flower buds.

If not them, then what? Whatever it was, if it was green, it definitely wasn’t human.

“…Fine, green ones are okay. But next time, don’t kill ones like today.”

Gray pouted but nodded. Satisfied, Lin Jun handed her a special Puji snack imbued with 【Corrosive Acid LV3】—lately she preferred sour flavors.

The two humans had already fled in a hurry, clearly terrified.

Sure, they’d almost been killed, but they weren’t dead, right? And he’d already paid compensation.

That sword he gave them was enchanted—far better than the broken one they lost.

So the matter was settled!

Still, it left Lin Jun uneasy. If Gray kept running into human adventurers, conflict was inevitable.

Today she attacked them. Tomorrow, maybe some adventurer would pick a fight.

And then the likely outcome? Gray would slaughter them, and he would be stuck cleaning up the mess.

That wouldn’t do.

He needed a plan—not to stop it entirely, but at least reduce the chances of her running into humans.

Keeping her still was impossible.

With her bottomless energy, even getting her to stay put for two days was only thanks to the bond bonus from parasitism.

Unless he forced her.

But given her bedrock-level backing, that was not an option.

If he couldn’t restrict Gray, then he’d restrict the adventurers instead.

Always better to squeeze the soft persimmon.

From now on, the forest—no, the mushroom forest—would be declared a no-entry zone. At least then, no adventurers would stumble across her feeding or napping.

As for other times…

Maybe he should raise the level of 【Disguise LV2】.

None of the nearby floors had monsters that dropped it, but skills could be trained through practice.

He trained Pujis, then absorbed the experience they gained.

The feedback was much reduced compared to direct training, but with enough Pujis and a low-level skill like Disguise, it might not take long.

If he could push it to LV4, maybe it would cover Gray’s scales.

Of course, enchanting Gray with a skill would take an enormous amount of mana.

He’d be scraping by for a while.

Plan set, he ordered a batch of Pujis carrying 【Disguise】 to begin training.

Meanwhile, something else nagged him:

Why hadn’t any other adventurers entered the dungeon yet?

Could those two have snuck in against the rules?

Either way, good news—more time for him to prepare.

Speaking of which… Dilan had vanished ever since being sent out after the Demon Tide.

He’d told the man not to get involved with the Tide. If he’d listened, he shouldn’t be in danger.

But it had been more than a month now.

Did he even bring enough money for mana potions…?

Hopefully his first human underling hadn’t starved to death somewhere.

——

“Hah… hah…”

Dilan groped behind his back, seizing the arrow shaft, and yanked hard.

Agony exploded through him, sweat drenching his back.

He tossed the bloodied, mycelium-stained arrow aside, gasping for breath.

Praise the boss!

As expected, the bleeding stopped quickly, the wound sealing on its own.

Not being fully human anymore had its perks—vital spots weren’t quite so vital.

Still, if not for earning money for mana potions, he’d never have taken this job.

The crew was led by a bald brute with a stench of fish, a crony of the tavern owner. Dilan and two other hired hands made up the rest.

Four men in total, each burdened with a bulging deerskin sack.

Their task: cross the forest west of Yafeng Town and deliver stolen goods to Yufan Port.

To Dilan, the greatest danger was stray monsters still roaming after the Tide.

What he never expected—was to run into a black-on-black robbery!

The very first arrow was aimed at him.

The muffled thud of the arrowhead piercing his armor was lighter than he imagined. It sank into his back, precise and lethal.

Realizing what happened, he fell deliberately, snapping branches and rolling into a thicket to fake his death.

Soon, steel clashed nearby.

At first, he wondered which of the three companions was the traitor.

But no—he was overthinking.

The black-cloaked attackers came in with the intent to slaughter everyone.

His “death” bought the others precious reaction time.

But eight ambushers were no joke. Outmatched, the survivors fought briefly, then scattered in a desperate escape.

The black-cloaked men pursued relentlessly, ignoring the dropped sacks.

One even picked up the sack beside Dilan before leaving.

“Aaaargh—!”

Moments later, a scream rang out up ahead—the bald leader’s voice.

So they hadn’t lasted long either. He needed to run now.

Lying low was tempting, but a smoldering tree nearby warned him: one of the attackers was a fire mage.

If they torched the place to hide evidence, he’d be finished.

Gritting his teeth, Dilan rose from the brush, arrow wound burning like fire. Not fatal, but far from harmless.

So this was what heart pain felt like!

He didn’t care about the leaves and branches clinging to him. Clutching something warm against his chest, he staggered away in the opposite direction.

Wait—

What was this?

The heat in his hands made him finally notice the strange object.

Its cover was crumpled, rough with ridges under his fingers. The faint warmth seemed to pulse in his palm.

A book?

He vaguely recalled it being part of his sack’s contents.

But when had he pulled it out? Why was he carrying it separately?

Maybe it had just fallen into his arms when he collapsed?

No time to figure it out.

Another scream echoed from the forest. His companions were surely dead.

If the attackers meant to wipe out all witnesses, they’d soon realize he was still alive.

He had to run—faster, farther!