Across the boundless sea, a massive green mushroom cap bobbed on the surface, rising and falling with the rolling waves.
This fungal cap was exceptionally large, boasting a radius of three meters, yet the body beneath it was only the size of an ordinary Puji.
If there was anything else peculiar about it, it was the sheer number of tentacles—twelve in total, trailing beneath it like those of a jellyfish.
Suddenly, the mushroom cap began to contract, folding inward like a closing umbrella until it transformed into a sleek, soft pendant. Only the very tip revealed a sharp, glinting blade.
With a sudden, violent pulse of the retracted cap and a simultaneous stroke of all twelve tentacles, the Puji lunged forward a significant distance.
Repeating this motion, it accelerated to its limit, streaking through the water like a launched arrow. Its speed far outstripped that of any sailing vessel.
A moment later, the "arrow" struck its mark.
In a patch of seemingly empty water, a massive spray of purple blood suddenly erupted, mixed with chunks of shredded flesh.
Immediately after, the Refractive Invisibility failed. A sea worm nearly the size of a whale materialized, slowly sinking toward the ocean floor.
A one-strike kill. Lin Jun did not linger to savor the victory. Instead, he controlled the Jellyfish Puji to accelerate once more, fleeing into the distance.
These Whale Worms were merely transport units for the Chi'si. Aside from their massive bulk, they possessed almost no combat capability.
Lin Jun had targeted it simply because this path offered the easiest breakthrough; in every other direction, a swarm of combat-type Chi'si lay in wait.
Seeing their ambush thwarted, the Chi'si abandoned all pretense of stealth. Legions of worms surged forward, pursuing the Jellyfish Puji.
These were the oceanic variants of the Chi'si, diverse and specialized.
There were Sand Worms, adept at burrowing into the seabed to hide; Fan Worms, capable of launching sonic attacks; and flexible, multi-jointed species designed for high-speed underwater maneuvers.
None of them could catch the Jellyfish Puji.
Natural evolution had its limits. How could it possibly compete with a speed-specialized Puji, meticulously crafted by Lin Jun to incorporate the best traits of a hundred different species?
Lin Jun had dispatched this scout-type Jellyfish Puji primarily because he had learned that survivors still existed within the Archipelago and intended to gather information.
He hadn't expected the Chi'si to grow so bold as to actively initiate attacks on his Puji.
These insects were truly too malevolent and warmongering. This time, Lin Jun had clearly provoked nothing; he was simply and dutifully spreading Bioluminescent Floating Mushrooms across the Chi'si's territory. Yet, the enemy had taken it upon themselves to trigger the Third Great War!
It wasn't just happening near the Jellyfish Puji. At the edges of the Mycelial Blanket formed by the floating mushrooms, sporadic skirmishes had broken out.
To be precise, the Chi'si had begun employing guerrilla tactics.
They would send swarms of small insects to tear apart and devour the floating mushrooms. The moment they detected Combat Puji swimming toward them, or noticed new Puji being generated on the Mycelial Blanket, the swarm would retreat en masse, vanishing into the depths of the high seas.
It seemed that after several prior engagements, the Chi'si had roughly mapped out the range within which Lin Jun could control large groups of Puji. They also realized that the Mycelial Blanket was the foundation of the Puji's combat strength.
In an environment like the open ocean, which lacked defensive terrain, it was unrealistic to expect every patch of floating mushrooms to be perfectly protected.
The Chi'si were exploiting this vulnerability, launching constant raids from every direction.
In response, Lin Jun began to employ counter-measures.
He tried setting Puji ambushes or generating Puji in a semi-completed state just before they reached the front lines.
Unfortunately, the scouting capabilities of the Chi'si Eye Worms were equally excellent, not to mention the newly introduced Fan Worms that utilized sonic detection.
Most ambushes were seen through. The few times they succeeded, they only caught small, poorly coordinated squads of insects—hardly enough to be considered a major victory.
Next, Lin Jun began lacing the floating mushrooms with toxins—hallucinogens, corrosives, and neurotoxins. Large numbers of smaller insects died instantly after just a few bites.
However, the Chi'si quickly adapted, sending larger worms to consume the mushrooms instead.
Their massive size and robust vitality allowed them to survive the poisoning long enough to swim back to Chi'si territory before dying.
For the Chi'si, as long as the carcasses could be recovered and recycled, it wasn't a true loss.
Lin Jun then utilized the ability granted by his Kin Maker title to perform an airdrop of Giant Puji on the spot.
This truly dealt a heavy blow to the Chi'si.
The moment a Giant Puji was generated, it churned the surrounding currents. Most of the smaller insects were unable to even swim out of the resulting turbulence. Forced to fight back, they discovered that the damage they inflicted couldn't even keep pace with the Giant Puji's Regeneration.
Ultimately, only a few of the strongest swimmers or the relatively massive Chi'si managed to escape. The losses were catastrophic.
This caused the Chi'si to quiet down for several days.
During this brief respite, the range of the floating mushrooms expanded further.
As the area of the Mycelial Blanket grew, Lin Jun diverted the excess mana generated by photosynthesis in the center toward the edges, causing the expansion to accelerate rapidly.
Whenever the floating mushrooms claimed a new area, the Puji would systematically clear away every Flesh Tumor the Chi'si had left on the seabed.
To protect their "homeland," the Chi'si were forced to grit their teeth and move in again.
And once again, they were pummeled by an airdropped Giant Puji.
This time, however, the enemy did not retreat to nurse their wounds. Instead, with a tragic determination, they launched another offensive against the floating mushrooms in a different direction.
Through this, they discovered that there was a time interval between the airdrops of the Giant Puji.
Before long, based on the frequency of the Giant Puji's appearances, the Chi'si calculated that the ability's cooldown was approximately ten days.
Thus, the war shifted into a new rhythm. While Kin Maker was on cooldown, large Chi'si forces would ruthlessly destroy the floating mushrooms. Once the ability was ready, the Chi'si would switch to small, scattered units to prevent the Mycelial Blanket from spreading further. Occasionally, they would gather a slightly larger swarm specifically to bait Lin Jun into wasting the skill.
In short, under the Chi'si's desperate efforts to contain him, the expansion of the floating mushrooms on the sea fell into a state of dynamic stalemate.
The total area was still slowly increasing, but it was no longer as rapid as it had been at the start.
Lin Jun wasn't particularly worried about this.
After all, the forces currently clashing with the Chi'si represented only a fraction of his total power.
Once the battles in the north concluded, Lin Jun would redeploy a portion of his Puji Division to this front. Combined with the naturalized Mermen, this fragile balance would be shattered.
When that time came, if the Chi'si had no other cards to play, they could look forward to being decomposed into fertilizer!
Of course, while he wasn't worried, it was undeniably annoying.
The sea was currently crawling with insects everywhere, and normal marine life had become pitifully scarce.
Every time the Jellyfish Puji tried to bask in the sun for a while, it would be discovered and cornered by the Chi'si, meaning its internal mana reserves were never fully charged.
Fortunately, its endurance was long and its room for error high, which was why it hadn't been caught yet.
Back at the Mycelial Blanket, the Chi'si acted submissively when faced with the threat of a Giant Puji airdrop. But outside the blanket's range, when faced with a lone Jellyfish Puji, they launched a heavy-handed offensive, acting as if they wouldn't rest until they had devoured it.
'Hilarious,' Lin Jun thought. 'As if they could actually catch me by chasing like that.'
'Stupid, slow-witted bugs.'
Rumble—
A dull thud suddenly echoed from the depths of the water.
The sound was incredibly low, like the heartbeat of the deep sea. The Jellyfish Puji maintained its high-speed cruise, its tentacles trailing long wakes behind it, but Lin Jun's attention shifted downward. There was an ocean trench below. A dark, bottomless rift cut across the seabed, its jagged walls plunging down nearly vertically. Occasionally, bubbles rose from the abyss, drifting upward in swaying clusters, expanding as they ascended until they burst just beneath the Jellyfish Puji, sending out ripples of pressure.
'An earthquake?' Lin Jun wondered.
'Or an underwater volcanic eruption?'
A second later, Lin Jun had his answer.
A massive pillar suddenly surged up from the depths of the trench!
It displaced the seawater with violent force, creating churning undercurrents and a cloud of shattered bubbles as it slammed directly toward the Jellyfish Puji.
It wasn't moving exceptionally fast, but it was too enormous. It was so large that there was absolutely no room to dodge!
As the distance closed, the true nature of the "pillar" was revealed!
It was a colossal tube. The inner walls were densely packed with tiny, razor-sharp teeth—layer upon layer of them, angled inward. Every single tooth was twitching slightly, resembling a nightmare of a thousand hungry mouths.
'It's not a pillar. It's a mouth?'
And on the status panel:
Race: Kith One-Heart
Level: LV78
Skills: Leviathan, Mental Integration LV10, Mental Diffusion LV8, Mental Magic LV8...
Title: Gluttony of the Seven Sins (All things are but sustenance)
The "pillar" engulfed the Jellyfish Puji, and then it constricted!
Jellyfish Puji—Killed in Action.