They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 42: Prelude to Collapse
[Level Up: LV50 → LV51] After the battle continued for most of a day, Evan leveled up.
Hardly any time had passed since his previous level.
As expected of a Monster Tide, the XP was abundant.
Inside the stairway, a single Spore Cannon blast could strike six or seven monsters. Where else would Evan find such an ideal firing environment?
As time passed, however, the monsters grew steadily stronger.
In addition to several Dragonbeasts, Evan saw Flesh Amalgams from the Ninth Stratum.
These creatures were even more troublesome than Dragonbeasts. Their vitality and regenerative power were overwhelming.
Overwhelming enough to disgust him.
Even if a Flesh Amalgam was blown apart, it could absorb nearby scraps of meat and assemble a new, misshapen body as long as its core remained alive.
And the stairway was covered in pieces of flesh.
Fortunately, each Flesh Amalgam could control only a limited mass. If they had combined themselves into one gigantic creature, Evan would have had no answer.
At present, the Flesh Amalgams were difficult to kill, but the bombardment still kept them from climbing any higher.
The situation around the rifts was far worse.
Unlike the stairways, they did not force an entire army across a narrow passage.
Evan’s firepower could no longer keep pace with the monsters pouring out. The encirclement had become a chaotic melee.
No reinforcements were coming for the Puffcaps. The position would fall soon, but Evan had expected that.
What he had not expected was the Dragonkin.
The Frostbone Dire Rat that fought it had become chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.
Near the end of their battle, the Dragonkin had plainly lost its temper. It crushed the Dire Rat’s throat, then continued tearing the body apart long after it fell.
The fight had consumed much of the Dragonkin’s strength. It no longer seemed willing to guard every Puffcap.
A moment ago, it appeared to reach a decision, gathered six Puffcaps into its arms, and flew toward the forest.
With the Dragonkin gone, the monsters met no further resistance.
After entering the Fifth Stratum, they scattered in every direction like headless flies.
Vast stretches of mycelial mat were trampled, and mushrooms were crushed underfoot.
Evan’s fear had become reality.
The monsters had received an order to escape the dungeon, but apparently that order did not include directions.
At this rate, the only mycelial mat left intact on the Fifth Stratum would be the growth clinging to the ceiling.
Fortunately, Evan had already killed enough monsters.
If he could not prevent the destruction of the Mycelial Garden, he could at least reduce the time and cost of rebuilding it.
Nothing accelerated reconstruction better than a vast supply of corpses.
Every monster now wanted only to charge upward. None stopped to steal bites from the bodies on the ground.
Only the Dragonkin remained an exception, wholly devoted to eating Puffcaps.
The rifts could no longer be held. If Evan continued defending the stairways, his forces would soon be surrounded.
He ordered the two Puffcap armies to fight while withdrawing toward the Marsh Zone, where the terrain best suited their final counterattack.
To maintain maximum firepower during the retreat, Evan even developed a rotating backward-leap volley.
After the front row fired together, they jumped behind the rear ranks while gathering mana for the next attack.
Fighting and leaping in this pattern, the Puffcaps left many more monster corpses behind.
By the time they entered the Marsh Zone, the battle had reached its final stage.
Small monsters lost most of their mobility in the mud and posed little danger.
The true threats were flying creatures and giants.
Fewer than five hundred Puffcaps remained. They entered one last chaotic struggle against monsters surging from every direction.
...
The plan had nearly run its course. Monsters were beginning to wander near the caverns.
Evan immediately detonated several detonation Puffcaps at the entrance and sealed it with rubble.
While he was at it, he also detonated the bulwark Puffcap the Dragonkin was eating in the forest.
Did it think this was a buffet?
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