Unlike his frantic departure, Dylan's return journey took a full month and more.
Throughout the way, he wrapped his face in bandages, bundled up like a mummy. He avoided populated areas as much as possible, only resupplying at post stations or villages.
After finally returning to Mute Wind Town, he didn't linger, hastily bought supplies, and entered the dungeon alone.
He didn't go to the tavern to gather intelligence—the dungeon had remained unchanged for ages. What major changes could occur in just two months?
Inside the dungeon, he took routes with few resources and equally few magical beasts, relatively safe paths. His purpose this time wasn't to make money anyway.
He wanted to take another look at that swamp.
He didn't know what he was expecting, but every time he thought about hiding away, his mind would conjure up the scene he'd witnessed in that treasure chest room.
He'd considered that this might be some kind of mental suggestion from being parasitized, that returning would lead to complete consumption.
But in the end, he decided to come look anyway. If he died because of it... then so be it.
Walking along the dozens-of-meters-high bluestone corridor between the fourth and fifth floors, his heel strikes echoed off the walls on both sides.
The footsteps weren't his alone—a group of adventurers appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
As they passed each other, both parties gripped their weapons tighter.
One must always guard against others—the dungeon contained all sorts of people.
"Friend, wait up."
Dylan turned around. The one calling him was a young man in leather armor with a curved blade at his waist.
Despite his youthful face that looked under twenty, he could ascend from the fifth floor—clearly someone blessed with enviable talent.
"What is it?"
As he spoke, Dylan took two more steps down to maintain distance.
Seeing his movement, the young man simply offered a well-intentioned reminder:
"I don't know if you're aware, but the fifth floor has recently experienced an anomaly. Everyone's still trying to figure out the situation—it's best not to risk it."
"An anomaly? Did the parasitic trees go berserk?"
"Not that—it's the Puffshroom. A swarm of mutated Puffshroom have occupied most of the floor. Their behavior patterns are unknown, but supposedly people have already died down there. We were trying to bypass the Puffshroom to reach the caverns, but discovered this passageway had Puffshroom blocking all walkable paths, so we turned back."
The young man seemed genuinely offering advice out of goodwill. Dylan nodded slightly:
"Thank you."
Then continued walking down. He was here precisely to find the Puffshroom.
"Tch, secretive weirdo. Wasted effort on Vera's part giving a kind warning when he obviously doesn't believe it."
Dylan hadn't gone far when the female archer in the young man's party voiced her dissatisfaction with sarcasm.
"Now, now, that's perfectly normal. Come on, we still need to check the situation at the other passage."
The young man's voice gradually faded behind him.
Dylan rather liked such enthusiastic types—though his goodwill probably wouldn't amount to much.
As for the female archer's mockery, he'd long passed the age of taking such things to heart.
There were three connecting passages between the fourth and fifth floors; this one was near Poison Mist Lake.
Dylan drank his poison resistance potion early, but was dumbfounded when he emerged.
The lake was still there, but where was the poison?
Previously, green mist had wreathed the entire lake perimeter—not only toxic, but severely obstructing vision.
Now he could see clearly into the distance at a glance.
Dylan spotted several Puffshroom wandering aimlessly by the distant lakeshore, blocking the path to the caverns as the young man had said.
Speaking of which, the lake's poisonous mist existed because Jade-Eyed Frogs dwelt here, their accumulated daily emissions of green toxic vapor having shrouded the entire lake area.
Only now did Dylan notice that with such good visibility, he couldn't see a single Jade-Eyed Frog.
Only scattered Strong Acid Slimes and Water Spirits were visible.
What on earth had happened here?
Continuing forward, Dylan felt somewhat uneasy.
Fortunately, the Puffshroom still ignored his passage as before, allowing Dylan to breathe easier.
Traversing the now poison-mist-free lake, Dylan headed toward the swamp's edge.
He planned to circle around those parasitic trees and sneak into the treasure chest room to observe the situation there.
However, upon reaching the swamp, he witnessed a similar scene once more.
The native magical beasts had vanished without a trace, replaced by Puffshroom wandering throughout...
When the young man told him Puffshroom had occupied most of the floor, he'd thought they'd integrated into the fifth floor's ecosystem.
Now it seemed they'd slaughtered all the originally dwelling magical beasts?
Recalling how those Puffshroom could easily kill parasitic trees back then, it didn't seem impossible.
Finally arriving before that stone wall, something unexpected occurred once again—
The treasure chest room was gone!
Not merely closed again, but the entire thing had disappeared, stone door and all.
Dylan was certain he hadn't mistaken the location.
Just as he stood somewhat at a loss, a voice emerged from inside his head.
"What's up? Want to touch the treasure chest?"
---
Lin Jun had been quite troubled lately.
His troubles weren't about mushroom garden construction—everything on the fifth floor was proceeding according to plan.
The Forest Gnolls had now become Mushroom Gnolls, transformed into puppets that obeyed Lin Jun's commands completely, just like the Puffshroom.
But Lin Jun wasn't particularly satisfied with these puppets.
Their combat strength wasn't especially high, yet they consumed considerable energy and still required meat intake.
Cost-effectiveness-wise, they were blown away by the Puffshroom by several streets.
He'd kept them until now purely to research the [Fusion Parasitism] skill.
Having mostly completed that research, Lin Jun was considering whether to expend them in combat or bury them directly as fertilizer.
What truly troubled Lin Jun was that relations with humans had become rather strained recently.
Adventurers would choose detours or preemptive attacks upon seeing Puffshroom, and Lin Jun didn't have the habit of not fighting back when attacked...
The source of all this was a group of idiotic adventurers who'd brought a girl into the dungeon.
Three LV25+ Bronze-rank adventurers had brought a mere LV16 novice female mage to explore the fifth floor, insisting on passing through the swamp area.
Equivalent to others wanting to play explorer in Lin Jun's bedroom—naturally he disagreed.
He'd sent Puffshroom to block their path, even fired a warning shot to help them recognize the power gap.
The three Bronze-rank adventurers understood, but that novice mage didn't.
Taking initiative, she chanted for ages before producing an Electric Claw technique, reaching toward a nearby Self-Destruct Puffshroom.
Lin Jun genuinely couldn't understand—why would a mage want to play melee combat?
Faced with someone courting death, Lin Jun had always been one to grant such wishes.
In a dazzling explosion, the beauty flew over five meters high, landing as a mass of mangled flesh.
The matter should have ended there—Lin Jun hadn't planned to pursue their trespassing in the swamp or the death of an innocent Self-Destruct Puffshroom.
Unexpectedly, one of the adventurers charged forward through tears, looking ready for vengeance.
Another of the remaining two hesitated before following suit. The result was predictable—mangled flesh +2.
When the Puffshroom looked toward the last person, he decisively tore open a scroll and vanished entirely.
A teleportation scroll!?
Who'd have thought such things actually existed.
Heaven and earth as witnesses, Lin Jun had no intention of silencing witnesses—he'd always been acting in legitimate self-defense.
But judging from the adventurers' subsequent reactions, this blame probably couldn't be cleared.
He didn't know how things would ultimately develop.
Full-scale war?
Or abandon areas outside the swamp, reduce his presence, and wait for the storm to pass?
However, when he discovered the half-human, half-mushroom Dylan had reappeared on the fifth floor, he immediately had an idea.
Comments