“Move this Resonance Cannon five meters left.”
On the demonkin stronghold’s walls, a Puffshroom draped in a bright red “marshal’s cape” and a towering mycelium hat directed demonkin to adjust weapon placements with pompous authority.
These Resonance Cannons were linked to the demonkin’s nodes. Talented ones could handle two at once.
The fortress had eighteen cannons.
Not for lack of want, but magic supply limited them.
The Mycelial Network’s magic pool in one area had a cap. Once drained, pulling from other zones hit efficiency limits.
Even with Lin Jun’s stockpile of “Magic Pool Puffshrooms,” eighteen cannons pushed the area’s capacity.
In battle, beyond the cannons’ magic drain, endlessly spawning Puffshrooms ate up resources too.
Over the past two days, they’d nabbed more spies. Lin Jun didn’t sacrifice these ones for morale—after a check, he locked them up. They’d be useful.
Honestly, after a month-plus of prep since capturing Galen, if the enemy didn’t show, Lin Jun would’ve cried.
Big tears!
Luckily, their scouts kept coming, each wave bolder, set on a fight to the end. It put Lin Jun at ease.
Look—solo scouts never returned, and now they’d upgraded to scout teams!
On the gray icefield, a blinding lightning bolt tore through the air!
Where nothing stood, a smoldering Puffshroom appeared, collapsing, its mycelium body charred.
Five figures emerged from the snowstorm, circling to inspect the corpse. Scales, horns, and mixed skin tones marked them as a typical half-demon squad.
“Never seen a creature like this. It can go invisible… no wonder no one came back. Impossible to guard against,” a lizard-tailed half-demon rasped, kicking the Puffshroom’s remains.
The Diamond-tier captain, Kins, looked grim. “This demonkin tribe controls these stealth creatures to monitor the area. From now on, double caution!”
He cast a spell, conjuring a thick, icy white mist that enveloped the squad.
The mist blended with the icefield’s snow, barely noticeable, shielding them from sight.
Crucially, against [Magic Perception] scans, it couldn’t fully hide anomalies but created a magical interference barrier, making precise targeting tough.
The squad crept forward in the mist, like threading a minefield.
Whenever an invisible Puffshroom neared, a lightning bolt shot from the mist, zapping it dead. They inched closer to the demonkin tribe.
Suddenly, Kins’s sharp eyes caught a huddled figure in an ice-crusted rock crevice!
“Erli?!” Drawing closer, despite the figure’s heavy wrappings leaving only eyes visible, Kins recognized the familiar shape.
Erli seemed startled to meet someone here. “Captain Kins?”
Then, as if recalling something dire, his voice turned urgent, hushed. “How are you walking out in the open?! Quick, hide!”
He shifted, revealing a narrow, dark tunnel entrance behind him.
A squad member spoke up. “We’re covered by Mist Spell, and we’ve taken out any stealth creatures. We’re safe. But you, Erli—why haven’t you reported back? You’re from the third scout batch. It’s been days!”
“Leave? I wish I could!” Erli’s voice shook but steadied. “You don’t know what it took to retreat from the front! Mist Spell isn’t foolproof! No time to explain—get in!”
He sounded desperate, as if standing outside risked instant doom.
The squad member who knew Erli moved to enter the tunnel but was yanked back by Kins’s grip.
“Hold on!” Kins raised his staff, eyeing Erli warily. “What’s the danger out here? And why’s your face covered? Hurt?”
His words snapped the squad to attention. All eyes locked on Erli’s tightly wrapped face. Some quietly gripped weapons.
“I… got hurt,” Erli’s voice stiffened. “Blood scabs… stuck to the cloth. Hard to remove…”
His tone turned pleading. “Trust me, Kins! I wouldn’t trick you! Get in now, there’s still time!”
But Kins’s staff tip glowed with dangerous magic, aimed at Erli’s eyes. “Erli, last chance. Take it off.”
“Why… why force me…” Erli’s trembling hand reached for the cloth, voice thick with anger. “I’m trying to help… and you don’t trust me?!”
He tore off the cloth!
A grotesque face, crawling with white mycelium woven into flesh, stared back—utterly deformed!
The half-demons flinched. Two stepped back in shock.
Erli’s face shifted from hurt anger to twisted rage. “It’s Bastardos’s fault! That bastard, sucking up to the Empire’s wench, sending us to die for a cushy southern life! Not just me—you’re all the same! All doomed!”
“You don’t trust me?! Then die!”
With his frenzied roar, round Puffshrooms rolled out from the tunnel!
A squad member with long, warped limbs reacted fast, charging with a shout. Her thin blade flashed, slicing several Puffshrooms in half.
But she couldn’t catch them all.
Boom! Boom-boom—!!!
Explosions erupted!
The agile warrior took the brunt, flung like a ragdoll, smashing into the ice, blood staining the crystals red.
Others, outside the blast’s core, took lighter wounds.
Erli, closest to the explosions, was hit hardest. The Puffshrooms didn’t spare their “ally.”
Yet, ignoring the pain, he cackled wildly at Kins’s battered squad. “Hahaha! Serves you right! You could’ve lived if you trusted me! Now you’re all dead! Die! All of you!”
“Traitor!”
A furious lightning bolt from Kins struck Erli, charring him as he convulsed and collapsed.
But killing the traitor didn’t save them. Erli had stalled long enough… In the snowstorm, countless faint “puff puff” sounds closed in, white shapes surrounding them.
A similar scene played out with the lizardmen’s scout team.
The demonkin tribe was a black hole. No matter how many gifted scouts were sent, none returned. Both leaders, Tuck and Bastardos, felt the growing thorniness…
(End of Chapter)
