Chapter 317: Attack and the Secret Door

The group arrived at the location provided by the sporelight colony.

A hidden cave fifty li north of Lake Ermil on the Ke Plain.

They stared at the cave before them, half-collapsed.

Each of them felt a faint premonition of trouble.

"There are signs of battle."

Luo De crouched down and found claw marks and impact craters on the compacted earth wall at the cave entrance.

This team's strength was high; naturally, they weren't afraid.

The lowest spiritual accumulation was Mushroom Man Noah, around fifth-rank high.

Yet he showed no fear, his expression dumb and innocent, and without a word, he stepped forward.

The rabbit woman Oona and the star spirit Hali both shouted to stop him.

After all, they were mages—they preferred to prepare thoroughly beforehand.

Oona first cast 【Group Invisibility】.

Then, using several strands of Luo De's hair as a spell component, she cast 【Illusory Duplicate】.

Both were seventh-rank spells.

Group Invisibility needs no explanation.

【Illusory Duplicate】 is an illusion spell that creates a copy of a living being, possessing half the original's strength.

Luo De, after all, was the spiritual warrior with the highest spiritual accumulation present.

Star spirit Hali was indeed skilled in cutting-edge mage techniques.

She swiftly cast a sequence of spells: 【Bull's Might】, 【Bear's Endurance】, 【Cat's Grace】, 【Owl's Insight】, 【Fox's Cunning】.

All were area-effect spells, affecting Luo De, Noah, and Luo De's illusory duplicate.

Luo De's base stats were already so high that the bonuses had negligible impact.

Mushroom Man Noah felt remarkably good.

"Oh—"

He raised his pale white arms and flexed them like a human showing off muscles.

Though his arms had almost no definition, resembling nothing more than oversized lotus roots.

Preparation was complete.

Guided by the illusory duplicate, the group entered the cave officially.

As soon as they stepped inside, Luo De immediately noticed the difference in the mushroom folk's cave.

To be honest,

He'd been through plenty of tunnels—the abandoned labyrinth tunnels of Double Finger Mountain, derelict mines, the underground city of rat folk.

None were anything but dark, damp, and reeking of rot.

But the mushroom folk's cave was different.

Upon entering, one could see glowing blue-violet vines and moss.

Then came a wave of moist air, faintly musty yet carrying the fresh scent of soil and unknown plants.

The tunnel walls were uneven, wide enough for two adults to walk side by side.

As they went deeper, signs of battle increased, becoming fiercer.

Stalactites were shattered, and colorful mushroom clusters lay crushed into piles.

"It's beast plague."

Hali spotted a corpse smashed into the cave wall, its head pulverized by immense force.

She cast a detection spell on the blood on the ground and reached a conclusion.

"Beast plague victims attacked the mushroom folk?"

Luo De was puzzled.

He knew infected beast plague carriers instinctively spread their blood—but mushroom folk had no circulatory system and couldn't be infected. So why attack them?

Hali also couldn't figure it out and looked at Mushroom Man Noah.

Noah scratched his head and glanced at Oona.

The rabbit woman was preoccupied with the safety of her old friend's child and had no attention for him.

"Maybe it's revenge?"

The bulky mushroom man ventured a guess, "We dislike how they've wrecked the plains and tried to drive them off, so they hate us in return."

Hali shook her head.

"Normally not. They treat spreading beast plague as their top priority. Revenge against a race that can't be infected goes against their nature. Besides, the Mycelium Clan just relocated here—their encounters with beast plague victims are far fewer than the other four local colonies. Revenge wouldn't target them."

As she spoke, she walked downward.

Perhaps due to the slippery moss-covered path, she stumbled and nearly fell.

Luo De swiftly grabbed her—but she exerted no resistance, letting herself collapse fully into his arms.

Huh?

Was it my imagination?

Why has her collar become so loose, revealing a small patch of pale blue translucent skin and a white undershirt?

"Ugh!"

Hali shoved him away.

She hastily pulled her collar tighter.

She didn't even look at Luo De, as if nothing had happened.

Yet when she turned her back, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on her face.

The tactic worked!

Look at the way his eyes nearly popped out!

Luo De didn't know her thoughts.

Her reaction made him feel slightly embarrassed.

They continued deeper into the cave.

After walking about ten minutes,

They emerged from the tunnel into an open space.

A clear underground river ran through the cavern, flanked by several simple yet charming huts woven from vines and branches, with giant mushroom caps as roofs—some still under construction.

But the battle's aftermath had destroyed them all.

Charred ruins, broken walls, mushroom-cap roofs rotted and moldy from lack of nourishment.

The battle here had been even fiercer.

Corpses of mushroom folk and beast plague victims lay everywhere.

To prevent contamination of the underground river, they cleaned up the bodies while scanning the surroundings for possible survivors.

Oona, seeing no immediate danger, ordered the 【Illusory Duplicate】 to guard the outer cave entrance in case of emergencies.

Luo De walked along the underground river inward.

Here, bioluminescent plants were scarce; stalactites and stalagmites remained untouched.

Clearly, the Mycelium tribe hadn't yet explored this far.

So this area appeared empty.

Tally suddenly leapt out from the shadows.

"Master, there's another space here."

"Hmm."

Luo De nodded; his 【Spider Sense】 had detected a faint, unusual breeze.

Unlike the airflow in the outer chamber, indicating another space existed.

He gripped the hilt of 【Tremor Blade】 and activated its 【Secret Door Detection】.

Immediately, a thread of spiritual energy floated, leading toward a recess in the nearby wall.

As the spell activated, the recess revealed an unnatural stone door.

Its surface was densely covered in green hallucinogenic spores.

Luo De cast 【Repulsion】 to blow away the spores, then activated 【Instant Unlock】 on the blade.

Click—

The stone door opened automatically.

A small space, entirely unlike the cool cave environment, was revealed.

The ceiling was a circular skylight, through which sunlight poured, warming the chamber.

Lush green moss enveloped the entire space; at its center stood an ancient, rotting tree stump, upon which rested a glowing golden crown.

Flesh-colored living mycelium coiled around the crown, pulsing as if alive.

It looked slightly eerie.

"Huh?"

What is this?

As he pondered,

Tally beside him darted forward, reaching for the golden crown.

Luo De frowned.

The succubus was shrewd and clever; she would never casually touch something unfamiliar.

He yanked her over.

Sure enough, Tally's eyes were vacant—she had been ensnared without realizing it.

Luo De cupped her face and activated 【Green Vine Mutual Healing】, which could purge even negative states.

Soon, she regained consciousness.

(End of Chapter)