Chapter 321: Temporary Stay

Luo De finally watched his illusion shatter into fragments.

A strange sadness arose within him.

After all, it could only replicate Luo De's physical attributes, not his spiritual arts or domains.

Far away, Haley slowly floated down, her expression cold and haughty.

Her wide mage robe was lifted by the air, revealing unmistakably a white short pant printed with strawberry patterns.

Seeing this, Luo De silently gave Oana a firm nod.

The implication was: "This is clearly the Starling's way of dressing."

The rabbit girl also began to doubt herself.

She was mostly misled by Haley's unmistakable air of confidence and pride.

"I told you, spiritual attacks have no effect on me."

The Starling mage spoke these words immediately.

It seemed she still resented Luo De for not letting her handle the crown earlier.

Luo De, helpless, gave her a thumbs-up.

Of course, if you had dared to glance at the crown openly instead of frantically turning away, your argument would've been more convincing.

Past Haley.

He went to inspect the deep crater carved by the spell.

The magical illusion made of mana had dissolved; the golden crown still gleamed brightly, lying in the soil.

The grotesque fleshy growths on the active mycelium slowly retracted, returning to their former radiant, holy appearance.

"The spore message from the Mycelium Clan called this a 'demonic object'—it seems they were right."

Luo De thought for a moment.

He formed a ball of 【Hate-Fire of Agony】 between his fingertips and flung it onto the crown.

Sizz—

The moment the active mycelium touched the pink-purple hate-fire, it blackened and charred instantly, curling up in panic, even severing the infected portions on its own.

The burning emitted an indescribable stench—mixing decay, mold, and blood.

"It worked."

After all, she was the Cursed Dragon of Hatred; her hate-fire still carried serious prestige.

After this scorching, all active mycelium dared not linger outside—they retreated deep into the crown.

It became just an ordinary golden crown.

Think hiding away will save you?

Luo De hurled another ball of hate-fire—this time with greater intensity, aiming to burn and melt it completely.

Oana, noticing the commotion, walked over to look.

As for Haley, she was trying to reattach her ghoul's severed arm, shooting Luo De a resentful glance in between.

"You want to destroy it?"

The rabbit girl asked.

"I thought this was a treasured item of the Mycelium Clan, but now it seems not. Better to destroy it than let it harm the world."

"Actually, you could hand it over to the Containment Division. The Magic Control League will award you internal credits. Besides, I'm quite interested in its properties."

"You mages are just too curious."

"Precisely because of curiosity that magic can advance further."

Luo De halted the hate-fire.

Since Oana said so, he couldn't press further—though more importantly, those internal credits mattered.

A frustrating thing about the Market District was that certain items accepted only internal credits, not Jin Along.

The golden crown in the spell crater had been blackened significantly, even with a segment of its circular band melted through.

It bore little resemblance to its former radiant state.

"The spiritual influence effect has failed."

Oana said, astonished.

"Heh, a cowardly thing, afraid of strength and bullying weakness."

"No wonder Luo De—he's even mastered such peculiar flames."

"Hahahaha—"

Just in case.

Oana still cast 【Obscure Object】 and other illusion spells, then used Mage Hand to place it inside a specially designed magical storage box.

The group found the dazed mushroom-man Noah.

Following his guidance, they continued searching along the Mycelium Clan's escape route.

The Ke's Plain was truly vast.

Heading south for a short while, they reached an endless grassland, crossing nearly a hundred li before finally passing through.

Along the way, there were many pastures and farms.

But due to the spread of Bestial Plague, tents and huts were all destroyed; flocks of sheep and cattle were trapped behind fences, dying in vast numbers.

The sheer volume of corpses risked triggering an epidemic.

Luo De frowned.

If things continue like this, even if the Bestial Plague on Ke's Plain eases, the downstream problems will surely be endless.

This leg of exploration was even more aimless than before.

And after crossing a tributary of the Hansen River, they completely lost the Mycelium Clan's spore signals.

Night had fallen.

The group decided to halt their search.

During this time, Luo De asked the half-deer girl Xiao Ke to perform a minor, low-cost prophecy.

Though they learned most of the members had survived, they used spiritual arts to conceal their stellar destinies, making their locations unforecastable.

"There happens to be a survivor camp nearby—we might as well check it out. Even if we find no leads, we can rest for the night."

Haley suggested.

"Agreed!"

Tally raised her hand from the shadows in agreement.

She was hungry—she needed to eat.

No one could stop a succubus from eating.

"Exactly, exactly—we need to rest."

The mushroom-man Noah also agreed.

If not for Haley carrying him along, he would've already sat down to sleep.

The other three were top-tier in strength and felt no fatigue.

But if the guide was quitting, they couldn't force themselves to push on.

So the group changed direction.

After flying for about ten minutes, they arrived outside a heavily fortified abandoned labyrinth.

Located on a slightly elevated hill, its entrance was narrow and easy to defend.

Haley stepped forward to negotiate.

Since Starlings were universally known to be immune to Bestial Plague, the tense survivors inside sighed with relief.

Besides, the Star Association had long been active in the area—they were already well-known.

Thus, after magical inspection, they entered smoothly.

"Hahahaha—Welcome, welcome!"

The leader of this outpost was a warm-hearted half-elf elder named Helena, a fifth-rank mage.

The other survivors were all local humans from surrounding villages.

Those with combat ability were mostly fourth- or fifth-rank; not a single sixth-rank among them.

They held this position mainly thanks to terrain and their large number of mages.

Though their ranks were low, there were at least twenty mages among them.

Excluding mercenaries and outsiders, Shiying Town had fewer local mages than this place.

Thus, when properly coordinated, they could produce impressive ritual effects.

Helena warmly shook hands with each of them, then led them to dine.

She was endlessly talkative and paid attention to everyone, leaving no one feeling neglected.

After dinner, each received a private room.

Luo De found this convenient—he still needed to feed the succubus.

But after kissing Tally and pulling down his pants, he realized the rooms had small observation windows between them—not fully sealed.

The rooms on either side of Luo De's were Oana's and Haley's.

The rabbit girl sat cross-legged with eyes closed, her face slightly flushed.

The Starling's expression

Was hard to read—after all, she was semi-translucent and indistinct.

But after sensing Luo De's gaze, she snorted and turned away.

Luo De smiled awkwardly.

He quickly picked up the lustful succubus and fled the outpost, deciding to have a picnic instead.

(End of Chapter)