Chapter 48

The sheepskin booklet had been flipped until its edges were frayed; Calvin had checked it three times, yet he still couldn't connect the fifth floor described in the guide to the scene outside the stairs.

Was this really the "brightest floor" they had promised?

Not a single cluster of firefly grass could be seen; in the pitch-black fifth floor, the eerie glow of mushrooms was the only source of light.

And on this path leading out from the stairs, there happened to be a row of fluorescent mushrooms on each side, as if they had been deliberately planted.

Calvin felt this scene was even more bizarre than what he had seen in that small cave on the second floor.

Even Pero was starting to get cold feet: "Your guide is way off! Are we... still going to keep moving forward?"

"Since we're already here... let's just take a look at the situation."

After walking out, the two realized that even the dome was covered in mushrooms, their fluorescence connecting into a single expanse, like a canopy of sky.

Calvin felt completely uneasy, as if someone were watching him, making him regret the decision he had made two minutes ago.

However, when he told Pero about this feeling, Pero shook his head, saying he hadn't sensed anything at all.

Calvin couldn't just decide to turn back based on a feeling; that would be too impulsive.

"Are we really going to follow this path?" Pero asked, pointing to the mushroom-lined road in front of them.

This road certainly looked suspicious, but it overlapped with the direction of the forest written in the guide.

Although the guide was outdated, the terrain shouldn't have changed completely.

After thinking it over, Calvin took out his small magic staff.

First-tier magic—Illumination.

A ball of orange light hovered at the tip of the staff.

"Let's walk on the outer edge of the road."

Squish—

The moment they took their first step off the path, both felt a sticky sensation under their feet.

When they leaned down to investigate, they were shocked to find that the area outside the path was covered in translucent mycelium.

From beneath them all the way to the edge of the darkness, as far as the eye could see, it was all mycelium-covered ground!

"I knew the ground color felt weird; it turns out it's all this stuff!" Pero stepped back in disgust. "How about we just stick to the road?"

Calvin could only nod.

The path itself was clean, as if the mycelium were being held back by the fluorescent mushrooms on either side.

The surroundings were quite quiet; they hadn't even seen a shadow of the monsters mentioned in the guide.

The only thing they encountered was a mountain-like corpse, mostly decomposed by the mycelium, so tattered that it was impossible to tell what it had originally been.

Everything made the two increasingly uneasy; they remained on guard, not even speaking a word.

They didn't stop until they saw the forest.

"Is that the 'forest' you were talking about?"

In the direction Pero pointed, countless giant fluorescent mushrooms towered, with mycelium hanging down from their caps, forming a mushroom forest of varying heights.

Only a few giant trees were wedged in the gaps between the mushrooms.

It was obvious that the information in the guide was outdated even regarding the terrain!

Before Calvin could speak, a strange sound echoed through the forest.

Pfft—

Pfft—

The heavy sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet environment.

A fat, three-meter-tall Puji slowly emerged from behind a giant mushroom, its four thick mycelium tentacles swaying in mid-air.

And beside this giant Puji, there were a dozen smaller Pujis, identical to the one on the second floor, also sporting tentacles.

The Pujis seemed to have discovered the two, and they all stopped.

"Calvin! We should retreat!"

"Calvin?"

Pero then realized that the light from the Illumination spell beside him had vanished at some point.

"Calvin, you—"

The next second, Pero found his own body turning transparent, and Calvin's voice came from beside him.

"Me what?"

"You... you did well, your reaction was faster than mine!"

"Tsk!"

With no time to argue, Calvin crouched down and grabbed the corner of Pero's clothes to ensure they wouldn't get separated.

"Retreat, retreat, this place is too strange."

"Then what about your assignment?"

"What else can I do? I'll just have to use my savings to buy one from a black-market dealer."

With his already meager savings about to shrink again, Calvin felt his heart bleeding.

In his grief, Calvin didn't notice the pull on his hand and bumped headfirst into something.

"It hurts!" His forehead seemed to have been cut; he could feel blood flowing.

But he soon had no time to care about such a minor injury.

A humanoid creature covered in ink-black scales stood right in front of them, tilting its head to stare at the two invisible figures.

"D-d-dragon..." Before Calvin could finish, the monster, which wasn't even as tall as him, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.

The two's invisibility spell lost its support and instantly failed.

At the same time, a violent shout came from nearby!

[Fury LV4]

[Brute Force LV4]

It was Pero!

Seeing Calvin under attack, he decisively activated his buffs and slashed down with his sword held in both hands.

[Heavy Slash LV5]

Clang—

The broken half of the sword flew into the air; Pero trembled, maintaining his downward slash posture, blood flowing from his split thumb-web.

He couldn't understand why his refined steel longsword couldn't even cut through a single scale on the opponent's shoulder.

He had checked his equipment thoroughly before entering the dungeon.

Wasn't this the fifth floor?

The monster grabbed Pero's throat with its other claw; Pero tried to resist, but his numbed hands couldn't even be raised.

Feeling the force from the claw increasing, Pero found it harder and harder to breathe.

Calvin, beside him, was purple in the face, already on the verge of suffocation.

As if in an instant, or perhaps an eternity, the pressure on their necks suddenly vanished.

Pero collapsed to the ground in a sorry state, breathing greedily.

After catching his breath, he looked up and saw the terrifying monster had disappeared, while Calvin lay on the ground motionless, his chest not even rising.

"Calvin? Calvin! Wake up!"

He slapped Calvin's face twice, but still couldn't wake him.

Hurriedly opening his small bag, Pero wanted to take out a healing potion, but was interrupted by the Pujis surrounding them.

Subconsciously reaching for his sword, he grabbed nothing and remembered that only the broken blade remained on the ground nearby.

He was quickly tied up.

"Should've just let them choke me to death earlier..."

Just as Pero was wondering how he would be killed, he saw a Puji opposite him extend a hollow mycelium tentacle and shove it into Calvin's mouth.

The tentacle, along with the Puji's body, pulsed in and out.

Tied up, Pero struggled, but could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything.

Suddenly, Calvin opened his eyes wide and frantically ripped the mycelium tentacle from his throat.

"Cough, cough—cough, cough—cough, cough, cough—ugh—"

After coughing, Calvin lay on the ground as if half his life had been taken—in fact, his HP had indeed dropped by half.

Pfft—

With heavy footsteps, the fat Puji finally walked over slowly.

It reached into its belly, pulled out four items, and tossed them in front of Pero.

Then the Pujis released Pero, turned around, and left, disappearing into the mushroom forest shortly after.

Looking at the longsword, fruit pit, magic crystal, and healing potion left behind by the Puji on the ground, Pero couldn't react for a moment.

Was this... being saved from the monster by the Pujis?

Quickly gathering the items, Pero hoisted the weak and powerless Calvin and hurried back into the floor passage.

——

Damn it, I forgot to tell Xiao Hei that humans aren't monsters!

(End of chapter)