Legend

"Ray! I'll take care of the mushrooms behind you!

Elaine's voice echoes around her, and Ray also screams as she amputates the torso of a mushroom that has struck her with a death-size as a sideburn.

"I'm with Seto, so we can still afford this one, so it's okay!

"Grrrrrrrr!"

Next to Ray responding, Seto also destroys the torso of the mushroom waving his forefoot.

About an hour after I ran into a party I spent the night in the dungeon. Elaine and the others were on their way to the fourth basement stairwell, but as soon as they entered the area they were in, the mushrooms hit them.

The body length is small, about 1m. Will there be anything as large as 3m? For some reason, the giant mushroom has a tree root, which moves it. Fortunately, it would mean that the only way to attack is to hit your body. Each time the mushroom body is cut, the spores spread, but it is not particularly toxic and there is no damage.

"Chi, the mushroom itself is almost no different from what grows in this basement on the third floor... even if it's fictional, it's too good!

Death size cuts off the torso of a mushroom about 2m that hit me again, beating the upper body part down towards the ray with the patterned part.

Having seen Chirali and those ahead, Ray sees Elaine and the others surrounded there by an overwhelming majority of mushrooms.

(It's awkward as it is.... rather than me or Seto, Elaine and the others will run out of strength first anyway. Damn, if the guys at the party earlier have monsters like this, you can tell me. Are you gonna tell me you didn't know?... Wait. Didn't you know? I mean, they've never been attacked by these guys here or anything?

The mushrooms were attacking me without rest even while I was thinking about it that way, and I shouted to Seto as I wrapped around three mushrooms and slashed them down, turning Death Size into a sideburn.

"Yep, perseverance! Seto, buy me some time!

"Grrrrrrrr!"

Seto rings high in Ray's voice to convey his acceptance. Having heard that voice, Ray leaps behind him and spins the spell with magic.

Thou art made of flames, and thou art present. Collect, with that flame. Wing with great flame wings!

With every spell cast, a flame gathers to the part of the Death Size blade, which eventually turns into a bird figure.

Then it gradually increases its size and eventually has a body length of about 3m in diameter with its wings spread out.

"The immortal who conquers the sky!

At that moment when the spell is complete and an undead bird made up of flames wings, Seto kicks the mushroom with his hind legs just for the last souvenir and uses its recoil to land next to Ray.

And as Seto lands next to Ray, an undead bird sticks straight into the mushroom. The immortal-shaped flame, manipulated by the magic of Ray, burns one mushroom after another through the mushroom, winging like a bird, as the name suggests. Speaking of how much that firepower is, it would be understandable to see the sight of a mushroom burning into extinguishing coal in seconds when it touches an undead bird at that moment. The undead fly around to the fullest of what they think of the mushrooms, burning mushrooms one after another. And it didn't take a few minutes and time for all the mushrooms that were circling behind the Rays to burn out. And...

"Dear Elaine, I will clean up all your mushrooms! Please step back!

I guess I heard that voice. Looking back just for a moment, Elaine makes a quick decision when she sees that the mushrooms behind her have already been wiped out.

"Custe, Ara. Did you hear that? Back off!"

That's what I say to the two of you who are avant-garde, Elaine waving a concatenated sword.

The jointed sword, stretched like a whip, pierces the torso of the mushroom that was about to fly from the side of Ara, and at the same time straightens the torso of the mushroom that was stabbing from its interior when Elaine returns her wrist.

(Are these mushrooms painless? I hear that some monsters are rarely painless...)

He groans inside, returning his wrist as it were and also amputates the torso of another mushroom present next to the slashed mushroom.

In the first place, a weapon called a concatenated sword has the shape of a blade attached to a whipped body. The range of attack is quite wide, but the power of a single blow. The object is not as strong as Ray's Death Size or Custe's Demon Spear. When I want the power of a single blow, I usually have no problem because all I have to do is restore the connecting sword to the status of a long sword, but that's a problem when I have to act as a medium guard or a rear guard.... but it's not a problem at all unless it's someone as painless as this mushroom. Anyway, normal monsters are painful, so if they get hurt, they naturally feel pain. Because it can also be used as a means of restraint.

While I was thinking about that, Ara took the mushroom in front of me and at the same time Custe stuck the demon spear into its mushroom torso...... The next moment a large amount of water balloons are created from the tip of the demon spear pierced inside the mushroom to burst the mushroom torso from the inside.

Two mushrooms appear in front of each other again, even though the two men who defeated the mushroom in front of them follow Elaine's instructions and try to retreat to the rear.

"Let it go!

Elaine cuts the torso of one of the mushrooms she tried to fly to two people in the same way earlier with a connecting sword.

"Let me do it!

And the other mushroom has Vel shooting arrows in a row.

Mushrooms don't seem to have been damaged at all when about one arrow is shot in, and they try to move forward, but even if they don't defeat the mushroom with the arrow, the impact will blunt their legs enough. And if they kept going and shot two, three, four arrows in a row, it was enough to buy the two of them time to retreat.

And...

"That's the magic of Lord Ray..."

A bird made of flames that retreated to the rear as Arla passed over them, squeaking with eyes on the immortal.

Even without a gift of magic, he felt how much magic the immortal bird had in him, with his intuition as a warrior. And its beauty again.

Custe, who similarly retreated next to Ara, also looks at the undead as he was rarely impressed by this man.

"Oh, did Custe finally admit Ray, too?

"Well, he admits his arm. The only thing I haven't admitted is his character."

I laugh with my nose back at Ver, who has asked me to tease him.

And only a few mushrooms remained after the figure of the immortal disappeared.

The remaining mushrooms are also lightly stopped from breathing by Elaine and the others.

The struggle was originally due to the number of mushrooms and their creepiness that they were completely unpleasant to the extent that they did some damage, so it was already close to work if we got to it.

But...

"... what? Ray, Ver. Say it again."

Elaine's voice echoes around her. Next to it, Custe is frowning, and Ara is pointing a strange gaze at Ray and Ver.

Even with such a glance, Ver opens his mouth again.

"I tried to collect demon stones from those mushrooms, but there was no demon stone in them. In short, I guess that means those mushrooms aren't monsters."

"But the truth is, we were attacked by that mushroom, right?

Custe nods again at Elaine's words as well.

"Master Elaine is right. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it's more of a monster than I've attacked by trying to wrap this one around from the front and back, right?

"I know what Custe's trying to say, but come on. Me and Ray, we went through every inch of that mushroom body, and that's what we found, so we can't help it, can we? If anything, would you like to see if Custe has a demon stone somewhere in that mushroom, too?

Ver turns to Custe dissatisfied that we cannot believe what we have examined.

Even if it's Custe, I don't expect Ver to have looked it up out of hand. He's usually a man with a mild tone or attitude, but when it comes to work, he takes it seriously. Even if I knew it, it was a word that came out of nowhere.

"Hmm, don't get in some weird trouble this time. Kamakiri, who was on the journey, said this mushroom"

That one word that Elaine whined casually about. So I notice something. Ray turns to the carcass of a mushroom that has not reflexively turned into charcoal yet.

Elaine's eyes turned to Ray, surprised by the sudden action, but she approached the mushroom carcass without realizing it.

"Hey, what's going on? The mushroom doesn't have the material to remove the demon stone or anything. You looked it up with me earlier, didn't you?

I look into that body again as I listen to the strange Vel coming from behind me. However, this time it is not the mushroom part, but the part where the roots of the tree grow.

Take that part, cut the root part of the tree with a misrill knife and head back towards Elaine.

"So you figured something out?

Elaine calls out to Ray like that, but Ray just shook her head small.

"No, but I'm a little hooked on what Elaine said earlier."

"My words?

"Yes. It's about that Kamakiri. As I said at that time, that Kamakiri was probably a monster that supposedly was made of alchemy. And the mushrooms that attacked us are the same as the regular mushrooms that grow in this hierarchy from what we've looked at. There is no such thing as a gut after cutting the torso. Instead, it doesn't even have a demonic stone that should be a monster for sure. Speaking of just one different place from the other mushrooms, the roots of this tree that were moving instead of the legs"

I guess that's all you found out what Ray wanted to say to Elaine, too. Open your mouth with a gentle glance at that beautiful brow.

"I mean, you think the roots of that tree were also created by alchemy?

"It's only a prediction, though"

"It does seem like Ray is right about more than just no demon stone... you know what I mean? If you just ran into Kamakiri on the way to this dungeon, it could be some kind of out-of-the-way alchemist experiment somewhere, but it wouldn't be a coincidence if the presence created by the alchemist hit us again in the dungeon where we came in, would it?

I guess you figured out what Elaine was trying to say. Custe and Ara, Ver frowned slightly and Ray nodded again.

"Yes, if I'm right..."

You mean the roots of the kamakiri or this tree are after us?

But, Master Elaine, only a few of the aristocrats knew we were coming to this dungeon.

To Ara's words, Ver opens his mouth as he returns to his usual floating expression and clasps his shoulders.

"I mean, I guess there's someone in the aristocracy who's in trouble for us."

"Ver! That would be the aristocracy with Lady Elaine!

"That's why. Doesn't that mean I'm in trouble to have Elaine, the symbol of that aristocracy?

"... there is a traitor," he said?

"Well, it's just circumstantial evidence. In the first place, I don't know if it's really made of alchemy."

That's what Ver tells him as he turns his gaze toward the root of the tree in Ray's hand, and then turns his gaze toward Elaine and opens his mouth again.

"Besides, that Kamakiri melted as soon as he defeated him as if to erase the evidence that he existed. Yet the roots of this tree remain intact after being defeated.... like Elaine, what do you think of the area?

"If you think about it without difficulty, that Kamakiri is a piece of technology made in detail. In contrast, if the roots of this tree are really made of alchemy, perhaps the technology used is not that important, but a pattern that is not particularly troublesome to be known."

"Does that mean that even monsters whose tree roots were really made by alchemy don't think the technology used is common and made by the same alchemist as Kamakiri?

"Right. In circumstantial evidence, I'm sure it's the same person's work, but circumstantial evidence is circumstantial evidence only. There's nothing to overturn that if they say it's a coincidence. … When this happens, it is regrettable that we were unable to secure much of the Kamakiri material to be made."

Sighing, whining Elaine.

I guess it's an established matter that in her there's already an alchemist involved in this one for some reason.

"Anyway, if we're not alarmed, there's no problem with what the alchemist is up to. The stairs to the fourth basement are coming up, but keep your head down."

Everyone nods at the order, and the roots of the tree go into the dungeon just in case Ray stores them in Mystering.

Then, about an hour later, he finally spotted a staircase to get down to the fourth basement floor, and while he was on guard, he proceeded.

It is the seventh basement floor, the lowest level, where there is an altar of inheritance. I finally broke through about half of this dungeon... the map Elaine has up to the third basement floor. From here on out, we have to literally go on a hand-driven expedition without a map.