Chapter 105
Thistle opened his spellbook once again, releasing a strange magical pulse.
Rustling soon echoed from every direction as a vast number of Walking Mushrooms gathered around him.
Looking over the swarm, Thistle began chanting an incomprehensible spell.
The Walking Mushrooms immediately twisted around one another, their limbs and bodies merging as the mass rapidly expanded.
In the end, they fused into an enormous cluster nearly eight meters tall, with more than a dozen thick stalks.
The stalks swung like powerful arms, each movement producing a sharp rush of wind and making the ground tremble faintly.
Thistle studied the Giant Walking Mushroom with satisfaction before issuing a cold command.
"Go. Bring back the thieves on the fourth floor."
The towering monster released a deep, muffled growl, then turned and strode toward the passage leading downward.
...
Meanwhile, Haruto and the others were moving rapidly across the dungeon’s fourth floor.
After hurrying onward, they soon arrived at the passage connecting the fourth and third floors.
"This is where we part ways."
Haruto stopped and turned toward Laios and the others.
"The third floor has fewer monsters, so you should be able to reach the surface without much trouble."
"I’m going to remain on the fourth floor and gather a few more monster ingredients."
Of course, if the dungeon remained stable afterward, Haruto intended to return to the fifth floor and search for the passage leading to the sixth.
"Thank you."
Laios looked at him with sincere gratitude.
Without Haruto’s warning, they might have walked straight into the Mad Mage.
Falin would have been in terrible danger.
"Please be careful too, Haruto-san," Falin said.
As she spoke, she cast several protective spells on him.
"Don’t worry. I know my limits."
"You should leave quickly. The sooner you reach the surface, the safer you’ll be."
Haruto smiled, looking completely relaxed.
He had already gathered an excellent haul. Even if he left the Delicious in Dungeon world now, the trip would still have been more than worthwhile.
He certainly wanted to collect more, but if genuine danger appeared, he would leave immediately.
Just as Laios and the others prepared to depart, something suddenly changed.
Falin’s eyes went blank.
Every trace of expression vanished from her gentle face.
Like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, she stepped forward, ignored everyone around her, and began walking directly toward the passage between the third and fourth floors.
"Falin!"
Laios was confused for only a moment before realizing something was wrong.
He rushed forward and seized her wrist.
No matter how hard he pulled, however, he could not stop her.
Senshi and Chilchuck hurried over to help, and only with all three restraining her did Falin finally come to a halt.
"What’s wrong, Falin? Wake up!"
Laios shouted, desperately trying to reach her.
Her condition resembled someone entranced by a mermaid’s song, but it was clearly far more severe.
His voice had no effect whatsoever.
Haruto’s expression darkened as he stared warily toward the passage.
There was no doubt that Thistle had done something to her.
Haruto had known the Mad Mage might pursue them, but he had never expected him to move faster than they had.
Whatever method Thistle had used, the situation had become extremely dangerous.
Haruto glanced at Laios and the others, who still had no idea what was happening, and spoke in a low, urgent voice.
"Be careful. The Mad Mage must be nearby."
"He’s controlling Falin."
Everyone’s expressions changed immediately.
Haruto then looked toward Marcille, who was panicking and clearly unsure what to do.
"Marcille, try using magic to wake Falin."
Snapping out of her panic, Marcille hurriedly opened her spellbook, found a dispelling spell, and began chanting in an attempt to remove whatever was affecting Falin.
Unfortunately, support magic was not Marcille’s specialty.
The spell had no effect at all.
Then again, Falin’s condition might have originated from her soul, making ordinary dispelling magic useless regardless of the caster.
Seeing that Marcille’s spell had failed, Haruto thought briefly before giving another instruction.
"Use a shock spell on her."
If they wanted to bring Falin back to her senses, they would have to use a more forceful method.
"But—"
Marcille hesitated, then quickly understood his reasoning.
It might hurt Falin, but there was no better option.
She immediately cast a low-powered shock spell.
Falin collapsed unconscious.
Since Marcille had deliberately limited the spell’s strength, however, she soon opened her eyes again.
This time, her expression had returned to normal.
She looked around at everyone apologetically.
"Everyone... I’m sorry about what happened."
"It’s all right, Falin. You’re safe now."
Marcille threw her arms around her, relief flooding her face.
At that moment, heavy footsteps echoed from inside the passage.
The entire corridor trembled with each approaching step.
Everyone immediately tensed.
A massive shape soon crawled out from the darkness—the fused Giant Walking Mushroom.
"A Giant Walking Mushroom!"
Laios stared at it with shining eyes.
How long would it take them to finish eating something that large?
The moment the monster spotted them, its thick stalks whipped through the air and slammed downward.
"Watch out!"
Haruto swung his longsword and intercepted one of the descending stalks.
The blade sliced through it, and sticky white fluid poured from the severed end.
Nearby, Laios and Senshi worked together to cut off another stalk.
Losing two limbs hardly affected the Giant Walking Mushroom, however. Its remaining stalks continued thrashing wildly.
The group defended themselves for several more moments until Marcille finally completed her incantation.
She swept her staff forward.
A tremendous explosion erupted across the monster’s body.
The Giant Walking Mushroom crashed to the ground and stopped moving.
No one relaxed.
Instead, they turned and watched the passage from which it had emerged.
Under their wary gazes, Thistle slowly stepped out.
His eyes passed over the fallen monster and settled directly on Falin.
Her appearance had changed, but the presence of the soul inside her remained unmistakable.
Thistle immediately recognized her, and his brows drew together.
"So this is where you were."
Laios and the others quickly noticed him and became even more guarded.
As Laios studied the brown-skinned elf with long silver hair, a hazy memory suddenly surfaced.
He frowned and murmured, "I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before..."
Thistle ignored him.
His gaze remained fixed on Falin as he spoke in a cold, scolding tone.
"Dragon, why have you taken this form?"
"I ordered you to search for His Majesty. I do not recall giving you permission to rest."
The instant Falin heard his voice, countless memories that did not belong to her flooded into her mind.
Agony twisted across her face.
Her body began trembling violently as she clutched her forehead and sank to the ground.
Her face turned white as paper, and large beads of sweat rolled down her skin.
Laios immediately crouched beside her and held her shoulders, panic filling his eyes.
"Falin! Are you all right?"
Seeing her in pain, Marcille cast another dispelling spell.
Once again, it accomplished nothing.
Helplessness and fury surged through her. She raised her head and shouted at Thistle.
"What did you do to Falin?!"
Thistle finally looked away from her and turned his cold, disgusted gaze toward the others.
"What did I do? A pack of shameless thieves has no right to question me."
"We’re thieves?"
Laios and the others frowned, clearly offended by the accusation.
As far as they were concerned, they had merely entered the dungeon like any other adventurers.
Haruto, however, did not particularly care.
Strictly speaking, Thistle was not wrong.
They were inside a dungeon he had created, taking whatever they wanted from it. From his perspective, calling them thieves made perfect sense.
Thistle glared at them.
"Everything upon this land—the buildings, the gold, the people, their blood and flesh, even every grain of sand beneath your feet—belongs to His Majesty, King Delgal."
"You entered His Majesty Delgal’s domain without permission and plundered his possessions. What are you, if not thieves?"
At the mention of Delgal’s name, Laios finally remembered why Thistle looked familiar.
He had seen him inside one of the Living Paintings, standing beside a king named Delgal.
"Delgal?" Chilchuck repeated, scratching his head in confusion.
The name sounded familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it.
Marcille felt the same.
Senshi and Falin, however, had no recollection of the name at all.
"Silence!"
Thistle suddenly shouted, violent anger flashing through his eyes.
"You dare to speak His Majesty’s name so casually?"
Until now, he had focused almost entirely on finding the missing Delgal.
He normally ignored adventurers entering the dungeon unless they caused extensive damage to its environment.
But Haruto and the others had not merely killed the Red Dragon.
They had taken its body and even carried away its soul.
That had completely enraged him.
"I had no desire to waste time on thieves like you."
"Today, you will all remain here as punishment for stealing His Majesty’s property!"
As he spoke, Thistle slowly raised one hand.
The spellbook opened by itself.
The supposedly dead Giant Walking Mushroom immediately began repairing itself and rose once more.
As though responding to its master’s fury, it swung its enormous stalks and launched another relentless attack.
At the same time, mycelium spread rapidly across the ground, sprouting into vast numbers of new Walking Mushrooms.
Haruto stared at the growing swarm and felt a powerful urge to capture every last one.
In the end, he forced himself to suppress it.
He needed to conserve his Nen for the battle ahead.
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