Chapter 46

“…Is this the Shuraig Cave?”

“Wow. Even though it’s inside a cave, the blue light is really beautiful.”

“Well… it’s not bad.”

Shuraig Cave was no ordinary cave, as their reactions suggested.

Could you even call the inside of that cave just a cave?

The entrance looked like a typical cave, but after walking for about 10 minutes, what appeared before us was less of a cave and more like a massive underground world.

The closed-off, dark, straight path of the cave suddenly opened up into a vast cavern, making us realize that the path we had been walking on was actually a ledge halfway up the cavern.

Inside the cavern, glowing giant mushrooms, emitting a bluish light, grew to a height of at least 10 meters.

The roots of these mushrooms spread across the cavern floor, and even though the roots were several meters below us, the caps of the mushrooms illuminated the area above our heads with a pale light.

It wasn’t just the glowing mushrooms.

There were mushrooms shaped like lanterns, emitting green light, mushrooms that swayed left and right as if breathing, and even mushrooms that floated in the air, more like jellyfish than mushrooms.

A variety of mushrooms gathered in the cavern.

We walked along the path on the wall, descending slowly, marveling at the sight.

…

…

…

Even after reaching the bottom of the cavern, the mystical atmosphere remained unchanged.

“It’s like a scene from a fairy tale.”

“As Marisia said, it’s truly a dreamlike landscape.”

It felt like walking through a forest made entirely of mushrooms.

“By the way, with so many mushrooms, I don’t know which ones to pick.”

“For now, it’s best to pick the small mushrooms around us.”

If the mushrooms are too big, they’ll be hard to put in a stew.

Just as we were about to decide how to pick the mushrooms…

“Did you hear that sound just now?”

“What sound?”

“It must be my imagination. Who else would be here besides us?”

At Mari’s words, Karina and Serena laughed lightly, dismissing her concerns.

Something feels off…

For a moment, I felt something was amiss, but it wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Because I had also heard the sound Mari faintly caught.

With my heightened senses, there’s no way I wouldn’t have heard it.

It sounded like an animal’s cry, but not quite—an unpleasant noise that didn’t feel right.

It was as if a zombie was screaming from behind a thick barrier.

“There’s something here.”

“Something?”

“A cry… I’m not sure, but it’s a creature with a sound I’ve never heard before.”

“Hahaha. There’s no way anyone else is here besides us.”

“Right, Kurt. You’re worrying too much.”

Despite my and Mari’s warnings, Karina and Serena remained optimistic, brushing off the concerns.

But their optimism was soon shattered.

…..

…Thud…….

…Thud……. Thud…….

Thud……. Thud…….

Thud Thud Thud

“Something’s coming. Prepare for combat.”

“Combat… prepare?”

“What, what?”

While Karina and Serena were slow to react to my warning, the creature had already closed in, revealing itself as it crossed the mushroom forest.

And the creature that appeared was something we never expected.

But it was a creature that fit perfectly in this place.

“Mr. Kurt! It’s a giant mushroom!”

“A walking mushroom!”

“What, what is that? I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing!”

As they said, the creature that appeared was a giant mushroom, standing at least 2.5 meters tall.

The mushroom resembled a simple shiitake or king oyster mushroom, but with oddly human-like limbs attached to it.

What is this? A humanoid I don’t know about?

Faced with this unexpected being, I hesitated for a moment on how to handle the mysterious Mushroom Human.

If it were just a monster, I could cut it down, but if it’s a humanoid capable of communication, there’s no need to attack first.

No, if it’s a humanoid, I’d prefer to resolve things through dialogue.

But my hopes were dashed as the Mushroom Human let out a scream and swung its fist at us.

“Evade!”

“Ahhh!”

At my warning, they screamed and quickly dodged.

Since they moved in time, no one was directly hit by the Mushroom Human’s attack, but I still couldn’t relax.

Something’s still off.

Why did it just…

“Mr. Kurt! Let’s run!”

“What? Run? But…”

“There’s a path over here! Let’s go this way!”

Before I could argue, Karina pointed to a path through the mushroom forest, and soon they all started running in that direction.

In the end, as they all began to flee, I was left facing the Mushroom Human, glancing between it and the fleeing group.

But my hesitation didn’t last long.

Even though it attacked first, the opponent was a suspected humanoid.

I didn’t want to kill, even in self-defense, and since they were already intent on fleeing, I decided to follow their lead and run as well.

So, I joined them and fled from the Mushroom Human.

…

…

…

“Haah… Haah… We should be safe now, right?”

“If we’ve come this far, it shouldn’t be able to catch up.”

“Haah… What was that thing just now?”

In most stories, this would be the most dangerous moment to let your guard down, but with my heightened senses, that wasn’t an option.

After running for a while, they finally caught their breath when the Mushroom Human was out of sight.

“I’ve never heard of a humanoid shaped like a mushroom.”

“Same here.”

“Is it a monster?”

“But I’ve never heard of a mushroom monster with limbs either.”

“Then is it a new species?”

They exchanged opinions on what they had just seen.

But there was something I couldn’t understand more than the Mushroom Human’s identity.

“Hey, you guys.”

“What is it, Mr. Kurt?”

“Why didn’t you try to fight when we faced the Mushroom Human?”

It was the unease I had felt since entering Shuraig Cave.

The vague unease I had felt until now became clear at this moment.

Even Mari, with her short adventurer experience, was an elf with a strong sense of adventure and combat spirit, enough to aspire to be an adventurer.

Even if it was a creature we’d never seen before, she wouldn’t just lose her will to fight and think of running after one punch.

It’s not just Mari.

Karina and Serena were silver-ranked adventurers, well-known within the city.

Karina, a barbarian from the northern tribes, showed no will to fight and immediately looked for a way to escape, while Serena, a dwarf with a combative personality, also tried to flee without question.

This behavior didn’t match their usual personalities, and for silver-ranked adventurers, it was amateurish, almost disqualifying.

No, it wasn’t just the decision to run.

Even if we were just picking mushrooms, being outside the city means you could encounter any kind of monster.

Yet, the three of them acted as if they were on a picnic, showing no vigilance.

Not only that, but Mari, who has the best hearing among us, caught the noise but didn’t prepare, and even dismissed her own concerns.

That’s something Karina would never do normally.

Yes, today, their behavior was full of oddities.

At my question, they momentarily looked like dolls with unfocused pupils, then quickly returned to normal and answered my question logically.

“But we don’t even know what that thing is.”

“Right. It’s dangerous to recklessly engage an unknown enemy.”

“Right. Running was the best choice.”

If you just listened to their words, they made sense.

But I felt something in that brief moment.

A fleeting moment that only someone with transcendent senses would notice.

When I asked the question, they seemed to not understand their own actions, questioning why they had acted that way.

But just as they were about to delve into that thought, a brief blank appeared.

As if saying, “That kind of thinking is not allowed.”

And after that blank, they returned to their natural expressions and logically explained their actions to me.

But to me, their explanations seemed like they were just attaching reasons to their actions.

“You guys…”

“What’s wrong?”

“What is it?”

“What’s up?”

“…No, it’s nothing. Let’s just look around and pick some mushrooms.”

But I pretended everything was normal, not pointing out their strange behavior further.

If something was wrong with them, it was better not to provoke them unnecessarily.

There’s something in this cave.

I could feel the gazes of the three on my back as I led the way.

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