Chapter 48

“Ahahaha!”

Yes.

That’s what it was.

With all the mysteries unraveling and connecting into one, I laughed so hard it felt like I had lost my mind.

“Oh my. Mr. Kurt, have you gone mad?”

“Tsk… What a pity. Since you’ve already lost your mind, why not rest with us?”

“Right! If you’re not in your right mind anyway, let’s just sleep! With us!”

While they casually chatted, I no longer paid attention to their state and looked at the fallen Mushroom Human… no, just the Mushroom.

There are parasites that control their host’s actions.

Some make the host feel constant thirst to move their habitat to water, while others remove the host’s fear to make them deliberately get eaten by higher predators.

This Mushroom was the same kind.

Growing and controlling human corpses, it spread spores in this cave to gain more hosts.

Humans exposed to these spores lose their vigilance, their aggression fades, and they willingly move to the Mushroom’s lair.

Once there, they fall into an eternal sleep, becoming new hosts.

It was no wonder they didn’t notice why they had changed.

This wasn’t because they had done something.

It was the Mushrooms that had acted.

From the moment we arrived in this spore-filled cave, it was already a trap.

And the only reason I wasn’t affected was because, as a Transcendent, my resistance to toxins was dozens of times stronger than others.

Humans? They’re just monsters.

And if they’re just ordinary monsters, there’s no reason to hesitate.

────!

─────!

Whether out of anger for their fallen kin or just instinct to secure new hosts, several Mushrooms charged at me.

But they were so weak that a light punch from me would burst them apart.

If judged purely by physical strength, they’d barely qualify as Iron rank.

Such weak monsters posed no threat to me.

I casually waved my hand at the charging Mushrooms.

Whoosh!

With that, the Mushrooms, their upper bodies blown apart, were sent flying faster than they had charged.

Thud, thud.

But I paid no attention to them and approached Karina, who was staring blankly.

“Lend me your Battle Axe for a moment.”

“Huh…?”

I took Karina’s Battle Axe, which felt quite heavy.

────!

─────!

Meanwhile, the Mushroom Monsters charged at me.

But I calmly gripped the Battle Axe with both hands and channeled my aura.

The Hunter’s Iron Rule:

Do not hunt more animals or monsters than you can handle.

The Hunter’s Iron Rule:

A Hunter must not hunt to the point of destroying the ecosystem.

If I hunted all the Mushrooms charging at me, I don’t know how the cave’s ecosystem would change.

Since I have no way to use those corpse Mushrooms, there’s no reason to hunt them.

And since I don’t feel my life is threatened by these Mushrooms, it’s not self-defense either.

So, the best action I can take as a Hunter is to fend off the Mushrooms and return to Astram to get my companions treated.

But,

The Adventurer’s Iron Rule:

First,

If a comrade is harmed, you must never let it slide.

I just decided that.

So, I maximized the aura condensed in the Battle Axe.

Mana rapidly circulated through my body, flowing from my toes to my head and into my hands.

The mana gathered in my hands flowed into the Battle Axe, forming an aura.

Then, I swung my arms back and took a stance.

Crack.

The ground gave way under my feet as I steadied my stance.

Now, I was like a bowstring pulled taut, ready to release.

────!

─────!

As the Mushroom’s fist, grown from a human corpse, came down to crush me.

The axe swung in a wide crescent.

My full-powered strike, infused into Karina’s Battle Axe.

It shot out like a beam of light.

───────.

And then, there was silence.

.

.

.

For a moment, all sound and movement in the world seemed to disappear.

The Mushroom Monsters’ fists never reached me.

You can’t attack a Lizardman who doesn’t exist.

All the Mushrooms surrounding me had lost their upper halves.

As if they never existed, the upper bodies of the Mushroom Monsters vanished without a trace.

The slash that pierced through the Mushroom Monsters spread like ripples on water, cutting through everything in the cave.

It even sliced through several giant Mushrooms, several meters tall, that lit up the cave like streetlights, before finally dissipating.

And then, the collapse came.

Crash!

Crash!

Like falling dominoes, the giant Mushrooms fell one after another, and the Mushrooms charging at me realized their upper bodies were gone and collapsed.

.

.

.

“Uh… Where are we?”

“What was I doing…?”

“What? Why is everything a mess?”

As the corpse-eating Mushrooms fell and time passed, the three soon regained their senses.

I had expected this, but as I predicted, defeating the Mushrooms seemed to break the hypnosis.

Simply reducing vigilance or aggression is one thing, but inducing movement to a specific location and interfering with my fighting was too complex for just spores.

Perhaps the spores were merely a medium, and the Mushrooms were remotely guiding the three.

That’s why they regained their senses after all the Mushroom Monsters were defeated.

Of course, this isn’t enough to be at ease, so I’ll have to take them to the Alchemist Guild for a check-up when we return to the city.

But at least they shouldn’t get worse again.

“Karina, I used your Battle Axe well.”

“Huh? Ah… Yes.”

When I returned the Battle Axe, Karina, still not fully recovered, took it back in a daze.

We’ve collected enough Mushrooms, and the cause of their odd behavior is resolved, so now we just need to return to the Adventurer Guild.

Using my full power after so long has left me a bit tired.

I should rest by evening.

Just as I was thinking that.

“Ah! My clothes are off! Mr. Kurt!”

“…Mr. Kurt?”

“Hey! Kurt! You didn’t…!”

Ah.

“No, you took them off because you were hot!”

“That’s impossible! How could you feel hot in this sunless cave! If anything, it’s cold enough to feel chilly now!”

In the end, I had to spend a long time explaining what happened today.

I’m really tired now.

.

.

.

After returning from the Shuraig Cave, I took the three to the Alchemist Guild.

When I protested about the cave’s environment being far more dangerous than the quest’s difficulty suggested, the Alchemist admitted they hadn’t realized how dangerous Shuraig Cave had become.

We’ll deal with the penalty for the faulty quest later, but first, the three needed to be examined and treated.

Naturally, the Alchemist Guild covered the full cost, and after leaving them there, I went to the herbalist Huchi to sort out the edible and inedible Mushrooms I collected today and learn how to handle them.

By the time I finished everything and returned to the Adventurer Guild, it was already evening without any time to rest.

.

.

.

“So, what were the results of the examination?”

I cautiously asked the three who had returned from the Alchemist Guild.

Although they had insisted on coming and taking the quest, fundamentally, it was to help me, so if there were any issues, I couldn’t feel at ease.

Fortunately, the results were very positive.

“No major problems!”

“They said to rest well for a few days and avoid strenuous exercise.”

“Apparently, if the spore-spreading monster had been alive, treatment would have taken a while, but since the remotely controlling monster was dead, the spores will naturally be expelled from the body in a few days.”

“That’s good. What a relief.”

I can’t help but feel glad I wiped out all those monsters in the cave.

“Ah! And then!”

Just then, Mari remembered something she had forgotten.

Could it be bad news?

As I looked at her with anxious eyes, she smiled sheepishly and said,

“They said we should eat something delicious to recover properly! Give us something tasty!”

With that bright smile, I gave Mari a light tap on the head and headed to the kitchen to cook.

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