183: fungi

Chapter 181: Fungus

While waiting for the rain to stop, Arthur and his group had lunch.

The dry rations carried by the scouting party were blocks of pressed oats mixed with some salt and common nuts.

Besides that, they also brought corned beef and dried parsnips.

Normally, these foods would need to be softened with boiling water before consumption.

But since they were traveling light this time, they could only chew them dry.

Neither the corned beef nor the oatcakes tasted particularly good.

Seeing the bitter expression on Arthur's face, Airo leaned in and asked, "How does it taste?"

Arthur could only shrug in response.

"Do you know one of the benefits of being a vampire?" Airo pointed to the oatcake. "Not having to eat this awful stuff."

Their conversation drew Drax's attention, and he interjected, "I think it's not bad."

Airo looked at the tall man with a skeptical expression.

"When those slave owners controlled us, their most common method was to starve us."

"To survive, we could only eat rats."

"Gods above," Airo exclaimed.

"Raw," the Orc added.

Airo raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

Seeing the conversation turn increasingly disgusting, Arthur turned to Airo and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

The female rogue nodded, "Chicken blood, don't worry."

"I ate my fill at the Watchtower before coming here."

"There are quite a few damned guys locked in the dungeons there; I can last a few more days."

Arthur nodded, then lowered his voice and asked, "What about Heir and the others?"

Airo immediately understood what Arthur wanted to ask.

She replied, "They all know already."

"I told them everything the night I arrived."

"If it were the old me, I probably wouldn't have said anything."

"That's also one of the reasons I chose to leave Mist Town back then."

"But after meeting you, I think being an honest person might not be so bad after all."

"I really can't imagine that," Arthur quipped.

They exchanged smiles.

After the rain stopped, the group continued on their journey.

Along the way, they encountered many wandering Undead, but these posed no significant threat.

However, the closer they got to the old house, the quieter it became, and even the sight of the Undead grew rarer.

Everyone sensed that something was amiss.

The ground beneath their feet grew increasingly muddy, and the horses nervously stomped their hooves, seemingly unwilling to take another step forward.

The collapsed mansion was located in the center of the swamp.

Shrouded by dark clouds, it looked like a building straight out of an old horror movie.

"We should stop here," Airo warned. "Ahead is the swamp; the horses will get stuck."

Everyone agreed with her suggestion, dismounting and proceeding on foot.

Airo walked at the front of the group, cautiously moving forward.

She had to make sure which areas were safe to walk and which were dangerous quicksand.

The swamp wasn't large; its end was visible at a glance.

As they reached the center, ripples suddenly appeared in the puddles.

A rotten hand emerged from the slippery mud, followed by a second, then a third!

Three rotten humanoid creatures crawled out of the mud, with terrifyingly long fingernails and clad in rusty chainmail.

One of the bloated monsters lunged directly at Airo.

Airo dodged the creature's attack, quickly drawing her dagger to prepare for battle.

"Ah, damn it! Why are there so many of these things everywhere in this godforsaken place!"

At that moment, one of the corpses suddenly let out a piercing shriek. The sound resembled a human scream, but upon closer distinction, it was entirely different.

Airo raised her hand and fired an arrow. The arrow struck the creature, but its cries only grew louder.

Following the shriek, a wild boar charged out from the direction of the old house; not long after, a deer also came sprinting.

Arthur noticed something was wrong with both beasts.

He was about to speak a warning, but Drax had already charged forward.

He brought his axe down on the bloated corpse that was rushing towards Airo.

The next second, a thick cloud of pale yellow poisonous gas spewed from the monster's wound.

"Back off! Damn it, quickly back off!"

Arthur shouted loudly, but he himself covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and rushed forward.

Heir pulled Goeltu back in a hurry.

Seeing Arthur's actions, she cried out, "Arthur! What are you doing?"

The yellow poisonous gas had completely enveloped Airo and Drax.

The screams continued. Arthur held his breath, first pulling Airo, who could no longer open her eyes, and urged her to run backward.

Relying on memory and excellent balance, Airo stumbled out of the gas cloud's range.

Heir told the girl to wait in a safe place, then turned back to help Airo.

Goeltu, seeing this, did not obey but instead took off the water pouch from her waist and ran towards the two.

She used clear water to rinse Airo's eyes, hoping to help her regain her sight faster.

Compared to Airo, Drax's situation was much worse.

The poisonous gas had sprayed all over his face and surged into his nasal passages and airways.

He began to cough violently, but the more he coughed, the more gas entered his body.

He quickly found it impossible to breathe normally and could only stumble backward.

In the chaos, Arthur grabbed the Orc and pulled him forcefully out of the poisonous gas.

Drax was completely powerless to resist at this point; he was on the verge of suffocating.

As soon as he ran out of the gas cloud, Arthur also couldn't help but cough violently.

"Fire!" he growled. "Heir, use fire!"

The sorceress did not hesitate, immediately channeling magical energy and casting a fireball towards the location of the poisonous gas.

The poisonous gas ignited violently upon contact with the flames.

The flames also incidentally ignited another humanoid monster, as well as the charging boar and deer.

This temporarily slowed their advance and gave Arthur time to catch his breath.

Arthur spat out the bitter saliva in his mouth and began chanting a spell.

A green light slowly enveloped Drax, and he could finally breathe again.

"Alright, let's get out of here," Arthur said to Drax. "Quickly!"

The wild boar was the first to burst out of the flames. Its entire body was burning, but its speed did not slow down in the slightest.

The sorceress cast another magical burst, this time again with fire.

She tried to stop the boar but failed.

The boar was about to crash into Arthur.

In a critical moment, Drax suddenly stood up and firmly blocked it with both hands.

The Orc used his last ounce of strength to slow its charge.

Airo had already caught up, and as she ran, she shot an arrow at the boar.

This crucial arrow hit its vital spot, ending the boar's life.

The beast crashed to the ground, allowing the flames to slowly consume its body.

Airo continued to charge forward, covering Arthur and Drax as they retreated.

The group finally retreated to the edge of the swamp.

The only remaining living deer met its end with a combination of Heir's magic and Airo's dagger.

But no one present could be happy.

Because the deer's appearance was simply too distorted.

Its entire body was charred, but on its abdomen, some plant-like, slowly wriggling things could still be seen.

"What in the hell is this damn thing?" Airo couldn't help but ask.

Arthur answered her question: "It's a fungus. It's infected with purple rot fungus."

"These fungi hollowed out its body, reproduced and grew inside it, and finally transformed into this appearance."