Chương 1290: 1289. A rotten place

--- Beta, West of Thres---"Do you think it was the best idea, to leave Alison in charge of Thres?" Lynri asked a little worried. After subduing the incompetent merman that assumed leadership after Adam went missing, they had spent a few days at Thres organizing the situation, before their party set off, asking Alison and the botanical team to look after the tree station until they returned.

"Don't worry, there are also Evee, Edward, Bulko, and James to keep the other three balanced. We just have to find Adam before things get out of hand," Mike acknowledged the danger of his decision. Well, the danger was mostly for the merman they had captured so nothing too bad could happen, but still. As he mentioned, Mike and his group of field team members had set out to retrace the route Adam was supposed to take to return to Thres.

The governor had spent the past weeks and months smuggling refugees from Emerald City to Thres. Many of the people stuck in Emerald City were former residents of Beta, who either got there from Beta, or were taken along during the great strife, when companies from Y-City and Delta hired colonists for the Unclaimed Mountains. As a resident of Beta, it was only natural that he tried helping his fellow district citizens.

He also took the others along, as his ultimate goal was retaking Beta for the people of Urth, even if it was in the name of the Muir empire. At least, this was as Mike understood him. The Chosen of Maahes himself had seen the horrors of Emerald City and if it wasn't for his mission at the time, he would have helped Adam himself. When contact with Thres was lost, Mike actually worried whether the cyber worms or Emerald City got their hands on the governor.

Adam was strong enough to compete with the Questing beast, Blotches, but with Emerald City's connection to the Cloud Continent, they might have been able to overwhelm him. If that was true, they had to find out where he was held and free him. But if he was infected by the worms, that would have been a terrifying outcome. The worms not only controlled people, but they also slowly turned their bodies into something like metal, strengthening them in the process.

If someone like Adam underwent that process, it would create a terrifying monster.

"Okay, but why didn't you leave command to Adam's people? She has her own mission after all," Lynri commented. As part of organizing the situation, they had released Adam's men from the cell where the usurpers held them captive. Yet, Mike had asked Alison to pause their mission and guard Thres while they looked for Adam.

"You have seen what happened to them without Adam. A few weeks without their leader and the mermen captured them. I don't want to return, only to find all doors closed. As expedition leaders, only Alison has the authority to control the Guardian Tree, apart from me," Mike explained his decision. In case the mermen tried some kind of trick again, the wizard and the rest of her expedition team would be able to subdue them and protect the base to return to.

He couldn't trust Adam's people with something this important. Not after they already failed once.

"At least it doesn't seem like the cyber worms have reached this far, yet," Misto commented. They had left Thres two days ago, riding their mounts and had crossed about half the district, retracing Adam's route and looking for clues of his disappearance. Although they had been facing strong beasts, even came across some monster settlements and some of the weird beasts that spawned with the awakening of the Slumbering Realm, there were none that fit the description of being half-machine or partially robotized.

no cyborgs or androids had crossed their way so far. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Don't jinx it," Ray cautioned the demon. The chosen of Sol'Fiam had no interest in seeing anything like the Hashing Bird ever again. Even if he was the champion of the God of Darkness and Evil magic, that stuff was too fucked, even for him. He didn't even want to come, but as someone who had spent a lot of time traveling the unclaimed mountains, his participation was mandatory.

"Hm, You are right, Misto. I would have expected to see at least some of them around here," Mike agreed with the demon. By the time Mike left the unclaimed Mountains, the worms had already reached Emerald City. There were no natural barriers like the Border Storm that could have stopped them from descending the mountains and overrunning Beta.

"Errm, guys!? What is that?" they heard Ellen suddenly exclaim, pointing at something in the distance. They all followed the direction she was pointing. Straight again, far down the road, something was crossing the path they were taking. Appearing in the gap between high-risers was a massive creature, resembling a fat giraffe, wearing a massive sombrero. From the expansive cap, a dark, dense mist was descending onto the surrounding streets and buildings.

From this distance, it seemed slow and lumbering, as it passed the street on four, thick legs, but comparing it to the buildings it passed, it had to be at least 120 meters tall. Seeing the appraisal result, Mike couldn't help but curse. <Colossal Fungulate lv. 91 Calm, Flowering A giant living mushroom beast of the fungulate family. They spread spores when flowering to create a mushroom biome and spawn more fungulates in the vicinity.

> Not only did it remind Mike of some terrible memories for the time their party just started diving into the Abyss below the Holy Land of the Adventurer Guild, but Mike also recalled something from almost two years ago. At the time, Seth and Jonah had faced the field boss of beta, a giant living dungeon in the shape of a deer. The description of the dungeon and the appearance of the beast that just vanished between the building of the city was very close. It was also a fungulate, but not a living dungeon.

Did that mean one of the horrors of the Abyss had been happily spreading in Beta for over a year? No, there was none of it when he came through last time. Lydia, and Ray had not mentioned anything like this either.

"Ray, did you hear anything about mushroom beasts in Beta while you stayed at the Unclaimed Mountains?" Mike made sure.

"Errm, there were mentions of the field boss, but nothing like that..." Ray answered, still staring in the direction of what they had just witnessed.

"Woah, it's growing really quickly," Tekar commented, causing everyone to take a second look at the place the mushroom giraffe just passed by. Their road, the gap between buildings, was quickly filled by the bodies of mushrooms growing from the spores. At first it was just like black fuzz, spreading across the surface, but soon bodies of huge mushrooms of various shape and color shot from the moldy fuzz, closing the gaps between buildings and cutting off the road they were traveling on!

"Great! How are we supposed to get through that," Shay exclaimed, gesturing at the wall of fungus. it was clear to everyone that he didn't mean just this specific wall. They all had appraised the creature. Beyond that was a whole region of mushrooms like this and it was probably full of spores that would kill them from the inside out.

"Don't worry honey, you have me after all!" Ellen struck a pose like a true hero, sitting on the big green, blob-shaped slime she used as a mount.

"Elly?" Shay asked, blushing a little.

"Ellen, you have a way?" Mike asked her. If she really had a solution, that would have been great. otherwise, the cat man had been seriously considering circumventing this place, even if it meant losing on some clues.

"Of course, didn't you know? Slimes are the natural enemy of mushrooms. Although my babies may have some trouble beating that colossal one, the grunts won't even be a challenge," she claimed confidently.

"This Giant Bell Slime can also shield us from the spores," she added, bringing out a green slime the size of a gymnastics ball, which had a distinct bell shape. The creature hopped on the ground and proceeded to grow to the size of a garage, turning almost transparent in the process.

"They usually hunt like this. We can enter its bell and it will filter out the spores as we go on," she promised. Mike was not 100% confident this was what he wanted, but he was quite sure that he didn't want to pass through the mushroom territory without this.

"Well, if everyone is okay with this, I will put our journey from here on in your hands, Ellen," Mike decided, looking around to see if anyone disagreed. Although some weren't happy about entering the stomach of a slime, nobody disagreed.

"Alright, let's eat, my babies~" Ellen exclaimed, releasing a horde of slimes.