I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 83: Fungoid Monster Room

In Lawrence’s understanding, spellcasters—especially at the apprentice stage—should above all avoid charging into melee and maintain a distance of at least twenty feet from the enemy.

The strenuous task of close-quarters combat was something warriors were meant to handle.

Spellcasters only needed to control the field and provide support buffs to the team. If they possessed some ranged offensive abilities, they could use them as appropriate under the protection of teammates.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, he was well aware that with only cantrips learned, an apprentice spellcaster’s frontal combat ability rarely matched that of a warrior.

The damage dealt by swords, blades, bows, and crossbows was far more direct and unrestricted by mana reserves.

Why, then, did apprentice spellcasters not learn a melee weapon as a backup?

Partly because human energy was limited, and partly because without sufficient physical constitution, even if one mastered a melee weapon, they could barely bring out any of its potential.

Instead, splitting focus could delay normal magical training and even make it hard to concentrate.

Lawrence shook his head.

He had never encountered a spellcaster apprentice as unique as Gauss.

Say he neglected proper duties, and yet his magical practice was even more refined than Lawrence’s.

After slaying five skeletons, a brief rumbling echoed from deep within the dungeon.

It was as if the entire dungeon had been awakened by their arrival.

Everyone huddled together, cautiously on guard.

After the rumbling subsided, a long while passed without the emergence of new enemies.

Having stood alert for some time and seeing no mishaps, they relaxed and dispersed.

The entrance hall, aside from the five skeletons, contained no other enemies but did house some trap-triggering mechanisms.

Since they might return to the hall multiple times, to avoid accidental triggering, Rogue Apprentice Edith decided to use her tools to disarm the mechanisms and traps.

Gauss and the others stood before three different passageways, peering inside.

The three entrances lay directly ahead and on either side, stretching straight into the depths.

“Let’s explore the left passage first. I don’t think its structure differs much,” Lawrence suggested.

As the initiator of this dungeon exploration, his voice held weight within the team.

Moreover, their group could almost be considered the strongest among low-level adventurers.

Facing a Micro Dungeon, they naturally had ambitions to explore it entirely.

So it didn’t matter which path they chose first—it was merely a matter of order.

“Agreed.” Sork didn’t bother to think and simply nodded.

His thoughts were usually straightforward—where to go, whom to kill, and how to flee if outmatched.

Especially when part of a team, he would readily entrust the burden of thinking to his teammates.

Naturally, Gauss had no objections.

He surveyed the surroundings. Deep within the dungeon and far from the surface, the air was chillingly cold.

Inside the cramped, low-ceilinged space, it would have been pitch-black without the illumination from his Light Cantrip.

Dark brown, nearly black rock walls were crisscrossed with fissures.

Small water droplets occasionally dripped from cracks, landing on the floor with hollow-sounding “tick… tick… tick…” noises, like some kind of countdown urging them forward.

The longer one listened, the more it stirred an inexplicable anxiety.

Thankfully, the Light Cantrip was bright enough.

Otherwise, even with torches or other lighting, prolonged exposure to such an oppressive darkness would amplify the psychological burden, eventually causing mental strain.

He wasn’t exaggerating—exploring deep underground, dozens of meters from the open surface, brought a pressure that seeped in from all sides like a tide.

Only by experiencing it firsthand could one truly feel it.

After a while—

Rogue Apprentice Edith finished disarming the trap mechanisms.

The group resumed formation and proceeded into the designated left-side passage.

“Be careful!”

The corridor was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

The air inside was even more musty, and the team members cleared their throats as they walked.

On both sides of the rocky walls were strange runes and totems, long since faded.

The lines were chaotic and fragmented. Even without understanding their meaning, one could feel the madness and unease they carried.

Those who couldn’t help observing them caught a few glances and immediately felt their heads spinning.

Their bodies shuddered involuntarily, and the previously silent corridor suddenly seemed to carry a chill wind, filling hearts with unease.

“Don’t look too much. There’s something wrong with the wall.”

Gauss offered a quick warning.

His reaction had been swift.

Upon sensing the malice within the runes, he immediately averted his gaze.

After Gauss’s reminder, no one dared look at the walls again.

They swallowed hard, staring straight ahead and walking in silence.

Thanks to the Light Cantrip’s illumination, the dense, oppressive darkness didn’t completely engulf them.

After walking some more, they finally exited the corridor and entered a new room.

Having passed through the eerie passage, the team members all breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking around the room, what lay before them was a space bathed in purple.

All six walls of the room were covered in purple mushrooms.

The fungi’s root-like tendrils had deeply embedded themselves into the dungeon’s rocky walls,

and emitted a purple glow.

As soon as they stepped into the room, they trod on the mushrooms. Under the pressure of their footsteps, the mushroom caps sprayed a faint mist from their centers.

“Careful! The air might be toxic!”

After inhaling, someone experienced slight dizziness and immediately sounded the alarm.

“Put on your gas masks.”

Toxic gas was another common threat in dungeon exploration.

The team had prepared gas masks in advance before coming.

Gauss quickly donned his mask and rubbed his forehead.

Due to the gas, his vision was also slightly blurred. Only after resting a bit did the double vision gradually fade.

It was then that he realized a shortcoming in his Mage Armor.

It didn’t block toxins. But thinking about it, that made sense—if it sealed out air entirely, he wouldn’t be able to breathe.

Just as the group hesitated about whether to retreat for now—

From the ceiling.

Several elongated forms suddenly dropped from purple spore sacs.

“Plop!”

The slender, unknown entities slowly stood upright.

The group finally saw them in full.

They were creatures that looked like mushrooms that had gained sentience.

Atop their massive mushroom-cap heads were a pair of hollow, lifeless little eyes.

Their grayish-brown gilled skin was curled and layered like waves of rot, stacked in folds.

Their surface invoked a sense of trypophobia.

Their main torsos resembled rotted wood swollen by rain, and their limbs were twisted bundles of mycelium cords, knotted into fists and feet at the ends.

Draped behind them was a tattered cloak woven from humus, fluttering and flapping in the billowing toxic gas.

The mushroom beings looked at them. A red light flashed in their hollow eyes.

One lowered its wrist, and the mycelium weapon in its hand pointed straight at them!

The enemy had appeared!

They were mature Fungoids!

A flash of information about such monsters passed through everyone’s minds.

As they processed this, a “clack” echoed from behind.

A metal grille dropped down, sealing their retreat.

They turned to glance back—there was no hope of returning to the hall.

Uneasy, they could only focus their attention on the mature Fungoids before them.

Generally speaking, Fungoids were intelligent beings capable of communication and often displayed friendliness.

But these in front of them were clearly different.

The light in their eyes was wild and chaotic—utterly unrestrained.

They were obviously in an abnormal state.

“Plurp, plurp!”

After the mature Fungoids steadied themselves, their subdermal glands began to emit spores, which floated and spread through the air.

“We’re going in!”

After trying to speak a few words of Common Tongue without response, the group decided to go for a quick and decisive battle.

In this toxic gas, their condition would only worsen with time.

Against beings like Fungoids, fire attacks were generally most effective, but now trapped together in a single room, fire was clearly not an option.

Warriors Liam and Sork stomped fiercely on the ground, and with the recoil force, they shot forward like arrows.

Each stomp crushed the thick carpet of purple mushrooms underfoot, releasing pale purple liquid and more gas.

“!”

Their blade strikes were as swift as streaking comets.

One blade cleaved down on a Fungoid’s long arm, slicing through its weapon-wielding limb.

The arm and weapon fell to the ground with a thud.

The nearby Fungoids, linked by spore-based telepathy, instantly sensed their companion’s pain and rushed forward, blocking the two warriors to protect the injured one.

Mycelium lashes struck the shields like whips, letting out sharp snapping sounds.

Meanwhile, the wounded Fungoid fell back. From the severed limb, countless tiny mycelium strands floated up and reconnected with the wound,

quickly secreting amber-colored fluid at the connection point.

The fine threads surged and intertwined like a tide, visibly reattaching the severed limb in seconds.

Such potent regeneration!

Gauss’s eyes gleamed with envy.

He hadn’t forgotten—after collecting 20 types of Monster Encyclopedia entries, he would be eligible for his next Talent Draw.

If he could draw the Fungoid’s regeneration ability, he’d no longer have to fear injury.

Unfortunately, he was still far from collecting 20 types.

And the specific talent drawn was beyond his control.

All he could do now was slay the Fungoids before him and add them to his prize pool.

He pulled out the Bone Wand.

“Magic Missile!”

At the pale white wand’s tip, deep blue energy rapidly condensed.

A missile formed amid the hum of magic. Once he mentally locked onto a Fungoid’s head, the Magic Missile shot forth!

“Boom!”

Magic Missiles were like arrows that never missed. So far, once they were “released,” they had never failed to hit their targets.

And today’s strike on the Fungoid was no exception.

These creatures weren’t fast enough to dodge a Magic Missile.

“Plorp!”

The missile blasted the mushroom-cap head of a Fungoid.

Just like a sniper round exploding a watermelon, the head burst with a “plorp.”

Countless tiny mycelium strands scattered like drifting cotton.

Though the slain Fungoid never had the chance to feel the pain of having its head blown apart, the surviving Fungoids sensed it through their telepathic link!

In that instant, all the remaining Fungoids convulsed violently as if electrocuted, their heads shaking uncontrollably.

“Fungoid (Mature) *1 slain.”

“Total Monsters Slain: 111.”

“Current Monster Types Slain: 6.”

“You have slain 1 Mature Fungoid.”

“Title acquired: [Fungoid Hunter]. This title will upgrade as your kill count increases.”

“Current Effect: Healing Reduction. During combat against Fungoids or related advanced species, wounds caused by your attacks will prevent self-healing for 5 seconds.”

After reviewing the feedback from the Adventurer’s Handbook, Gauss nodded in understanding.

He had suspected it—just like most other creatures, the Fungoids’ weakness was the head.

Once their heads were destroyed, they couldn’t regenerate.

And the newly unlocked title specifically countered the Fungoids’ regenerative powers.

These title effects were so well targeted.

“Perfect opportunity!”

The others also picked up on the Fungoids’ vulnerability to shared pain.

They charged in, weapons swinging.

“Boom!”

As Gauss fired another Magic Missile and exploded a second Fungoid’s head, the rest of the team finished off the remaining mature Fungoids.