The two carefully searched for the knight’s trail in the forest, but soon they realized something was wrong.
A very pungent, rotten smell drifted through the woods.
Ruilin and Lu Xin exchanged a glance. They followed the scent and found some huge shadows faintly appearing in the mist. It was mushrooms.
Those half‑meter‑tall mushrooms had their caps spread open. That stench was coming from these mushrooms.
The originally bright caps began to turn black and rot, and a viscous liquid pooled into foul, decaying water on the ground.
But Lu Xin remembered that these mushrooms should have grown far away from the cave.
Just as Lu Xin thought these mushrooms could also move, Ruilin lightly touched his arm.
“Look there.”
Lu Xin looked in the direction Ruilin was pointing. At his feet, a mushroom was sprouting from the soil.
In just a few seconds, the newly grown mushroom was already 20 to 30 centimeters tall.
And right next to these mushrooms, several pieces of silver‑white plate armor and a knight’s longsword lay scattered on the ground.
But the person was gone, without even a trace of a struggle.
Ruilin crouched down to examine the armor, while Lu Xin drew his shortsword and cut down the mushrooms around them.
Seeing how quickly the mushrooms reproduced, Lu Xin pulled Ruilin and retreated from the forest.
Back at the cave, Ruilin explained what she had seen to Audrey.
Audrey nodded and said,
“No one is to leave the cave until dawn.”
“If you need to relieve yourselves, do it in a corner of the cave.”
The knights felt a chill down their spines. Two living people had just vanished without even a body left behind.
The atmosphere in the cave was oppressive. Lu Xin returned to the side of the Fluffball Monster.
It was sleeping soundly, completely unconcerned about what might happen.
He sat down against the rock wall, closing his eyes to conserve his energy, but kept releasing [Air Flow Perception (Basic)] to prevent any accidents.
About two hours passed.
Lu Xin opened his eyes. A knight was quietly walking to the innermost corner of the cave, his back to everyone.
Ruilin and Audrey were leaning by the cave entrance, keeping watch.
At that very moment, the piled‑up rocks in the cave suddenly moved.
The rock fragments quickly gathered together, coalescing into a Stone Golem nearly 3 meters tall in the blink of an eye.
Yellow light shone from the cracks in the Stone Golem’s body. It slammed its palm down.
Splat!
The knight standing in the corner didn’t even have time to scream before he was flattened to the ground.
Blood flowed through the gaps between the Stone Golem’s fingers. When it withdrew its hand, only a pulpy mass remained on the ground.
“Enemy attack!”
Everyone snapped to their senses, standing up and drawing their longswords.
Audrey had already moved when the Stone Golem was forming, but unfortunately she was still a step too slow.
She swung her sword, and a silver blade light formed a Moon Shape Slash in the cave, striking the Stone Golem’s arm.
Clang!
Sparks flew. Cracks appeared on the Stone Golem’s arm, and then it exploded into countless fragments.
But the Stone Golem had no sense of pain. As Audrey struck it, its other arm swung at her.
However, that powerful blow did not hit Audrey, because a white horse charged under her. A magic circle lit up around the horse, forming a shield that blocked the attack.
At that moment, the rock walls on both sides of the cave began to tremble.
More rocks peeled off from the walls, forming two Stone Golems of the same size.
They flanked Audrey from left and right.
Three Stone Golems completely surrounded Audrey and the white horse.
Just then, another Stone Golem took shape and charged at the group.
“Stop it!”
Hai Er shouted, raising his sword to meet it. Two other knights followed closely. Together, the three of them blocked the Stone Golem’s swing.
The giant roared and punched at one of the knights.
The knight quickly raised his shield to block, but was still sent flying by the immense force, crashing into the rock wall and spitting blood.
Seeing his comrade injured, Hai Er’s eyes widened in rage. Several lights lit up on his body.
Relying on his warrior skills, Hai Er and the other knight together held off the Stone Golem.
Lu Xin stood at the edge, his mind racing. Just as he was about to step in to help…
A foul stench drifted in from the cave entrance.
Everyone covered their noses and mouths and retreated. Some, having inhaled too much of the stench, bent over in pain and vomited.
“It’s those mushrooms! They’re releasing spores!”
At Ruilin’s reminder, Lu Xin then noticed that countless powders were also floating in from outside the cave.
Those powders shimmered with fluorescence. Inhaling them through the nose made people dizzy.
Noticing everyone’s condition, Audrey forced back the Stone Golem with a sword strike and shouted an order:
“Everyone, charge out of the cave! Don’t get bogged down!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Ruilin leaped up from the side of the Stone Golem, intending to help Audrey break free.
But one Stone Golem suddenly stopped attacking Audrey and turned to swing its fist at Ruilin.
‘It’s over.’
She couldn’t dodge while in midair. The punch hit her body, sending her flying backward. She crashed into the rock wall and rolled to the ground.
“Ruilin!” Audrey shouted, but she was tightly entangled by two Stone Golems and couldn’t break free at all.
Every time she shattered one Stone Golem, it would immediately restore itself.
“Master…” Ruilin lay on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, still trying to stand up.
Seeing this, Lu Xin stuffed the Fluffball Monster into his chest, weighed the pros and cons, and rushed over to pick up Ruilin.
She was stunned for a moment and instinctively tried to push Lu Xin away, but the intense pain in her body made even breathing difficult.
Audrey saw Lu Xin holding Ruilin and shouted, “Lu Xin, I’m leaving Ruilin to you. Take her out.”
She wanted to say something more, but the three Stone Golems surrounded her again, blocking the others’ view.
Now all the Stone Golems were held back by Audrey, Hai Er, and the others. The remaining knights covered their noses and mouths and rushed toward the cave entrance.
Lu Xin held Ruilin and activated [Stain Penetration]. The obstruction of the spore powder instantly became transparent.
But at that moment, Lu Xin noticed that Jack was actually crouching in the dust.
What was he going to do?!
The next second, Jack took advantage of the dust cover to stab his sword at Lu Xin, intending to pierce through Ruilin as well.
A gray light instantly appeared on Lu Xin’s arm, blocking the sword.
“What!” Jack was shocked, but it was too late to withdraw.
The next second, the Lu Xin before his eyes tilted and grew taller.
Thud.
Jack’s head was sliced off by Lu Xin’s sword and rolled to the ground.
Lu Xin looked at the head still bearing a puzzled expression, then glanced back at Hai Er and the others.
By now, Hai Er was already struggling. He understood that he would probably die here, regretting that he couldn’t keep his promise to his fiancée to return alive.
Just as Hai Er was about to resign himself to fate, a ball flew over his head, instantly drawing the Stone Golem’s attention.
“Go!” Lu Xin’s voice sounded from behind him.
Before he could react, one of the knights supported the wounded, another grabbed his hand, and they all ran outside.
Lu Xin completely ignored the interference of the spore dust, but the others were not so lucky.
Blinded by the pervasive dust, they lost their direction as soon as they rushed out of the cave, charging into the forest like headless flies.
Lu Xin also charged into the forest holding the unconscious Ruilin, but he relied on his skill to choose the safest path.
Inside the cave, Audrey sheathed her longsword and grasped a tower shield out of thin air.
The shield’s surface was as white as snow, with a blue gem set in the center. If sunlight shone on it, an angel relief would appear on the shield’s face.
A few minutes later, the cave collapsed from an extremely strong force, and Audrey and the white horse were completely buried.