DING-DONG!
<Hidden Boss of the Physical Safety Desire Zone has appeared!>
<Final Monster Wave Phase 2 begins!>
The fallen giant centipede began to move again.
…No, to be precise, only the ‘body’ of the giant centipede was moving.
From the destroyed head of the giant centipede, white stems resembling coral reefs sprouted.
Stems that had been the size of weeds instantly grew to the size of trees.
Soon, the body of the giant centipede began to convulse.
KIGIGIG—KIGIK—BAGAK! BAGAK! DDAGADDAGADDAGADDAGADDAGAK!
The centipede’s body twisted, bent, and writhed in grotesque directions.
KWAJAK!
As the giant centipede’s carapace shattered, sticky green fluid poured out like a waterfall.
But that lasted only a moment.
DADADADADADA—
Pure white powder burst from the ruptured wounds.
The powder that had been scattered like dust clung to each other like spiderwebs, completely covering the wounded areas.
Soon after, new white stems shot up from the wounds.
BBUDEUK—BBUDEUK—BBUDEUK—
They branched out and grew like trees.
A sight as if watching plant growth on ultra-high-speed camera.
Immediately afterward, Featherback’s journal unfolded.
PALAK—
<White Branch Bundle Fungus>
– Danger Rank: A+
– Discovery Location: Maslow’s Tower
A fungal-type monster that parasitizes insect bodies.
In its fungal state, it poses no particular danger, but its true threat lies in its ability to parasitize any kind of insect and completely hijack the host’s body.
Individuals infected by the White Branch Bundle Fungus exhibit exponentially increased aggression toward living creatures, and upon the host’s death, the fungus takes over and manipulates the corpse.
It possesses overwhelming regenerative and reproductive abilities, and the only way to eliminate the White Branch Bundle Fungus is to destroy its core.
Additionally, in a certain country on the eastern side of the continent, it is called Cordyceps and consumed as a rare medicinal ingredient.
“In a country at the eastern end of the Lokpia Continent, they call insects infected by this Cordyceps and consume them as precious medicine. I simply cannot understand it.” – Featherback
Cordyceps.
A mysterious plant that takes the form of an insect in winter and a herb in summer.
In truth, it is merely a mushroom that parasitizes insects.
…So that white powder was Cordyceps spores.
Ordinary Cordyceps spores move their host to a suitable habitat, then germinate using the dead host’s body as nutrients.
But the Cordyceps before my eyes was directly controlling the dead host’s body.
If that were to leak outside the dungeon…
There are approximately 100 quadrillion insects inhabiting Earth.
If those spores infected and controlled all of them, the world would become hell on earth.
At that moment.
PUHWAAAAAK—!
The Cordyceps sprouting from the giant centipede’s head spewed a massive cloud of pure white spores.
The spores rushed in like a white mist, covering everything in all directions.
Seeing this, Park Ahjeong urgently shouted.
“Everyone, cover your nose and mouth! Hurry!”
The moment we covered our noses and mouths with both hands, the spore cloud surged like a tidal wave.
Vision turned completely white, as if enveloped in sea fog.
The spores of the White Branch Bundle Fungus floated tangled together like dandelion seeds.
They were so huge that their shapes could be discerned with the naked eye.
At that moment, the face of the Red Mage turned pale.
“Eub!”
She must have failed to block her respirator properly in her haste.
The Red Mage ended up coughing violently and inhaling the spores.
“KULLEOK KULLEOK KULLEOK!”
The mage who raised her head had a face twisted in terror.
She had inhaled unknown spores spewed by a monster.
What symptoms would appear?
How should she respond if symptoms manifested?
Would it lead to death, or would the pain be so severe that death seemed preferable?
Nothing could be predicted.
Yet.
…
Nothing happened.
The moment the spore cloud passed, Park Ahjeong checked the Red Mage’s condition.
A moment later, Park Ahjeong let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. It seems these spores have no effect on humans.”
The Red Mage staggered, her legs giving out beneath her.
A hunter carrying a huge axe pointed at the giant centipede and spoke.
“Hm! Then we just have to kill that thing and be done with it!”
But at that very instant.
TWITCH!
A strange presence was felt from behind.
There unfolded a scene that could only inspire horror.
TWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCHTWITCH—
The corpses of the monsters that had blanketed the temple grounds in black began convulsing as if having seizures.
Beetles, crickets, ladybugs, cockroaches, mantises, roaches, ants, grasshoppers, and more.
They were the corpses of insect-type monsters felled during the monster wave.
My gaze and Park Ahjeong’s crossed at the same time.
“!”
“!”
We realized the same truth.
From the very beginning, the target of the spore cloud had never been us.
The bodies of the insect-type monsters began swelling like balloons.
POP! POBOK! POP! POBOK—!
The sound of hard carapaces bursting echoed everywhere.
From heads, backs, sides, bellies, rears, and more.
Pure white Cordyceps were sprouting from every part.
And then.
TUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU~!
The resurrected insect-type monsters began moving all at once.
The hunter with the axe stepped forward and shouted.
“I’ll take the front! Cover me, Professor!”
He split an ant monster’s head in half with his gigantic axe and bare-handedly grabbed a charging mantis monster, snapping its waist.
At that moment, giant hornets rushed toward the axe-wielding hunter.
But simultaneously.
SWIIIIIISH—SWIIIIISH—SWIIIIIISH—PBABABABABAK!
Over a dozen arrows flew in instantly and precisely pierced the hornets.
The B-rank hunter with the bow skillfully nocked the next arrow.
An A-rank warrior and a B-rank rogue.
The two displayed outstanding teamwork, as if they had been partners for years, and began cutting down the insect-type monsters.
However.
DADADADADA—
Pure white spores spewed from the fallen insect monsters.
Cordyceps branches sprouted from wounds, and the insect monsters rose again.
Empty eyes devoid of life.
Bodies that felt no pain.
Endless aggression as they charged.
Bewilderment appeared in the hunters’ eyes.
“What the hell is this…?”
“Damn it…!”
No matter how many times they were chopped with axes or pierced with arrows, new Cordyceps merely proliferated.
They were truly endless insect zombies.
I opened Featherback’s journal once more.
The only way to eliminate the White Branch Bundle Fungus was to destroy its core.
If I destroy the core, everything will be resolved.
The problem was where that core was located.
Actually, the method was simple.
A single powerful blow that annihilated both host and core simultaneously would do it.
“Then shall we go!”
DING-DONG!
<Activating skill ‘Genetic Skin Oil’!>
<Activating Blood Fog Ring item skill ‘Blood Fog’!>
My body scattered into crimson mist.
Soon, a flammable fog made of oil vapor covered the entire battlefield.
When the black mist had completely enveloped the insect monsters.
DING-DONG!
<Activating skill ‘Embers’!>
Dazzling flashes bloomed simultaneously in all directions.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA—KWAAANG!
A massive explosion accompanied by a storm of flames swept through the surroundings.
The insect monsters were flung about like fallen leaves from the recoil of the blast.
HWARRRRRUK~!
A tidal wave of fire immediately swallowed the insect monsters.
Blazing flames and heat hot enough to scorch lungs filled the area.
The power was dozens of times stronger than when I used it against the locust swarm.
Is this also thanks to the buffs? The effect is really solid.
I turned my head toward Park Ahjeong.
She had deployed a barrier, and the hunters stood beside her.
Thanks to me warning them about the attack method in advance, she had timed the barrier perfectly.
The hunters muttered blankly.
“Killing an A+ rank monster bare-handed and even using red magic? Was there someone like that in the Association?”
“I don’t know either. It’s my first time seeing that face.”
“T-That just now was at least a 5th-class level spell…”
As the flames gradually died down and black smoke dispersed.
What appeared beyond the fire was a sight different from what I expected.
“…!”
Thousands upon tens of thousands of white fluff balls densely filled the surroundings.
And then.
PASSSSSSS—
The white fluff balls scattered into spore form, and the insect monsters trapped inside burst out.
Aside from slight soot, not a single one was harmed.
The Cordyceps spores had protected their hosts from the flames.
…So it even has fire resistance.
Even using an ogre’s strength would be useless if I couldn’t destroy the core.
Wide-area fire attacks that could deal massive damage didn’t work at all.
Bad matchup.
I released the mist state and landed on the ground.
At the same time, Park Ahjeong’s urgent cry reached my ears.
“Hasang-gun! Behind! Behind…!”
Before I knew it, the giant centipede’s tail was right in front of my nose.
It had approached at a speed I couldn’t even perceive.
At that moment, someone leaped in front of me.
“Stop it! Don’t touch my graduate student!”
“!?”
The one blocking my front was Park Ahjeong.
She immediately squeezed out white mana to create a barrier.
But.
BBAGAK! JJANGGANG!
The hastily made barrier shattered pitifully with a single strike from the giant centipede.
The centipede’s tail struck Park Ahjeong’s side in the blink of an eye.
BEOE OEOK—!
Park Ahjeong flew helplessly through the air.
Just before she crashed into the ground.
TAK!
I barely managed to catch her.
Park Ahjeong was bleeding from her head and had fainted.
Fortunately, she was still breathing.
She seemed to have avoided a fatal injury.
She instantly deployed a barrier on the impact area.
An admirable split-second decision.
Meanwhile.
“U, UAAAARGH!”
“Damn it! Get away!”
“KYAAAA! Save me!”
The other hunters were in the same critical situation.
Thousands of insect monsters had completely surrounded them.
I carefully laid Park Ahjeong on the ground.
Because a wall of bugs completely blocked vision, we couldn’t even tell if the others were alive or dead.
In other words, from this moment on, no witnesses would see whatever I did.
“Then the story changes a bit.”
DING-DONG!
<Receiving the ‘Open’ command.>
<Opening Morgue’s Magic Warehouse.>
The space crumpled and cracked open, a black vortex swirling as it blew the insect monsters far away into the distance.
Beyond the black gate, the hellish doors of the warehouse were slowly opening.
“Just in time, the cooldown finished.”
Soon.
STEP STEP STEP—
A familiar shadow began walking out from the fully opened entrance of the warehouse.
An ally more reliable than anyone in the current situation.
…You called, Master?
The sword demon of Ravianglily.
It was the moment Jeanne appeared.