The Sage Lives Up to His Name
The nickname "Sage" didn't seem to be an empty title. I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying at all. The Spriggans wanted the Sage's death?
"Sage... That's not what we meant..." Mano said in a creeping voice. "We just... hoped that you would punish those mushroom monsters that invaded our land."
The Sage of the Boulder shook his long tail from side to side.
The earth has been tainted by an ancient being. You who should manage this land have been drunk on peace and done nothing. Children of the earth. Can you not see my suffering?
The Sage's voice was gentle, yet it carried an inescapable sorrow beneath the surface. At a glance, the Sage of the Boulder looked to be in terrible pain. Mushrooms like a curse clung to his entire body. As the land became contaminated, the Sage had been contaminated right along with it.
"That is..." Mano's voice grew smaller and smaller. He must have known it himself—that roughly half the reason the Sage of the Boulder had ended up like this was the Spriggans' own fault.
The Phantasmal Heat Stone has been destroyed... I have nowhere to return to. Yet the reason you brought me before those monsters must be so that I would fight them and die.
"No! Sage!"
Even if that was not your intention, reality has become so. My life has little time left.
The Sage's voice scattered hollowly.
This first meeting will be our last.
"Sage..."
But do not fear, children of the earth. As you wished, I will surely punish those who invaded the sacred land of Eshgal.
Awoooooooo!
The Sage of the Boulder let out a long howl. The cave trembled as the sound echoed outward. Seori rose with spear in hand.
"Blessings to the Sage! Glory to the Earth Mother Goddess!"
The other Spriggans shook their spears and shouted along with him. Our party watched the scene in silence.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"That wolf known as the Sage of the Boulder is a kind of guardian deity. It seems he's lost his power because the land is contaminated. Still, since he's a guardian spirit, he'll fight alongside us. This is good news for us."
"Those fungal bastards. They're nasty in all sorts of ways. If I'd known it would be like this, I never would've come down to the dungeon."
The Spriggans entered an emergency meeting. After some time had passed, Seori called the explorers over.
"Come here for a moment. We need your help."
The Spriggan scouting party had returned from assessing the fungal entities' movements. Originally the fungal entities stayed buried underground and rarely came up top, so the fact that their movements had grown aggressive was strange. Roa and Noman had gone along to support the reconnaissance. With the Spriggans' naturally excellent detection abilities bolstered by a Guardian and a Dungeon Seeker, they had managed to grasp most of the enemy's movements.
"The earth worms are digging tunnels indiscriminately," Noman said. He had been visibly terrified ever since returning from the scout. "I think... they're searching for the Spriggans' village."
"Hmm." Seori stroked his chin. The fungal entities would eat anything. While they preferred latching onto plants, animals were fair game too. They could suck plenty of nutrients from animal carcasses.
"It looks like they've drained nearly all the nutrients from the underground orchard," I guessed. The fungal entities had almost finished cleaning out the orchard. They were beginning to move again in search of new prey. After the fruit, the next target would likely be fresh meat. If they devoured everyone in the Spriggan village, they could spawn an entire fungal legion.
"They'll find the village soon," Roa said, raising her hand. It was a Guardian's warning backed by future sight. We couldn't ignore it.
"C-couldn't we just migrate to the surface instead? There's no need to risk protecting the village..." The moment Noman spoke, every Spriggan turned to stare at him.
...If he'd just kept quiet, at least half of them would've left.
"We cannot abandon the village. Unlike humans, we struggle to endure the sun's light on the surface. Not everyone is in any condition to evacuate."
"With the Sage of the Boulder helping us, what can a bunch of mushroom bastards possibly do!" The Spriggan warriors' morale was sky-high. Of course they'd be thrilled to have their guardian deity with them... but I felt uneasy. The Sage of the Boulder clearly wasn't in a normal state. He looked precarious, like he might collapse at any moment. If the Sage fell... what would become of the battle?
Then Mano pointed at the explorers and said, "Perfect timing. Now is the best moment to burn their home to the ground."
"That's true, but..." I tilted my head. Burning the fungal entities' base was certainly important, but wasn't it more urgent right now to join forces with the Spriggans and hold the enemy back?
"Will you really be fine without us?" When I asked, the Spriggans all began talking over one another. Their opinions refused to align. Even Yuri, who had brought us here, couldn't give a quick answer.
"Since the Sage is with us, it should be all right..." In the end, the discussion flowed toward the explorers operating separately.
"All right. Then let's review the plan." Seori took charge of the briefing. "The warriors and the Sage of the Boulder will return to the village and prepare for any surprise enemy attacks."
The warriors nodded.
"Now that the enemies have surfaced, the explorers will move stealthily and set the underground orchard on fire. After that, we'll pick off the scattered enemies one by one and completely eradicate the mushroom monsters."
It was a diversion tactic. The Spriggans would handle defense while the explorers carried out the attack. If it succeeded, they could put an end to the mushroom monsters once and for all.
"Just to be safe, Mr. Noman should stay behind in the village."
"Huh? R-really?" When I told him that, Noman grinned openly in delight.
"Hehe. I was sweating bullets wondering if I'd have to go underground too. I'm a scholar, not an explorer..." Roa quietly glared at him. Noman wisely shut his mouth.
There wasn't any deep reason for leaving Noman on standby. The explorer team had Roa for basic scouting, but I figured the Spriggan side would benefit more from having a Dungeon Seeker. Besides, stealth missions weren't exactly new to me. Three people would be plenty to complete the task.
"Good. Then to the three explorers—I entrust you with burning down the mushroom monsters' base."
"We'll finish it quickly." When I answered, Yuri looked our way and gave a faint smile.
"Make sure you collect your pay properly later."
"Of course."
I took the map the Spriggans had given me and set off with my party. A narrow, dark path just like any other dungeon. Three explorers walked through the passage where a faint mushroom scent lingered in the air.
As the scouting party had reported, there weren't many Walking Fungus wandering around. We encountered two or three at most, and even those looked like they weren't in the best condition.
"Let's take them one at a time." I signaled my party members. Almost simultaneously, we charged the Walking Fungus.
Ping! With a cheerful sound, Roa's bolt pierced straight through a mushroom. Roa hurled a couple of daggers and rushed in.
"Haaat!" I swung my saw blade, carving up the Walking Fungus. Its whole body was soft and squishy, so the cuts felt satisfying. The creature, torn to shreds, collapsed while spewing spores.
"This side's finished," Alma said, sliding her sword back into the sheath on her back. A mushroom sliced cleanly in half rolled across the floor.
With two Level 4s and a Level 3 Guardian in the party, our combat strength was overwhelming. After all the dungeons we'd cleared, there was no way we'd lose to mere Walking Fungus.
"This side too." I handed out antidote potions to the others. We took a short break to drink them.
"By the way, Hajun. Didn't you say you were a Necromancer?"
"Ah. Yes."
"It's my first time partying with a Necromancer. Don't you usually use magic and stuff?"
"..." I had no response. It wasn't that I didn't use it—I couldn't.
"There aren't any corpses."
The sad class that couldn't do anything without corpses: the Necromancer.
"Hmm. So you can't raise those mushrooms."
"The necromancy judgment is surprisingly strict."
I had Poison Arrow, but Walking Fungus were immune to poison. How does a mushroom have poison immunity? To qualify as one of Dungeon Overseer's three major pain-in-the-ass races, that level of bullshit was apparently mandatory. No wonder fungal monsters were considered filthy.
I led the way while Roa scouted, and we avoided combat as much as possible. It would have been nice to kill every enemy we saw, but that kind of aggressive advance was only viable in the mid-to-late game. For explorers, the mission always came first.
Dodging the mushrooms, we finally reached our destination: the underground orchard. It had once been a vital place that supplied the Spriggans with food. Now it had been infected by the fungal entities and transformed into a factory churning out Walking Fungus.
"Roa. If I throw the potion, can you hit it?"
Roa took out her crossbow and loaded a bolt. The taut string quivered.
"I'll try."
Good. I pulled a Wildfire Potion from my bag. Let me say it again: area-of-effect is always the correct answer. It would've been nice to have an Alchemist, but you didn't actually need one to throw potions.
Spore sacs hanging in rows from what used to be trees. Piles of white powder heaped on the floor. Floating mushroom spores. Towering giant mushrooms... It was time to burn every last one of those disgusting things to ash.
"Roa!" I hurled the Wildfire Potion. At the same time, Roa shot the flying bottle like it was clay pigeon shooting and detonated it.
Boom!
Hot flames of wildfire erupted in every direction. The napalm-like sticky fire clung to the mushrooms and burned with intense heat.
Fire. The entire dungeon was burning!
"Ha, hahahahaha!" Alma let out a delighted laugh. "Look at those mushroom bastards. They're not even trying to run?"
"They don't have brains," I said.
I threw nearly every Wildfire Potion I'd brought. I intended to roast the entire underground orchard area. Whether flames surged or not, the mushrooms wandered blankly until they became nothing but piles of firewood. Without the Entity Queen's control, they were just stupid monsters. Creatures that felt no pain and had no thoughts couldn't even avoid fire on their own.
"... Oppa." Watching the blazing flames, Roa called out to me in a worried voice. I knew exactly what she was worried about.
"The Entity Queen isn't here. This is their home, after all."
"Then does that mean...?"
"Yes. This place is empty. They must have taken the mushrooms and gone up above."
Walking Fungus were slowly creeping toward us from all sides. Wildfire Potion had a strong aggro-drawing effect. Just like with necromancy, pulling too much aggro ended with you surrounded like this.
We drew our weapons and put our backs together. Inside the burning dungeon, explorers leaning on one another with weapons raised. And the Walking Fungus encircling them.
"You all know what to do, right? I trust you'll fight well on your own."
"Hmph! Don't come crying for help later!"
Roa silently fired her crossbow. Taking that as the signal, Alma's greatsword split a Walking Fungus's head clean in two.
Crash!
I stabbed my saw blade into the nearest one's gut and ripped it out lengthwise. Its stomach burst open like a stuffed doll, scattering mushroom spores everywhere. For a while it was pure hack-and-slash. We killed the charging Walking Fungus in a mindless frenzy.