Shrine of Job Advancement (3)
Now it's over.
Sergeant Kim lowered his head, staring at the green mushroom horde approaching them.
A monster so powerful that even the gun in his hands couldn't match it.
If it were goblins or orcs, perhaps he could handle it with the weapon he had, but this was impossible.
That monster didn't even flinch from the rapid fire of dozens of rounds per second.
“Guys, sorry. I think I made a wrong judgment.”
“No, Sergeant. It's because I suggested we run away...”
“No. If we stayed there, it would have been the same. We would have died in time.”
As the moment of death approached, Sergeant Kim didn't feel much fear even looking at that terrifying monster. He aimed his gun forward and advanced towards the car.
“Sergeant! Where are you going?!”
“I'll try to stall them somehow, so run!”
“What? No!”
“No. Listen. If you manage to escape here alive, pass this to my family.”
Sergeant Kim handed the military armband to his subordinate and then ran towards the green mushrooms in front, firing his gun.
Tu tu tu tu tu tu tu!
“Run!”
“Ugh... Sergeant!”
The remaining soldiers, forced by Sergeant Kim's shout, ran without looking back.
But the ones who thought they could escape were mistaken.
Thud! Thud!
“There... there are mushrooms here too...”
“Sergeant!”
The mushrooms surrounding them completely.
The mushrooms immune to bullets slowly encircled them and advanced.
“It's over...”
Sergeant Kim set the gun he was holding down on the ground.
Abandoning the gun meant giving up on life.
The same went for the others.
“Guys, see you in the next life! It was happy being with you all!”
“Same here!”
“Let's regroup for sure!”
They hugged each other and closed their eyes, waiting for the green mushrooms to attack.
But after a little time passed.
The mushrooms should have already covered them, but their bodies felt nothing.
And a loud sound came from right in front.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Sergeant Kim wondered what this sound was and why the green mushrooms weren't attacking, and slightly opened his eyes.
'Huh? The mushrooms died?'
The mushrooms rushing towards them had fallen to the ground.
'What on earth happened?'
As he said that and looked around, a living green mushroom was charging towards Sergeant Kim and the soldiers.
Wind Pressure
Along with it, wind blades flying from somewhere.
And those blades instantly sliced the green mushroom in half with a 'crack'.
Thud!
The giant green mushroom whose head was sliced off fell and met its death.
The soldiers were shocked by this sight.
The green mushrooms that their guns couldn't even scratch had died with a single shot.
“W-Who are you?!”
Sergeant Kim quickly scanned the surroundings.
The other soldiers also quickly looked around, searching for the owner of the previous attack.
“Are you okay?”
The one who appeared in front of them.
The soldiers, seeing his appearance, seemed to tense up and flinch, but realizing he had no ill intent, they quickly relaxed.
Then, the soldiers approached him and expressed gratitude.
“Th-Thank you. Really, thank you.”
“No. What kind of thing is this.”
Actually, since he had caught new monsters that could be cooked, he had saved them as a bonus, so honestly, his eyes were more on the green mushrooms he had caught than on the soldiers.
'This one looks delicious?'
This monster that looks like a mushroom to anyone.
If he cooked this giant green mushroom monster, it seemed like a pretty good dish would be born.
The White Dragon's eyes sparkled at the sight of the green mushroom.
“Wow~ It's a green mushroom. This one is also really delicious.”
“Have you eaten it?”
“Of course. When I was snacking on roasted gargoyles before, I roasted these guys with them.”
“Gargoyle?”
Gargoyle.
A monster he had definitely met before.
A low-tier boss monster with one star, level 50 or higher.
Even if he met that again, the White Dragon ate it as a snack, saying it was an enormous monster that he couldn't beat.
I don't know if I can believe what he says, but even I think this green mushroom would be really delicious if roasted.
“But were you inside that military base?”
“Yes. That's right.”
“What happened inside?”
“Before I tell you the story, shouldn't we move to a different location? If we're here, other mushrooms will definitely come rushing.”
“Other mushrooms?”
Sergeant Kim seemed to know something about mushrooms.
That meant there was some connection between the military base and the mushrooms.
“If there's a green mushroom here, then that guy inside, right?”
“That guy?”
“A Megalodon-class monster.”
“Megalodon-class?”
It seemed like an enormous monster that couldn't be confronted right now was inside the military base.
“Yep. There's one called Mushroom King that's not very tasty.”
“Mushroom King?”
Mushroom King.
According to the White Dragon's explanation, the king of mushrooms, and apparently because of its weird personality, it's not tasty.
Anyway, whether that guy is tasty or not, if it's Megalodon-class, he absolutely couldn't enter the military base.
Moreover, since he learned that the guy could send monsters out from the outside of the military base, it seemed dangerous to stay here any longer.
“For now, let's go down.”
Just in case some strange monsters come, they quickly headed down the mountain with the soldiers.
Of course, he instructed the lizardmen to move the corpses of the green mushrooms.
It was precious food ingredients; he couldn't just leave them like that.
As the White Dragon said, it might be a material that could break the job advancement quest.
After descending a little time from the mountain.
Upon arriving at the bottom, the soldiers finally showed relieved expressions.
“Okay. Now, can you tell us the story?”
“Yes. Understood.”
Sergeant Kim summarized everything that had happened inside the military base without leaving out any details.
The day the incident occurred.
Like usual, Sergeant Kim returned from his last vacation, excited about soon retiring.
The soldiers who moved to the room where they spun the roulette with the Planet Manager's message as usual.
The soldiers inside the military base also became some who spun the roulette and most who didn't, and from then on, hell began.
The mushroom hordes that suddenly appeared inside the military base.
Following the instructions of the boss monster, Mushroom King, the other mushrooms began to occupy the military base.
They attacked the mushrooms using the firearms and explosives they had, but because the monsters' levels were high, the weapons didn't work at all.
Since the military base itself became a dungeon and they couldn't escape outside, they had no choice but to be massacred.
Especially, soldiers with jobs were said to have been hunted down by the mushrooms that found them accurately.
It seemed like they were trying to eliminate the sprouts that had the potential to grow.
In the end, most soldiers died, and the surviving soldiers became slaves to the mushrooms — a horrific reality.
In this cold winter, forced to follow the command to find moss, the soldiers had to search inside the military base and occasionally went outside to look.
“Even just now, you were looking for moss, right?”
“Yes. That's right.”
“What if you can't find it and go in?”
“Torture... torture continues.”
“Torture?”
Curious about how the mushrooms tortured, he asked, and the mushrooms activated all senses to the maximum using spores.
Because the body's senses were at maximum activation, the pain also increased several times more than usual, causing extreme pain even from insignificant things, as Sergeant Kim described.
“It must have been painful.”
“No. We were running away, but the others...”
Sergeant Kim couldn't continue.
The other two also lowered their heads deeply.
They knew better than anyone that they were the ones who abandoned their comrades they had been through hardships with and ran away.
“I want to save the people inside the military base too, but it's impossible with my current strength.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. But I promise. I will definitely save them later.”
With that, along with the possibility that another job event might come out, he told them the location of the shelter.
If they got a job, they should quickly get stronger and together reclaim the military base.
“Thank you. Really, thank you.”
The three soldiers heading in the direction of the shelter, thanking him for promising to repay the debt later.
Looking at those soldiers, for now, he looked at the mushrooms brought by the lizardmen and took out the fork first.
“Let's eat one for now.”
To test the taste without any preparation, since he was also going to do predation, he used the fork to tear off a handful of the green mushroom.
Mmm.
'Wow!'
Just biting into it, an automatic exclamation burst from his mouth.
The green mushroom had dense tissue and less moisture, so the chewy, crunchy texture when biting felt like chewing soft meat.
Moreover, this taste.
Each time he chewed, the savory yet subtly sweet taste stimulated his taste buds without being too stimulating.
Along with it, the fragrant mushroom aroma that tickled his nose.
The subtle, sweet aroma of this mushroom.
It was as if it had the exact taste and aroma of the expensive truffle mushroom, rivaling it with the shiitake mushroom.
'It's really delicious!'
As the White Dragon said, the green mushroom was this delicious.
◈ Complete Predation
◈ Wisdom +25
◈ Summonable Monster Added
◈ No Special Abilities
He finished the complete predation so quickly that he didn't even have time to think when he had eaten it all.
“Hey! Are you the only one eating delicious things? Give some to me too!”
The White Dragon, watching him eat, wondered if he was hungry too.
The guy asking for food for himself.
“Wait.”
For now, he planned to make a dish with these mushrooms.
He had to see what kind of dish would be born.
- Do you want to cook the green mushroom?
- Please select the cooking method.
- [Roast] [Boil]
'As expected, mushrooms are best roasted!'
Chiiik~
The green mushrooms starting to roast deliciously.
The unique mushroom aroma spread deliciously all around.
- Cooking completed.
- A new dish 'Roasted Green Mushroom' has been born.
- You have acquired Roasted Green Mushroom X20.
◈ Wisdom +40
◈ Strength +40
◈ Duration: 30 minutes
“Here, eat.”
“Wow!”
He threw a well-roasted mushroom to the White Dragon, and the guy quickly ate it.
And when the White Dragon ate the dish I cooked, a message appeared in front of him.
├─ Tier 1:Basic Dragon Form ✓
├─ Tier 2:Divine Breath ✓
└─ Tier 3:Evolution Unlocked ★
- White Dragon's evolution has begun.
- 95% remaining to the next stage.