Chapter 20 – A Man in the Network

In a black forest, Dylan held a torch aloft and called frantically into the trees.

“Bella! Bella, where are you? Answer me!”

“Da... Dad...”

The weak voice drew him into the undergrowth. Dylan pushed aside the brush and found his daughter slumped beneath a tree, covered in blood.

“Bella! How were you hurt this badly?

“Don’t be afraid. Dad is here. I’m here.”

Tears streamed down Dylan’s face as he swept his weakened daughter into his arms.

“Dad, I... I...”

“I’m here. Take your time.”

“Dad.” Bella wrapped both arms around his neck and opened crimson eyes. “I’m so hungry.”

Fangs sank into his throat. Blood sprayed outward. Through dimming vision, Dylan watched Bella weep as she swallowed his flesh.

* * *

“Ah!”

Dylan jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat and gasping for breath.

It had been a dream. Thank the gods, only a dream.

Where was he?

He raised his head and saw a Puffcap backing away from him in disgust.

A monster. A mutated Puffcap.

His final memories returned. What had happened to the Parasitic Trees?

Their remains lay scattered across the ground, covered in newly growing mushrooms. At a glance, there were far more than the five that had chased him.

Had these Puffcaps killed them all?

Dylan found that difficult to believe. Even mutated Puffcaps should not have been able to slaughter so many Parasitic Trees.

Yet his blurred memories and the evidence before him said otherwise.

This was the Hidden Chamber. The stone treasure chest stood open.

So it was a Treasure Chamber.

Perhaps the Puffcaps were the monsters assigned to guard it.

They showed no hostility toward him. Stranger still, their presence did not make him uneasy. He felt as though this were exactly how things should be.

Then he remembered his injury.

Dylan touched his abdomen. The wound was gone.

What he saw in its place sent a storm through his mind.

Hyphae filled the opening, and a tiny mushroom had sprouted from the repaired flesh.

He had seen similar growths on people captured by Parasitic Trees.

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No wonder the mutated Puffcaps did not attack him. No wonder he felt so close to them.

He had been parasitized.

His mind remained clear, and nothing restrained his movements as a Parasitic Tree would. Perhaps he had a little time before losing control completely.

Dylan looked at the remains. Many Parasitic Tree seeds still hung from them, and a daring plan formed.

He did not care whether he lived or became an enslaved host. He cared only about earning enough money to save his daughter. If he lacked the time, he would entrust the task to Big Al.

What mattered now was carrying the seeds to the surface.

Dylan crawled to one of the fallen trees, plucked a seed with great care, and slipped it inside his coat.

He looked around. The Puffcaps did not seem concerned.

Reassured, he collected every seed in the chamber.

It was enough. This many had to be enough.

Holding them tightly, Dylan reached the stone door and looked back once more. The Puffcaps continued their work as if nothing had happened.

How strange.

* * *

Evan watched Dylan disappear through the door without speaking to him once, even though the man was now connected to the Mycelial Network.

Saving him had been a matter of principle. It did not mean Evan trusted him.

Dylan had indeed been parasitized and stood one step from complete fusion.

At Evan’s command, the hyphae inside him could destroy his mind and reduce him to a puppet.

That would defeat the purpose of rescuing him.

Evan let him go. Saving his life and giving him access to the seeds more than repaid the favor of opening the door. Whatever happened next was none of Evan’s concern.

The man had risked everything for those seeds. They must be valuable. Perhaps Evan should preserve a few for later use. Decomposing them directly would provide almost no mana anyway.

While Dylan lay unconscious, Evan had taken his Puffcaps outside to explore and returned with several monsters for fertilizer.

He also inspected the local creatures’ Status Panels. Their levels made it clear that he had reached the Fifth Stratum.

The Teleportation Maze was absurd. It had sent him directly from the Eighth Stratum to the Fifth. Did other circles throw travelers ten strata downward or even into the Deep Strata?

He was fortunate not to have found one.

Evan silently marked the Eighth Stratum as extremely dangerous.

His immediate concern was selecting a site for a new Mycelial Garden.

The Treasure Chamber contained mana-infused water, but the ongoing supply was modest. Once Evan consumed the stored pool, the chamber would have little value.

He had also begun to understand how the dungeon operated. It would not leave the door open forever. Some mechanism might reset the room without warning, and being inside when that happened would be disastrous.

Could he simply race to the surface and stand in sunlight?

He wanted to, but he did not dare.

The dungeon had only one entrance, which guaranteed large numbers of humans and perhaps powerful experts. Evan had no intention of dying just before dawn.

Caution was better. Now that he could see hope, he could tolerate a little more delay.

The new Mycelial Garden needed a location that was both safe and convenient for hunting monsters and plundering skills.

The Marsh Zone appeared almost perfect.

Adventurers avoided dangerous swamp terrain, and those who entered moved slowly. The ubiquitous mud, however, felt little different from solid ground to unarmored, lightweight Puffcaps.

If Evan built the garden in the marsh, he could conceal his true body beneath the waterlogged earth.

The local residents were the only complication.

He had dismissed the five Parasitic Trees outside the chamber. During his later exploration, however, he fought a difficult battle.

The creatures shamelessly summoned allies and attacked in groups. They also possessed a bewildering collection of skills and spells at every level.

Evan encountered a Parasitic Tree hosted by an LV36 mage. He failed to inspect its Status Panel before the fight and paid for the mistake with several additional Puffcaps.

How was he supposed to expect such a powerful mage to have fallen victim here?

There might be countless parasitized experts scattered across the marsh. What if one had reached the fifties?

Surely not.

More importantly, fighting Parasitic Trees offered poor rewards.

The plants themselves possessed only [Parasitic Fusion], [Bind], [Toughness], and a handful of resistances.

Their hosts provided the dangerous variety of spells and skills.

Evan had tested those bodies. Decomposing a parasitized host yielded no skills and very little mana, as though the person had been hollowed out from within.

The difficulty of the battle far exceeded the value of the Parasitic Tree’s own abilities.

If Evan included the need to seize territory for a new garden, however, the return became barely acceptable.

After some consideration, he selected the Marsh Zone.

Once he produced a new force of Puffcaps adapted to the terrain, the campaign would begin.