This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

At noon, the sun hung high, its scorching light baking the earth.

For the bloodborn, this was the most uncomfortable time of day, yet Vissarious’s trusted retainer, Ern, appeared at the camp closest to Tri-Mountain City.

Ever since Fifteen broke through the defensive line and infiltrated the city, that incident had been a thorn lodged in his mind.

Although His Highness the prince had already prepared contingencies, Ern had no intention of allowing any slip-ups in the camp under his responsibility. He would not give the humans even the slightest opening.

“Double the patrol frequency of the shadow bats,” Ern ordered.

His adjutant looked troubled. “My lord, at this hour, if the shadow bats are deployed, their casualty rate will be very—”

“Losing a few doesn’t matter,” Ern cut in coldly. “We have enough shadow bats to last until this campaign ends. I want them patrolling in rotations. Nothing suspicious is to be overlooked.”

Shadow bats were difficult to cultivate. The soldiers felt pained, but since Ern had spoken, they could only obey.

The adjutant dared not argue further and hurried to relay the order.

Ern cast his gaze toward the camp perimeter. “Add bloodthorn traps to both flanks. Arrange them in triple overlapping layers… and the underground as well…”

Under his arrangements, the sky, the ground, and the underground all received corresponding defensive measures.

If the humans dared attempt another sortie, he would turn that sortie into a decisive battle—and wipe out their remaining fighting force in one blow.

Seeing his commands being executed one by one, Ern finally prepared to leave.

After confirming everything was being implemented correctly, he headed toward the shade of his tent. But just as he turned, his eyes drifted toward Tri-Mountain City—and his footsteps halted.

He beckoned a security officer over and pointed toward the pile of corpses stacked near the ruined outer wall.

“Have the humans come out to collect bodies these past two days?”

The officer looked in that direction, puzzled. “I don’t think so. There’s hardly space in Tri-Mountain City for burials anymore. Look—many of their own soldiers’ corpses are still mixed in those heaps.”

“Then why is that pile… lower than yesterday?” Ern frowned slightly.

“Is it?” The officer squinted carefully. “Your subordinate believes it’s always been like that…”

“Is that so…” Ern withdrew his gaze, half dubious.

He had asked only on a hunch. He wasn’t certain himself. Hearing the officer say this, even Ern wondered if he was being overly suspicious.

At that moment, one of Ern’s bloodborn subordinates hurried toward him and knelt on one knee.

“Master, while strengthening the outer perimeter defenses as instructed, we discovered something unusual on the eastern side of the camp.”

Led by the soldier, Ern arrived at an open patch of ground less than half a li [‘250 meters’] from the camp.

Several strong demonborne soldiers had dug out a five-meter-wide pit. At the bottom, a section of a deep tunnel was exposed.

“What is this?” Ern narrowed his blood-red eyes.

“We’re unsure of its origin, but it’s clearly not naturally formed.” The leading bloodborn jumped down and patted the tunnel wall. “Look—this has been reinforced. The work is rough, but sturdy.”

“A human passage?” Ern proposed—then dismissed his own idea immediately. “No. Too narrow.”

A tunnel of this size was impossible for humans to pass through.

At most, it could barely accommodate the smallest of the demon races—goblins.

Even if it wasn’t a human passage, finding such a suspicious tunnel meant it absolutely could not be ignored.

Ern ordered several small goblins to enter under the command of a bat-form bloodborn.

Not long after the bloodborn led them into the tunnel, they reached the first fork.

The pitch-black corridor split into two, each extending into unknown darkness.

He hesitated briefly, then sent two goblins down the other path.

But after advancing a short distance, they encountered a second, then a third fork.

When they reached a large node where five tunnels converged, the bloodborn finally realized this underground was practically a massive labyrinth. Continuing to divide their meager forces would only scatter them further, so he kept the team together and pressed on.

They wandered aimlessly underground for a long time.

Just as the bloodborn was about to give up and return, the team finally found something different.

A thin web of mycelium coated the tunnel walls—and a few faintly glowing mushrooms sprouted among them. It was the first sign of living creatures they had found since entering the depths.

Following the mycelium-covered passage, they entered a cavern that made every demon’s fur stand on end.

Dozens of tunnel mouths dotted the ceiling like the one they had crawled through.

And at the bottom—piled like a mountain—were corpses.

Shattered bodies of demons and humans alike were heaped together. Some had already become bare white bones. Others were being slowly broken down by the mushrooms growing on them.

It looked like the nest of some horrific monster. Even the goblins—normally always chattering incessantly—fell silent in terror, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Just then, a faint slithering sound came from another tunnel overhead.

A severed lizardman tail fell first.

Then a mangled limb.

And finally—dripping blood—a puji popped out with a soft “pop,” clinging upside-down to the ceiling.

Though pujis had no eyes, every demon present felt as if they had been discovered.

“Retreat!” the bloodborn rasped.

The goblins shrieked and ran back—only to hear slithering noises from all directions in the tunnels behind them.

Countless pujis surged in from every fork, sealing off all routes of escape.

On the surface, Ern vaguely heard several muffled booms from underground.

He waited for a long time, yet only a few goblins crawled back out.

They were the ones who had been split off earlier. Hearing strange thuds in the tunnel, they had panicked and turned back on their own.

But the bloodborn… never emerged.

Not emerging was already an answer.

Ern immediately mobilized more forces, assembling a much larger exploration team and ordering extensive scouting across the surrounding region.

As expected, within half a day, three more similar hidden passages were found at different locations.

……

Elsewhere, Lin Jun’s helpful “burial service” had been discovered. He had no choice but to increase his underground defense forces by producing more combat pujis, while accelerating the spread of his Mycelium Carpet through the tunnel network.

And the demons’ almost brazen excavation activities naturally drew the humans’ attention as well.

But they clearly had no idea what had happened on the demon side.

There were defensive magic arrays beneath Tri-Mountain City too. Even if the demons dug through, it would simply add another attack route—there was no possibility of a surprise assault.

Unable to make sense of the demon activity, the humans could only heighten their vigilance toward Ern’s encampment.