Chapter 68: Chapter 68: One-Punch Mushroom People

BZZZZ—

Ten figures passed through the purple vortex one after another.

Three military drones followed close behind.

CRACK!

Wang Xi’s foot snapped a dry twig. His shoe sank into a soft pile of decaying leaves and into the mud below.

Lifting his gaze, he saw they had arrived in a deathly still, gloomy forest. The woods reeked of decay, with no sign of a single living creature.

All the trees and vegetation in sight were withered and dead, a decadent shade of black.

"According to our intel, this is the Spades 2 ’Sugar Witch’ Maze. The interior is mostly comprised of dilapidated natural environments like forests, fields, and lakes..."

Xiao Yuzhe said in a low voice, surveying his surroundings.

"This should be Fairy Tale Archive File 009, the ’Black Forest.’ Monsters roam this area, so everyone be careful."

Everyone raised their arms, using their Monitoring Wristwatches to check the area’s reality distortion level. They were stunned to see the crimson figures "44.7%" appear on the display.

"The Maze’s reality distortion is so high!"

Ge Tian exclaimed.

Xiao Yuzhe glanced at her and explained:

"The Regional Seal-level blue disaster that occurred in the Valley City Rust Belt District at the end of last month was caused by this very Maze. The reality distortion level exceeded 60% at the time... Since then, the Overlook Bureau has coordinated with the Association to dispatch several groups of Professional Warriors to hunt inside, which has significantly lowered the distortion level."

"It’s now in a state between stable and dangerous. That’s precisely why the Association chose this Maze as the stage for the third round of the combat assessment."

"Let’s go." Jiang Tianjie strode forward. A green light flashed in his hand, and he was now holding a Long-Handled Square-headed Hammer. "Let’s check what’s ahead."

Seeing this, the others took out their Equipment Cards and followed.

They trekked through the silent Black Forest for some time.

"Wait!"

Nagata An suddenly spoke up.

Everyone stopped short and turned to look at her.

"There’s danger... It’s close!"

The pretty, long-haired girl’s brow furrowed slightly. Purple patterns had appeared on her lovely face, and even her eyes had turned a bewitching deep violet.

The group stared in amazement at the change on her face.

"Is that the Sky Dome Conglomerate’s ’Curse-Breaking Warrior’ technology?"

Jiang Tianjie asked curiously.

"I heard it’s completely different from the Universal Card, an artificial transplant technology modeled after the Extraordinary Powers of the Monster Talk System."

"Mhm." Nagata An didn’t deny it, but smiled instead. This was clearly a good opportunity to promote her Conglomerate, so she added a bit more, "The Curse Power organ I had transplanted is called ’Wind Cry Woman.’ It grants special sensory and pneumatic abilities."

As she spoke, two lines of tears quietly streamed from the corners of her eyes. Yet she kept smiling and pointed in two directions:

"Danger, that way and this way."

"I’ll handle it."

The blond young man, Carl, said.

He raised his hand and threw out two White Cards.

In a flash of light, they transformed into two drone-sized Mechanical Dolls: one an eagle, the other a dog.

[δ Recon-Type Mechanical Doll · Guard Dog (Light Green/One-Star)]

[δ Recon-Type Mechanical Doll · Guardian Eagle (Light Green/One-Star)]

Wang Xi glanced over and saw their descriptions.

He also recognized that they were two Artificial Follower Cards, obviously from Carl’s sponsor, the Gear Conglomerate.

The eagle and dog Mechanical Dolls shot off to the left and right, respectively, heading in the directions Nagata An had indicated, and quickly vanished into the woods.

But it wasn’t long before everyone heard a loud BOOM from the right.

Carl frowned and swiped a hand across his temple. A shining, fingernail-sized ring of light appeared on the spot.

A few images flashed through his right eye before dissolving into chaotic static.

"The Guard Dog has been destroyed."

Carl said grimly.

"Killed in a single blow."

Hearing this, the group grew vigilant.

The Guard Mechanical Dog, while not a high-end Card, was still worth over a hundred thousand Credit Points. It was agile and good at escaping, so it shouldn’t have been so easily destroyed.

To be able to destroy it in one hit meant the enemy was powerful.

WHOOSH—

From the woods on the left, the silver-gray Mechanical Doll eagle flew back swiftly and landed on Carl’s shoulder.

A series of images flashed through his right eye.

"It’s some kind of... mushroom. It’s huge but very agile."

"A mushroom?!"

Everyone was startled.

As a top graduate of East Continent University who had just been transferred to the Valley City Overlook Bureau’s Disenchantment Class, Xiao Yuzhe had clearly studied Mazes extensively.

After a moment of thought, he came to a conclusion:

"It must be the ’Giant Mushroom People.’ They’re fast, their punches are devastating, and their weak point is the inside of their caps. In a moment, everyone—"

Xiao Yuzhe hadn’t even finished speaking.

THUD THUD THUD!

The sound of heavy, rapid footsteps grew closer.

Everyone’s pupils contracted.

They saw tall mushroom people charging wildly out of the woods to their left.

They looked like king oyster mushrooms magnified countless times, standing about two meters tall. Their bodies were deathly white, with stout limbs like a human’s. Their colorful caps, mostly purplish-black and crimson, gave them the deadly, dangerous look of poisonous mushrooms.

Beneath their caps were three dark hollows—two small and one large—like eyes and a mouth.

[Darkened Sugar Mushroom Girl (Crimson/Two-Star)]

Wang Xi was taken aback.

’These monsters... they were transformed from the cute Sugar Mushroom Girls?’

’But the Sugar Mushroom Girls were created in the Fairy Tale Otherworld by the Sugar Witch Bev using her Candy Magic. Yet here they are in the Main World, appearing as disaster and Maze monsters...’

BANG!!

A loud crash rang out as Lin Xin’Er flashed forward and met a Darkened Sugar Mushroom Girl’s fist with her own. A powerful, visible shockwave erupted, sending the dead leaves and twigs at their feet flying.

BAM! BAM! BAM!!

Wearing black gloves, Lin Xin’Er engaged the Mushroom Person in fierce close-quarters combat using only her fists and feet.

Fist met flesh, their movements a blur of afterimages.

The five seeded members also charged into battle, fighting for their lives against the attacking Mushroom People.

Yu Jiali, wielding her Eight-Sided Bronze Sword, seized an opportunity to sever one of the Mushroom Person’s thick arms. Jiang Tianjie assisted from the side, swinging his Long-Handled Square-headed Hammer in an upward arc to smash into the bottom of its cap.

With a dull THUD, the strike actually ripped the Mushroom Person’s cap clean off—revealing a colorful, variegated, gel-like substance underneath, which seemed to be its brain.

PEW! PEW! PEW!

Several red laser beams flashed, piercing and scorching the Mushroom Person’s colorful brain. It immediately pitched forward stiffly and stopped moving.

Standing a short distance away and holding a Laser Pistol, Xiao Yuzhe smiled at Yu Jiali and Jiang Tianjie in praise.

"Nice teamwork."

Elsewhere, Nagata An used her ’Curse-Breaking Warrior’ power to impede the movements of several Mushroom People with invisible wind. She then took out a green Skill Card, turning the ground into a swamp that trapped the Mushroom People.

While they struggled desperately,

Carl’s mechanical arm opened up and unleashed a furious bombardment at the heads of these Mushroom People. A dozen fingertip-sized missiles shot out and landed on their heads, blowing their caps and brains to smithereens.

Lin Xin’Er had beaten her one-on-one opponent to death. The creature’s head was deformed and caved in, and the viscous, variegated gel flowed out from the three hollows on its face.

Zhong Shuang and the other two commoner geniuses also worked together seamlessly, joining forces to kill one of the Mushroom People. Although they didn’t have powerful Cards, their fundamentals were solid. They managed to slay the monster using only the cheapest Artificial White Card, the ’Combat Saber’.

As for Wang Xi, he didn’t try to stand out. He wielded his Beheading Sword and decapitated a Mushroom Person within a few exchanges.

However, to his surprise,

Kaos didn’t show a prompt this time.

Even after killing the target ’Darkened Sugar Mushroom Girl,’ he couldn’t capture its Ability Card.

’I don’t know why,’ Wang Xi thought, feeling it was a pity.

He glanced around the scene.

This wave of the monster attack was over, and the group had suffered no casualties.

The six seeded members were all at the Three-Star level, while Zhong Shuang and the other two commoner geniuses were at Two Stars. Facing this group of Mushroom People, they were naturally not under much pressure.

For their first time facing Maze monsters directly, their mental fortitude was also impressive; there wasn’t the slightest hint of panic.

The three military drones, now semi-transparent, hovered silently above the group, recording the entire hunt.

The viewers in the livestream chat were all full of praise.

Smooth as flowing water, perfect teamwork.

Truly the most outstanding Professional Warriors of Valley City’s current generation. The difference between them and those amateur streamers was like night and day.

SQUELCH—

Holding a dagger, Xiao Yuzhe stepped on a Mushroom Person’s corpse and sliced open its chest. He then reached in with his bare hand and pulled a purple, mangosteen-sized Magic Stone from the dense, tightly packed mycelium.

"The ’Giant Mushroom People’ have Magic Stones hidden in their chests."

The young man turned his head and said to the others.

"Since we’re a team, how about we split the spoils evenly?"

"I have no objections."

Yu Jiali nodded, also taking out a dagger to help collect the loot.

No one rejected Xiao Yuzhe’s proposal. Even Lin Xin’Er and Carl, who usually acted alone, tacitly agreed to the teamwork this time.

’Perhaps their conglomerates gave them overnight instructions not to be too independent during the third assessment, to avoid any negative impact on their sponsors’ reputations...’

A short while later.

The Magic Stones from the five Mushroom People were extracted. Carl weighed them by hand and calculated a precise total of 1550g.

On average, each person would receive 155g of Magic Stones.

Based on the market price on the "Flying Hat" platform, everyone had just netted around fifteen thousand Credit Points from this one wave.

The income from clearing Mazes was clearly high.

Carl’s mechanical arm seemed to have many functions; it even cut the Magic Stones on the spot, dividing them into ten equal portions.

After distributing the loot, the group continued deeper into the Black Forest. Along the way, they encountered several more waves of monsters.

Black spiders that looked like giant human hands, brown worms covered in spikes, pitcher plants with legs...

Fortunately, with Nagata An’s early warnings, Carl’s Mechanical Doll followers for reconnaissance, and Xiao Yuzhe’s encyclopedic analysis, the group was always prepared for battle and basically steamrolled their way through.

The group arrived at a clearing in the forest.

In the center of the muddy ground sat a large wooden chest, inlaid with gold and plated with silver.

"A Maze Treasure Chest..."

Xiao Yuzhe said in a hushed, startled voice.

"This is a low-probability event. Treasure Chests usually contain good items, but they’re also guarded by powerful monsters."

Wang Xi focused his gaze.

Beside the Treasure Chest, three inconspicuous little mushrooms were growing. But his gaze grew more profound.

[Treasure Chest Guardian · Three Mushroom Witch (Crimson/Three-Star)]

Bronze Patterns enveloped the description.

A Three-Star Elite!

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