Deep Within the Water Pool

Hopp, who had been lost in thought in the room to the right, also woke up upon hearing the commotion.

After taking a long drink from the water bucket, she ran over to Karl's side and asked about the goblins' movements.

"The goblins are back? How was the battle?"

Recalling the condition of the goblins he'd seen earlier, Karl offered his assessment.

"Honestly, not great. Most of the goblins were in pretty bad shape. It looks like there was a pretty fierce fight."

Hearing this, Hopp's eyebrows nearly knitted together.

The fragmented information left them unable to piece together the full picture, and the unknown often represented danger.

"Should we go investigate?"

Exchanging glances, Karl and Hopp spoke the same words simultaneously.

The shared understanding made them pause for a moment, then they both laughed.

"If that Mind Flayer is really as strong as all that, we'll need to make plans quickly and get out of this troublesome area."

Glancing back at the wooden cabin beside them, Hopp's eyes showed reluctance.

But there was nothing they could do. They couldn't afford to provoke the enemy right now, so they had to keep their distance.

"Then, after breakfast?"

"Okay!"

Returning to the wooden cabin, Karl and Hopp quickly finished their first meal of the day, then put down the Rope of Climbing and left the giant mushroom.

Hopp was about to follow the path the goblins had cleared towards the Mind Flayer's base, but Karl, who had already donned the Guardian-type Power Armor, said:

"Don't go this way. I know a shortcut!"

With somewhat heavy steps, Karl led Hopp onto a not-so-obvious forest path.

This was a path he had forged during his last reconnaissance of the Mind Flayer's base. After a few days, the bioluminescent mushrooms and moss he had damaged seemed to have recovered.

What incredible vitality.

Muttering the thought inwardly, Karl navigated through the forest, guiding Hopp from memory.

Because he had switched the Power Armor to the assault configuration, Karl had done his best to minimize the noise it made, but creatures with high perception could still detect some sound.

Therefore, Karl and Hopp constantly paid attention to their surroundings. If any particularly perceptive creature detected them, they would instantly eliminate it.

This was especially true for goblin scouts or Brain Eaters.

If these two groups discovered that there were two outsiders in the forest, Karl and Hopp couldn't even imagine what they would do.

After overcoming numerous obstacles, Karl and Hopp finally arrived near the Mind Flayer's base.

Through the cover of the wooden mushrooms, they finally saw the current state of the Mind Flayer's base.

On the pockmarked ground, the hemispherical Chitinous base still stood.

Many headless goblin corpses were scattered around the base.

Four giant squid tentacles had emerged from the ground and were swaying left and right in the gentle breeze.

"It looks like that's why the goblins failed. If this thing lands, even a level 6 Warrior would have a hard time getting back up."

"I certainly don't have the confidence to withstand that. Let's go back, prepare ourselves, and find another way out of this forest."

Just seeing those four tentacles had crushed Karl and Hopp's courage to seek out trouble with the Mind Flayer.

Thinking about how he had previously entertained the idea of "killing the Mind Flayer and then finding clues to leave the dungeon," Karl felt his face burn.

The phrase "a newborn calf fears no tiger" wasn't enough to describe his arrogance at the time.

With a sigh, as Karl and Hopp were about to turn back, a faint psionic fluctuation suddenly probed in their direction.

Without thinking about who the psionic energy belonged to, Karl immediately crouched down, grabbed a handful of dirt, then hoisted Hopp onto his shoulder and sprinted in another direction.

After briefly chanting the incantation and making the corresponding gestures, he cast the 1st-level Spell, Longstrider, on himself.

Despite wearing heavy armor, he moved at a speed that most people couldn't hope to match.

However, as he fled, the Mind Flayer base behind them immediately reacted.

Over a dozen Brain Eaters surged out and pursued them relentlessly.

Karl knew that they hadn't "discovered" him in the truest sense of the word.

This was because Brain Eaters have no eyes; they rely on psionic energy to perceive their surroundings.

The faint psionic wave was likely released by a Brain Eater on routine patrol to prevent any external enemies from infiltrating, essentially akin to an accidental glance from a normal person.

The Brain Eater that released the psionic energy had definitely detected Karl and Hopp's presence, but it hadn't truly captured their thoughts, nor had it discerned their appearances through psionic means.

That's why Karl had started running without a second thought.

Because as long as he escaped a certain range, once the Brain Eaters stopped pursuing them, they could safely return to the wooden cabin and plan their departure from the forest.

Weaving through the forest, Karl, relying on the sturdiness of his Power Armor, rarely dodged the wooden mushrooms that blocked his path.

The broken mushrooms perfectly marked his trajectory, allowing the Brain Eaters behind him, though far behind, to continue their pursuit along these traces.

But this was exactly what Karl wanted to see.

"Bang!"

Breaking another petrified mushroom, Karl realized that the path ahead had been cleared by goblins.

Silently thanking these self-sacrificing fellows, Karl picked a direction and left.

Soon, a pool of water appeared ahead.

He subconsciously used his psionics to probe the depth of the pool, but even after expanding his psionic detection range to its limit, Karl still couldn't reach the bottom.

As Karl was about to continue forward, his eyes lit up.

"Hopp, hold your breath!"

He whispered a reminder to Hopp, then leaped forward, diving into the pool.

With a splash, Karl and Hopp sank rapidly towards the bottom of the pool, aided by their heavy power armor.

Karl's helmet automatically activated the effect of an underwater breathing apparatus, forming a bubble around him that allowed him to breathe underwater.

Quickly canceling the spell slot occupied by the alchemy jug, Karl's hand glowed with blue light. He then conjured an ordinary underwater breathing apparatus and placed it on Hopp's head.

Hopp, who had been holding her breath, immediately let out a sigh of relief.

As the two continued to sink, the water pressure was almost forcing the air out of her mouth.

With the underwater breathing apparatus, Hopp could finally breathe properly.

Above the pool, a few brain eaters arrived belatedly.

Karl's last known trace was on the path cleared by the goblins, so after a brief discussion, the brain eaters split into two groups and pursued along both sides of the path.

Upon seeing the pool, the brain eaters gathered around it.

Their intelligence was mostly comparable to that of ordinary people, so they easily concluded that "the fleeing enemy probably jumped into the pool to hide."

However, no bubbles were rising from the pool, and their psionics detected no living creatures within it.

This was only natural. Karl's psionic strength was similar to that of these brain eaters; if he couldn't detect the bottom of the pool, then these brain eaters naturally couldn't either.

At this moment, Karl and Hopp had sunk far beyond the depth limit of the brain eaters' psionic detection range.

After waiting for a while longer, the brain eaters communicated with each other using their psionics and finally left along the path.

And in the depths of the pool, Karl and Hopp finally reached the bottom.