Mushroom Jungle

The black hood was lifted, revealing long, silky silver-white hair flowing down her back. Her smooth black skin was as beautiful as the finest obsidian, while her crimson eyes gave off a sense of beauty and danger. A huge spider tattoo covered her exquisitely beautiful face.

Beautiful and dangerous—that was the first impression she gave Mark and the others.

"Vinnie, what are you trying to say?"

Mark looked at the pointy-eared girl before him and spoke after taking a deep breath.

That was right. The final teammate Mark had chosen was a Drow Elf from the underground world, the Underdark.

A twisted race that regarded betrayal, strength, and cruelty as its core values.

But since Mark had dared to choose Vinnie as a teammate, he was confident she would not betray him. At least during this dungeon exploration, she definitely would not.

"Shadow Sense. Captain, don't forget—I'm a Shadow Assassin."

A dangerous smile curled across Vinnie's lips. As an adult Drow Elf, sensing darkness and shadows was an innate ability, not to mention that her profession was the Drow's special class, Shadow Assassin.

Even an unusual environment like the Fourth Layer would not affect her senses in the slightest. After all, shadows were everywhere.

"I understand. Vinnie, you'll guide our direction from here on."

"Then thank you for trusting me, Captain."

Vinnie gave Mark a slightly playful wink, then sat beside Oliver. When she noticed how uncomfortable he looked, she deliberately pressed herself against him and let out a string of giggles.

Fortunately, Vinnie still knew what mattered. Following the senses transmitted through the shadows, she directed Oliver onward.

Although Vinnie did not know where they were going, there could be no mistake in heading toward the area with the most shadows and living beings. They had come to explore the dungeon for treasure and power anyway, and places where monsters gathered usually had good things.

"Wind Blade Barrage!"

As they continued onward, Swamp Pythons and giant crocodiles occasionally appeared ahead of Mark and the others. Whenever they could avoid them, they did. When they could not, Oliver acted, sending a barrage of wind blades to slice apart the monsters blocking their path.

After an unknown amount of time, Oliver began to look weary from the excessive drain on his mana and mental strength. Then Vinnie's expression suddenly turned serious, and she raised her hand to point toward the front left.

"Oliver, go that way!"

The next second, the Clearwind Boat sped in the direction Vinnie indicated. After passing through a patch of dense fog, the mist before them suddenly thinned, revealing an almost dreamlike sight.

The venomous swamp had transformed into a vast Mushroom Jungle. Enormous mushrooms in every color formed a forest that stretched beyond sight, while small Puchis flitted between the towering fungi, scattering spores as they flew.

"Am I hallucinating?"

Oliver stared at the fantastical scene before him, instinctively looking to his companions for confirmation. Who could have imagined that such an enormous mushroom world was hidden within the Venomous Swamp?

"Do you think there's an illusion master here capable of making a Drow Elf hallucinate?"

Vinnie shot Oliver a look. As an adult Drow Elf, she possessed many spell-like abilities involving illusions, so she could be certain they had not fallen under one.

"Mark, what do we do now? Keep exploring, or leave and head in another direction?"

At that moment, Ireland, the priest, looked at Mark and asked.

"Keep exploring."

After a brief silence, Mark had no intention of leaving. Compared with the monotonous swamp and dense fog outside, this suddenly appearing Mushroom Jungle was clearly unusual. It might even be where the entrance to the fifth layer was located.

"Alright, then we'll keep moving."

After a brief discussion, everyone agreed to continue onward. As they passed one enormous mushroom after another, Mark and the others discovered that the poisonous fog around them gradually vanished completely the deeper they went, replaced by spores permeating the entire space.

"Guga~"

"Gugugaga!"

Sharp cries suddenly rang out above Mark and the others. Immediately afterward, worn wooden spears and clumps of mud came crashing down from overhead, only to be blown away by the hurricane surrounding the Clearwind Boat before they could reach them.

"Are those Goblins?"

Ireland looked up at the monsters shouting atop a mushroom to the side. They were ugly and vicious-looking, their green skin covered in fungal threads, with several brightly colored mushrooms growing from their heads like mushroom caps.

"Probably?" Oliver was not entirely sure either. "Maybe they developed new mutations from living here. There are quite a lot of mutated monsters in dungeons like this."

Above them, seeing that their attacks had no effect on the humans below, the dozen or so Goblins watched as the Goblin Shaman waving a wand flailed about and let out several strange cries. Before long, the Goblins that had left returned carrying purple-black Slimes.

"Gugugaga!"

At the Goblin Priest's command, the burliest Orc Goblin grabbed a Slime in each hand and hurled them down. When they flew above Mark and the others, the Slimes instantly burst apart.

Clumps of viscous Slime jelly, filled with deadly poison and reeking of rot, poured down like a torrential rain. Caught completely off guard, Mark and the others were drenched.

Even with Ireland's purification divine spell protecting them from the poison, the sticky, foul-smelling Slime jelly clung to their bodies and could not be shaken off. It was utterly disgusting.

"Damn Goblins! I'm going to skin them alive!"

Vinnie touched the sticky, stinking liquid on her body, and her beautiful face twisted with rage. She drew two crescent-shaped scimitars from her waist, then vanished in a flash, charging up the mushroom stalk at incredible speed.

In the blink of an eye, Vinnie reached the top. Her body instantly sank into the shadow beneath her feet, and when she appeared again, she was already in the midst of the Goblins, her twin blades tracing beautiful yet deadly arcs.

In only a few dozen seconds, the dozens of Goblins had all been chopped into chunks of varying sizes.

Even then, Vinnie was still not satisfied. She began searching for the Goblin camp, intending to slaughter the entire nest.

"Treasure chest!"

Just as Vinnie spotted the Goblin camp in the distance, she suddenly noticed a gleaming treasure chest sitting on an altar at the center of the camp.

"I didn't expect there to be a treasure chest in a Goblin camp. What an unexpected gain."

Mark and the others, who had rushed over behind Vinnie, also spotted the treasure chest. Their previously gloomy expressions instantly brightened.

Compared with what they might gain from the treasure chest, being drenched in Slime fluid more disgusting than shit suddenly seemed somewhat bearable.