An Unanswerable Combination

Secco went back underground.

Li Qing and the others found themselves in a rather passive situation.

Indeed, Secco's strength and speed were excessive, even surpassing that of their team's strongest member Steel Chain Fingers.

Moreover, his Stand is a cover-type Stand that is directly worn on his body and directly enhances his body. This means that he is not only strong and fast, but also does not have the fatal weakness of a fragile body like other Stand User.

Even so, they actually have many ways to deal with Secco.

Steel Chain Fingers can lead everyone to burrow underground in pursuit, and their numerical advantage is enough to easily make up for their lack of strength and speed.

But the problem is that

Secco fighting alone now.

The carnivorous fungi that permeated the air and grew on Li Qing and others were Secco's best allies.

With these fungi around, Li Qing and his group dared not venture into the "lower areas".

This means they cannot move to escape, nor can they burrow underground to pursue the enemy; they are trapped on this wooden platform, passively facing any possible attack from the enemy.

Secco clearly recognized this as well.

Shortly after disappearing underground, he leisurely swam to a safe location a dozen meters away, then poked his head out from underground, clearly revealing his position:

"Ah"

"This is a bit troublesome."

Secco wasn't in a hurry to fight; instead, he used a slightly arrogant gaze to observe the solemn-looking Li Qing from afar.

"Your hearing is more acute than mine, even though you're blind."

"No matter where I swim, you'll find me, right?"

"However... HIAHIAHIA"

His laughter was so loud it was distorted:

"So what if you can spot me? Do you dare leave that platform even a step?"

"Hahaha, hit me then, do you dare to fight back?"

"Asshole!"

Mista was so annoyed by the provocation that he immediately fired a bullet at Secco's twisted, evil, and incredibly mocking smile.

The bullet whistled through the air, tracing a simple arc.

Secco was like a cunning and treacherous mouse, hiding its head and tail. As soon as it was attacked, it burrowed into the hole and never showed itself again.

This land is his best shield.

Faced with the Secco that can disappear into the ground at any moment, no matter how accurate the bullets are, they can only leave a useless spark on the ground.

"It's gone again."

Mista gripped the pistol tightly, a chill running down his spine.

"Damn it. How am I supposed to fight this kind of enemy?!"

"He's right, we simply dare not go 'lower' now."

"That guy who can dive underground at any time is practically invincible to us right now!"

"This"

Everyone frowned.

Most of them were experienced in combat, but even these Stand User, who combined wisdom and courage, were unable to solve such an unsolvable situation.

No way.

The combined Stand abilities of Secco and Jokulrat are incredibly powerful.

One of them can travel underground in "low places" and pull people down to "low places", while the other spreads fungi over a wide area, causing people to die as soon as they reach "low places".

This is an unsolvable combination.

There's no other way.

Giorno racked his brains but couldn't come up with a solution, so he had to come up with a plan to protect himself for the time being:

"I will now let the Gold Experience drive this wooden platform to continue to extend."

"Once these logs extend to the small buildings outside the lawn, we'll jump into those buildings and climb straight up to the second floor."

"As long as we're not standing on the ground, that guy shouldn't be able to attack us using his burrowing technique anymore."

This is indeed a good strategy to avoid enemy attacks.

But the problem is...

Although Secco is crazy, he is not stupid.

When the wooden platform above the ground began to rapidly extend into the distance, he knew that Li Qing and the others were trying to escape.

"Trying to run away?"

"It's no use, it's too late!"

Secco's frantic voice faintly echoed from the thick layer of soil:

"The piece of wood you're standing on has been transformed into 'liquid' by me!"

Before the words were even finished, and before anyone could take a few steps on the "wooden floor," the hard, thick log turned into a soft, fluffy mess.

The hard ground was thus transformed into a bottomless swamp.

"Damn it, jump out of there!"

Li Qing sensed the sound of the mud surging beneath his feet and immediately felt a chill run down his spine:

"This 'swamp' is at least two or three meters deep."

"If we get stuck, we're completely finished!"

The wooden platform had completely turned into a "swamp," and if they wanted to jump out, they could only jump to the lower grass.

This will definitely trigger a fungal outbreak.

But at this moment, they had no other choice.

Between two evils, choose the lesser: jumping onto the grass, which is twenty centimeters lower, is better than sinking into that swamp that is several meters deep.

Then

At this critical moment, Li Qing and the others, with a desperate mentality, jumped onto the lawn outside the "swamp" without any regard for the consequences.

"Ahhh!"

Fugo soon let out a piercing scream.

Compared to others, he was the one with the most severe fungal infection.

Both of his feet had been eaten long ago, and he was only able to stand up with the help of Abbacchio.

And now.

In the instant the altitude decreased, the fungus that had been so painstakingly contained suddenly erupted like a powerful army receiving an attack signal, spreading like wildfire.

Flesh and blood were devoured, and bones subsequently decayed.

Fugo's newly grown legs were quickly devoured by the fungus.

If it weren't for the fact that this fungus also has a powerful anesthetic effect, he would probably have already fainted from the excruciating pain of losing both legs.

Of course, it wasn't just Fugo; the others weren't in much better shape either.

Fungi also broke out on them, devouring their flesh.

Although it didn't reach the point of losing limbs, it was enough to cause their skin to fester and their flesh to tear.

Even Li Qing, whose physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people and who has the strongest resistance to fungi, lost one-fifth of his health due to that small jump from a "low" place.

What's even more frightening is that this is just the beginning.

The fungus, activated by the extreme changes, began to multiply, expand, and relentlessly erode his life.

"It's over!"

"The fungus has begun to multiply!"

Mista clutched his chest and neck, where the skin had been gnawed away by fungus, and cried out in a distorted voice:

"Giorno, hurry!"

"Build another wooden platform!"

"It's no use," Giorno sighed softly.

Even if he was unwilling to submit, he had no choice but to face this desperate situation where he had no options and nowhere to go:

"The enemy can liquefy the ground again at any time."

"Rebuilding a wooden platform will only cause us to experience another fungal outbreak like we just did."

"What should we do then?!"

Mista's throat felt like it was being bitten raw by the fungus. "If this continues..."

"These ever-proliferating fungi alone are enough to kill us!"

"No way."

Giorno gave a devastating response:

"The Stand User released the killer fungus should still be on the helicopter."

"And that helicopter"

"It's too far away from us; even Li Qing, with the longest range, couldn't reach it."

He looked up at the distant sky and said helplessly:

"That guy who can burrow underground is hiding right under our feet and could launch an attack at any moment."

"To get close to that helicopter, we must defeat it."

"What should we do?!"

Mista was in despair.

Having gone through that ordeal, he is no longer afraid of death.

But dying so pathetically, unable to even mount a proper counterattack, is like a terminally ill patient dying on their deathbed—not the heroic ending he desired.

"To deal with the guy who releases the fungus, we have to defeat this burrowing rat first."

"But to defeat this burrowing rat, we must first get rid of the fungal infection."

"Isn't this an unsolvable infinite loop?!"

Mista roared weakly.

But Li Qing suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Mista with his dim eyes:

"Etc."

"You just said... get rid of the fungal infection?"

He frowned deeply, when a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.

There was one very important thing that he had been neglecting:

"Have any of you thought about this?"

"Fungi have no intelligence at all; they reproduce, spread, and infect unconsciously based on instinct."

"We are all made of flesh and blood, and we are all potential breeding grounds for fungi. So what about this thing hiding under our feet?"

Why was he able to escape?

PS: The original work did not mention why Secco was immune to fungi.

There are various folk sayings circulating online; here's one. "Listen to me." (GIF)

I recommend a book to a friend, "The Twins of Konoha's Destiny," which is currently 700,000 words long and I've already finished reading it.

Introduction: I am the "Child of Destiny" of Konoha, and I represent Konoha.

No system, no harem elements, but explosive combat power.