Duke's Daughter Turned into a Mushroom

"Let me go! Fucking let me go!"

The moment Inanna woke up and realized she had been stuffed into a sack, she desperately twisted her body.

"Pero, did you water down your Stun Spell? She woke up already."

"Idiot, don't say my name. Her Duke father poured so many resources into her—how could her resistances be low? It's already good enough that she only woke up now."

Inanna suddenly went rigid. She recognized both of those voices.

"Pero? And you, Oakes! You ambushed me? You betrayed my father?"

"Damn it, you talked too much. She recognized us," Pero said irritably.

Oakes, however, did not seem to care. "What are you scared of? She won't get the chance to tell anyone."

What did that mean? This was more than just kidnapping?

"What are you going to do?"

Realizing that her life might be in danger, Inanna became even more furious.

The sack over her head was yanked away, and the first thing she saw was Oakes's vicious face.

"What are we going to do? Young miss, today you're going to become a magical beast's dinner!"

Inanna looked around. Purple crystals of varying sizes were scattered across the walls of the dim passage.

Had she been taken to the Amethyst Dungeon?

"You two rats wearing human skin—has the old man ever treated you poorly? And you actually betrayed him?"

"Because your father is finished. Do you really think he can stop the Empire's attack? Killing you will be the final straw that crushes him. If I kill your old man, I might even get to become a noble."

Thinking of the title promised by the one behind it all, Oakes burst into laughter.

"Stop laughing. It'll be troublesome if you attract monsters." Pero impatiently cut him off. "This is the place. Put her down."

Inanna was tossed onto the ground, still looking like she wanted to bite someone.

Oakes looked at Inanna's beautiful face and said regretfully, "Such a beauty. Why does she have the same temperament as her father? I was even thinking of finding out what a Duke's Daughter tasted like."

"This is the Sixth Floor. If you don't mind monsters chewing your naked ass to pieces, go ahead and do it now."

"Just joking. Once I become a noble, what woman won't I have?"

Pero raised his wand at Inanna and began chanting an obscure spell.

"Transformation Spell?"

Inanna immediately recognized the magic Pero was casting. Her bound feet kicked at him, trying to interrupt the spell, but Oakes grabbed hold of her.

"Kill me if you've got the guts! You fucking have the guts... kill..."

As the Transformation Spell was completed, Inanna gradually lost the ability to speak and transformed into a Puji with only a pair of short legs—a Walking Mushroom, as it was commonly known.

After finishing the chant, Pero reluctantly took out a bottle of starlit potion and poured it over Inanna.

The sight made Oakes click his tongue in amazement.

"Stabilizing Potion? You're really willing to use that. Why make things so troublesome? Wouldn't it be easier to kill her and toss the body down there for the monsters?"

Listening to Oakes's brainless nonsense, Pero felt his intolerance for idiots acting up.

"Go ahead and kill her, then. Let's see whether you get marked with the Duke's Mark of Vengeance afterward. When he abandons his territory and comes after you, don't drag me into it.

Tracking magic, Mark of Vengeance—there's no way she doesn't have them on her. Let the magical beasts below eat her clean. That's the safest method."

As he spoke, he thoughtfully cast an extended-duration Slow Fall Spell on the Puji Inanna had become, so she would not simply fall to her death.

"Forget I said anything." Oakes was not angry despite being looked down on. He walked up to Inanna. "Farewell, young miss."

With that, he kicked her and watched as Inanna was swallowed by the rift.

This rift led directly into the depths of the Dungeon. No one who had fallen in had ever climbed back out, let alone a completely helpless Puji.

Bastards!

They dared use the old man's name to deceive me!

I'll kill those two animals with my own hands!

It's so dark...

The rift truly seemed bottomless. Even the extended-duration Slow Fall Spell failed to bring her to the bottom.

As she felt her falling speed continue to increase, her rage cooled. The sixteen-year-old girl, who had never faced death before, finally became afraid.

Am I really going to die like this?

Puff—

Inanna felt herself land on something like a soft, springy bed. It bounced her high into the air again, and after several rebounds, she finally landed on the ground on her butt.

I'm not dead! As expected, fate favors me.

But where was this?

A Puji had no facial features and could not see, but it could vaguely sense the things around it.

The thing that had caught her seemed to be a three-meter-wide... giant Mushroom?

What were those sounds around her? The figures passing before her felt strangely familiar...

Weren't they Pujis just like the one she had transformed into?

Why were there Pujis, the very bottom of the food chain, in the dangerous depths of the Dungeon?

And so many of them!

Uh, why were they surrounding her...

As the owner of the Mushroom Garden, Linden felt that he had been too distracted lately and had been making low-level mistakes more often.

For example, there was actually a Puji in the Mushroom Garden that was not under his control. He did not know whether it had naturally fallen to the ground after growing up before it could be connected to the Mycelium Network.

It even had a pink Mushroom Cap, making it especially conspicuous among the Pujis with green and gray Mushroom Caps.

Had it mutated?

Fortunately, fixing it was easy. He just had to connect it with Mycelium and tune it to the channel used by the Mycelium Network.

But why was it resisting so fiercely?

When faced with the Pujis Linden sent over to establish a connection, this uncontrollable Puji actually started running all over the place.

It knocked over several Pujis one moment, then trampled wildly through the Mushroom Garden the next, turning the entire place into a mess.

Growing annoyed, Linden simply directed a large group of Pujis to surround it. They squeezed it so tightly that it could not move, and only then did he connect the Mycelium.

"Ahhh! Get away! Get away from me!"

What the hell was that?

The moment this Puji connected to the network, Linden was bombarded by screaming. It was so loud that even his Mycelium felt like it was about to explode.

"Quiet!"

An irresistible command traveled through the Mycelium Network to every Puji, and the entire Mushroom Garden came to a stop.

"Damn it, no. All areas, resume normal operations."

Only after restoring the Mushroom Garden's operations did Linden focus his attention on this unusual Puji.

He had figured it out. This was definitely not a Puji produced by his own garden, but an outsider Mushroom.

How strange. An outsider Mushroom had actually made it into this backwater place?

"Speak! Where did you barge in from?"

"Who are you? How are you talking to me? No, how am I talking right now?"

Tch.

This one had clearly fallen into confusion and could not even speak properly. Linden simply pulled up her Panel.

[Name: Inanna Saint Clair]

[Race: Mushroom—Puji]

[Level: LV28]

[Health: 3280]

[Strength: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Constitution: 1]

[Intelligence: 33]

[Spirit: 24]

[Racial Talent: Spore Diffusion (Can actively spray Spores into the surrounding area; guaranteed to activate upon death)]

[Fixed Effects:

Holy See Blessing (Provides Light Element Affinity LV4, Light Magic LV4)

Mark of Vengeance (Transfers to the killer after death. The mark's caster can track the killer and deal additional damage to them)

Tracking Mark (Tracking mark)

Fruit of Life (Grants 3000 additional Health and Health Regeneration LV4)

Dragon Crystal Potion (Provides high resistance in all areas)

Permanent Transformation (Unless the magic is removed, the transformation effect will persist permanently)

Connect to Mycelium Network (A short-range telepathic network formed through magical resonance between Mycelium)]

[Skills: Riding LV4, Elemental Affinity (Water, Light) LV4, Magic Storage LV3, Mana Manipulation LV4, Light Magic LV4, Water Magic LV3, Cloth Armor Mastery LV2, Dagger Mastery LV2, Magic Resistance LV6, Physical Resistance LV6, Mental Resistance LV6, Corrosion Resistance LV6, Paralysis Resistance LV6, High Temperature Resistance LV6, Cold Resistance LV6, Stun Resistance LV6, Underwater Adaptation LV6, Astrological Divination LV1, Ancient Elvish LV2, Health Regeneration LV4]

Holy shit, a super Pink Puji with over 3000 Health and all resistances at LV6!