Chapter 353: Chapter 352: Mushroom Forest and Deadly Pathogens Chapter 353: Chapter 352: Mushroom Forest and Deadly Pathogens “Bang bang bang…”

Richard, wielding his Great Sword, clashed with the three tails of the Crystal Giant Scorpion.

After a long struggle, Richard activated the Enhancement Magic of the No.1 Ring, but still couldn’t suppress the Crystal Giant Scorpion. Sweat gradually formed on his face, his hair dripped wet, and his breathing became a bit rapid. The Three-tailed Crystal Giant Scorpion maintained a relentless assault with its tails as if it wanted to wear Richard down to death.

Richard pursed his lips, trying to retreat and create distance from the Three-tailed Crystal Giant Scorpion to use Magic against it. The scorpion didn’t give him a chance, speeding up its attack and desperately maintaining close combat, not wanting to let him escape.

In that case…

Richard’s gaze became somewhat sharp.

If that’s how you want to play it…

Richard’s eyes narrowed into a slit.

If you’re so keen on close combat…

Fine, I’ll grant your wish!

“Swish!”

Richard unleashed “Wind Force” stacked on top of the No.1 Ring, and an even more powerful force manifested. Holding the Great Sword firmly, he parried the three tails of the Three-tailed Crystal Giant Scorpion. Then, with a flip of his hand, a vial of golden Divine Blood appeared in his palm, the size of a fingertip–a safe dosage that Richard had carefully verified.

With a “whoosh,” Richard crushed the glass tube, and used “Water Droplet Condensation” in reverse to turn the Divine Blood into a golden mist.

Richard took a deep breath, inhaling the mist into his lungs where it quickly merged with his body and took full effect.

Divine Blood!

Earl Level Bloodline Power activated!

The body’s third enhancement manifested!

After the scorpion was parried and its tails sent flying, it attacked again with its stinger. Richard, with a cold face, slashed out with his sword. A howling sound filled the air, like thunder striking down.

“Bang!”

The scorpion tail collided with the sword blade.

“Pfft!”

Richard erupted with full power, the Great Sword sending the entire scorpion tail flying away.

“Hiss!”

The Crystal Giant Scorpion cried out in pain from its belly, while the other two tails attacked Richard furiously.

Richard didn’t even blink as he held the Great Sword and slashed again.

“Pfft! Pfft!”

The last two tails were also sent flying, landing on the ground with two “thuds.”

The scorpion was terrified; it glanced at Richard, preparing to flee, but Richard didn’t intend to give it the chance–the Divine Blood couldn’t be wasted!

“Swish!”

Richard swung his Great Sword in a full circle, cutting into the connecting part of the Crystal Giant Scorpion’s head and body as easily as slicing through tofu and decapitated it.

“Splat–”
A thick dark green liquid flowed from the severed part, the headless giant scorpion twitched, but it did not die and even tried to turn and continue fleeing.

Richard watched, his body leaping up to land on the back of the giant scorpion. He raised his great sword high and brought it down with the force of thunder, cleaving the body of the giant scorpion in two.

Finally, the giant scorpion lay motionless–utterly dead.

Stepping over the giant scorpion’s corpse to the ground, Richard took a deep breath, pulled out a saltwater solution from the Space Iron Ring, drank it down to replenish his fluids, and rested for a good while until he was back to his normal state.

At that time, Richard noticed something inside the scorpion’s mouthpiece. Approaching, he used a dagger to cut it open and discovered a filamentous substance–somewhat like mycelium.

Mycelium?

Richard raised an eyebrow.

Scorpions were carnivorous creatures by nature, mainly preying on fresh and juicy insects full of protein and fats, such as spiders, maggots, mosquitoes, and flies. When did they turn vegetarian?

Could it be the unique ecological conditions inside the crypt?

Mycelium? Fungi? Mushrooms?

Richard’s eyes glittered.

If it were mushrooms, that could explain how the insect army obtained their food previously.

In this damp underground crypt devoid of sunlight, green plants were doomed to not survive, yet it was quite suitable for the growth of mushrooms, supplying food to other organisms. Mushrooms also acted as decomposers in the ecological environment, capable of breaking down the corpses of dead organisms and other waste, utilizing them to ensure efficient energy circulation.

Richard’s eyes flickered with thought as he passed through hall number three and entered the fourth corridor.

…

The fourth corridor sloped downward, and Richard followed it to the end where the view suddenly expanded–a massive hall appeared before him.

This hall was not as chilly as the previous ones; in fact, it seemed crowded, and he saw a variety of mushrooms covering the ground.

Some mushrooms were spherical, like a giant white soccer ball, some were filamentous, like heaps of noodles on the ground, and others–more normal-looking–were like umbrellas, pillars, and thin sticks, and the more bizarre ones resembled human brains and intestines…

Some were red, some grey, some yellow, and others white with crimson spots that seemed like splashes of blood…

Some were only a few centimeters tall and could be picked up with one hand, while others stood over a meter high like tall trees…

An array of peculiar mushrooms filled the entire field of view.

“Mushroom Forest…” Richard muttered to himself, “Just as I suspected, a large number of mushrooms are supplying food to the ecosystem of the crypt…”

Richard stepped towards the Mushroom Forest, and at that moment, a grey umbrella-shaped mushroom over one meter tall seemed stimulated and began to shake. The cap split open like blooming petals, and then, with a “pop,” exploded , sending a torrent of spores and mycelium in all directions.

Clearly, the mushroom had matured and was spreading its spores to reproduce in its unique way.

Richard saw the mycelium and spores flying towards him, his expression shifted slightly, and out of caution, he cast Wind Repulsion, blowing away all the incoming mycelium and spores.

Having done this, Richard frowned, sensing something amiss. The next moment, he opened his mouth and coughed lightly, holding his chest and coughing for a while before calming down, and the saliva he coughed up surprisingly had traces of blood and some turbid, tiny particles.

This… wasn’t quite right!

Richard’s brows knitted together tightly, his eyes squinting towards the Mushroom Forest ahead, displaying an exceedingly vigilant posture, he covered his mouth and nose and began to retreat slowly towards the way he’d come, murmuring to himself, “No way, could it be that all that came before was a facade, and the real lethal design is here… cough, cough, cough!”

He couldn’t finish his words before starting to cough again, feeling tightness in his chest and slight pain in his lungs, the troubling symptoms were getting worse.

“Cough, cough, cough…” Richard continued to cough, covering his mouth and nose, now certain of his speculation, “It seems that the previous insect swarm, the Two-tailed Golden Scorpion, and the Three-tailed Crystal Giant Scorpion were indeed a ruse, the actual deadly design is the Mushroom Forest, the fungal spores present everywhere in the air!”

Fungal spores! A design of pathogens from the microscopic world!

Striking from the unseen, like a dagger piercing the heart in one’s sleep or a sword blade swiped across the neck, it isn’t until the moment one is affected, on the brink of death, that one realizes the danger!