Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 718: Chapter 707: The Wonderful Outside World

On the streets of Bay Castle, busy figures were everywhere.

Soldiers were hauling crates of supplies out from the warehouses, stacking them in neat, categorized piles in the square.

"Move faster! We have to finish loading before dark!" The new commander stood on the steps, sending orders into every soldier’s mind through the Fungal Network.

A few fat shut-in Cow and Horse Puki sat in the middle of the square, their tentacles curling around crates of supplies and stuffing them into their spacious, bulging bellies.

After the former commander surrendered to Fungus Castle, he still tried to play the same old game of fawning up and bullying down. In the end, the blue-capped Puki from the Truth Ministry dragged him away in public as a textbook example, and only then did the current commander get his chance.

Full of enthusiasm to prove himself, the new commander hadn’t expected his first task in office to be an evacuation.

They were pulling out of Cold Bay Castle.

Due to the rampage of Giant Dragons, Marshal Louisa had already issued evacuation orders for multiple northern cities.

The soldiers and Fungus People were to be concentrated into a few, more solid fortress-cities to live, in preparation for Giant Dragon attacks that could happen at any time.

It went without saying that, for a while, people would be jammed together and life wouldn’t be comfortable, but it still beat getting casually roasted to death by a Giant Dragon’s breath.

Rumor had it that a city and a town had already suffered dragon calamities, with disastrous losses.

No one wanted to end up like them.

Thud—

A crate of supplies suddenly slipped from a soldier’s arms and crashed to the ground, but at that moment, no one paid any attention.

The vast majority of soldiers felt a terrible pressure bearing down on them; their bodies trembled uncontrollably. Even the new commander was no exception. Only the Puki seemed unaffected, still loading supplies as ordered.

Up in the sky, a dark green dragon shadow soared past. Everyone stared up at it in terror, afraid it would suddenly attack Cold Bay Castle.

Fortunately, that Green Dragon merely flew over and didn’t stop for even a moment.

Only after the Dragon Mighty faded did the soldiers collapse to their knees in exhaustion, and the Fungal Network filled with a cacophony of post-disaster griping.

"Done yet? Quiet!" Using his authority, the new commander forcibly pressed down the noise with his own will. "You’re scared now, aren’t you? Then move it and finish packing! If another one shows up, we might not be this lucky!"

Under his barking orders, the evacuation proceeded even faster.

...

Watching the bugs below shiver under the pressure of his Dragon Mighty, Woodworm felt thoroughly pleased.

This was much more entertaining than scaring those stupid Dragon Beasts with his Dragon Mighty.

Dragon Cliff was Paradise for them Giant Dragons, but also a prison!

The only things they could hunt were Dragon Beasts, and their only servants were those Kobolds. Because of limited territory, each Giant Dragon couldn’t even have that many.

Day after day, it was just eating Dragon Beasts, fighting other dragons, and occasionally grabbing one or two Demon Race Adventurers who ventured into Dragon Cliff to play with—hardly any variation at all.

It was technically a comfortable life, but when it’s the same for hundreds of years, anyone would get bored.

Outside was nothing like that: a vast world, races of every kind, everything new and fascinating.

So he completely understood those of his kin who, the moment they got out, couldn’t restrain their urge to destroy and rampaged everywhere. They’d just been pent up too long.

Of course, understanding was one thing; Woodworm wasn’t stupid enough to waste his Physical Strength and dragon breath on irrelevant bugs at a crucial node of the Dragon Struggle.

The reason the shrewd Woodworm appeared in the North was that he was scouting prey—other Giant Dragons.

Woodworm knew perfectly well that his own strength wasn’t high among the Giant Dragons; he was only mid-tier.

If he wanted to gain an edge in this competition, he had to pick off the weaker ones and push his progress along the Ancient Dragon Path, gaining greater Power as early as possible so he could counter-kill those stronger than him.

Right now, he had two targets.

There had been two dragons in this area, but one had disappeared; the outcome of their battle must have been decided.

The winner would indeed gain greater Power, but their wounds wouldn’t heal immediately.

Woodworm wanted to see if there was a chance to pick up the leftovers.

The other target lay further north.

The truly powerful dragons were currently busy hunting everywhere to gain more Power. Only the weakest, dumbest ones would pointlessly curl up in some corner waiting to die.

Woodworm naturally wouldn’t let such soft targets slip by.

As he flew, Woodworm’s dragon eyes suddenly caught sight of a few Puki wandering about on the ice field.

He’d been flying nonstop for quite a while and was indeed a bit hungry, so he came down from the sky.

Rolling two dumb Puki into his mouth, savoring the Deliciousness and Magic Power overflowing across his palate, Woodworm couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

The first time he tasted these Delicious Puki, he’d actually twisted himself into a knot on the ground.

Compared to these Puki, packed with Magic Power, crisp and tender and incredibly Delicious, the Dragon Beasts he’d eaten before were either sour and astringent or tough and hard to chew, their flavor utterly unable to compete!

See? The outside world really was better!

The only pity was that Puki were too small—not quite enough for him.

There were plenty of Puki in the cities, but that would trigger unnecessary battles. Woodworm wasn’t about to throw his plans out of whack for a bit of gluttony.

His luck was pretty good today; these wild Puki were more numerous than any he’d found before.

After encountering the dragon, the Puki all ran in the same direction, but their legs were too short and they couldn’t run fast.

Woodworm followed behind them at an easy pace, strolling along and eating the Puki one by one.

Without even noticing, he came to a Mushroom Forest.

The surviving Puki fled into the center of the Mushroom Forest, and Woodworm was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually a Puki nest, with even more Puki!

He could really gorge himself today!

But just as he was about to start eating, he noticed the Puki’s behavior was a bit strange.

They were all huddled together, trembling, in the clearing at the center of the Mushroom Forest, yet they’d left a small patch of ground empty in the very middle.

Woodworm took a closer look, and only then did he see that in the middle of that empty patch stood a single, tiny Green Mushroom.

When he used Magic Perception, he immediately discovered that the Green Mushroom contained shockingly dense Magic Power that made his jaw drop.

Gulp—

He couldn’t stop the drool from spilling out.

Woodworm wasn’t afraid of poisonous food. Giant Dragons had extremely high resistances, and with their powerful bodies, ordinary natural toxins couldn’t do a thing to them.

Besides, Woodworm was a Green Dragon that spewed highly toxic dragon breath; of course he wasn’t afraid of being poisoned.

So without much hesitation, he eagerly swallowed that Green Mushroom, along with the surrounding mycelium and mud.

White dense mist surged out from beneath his scales, and in a blissful daze, Woodworm found himself back at a certain afternoon in Dragon Cliff Castle.

He roared as he defeated another Giant Dragon who had never gotten along with him.

Woodworm tore his enemy’s wing to shreds, his poisonous breath blinding the other dragon’s eyes, and the other Giant Dragons watching all joined Woodworm in mocking the loser on the ground.

Woodworm even cracked a vicious joke, saying that the crippled opponent no longer deserved a name and should be called Svirgis from now on.

As he laughed heartily, a Puki enthusiastically placed around Woodworm a victory sash.

One, two, three...

Wait, Puki? A sash?

Woodworm snapped awake. Those things on him weren’t sashes at all, but outrageously thick mycelium tentacles!

Horrified, he realized that a giant Puki with an exceptional number of tentacles was slowly stuffing his tightly trussed-up body into its belly!

He was going to be... eaten by a Puki...