Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 737: Chapter 724: Realization

Mulin Castle, underground laboratory.

The voice of a guard came from outside the door: "Lord Demon King, Duke Sigmund has arrived."

"Lead him to my study, I will head over a bit later."

After speaking, the Demon King refocused his attention on the specimen in front of him, whose entire body was parasitized by mycelium.

In the underground room, there were hosts of different races, even the Parasitic Tree, the source of the Fusion Parasite skill.

A few hours later.

Seeing the mycelium cleared from the specimen’s body grow back after being supplemented with a little magic power, the Demon King sighed, "This won’t work either."

He then remembered that Sigmund was still waiting for him in the study and hurriedly left the basement.

"Hope he doesn’t misunderstand it as me trying to intimidate him."

Among the remaining dukes and princes in the Empire, the Demon King held a rather favorable opinion of Sigmund.

Although he was ambitious and unscrupulous in achieving his goals, he was at least capable and fairly intelligent.

Such a person could be regarded as a valuable assistant as long as his power did not exceed control.

The only thing that puzzled the Demon King was that Sigmund seemed to be deliberately hiding his appearance.

Before today’s meeting, the Demon King had already held two conferences through the set of image crystals.

Everyone else’s crystal displayed their silhouette.

Only Sigmund’s crystal was always completely dark, concealing all already scarce image information.

Considering the Empire’s intelligence department’s information about Sigmund secretly recruiting evil mages, the Demon King suspected that Sigmund might have undergone some physical changes due to too much exposure to Abyss magic.

If that were indeed the case, he would have to consider reassigning Sigmund away from High Castle Fortress.

Leaving such an important fortress, which could be advanced or retreated, in the hands of an unstable element obsessed with Abyss magic, who could unpredictably cause commotion, was certainly not a wise move.

With such concerns, the Demon King pushed open the study door and immediately saw the blob standing in front of his desk.

In the silent moment from the Demon King, the blob barely managed a noble courtesy.

"Ahem," confirming through the panel that the blob was called Sigmund, "No need to be formal, sit..."

Upon entering, seeing Sigmund already standing, and the chair behind him appearing much smaller compared to the blob, the Demon King’s fingertip glowed green, and the study floor twisted to grow a chair large enough to accommodate the Duke — even bigger than the one the Demon King sat on.

Only then did the Demon King extend his hand again: "Please, sit."

Looking at Sigmund, the Demon King realized that he wasn’t deliberately hiding his appearance during the Crystal Council; it was simply that the crystal was too small to display his full figure.

As for his earlier concerns about Abyss magic, after silently examining Sigmund’s panel, the Demon King found that although Sigmund was indeed affected by Abyss magic, it was not severe.

At least not to the point where it was necessary to replace the controller of High Castle Fortress.

This was why the Demon King insisted on meeting each of his new subordinates in person; the panel provided more information than any investigation.

Just like this time, merely meeting without having discussed anything yet, he had already resolved his previous doubts and... discovered the real problem.

Status: Spiritual Adhesion

This status indicated that the spiritual power was contaminated by something, making it no longer pure or singular.

It might be impurities from the Abyss, or maybe...

The Demon King, his expression unchanged, discussed with Sigmund the matters of strengthening forces in the Empire’s south, requiring his to make early preparations.

...

"Look at this disgusting slime, even a blob can be called a Demon King? Mortis looks more pleasant to the eye!"

Sigmund ignored the roommate in his mind, constantly mocking the Demon King since they met, trying not to let the Demon King notice anything unusual.

Sigmund was a little nervous now, not only because he was meeting the legendary Demon King but also because of his current status — and it wasn’t about his body size.

The roommate’s soul was almost gone.

At first, he speculated that, in the ungrounded state of a foreign soul, even if the roommate’s soul was extraordinarily large, it should dissipate after two and a half years.

Now, after two and a half years, the roommate was still holding on.

Although there was a deviation in the calculations, the fact remains that the roommate’s soul is constantly diminishing.

Now the roommate’s soul was still huge, but compared to before, it was like a goblin looking at a troll, rather than the staggering difference of a mountain at first sight.

For Sigmund, the most difficult days were over. Now, even if the roommate wanted to forcibly use his body, Sigmund, with his own support, could barely resist somewhat.

But precisely because of this, Sigmund was all the more likely to go along with some of the roommate’s actions.

No need to risk confrontation; just wait a little longer, one or two more months, and this roommate of his would naturally disperse.

Therefore, even though his roommate never reminded him, he still tried to hide it as much as he could, not wanting the Demon King to see through.

Sigmund didn’t know how the Demon King would treat him if he found out, and he didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.

So far, everything went smoothly, except for the roommate’s inexplicable extreme malice toward the Demon King.

At the end of the conversation, the Demon King smiled and said, "By the way, there’s something here that might help you."

Sigmund asked in confusion, "Help me?"

"Follow me."

Led by the Demon King, Sigmund walked into the basement of Mulin Castle.

This underground space obviously existed for a long time, with complex internal pathways and many partitions, most of which were guarded.

Entering a room seemingly similar to other rooms, the Demon King closed the door and slowly activated the runes in the room under Sigmund’s gaze.

Textures spread throughout the room, and the next moment, Sigmund felt as if he was struck heavily, his body almost losing control, nearly collapsing to the ground.

At the same time, his roommate’s scream echoed in his mind, "Sly little slime..."

The voice abruptly stopped.

The amulet at Sigmund’s waist lit up automatically, applying the Awakening Technique on him, helping him recover from the daze.

As soon as he regained consciousness, he stabbed his palm, and a lot of blood was drawn out, manifesting into Blood Martial.

Even though the opponent was the Demon King, even knowing he had almost no chance of winning, Sigmund would never sit and wait to die!

A pseudopod of slime reached out from under the Demon King’s robe, entwining Sigmund’s wrist, interrupting his halfway-cast Blood Manipulation.

However, the Demon King did not make any further aggressive moves, instead comforting him, "Don’t be nervous, as I said, this should help you. Carefully feel, aren’t the impurities in your spirit already being blocked?"

"Impuri...ties?" Looking at the Demon King, Sigmund realized that he could no longer hear his roommate’s drivel.

"Sigmund, now, can you tell me what your spiritual problem really is?"