Chapter 292 Three-Person Squad, Bizarre Rage

Adeline's quest was not difficult.

Her target was a special plant known as the "Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus."

It required no scheming against others, nor did it demand fighting monsters to the death.

As long as she harvested a certain amount of Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus and brought it back to the Adventurers' Association, her Advancement Quest would be a success. She would officially gain the right to ascend to the Association Second Floor as a Class Holder, granting her access to better resources and channels.

However, as an alternative primary ingredient for crafting the [Lesser Stoneskin Potion] and a useful stabilizer for several mid-to-high-tier spells, the Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus had rather harsh growing conditions.

Like most fungi, this unique mushroom—with its grayish-white, rock-like coloration and a fine, scaled grid texture on its surface—favored damp, dark environments.

But it also had one absolute requirement for growth.

—

The bodily fluids of a Petrification Lizard.

Be it saliva, blood, urine, or feces, as long as it involved the bodily fluids of those lazy, eight-legged lizards, the Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus had a chance to grow and multiply.

Furthermore, Petrification Lizards were commonly found in the Underdark and were highly typical cave-dwelling creatures.

It was easy to guess where the Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus was most frequently found.

Naturally, it was within the subterranean nests inhabited by Petrification Lizards.

Adeline had only recently become a Class Holder. Even with her moniker of "Greenblood" in Rivervale Town, she was still far from being able to trade blows with a monster of this level.

Fortunately, she was not alone on this Advancement Quest.

Perhaps considering the difficulty of acting alone, the Association had assigned her two temporary teammates as a mandatory condition for accepting the quest.

They were also Class Holders who had recently advanced, grouped into the same squad under the Adventurers' Association's arrangements to complete this second-floor quest together.

Of course, this was still a remote town on the kingdom's borderlands. No matter how concentrated the Adventurers were, the harsh requirements necessary to obtain a Class Level meant the number of Class Holders successfully advancing each year was not very high.

Gathering three Class Holders who had all just completed their advancement but had yet to earn the qualifications to enter the Association Second Floor in such a short time was already quite difficult.

As a result, their squad's role composition was naturally less than ideal.

Including Adeline, all three of them were "Warriors."

They only differed in their weapons and combat styles.

It seemed somewhat terrible at first glance, but in truth, it was not much of an issue.

Even if the squad's roles were perfectly distributed—forming a classic "warrior, mage, priest" trio—these three would still only be Level 1 Class Holders, absolutely no match for a Petrification Lizard.

This required them to avoid a head-on confrontation with the Petrification Lizard as much as possible, relying on clever tricks to obtain the Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus growing in its nest.

"How's the situation? Did this eight-legged lizard go straight to sleep as soon as it returned to its cave, just like the past few days?" Adeline asked her teammate in a barely audible whisper. Covered in grass clippings and dirt, she completely ignored her appearance, lying prone in the deep grass where she had a slightly open view of the lizard's nest entrance in the distance.

"Yeah, the beast seems to have found suitable prey today and had a huge feast. Its belly got stuck at the cave entrance, and it almost couldn't squeeze in. It's entered a dormant state now," responded a dark-skinned, slightly skinny man.

He seemed to have mastered some sort of Perception-based combat technique. At this moment, he was in a twisted posture—kneeling with his upper body pressed flat against the earth and his lower half slightly arched—keeping one cheek and ear completely glued to the ground to carefully investigate the stirrings deep within the cave.

They were all proper Class Holders who had fought their way up from the bottom. Their personalities might differ, but their professional competence on an adventure was by no means low.

After communicating, establishing a strict principle of avoiding combat, and locating the Petrification Lizard's nest, the three quickly formulated a detailed and thorough plan of action.

First, and naturally most importantly, they needed to figure out this Petrification Lizard's activity patterns.

When did it go out to hunt? How long did it leave each time? Did it have a fixed route?

Second, tasks including—but not limited to—determining whether the nest had extra entrances, conducting a detailed survey of the surrounding terrain, assessing the distribution and density of nearby vegetation, identifying blind spots for emergency hiding, and even mapping out escape routes for sudden crises...

Item by item, everything they could think of was brought up and addressed during their long wait and observation.

Under normal circumstances, if it were any other creature—or even just a slightly more normal Petrification Lizard—Adeline and the others should have been able to complete the quest smoothly.

But the frustrating part was that they ran into trouble with that eight-legged lizard in the distant underground nest the very moment they began observing its activity patterns.

There were absolutely no patterns to speak of!

Its origins in the Underdark hadn't fostered any habit of resting by day and emerging at night in this fat, bloated reptile.

All of its actions seemed solely driven by the need to fill its endlessly insatiable stomach.

The times it went out to hunt were erratic. It essentially ate whatever prey it caught right on the spot. If it wasn't full, it kept hunting; if it was full or simply too lazy to move anymore, it returned to the nest to sleep and rest.

Its resting times were equally unpredictable, depending purely on whether the food in its belly had finished digesting. Whenever it felt hungry, it would charge straight out of its nest into the woods to find something to eat.

Adeline had even seen it go out to hunt three consecutive times within a single five-hour span.

Its activities were irregularly scattered across random points throughout a twenty-four-hour period.

They had observed it for three whole days!

Yet they simply couldn't find a single safe window with enough margin for error to allow them to venture deep into the nest and gather the Gray-Paste Scaled Fungus.

"Maybe our squad can split one person off to secretly trail the Petrification Lizard when it goes out to hunt, while the remaining two take the opportunity to enter the nest and harvest the mushrooms," suggested the final member of the squad. He was a bald man with a face full of fierce flesh, significantly bulkier than Adeline. Despite his intimidating appearance, he offered this meticulous idea in a probing tone. "When the Petrification Lizard finishes hunting and shows intentions of returning, the tracker can hurry back ahead of it to warn us?"

Frowning slightly, Adeline pondered the thought for a moment before gently shaking her head. "There's too much uncertainty and barely any room for error. It would easily create unnecessary danger, and in practice, it'd be very hard to execute exactly as planned."

"First, although we prepared plenty of scent-masking spray and all bought [Petrification Resistance Potions] in advance, the person trailing the Petrification Lizard would be in absolute danger. The moment they are discovered... you know that thing's instantaneous explosive power. Escaping would require a fair bit of luck."

"Given that situation, who takes this role—who goes?"

Seeing the bald man beside her hesitate, as if wanting to volunteer for the position, Adeline waved her hand, signaling for him to let her finish.

"Second, if we do as you say—considering we already need to leave one person outside to keep watch before entering the nest to forage—splitting another person off to tail the Petrification Lizard means that only one person will actually go deep into the nest to harvest the fungus."

"We haven't even figured out the exact layout inside the cave. Going down alone... who knows if they might run into other dangers?"

"If they get trapped and can't get out, and the Petrification Lizard happens to return right then, wouldn't it be a dead end?"

There were clearly many more holes in the bald brute's proposed plan, but just the two points Adeline raised were enough to completely veto his suggestion.

In response, despite looking like a ferocious thug, the bald bruiser acted remarkably calm, accepting the rejection of his proposal with a natural expression.

After all, they were temporary teammates in the truest sense. The three shared common goals and interests, and their professional competence as Adventurers was quite solid.

Naturally, it was impossible for them to lose their tempers carelessly like so many ignorant fools.

"So we just keep waiting for now?" the bald man asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping toward the cave entrance before he subconsciously hurried to look away.

"Right," Adeline said, her expression stern and unsmiling. "We just wait."

"We're still a long way from the quest deadline anyway, and our supplies are sufficient. If we ration them, we have enough to stay in the woods for half a month. We have plenty of time to observe this eight-legged lizard's every move."

"Just be patient. We'll find an opportunity eventually."

The two quietly discussed their upcoming plans.

Suddenly, a low shout near their ears made their hearts tighten.

"Stay alert!" The skinny man, who had previously kept his ear pressed to the ground, instantly half-rose to his feet and warned the other two. "The reptile is coming out!"

"How is that possible? Didn't it just get back a little while ago? Plus, it looked like it ate quite a lot, so shouldn't it sleep for at least two hours?" A hint of surprise showed on the bald brute's face, yet his body had already tensed up the instant the other man spoke, completing his preparations to move.

Adeline's frown deepened. She trusted her temporary teammate's judgment, and at the same time, the Petrification Lizard's abnormal behavior was already stirring a faint sense of unease in her heart.

Making a prompt decision, she said, "Something isn't right. Let's retreat for now!"

Just as her voice fell, a high-pitched, bestial roar brimming with savagery and boundless Rage suddenly erupted from deep within the cave, making even the surrounding air seem to tremble slightly.

Dust fell mixed with gravel, permeating the air with an ominous dread. Two ghostly green, slit-like pupils abruptly flared into existence within the darkness, while deeper behind them lay a massive, bloated, terrifying silhouette.

Sharp claws tore through the shadows, slamming heavily onto the ground at the cave entrance. Pressed down by the heavy body above them, the stone-dulled blades of its claws instantly sank deep into the soil.

Its short, thick, muscle-knotted legs pushed off fiercely. Brown bone spikes resembling subterranean crystals jabbed outward, trailing from the crown of its skull all the way down its spine to the tip of its tail, revealing the blue-gray, scale-covered lizard head beneath them, seething with fury.

The Petrification Lizard's body was too fat and it charged too urgently, causing its swollen, massive belly to actually get stuck halfway through the cave entrance as it tried to squeeze out.

Its colossal frame was like an overly obese gopher; its four front legs wildly struggled and scraped at the mud and stone edges on both sides of the entrance.

It wasn't until the entire cave entrance nearly collapsed from its thrashing that this huge, fat, eight-legged lizard finally crawled out amidst the crushed stone and dust.

And upon that face lay a very human-like, unprecedented fury.

Unsure of what exactly had happened, Adeline and her two teammates had already been backing away for several seconds.

Clearly, in the Petrification Lizard's current state, let alone sneaking into its nest to steal things, merely bumping into it head-on would mean a fight to the death. They absolutely could not get close!

Right at that moment, as if faintly catching the scent of something, the rage on the Petrification Lizard's face visibly abated slightly, replaced by an unprecedented focus.

Its neck abruptly stretched straight out. As its head gently swept from side to side, its snake-like tongue flicked out slightly and its nostrils flared, as if sniffing for something.

Even separated by a considerable distance, well beyond the range of its Petrification Gaze, Adeline could see it very clearly.

The sweeping arc of the Petrification Lizard's head... was growing smaller and smaller.

As if it had gradually pinpointed the direction of the target it was tracking.

And their group was right within that vector.

Adeline suddenly felt a chill shoot straight from her tailbone to the top of her skull, cold sweat uncontrollably breaking out over her back.

While retreating rapidly, her focus sharpened, staring with near total concentration at its slowing head.

Until those cold, ghostly slit pupils—through the gaps in the shrubbery leaves—suddenly halted!

Eye contact!

"Buzz—"

Her heart felt as if an invisible palm was clutching it tightly. Her breathing froze at that instant, and the entire world seemed to plunge into an unspeakable, deathly silence.

Gasping like a drowning victim who had finally forced their head above water, Adeline sharply inhaled, and the sounds of the surrounding world instantly flooded back into her ears.

Without the slightest hesitation, and no longer bothering to conceal her volume.

Her near-shrieking voice exploded through the woods. "Drink your potions!"

"Prepare for battle!!!"

Seeing Adeline's abrupt reaction, the two teammates beside her looked quite surprised.

The situation was too rushed for them to properly react. In the next second, they watched her bite the stopper off the [Petrification Resistance Potion] she had kept at the ready and pour the entire bottle down her throat.

Simultaneously, a massive crash of splintering tree trunks echoed from not far ahead.

Only then did the two realize why Adeline had done that, and they hurried to chug their potions as well.

Truth be told, these two Class Holders couldn't really be considered slow. In fact, thanks to Adeline's warning, their reaction times were even faster than they normally would have been.

But even so, compared to this figure who had forged the moniker "Greenblood" among bottom-tier Adventurers early on, they were still a full one-and-a-half seconds too slow.

And it was exactly this one-and-a-half second discrepancy.

When that Petrification Lizard, propelled by its Rage, burst forth with exaggerated instantaneous speed and closed the distance between itself and the group enough to bring them into the effective range of its "Petrification Gaze."

The effects of Adeline's resistance potion had just fully kicked in, but the other two had only just finished drinking theirs, still clutching the empty bottles they hadn't even had time to throw away.

The bald brute's entire body stiffened for a split second before returning to normal.

But the skinny man's speed plummeted violently, a grayish-white hue surfacing across his arm joints, chest, and cheeks.

Roar—a bestial roar filled with endless Rage echoed endlessly through the depths of the dense forest.

Above the canopy, countless birds were startled into flight.