Chapter 675 Spreading Mycelium and Terrifying Roars

"Hah... Hah..."

Rapid, suppressed breathing echoed faintly between the stone walls.

Three figures of varying builds carefully inched their way down the dimly lit tunnel.

The two figures at the front and back of the formation appeared to have avoided severe injury, at least retaining their normal mobility.

But the one sandwiched between them limped. Whenever the terrain grew too rugged, he had to brace himself against the stone wall, his body swaying unsteadily.

As a Half-Drow, Ye Xi possessed excellent darkvision inherited from her bloodline, along with an instinctual adaptability to the harsh environment of the Underdark. She currently led the way at the front of the group.

Her crystalline eyes, faintly reflecting the glow of the luminous moss on either side, focused intently on the path ahead, guarding against any dangers lurking in the deep darkness.

Ye Xi earnestly fulfilled her duties in this temporary three-person squad.

Occasionally, however, when she heard the scrape of metal against the ground and the muffled thud of a hand bracing against the wall behind her, she couldn't help but glance back, turning her attention to her "new teammate."

Honestly, Ye Xi had not paid much attention to this middle-aged man named "Ake" at first. Even though he claimed to be from the Imperial Capital, she only half-believed him despite her outward display of curiosity. She figured he was just another unlucky adventurer captured by the goblins, exactly like her.

Her initial attempts at conversation lacked any clear motive; she just instinctively wanted to fish for information.

To her surprise, his attitude was exceptionally resolute. Even though his injuries were far more severe than theirs, he displayed a much stronger will to survive.

He had barely woken from a critical coma before he began plotting an escape plan, beating both her and Benny to it.

And as for how he carried it out...

Thinking of this, Ye Xi took the opportunity while rounding a corner to glance behind her.

Her gaze swept over Ake's lower body.

Just above his right ankle, the leg had been crudely severed. The foot that should have been there was gone.

Since the goblins had confiscated their medical supplies, pouches, and shields, Ake had been forced to tear his relatively clean shirt into strips to hastily bandage the stump. Blood had already dyed the rags a seeping dark red.

To minimize the impact on his mobility, he had salvaged the Half-Drow's mangled metal armor from their earlier battle. Wrenching off a relatively intact shard of metal, he used his sheer strength to bend it like a bottle cap and embedded his ruined stump into it so the wound wouldn't directly touch the ground.

Just twenty minutes ago, Ye Xi had watched with her own eyes as Ake used a roughly sharpened stone to hack and sever his own chained right leg, strike after strike.

Even now, she could clearly recall the gruesome sound of stone grinding against flesh and bone, and the blood and gore splattering across the cave.

'Wasn't that a little too ruthless?'

With her wealth of adventuring experience, Ye Xi sensed that the man harbored some intense attachment, driving him to such extremes.

If she were in his shoes, she might have made the same choice after agonizing deliberation, but never with such absolute decisiveness.

"What's wrong? Is there something up ahead?"

Noticing the Half-Drow's gaze, Ake lowered his voice, mistaking her stare for a warning.

"No." Ye Xi shook her head. "I just wanted to make sure you could still hold on."

"If it's too much, we can find a hidden alcove nearby and rest for a bit."

"No need," Ake replied with resolute finality the moment she finished speaking.

The young master was currently missing. Every second delayed in the Underdark increased the danger to Zanfrey. Ake couldn't afford to waste a single moment.

Having practically watched the boy grow up, his relationship with Zanfrey had long surpassed the traditional dynamic of "guard and young master". Over the years, loyalty and affection had blended into something akin to family.

As long as he still had breath in his lungs, Ake absolutely refused to let the boy suffer the horrific fates he didn't dare imagine.

Because of this, after briefly assessing their situation, he had decisively severed his own limb to break free from the mycelium chains, regaining the combat capabilities a level 3 Class Holder should possess, even in a critically injured state.

Normally, given his understanding of the moral standards of adventurers on this continent, he wouldn't have trusted the two people walking ahead and behind him.

But he had to admit that he was unfamiliar with this environment and lacked a clear understanding of the enemies they might face. He only knew from their accounts that the enemy was exceptionally strong—so strong that two Class Holders of equal or perhaps even higher level than himself were left entirely powerless to fight back.

An unfamiliar environment, powerful enemies, and those bizarre mutant goblins—facing all this, he needed teammates.

Otherwise, relying entirely on himself, he would struggle just to escape the Underdark, let alone find Zanfrey.

For this reason, after freeing himself and regaining his strength, Ake had helped the other two break out of their chains.

Fortunately, these two adventurers, who claimed to be from the "Shadow Raven" squad, hadn't just abandoned him after being unshackled. Instead, showing a decent baseline of morals, they fulfilled their prior promise and formed a temporary squad with him to find a way out.

Admittedly, even veteran adventurers like Ye Xi and Benny were deeply impressed by Ake's sheer ruthlessness. Barring any exceptional circumstances, they were willing to grant him a fair amount of respect.

"Alright, let's keep moving."

She instinctively glanced at Ake's severed leg again, but seeing his firm resolve, she didn't push the issue.

"I remember it being this way, and then past two more corners..."

Unlike Ake, who had been brought in unconscious, the two members of the "Shadow Raven" squad had remained conscious when the goblins captured them, despite their own severe injuries.

Furthermore, these mutant goblins seemed to lack any escorting experience. They had carried out their task of transporting the adventurers like machines, failing to blindfold the pair and allowing them to observe the entire route inside.

Even though Ye Xi had previously acted as if she had given up and was waiting to die, her instincts as a veteran adventurer had still driven the Half-Drow to instinctively memorize their incoming path. She had even noted a few small crevices in the stone walls for hiding. It was more than enough to guide them now.

"Aside from those goblins, what else is out there?"

He limped through the dark, narrow tunnel, leaning against the wall.

Massive blood loss had left Ake pale, and the intense agony shooting up from his stump coated his forehead in cold sweat. Still, he kept his voice relatively steady as he questioned his two companions.

When they had touched on the topic earlier, the duo claimed they had ended up in this state after a goblin ambush.

But based on Ake's own observations, while the bizarre green-skinned goblins that had delivered their food were indeed far more muscular than surface goblins, they still didn't look capable of inflicting such heavy injuries on two professional-grade veteran adventurers.

Moreover, the Underdark was restricted by cramped, narrow tunnels. In such a tight environment, as long as the adventurers wanted to retreat, it would be extremely difficult for the monsters to mount a sustained siege based purely on a numbers advantage.

Ake had actually pressed them on this earlier, but whenever he brought it up, both Benny and Ye Xi stammered and dodged the subject, as if the memory was too painful to bear.

Now that they were free from their chains, Ake brought it up again. "Can you tell me clearly now? What exactly did you run into?"

The already quiet squad fell into sudden silence.

After a long moment, two distinct voices spoke at the exact same time from the front and the rear of the formation, overlapping as they reached Ake's ears.

"Goblins—"

"Serpentmen."

"Careful, it might be a Hook Horror!"

A tapping sound echoing from the depths of the tunnel ahead instantly put Langda, the gnome Rogue, on high alert.

He had already briefed the group on this monster's habits. Because it relied on echolocation like a bat, it often used its hook-like claws to tap the stone walls to create echoes. Whenever adventurers in the Underdark heard rhythmic sounds resembling hard objects striking stone, it almost guaranteed one of these creatures was nearby.

Langda the Rogue and the two young men immediately braced themselves as if facing a deadly threat.

In contrast, Xia Nan and the Winter Wolf Fanny did not appear nearly as tense.

Their differing reactions stood in stark contrast to how they had behaved when facing the goblins earlier.

From Xia Nan's perspective, the bizarre mycelium on those goblins clearly had a deep, inextricable connection to the Swamp Druids that Forgan the Barbarian was tracking. It was impossible to overstate that threat.

On the other hand, while a Hook Horror's level 3 Challenge Rating was by no means low, an opponent of that caliber simply wasn't much of a threat to Xia Nan at his current level of strength.

To be blunt, Fanny could probably handle a monster of that tier on her own, without Xia Nan even needing to lift a finger.

Of course, despite his confidence, the Hook Horror's timing was entirely too coincidental. Arriving right on the heels of the goblins inevitably sparked some suspicion in his mind.

Thinking deeper, the Hook Horror's sounds were coming from the exact direction the dead goblins had charged from. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for these two monsters to coexist; meeting in the wild meant fighting to the death. Yet here, there was no sign of a struggle.

It naturally reminded Xia Nan of the nest of Phase Spiders they had encountered in the Goblin Lair before entering the Underdark.

He shot a glance at Fanny by his feet, signaling her to stay focused and not underestimate the enemy.

Readying himself for battle, he followed the gnome Rogue at the front, inching forward through the pitch-black tunnel.

There was only one path to the exit. If they wanted to leave the Underdark, fighting the Hook Horror seemed inevitable.

The group had already formulated a plan for this exact scenario.

Although they appeared to be muffling their footsteps as they advanced, everyone in the squad knew that moving like this couldn't bypass the monster's Perception.

They were only doing it to feign ignorance, playing the role of "prey" to lower the Hook Horror's guard before delivering a heavy blow once it drew near.

Strangely, however, even though their deliberately suppressed footsteps were still distinctly audible, the tapping against the stone in the distance showed no sign of approaching. It was as if the creature had zero interest in Xia Nan and his group.

This was clearly abnormal.

Given the Hook Horror's brutal nature and intense territorial instincts, even a fully satiated creature with no desire to hunt wouldn't ignore such a blatant intrusion. At the very least, it would approach to investigate.

It shouldn't be completely indifferent like this.

This undoubtedly caught the adventurer squad off guard, leaving them waiting in suspense after having mentally prepared for battle and set up an ambush.

But with the exit lying dead ahead, they had no better option. No matter what, they could only brace themselves and press on.

"Something's wrong—something is definitely wrong!"

A Hook Horror's nest structure was relatively simple. They were generally built around water sources or dense fungal patches. The former provided ample hydration, while the latter offered enough nutrients to sustain them during periods of food scarcity.

As Xia Nan's group drew closer, the surrounding terrain shifted exactly toward the latter.

However—the mycelium creeping across the ground was not the dark brown or luminous green common to the Underdark. Instead, it was the exact same dark purple they had found on the skin of those bizarre goblins! The sight made Xia Nan's chest tighten and caused the Winter Wolf Fanny to instinctively lower her body into a defensive crouch, emanating an inexplicable, crushing pressure.

'Shouldn't this be a Hook Horror's nest? Why—'

Xia Nan's mind raced as he considered the possibilities.

At that exact moment, the gnome Rogue Langda—leading the way at the very front of the squad—stepped squarely onto the dark purple fungal carpet creeping across the floor.

"Clack—bang!"

It was as if an invisible trap had been triggered. The rhythmic, crisp clicking of hook-like claws striking the stone walls abruptly stopped.

In its place came a tremendously loud crash—the heavy sound of a solid object slamming into the ground.

Then came a terrifying roar. It was an overlapping, deafening cacophony unleashed simultaneously by no fewer than fifty goblins. They had been completely silent a moment before, but this sudden outburst made the massive tunnel vibrate like an earthquake.

"Skreeee!!!"