The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 127: Moving Forward

After struggling for a few minutes, the corpse of the dissolving centipede finally stopped moving and ceased writhing.

"Ah, it's stopped."

"But I wonder if it will ever come back to life..."

Yanami stopped mid-sentence and looked at the Shadow Wolf lying on the ground beside her.

"Give it a try."

Yanami made the Shadow Wolf regenerate a clone, and then sent the clone near the corpse of the Dissolving Centipede.

The Shadow Wolf controlled its clone, first having the clone pat the centipede's corpse with its claws, then taking a bite, but the centipede didn't react much.

"It probably really won't move anymore, but let's wait a little longer."

"it is good."

The waiting time didn't stop either; the shadow wolf's clone kept fiddling with the centipede's corpse, but it seemed to have no reaction at all.

"Speaking of which, even though this one is dead, are there any other centipedes or monsters in the sand?"

Yanami sat on the ground with them and waited, chatting casually.

"Hmm... I don't think so."

Hyacinth thought for a moment, then explained to Yanami.

"The melting centipedes are not social monsters, and they will attack anything that makes a loud noise, so there are generally no other monsters in their territory."

"I see, then we should be able to get through safely."

After waiting for five minutes and confirming that the body was no longer moving, the three of them decided to approach the body to examine it.

"I...I'm not going."

Daisy still seemed a little scared, so she stayed where she was, guarding the Rockbreaker.

Walking on the sand, the sand beneath her feet seemed to wriggle, and worms seemed to roll around everywhere. Yanami felt a sense of wonder.

Walking up to the centipede carcass, Yanami reached out to tap its black shell, but Hyacinth stopped her with a hand outstretched.

"Don't touch it directly, its bodily fluids are dangerous."

"Okay, sure."

Yanami nodded and tapped it with her wand instead.

Ding ding.

"It's so hard, it feels like steel."

"Its body is full of strong acid, it's not easy to deal with... What should we do with it, Yanami?"

"Uh... I don't know, but I feel like its materials should be very useful."

"That's right, then..."

Hyacinth turned around and looked at the daisies who were watching them with some curiosity.

"Daisy, is there any space in the car left to fit this centipede?"

"Huh? Let me see."

Daisy quickly climbed into the car to take a look, and after a while, she poked her head out again.

"Yes, it should be possible."

"Alright, let's load it onto the carriage and transport it to Yanami's base, then deal with it there. Is that alright?"

After Hyacinth finished speaking, she looked at Yanami with an expression that seemed to be seeking her opinion.

"Well, I have no objection."

("Klein, how are you?")

("sure.")

"But it looks quite heavy... It'll be a bit of a hassle to move it."

They only realized how heavy the centipede's corpse was after actually moving it. The three of them alone could not possibly move it. Even with the magic that enhanced their bodies, they could barely move it, but it was only a barely manageable effort.

Finally, thanks to Klein's ability to grow a bunch of vines and use sand manipulation magic to pile up the body, they were able to lift it onto the carriage.

"It's so heavy, can we move it?"

Although the carriage looked stable and didn't seem about to fall apart, the wheels sank a little on the sand, and it was uncertain whether it could move forward.

"No problem, rock-breaking rats are incredibly strong; after all, their claws are used to move rocks."

"Oh, I see."

However, looking at it this way, although the Rock-Breaking Rat is not as long as the Centipede, it is still a large piece, and may even be heavier than the Dissolving Centipede.

Although it was a bit difficult, the Rock Smash managed to get moving and managed to pull the carriage out of the sand with considerable effort.

"Phew... finally out."

Hyacinth breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and the three of them pushed the carriage from behind, putting in a lot of effort.

"Alright, we can move on now."

"Don't you want those worms?"

"Huh? What do you need worms for?"

Hyacinth looked at Yanami with some confusion, wondering what she was thinking.

"I'm thinking they might have some use, and they'll almost always contain magic cores, right? Wouldn't we be rich with so many?"

"Ah~ I do have one, but the magic core is only about the size of a bean. It's not really that useful. If you want to try it, you can give it a shot, but I'm not sure if it'll taste good."

"Yes, you can eat it. I'd like to try it."

"W-Do you want some?!"

Daisy, who loves plush animals, seems to have a strong aversion to these worms. When she hears that Yanami wants to eat them, her face is filled with shock and disgust.

Yanami really wanted to give it a try.

"Would you like to try Daisy too?"

Yanami looked at the hyacinth, narrowed her eyes, and grinned mischievously. Klein also cooperated by using the vines to grab a few worms from the sand and throwing them on the ground.

"I...I don't need it..."

"Ah, the daisy is probably shy. It probably really wants to eat it, right?"

Hyacinth immediately understood Yanami's meaning and joined in bullying Daisy.

"I...I don't want to eat it! You stupid hyacinth!"

No, you must eat it.

"Why...why do I have to eat that kind of thing?!"

"That's your punishment for getting completely drunk last night and then having to take care of you."

"You, you devil!"

After teasing the daisies together, Yanami put the worm away, intending to actually return to the plantation and try tasting it.

"So we really have to eat it..."

"Because I'm really curious."

"I...I won't eat it!"

After packing their things, the three continued on their way. The unexpected swarm of worms and the melting centipedes wasted about an hour of their time, but they also gave the rock-crushing rats a chance to rest.

The rest of the journey was relatively smooth with no major problems. The rock-crushing rats diligently dragged their luggage, and even the addition of a heavy melting centipede did not stop them.

Soon, the three arrived at a location familiar to Yanami.

"Ah, it's a mushroom."

"Cute, adorable mushrooms."

"Sigh~ It looks just like that walking mushroom."

They arrived at the place where Yanami and Klein had caught the Walking Mushroom, and the clump of mushrooms was still there.

"This is where I caught the Walking Mushroom, but there was only one. Of course, it suddenly jumped up and startled me."

"Huh? These must be walking mushrooms too, right?"

"No, these mushrooms aren't moving."

"But they look just like walking mushrooms... ah... maybe it's because they're not ripe yet."

Hyacinth was initially puzzled, but then seemed to suddenly realize something, as if she had learned something.

"Not ripe yet?"

"You picked the biggest mushroom, didn't you?"

"It seems...so?"

My memory is a bit hazy, but it should be the biggest one.

"Walking mushrooms do not walk before their spores mature, because they walk in order to spread their spores in windless caves. So they only start walking after they mature."

Also, mature walking mushrooms are more likely to attract predators, so they will try to escape.

"So, these are all walking mushrooms?!"

"That should be right, but they're probably not ripe yet. No... a day has passed, maybe some of them are ripe by now."

"Hyacinth knows so much."

"These are common sense facts, Daisy knows them too. As guerrilla fighters, we often have to go out on missions, so this kind of knowledge is essential."

"Yes, yes, although we're not officially teammates yet."

Daisy nodded, unconsciously puffing out her chest, but then lowered her head shyly, looking both proud and bashful.