Chapter 60: Closing the Loophole

“This is unbearable.”

Wells trudged barefoot across the mycelial mat. It felt like stepping into gelatinous honey, with slick, living matter squeezing into every gap between his toes. When he lifted a foot, sticky strands stretched after it.

The others were in much the same state. All their shoes had worn through at Venom Lake.

“Why don’t we go back to the mushroom path? It doesn’t have all these hyphae.”

The captain cut off Wells’s complaint. “Show some grit. You’re an adventurer, aren’t you? We’ll reach the forest soon, and we can return to the path then.”

Wells clicked his tongue. The captain never missed a chance to belittle him these days. What a petty man.

He stamped hard on the mycelial mat ahead to vent his frustration.

“Damn it!”

A sharp stone fragment drove into the sole of his foot. Wells crouched at once, grimacing in pain.

“Are you all right? Let me see!”

Ginny hurried over at his cry and cradled his slime-covered foot in both hands without a hint of disgust.

“It’s nothing serious. Just a small wound. I can deal with it quickly.”

She pulled out the shard, then raised her staff and cast Potential Surge on him. The pain faded almost at once. His wound began closing, and even his energy returned.

“Thank you, Ginny.”

She answered with a smile.

The captain could bear no more of the display. “If you’re fine, then move. And try not to do anything as idiotic as injuring yourself on another rock.”

The mage at the rear was about to say something when several Puffcap silhouettes appeared in the distance.

“Another patrol.”

Roughly ten Puffcaps wandered across the hypha-covered ground. Nearly all were mutated varieties, sporting tentacles, Scale Armor, or cannon muzzles.

This was the third patrol they had encountered. Would there have been fewer if they had stayed on the mushroom path?

No one wanted to fight the Puffcaps. Even before the Monster Tide, adventurers had known that the Fifth Stratum’s Puffcaps were both powerful and devoid of useful drops. After fighting their way through a pack, all anyone could do was slice off a couple pieces of their unusually chewy flesh and roast them.