Above The Sky
Chapter 258 - 258 246 Indescribable Inheritance 23

258: Chapter 246: Indescribable Inheritance (2/3) 258: Chapter 246: Indescribable Inheritance (2/3) “No worries, it’s just simple synthesized sugar.

It needs to be catalyzed to become a hallucinogenic anesthetic, but we are just stirring it with water, so it’s purely nutritional.”

Ian himself had a Pure Rock Body and was naturally immune to common parasites and toxins, but he also had a Silver Chip.

He certainly knew the sugared water they were drinking was safe.

However, he did feel a bit sentimental, “The Giant Gold Mushroom actually doesn’t kill the host through symbiosis—it makes the host’s carapace harden and increases its strength.

The host gains more power, and the Giant Gold Mushroom can disperse its spores further.

Overall, it’s a win-win situation for both parties.”

“But as the symbiosis progresses over time and the fungus spreads within the body, the host inevitably becomes a half-fungus organism that dislikes moving.

Eventually, it simply buries itself, seeing itself as a huge Giant Gold Mushroom.”

This is a transformation, not mere parasitism, and there is a significant difference between the two.

The Fortress Tortoise was clearly in this state; it no longer thought of itself as a tortoise but as a moving mushroom.

If you had to explain it from this perspective, the Giant Gold Mushroom could indeed drive one mad.

Nevertheless, something seemed strange.

Ian could probably guess that the reason this cavern was cold yet filled with heat-loving metal-based lifeforms might be due to the cooling system of the relics.

When the relics malfunctioned in cooling, the original frigid environment would become a hot cavern suitable for their activities and survival, complete with a constant water source—a very precious settlement spot.

But why did all the Giant Gold Mushrooms confine themselves to this small cavern instead of spreading to the outside?

Soon enough, Ian found the answer.

—Of course, it’s because they aren’t strong enough and are suppressed here by other creatures!

As the Giant Gold Mushrooms and the soldiers of the Fiery Flame Land fought throughout the cavern, an unusual sweet fragrance began to spread.

Rustling noises came from the distant caverns and the underground river, followed by Ian’s Foresight View revealing drifts of blue fog from over a dozen Demon Beast Level creatures!

Among them were even some Parasitic Beasts infected by the Brain-Eating Parasite!

Seeing this, Ian almost gasped in shock.

He immediately signaled to the clueless Yisen to hasten his pace, and he too quickly changed directions, sprinting toward an area that did not lead to the underground rivers or lakes.

He understood completely now.

—When the relics cool abnormally, the Giant Gold Mushrooms come alive, and their aromatic sugared liquid attracts numerous nearby Magical Beast Alien Forms and even infected Parasitic Beasts!

The Brain-Eating Parasite might be terrifying, but it was at a disadvantage against the brainless Giant Fungus and the hosts controlled by the brainless Giant Fungus.

In this process, the Giant Gold Mushrooms would be eaten by the Magical Beasts, providing them with nourishment for reproduction and evolution—after all, even Ian had wanted to consume it over an extended period as it was a highly valuable nutritional substance specifically for Sublimators with earth attributes.

A portion of the Giant Gold Mushrooms would also obtain their own symbiotic creatures by using the intoxicating dense sugar mist, using the bodies left after battles as nutrients for the mushroom clusters’ development.

While the Parasitic Beasts were being eliminated by the symbiotic creatures and other Magical Beasts, they also infected some Magical Beasts and wild animals.

The resources of all three parties thus circulated amongst one another.

Every instance of abnormal cooling was a massive exchange of resources, a cycle of nutrition!

The anomaly of the relics had continued for many years, even becoming a periodic event in this underground ecological cycle…

forming an entire underground ecosystem.

And this time, the arrival of the soldiers from Fiery Flame Land had prematurely activated the activity of the fungus.

Although Yisen didn’t know what had happened, he too keenly perceived that there were more life signals around them—being somewhat of an Alchemy Genius himself, he quickly understood the crux of the problem, and like Ian, didn’t say a word but bolted.

But there were simply too many Magical Beasts streaming towards the Giant Fungus Cavern, and even Ian, with his Foresight View, couldn’t avoid them all.

Just as he was preparing to turn towards the upper cavern ahead, suddenly a blast of scorching, bloody wind rushed at them from diagonally above!

It was a Crimson Claw Cave Bear that had been parasitized for a long time, an animal capable of heating its metal claws and easily carving caves out of any rock face.

Ian had anticipated this; with a leap, he and Yisen shifted a large step to the side and back, avoiding the powerful claw slash that could have split steel armor.

“As I thought, sensing the more active thinking from Yisen and me, it gave up on the Giant Fungus to hunt us down, didn’t it?”

He already knew that the bear’s trajectory overlapped with theirs, but because a number of Magical Beasts had avoided them after noticing both the two men and their strength, Ian wanted to see if the Parasitic Beasts had a different behavioral pattern.

True enough, the Parasitic Beasts selected their targets based on the degree of mental activity, or rather, on the presence of ‘Spirit Energy’.

The cave bear had initially only shown intent towards them, without any real action, but upon sensing the fluctuations from Ian using his Foresight View, it immediately charged at him like a mad beast.

Not just that, faint, predetermined sounds came from behind, indicating that many of the Parasitic Beasts that had headed towards the Giant Fungus Cavern had now turned to pursue Ian and the others.

“No wonder the Parasitic Beasts attacked me before, what troublesome creatures in a troublesome place.”

Though he knew, Ian couldn’t possibly stop using Foresight View; at this moment, he could only break through.

The cave bear lunged again, this type of bear, in comparison to Terra’s kind, was not very tall, but still averaged about two and a half meters.

Its charge was powerful and heavy, enough to pin down both Ian and Yisen Gard together.

But to deal with it, Ian didn’t even need to make a move.

Yisen Gard pointed a finger at the lower half of the giant bear.

Even after being parasitized, Parasitic Beasts generally didn’t need that part of their body, but the appropriate nerve responses were still there; the parasite only replaced the brain and couldn’t fully control every nuance of the body’s movements.

Therefore, in an instant, under the erosive fire alchemy crafted by Yisen Gard, the cave bear let out an indescribable, terribly agonizing howl as it fell to the ground, while its lunge turned weak, sluggish, and was easily dodged by both men.

“It really works!” After committing such an unspeakable act of cruelty, Yisen Gard was actually very excited, his face flushed with exhilaration, and his eyes gleamed brightly: “Thank you, Ian, I didn’t expect attacking there to be so effective…”

“Learning combat skills from you was definitely the right move!”

“From me?”

At the remark, Ian felt puzzled—he hadn’t shown any particular preference for attacking the lower half, he had just targeted vulnerabilities according to ergonomics…

well, perhaps that was exactly why?

But no matter, with Master Gossay on his back, Ian really wasn’t suited to fighting, and Yisen Gard’s newfound understanding of combat techniques was a great boon for the team.