I Am Not Goblin Slayer
Chapter 83: Mushroom Monster Room

In Lawrence’s understanding, spellcasters, especially at the apprentice stage, need to avoid charging into battle and maintain at least twenty feet of distance from enemies.  

As for close-quarters combat, that grueling task falls to the warriors.  

Spellcasters only need to control the battlefield and provide buffs for the team. If they master some ranged attack techniques, they can use them under the protection of their teammates when appropriate.  

Although he was reluctant to admit it, deep down he knew that just learning cantrips made it very difficult for apprentice spellcasters to match warriors’ frontline combat abilities.  

Damage from swords, bows, and crossbows was more direct and wasn’t limited by mana reserves.  

Why don’t apprentice spellcasters learn close combat weapons? On one hand, a person’s energy is limited; on the other hand, they lack sufficient physical strength to support it. Even if they mastered melee weapons, they wouldn’t perform well.  

It would distract them too much, hindering their magic training and even causing difficulties focusing.  

Lawrence shook his head.  

He had never encountered such a unique spellcaster apprentice like Gauss.  

You could say he was negligent in his main duties, yet his magic practice was even better than Lawrence’s.  

After killing five skeletons, a brief rumbling sound came from deep within the dungeon.  

It was as if the entire dungeon had been awakened by their arrival.  

The group huddled together cautiously, wary of their surroundings.  

After the rumbling passed, a long time went by without any new enemies appearing.  

They stayed alert for a while, and seeing nothing unexpected, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and spread out.  

In the entrance hall, aside from the five skeletons, there were no other enemies, but there were some trap-triggering mechanisms.  

Considering they might go back and forth multiple times, to avoid accidentally triggering traps, rogue apprentice Edith decided to use tools to disarm the mechanisms and traps.  

Gauss and the others stood in front of three different passageways, peering inside.  

The three entrances were straight ahead and on both sides, stretching straight into the distant depths.  

“Let’s explore the left side first. I feel the structure inside shouldn’t be much different,” Lawrence suggested.  

As the initiator of this dungeon exploration, he had considerable influence in the team.  

Besides, their group was one of the strongest among low-tier adventurers, so naturally, they had ambitions to explore the entire micro-dungeon.  

So no matter which route they chose, it was just a matter of order.  

“Agreed,” Sork nodded lazily, unwilling to think much.  

His thoughts were usually simple: where to go, who to kill, and how to run if he couldn’t win.  

Especially when part of a team, he would leave the heavy thinking to his teammates.  

Gauss had no objections either.  

I scanned the surroundings. Inside the dungeon, being far from the surface, the air was oppressively hot and humid. Without the illumination from my Light Cantrip, it would be pitch black in the cramped, low-ceilinged space.  

The dark brown rocky walls, nearly a hundred in shade, were crisscrossed with grooves. Occasionally, large water droplets fell from cracks in the rock, hitting the floor with hollow “tap... tap... tap...” sounds, like a countdown urging them onward.  

Listening for a long time gave a strange, inexplicable irritation and unease.  

Thankfully, the Light Cantrip was bright enough; otherwise, even with torches or other light sources, the darkness would amplify the oppressive atmosphere, possibly causing psychological issues.  

This was not scaremongering. Exploring dozens of meters underground, away from the open surface, brought a tide-like pressure seeping from all sides that only those there could truly feel.  

After a while,  

Rogue apprentice Edith finished disarming the traps.  

The team continued in formation, heading toward the designated left passage.  

“Be careful!”  

The corridor was just wide enough for two to walk side by side. The air inside was even more putrid. The team members kept clearing their throats as they walked.  

The walls on both sides were covered with strange, long-faded runes and totems. The lines were chaotic and fragmented. Even without understanding their meaning, one could feel the madness and unease embedded within.  

Several who couldn’t resist looking felt their heads grow dizzy, their bodies shuddering involuntarily. A chill wind seemed to sweep through the silent corridor, filling them with dread.  

“Don’t look too much. There’s something wrong with these walls.”  

Gauss warned quickly.  

He reacted fast, pulling back his gaze as soon as he sensed the malice hidden in the runes.  

The others, heeding Gauss’s warning, dared not look at the walls again. They swallowed nervously and stared straight ahead, walking quietly.  

Thanks to the Light Cantrip’s illumination, the thick, dark dread didn’t swallow them whole.  

After walking some distance, they finally emerged from the corridor into a new room.  

After passing through the eerie passage, the team members collectively exhaled.  

In front of them was a purple space.  

All six walls of the room were covered with purple mushrooms, whose root-like tendrils were deeply embedded in the dungeon walls, emitting a faint purple glow.  

As soon as they stepped into the room, they stepped on purple mushrooms. Under their weight, faint mist sprayed from the center of the mushroom caps.  

“Be careful, the air is poisonous!”  

Someone immediately warned as dizziness started in the brain after inhaling the air.  

“Put on gas masks.”  

Poisonous gas was a common danger when exploring dungeons, so before coming, they had prepared gas masks.  

Gauss quickly put on his mask and pressed his forehead. His vision blurred slightly from inhaling the poison, but after a moment, the double vision gradually faded.  

Because of this, he also discovered a flaw in his Mage Armor.  

It couldn’t block poison gas. But then again, if it blocked the air entirely, how would he breathe?  

While the group hesitated about whether to temporarily retreat,  

On the ceiling, several slender objects suddenly dropped out of the purple spore sacs.  

“Plop!”  

The slim, unknown creatures slowly stood up.  

The group got a clear look at them.  

They were mushroom creatures come to life.  

Their huge umbrella-shaped heads had hollow, lifeless small eyes. The gray-brown gill-like skin curled and layered like waves of decay. Their dense surfaces evoked a feeling of trypophobia. The main body looked like rotten wood swollen by rain. Their limbs were bundles of mycelium twisted and bound together, ending in fists and feet.  

Behind them, tattered cloaks woven from humus waved in the poisonous gas, rustling sharply.  

The mushroom creatures looked at the group. Red light flashed in their hollow eyes. Pressing their wrists, the mycelium weapons they held pointed in the group’s direction!  

Enemies appeared!  

Adult mushroom creatures!  

Several people’s minds flickered with information about these monsters.  

While they were thinking, behind them, with a “clack,” a gate fell, blocking their retreat.  

They glanced back and saw there was no way to return to the hall.  

Uneasy, the group could only focus on the adult mushroom creatures ahead.  

Generally, mushroom creatures were intelligent beings capable of communication and usually friendly.  

But these few seemed different. Their eyes radiated chaotic, uncontrollable danger. They were clearly in an abnormal state.  

“Puru puru!”  

After the adult mushroom creatures stood firm, glands under their skin began releasing spores, which floated and spread in the air.  

“Charge!”  

After trying to speak some common language to the mushroom creatures with no response, the group decided to end it quickly.  

In the poisonous air, their condition would only worsen.  

Facing mushroom creatures, fire attacks were the best choice. But the team was trapped in the same room, so fire attacks were obviously unsuitable.  

Warriors Liam and Sork stomped hard on the ground, using the recoil to launch their bodies forward at high speed. Each stomp crushed patches of the purple mushrooms carpeted on the ground, releasing pale purple liquid and poison gas continuously.  

“!”  

The sword swung like a flash of lightning.  

The blade struck the long arm of the mushroom creature holding a weapon, cutting off the arm and weapon with a sharp sound.  

Nearby mushroom creatures, linked by spore communication, shared the pain and immediately rushed to defend their injured comrade against the two warriors.  

The mycelium wildly lashed against the shield, producing crisp whip-crack sounds.  

The injured mushroom creature retreated. Countless tiny mycelia floated from the severed arm, drifting slowly to the wound. Amber-colored sap was secreted rapidly at the connection point. Countless fine mycelia surged and intertwined like tiny waves, reconnecting the severed limb at visible speed.  

Such strong regeneration!  

Gauss looked on enviously.  

He hadn’t forgotten that after accumulating 20 monster encyclopedia entries, he could perform another talent draw.  

If he could get the mushroom creature’s regeneration ability, he wouldn’t need to worry about injuries.  

Unfortunately, he was still far from 20 types, and what talent he could get wasn’t up to him.  

All he could do was kill the mushroom creatures before him and add them to his lottery pool.  

He took out the Bone Staff.  

“Magic Missile!”  

A pure white tip of the staff quickly gathered deep blue energy.  

A missile formed with a sharp whistle, then locked onto a mushroom creature’s head by his will.  

The Magic Missile shot out!  

“Boom!”  

The Magic Missile was like a hundred-percent accurate arrow. So far, once released, it was guaranteed to hit the enemy.  

This time, it was no exception against the mushroom creatures.  

“Doh!”  

The Magic Missile struck a mushroom creature’s huge umbrella-shaped head, which exploded with a “pop,” like a sniper bullet smashing through a watermelon.  

Countless tiny mycelia scattered like drifting cotton.  

The dead mushroom creature never felt the agony of the headshot, but the living mushroom creatures perceived it through their mental link!  

For a moment, all the mushroom creatures twitched wildly like electrocuted, their heads trembling continuously.  

“Killed adult mushroom creature *1”  

“Total monster kills: 111”  

“Current monster kill types: 6”  

“You have cumulatively killed 1 adult mushroom creature.”  

“Title earned: Mushroom Hunter. This title upgrades as kill count increases.”  

“Current effect: Wound suppression. In battles against mushroom creatures and related advanced species, wounds inflicted prevent opponents from using self-healing abilities for 5 seconds.”  

Seeing the adventurer encyclopedia’s feedback, Gauss nodded knowingly. He already knew the mushroom creatures’ weak point was their heads, like most creatures.  

Those with smashed heads couldn’t regenerate.  

Also, the unlocked title effect was tailored to counter the mushroom creatures’ regeneration.  

All these title effects were perfectly targeted.  

“Good opportunity!”  

The others also caught on to the pain transmission weakness between the mushroom creatures.  

They all swung their weapons forward.  

“Boom!”  

As Gauss used Magic Missile to headshot the second mushroom creature, the others finished off the remaining adult mushroom creatures.