Chapter 50: Floral Dungeon Part 11

The tunnel that they had been walking down for a few minutes now was more than wide enough for all of them to go through side by side if they wanted to. The ceiling was a good four stories high which was fairly big, but not big enough for any of Lilly's larger soul beast to be able to walk through at their full size. At first Joshua thought this would be a bit of a problem when it came to combat, but after minutes of walking down the tunnel there hadn't been a single plant that acted strangely or tried to attack them.

The tunnel was covered to the brim flowers and vines, but none of them looked different from any regular plants and they didn't have the corrupted tendrils around them that the plants in the forest below had. They seemed like normal if not a little bit bigger than usual plants that weren't out to strangle them to death which was a relief for the group. Fighting all the way down the tunnel would have been slow going and tedious with out to much reward. The dungeon hadn't had a single treasure chest up to this point and outside of the sub-boss most of the plants didn't give very much experience. The only reason they were gaining a lot of experience in the dungeon was because there were so many enemies around every corner. The plants always came in groups which made up for the little amount of experience they would give up on their own.

The only sense of danger Joshua was getting through his aura sense at the moment was well ahead of their group far down the path they were walking. Even so he was able to see some changes starting to occur the further they went down the tunnel. At first all Joshua and the rest of his guild members could see around them were the flowers and vines that covered the walls. It gave the path they were taking a very colorful look and kept it well lit. The further they went into the tunnel the less and less flowers and vines they were able to see along the walls of the path.

This situation made the tunnel grow darker and eerier the further along they went which caused Joshua to focus on his aura sense to see what was going on. As his aura passed over the walls of the tunnel he started to notice another type of presence dug deep into the dirt that formed the walls of the tunnel. This new type of aura wasn't like the flowers or vines that could easily be corrupted from what Joshua had seen in the forest below, but were still normal plants at the moment. This new source of aura already had that feeling of taint that all of the corrupted plants had once they stopped trying to hide their presence. This presence was corrupted through and through and it was hiding just beneath the surface of the walls at first.

The further along they went into the tunnel the more of these corrupted auras he felt just behind the walls. It didn't take long for things to take another shift when they finally reached the point where there wasn't a single flower growing along the tunnel anymore. The vines had stopped spreading as well leaving the walls bear with nothing but dirt and rock visible to the eye. Without any of the vines or flowers along the wall it became harder to see until it got to the point where the group was basically walking through sheer darkness. Monika quickly cast a spell to create an orb of light that floated over the group to help light the way. Lilly also helped out by bringing Light out of her soul realm and having him jump into Joshua's aura where the dog could brighten up the surroundings through Joshua's aura.

For a while they kept just marching forward down the path as they noticed the walls starting to slowly shift from the normal dirt and stone into what looked like some sort of weird red infected gravel. If it weren't for the light that Monika and Joshua were putting up they wouldn't have noticed the changes so easily, but with the light they could see the gradual shift and it was extremely disturbing. After several more minutes of walking down the tunnel it started to gently curve as if they were going around the sphere in a giant circle that was leading them to the center of it.

Just from how long the tunnel was Joshua was getting the feeling that there wasn't too much more to the dungeon at this point. There weren't any plants trying to attack them, there weren't any split paths that they would have to explore, and there weren't any treasure chest for them to try to find. The only thing they could do was move forward to find out what laid ahead for them. That's when something new growing along the wall far down the tunnel caught everyone's attention.

The reason the new object caught all of their attention was the fact that it was able to generate its own source of light in a similar fashion to the flowers that covered the walls when they first entered the tunnel. Joshua signaled for everyone in the group to stop approaching it as he covered himself in aura just to be safe before he went to check it out. As he got closer he was able to make out what it was and was a bit surprised to see what looked like a mushroom like fungus growing out of the side of the tunnel in a small cluster. It had the red like tendrils all over it to show that it was corrupted and it gave off the same aura feeling as what Joshua had been sensing just beneath the walls of the tunnel ever since they stopped seeing the flowers and vines along the walls.

Even though the fungus was clearly corrupted it didn't seem to react at all as Joshua made his approach. He didn't want to touch it since he didn't know if it was poisonous or not, but he did use observe on it to see if he could get any information from it. The fact that it didn't have a level or a name made it so he could tell that the fungus wasn't technically an enemy. They wouldn't gain any experience from destroying the fungus, but that didn't mean that the fungus couldn't be dangerous to them if they weren't careful.

"It doesn't seem to be threatening as long as we don't touch it, but it could be poisonous." Joshua said before turning to the rest of the group. "It's corrupted so I don't think that Titus will be able to absorb it so no need to bring him out." Lilly nodded in response to his words everyone moved over to get a look at the fungus.

"Maybe these fungus are what are infecting all of the plants in the dungeon and the ones in the forest outside of it." Henry said with a thoughtful look as he inspected it. "It would explain why this fungus isn't considered an enemy. It could just be a portion or part of the core of the fungal network infecting everything."

"If that's the case then the boss of this dungeon probably has something to do with fungus like plants. That's a bit disgusting." Julia said with a sigh getting nods from several members of the group that didn't like the idea of fungal spores being something they'd have to deal with.

"We'll just have to see what's at the end of the tunnel." Joshua said before taking the lead once more and continuing walking down the path. The further along they got down the path the more of the mushroom like fungus they kept seeing growing along the walls. There were also several other oddly shaped fungus along the walls that glowed a crimson red color that made the hallway look like it was bathed in blood. It felt like they had been walking for hours down the path and it got to the point where they decided to take a break and eat some food to get all of their stats boost back before proceeding forward.

Joshua started to keep track of the gradual curve to the tunnel so that he could figure out how deep into the sphere they had gone. It was clear from how slight the curve to the tunnel was at first that they were going around the inside of the sphere. He was a bit surprised that there weren't any other paths that lead to where they had seen the waterfalls coming from, but from how much the sphere was able to move around before when they unlocked the way to get in, Joshua wouldn't be surprised to find the inside of the sphere could shift around as well.

It took the group hours just to make it to the end of the tunnel and by the time they could see a bright glow coming from ahead after a sudden sharp turn the walls that they were staying as far away from as possible were covered in so much fungus that they could no longer see the dirt or rocks underneath. The bright glow coming from up ahead of the group was unusual considering all of the fungus that they had seen so far along the walls weren't glowing nearly as bright as what was coming from in front of them, so they knew things were about to change again.

Joshua slowed down the pace of the group before making his way to the edge of the tunnel and peering into the room. The new space wasn't all of that big. In fact Tank would barely be able to fit inside of it if he was at his full-size. There was enough room for his group to move around, but if Lilly was going to bring out any of her larger beast companions then they would have to shrink down if they wanted to fit into the room. The bright glow coming from the room was because of the fact that it was filled to the brim with fungus covering each and every part of the space. Even the floor was covered in fungus, some small while others were far bigger than any that Joshua or the rest of the group had seen in the tunnel.

Some of the larger fungus were spewing out small puffs of spores that would hover in the air before settling down on the ground. The entire scene made Joshua's skin crawl. He didn't know what those spores could do if anyone in the group breathed them in, but he got a bad feeling just being around them. At the very back of the room there was a massive door that was hard to notice with all the fungus growing around everything but the frame of the door and its two handles. There was the common depiction of a large skull on the door in the center that was the now well-known sign of it being the entrance to the boss room.

Joshua and the rest of the group made their way into the room and started inspecting it a bit while making sure not to touch any of the spores. It was when every single one of them had stepped inside the room far enough that a loud thrum echoed throughout the entire area before a wall slammed down blocking the way back through the tunnel. The dramatic change had put everyone on edge as they prepared for whatever the dungeon was going to throw at them next.