Crimson Servant

John watched as Barnes enraged Arlington with a few words, and the Hell Guard's anger heated up the surrounding temperature and pushed the fog away. He bared his teeth and cursed this human being who was only half his height with vicious words. Perhaps the devil's curse seemed very shocking to humans (because devils usually do what they say), but Barnes still regarded it as a gentle breeze. Ear.

He would occasionally retort to Arlington with a less hurtful remark or two, saying that such crude choice of words was simply derogatory to the status of the devil in hell, and openly questioning Arlington's proficiency in the Common Tongue.

John thought of a sentence he once heard.

If a person easily pisses you off, he's either very stupid or very smart. Barnes was obviously not the former. He used his embarrassed appearance to paralyze any creature that came into contact with him. Arlington, including many people who were angered by Barnes, may have seen through Barnes' disguise, but they were still attracted by that playful look. His rogue appearance is irritating.

Because they regard Barnes as a weaker person than themselves, being defeated by the weak is undoubtedly the greatest humiliation. Blinded by anger, they are unable to face up to their failures, blaming the failure on luck, unfair favoritism, and then fail again.

This may be the reason why Barnes has profited many times in hell negotiations. He is good at hiding and treats every arrogant devil with caution.

John intervened to interrupt the quarrel between Barnes and Arlington. They still had a companion who had not joined up.

When John suggested that Raven had not been found yet, both Vivian and Barnes looked relaxed, and even Arrington did not add insult to injury by describing some bad conjectures.

As they headed in the direction guided by the blood, Barnes also complained that maybe the silent warrior would find a few people on his own.

The high temperature in Arlington dispelled some of the thick fog, providing a better view for a few people. The group moved forward quickly, and the gentle tundra had undulating terrain. Some large rocks that were not on the shoals blocked the path of the few people. , they had to take a detour and deviate from the original straight trajectory, but with the vague attraction of blood, John and the others did not have to worry about getting lost.

"There is something strange. This place is too far from the shore. Raven should come to look for us first instead of going deep alone." Vivian was so far away that the situation was abnormal. She was already prepared, holding the handle of the dagger with her hand. It didn't take long for the ranger to draw her dagger and use it to slit her enemy's throat.

"The smell of blood has become stronger." An uneasy haze appeared in the hearts of several people.

John walked over quickly, and the position of the blood was very close to several people, but they never heard a sound, not even a weak cry for help.

"Found it." This sentence should have been full of joy, but when they saw where John's eyes stayed, they all chose to remain silent.

Messy footprints appeared on the wet ground, and there was blood pooling at the bottom of several of the footprints. John stretched out his hand towards the blood, and a small string of blood beads gathered together, raising its head like a little snake.

"This is Raven's blood. He was hurt badly."

"He was taken away. There were no corpses around." Vivian observed the direction of the footprints. She looked at the footprints carefully. They were definitely not human footprints, nor were they from mind flayers. The footprints were deep and left yellow powder around the edges. "It wasn't the Mind Flayer who took him."

"Hey! You should come see these."

Barnes's voice came from the other side of the thick fog. When John walked over, he saw the results of Raven's battle, probably.

There were varying degrees of damage to the bodies of several mind flayers. They maintained the weird postures they had taken when they died, but strangely, slender, slimy purple-red hyphae grew out of those wounds, and brightly colored mycelium grew out of them. Fungi. Especially on the mind flayer's head, the protruding and unusually developed brain has been occupied by crowded and beautiful clusters of mushrooms, spreading shimmering spores downwards. From a distance, it looks like a lantern.

Fungi, parasites, spores, actions…

It's a mushroom man. John remembered the illustrated book of species in the Underdark left by Francis, in which this rare and friendly underground creature in the underground cave left a deep impression on the warlock. Thinking of some of the habits of the myconids, John looked up at the persistent thick fog around him. There was no sunlight penetrating, and the humid environment also provided soil suitable for the survival of the myconids.

However, myconids are supposed to be intelligent creatures that love peace and are friendly. Their personality and strength are far inferior to the level of the mind flayers. How can they fight against the mind flayers?

The warlock put his hand close to the corpses combined with fungi, felt them carefully, and then reluctantly put them down.

All the blood has been turned into nutrients for the fungus. Not to mention drawing blood, even the soul has been decomposed. The only thing that can prove the existence of the mind flayer is these special shapes that will be covered by the fungus.

John put aside the thought of the gap in combat power for the time being. In any case, searching for the Myconid's movements and rescuing Raven, who was taken away by them, were what the Morning Star fleet had to do.

"The traces are obvious. Those myconids have no intention of hiding their traces." Vivian went out to explore first. She wandered around the periphery of the team, doing detective work with her agile skills and speed.

Following the footprints, the number of fungal plants she discovered along the way gradually increased, and the growth scale also expanded. Some had grown to the height of an adult human. Those hyphae climbed on the surrounding rocks, connecting the fragile blue-gray mushroom forest together. Solid overall.

The fog around the mushroom forest has become very thin, which allows the female ranger's sharp vision to work better. There is a trace of rot in the air, and Vivian covers her nose with a handkerchief unhappily.

She used special steps to control the sound of her footsteps, and looked through the pores between the hyphae toward the center area where the fungal plants were most prosperous. There was a large area of ​​huge round mushrooms, the smallest of which was the size of a millstone and less than an inch above the ground. On these wide caps, Vivian saw many artificially produced wooden tools. She has already seen those mushrooms that are close to normal human body shapes, ranging in size from fat to thin, with beautiful umbrellas growing out of their heads and joints on their limbs.

The fungus men that Vivian noticed were spreading some fresh, foul-smelling humus into the cultivated fungus fields. The mycelium drilled out from the loose soil full of moisture, extending their roots into the decaying nutrients. . Several child-sized colonies have been cultivated in the fungus field. They are far apart from each other, each occupying a field. They already have the appearance of myconid larvae and look like they are about to mature.

The female ranger realized that this was a myconid community, and that the place she was peeping at was the fungus field where the sowers cultivated myconid larvae. She was glad that she did not see pieces of corpses being thrown into the field as nutrients. Raven should still return the favor. Alive, just in other areas that you haven't discovered yet.

When the female ranger planned to go deeper and collect more intelligence, two patrolling myconids seemed to be passing by Vivian's location. She could only give up her plan and leave before the myconids discovered her.

Vivian quickly returned to her team and told several people about her findings.

"Are there no signs of recent battle damage around the mushroom forest?" John asked.

"No, they don't even have very strict security measures." Vivian thought of the slow progress of those myconids, and the small movements seemed not to be in a hurry.

"Did you see the mind flayer's body in the fungus field?" John continued to ask.

"No, if you mean the ones that haven't rotted away and been digested." Vivian thought that if John accused her of not rummaging through those stinky, disgusting manures, she would shove her dagger into his back door.

John was lost in thought, while Arrington presented his thoughts somewhat directly.

"We can destroy them directly. My flames will be enough to burn these plants down."

Barnes laughed twice and expressed his disdain for the idea of ​​Hell Guard Arlington with his eyes.

"If they are opponents against the mind flayers on this island, then the mushrooms have no conflict of interest with us. These cute mushroom people can become our allies. In addition, if they are really capable of killing those mind flayers Demons, then these myconids must not be as simple as they appear now, they must be much more vicious than they appear."

"Think of the mind flayer corpses that became the landscape."

Friendly or hostile, the companions all have different opinions. If he were on the ship, Barnes would never tolerate any voice that challenged him, but now that they were ashore, Barnes quietly handed over the command of the team to someone who was truly capable of controlling the overall situation.

John Kemp made his decision.

"Let's negotiate with the myconids first."

"As for the situation where negotiations failed and fell into fighting, we are definitely not the ones regretting it."

"Get Raven out first."