In the three-meter-wide tunnel, the dwarves Torin and Glenm sat shoulder-to-shoulder with the lizardman Balok on the still-warm ground, each holding dried rations made from delicious mushrooms.
Though not as tasty as when steamed or boiled, the air-dried mushrooms still retained a pleasantly rich flavor.
As a freely provided work meal, this treatment already satisfied the three quite well.
Behind them, the massive body of the plump-recluse burrowing Puchi was, as always, wedged in the tunnel. Though it had stopped operating, it still radiated heat, dispelling the surrounding cold.
Several battery Puchis connected their tendrils to its large rear end, replenishing its magic power.
As depth increased, the extreme cold had seriously slowed the spread of the fungal carpet, so they could only rely on these mobile power sources to maintain the plump-recluse Puchi’s operational capability.
In front of them was a small cavity that had just been excavated.
Inside were several pillars buried for who knows how many years. The surface of these ruins was covered in frost, with faintly visible intricate carved patterns.
Recently, various excavation teams had successively discovered similar structures, but there hadn’t been any more substantial findings yet.
Glenm ran his rough fingers through his beard, sending mushroom crumbs into his mouth. “Torin, we’ve saved up enough contribution points now. When are we going back to the mountains?”
The task they were currently doing carried uncertain risks and relatively harsh conditions, so the contribution points were much higher than ordinary tasks, allowing them to accumulate enough points ahead of schedule to buy back their freedom.
Before Torin could answer, the lizardman Balok leaned over.
“You’re really leaving?” He naturally didn’t want his two friends to just walk away and leave him alone. “Isn’t Mushroom Fortress good? Sure, it’s gotten a bit cold lately, but there are Puchis heating everywhere; you won’t freeze, and there are so many delicious mushrooms…”
Balok was very satisfied with his current life; it was much better than before in the tribe.
Not just in terms of food and shelter, but also the spiritual difference.
Previously in the lizardman tribe—or rather in almost all Northern tribes—the strong were revered.
In this regard, tribes and the Empire were almost the same.
A mediocre silver-rank lizardman like Balok had no status to speak of.
Someone like him being ordered around by superior warriors was commonplace. If he was unlucky and someone took a dislike to him, while they wouldn’t directly kill him, they could assign him difficult and dangerous work, and he could only endure it.
Nothing like now!
He could choose his own tasks, there was almost no coercion, no differential treatment, and when he had enough contribution points, he could even rest comfortably for a while as he pleased.
A few days ago, when lining up for food, standing behind him was a superior warrior from a lizardman tribe.
Back in the tribe, others had food delivered directly to their tents; they didn’t need to line up like him, and they dared not cut in line!
Of course, now if you were willing to spend contribution points, you could still have Puchi delivery service, but he certainly wouldn’t waste contribution points like that.
Undeniably, those powerful superior warriors still lived better than him in Mushroom Fortress.
But this gap didn’t come from privilege; it came from their ability to earn more contribution points through their strength to spend.
Balok thought this was fair.
Glenm understood Balok’s thinking. He also felt life now was quite decent.
“But it’s ultimately not safe here!” Glenm said in a low voice. “Mushroom Fortress is indeed becoming stronger, and other nearby tribes seem to have merged into it, but it’s becoming a bit too conspicuous now! You don’t think the Empire will allow such a force to exist in the North, do you? When war breaks out, who knows what life will be like…”
The lizardman wanted to refute, to say that Mushroom Fortress wasn’t afraid of any enemy, but the words died in his throat.
The Empire’s power was already deeply engraved in the hearts of every Northern tribe member. He really couldn’t imagine how they would cope when the Empire turned its attention to them.
However, Balok would still stay in Mushroom Fortress. As a member of an already absorbed tribe, he didn’t have a homeland to return to like the two dwarves.
His home was only Mushroom Fortress now.
“I’m not going back,” Torin suddenly spoke.
“Why?” Glenm turned to look at him, his face full of confusion.
“Look!” Torin pointed at the pillar in front of them. “What is this? These are ruins! This is definitely just a small part of them. There must be an ancient and massive ruin underground! This is the adventure I’ve always wanted!”
Torin’s eyes gleamed with fervent light. “Until I figure out the full extent of these ruins, I absolutely won’t leave! Glenm, if you go back to the mountains, help me send word to my family that I’m still alive.”
Glenm rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I should go back alone? Your family would skin me alive! If you ask me, you’re just daydreaming. What can a few broken stone pillars prove?”
As the plump-recluse burrowing Puchi finished recharging, the three resumed work amid Glenm’s grumbling.
Torin and Balok grabbed the drilling Puchi’s stubby legs on either side and pulled hard outward. The Puchi “buzzed” back to life.
After waiting about a minute for it to warm up:
“One, two, push!”
However, the expected resistance only appeared for an instant.
The next moment, the rock layer beneath their feet suddenly collapsed, and they fell downward along with the drilling Puchi.
“A huge cavity?!” Torin’s cry echoed through the void.
Balok reacted fastest. His long tail instantly coiled around a protrusion on the rock wall’s edge, while his other hand grabbed Torin’s collar.
However, the fragile rock wall couldn’t bear the weight of two people, and the lizardman was also pulled down.
Amid screams, all three fell.
The drilling Puchi that landed first made a muffled sound, half its mushroom body shattering on impact.
The three then fell onto the Puchi’s remaining half. The elastic Puchi rear cushioned their fall like a mattress, bouncing them away one after another.
The two dwarves, with their sturdy builds, grimaced from the impact but quickly stood up rubbing their backsides.
Only Balok curled up on the ground, clutching his obviously unnaturally bent tail and emitting painful whimpers.
“Balok, how are you?”
“Just… tail fracture…”
Hearing this, the two dwarves breathed a sigh of relief. If it was just that degree, with the fungal filaments’ recovery power, it would probably heal in half a day or so.
“Where are we?” Glenm took out a glowing stone for illumination from his chest.
Under the not-too-bright light, an incredible complex of buildings was revealed.
They seemed to be on the street of some huge underground city, surrounded by empty rooms eroded by time.
In the distance, massive stone pillars supported the entire cavity, some of which had collapsed, leaving only remaining half-pillars.
Most eye-catching was a spiral building in the distance. From their position, they could only see its massive shadow.
“I knew it! I knew it was a large-scale ruin!” Torin trembled with excitement, completely forgetting he’d nearly fallen to his death.
Glenm looked at the buildings on both sides with some confusion.
The doorframes of these buildings were quite low, or rather, not so much low as suitable for beings of his height.
“These are… dwarf buildings? Underground in the North?”
Thud—thud—
Before Glenm could figure it out, several hard footsteps sounded from the end of the street.
Glenm and Torin immediately held their breath, and even the lizardman covered his own mouth.
Without thinking, they knew whatever was coming couldn’t be anything good.
Thud—thud—
A puppet two and a half meters tall, composed purely of ice blocks, emerged from around the corner and fixed its gaze on them.
A Frost Spirit!
“Run!”
The two dwarves each grabbed the lizardman—one by the arm, one by the ankle—and dragged him as they turned and ran.
Balok cried out all along the way as he was bumped against protruding rocks and paving stones.
Behind them, the Frost Spirit pursued with “thud thud” sounds.
(End of Chapter)
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