On the streets of Cold Bay Fort, busy figures were everywhere.
Soldiers carried boxes of supplies out of the warehouses one by one, stacking them in designated categories on the plaza.
"Move faster! We need to finish loading before dark!" The newly appointed commander stood on the steps, transmitting orders into the minds of every soldier through the mycelial network.
Several Otaku Cow-Horse Puchis sat in the center of the plaza, their tentacles wrapping around boxes of supplies and stuffing them into their spacious, large bellies.
After surrendering to the Mushroom Fortress, the former commander had still tried to play his old game of fawning on superiors and bullying subordinates. As a result, he was made an example of and publicly arrested by the blue-capped Puchis of the Ministry of Truth. Only then did the current commander get his chance.
In order to prove himself, the new commander was full of drive. It was just that he didn't expect his very first task upon taking office to be an evacuation.
They were evacuating Cold Bay Fort.
Due to the havoc wreaked by giant dragons, Marshal Louisa had issued evacuation orders to multiple cities across the entire North.
Soldiers and Fungal Citizens were to be concentrated into a few sturdier fortress cities to live, in order to deal with dragon attacks that could occur at any time.
One could imagine that for the next period of time, with people crammed together, life probably wouldn't be very comfortable, but it was still better than being casually breathed to death by a giant dragon.
Word had it that a city and a town had already suffered a dragon disaster, with heavy casualties.
No one wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Thud—
A supply box held by a soldier suddenly slipped from his hands and fell, yet at this moment, no one cared.
The vast majority of the soldiers felt a terrifying oppressive aura, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. Even the new commander was no exception. Only the Puchis seemed unaffected, still loading supplies according to orders.
High in the sky, a dark green dragon silhouette soared past. Everyone stared at it in terror, afraid it might suddenly attack Cold Bay Fort.
Fortunately, that green dragon merely flew past, not stopping for even a moment.
It wasn't until the draconic aura vanished that the soldiers collapsed to their knees in exhaustion. The mycelial network was filled with noisy complaints about surviving a disaster.
"Are you done? Quiet!" Relying on his authority, the new commander forcibly suppressed the noise with his own will. "You all know to be scared, so why aren't you moving faster to pack? If another one comes, we might not be so lucky!"
Under the commander's reprimand, the evacuation work was completed even faster.
Watching the bugs below trembling under the influence of his draconic aura, Woodworm felt a sense of delight.
This was much more interesting than using draconic aura to scare those stupid dragon beasts.
Dragon Cliff was a paradise for them giant dragons, but it was also a cage!
The only things they could hunt were dragon beasts, and their only servants were those Kobolds. Due to the size of the territory, each giant dragon couldn't have too many.
Every day was just eating dragon beasts, fighting with other dragons, and occasionally catching one or two Demon-kin adventurers who entered Dragon Cliff to play with. There really was no variety to speak of.
Although it was a comfortable life, living hundreds of years like a single day would make anyone feel bored.
It was nothing like the outside—a vast world, a multitude of diverse races, everything was so novel.
Therefore, he completely understood those kin who couldn't control their destructive desires as soon as they came out and wreaked havoc everywhere; they had just been cooped up for too long.
Of course, understanding was one thing, but Woodworm wouldn't be like those idiots and waste his stamina and Dragon Breath on irrelevant bugs at the critical juncture of the dragon struggle.
The reason the astute Woodworm appeared in the North was that he was looking for prey—namely, other giant dragons.
Woodworm was very clear that his strength was far from powerful among the giant dragons; he was only at a mid-tier level.
To gain an advantage in this competition, he had to target those weak guys, push up the progress of his [Path of the Ancient Dragon], and obtain more powerful strength as early as possible to counter-kill those guys who were stronger than him.
And right now, there were two targets.
Previously, there were two dragons nearby, but now one had disappeared, meaning a victor should have been decided.
Although the winner would gain more powerful strength, their injuries wouldn't recover immediately.
Woodworm wanted to see if there was an opportunity to pick up a bargain.
The other target was further north.
The truly powerful dragons were all currently busy hunting everywhere to gain more power. Only the weakest and most foolish guys would futilely huddle in a corner and wait to die.
Woodworm naturally wouldn't let such a soft persimmon go.
As he flew, Woodworm's dragon eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a few Puchis wandering randomly on the ice fields.
Having flown continuously for so long, he was indeed getting a bit hungry, so he descended from the sky.
Sweeping two dull-witted Puchis into his mouth, Woodworm couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he felt the delicious flavor and mana overflowing his mouth and teeth.
The first time he ate this kind of delicious Puchi, he had even writhed into a ball on the ground.
Compared to these Puchis—which were full of mana, crisp, tender, smooth, and exceptionally delicious—those dragon beasts he ate in the past were either sour and astringent or had meat that was tough and hard to chew. The taste couldn't compare in the slightest!
So to say, the outside world really is better!
The only pity was that Puchis were too small, not quite enough for him to eat his fill.
There were plenty of Puchis in the cities, but that would provoke unnecessary battles. Woodworm wasn't going to disrupt his plans just to satisfy a minor craving for food.
He was relatively lucky today. The number of these wild Puchis was greater than those he had found before.
After encountering the dragon, the Puchis all ran in one direction, but alas, their legs were too short, and they couldn't run fast.
Woodworm followed unhurriedly behind, eating the Puchis one by one as he took a stroll.
Before he knew it, he had arrived in a mushroom forest.
The surviving Puchis ran into the center of the mushroom forest. Woodworm was pleasantly surprised to find that this was actually a Puchi nest, with even more Puchis!
He could eat his fill today!
However, before he dug in, he noticed that the Puchis' behavior was a bit strange.
Trembling, they all huddled into the clearing in the center of the mushroom forest, yet they left a small open space right in the middle.
Woodworm looked closely, only to discover that in the middle of the open space grew a solitary, small cyan mushroom!
And when he used [Mana Perception], he immediately discovered that this cyan mushroom contained a dense amount of mana that left him clicking his tongue.
Gulp—
He couldn't stop drooling.
Woodworm wasn't afraid of the food being poisonous. Giant dragons inherently possessed extremely high resistances; paired with their formidable physiques, ordinary natural toxins couldn't do a thing to a giant dragon.
Not to mention, Woodworm was a green dragon that breathed highly toxic Dragon Breath, so naturally, it was even more impossible for him to be afraid of poisoning.
Therefore, without much hesitation, he impatiently swallowed that cyan mushroom, along with the surrounding mycelium and mud, all in one gulp.
Thick white mist surged out from beneath the scales all over his body. In a blissful trance, Woodworm returned to a certain afternoon in Dragon Cliff.
Roaring, he defeated another giant dragon that was always at odds with him.
Woodworm tore its dragon wings to shreds, and his highly toxic breath blinded its eyes. The other spectating giant dragons laughed at the loser on the ground along with Woodworm.
Woodworm even cracked vicious jokes, feeling that the now-crippled opponent was no longer worthy of a name and should henceforth be called Swergis.
Amidst the hearty laughter, Puchis enthusiastically placed sashes representing victory upon Woodworm.
One, two, three...
Wait, Puchis? Sashes?
Woodworm suddenly jolted awake. Those things on his body weren't sashes at all; they were clearly absurdly thick mycelial tentacles!
He discovered in horror that a Giant Puchi with an exceptional number of tentacles was currently stuffing his tightly bound self into its belly bit by bit!
I'm going to be... eaten by a Puchi...
(End of Chapter)
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