This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

While Lin Jun was engrossed in studying the Essence of Life, Inanna led her puji legion ever closer to the ruins of Redstone City.

The nearer they drew to the frontlines, the more uneasy Inanna felt.

After all, this was her first real war — what she’d read in books could never compare to the truth of the battlefield.

Fortunately, her leader had promised to assist her. That assurance served as an anchor, steadying her nerves a little.

Along the march, they encountered scattered demons, most of them pigmen.

Naturally, these pigmen were no match for a trained puji legion and were easily wiped out.

More often, they ran into retreating soldiers from the kingdom — mostly survivors from fallen Redstone City, and a few from even farther ahead. From these fugitives, Inanna pieced together the grim situation on the front.

After the fall of Highwall Fortress, the demon army regrouped briefly and launched another offensive.

Ignoring the battered remnants under Arama’s command, they advanced directly toward Sword Saint’s domain, the City of Three Mountains.

Forced to take the field despite his still-healing wounds, Duke Arama joined Grand Duke Lorenzo in a desperate attempt to harass and delay the enemy’s advance. But they fell straight into a trap, suffering yet another devastating defeat.

The refugees Inanna met were mostly survivors of that battle. None knew what became of those who remained.

Each report grew worse, and with them, Inanna’s heart sank deeper.

Though she had not spent much time with her father, his care for her had always been genuine — even if distant. She could never remain indifferent knowing he now faced mortal peril.

She wanted to order her army to accelerate, but her adjutant stepped forward to object.

“Commander, we can’t increase speed — in fact, we should avoid Redstone City altogether.”

“Why?”

“Have you forgotten what the fleeing soldiers told us?” the adjutant reminded her. “The area around Redstone City has become the domain of storm elementals — and not the low-level kind. Reports say there are multiple diamond-tier storm elementals among them. Our army could break through by force, but the cost would be catastrophic. Once reduced to a battered, exhausted host, how could we still aid the Duke?”

Inanna fell silent. She knew the adjutant was right.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down. “Then… how far is the detour?”

The adjutant unrolled a worn leather map and traced a curved route with his finger. “If we go around the edge of the elemental chaos zone, we’ll need an extra five days.”

“Five days?!” Inanna’s heart clenched. For her wounded father, that was far too long.

“The storm lord’s rampage left a massive area of elemental turbulence,” the adjutant explained helplessly. “If we want to avoid it entirely, this is the only safe way.”

“There’s no other option?” she pressed.

After a moment’s thought, he pointed to a narrow stretch along the detour route. “There is a compromise. Here — this is the narrowest point in the chaos zone. If we take the risk of cutting through here, we could shorten the detour to just two days.”

“Then let’s—”

“But,” he interrupted, “we have no idea how powerful the storms within this region are. If we encounter resistance beyond expectation, we could be dragged into a prolonged fight, wasting time and men — worse than if we’d gone around.”

Inanna’s eyes lingered between the safe but distant route and the dangerous shortcut, her fingertips tightening unconsciously. One offered safety at the cost of time, the other risk for speed.

After a long moment, she raised her head sharply, eyes flashing with resolve.

“Take me there. I’ll see this chaos zone myself before deciding.”

…

With her adjutant and a small escort, Inanna rode toward the border of the elemental chaos zone.

If one word could describe the sight before them, it was devastation.

Though storm elementals required no sustenance, their inherent drive for destruction compelled them to annihilate every living thing they saw.

Human, demon, beast — even the vegetation of the land had been obliterated.

Sporadic bolts of lightning still set the charred trees ablaze, and the blackened ground reeked of burnt ash.

They had yet to see a single storm elemental, but the ruined landscape spoke for itself.

The silence was oppressive — so still it seemed all life had been erased.

The adjutant began to regret agreeing to this inspection. “Commander, maybe… we should stop here.”

“But we haven’t even—” Inanna’s words were cut short by a sudden gust of wind that lifted sand into the air. Distant thunder rolled across the plains.

The adjutant’s gut twisted. That sense of dread proved right.

At the horizon, forms of swirling wind and lightning emerged.

Not a few. Not a dozen. Hundreds.

And behind them — more were coming.

“Retreat! Quickly!” the adjutant roared.

Panic spread. They wheeled their horses and fled for their lives.

That many — even if they were only gold-tier — could bury them alive, and several of those towering figures were clearly diamond-class.

“Why?! Why are they all chasing us?!” Inanna’s voice trembled as she looked back.

Thunder and lightning gathered like a tidal wave behind them.

The adjutant had no answer.

By sheer luck, they were close to the boundary. Their mounts’ speed carried them out of the chaos zone — barely.

But before they could breathe, horror struck again.

The storm elementals didn’t stop. They surged past the border, ignoring the destabilization of their forms, the flickering instability of their energy — still chasing relentlessly.

“This…” The adjutant drew his sword and shouted, “Lady Inanna, go! We’ll hold them off!”

“No — we go together!” Inanna suddenly thought of something. “Boss—!!!”

“I’m here, I’m here!”

At that instant, eight thousand puji appeared on the horizon, the Knight Puji charging at their head!

Lin Jun had sensed the disturbance early and rushed his army to the scene — just in time.

Yet the moment the two sides met, everyone realized something was wrong.

The leading storm elementals slowed, their gales subsiding, their lightning dimming.

They ignored the adjutant’s defensive formation entirely and instead drifted gently toward Inanna.

The once-raging winds circled her softly — almost reverently.

And from within them, Inanna felt… submission.