This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

“Milord, are you truly going in personally? Wouldn’t it be better to let that pair of twins test the waters first?”

After finishing the inventory of prepared supplies, the steward asked anxiously.

People like the steward—and the blood descendants following behind him—had their entire hopes of advancement tied to the marquis.

If Marquis Cassinar, the source of their bloodline, were to die, they would be forced to seek an even older bloodline origin.

And unfortunately, Cassinar was himself a descendant of the previous grand duke. That was precisely why, after all these years, he was still stuck as a marquis at LV70, unable to advance further.

As for switching bloodlines, that kind of attempt was not only nine chances out of ten fatal—

Within blood race culture, it was also considered taboo.

Unless there were overwhelming benefits, no lord would be willing to do such a thing for the sake of other people’s descendants.

In truth, vampires who refrained from performing blood embraces and expanding their own descendants could still purify their bloodline and advance on their own.

However, that process was measured in hundreds or even thousands of years, and very few lone vampires could survive that long.

For these reasons, no rational member of the blood race would want their liege to take such risks.

Naturally, the steward was unwilling to see Cassinar personally undertake a treasure hunt so fraught with uncertainty.

The “twins” he mentioned were two sanctum-level demon mercenaries of considerable strength who had cooperated with the marquis before.

But for something this important, how could Cassinar possibly trust outsiders like them?

“The blood descendants sent in previously have already brought back sufficient intelligence. The frost spirits are troublesome, but not truly dangerous,” the marquis said, waving a hand.

“Even if I encounter the elemental lord, I’m confident I can withdraw safely. No need to say more—guard the castle and wait for my return.”

The teleportation array flared with light, and the figures of Cassinar and five blood descendants vanished into rippling space.

“Hiss!”

Cold!

A bone-piercing chill instantly wrapped around his entire body!

Cassinar had never experienced such low temperatures before. He immediately activated his constant-temperature amulet before he could even catch his breath.

What unsettled him was that these high-grade magical items couldn’t completely dispel the cold.

He glanced toward the massive spiral structure not far away—the secret treasure lay within.

Two blood descendants were assigned to guard the teleportation array. This was their retreat route; nothing could go wrong here.

“Milord, the elemental distribution in the air is extremely uneven. Those frost spirits seem to be moving in large coordinated groups,” one blood descendant skilled in perception warned.

Cassinar frowned. They had barely set out, and already something unexpected had occurred.

He wondered whether the previous scouting attempts had triggered some kind of chain reaction.

“Direction?” he asked.

The blood descendant raised a hand and pointed into the distance. “The far side of the central spiral structure.”

Cassinar’s expression eased slightly.

“As long as they’re not blocking our path forward, it’s fine. Keep monitoring them—if they get too close, we’ll avoid them.”

As he spoke, he took out a dark-red blood crystal. In an instant it melted into blood, reshaping itself into a long spear wreathed in crimson mist.

The spear tip stabbed into the shadow of a nearby ruined building—and emerged from the other end of the shadow, piercing straight through a frost spirit that had been tracking their heat.

More frost spirits emerged from behind the ruins. The blood descendants immediately engaged, sword light and blood magic intertwining, quickly shattering all the frost spirits that had surrounded them.

Without pausing for even a moment, before the frost spirits could complete their reconstruction, one blood descendant scattered a handful of specially made mana-disruption powder.

It interfered with elemental spirits’ perception, preventing the reformed frost spirits from tracking them and eventually sealing off their retreat with overwhelming numbers.

The group moved with extreme efficiency, crossing the streets of the ruins and entering the spiral structure.

After encountering even more powerful frost spirits, however, their pace gradually slowed.

……

On the other side, the pink puji’s group ran into serious trouble as well.

“Easy… easy… don’t all crowd in…”

Inanna stood helplessly in place as frost spirits poured in from all directions, surrounding the group so tightly that there was no gap at all.

Though these elemental beings appeared gentle toward her, they lacked even basic intelligence and couldn’t understand human language—at least not her words.

In the end, Inanna could only resort to the same trick again.

Every time the group advanced a certain distance, she would flick a light-orb spell into the distant sky.

While the frost spirits chased after the glowing spell, the group hurried forward.

And once the frost spirits returned and caught up again, she’d throw another one.

The whole journey ended up feeling like setting off festival firecrackers nonstop…

Lin Jun controlled the knight puji cradled in Inanna’s arms, extending his perception toward the spiral structure with some confusion.

For some reason, there were strange fluctuations of magical power over there—like someone was casting spells.

The elemental lord?

Was it reacting to the appearance of his group?

Lin Jun wasn’t sure.

The spiral structure itself seemed to interfere with reconnaissance to some degree. He’d have to get closer to know for sure.

Norris had also noticed something amiss—through the scout puji forming the head of the jida.

And when the group finally reached the entrance of the spiral structure, everyone was stunned by the sight before them.

Norris climbed out of the jida and looked up at the massive gate, towering forty to fifty meters high.

He had long known the building was enormous, but seeing it from afar and standing at its base were completely different experiences.

Before such a colossal structure, even trolls would feel insignificant—let alone Norris, who was only about 1.8 meters tall.

Lin Jun, on the other hand, felt nothing in particular. He urged everyone not to dawdle and to hurry inside.

His perspective was always different from others’. Big was big—distance didn’t change that feeling for him.

Once inside the central spiral structure, the group soon encountered high-tier frost spirits.

[Frost Spirit – Snow Attendant]

[Frost Spirit – Frost Knight]

Both were sanctum-level, and the panel data showed their strength was not to be underestimated.

And when combined with the elemental spirits’ trait of being unkillable and able to reconstruct on the spot, they became even more troublesome.

Moreover, there were likely more than just two high-tier elemental spirits of this level within the entire spiral structure.

Fight their way in?

Just imagining it made Lin Jun feel miserable.

At this moment, however, the Snow Attendant hovered gracefully above Inanna’s head, while the Frost Knight knelt on one knee at her side.

Well… even high-tier frost spirits were acting like complete simps.

That gave Lin Jun even more confidence!

Still—who exactly was casting spells?

After entering, those spellcasting fluctuations were even more obvious!

Was the elemental lord getting impatient waiting for the pink puji’s “favor” and throwing a tantrum?

Probably not—that would be way too absurd.

But surely… there wasn’t someone else here, right?!

……

The Snow Attendant gathered magic between her clasped ice-crystal palms, forming a vicious ice ring that expanded outward violently!

The blood shield Cassinar condensed froze the instant it touched the ring, then shattered. Flying ice shards carved several wounds into his pale cheeks.

These frost spirits were massively empowered in such an extreme cold environment—even he found them difficult to deal with.

Three blood descendants flashed out from behind pillars and partitions, controlling blood to strike the Snow Attendant and interrupt her follow-up casting.

Seizing the opening, Cassinar merged his entire body into the shadow beneath his feet, then burst out directly below the Snow Attendant.

Seven crimson spikes shot from his sleeves, pinning the Snow Attendant to the ceiling.

“Move.”

There was no point in lingering. Cassinar brushed the frost from his face and signaled the blood descendants to continue forward.

“Master, Qina, she—”

Only then did Cassinar notice that the blood descendant skilled in perception—who had come with him—had misjudged the ice ring’s power.

She had chosen to defend with a blood shield like him instead of taking cover in a partition, and was now frozen solid into an ice sculpture.

Cassinar activated bloodline resonance, receiving only three responses.

Clearly, Qina was completely dead.

“Go!”

Specialized interference powder scattered into the air. Four figures quickly vanished up the spiraling staircase, leaving only the Snow Attendant struggling helplessly, nailed to the ceiling.