Mushroom Lord in the Underground City

Chapter 567 - 557: The End

Iron Jaw led the main force of the mercenary corps along with Tanaka’s clone to dive underwater, but a part of the crew stayed on the ship to keep watch.

After all, the ship and their remaining employer still needed protection.

Being betrayed by the employer, or even getting killed?

Iron Jaw hardly considered the possibility of that.

After all...why would they?

On this entire ship, apart from the dozen or so Pukis wasting magic potions and the two employers, everyone else was on their side.

If they had no ill intent, the employer should thank their lucky stars, how could they get betrayed by them?

If something really happened to them underwater, the brothers left on the ship definitely wouldn’t let it slide easily.

However, the now-dead Iron Jaw didn’t know.

Just shortly after they entered the Underground City, those crew members who he thought "wouldn’t let it slide" had already united to turn the ship around and sail back in the direction they came.

They didn’t know what had happened at all.

Their memories lingered on the celebration after the last mission, and when they came to, they found themselves adrift on a vast ocean.

It was just a few of them, along with two equally confused outsiders.

At first, they surrounded the two outsiders, trying to coerce information out of them.

Since they were outsiders, even if they hadn’t done anything, it wouldn’t hurt to interrogate them a bit.

But the other party pulled out a pass with the seal of an Empire Marquis.

That stopped the mercenaries from acting recklessly, as they didn’t want to stir up such trouble.

Soon after, they encountered monster attacks appearing out of the mist.

Although not many, and swiftly dealt with, the unsettling feeling made everyone tense.

They lacked manpower and dared not dive into the waters casually, while the environment left them uneasy.

So a few Snake-men discussed and decided to find a way to dock, leave the dangerous waters, and then figure out what had happened.

And so, the ship sailed away from those waters early on.

When Louisa rushed out of the Underground City and returned to the sea surface, there was nothing but vast mist and an empty sea, not even a trace of the ship could be seen.

In the ship’s cabin at that moment, Tanaka was clutching his severed arm tightly, his body trembling uncontrollably from the intense pain and lingering dread.

"That Puki...it was different, completely different! Subordinate Control, this skill indicates someone is controlling it, doesn’t it? Who is it?"

Jiro shook his head.

"Not saying anything again." Tanaka cursed under his breath, but seeing the white fur scattered around the Foxman’s feet, he realized it might be some cost of the other’s ability.

Watching Jiro move a step closer to the bald-tailed fox, he swallowed other curses that were on the tip of his tongue, just gritting his teeth as he awaited the sharp pain from his severed arm to slowly fade.

Unbeknownst to him, this time, Jiro truly didn’t know.

In countless premonitions, Jiro could only be sure some will existed behind the Fungal Mat and Puki.

He had even heard its voice in the Fungal Network, and knew all the parasitized called him "Boss."

But what exactly was that will? What race did it belong to? Where was it hiding?

He knew nothing.

All he could be sure of was, if he did nothing, in two years, the entire world would meet its end at the hands of that entity.

This time, he couldn’t completely break the seal, but under the circumstances, there was no room for a perfect ending.

Activating his ability so frequently, his body was reaching its limit.

[Restraint]was not meant to be used in such succession.

Forcing each activation was fiercely draining his life.

Jiro clearly felt that if he continued like this, he might not live much longer.

But...he had no choice.

Some things, if he didn’t do them, no one else would ever be able to.

The sun slowly dipped below the horizon, and the exhausted Jiro fell into sleep right on time.

Perhaps due to over-exhaustion, or maybe deeply buried worries finally bursting forth, he had a vividly clear nightmare. In it, he returned to that terrifying end he had glimpsed upon first using [Restraint]...

...

"Mom, when will dad be back?"

"Dad went with the uncles to fight the bad mushrooms, he’ll be back later. Xiao Yu, eat your dinner obediently first."

"Oh..."

Jiro stood in the shadows nearby, watching the Lizardman mother and daughter.

The mother’s face forced calm, but there was inextinguishable sorrow in her eyes.

The "dad fighting the bad mushrooms" she spoke of was likely a member of the Fourth Assault Corps that recently met total annihilation.

And the "dinner" she mentioned was just half a loaf of bread so hard it could hurt one’s teeth.

Since discovering the true purpose of the Mushroom Garden and breaking with it, people were no longer able to obtain food from the Fungal Mat; the food crisis loomed over everyone.

But this torment wouldn’t last much longer.

The last sanctuaries on the Continent would soon fall.

The giant bell atop the tower suddenly tolled, the deep bell sounds crushing everyone’s hearts.

Puki was coming!

Before the bell stopped, the pale golden barrier that protected the fortress from the Fungal Mat’s erosion shattered crisply before everyone’s eyes, turning into a rain of golden dust.

A blood-red sky surged from the horizon, rapidly staining the heavens.

Seated on a throne of blood, overlooking this tiny fortress, was the Marshal of the Mushroom Garden dragging the world into a sea of flames—Crazy Blood Louisa.

Beneath the blood canopy, the densely packed Puki army stretched endlessly, their numbers far exceeding any recorded war in history.

Behind the massive army, a shadow as large as a mountain slowly moved, its sheer silhouette enough to make the bravest warriors’ knees go weak.

And on Jiro’s side, only this isolated fortress remained, along with a final army of no more than a thousand mixed remnants from various races.

In this suffocating moment of despair, it was the Demon King who stood forth!

He charged toward the blood canopy with immense magic power.

The destructive aftermath of battle swept like a storm, and Jiro had to grip the wall tightly to avoid being blown away.

Yet, the Demon King, with only three bodies fused—and the third not fully complete—was unable to defeat Louisa.

In the stalemate, the Black Dragon King, Jida Envoy, Great Magic Mushroom, Sword Saint Mushroom...the generals under the Mushroom Garden joined the fray one by one.

Under their combined assault, the Demon King could not hold for long, his body eventually diffusing into countless sticky droplets, scattering across the earth, unable to reform.

In the dream, Jiro collapsed heavily to the ground, his fingernails digging deep into the soil.

Unending remorse nearly tore him apart; it was his actions—too late, too late—that failed to release all the Demon King’s seals in time, allowing the world to fall into this irredeemable state.

In a daze, he heard the Lizardman girl beside him, sheltered in her mother’s embrace, joyfully exclaim in her clear voice:

"Mom! I see dad!"

...

"You...do you know how precious a Palace Level combat strength is? Even in an emergency, couldn’t you cut off his other arm? Why break his head? And you didn’t even find the ship..."

Lin Jun muttered complaints while controlling Knight Puki, poking at Little Pig’s forehead with a tentacle casually.

Meanwhile, "Crazy Blood Marshal Louisa," at this moment, crouched docilely in front of Puki, slightly bowing her head like a little girl being scolded after doing something wrong, not daring to argue back.