“Hey, Kerr. You recovered quickly!” Graeme casually greeted his partner, who had returned after spending only a week in bed. “Why are you wearing so much?”

“It’s too cold. My demon sigil doesn’t have that burning ability of yours.” Kerr instinctively tightened his collar.

He had wrapped himself from head to toe to keep the hyphae that had already spread to his limbs from showing.

Fortunately, he had not been infected for long, and the hyphae had yet to reach his face. Otherwise, there would have been no hiding them.

Over the past few days, he had frantically gathered every scrap of information he could find about parasitic hyphae.

The results had left him disappointed.

These hyphae differed from every known form of parasitism, and they had appeared so recently that the Veiled Empire had not had time to develop any countermeasures.

There were theoretically viable solutions, such as resurrection, bodily reconstruction by a Demonborn, or the power of certain Divine Artifacts.

Kerr had no way to obtain any of them.

Even bodily reconstruction, the most accessible option, would require another Demonborn of at least Paragon rank to willingly refine their own Demon Core into an artifact capable of rebuilding his body.

Just when he had reached the end of his rope, a voice had offered him another choice.

After exchanging greetings, Kerr and Graeme resumed their work of rooting out traitors in the city.

Forsaken Alley had been destroyed, but not all the traitors spreading spores had been caught. If anything, the situation was getting worse.

The city lord had even been forced to recall some of his personnel specifically to search for and purge hyphae within the city, making the sterilization efforts outside even more difficult.

After the incident in Forsaken Alley, Graeme could no longer look at an infected person without suspecting something was wrong with them.

He knew that was unfair, but his attitude was changing despite himself.

Fortunately, they found no traitors today.

Kerr could use Mind Magic to sense emotions.

Through physical contact, he could sense a person’s general emotional state. Unless the person had shielded or disguised their mind, Kerr’s magic could sense their emotions.

None of the groups they screened today showed any problems. Graeme began to think the situation might not be as dire as he had imagined. Perhaps the increase in hyphae throughout the city was merely the last desperate frenzy of a handful of traitors.

With their assignment complete, Graeme patted the seemingly exhausted Kerr on the shoulder.

“Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”

After Graeme left, however, Kerr did not return to his quarters.

Instead, he wandered toward a secluded corner of the city.

He passed several infected people along the way, but none of them came forward to trouble him.

Eventually, Kerr reached a corner of the city wall and found a small patch of mycelial mat that had yet to be discovered. He collapsed onto it with a thump.

“I… I did what you told me. I let all those traitors go. Can you really… really help me?”

A voice answered through the Mycelial Network.

“Traitors? If they’re traitors, then what does that make you?”

“Everyone is merely trying to survive. The real traitors are the imperial nobles using the infected as cannon fodder! You and the other infected people are nothing more than unfortunate victims.”

“And as for helping you, of course I can. I’m the future bearer of the Virtue of Honesty!”

The mycelial mat beneath Kerr suddenly stirred. Its hyphae lengthened, stretching toward him until they connected with his body one by one.

His instincts screamed at him to retreat, but he forced himself to remain still.

Mana flowed through the hyphae and into him, bringing about some kind of change.

Kerr pulled open his clothes and looked down at his chest.

At a thought, the hyphae covering his skin gradually vanished, leaving healthy, unblemished flesh in their place.

The sight seemed strangely familiar.

“Is this… Mimicry? You… bestowed a skill upon me?!”

Kerr had unconsciously used the word “bestowed.” In his eyes, granting someone a skill was an act bordering on the divine.

He was not a follower of this unknown entity, so there had to be some significant difference, but the feat still filled him with awe and fear.

“Don’t worry. Even if this city changes hands someday, you’ll remain perfectly safe, as long as you’re not stupid enough to go tattling on me.”

“Oh, and from now on, you can call me Boss!”

With that, the voice disappeared.

“Boss…” Kerr murmured. He recalled the bald Vampire’s strange reaction to that word and began to understand.

As for turning around and reporting everything to his superiors?

During today’s screenings, far too many people had lied to him. The proportion of traitors was clearly already quite high.

Could none of them have thought of reporting the Boss and earning a reward?

Yet after all this time, the authorities still knew nothing about the Boss’s actions. That alone told Kerr what fate awaited anyone who tried to inform on him.

Kerr did not want to die.

He was simply afraid. From a Demonborn perspective, he could not even imagine how they were supposed to win this war.

Fortunately, he now had another choice.

“Why is there a ship coming from that direction?”

The thought that suddenly echoed through his mind made Kerr jump.

“B-Boss? What is it?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I forgot to sever the connection.”

The voice vanished again.

Kerr spent a long while looking around suspiciously. Only when he noticed the sun was about to set did he hurry back to his quarters.

Evan had discovered that if he were not pressed for time, he could conquer these border cities without losing a single soldier. All he had to do was advance the mycelial mats and convert the inhabitants one by one until each city became fungal territory.

Unfortunately, he really was pressed for time.

According to what Fat Sevvy could see, the emperor was now devoting all his attention to the Dragoncliff Dungeon.

Though the emperor had made no public declaration, Evan had enough information to deduce that he intended to settle matters with that Slime.

Evan had to use this window of opportunity to seize the northern fortress cities, then remodel them into bridgeheads for his territory.

Ideally, either the emperor or the Demon King would die while the other was gravely wounded, allowing Evan to claim the spoils of their conflict.

Unfortunately, the Dragoncliff Dungeon lay deep within the Veiled Empire’s heartland, beyond Evan’s current reach. Otherwise, he would have found a way to involve himself.

For now, he would concentrate on taking the territory within reach.

Piglet had already assembled the army. Thanks to the Dwarf artisans, every soldier taking part in the campaign had been equipped with standardized armor, and several War Automata would accompany them.

As soon as the Dwarves made their move, the army would march south and attack from the opposite direction. It would be Evan’s first step toward repainting the map.

At that crucial moment, however, a ship appeared on the sea.

It sailed through the bioluminescent float Puffcaps spreading outward from the Tidal Sanctuary, heading toward the Kingdom of Concord.

More importantly, it had come from the Western Isles, which should already have been swallowed by the Mist. Evan had assumed everyone there had been wiped out.

Not only that, but an old acquaintance was aboard.

“It’s beautiful!” A crew member leaned against the ship’s rail, gazing at the bioluminescent float Puffcaps covering the sea below.

They had been inconspicuous during the day, but now that night had fallen, the ship seemed to be sailing through a river of stars.

She called toward the captain’s cabin behind her. “Lady Bella, won’t you come take a look? It really is beautiful.”

A somewhat feeble voice answered from within.

“No. Call me if any bugs start crawling aboard.”

Inside the captain’s cabin, Bella slumped in a chair. She had already vomited once during the day and was now doing her best to drive those chaotic colors from her mind.

As long as she did not use [True Sight], she would not suffer the same direct visual assault. But after witnessing the true nature of those bioluminescent float Puffcaps, she could no longer deceive herself into ignoring it.

Fortunately, it was only this stretch of sea. Once they reached shore, she would no longer have to think about it.

She had come bearing a mission entrusted to her by Lady Sophia, as well as…

Bella turned her gaze toward the east and murmured, “Father… are you all right?”

Puffcap Hearth.

The afternoon lull had finally arrived.

Bianca, the young clerk, leaned one arm on the counter while tapping a foot against the floor behind her.

“Boss, boss! Do you want to come to my house for dinner after we close today? Mom went out early this morning to buy ingredients for our housewarming celebration. She’s definitely making all kinds of delicious food, so you should come too!”

With the wages Dylan paid her, Bianca had finally managed to buy a home in Mushroom Metropolis. She and her mother no longer had to squeeze into that miserable little shack in the resettlement district.

Their new home was not large, but it was close to Puffcap Hearth. Before Bianca left for work that morning, her mother had specifically reminded her to invite Dylan so they could thank him properly.

“Of course,” Dylan replied with a smile.

“Wonderful!” Bianca cheered. She grabbed a brush and slipped into the backyard to get an early start on washing the Puffcaps.

Once Bianca was gone, Clovis, the imperial spy and Shapeshifter who had been drinking alone in a corner, approached Dylan and shared the latest intelligence he had received.

At long last, there was news of the missing Hero.

The moment Dylan heard the word “Hero,” his previous indifference vanished, replaced by immediate excitement.

Boss had told him that his daughter Bella was aboard the ship believed to belong to the Hero.

At first, Dylan had not been too worried. The Hero had not taken part in the war between Humans and Demonkind, which meant Bella should have been safe as well.

But the war had ended, and as time passed without any word from her, Dylan’s concern had steadily deepened.

Now that news of the Hero had finally arrived, he could hardly contain himself.

“Is that true?”

Clovis nodded. “Of course. The intelligence came from higher up. The Hero contacted the Kingdom in advance, but apparently he isn’t coming in person this time.”

Ever since mycelial mats had spread across the land, the Veiled Empire’s spies had found it increasingly difficult to operate within the Kingdom of Concord.

They either vanished for no apparent reason or became double agents like Clovis.

Spies, however, were not the Veiled Empire’s only important source of intelligence. Traitors served just as well.

With the Archbishop of Light’s relatively discreet communication channel gone, the Hero’s people had contacted the Kingdom directly through a communication crystal linked to the capital, Oathbound City. Unsurprisingly, the hidden traitors had learned of the message.

The thought made Dylan’s heart clench again.

He immediately relayed the news to Boss, only to discover that Boss already knew.

“The Veiled Empire causing trouble? Don’t worry. The Hero isn’t coming in person this time, and the Veiled Empire probably has more important things to deal with right now,” Evan analyzed.

After all, the Veiled Empire was so overwhelmed that it was preparing to abandon its northern territories. A handful of the Hero’s subordinates were unlikely to attract the emperor’s attention.

And even if the Veiled Empire wanted to cause trouble, it would have to ask whether Evan would allow it.

With Boss’s assurance, Dylan finally relaxed.

His thoughts still kept drifting back to Bella, though. Bianca had to call him five times before he noticed her, and he followed her to the housewarming dinner in a distracted daze.

On the western coast of the Kingdom of Concord, the Kingdom had gradually reclaimed the land abandoned by Demonkind.

The docks of a recently restored port were now packed with people.

Armored soldiers stood in orderly ranks on either side of the pier, halberds in hand and their armor gleaming coldly beneath the afternoon sun.

Farther out, thousands of Puffcap handlers and more than ten thousand combat Puffcaps formed a defensive perimeter against any unforeseen danger.

Everyone waited eagerly for the Hero’s messenger to arrive.

“There it is!”

A ship built in the distinctive style of the Western Isles appeared on the horizon, cutting through the waves before finally docking at the pier.

A rehearsed cheer rose from below as the officials responsible for the reception straightened their formal attire.

The gangplank descended, and a figure appeared beside the ship’s rail.

She was a young woman dressed in adventurer’s gear, her long dark hair tousled by the sea breeze.

The cheering grew louder.

Bella, however, looked distinctly unwell.

She stood at the top of the gangplank, gripping the railing so hard that her fingers gouged several grooves into the wood.

Her gaze swept across the docks and the hyphae visible everywhere below.

Farther away, vast numbers of Puffcaps surrounded the harbor.

They reminded her of the last Puffcaps she had seen, and she could not help wondering whether these looked the same beneath the surface.

Even among the nearby soldiers, and among the officials approaching to greet her, one man bore visible traces of hyphae across his face.

Bella was not the only one disturbed. The other crew members also stared in astonishment at the man’s obvious infestation. What made it even stranger was that everyone around him seemed completely accustomed to it.

Bella could not understand what had happened on the mainland or how a single war had left it like this.

Had no one tried to stop this thing from spreading?

The welcoming officials noticed her poor complexion but mistook it for seasickness.

They found it somewhat odd that the Hero would send a subordinate prone to seasickness, but seasoned officials knew better than to let such doubts show on their faces.

They approached her with polite smiles. One of them lived in symbiosis with the hyphae.

Bella stared at the hyphal symbiote who had stepped forward to greet her.

White hyphae threaded through the flesh of his cheeks, forehead, and jaw.

They had been arranged with meticulous care, yet the sight still nearly stopped her breathing.

The man smiled and extended his hand.

Bella knew she ought to take it. That was the most basic courtesy.

Yet her suspicions continued to mount.

Would it be the same chaos?

Not only the Puffcaps, but the mycelial mats below and the hyphae growing across these people’s faces. Would they also be composed of those twisted masses of chaotic color?

She did not dare activate [True Sight], afraid she would lose her composure on the spot.

Remembering that she represented Lady Sophia, Bella steeled herself and firmly clasped the man’s hand.

The instant they touched, something like an instinctive defensive response was triggered. Silver light flared within Bella’s eyes.

Those radiant silver eyes seemed capable of seeing through everything. The three officials before her froze in surprise, staring at the beautiful, almost sacred sight.

Bella saw a world of chaos as vast and terrible as the Abyss.

Everywhere she looked, not a single untainted place remained.

Even the man standing before her was mostly composed of chaos, with only a few patches of the pale yellow belonging to an ordinary Human mixed within it.

What had happened to this world?

“Urgh!”

Bella doubled over and vomited directly onto their still-clasped hands.

For all their years of official service, none of the three men had ever encountered anything like this. The hyphal symbiote simply stared at the vomit covering his hand, his mind utterly blank.

The crew members aboard the ship were equally baffled. Bella had always been reasonably dependable, so none of them understood what had gotten into her this time.

The docks immediately descended into chaos.

Watching old Dylan’s daughter openly through the mycelial mats, Evan could not help wondering if it was really that disgusting.

Bella had lost weight.

Neither the grueling voyage at sea nor the fierce, repeated battles against the Mist in the Western Isles had managed to weaken her.

But after coming ashore, she had found mycelial mats carpeting the land and mushrooms rising everywhere along the road from the port to Oathbound City.

Whenever she used [True Sight], the sky remained the sky, but the earth ceased to be earth. The entire world became a churning, writhing mass of chaos.

Meals were the worst. Watching other people happily put those things into their mouths destroyed her appetite.

The obvious solution was to stop using the skill.

Unfortunately, whenever Bella encountered something profoundly threatening, her body activated it on instinct. There was no thought or judgment involved. It came even more naturally than breathing.

Priest Samuel had once told her that this instinct was proof of her talent for battle.

In the past, it had helped her discover monsters disguised as allies, detect creatures hiding underground, and evade invisible curses.

Now that instinct was nearly killing her.

She had vomited almost the entire way and was utterly exhausted.

There was no question that these mycelial mats were dangerous.

By now, she had also learned why mycelial mats and Puffcaps had spread everywhere. She understood that the world had been forced into its present state by necessity.

Fortunately, after vomiting her way through most of the journey, she was finally beginning to adjust.

She had not grown accustomed to the chaos itself, but her body seemed to have accepted that this was simply what the world looked like now. It no longer reflexively activated her sight every time she encountered hyphae.

At last, Bella and her companions arrived at Oathbound City.

Even from a distance, she could see how greatly it had changed. The city had become the central node of the New Defense Line.

Its walls had been extended in both directions, reaching all the way to the limits of her vision. Countless runes densely covered their surface.

She recognized some of them as the Kingdom of Concord’s standard defensive runes for reinforcement, antimagic, and detection. Priest Samuel had taught her most of what she knew about them.

Of course, she could only recognize them. Bella had no talent for magic herself.

Other runes appeared to have been mixed among them, drawn from a system she did not recognize. From the impression they gave her, she suspected they belonged to the Elves.

“If only the Western Isles had defenses like these…”

Bella thought of the small defensive arrays in the Western Isles, each capable of protecting little more than a slaveholder’s estate, and sighed.

Those wretched slaveholders had cared only about their own interests and safety. They had never spared a thought for anyone else on the islands.

Fortunately, they were all gone now.

Some had vanished into the Mist. Others were merely believed to have vanished into it.

Grand Duke Lorenzo personally welcomed Bella at the city gates.

He paused when he saw how haggard she looked, then approached with genuine concern.

“I heard you went to the Western Isles. Are conditions there truly so harsh? If the Hero and her people need any supplies, you need only ask. We will do everything we can to help.”

* * *

“No, Your Grace. It isn’t what you think…”

One of the officials accompanying Bella hurried forward and quietly explained the situation to Lorenzo.

Afterward, Bella was placed in a clean residence.

In this case, “clean” meant that there was not a trace of mycelial mat nearby. Even the garden outside contained ordinary plants instead of mushrooms of every conceivable variety.

After suffering for the entire journey, Bella nearly wept with joy at the sight.

There, she and Lorenzo began discussing official business.

Throughout the war between Humans and Demonkind, the Mist had continued advancing and even spread onto the mainland. Conditions in the Western Isles had been worse still.

The islands had not been completely wiped out, however. Though the losses had been devastating, the people of several islands had drawn on generations of experience fighting the Mist and repelled it time and again, barely managing to survive.

The Mist had receded after the war, but although those people had survived, the Western Isles had been reduced almost entirely to ruins.

Worse, they were still periodically attacked by insects emerging from the sea.

It was then that Sophia arrived in the Western Isles and gathered the survivors around her in the Hero’s name.

Priest Samuel had originally intended to rebuild the Western Isles and turn them into a force capable of supporting the Hero. That would have been much safer than returning to the Kingdom.

Unfortunately, events had not unfolded as he hoped. Before the reconstruction was even half complete, the Mist that had already withdrawn began pressing forward once more.

It was advancing slowly this time, but anyone could see that the Western Isles were no longer fit for habitation. They would have to consider returning to the mainland.

To prevent traitors from revealing the Hero’s whereabouts, Bella had come alone to secure a direct means of communication with Grand Duke Lorenzo.

The official discussion went smoothly. Lorenzo also mentioned that the Elves wished to send people to assist Sophia, and Bella promised to convey the offer to the Hero when she returned.

Once they had finished discussing official matters, Lorenzo suddenly asked, “The skill responsible for your illness during the journey is called True Sight, correct?”

Bella nodded.

“In that case, I know someone who may be able to offer you useful advice.”

“Advice for me? Who?” Bella asked in confusion.

“Her name is Solaryn. She is a warrior of the Church’s Wings of Judgment, and like you, she possesses the True Sight skill. She should be able to help you.”

Bella’s eyes immediately brightened.

She remembered Priest Samuel mentioning that someone else in the Church now possessed [True Sight]. Apparently, that person was Solaryn.

“I would be grateful for an introduction, Your Grace. Thank you.”

It was not long before Bella met Solaryn and saw a pair of eyes glowing with the same silver radiance as her own.

To Bella’s astonishment, Solaryn kept her eyes silver at all times. They had already been that way before she entered the clean estate.

Everything outside was covered in hyphae.

After they exchanged introductions, Bella could not stop herself from asking about it.

* * *

Solaryn smiled. “Forgive me for asking, but your True Sight hasn’t reached LV8 yet, has it?”

“I don’t think so.”

Bella had no way to check her own skill levels in the Western Isles, and Lady Sophia could not keep her informed of every change. As a result, Bella did not know the exact levels of her abilities.

She had only possessed [True Sight] for a few years, however. There was no chance she had already trained it beyond LV8.

Solaryn leaned closer, her silver eyes fixed intently on Bella.

“Use True Sight more often. It will show you the truth of all things! Believe me, what you see is not filthy corruption. It is salvation sent by the Lord, embracing all things!”

“Everyone will be saved.”

After Solaryn left, a chill lingered along Bella’s spine.

She suspected that the endless masses of chaotic color had driven the woman mad.

Would Bella eventually become like that too?

Afterward, Bella met many more people.

There were Elven envoys, scholars from the Relic Society, and commanders responsible for leading the army.

All of them were potential future allies of the Hero.

The last person she met was Lady Elara, the celebrated war hero.

The instant Bella shook Elara’s hand, [True Sight] activated instinctively once again.

She saw a shade of pink so intense that it deepened into violet, along with a blazing crimson that enveloped Elara’s entire body and seemed poised to consume everything around her.

Bella instinctively retreated two steps. When the silver light faded from her eyes, however, there was no fire to be seen.

Elara took no offense at Bella’s discourtesy. She merely said, “Bella, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Still shaken, Bella asked, “Is it about the Hero?”

“No. This has nothing to do with the Hero. I came to see you.”

Following Boss’s instructions, Elara handed the bewildered Bella a recording crystal.

The recording crystal turned slowly on the table, projecting a palm-sized image of light.

Dylan sat on the left, beaming. On the right was a middle-aged woman Bella did not recognize. Her gentle features were relaxed, and she wore the same affectionate smile as she looked toward the center of the image.

A young girl sat between them.

A large cake rested before the three of them. The girl divided the bright red mushroom decorating it into three pieces and gave one each to Dylan and the middle-aged woman, making old Dylan smile even more broadly.

“Father?!”

Bella could hardly contain her delight at suddenly receiving news of him. She had planned to ask Grand Duke Lorenzo to help locate her father before she left, only for the answer to come looking for her.

Yet the warm, harmonious scene in the projection also filled her mind with questions.

Had her father started a new family?

Did he even have another child now?

Bella could not decide whether to be happy or worried. All she could do was ask, “You know my father?”

Elara nodded.

Bella drew a deep breath and pointed at the woman and child in the image, her voice tightening.

“Then… who are they?”

To her surprise, Elara tilted her head, looking faintly confused.

“Isn’t she your younger sister?”

The words struck Bella like a hammer.

Her expression froze. It took her several moments to force out a reply.

“She… might be.”

Elara genuinely had no idea. She knew Alden better than the retired Dylan, and she seldom took any interest in matters unrelated to Puffcaps. How could she possibly know anything about Dylan’s family?

“Oh, Dylan is in Oathbound City now.”

“Really?” Bella’s head snapped up.

“Yes. He should be here soon.”

The words had barely left Elara’s mouth when the door opened a crack.

Bella practically sprang from her seat and whirled around.

“Father!”

Then she saw a Puffcap squeezing its plump, rounded body through the narrow opening.

Puffcap. Puffcap.

Puff Four walked in, circling the strange woman who had called it “Father” the moment they met.

Bella sat down again in embarrassment and turned her face away, trying not to look at the writhing mass of chaos in Elara’s arms.

The door opened behind her once more.

Bella had learned her lesson. This time, she did not leap up immediately, but turned to make sure first.

Then she saw that familiar figure.

Dylan.

Bella’s vision blurred for a moment.

Compared with several years ago, her father looked… more vigorous?

The hyphae had healed his old injuries after infecting him. Under Boss, he never lacked food or drink and had little reason to worry.

In particular, ever since Norris arrived at the Mycelial Garden, Boss had hardly ever used Dylan for amusement anymore.

His warm, comfortable retirement at Puffcap Hearth had indeed made him look younger with every passing day.

Bella, however, thought of the recording she had just seen.

Clearly, her father’s new family had brought him a wonderful life. Her nose stung, and a trace of desolation settled over her.

The next moment, Dylan swept her into his arms.

The embrace came so suddenly and with such force that Bella was pulled entirely against his chest. Her face pressed into the hollow of his shoulder, and the impact left the tip of her nose aching.

“Bella… Bella…”

Dylan’s voice trembled.

He had prepared so many things to say, but now his throat had closed with emotion. All he could do was repeat his daughter’s name in a broken whisper.

Boss had told him that Bella had escaped the war by remaining at sea, but Dylan had never stopped worrying about her.

Even though he had learned in advance that she was returning safely, the sight of Bella standing alive and well before him sent tears streaming down his face. They soaked into her hair.

“Father…”

Her voice was hoarse as well.

At his daughter’s response, Dylan held her even tighter.

Feeling how thin she had become made his heart ache.

“How did you get so thin…?”

At the same time, Dylan once again thanked his good fortune for bringing him to Boss.

Without Boss, he and Bella would probably have met again only in heaven.

The reunion between father and daughter moved Elara as well. She could not help wiping at the corner of one eye.

Puff Four sat on her lap with its cap tilted and its mycelial tendrils folded together, entirely unable to understand why these two Humans were crying.

If they wanted to talk, they could communicate remotely through the Mycelial Network. If that was not enough, they could even ask the Mycelial Sovereign to establish a visual connection!

Still, it remembered the task Boss had assigned it.

Puff Four slid down from Elara’s lap. A mycelial tendril reached into its body, rummaged around, and pulled out a palm-sized disposable item.

Then it crushed the item.

A mana fluctuation spread through the room.

As it passed over Elara, a mantle of flame flickered around her for an instant, while the pink Puffcap remained entirely unaffected.

When the mana fluctuation swept across Dylan, however, it immediately broke through his [Mimicry].

His ordinary Human face blurred, revealing Dylan’s true appearance.

Green skin covered in hyphae.

Sensing that something was wrong, Bella went rigid. Her mouth fell open as she stared at her father, at once familiar and strange, and at the hyphae and green skin covering him. A roar filled her head, blotting out every thought.

The thing she had feared most since coming ashore had happened.

Her father had become one of those things too.

And somehow, his version even came with distinctive green skin!

“Urgh!”

She promptly vomited what little breakfast she had eaten all over Dylan’s chest.

Nearby, Puff Four balanced the recording crystal on its cap, faithfully preserving this touching reunion as well.

In the end, Dylan managed to explain everything away by claiming the infection had mutated and granted him certain skills.

Bella had little choice but to accept his explanation.

Though they had finally reunited, Bella still had a mission to fulfill and could not remain for long.

When the time came to part, she stood at the city gates, her face still somewhat pale.

Suppressing her discomfort, she gripped Dylan’s hand tightly.

“Father, when I return, I promise I’ll find a way to remove the hyphae from your body!”

Dylan had already changed into fresh clothes. The corner of his eye twitched at her words.

“No… that really isn’t necessary…”

But Bella had already released his hand and swung into the saddle.

She looked back at Dylan and waved vigorously.

“Father, wait for me! And give my regards to my little sister!”

Hoofbeats receded into the distance, raising a trail of dust.

Dylan remained where he was, watching her shrinking figure until he finally came back to himself.

“What little sister?”

Although they had parted again less than half a day after reuniting, the meeting had finally resolved the worry Dylan had carried for years.

After bidding Bella farewell, the faint smile never left his face.

His only regret was that Bella seemed to harbor some prejudice against hyphae and Puffcaps.

He decided that when she returned, he would properly explain the benefits of hyphal symbiosis.

It would be even better if Bella could enter into symbiosis with the hyphae herself. Dylan believed that under Boss’s protection, she could live a safe and happy life no matter how chaotic the world became.

* * *

Seeing that Dylan was still immersed in the joy of their reunion, Evan decided not to tell him the bad news just yet.

Bella’s voyage back to the Western Isles would probably not be peaceful.

The Kyth, who had been avoiding the Puffcaps until now, were active again.

A green cap floated across the vast sea, rising and falling with the waves.

The cap was exceptionally large, measuring nearly ten feet in radius, though the body beneath it was no bigger than an ordinary Puffcap.

Its only other unusual feature was the number of mycelial tendrils it possessed. Twelve trailed beneath it like the tentacles of a jellyfish.

The cap suddenly contracted, folding shut like an umbrella until it formed a soft, streamlined cone with only a sharp blade protruding from its tip.

The folded cap compressed sharply, and all twelve mycelial tendrils swept backward at once. The Puffcap shot forward, crossing a great distance in an instant.

It repeated the motion until it reached maximum speed, streaking through the water like an arrow. It was far faster than any sailing ship.

The next moment, the “arrow” struck its target.

A cloud of purple blood suddenly erupted through seemingly empty water, carrying chunks of flesh with it.

Then [Refractive Invisibility] failed, revealing a marine worm nearly the size of a whale. Its body slowly sank toward the seafloor.

Having killed it in a single strike, Evan did not linger. He accelerated the jellyfish Puffcap again and fled into the distance.

This whale worm was merely one of the Kyth’s marine transport units. Apart from its enormous size, it possessed almost no combat ability.

Evan had attacked it because it was the weakest point in the encirclement. Large numbers of combat-form Kyth guarded every other direction.

Realizing that their ambush had been exposed, the Kyth abandoned concealment. Swarms of insects surged after the jellyfish Puffcap.

They were all marine varieties of Kyth, and they came in many forms.

There were sand worms adept at burrowing into the seabed, fan worms capable of attacking with sound waves, and soft-bodied varieties with countless joints that allowed them to move through the water at tremendous speed.

Not one of them could catch the jellyfish Puffcap.

Natural evolution had its limits. How could its creations compete with a speed-specialized Puffcap Evan had designed by combining the strengths of multiple species?

Evan had dispatched this scout jellyfish Puffcap to gather information after learning that people still survived in the Western Isles.

He had not expected the Kyth to grow bold enough to attack the Puffcaps first.

These insects were simply too vicious and warlike. Evan had not provoked them in the slightest this time. He had merely been quietly spreading bioluminescent float Puffcaps across Kyth territory, yet the Kyth had taken it upon themselves to start a third war!

The jellyfish Puffcap was not the only target. Scattered fighting had also begun along the edges of the bioluminescent float Puffcap mycelial mats.

More precisely, the Kyth had begun waging a guerrilla war.

It sent swarms of small insects to destroy and devour the float Puffcaps.

The moment combat Puffcaps approached or new Puffcaps began forming on the mycelial mats, the insects retreated en masse beyond the mats’ range and hid far away in the deep sea.

Their previous battles had apparently taught the Kyth roughly how far Evan could control large groups of Puffcaps. It also understood that the mycelial mats were the foundation of the Puffcaps’ combat strength.

In an environment as open as the ocean, protecting every last patch of float Puffcaps was impossible.

The Kyth exploited that weakness by launching constant attacks from every direction.

Evan began testing countermeasures of his own.

He tried planting Puffcaps in ambush and leaving newly generated Puffcaps in a partially formed state until the moment they were needed.

Unfortunately, Kyth Eyebeasts possessed excellent reconnaissance abilities. Now they were also supported by a new variety of fan worm capable of Echolocation.

Most ambushes were discovered. The few that succeeded caught only small, poorly composed swarms, and destroying those hardly counted as a major victory.

Evan then began poisoning the float Puffcaps with hallucinogens, corrosive agents, Neurotoxin, and anything else he could devise. Large numbers of small insects died on the spot after taking only a few bites.

The Kyth soon adapted by sending larger insects to devour the float Puffcaps instead.

Their greater size and powerful vitality allowed them to swim back into Kyth territory before the poison killed them.

As far as the Kyth was concerned, any corpse it could recover did not count as a loss.

Evan then used the ability granted by the [Thrall Maker] title to drop a colossal Puffcap directly into battle.

That dealt the Kyth a crushing blow.

The moment the colossal Puffcap appeared, it churned the surrounding currents into chaos. Many of the insects could not even escape the turbulence and were forced to fight back, only to discover that they could not inflict damage faster than the colossal Puffcap’s Regeneration could heal it.

Only the strongest swimmers and the relatively enormous Kyth managed to escape. The rest suffered catastrophic losses.

That kept the Kyth quiet for several days.

During that time, the float Puffcaps spread even farther.

As their territory expanded, Evan directed the excess mana produced through Photosynthesis at the center toward the perimeter, allowing the mycelial mats to grow faster and faster.

Whenever the float Puffcaps reached a new area, the Puffcaps cleared away every fleshy growth the Kyth had left in the sea.

To protect its homeland, the Kyth had no choice but to grit its teeth and attack again.

Then another colossal Puffcap dropped into its midst and gave it another beating.

This time, however, the Kyth did not give up. It grimly resumed its attacks against the float Puffcaps in other directions.

That was how it discovered that Evan could not deploy colossal Puffcaps continuously.

By measuring the intervals between their appearances, the Kyth soon determined that the ability’s cooldown was approximately ten cycles of sunrise and sunset.

The war settled into a new pattern.

While [Thrall Maker] was on cooldown, the Kyth sent large forces to destroy the float Puffcaps with everything they had.

Once [Thrall Maker] was ready again, the Kyth switched to scattered groups that harassed the perimeter and prevented the float Puffcaps from spreading. Whenever it occasionally assembled a somewhat larger swarm, it did so only to bait Evan into using the skill.

Under the Kyth’s relentless suppression, the spread of the bioluminescent float Puffcaps across the sea reached a shifting stalemate.

Their total area was still slowly increasing, just nowhere near as rapidly as before.

Evan was not particularly concerned.

After all, the forces fighting the Kyth represented only a fraction of his strength.

Once the war in the north ended, Evan could transfer some of his Puffcap handlers here and have them cooperate with the naturalized Fishfolk. That fragile balance would collapse immediately.

If the Kyth had no other cards to play by then, it could wait obediently to be broken down and recycled.

Still, while Evan was not worried, he was certainly annoyed.

Insects were everywhere in the sea now, while ordinary marine life had become pitifully scarce.

Whenever the jellyfish Puffcap spent even a short time basking in the sun, the Kyth discovered and surrounded it again. As a result, its mana reserves had never once filled completely.

Fortunately, its tremendous endurance and ample margin for error had kept it from being caught so far.

The Kyth remained cautious around the float Puffcap mycelial mats, where Evan could drop a colossal Puffcap into battle at any moment.

Beyond the range of the mats, however, the Kyth attacked the lone jellyfish Puffcap with everything it had, as though it would never rest until it devoured the creature.

Ridiculous. Chasing it did not mean they could catch it.

Slow, stupid insects.

Rumble.

A muffled sound rose from beneath the sea.

It was low and deep, like the heartbeat of the abyss.

The jellyfish Puffcap maintained its high-speed course, its mycelial tendrils trailing long wakes behind it, while Evan directed his attention downward.

A trench lay below.

The lightless fissure stretched across the seafloor, its rocky walls nearly vertical. Bubbles occasionally rose from its depths in unsteady streams, swelling larger and larger as they ascended until they burst not far beneath the jellyfish Puffcap, sending ripples through the water.

An earthquake?

Evan’s thoughts raced.

Or an undersea volcanic eruption?

A second later, he had his answer.

An enormous column surged from the depths of the trench.

It forced the seawater aside, dragging turbulent currents and countless shattered bubbles in its wake as it drove straight toward the jellyfish Puffcap.

It was not especially fast, but it was simply too large.

There was nowhere to dodge.

As it drew closer, the column’s true form became clear.

It was an enormous tube whose inner walls were densely packed with tiny, pointed teeth. Layer after layer angled inward, each tooth writhing faintly like one of countless hungry mouths.

It was not a column.

Was it a mouth?

The Status Panel appeared.

[Species: Kyth Heart]

[Level: LV78]

[Skills: Leviathan, Cognitive Coordination LV10… Mental Expansion LV8, Mind Magic LV8…]

[Titles: Sin of Gluttony (All Things Are Food)]

The “column” engulfed the jellyfish Puffcap, then contracted inward.

The jellyfish Puffcap was killed in action.

[Virtue of Spirituality]

“Hello? Death, are you there?”

“I’d like to report an insect for breaking the rules!”

“I had it fleeing all over the place before, and it even lost its territory. How did it level faster than me, the Hero? How is that fair?”

Unfortunately, the Virtue maintained its usual pitiful performance today.

It did absolutely nothing.

What the hell? Was the Kyth some darling of fate from a bard’s epic?

Had it fallen into a trench and inherited the legacy of an ancient titan?

Forget its level. Just look at that Status Panel!

[Sin of Gluttony]

[Leviathan]

Another new ungraded skill!

The Kyth Heart’s Status Panel had appeared on that column, which meant the column was part of its body.

Judging by the skill’s name, perhaps [Leviathan] represented gigantism taken to its absolute limit.

Evan had seen only part of it, not the creature in its entirety. But if even one of its tentacles was that enormous, its complete body had to be many times larger than a colossal Puffcap.

Evan had wondered why the Kyth still had so few insects after nearly stripping the sea bare.

Apparently, it had fed everything to the Heart!

That damned Kyth had stolen the Puffcaps’ resources to fatten itself up and even gained an ungraded skill in the process!

In other words, [Leviathan] should have belonged to Evan. That thieving insect had merely taken it for itself.

He would have to find a way to reclaim it.

As for [Sin of Gluttony]…

It certainly looked powerful. The Kyth had probably leveled so quickly thanks to its effects.

Honestly, though, Evan did not particularly want it.

Death seemed intent on delivering both Sins and Virtues into Evan’s hands, which made him instinctively want to do the opposite of whatever Death intended.

But when he eventually broke down the Kyth Heart, the Sin would probably appear on his Status Panel automatically…

What a headache. Was that part of Death’s plan too?

Evan hated the sort of person who hid in the shadows and manipulated everything from behind the scenes, especially when they insisted on speaking in cryptic riddles.

After adding two more crosses beside Death’s name, Evan put the irritation out of his mind.

For now, the Kyth was hiding deep within the ocean trench, somewhere beyond Evan’s reach.

His efforts to spread the float Puffcaps had also been obstructed by the Kyth forces, temporarily slowing their advance.

In short, although Evan now knew where the Kyth Heart was, he had no time to deal with it yet.

Still, he probably did not need to worry about it rapidly growing stronger in the meantime. There was hardly anything left in the sea for it to eat.

The Kyth had two choices. It could remain in the ocean, subsisting on scraps until Evan had time to deal with it, or it could come ashore.

If it landed in the north or south, it would find itself in Evan’s territory, and warfare on land was his specialty.

If it emerged along the central coast, watching the Kyth and the Veiled Empire tear each other apart would be entertaining too.

Hmm…

If only he could drive the Kyth toward the Veiled Empire.

The fighting around the float Puffcap mycelial mats continued across the sea, with each side striking and countering in turn. Yet these were only minor skirmishes before the true storm.

“Quick! Hard to starboard! Get us out of this area!”

The helmsman desperately spun the wheel, veins bulging across his forehead and his entire face flushed crimson. The rigging snapped in the wind as the listing ship carved through the water, leaving a white wake along the edge of the bioluminescent float Puffcaps.

“We’re finished! We’re all finished! Why did these insects suddenly become so active? It wasn’t like this on our way here!”

A young crew member crouched beside a barrel in the corner, clutching his head. His voice rose into a shrill, cracking wail.

“We’re all going to die! I don’t want to die!”

“Don’t give up!”

Bella swung her sword and split a large insect from head to tail just as it climbed over the rail.

Purple fluid splattered across her body and ran down her cheeks. She did not even have time to wipe it away.

“Pick up your weapon! Guard the stern! Don’t let them break through!”

Another insect lunged aboard from the stern. Six segmented limbs hooked into the deck as its mouthparts opened, revealing concentric rows of tiny, pointed teeth.

Bella stepped forward and drove her sword through its lower jaw and straight through its skull.

The creature convulsed twice before collapsing limply onto the deck.

Five or six insect corpses already lay at her feet.

Bella had clearly not inherited old Dylan’s abysmal natural ability.

She had been only Gold rank when she first encountered the Hero. After several years of battle and hardship, she had firmly established herself at Diamond rank.

She could cut down entire swaths of ordinary insects by herself.

But even that strength was nowhere near enough to change the situation before her.

More segmented limbs were already climbing over the edge of the deck.

At first, a swarm of insects had simply appeared and begun ravenously devouring the bioluminescent float Puffcaps.

As vast patches of float Puffcaps vanished, darkness reclaimed the nighttime sea.

It was not long, however, before the insects noticed Bella’s ship and surged toward it.

More and more insects swarmed aboard. The crew could not kill them as quickly as they climbed over the sides.

Bella saw three segmented limbs hook into a young crew member at once and lift him from the deck, suspending him in midair.

He struggled desperately and reached for anything he could grasp, but his fingers found only empty air.

Then he disappeared over the rail.

The shrieking swarm drowned out the splash below.

Then a second sailor was taken, followed by a third and a fourth.

Some roared as they put the last of their strength into one final swing, only to be dragged down by even more insects.

Others wept in corners with their arms wrapped around their heads, still crying for their mothers as they were hauled away.

A few made no sound at all when the insects caught them. They simply accepted their fate in silence.

Bella never stopped swinging her sword.

She no longer knew how many she had killed.

Thirty? Fifty? A hundred?

Her arms had gone numb. Purple fluid obscured her vision, and the deck beneath her feet had become so slick that she could barely stand.

She simply kept swinging, slashing, and thrusting, cutting apart anything that came near her.

Yet fewer and fewer people remained at her side.

The defensive line retreated from the deck to the stern, then from the stern to the entrance of the cabins.

Finally, they withdrew into the long, narrow corridor beyond.

The passage was so cramped that only two or three people could stand abreast.

Ordinarily, that would have been a disadvantage. Now it became their final barrier. The narrow space suppressed the insects’ overwhelming numbers, forcing them to squeeze inside one at a time.

No one took comfort from it.

They all knew this was merely their last futile struggle, delaying a death that would inevitably come.

Clang!

After one more swing, Bella’s longsword, already covered in notches, finally snapped in two.

The broken blade lodged in the carapace of the insect before her, while the creature raised one of its bladed limbs high above its body.

Her companions shouted and tried to drag her backward, but it was already too late.

As Bella watched the bladed limb descend, she felt the sting of tears.

Not for herself.

She had failed the Hero. She had been unable to complete the task entrusted to her, and her death would probably cause Lady Sophia considerable trouble.

Then there was her father.

They had only just reunited. Before leaving, Bella had confidently promised to find a way to cure the hyphae covering his body, only to die at sea immediately afterward.

Her father would be devastated.

At this point, she no longer expected a Hero to descend from the heavens and save her.

Still, the thought that she now had a younger sister who could care for their father in her place made Bella feel slightly better.

She closed her eyes.

“Little sister… I don’t even know your name yet. Please take care of Father for me…”

Screeeech!

The insect’s blade never fell.

Instead, a piercing tearing sound came from directly in front of her.

When Bella opened her eyes again, she saw the insect being dragged away by something.

It struggled frantically, driving the blades on its limbs deep into the floorboards in a desperate attempt to hold on. Even so, it was slowly pulled backward.

A tearing sound followed.

Several severed insect limbs fell outside the door, only to be swiftly coiled in mycelial tendrils and dragged away as well.

At the same time, the ship began to tilt as though it had suddenly sailed into a storm.

“Wh-what’s happening?” someone asked in a trembling voice.

No one could answer.

Bella gripped her broken sword and forced herself to venture out first.

Not a single insect remained on the deck. Only trails of purple fluid marked where they had been dragged away.

In the distance, at the edge of the float Puffcap mycelial mat, an unimaginably enormous Puffcap rose from the sea. Half of its fungal body towered above the water while its rotating mycelial tendrils churned the ocean around it.

Countless insects could be glimpsed within the turbulent currents, struggling desperately against the pull.

“That’s… a Puffcap too?”

After a moment of stunned disbelief, Bella abruptly came to her senses and shouted to the crew behind her.

“Quick! Hard to port! Otherwise, it’ll drag us in too!”

Western Isles, Silver Sands Bay.

The mountaintop estate once occupied by a powerful slaveholder had long since been razed. In its place stood a towering structure whose gray-white walls were visible from far away.

The entertainment district at the foot of the mountain had also been cleared and replaced by uneven rows of simple huts, with cooking smoke curling from their roofs.

The island’s population was now even larger than it had been before the Mist’s devastation.

After all, Sophia had resettled every survivor in the Western Isles at Silver Sands Bay and on several nearby islands.

Ships of every size lay anchored throughout the bay. Some were newly constructed, while others had been repaired. Their masts stood as dense as a forest, and more vessels were being built around the clock.

A little over three miles east of Silver Sands Bay, two Tigerkin crouched among the rocks of a much smaller, less conspicuous island, pulling in a fishing net.

One had dark fur and a powerful build. The other was tall and lean, with a small piece missing from one ear.

Both bore the brands of slaves, but those belonged to the past. In the Western Isles of today, no distinction remained between slave and free.

“Pull more slowly. Don’t tear it,” the dark-furred Tigerkin said without looking up. His thick fingers deftly freed fish from the netting. “If you damage it again, we’ll all go hungry.”

“I know, I know,” his notched-eared brother replied. When he saw their catch, however, he could not help grumbling. “There are fewer every day. This net used to bring up half a bucket. Now there isn’t enough to cover the bottom.”

The dark-furred Tigerkin said nothing.

He gave the net a hard pull, lifting its pouch from the water. It contained only a few fish no larger than his palm and several half-dead crabs.

“We can’t go on like this,” the younger brother continued. “You know how much food those shipwrights consume every day, but the insects have eaten all the fish. Where are we supposed to find enough food? Even the Mermaids on the neighboring island can’t do anything about it!”

He leaned closer and lowered his voice considerably.

“Brother, there’s no way everyone can leave together by ship. Some people will be abandoned in the end. We need to make plans while we still can.”

“Shut up!” the dark-furred Tigerkin barked, startling his younger brother. “The Hero said everyone would leave together, so that’s what will happen! Even if circumstances force someone to remain behind, the Hero saved our lives. What’s wrong with giving them back?”

The notched-eared Tigerkin sullenly fell silent.

His brother patted him on the shoulder. “Cast the net again. We haven’t reached the point of starving yet…”

“Brother?” the younger Tigerkin asked in confusion.

His brother motioned for silence. His rounded ears twitched as he listened intently to their surroundings.

Splash.

Once the younger Tigerkin quieted, he heard the unusual sound as well.

Something was approaching through the shallows. Its steps were faint, almost completely concealed by the waves, but the Tigerkin’s keen hearing could just distinguish them.

The younger brother looked around but saw nothing.

Having fought the Kyth many times before, both Tigerkin immediately understood what that meant.

The insects had come ashore again.

Just as the two Tigerkin prepared to move, a light flared atop the distant tower.

The radiance condensed into a single line and crossed more than three miles of open water in an instant, striking a point about thirty-three feet in front of them.

Boom!

The rocks exploded, and purple blood sprayed through the air.

An insect’s body appeared where the light had struck. Its six claws reached wildly toward them, but its head was gone. The headless body swayed before crashing heavily onto the rocks, sending purple blood splashing almost to their feet.

Before the Tigerkin could marvel at what they had witnessed, more footsteps sounded through the surrounding water.

Only then did they realize that the insects had encircled them without their noticing.

This time, however, the creatures were not attacking. They were retreating into the sea.

The shore soon fell silent again. The arrow radiating mana gradually dissipated, leaving only an insect corpse behind.

The notched-eared Tigerkin stared openmouthed at the still-twitching body, the uncast fishing net clutched in his paws.

“That… that…”

He turned westward. The distant tower remained motionless where sea met sky, as though nothing had happened.

“Lady Sophia’s magic arrow?” His voice wavered. “From that far away… She can actually…”

The dark-furred Tigerkin crouched and prodded the insect’s corpse with a claw.

The carapace was as hard as iron and did not yield.

He withdrew his paw, wiped the purple blood on his trousers, and stood to gaze at the tower.

“She is the Hero,” he said