Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 379 - 371: Insufficient Resolve

Blood continuously spilled from the corner of Seldan’s mouth, the intense pain in his chest almost consuming him.

As a Mage, being ambushed at close range by a Ranger whose strength already exceeded his own, he had no time to react.

However, more heart-wrenching than the physical pain was the shock from the betrayal of a dear friend.

He tightly grasped Peragel’s arm holding the arrow, his bloodshot eyes fixed firmly on the other, squeezing out a question between clenched teeth, "Why...?"

"All of this... is for the ’boss’s’ great cause..."

Yet as he uttered these words, two rows of uncontrollable tears slid down Peragel’s eyes.

"What... what am I doing? No... I must do this, it’s all for... for..."

Peragel retreated two steps in bewilderment, releasing his grip to clutch his head, seemingly caught in intense inner struggle.

Seldan widened his eyes in shock, then appeared to understand something.

He endured the intense pain, even neglecting to heal his wound, decisively Casting spells at Peragel!

"Awakening Technique!"

"Will Protection!"

"Purification Technique!"

He didn’t know if these spells would be effective; after all, he wasn’t a rare Spiritual Series specialized Mage. He could only try every possible method to break the control.

Not far away, Puki, focused intently on arranging the magic ritual, remained unresponsive.

To Lin Jun, Peragel’s life or death was entirely at his whim.

Even if complete parasitism led to a decrease in combat strength, he could still follow commands. And the heavily injured Seldan probably couldn’t deal with even this Puki now.

From the moment he was stabbed, he no longer posed a threat to Lin Jun.

However...

Watching Peragel’s struggling appearance, Lin Jun was somewhat speechless.

Can a few words, a few actions really awaken self-will?

Was it because he didn’t use professional hypnotic techniques?

Or was Peragel’s own willpower too strong?

A completely parasitized Puppet, in terms of combat power and flexibility of movements, was far inferior to a state that retained partial self-awareness.

If possible, Lin Jun didn’t want to lose Peragel, a quality combat force that could move freely in the Elf Realm, right now.

No choice, facing this confused "child," Lin Jun had to personally guide: "Peragel, don’t be confused! All this is for that great cause!"

"For... the great cause?" Peragel unconsciously repeated the words in his mind, "What... great cause?"

???

Where did all these questions come from?

How would Lin Jun know what great cause he had?

But this answer seemed very important to Peragel; without a clear goal, he might lose control, and then he’d have to have him completely grow mushrooms.

Using half a second to swiftly weave a sufficiently noble-sounding goal:

"It’s all to save this world! Ilo’s and Seldan’s paths were wrong; only by following my footsteps can we change that destined future!"

Is there a grander "great cause" than saving the world?

Also, this goal should align well with the ideals of former "Ark" members.

"Yes... to save this world..." Sure enough, after accepting this setting, Peragel’s emotions gradually calmed, and the confusion in his eyes began to fade.

However, Seldan would not sit idly by!

He could only kneel on the ground, using the last bit of strength to fiercely grab the corner of Peragel’s cloak, his blood-stained hand leaving a bright red trail on it!

"If you want to kill me... I don’t care!" he gasped, each word laced with blood foam, "Without you, I would have died countless times! But... Peragel! Wake up! Don’t be a fool controlled by a low-level Illusion Technique, manipulated at will!"

Peragel looked at his dear friend at his feet, the hand holding the blood-stained Arrow trembling incessantly.

"Why do you still hesitate?" Lin Jun’s voice echoed in his mind, "This is all for saving the world! These are merely ’necessary sacrifices’..."

However, it was clear that Peragel’s enlightenment was far from reaching such heights.

When the object of sacrifice was his life-and-death comrade, he showed strong resistance.

Seeing this, Lin Jun had to change strategies.

Telling him that Seldan was merely blinded by Ilo’s erroneous theories. Temporarily controlling him, once he witnesses the "truth" personally in the future, he will naturally come to his senses, just like the transformation Peragel himself experienced!

This explanation finally smoothed Peragel’s feathers.

Under Seldan’s despairing gaze, Peragel was no longer confused, delivering a swift hand chop to knock his dear friend unconscious.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Puki was not idle.

It had already arranged a simple Abyss Magic ritual.

With the activation of the ritual, a crack was indeed torn open in the consciousness layer of the Divine Wood.

Somewhat resembling its own Crystal Core, yet not entirely the same environment!

This crack in consciousness couldn’t directly perform physical Teleportation, but provided Lin Jun with an entry to "search for permission switches" within Divine Wood.

The Abyss Magic Ilo used previously, which was much more complex, was clearly the carefully adjusted "official version."

And now Lin Jun could only rely on himself to slowly explore. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Fortunately, the selectable permissions here were not as numerous as the countless stars like in the Crystal Core.

Perhaps because most permissions remained shielded, the options needing attempts were not many, but at least within an acceptable range.

Lin Jun decisively plunged his consciousness in to commence exploration, and his actions were very "rough."

In his own Underground City, every button pressed, Lin Jun would wait a while, carefully observing any changes throughout the Underground City.

If something seemed amiss, Lin Jun would promptly restore it, fearful of accidentally hitting some "Underground City Self-Destruction" button, blowing away his years of efforts.

Divine Wood Dungeon wasn’t his own home; even now seeking permissions relied on Divine Wood itself being dormant, like sneaking in through a window to find a key in someone else’s house.

Clearly, time was more important, breaking something wasn’t a concern for Lin Jun.

He tried every control option he saw, using them in batches and then observing.

And soon, the side effects emerged.

Above the Divine Wood Dungeon, the large barrier that had been absorbing daylight into the dungeon suddenly stopped.

For a moment, except for the spiral edge areas where nature still shone light down, most of the dungeon’s space plunged into darkness.

Only some mushrooms continued emitting Fluorescence...

Yet the rough rummaging had advantages!

In a certain moment, Puki, Peragel, and Seldan disappeared from their original location, appearing in the Abyssal Space.

Lin Jun found the "switch!"