Chapter 489

Chapter 489: The Dying Forest

The forest was shrouded in yellow mist, filled with mushrooms and growing mushrooms everywhere. Jesse knew that people here would definitely be poisoned to varying degrees.

Wallis in front had slowed down, but the footsteps behind them, which were causing the ground to shake, showed no signs of easing.

Jesse walked around a mushroom that looked like it had died quickly, then turned his body to glance back. He saw a swollen eye ball moving in the deep shadows of the forest, staring at him.

The green scales around its eye were covered in white, hairy sores. As the shadow moved forward, it looked like a defeated, muddy heap constantly surging ahead.

The Green Dragon had lost one wing, leaving only a lifeless wing standing tall like a tattered sail of a ghost ship in the mist. Jesse understood why this dragon no longer existed in the game. It seemed like this creature wouldn’t survive much longer; in a dozen years, it might have sunk without a trace in this corrupted swamp of sorrow.

Nevertheless, facing such a terrifying monster spreading poisonous mushrooms throughout the forest was still foolish. He held his magic wand, trying hard to keep up with the others. The mushrooms around were becoming scarce, giving hope of escaping danger.

After running for who knew how long, Jesse felt his sprint becoming more mechanical, his legs seemingly numb. The sturdy priest beside him was coughing nonstop, his face turning waxen. The dragon behind them was silent, with no more eerie howls, muffled curses, rumbling footsteps, or breaking trees… until Wallis, who was leading the group, suddenly stumbled into a water pool with a splash, followed by a series of shocked cries. Only then did everyone notice the swamp had turned quiet.

Dunn pulled the female dwarf, almost drowned in the knee-deep pool, out of the mud, panting heavily against a nearby tree.

Erlan sat down heavily beside them, counted the people, and then let out a sigh of relief, asking, "What kind of creature was that, after all?"

"A Green Dragon," Jesse said. "A real Green Dragon."

"Not a mushroom demon?" Surena asked.

As soon as Jesse heard the word "mushroom," he remembered the foul-smelling fungi growing everywhere in the forest, making him feel nauseous all of a sudden.

Not only him, but Aubergine who had been silent all this time couldn’t take it anymore and started vomiting by the stream nearby. Hubert said, "Those mushrooms are poisonous."

He took out two bottles of opaque medicine from his bag and asked, "Is anyone feeling unwell? I have antidotes here."

"I also have antidotes," Erlan came to Jesse and asked, "How are you feeling? This antidote was made by Ursula."

Jesse shook his head and said, "I’m fine. Go ask Wallis, I think she ate a lot of mushrooms."

Wallis was indeed in a bad state. After being rescued, she kept staring fixedly at the ceiling, gasping heavily, and mumbling something under her breath.

It was only after she drank two bottles of antidote that she started to feel a bit better. Hubert was by her side, reciting prayers and touching her forehead, neck, and chest with his hands, reminding Jesse of how the priests helped cleanse necrotic poisons at the Holy Light Cathedral.

At that moment, a short figure emerged from the bushes, it was the Felhound that Wallis had summoned, and it was still alive!

Indeed, Felhound had an absurdly high resistance to various types of magic, so walking through the poisonous mushrooms should have been a breeze for it.

But this Felhound was dragging something – the skull of that Eredar Wizard!

This head is really big, even bigger than half of Felhound’s body, yet the Felhound keeps following it without being caught by the corrupted Green Dragon.

Aubergine wants to take away the skull from the Felhound’s mouth, but the Felhound refuses to give it up.

"That hound will only give the treasure to its own master, Mr. Aubergine." Gacresse said, "So we have to wait for Ms. Wallis to wake up and command it herself."

Gacresse’s voice was steady, demons are demons.

"The dragon of kindness in the dream, right? I only know that this time, I might have nightmares for a few nights when I go back." Dunn sat under a muddy tree panting.

Hubert had just put Wallis to sleep, he looked at the hunter with a bewildered expression and said, "I just heard about it."

"We have no supplies now, no time or conditions to wait for Wallis to wake up." Aubergine said, "We must rest a little and then hurry to Stonard, not knowing if that monster will catch up at any moment…"

Saying that, he drank a bottle of Mana Potion, lifted a pouch and began to chant a spell, a faint Arcane glow appeared in his hand. As he cast the spell, the pouch swelled up slowly.

"I don’t eat mage’s things." Hubert said, "I’d rather go hungry."

"Just put more effort into walking," Aubergine said as he took out a piece of hot bread from his bag. Dunn stared at the bread and couldn’t help but swallow some saliva.

"Why worry about that," Dunn took a piece of bread and bit into it, surprised, and said, "There’s raspberry jam inside."

"I like raspberries," Aubergine looked at the others and asked, "Anyone else want some?"

"You do know raspberry season has passed, right Dunn?" Hubert reminded, "Even the harvest festival was two months ago."

"Not only do I know that raspberries are not in season, I even know that normal bread wouldn’t be baked by a mage like you, you silly head," Dunn frowned and said.

"I’ll have a piece," Jesse said.

Aubergine nodded, handed a piece of bread to Jesse, who upon taking it, found the bread to be of good quality, soft and sturdy, with jam inside and nuts on top, almost as good as the bread sold in Dalaran.

Everyone in the adventure team knew that mage’s food lacked real nutrition, only providing a boost from Arcane influence, but they didn’t care at the moment.

Aubergine then shared the bread with Surena and Erlan, and the scent of the bread filled the air, easing the tense atmosphere somewhat.

"What should we do with this Felhound?" Surena took a bite of bread and asked, "We can’t take it back to Stonard."

"When the time comes, the priest and I will go in to find supplies," Aubergine said. "You all can rest outside with Wallis, so you don’t have to worry about the succubus being spotted by the Kirin Tor Mage inside."