The brave fairy seemed to fully understand her intention.
Its small head nodded furiously like pounding garlic, emitting a rapid “gege” sound from its throat.
It desperately pushed the stone in its hand forward, pointing to its own chest with the other hand, then to Faluxil, and finally towards the darkness.
Its body language screamed a single meaning: This stone, for you, please, go there!
“Boss, it seems to want to give us this Prophecy Stone as a reward for delving deeper.”
Jiang You analyzed softly beside her, his player mindset instantly interpreting the scene as a quest handover.
“This is a typical guiding NPC, issuing us a quest and providing a key quest item.”
Faluxil ignored his gaming terminology but agreed with his assessment.
However, a larger question haunted her mind: What kind of threat could compel a creature that knows the future to willingly hand over such a precious treasure and plead for outsiders to intervene?
A powerful monster? Impossible.
There was no reaction from the level wall here, meaning the system deemed even threats at the [Shadowfang Breaker] level manageable—unlikely to pose a danger to herself.
“[Shadowfang Breaker].”
Faluxil’s voice carried an unquestionable command.
“Fall back twenty meters and maintain vigilance. For the next three minutes, do not disturb me, no matter what you see or hear.”
Jiang You hesitated for a moment, but wisely chose silence.
He nodded, his figure flickering as he silently retreated into the distant shadows, twin blades already in hand, eyes warily scanning the surroundings.
Only then did Faluxil crouch down again, meeting the brave fairy’s gaze at eye level.
She reached out her hand, palm up, making a gesture of request.
The fairy unhesitatingly placed the warm stone into her palm.
The moment the stone touched her skin, a strange sensation spread through her body.
It was warm, like body heat.
Inside, a mysterious energy pulsed like a living thing in her palm, faintly resonating with her mental power.
She closed her eyes, shutting out all distractions.
Her mental force became an invisible probe, cautiously exploring the stone’s interior.
“Boom—!”
The instant her mind touched the stone’s core, her consciousness was yanked into a swirling vortex of bizarre lights by an irresistible force.
The darkness before her eyes vanished, replaced by countless flickering, broken, and ever-shifting images—like reflections seen through rushing water.
It was a premonition filled with endless possibilities.
The first clear scene was deeper within the cave.
A massive cavern, far vaster than the current hollow.
From the dome, countless huge, twisted stalactites hung like arms.
On the ground and walls, a repulsive forest teeming with bizarre vitality grew.
It was a forest of giant mushrooms, each emitting a yellow-green phosphorescence.
Their caps were huge and fleshy, slick with viscous fluid and lined with gill-like folds.
The stalks were thick and twisted, fibrous in a way disturbingly similar to human muscle.
Worst of all, the tops of these mushrooms pulsed in unison like beating hearts.
With each pulse, thick clouds of spores sprayed from the folds beneath the caps.
The entire cavern’s air was saturated with this lethal spore mist.
Within this eerie Abyssal Mushroom Forest, several figures wandered aimlessly.
Faluxil’s perspective drew closer.
She saw one figure clearly—a girl clad in the standard magical girl light armor of the Arslan Kingdom.
Her face was vaguely familiar to Faluxil, perhaps a senior who had vanished during a reconnaissance mission into the Forbidden Zone years ago, when Faluxil herself was just a child dreaming of becoming a magical girl.
Now, this magical girl, long recorded as fallen in battle, staggered through the spore fog with zombie-like movements.
Her eyes stared forward blankly, pupils dilated into a ghastly milky white.
It was controlling her.
No— they were controlling them.
The scene twisted again.
Faluxil saw another fragment of the future.
This was the future seen by the brave little fairy.
It had failed to wait for rescue and was eventually invaded by spores.
Its body convulsed in agony on the ground, an equally sinister sprout slowly breaking through the flesh atop its head and stubbornly growing out.
Its eyes brimmed with endless fear and unwillingness, but in the end, all light faded, leaving only empty white.
This was why it sought outside help at any cost.
Rather than passively wait to be devoured by this fungal bed and become a walking corpse, it placed its only hope in these unexpected intruders.
The scene shifted again.
This time, their mixed squad clashed in fierce battle with the parasitized puppets.
Magic flares and sword gleams crisscrossed the cave, yet the puppets fought with reckless abandon, and the spores on their bodies were terrifyingly infectious.
She saw a young magical girl scratched on the arm by a puppet’s claw; yellow-green mycelium instantly spread across the wound.
The girl screamed in agony, and within seconds, her gaze grew vacant.
She saw even Zhao Yingyue’s Crimson Dragon Guard, during close combat, accidentally inhale an excess of spores, their movements slowing, a gray haze clouding their once-sharp eyes.
This battlefield was not a contest of strength, but a plague where the slightest carelessness led to contamination.
The timid fairy had foreseen this possible annihilation and was overwhelmed by terror at their involvement.
The final image froze at the deepest part of the cavern.
There, in the midst of countless pulsing humanoid mushrooms, grew a colossal, Mother Fungus—its cap covering nearly a third of the cavern’s dome.
From its roots extended countless thick, vein-like mycelia, connecting every subordinate mushroom in the cave, forming a vast network.
“Shua!”
Faluxil’s eyes snapped open, hand jerking away from the stone as she gasped for breath.
A cold sweat beaded on her forehead, her face paler than the cave walls.
“Boss?!”
Jiang You noticed her distress instantly, flashing to her side, his face filled with worry and shock.
“What did you see?”
Faluxil looked up.
The icy blue calm in her eyes was gone, replaced by a suppressed fury and deep sorrow.
“I saw… hell.”
She said, forcing herself to steady her emotions.
“A fungal monster that can parasitize and control minds…and…our lost companions…turned into those things’ puppets.”
Jiang You sucked in a cold breath.
He instantly grasped the gravity of the situation.
No wonder! No wonder there was no level wall!
These fungi and puppets might not be strong individually, perhaps weaker than ordinary monsters.
But their horror lay in their infectiousness.
This was a mechanic kill, not a stat kill!
Faluxil rose slowly, gripping the stone tightly.
She glanced at the hopeful fairy, then at the one trembling in fear.
Turning, she faced the deep darkness.
Her sword, Frostsnow, rang with a clear dragon cry as endless chill erupted from her, freezing the ground beneath her feet into solid ice.
“Prepare for battle.”
“We will raze this place to the ground.”
“Not a single spore can remain.”