At the Entrance to the Underground Cavern, the Crimson Dragon Guards and the magic girls had already set up a perimeter, sealing off the area completely.
They stood grim-faced, gripping their spears, watching the darkness of the cave with wary eyes.
Faruxiel, Zhao Yingyue, [Shadowfang Breaking Army], and [Can Bunny Be Eaten Because It’s Cute] stood closest to the entrance, the atmosphere oppressively heavy.
“The situation is clear,”
Faruxiel was the first to break the silence, her voice cool and sharp, though it could not dispel the clammy heat and unease lingering in the air.
“We’re not facing a simple enemy, but a plague.”
“This is a fungal monster called the ‘Heart Devourer’ recorded in ancient texts. Its spores have an extremely strong parasitic and infectious power. Once inhaled, they rapidly invade the nervous system, turning the Host into a puppet that knows only slaughter and spore propagation. We cannot allow a single spore to leave this cavern.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping across every person present, her eyes filled with irrefutable resolve.
“Therefore, I have decided to abandon the large force sweep. The fewer people enter the cavern, the lower the risk of unexpected exposure and infection. We will use an elite strategy—a small team will go deep inside and destroy it at the source.”
“I agree.”
Zhao Yingyue stepped forward, her flame-red qipao blazing in the darkness, full of power.
“Against something this insidious, more people would only get in the way.”
Faruxiel nodded.
“Select the two most elite magic girls. With us four, we form a six-person team. The rest will guard the entrance and secure our retreat route.”
“How do we destroy it once inside? A fire would clean it up fastest.”
Zhao Yingyue immediately suggested the most direct approach.
“That’s also the next problem,”
Faruxiel’s expression grew even more grave.
“The spore density here is extremely high, reaching a dangerous threshold. In a sealed cave, it’s formed explosive dust. If we use large-scale fire magic or any open flame, we’ll blow ourselves and the entire mountain sky-high. The shockwave would scatter the spores across the whole Forbidden Marsh of the Demon Domain, with unimaginable consequences.”
At her words, everyone felt a chill.
Explosion? It was a danger none of them had considered.
“Then… what about wind?”
[Can Bunny Be Eaten Because It’s Cute] mumbled, lollipop in mouth.
“Use a super-strong air current to suck them all up and send them into the sky to be killed by the sun?”
“A good idea, but equally dangerous,”
Faruxiel explained patiently, though she still wasn’t quite used to the player’s wild thinking.
“We don’t know if there are other small cracks in the cave. Using wind magic blindly could cause spores to escape along air currents, bringing endless disaster.”
“Then what do we do?!”
Zhao Yingyue couldn’t help but raise her voice, frustration leaking through.
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!”
“No,”
Faruxiel’s tone was clear.
“Fire won’t work. Wind won’t work. But we have another choice.”
Her gaze dropped to the hand resting on her sword hilt.
The longsword, named Frostsnow Resonance, had an ice crystal gem in the guard, pulsing cold visible even to the eye, resonating with her intent.
“If we can’t ignite them with high temperatures, nor scatter them with wind… then we freeze them with absolute low temperature.”
In an instant, everyone understood her intent.
“Absolute zero…”
Jiang You murmured.
“Theoretically, yes. Low temperatures could reduce spore activity to a minimum or even full dormancy. They’d freeze in the air, settle like dust—no explosion, no scattering.”
“Not just freezing spores,”
Faruxiel added.
Her tactical concept was taking shape rapidly, crystal-clear in her mind.
“My Frostsnow Resonance can create a sustained advancing ‘Silent Ice Domain.’ In this domain, air temperature drops to the point of making rock brittle. The puppets controlled by the fungus—mainly flesh and blood—would be frozen into ice statues instantly and lose all ability to move.”
Zhao Yingyue’s eyes lit up.
“So we wouldn’t need to touch them physically at all!”
“Exactly.”
Faruxiel nodded, her plan now fully formed.
“Our tactics will be completely restructured. No more infiltration, no more direct assaults, no beheading—only purification. With me as the core, we’ll advance step by step, turning the entire cavern into an ice tomb from the outside in.”
She began assigning roles, her voice calm and decisive.
“First, formation. I’ll be at the front, as the releaser and advancing core of the Silent Ice Domain. This will drain my mental strength greatly, so I need absolute focus and protection.”
“Zhao Yingyue, you and the two elite magic girls will form a triangular defense, shielding me in the center. Your job is to make sure nothing interferes with me, so I can keep the Silent Ice Domain stable without distraction.”
“Yes!”
Zhao Yingyue and the two girls answered in unison, solemn.
“Second, the cleaner.”
Faruxiel’s gaze shifted to Jiang You.
“[Shadowfang Breaking Army], your task is crucial. You’ll act in the safe rear of the advancing ice domain. The puppets frozen into ice statues may be immobilized, but the Mycelial Core inside them may not be dead.
I need you to use precise attacks to shatter each ice statue, especially the head and back of the neck—the core parasitic zone of the fungus. Remember, don’t get close. Keep your distance.”
“Leave it to me.”
Jiang You licked his lips.
“I’ll smash them so hard their… Matriarch Fungus won’t recognize them.”
“Third, the variable.”
Faruxiel’s eyes finally fell on [Can Bunny Be Eaten Because It’s Cute].
“Your Summoned Beast will be our ace in this operation. I need you to give up the big combat Summoned Beasts. I need a special kind of helper.”
“Eh? Special?”
The pink twin-tailed girl blinked in surprise.
“Yes. You should have Summoned Beasts that don’t need to breathe—those made purely of Elemental or rock. They should be immune to spore parasitism.
I need you to summon one as our scouting vanguard. When we face forks or complex terrain, it can investigate for us, minimizing our own risk.”
[Bunny]’s eyes sparkled as she immediately grasped Faruxiel’s intention.
“Leave it to me! My Rock Golem Guardian may not be good at much, but it’s tough, obedient, and doesn’t need to breathe!”
“Good.”
A faint smile finally appeared on Faruxiel’s face.
A battle plan, linking each piece and minimizing all risks, was now fully formed.
She, Faruxiel, was the center of control and purification.
Zhao Yingyue and the two magic girls, the mobile fortress and shield.
Jiang You, the deadly and efficient long-range cleaner.
[Bunny] and her Summoned Beast, the indispensable scout and engineer.
A perfect elite formation.
“Finally,”
Faruxiel raised the Prophecy Stone in her hand.
Under the cold light of her magic, it glowed softly.
“This stone lets us foresee deadly dangers at critical moments. I’ll keep part of my mental strength on it—it’ll be our alarm.”
She took a deep breath.
It felt as though all the chill of the cavern gathered around her.
“Everyone, check your gear. Regulate your breathing. In five minutes, we begin purification.”
“Remember our objective: Destroy the Matriarch Fungus. Purify the Cavern. Leave no survivors—leave not a single spore.”
—
At the same time, in the War Games Chamber of the Pascal Military Academy.
The light was greedily devoured by the domed ceiling and heavy drapes.
The only, yet brightest, source in the space was the giant Tactical Sand Table in the hall, glowing with eerie blue magic.
Nilo had been standing here for six hours.
His perfectly pressed Mentor Uniform had gained faint wrinkles from the long vigil.
Beneath his golden hair, the blue eyes—usually gentle and smiling—were now sharp as a hawk’s, locked onto the ever-shifting tactical points on the sand table.
The blue light point representing Faruxiel had stopped somewhere in the Forbidden Marsh of the Demon Domain, having temporarily split from the main force along with Zhao Yingyue and two green dots representing Outsiders, seemingly carrying out a special mission.
Around them, several green points symbolizing Outsider squads patrolled wider zones like loyal hounds, probing and scouting.
Through the military’s ‘Sentinel Program,’ Faruxiel used the Outsiders’ undying bodies as expendable minesweepers, minimizing regular army casualties when exploring the unknown.
As a tactics instructor, Nilo immediately recognized the chilling potential of this plan.
It overturned traditional scouting and recon tactics, wielding a near-unfair advantage to the extreme.
From a purely military perspective, it was a stroke of genius.
Yet every time he saw those green Outsider dots blink out from high-level monster encounters, only to reappear far away at the Starfall Tower, unease and confusion surged within him.
It felt as if the noble art of war—glorious, sacrificial, and cunning—he had studied all his life was suddenly being crushed by a higher, colder, and more ruthless set of Game Rules.
He was now struggling to establish a theoretical model for this new kind of warfare, analyzing its pros and cons, and predicting its far-reaching impact on the future of battle.
As he focused, the Black Iron and Aged Wood Door of the chamber slid open without a sound.
A chill colder than the midnight wind swept through the hall.
Even the blue magic glow of the sand table seemed to fade before it.
Nilo whirled around, his heart skipping a beat.
In the doorway’s shadow stood a tall, thin figure.
He wore a black papal robe embroidered with the Crescent Moon and Nightstar Pattern.
The hood’s shadow concealed the upper half of his face, leaving only a pale, gaunt chin and colorless lips like those of a dead fish.
He stood like a nightmare from the abyss, exuding an eerie aura of burnt incense and icy stone coffin.
Pope Feink of the Lishen Church.