Chapter 377: Floral Dungeon Part 13

Joshua and the rest of the group watched the cloud of dust and spores for a few minutes just to make sure Joshua had taken down the creature that was keeping them trapped in the room. They weren't sure they had killed it until they all finally felt the familiar feeling of gaining a surge of experience that let them know the fungal plant like creature had been killed. Soon after that all of the fungi in the room started pouring out less spores which made it so that the death trap like room was no longer as threatening as before. It would have only been a matter of minutes for the spores to surround and infect the group at the earlier pace, but now they had at least half an hour before that would happen at the rate the spores were feeling the room now.

Even if that was the case they were still on a timer before they would be forced to rush into the boss room. The tunnel they had taken to get all the way to the death trap room in the first place was still closed shut, so there was no turning back at this point. Katsumi quickly let up on both of her talismans causing the large turtle shell like barrier to break apart and the freezing blizzard that surrounded them to die down. Henry and Brook also stopped channeling their spells as well causing all of the madness around the room to stop.

Joshua turned to look towards the giant doors that would lead to the boss room and noticed how the spores all seemed to avoid that location for the moment which was a clear sign that they would have an easy time getting through the moment they decided to go ahead. He then turned to look back at the spot where he had attacked the fungal plant hidden in the wall and noticed it's body was falling apart into dust and spores like most of the portion of the wall that he had torn down in his attack.

"Well that was an interesting way to take us by surprise before we get to the boss room. I was starting to think there would be nothing to stand in our way through this entire area." Adrian said while glancing towards the destruction Joshua had caused.

"I can't stand these kinds of things. Give me a good fight any day, but forcing me to figure out a trap like this just irritates me." Victor said as he put away his sword and turned back to look at Joshua. "What took you so long to find the thing anyway? I thought it would be easier for you with all that aura stuff you can do."

"The spores were effecting my aura sense. Even when I charged out there to kill the plant they were eating away at my aura shroud when I jumped through them. If they can affect the aura on the outside of my body then they could definitely effect the aura on the inside of my body as well. Plus who knows if they can effect mana. Either way it wouldn't have been good if those spores were able to get to us." Joshua said with a sigh.

"If that's the case then I'm willing to bet when we come across the boss of the dungeon it will be able to shoot similar things towards us as well. Except it'll probably be even more dangerous in some regard." Julia said with a thoughtful look.

"That's a bet I definitely wouldn't take." Jayce said jokingly, but he was clearly still focused on their current situation. Ivan nodded in agreement, but remained silent on the whole matter as he waited on the group to decide to move forward.

"Should we head on to the boss? We didn't expend too much energy when fighting this boss so a short ten minute break should be enough for us all to gather our bearings." Henry said getting nods of agreement in return. They all carefully made their way around the ice on the ground making sure to avoid any spores that could still be effective in the area. When they reached the giant doors they were pleased to see that none of the spores around the room seemed to be coming in their direction, so they were fine to catch a breath as long as the entire room wasn't filled up.

When everyone had caught their breath and were rested enough for the upcoming fight, Joshua took the lead and started to push open the giant doors that would lead them to the boss of the dungeon. The moment he opened the door a foul stench assaulted all of their noses as a murky brown coloring seemed to fill the dimly lit room ahead of them. "Damn that's awful." Marcus said as he pulled up his shirt to cover his nose. "What the hell is in there that could make the place smell so foul?"

I don't know, but you can practically see how bad the place smells with the dirty haze surrounding the place." Henry said with a frown. "I don't think any of us will be able to concentrate well enough to fight with such a heavy odor affecting our senses for a prolonged period of time. We'll need a way to keep some clean air for ourselves."

"Can you encase us with a wall of wind or something to keep all of the filthy air away?" Adrian asked as he looked towards Henry.

"We wouldn't be able to leave the range of the spell if we did something like that so it wouldn't be a very good idea for us to use." Henry said while shaking his head. "Any of you guys have a better solution in mind?"

"I think I have a way that could help out." Brook said getting everyone's attention. "I could create a bubble filled with clean air around all of our heads also a far larger bubble that could surround our group if needed. Henry would just have to clear out the filthy air around us for a moment for me to do something like that."

"Seems like as good an idea as any." Joshua said with a smile before he looked back towards the giant entrance that stood in front of them. "Since all the filthy air is rushing out here it should be possible to create a small vacuum of clean air for a short period of time around us so that Brook can set up all the bubbles."

"I think Tank could do the same for my large beast companions if needed. So don't worry about them." Lilly explained getting a subtle nod in response from Brook.

"Alright then hold your breath and head inside. Be prepared for anything." Joshua said before taking a deep breath of the clean air outside of the room in front of them and heading in to see what the boss they were going to have to face was going to end up being like. When they entered through the doors they had to walk through a short little tunnel connecting both of the rooms, but it was nowhere near as long as the tunnel they had to go through to get all the way to the death trap in the first place. All of them could hold their breaths for a fairly long period of time with all of the super human stats boost they had gained as explorers so they weren't worried about air at the moment. It would only be when they were in the middle of a long fight that it would become difficult to keep such pressure on their lungs.

When they exited the short tunnel they found themselves in a much larger dome shaped room that was filled with nothing, but fungi all around it. The walls were covered in fungus, the floor was covered in fungus, and the ceiling was covered in fungus except at the center where there was a decent sized whole that allowed a large ray of light to pour into the room brightening the area up a bit. The brownish haze had only grown stronger as they entered the room and Joshua could see that this was a byproduct of some of the fungi in the area breaking down and creating the foul stench.

Joshua tore his attention away from that scene and looked at where the largest portion of the ray of light was landing in the center of the room. In that spot he could see a massive flower that's center was more than large enough for Cinder to lay on at her full size. This put Joshua on edge since he could sense a large amount of power and corruption coming from the flower. The moment they stepped into the room the tendril like vines along the center of the flower started to rise up from the floor as its long petals began to lift up as well causing several pieces of fungus to fall off on to the floor beneath it.

The flower had the same coloring as most of the fungi in the room. It had a crimson red shade to it with some darker tendrils running along it. The vines that were coming up from the center of it were a reddish brown and there had to be at least a dozen vines wiggling around its center that were starting to turn in their direction. At first Joshua was thinking that the flower would be a stationary enemy, but the moment it started to move and lift itself from the ground he was proven wrong. He thought what would come out from underneath the flower would be a long stem that would hold it up, but instead he was met with the sight of a large animal like body that was made up completely of fungus.

The body of the fungal plant looked like that of a giant hairless bear with all the muscles and bulk. At its size it would tower over Titus and Tank standing at around ten stories tall or even higher if it were to stand up fully without leaning forward and bending its knees. The large flower wasn't the only enemy they would have to worry about though. Two more flowers burrowed their way out of the ground that were much smaller. They had long worm like bodies made out of fungus that slithered out of the ground as the large flowers that seemed to form the creatures' heads glanced down in their direction. Even these creatures stretched up to around the same height as Titus which made them more than dangerous.

Joshua observed the creatures while Henry and Brook got to work on setting up the air pocket that they had been talking about before entering the room. What he found out was the fact that the boss creature was called the Fungus Core with five stars and the level of eighty by its name. This put it on a different tier from everything else they had faced while going through the dungeon. The two worm like fungal plants were simply called core guardians. They both only had four stars, but they were also both level eighty which showed that they were more dangerous then Joshua expected.

As they formed up preparing to take on the massive creatures Joshua felt a large bubble appear around his head filled with clean air which would help him breath in the place. Lilly had also summoned Tank, Titus, and Cinder out to help them all out against the massive creatures they were up against. Tank quickly created bubbles around the heads of Titus and Cinder along with himself as they all grew to their full size preparing to take on the threatening creatures ahead of them. Joshua hefted his Scale blade ready to charge ahead the moment the boss made its first move.