The group passed through a small garden and arrived safely underneath Building No. 7.
This place was one of the most severely damaged areas in the neighborhood—the entire residential building had all but collapsed, and the ruins were overgrown with large patches of ivy and roses.
Scenes where decay and rebirth occurred simultaneously like this were almost ubiquitous across this land.
And it also made searching more difficult. An ordinary team would likely struggle to locate the Bolete Manipulator hidden within for at least an hour or two; without a bit of luck, it would be possible to search for half a day and find nothing.
Moreover, because of the Bolete Manipulator's deadly abilities, many a team tended to give it a wide berth.
However, Ma Lu didn't have this worry; he had already clearly spotted the location of the Bolete Manipulator on the Chessboard Map.
Before that, though, he still had another problem to deal with.
As they drew closer to the target square, a rustling sound suddenly came from the grass beside them, and then a cluster of colorful little boletes crawled out.
"Bolete" isn't strictly the name of a type of mushroom, but rather the umbrella term for fungi from the Bolete and Slippery Jack families, among others.
In another plane of existence, there were hundreds of members within the Bolete family.
The little mushrooms appearing before Ma Lu also belonged to the Bolete family. According to the display on the Traveler's Bracelet, they were named "Sticky Cap Ox Liver Mushrooms."
The Sticky Cap Ox Liver Mushrooms had only a 1-star rating, looking quite cute at first glance. However, their attack method was nothing close to being cute.
These little mushrooms would secrete slime to attack their targets. The slime itself did not deal much damage; however, it could hinder movement. Then they could use this slime to stick to their enemies and drain the HP from inside their targets.
Fortunately, most of their HP was only in the teens; some even had as little as single-digit HP, with absolutely no defensive power whatsoever. Thus, they could be taken out with just a couple of casual blows.
Unless one was covered by more than a dozen Sticky Cap Ox Liver Mushrooms at once, most Witches could handle attacks of this caliber.
Yet even so, the appearance of these little mushrooms still caused a bit of chaos within the team, mainly because they had to fight off the little mushrooms emerging from the bushes while also using their flashlights to illuminate and rescue their controlled teammates.
In the end, it was the Ouroboros Serpent that once again cast the Acid Rain Spell, which brought an end to the chaotic scene.
And when the acid rain was only halfway through, there was also a stir amidst the nearby ruins.
After just three slashes, the Bolete Manipulator had lost over 100 points of HP, and its total HP was only just over 700.
This visibly panicked the creature, but it had trapped itself by diving under a cement board to avoid the Acid Rain Spell.
Now, with the purple-haired girl blocking its exit, escape was no longer an option.
Moreover, as a mechanical monster, the Bolete Manipulator's formidable abilities came at the cost of its attributes. Not only was its defensive power lacking, but its HP and attack power also lagged. With only 10 attack points, it was just 2 points higher than the Whiteboard Skylark.
Hitting the purple-haired girl only deducted 1 point of health each time, about the same as a tickle.
In contrast, each of the Hellhound's slashes left a long and deep cut, which turned a strange blue color, similar to that of a Chariot Arrow Chrysanthemum.
This color change was due to the Bolete Manipulator's internal acidic substances undergoing an oxidation reaction when exposed to air.
This made the Bolete Manipulator look all the more disheveled.
But soon the Hellhound's body trembled slightly, and her hand holding the Red Dog Tooth paused in midair.
Ma Lu knew the purple-haired girl had been hit and immediately stepped forward to shine a flashlight in her eyes, while the other flashlight was now in the hands of the Ouroboros Serpent, who also quickly aimed the beam at the purple-haired girl.
But at this moment, the Bolete Manipulator suddenly exerted force, sending the Hellhound flying and taking the opportunity to crawl out from under the cement board.
It seemed intent on fleeing back beneath the mountain tortoise shell to its lair, hoping to use the complex underground terrain to outmaneuver its current adversaries.
Unfortunately for it, just as it took its first step, an iron canister smashed into it brutally.
Ma Lu, upon noticing the Bolete Manipulator trying to flee, immediately repositioned himself and then activated the skill—Savage Charge.
Dealing 5 points of damage, he not only knocked the Bolete Manipulator back under the cement board but also slammed it against some debris behind, resulting in a two-second stun.
As soon as the Bolete Manipulator was stunned, the Hellhound's controlled state was lifted, and the Ouroboros Serpent promptly used the intense light to kill the spores parasitizing the purple-haired girl's eyes.
She, in turn, didn't hesitate to activate her own skill again, unleashing a fierce attack on the white mushroom before her.
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