Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 442 - 310: The Psychological Shadow Concerning Sain

Chapter 442: Chapter 310: The Psychological Shadow Concerning Sain

If the bearded Tusi were a transmigrator, a song would definitely be playing in his heart right now:

"Brother, give me a hug..."

Indeed, it was a tight hug, and the animated corpse in front of him did indeed look like a big brother. Under normal circumstances, Tusi wouldn’t mind having a brotherly embrace with the animated corpse, as long as it wasn’t rotten.

But now he could only say... Brother, if you’re hugging me, don’t pour stuff into my body, okay?

Tusi instantly fell into a state of daze, looking like he was about to die, though he wasn’t sure if it was from being suffocated, poisoned, or just grossed out.

Just as he was nearly full from whatever it was, he noticed the swiftly arriving Fingerley out of the corner of his eye, and tears of gratitude welled up in his eyes.

Finally, he wouldn’t have to fight anymore.

With this thought, he peacefully succumbed to unconsciousness.

Not much time had passed when he slowly woke up, finding that people had already left the cemetery and returned to the Purification Church.

"Me!"

The first thing he did upon awakening was hurriedly feel his body. At this moment, Fingerley’s voice came from beside him, "Don’t worry, all the worms have been removed, you survived."

Seeing Fingerley was like seeing family, Tusi hugged Fingerley’s leg and bawled, disregarding his personal image.

Fingerley, who saved him from such a disgusting situation, was practically an angel!

"You shouldn’t just thank me, Aleya helped to pick off the worms."

Tusi followed the direction pointed out by him, only to see the straw man setting up a big pot above the bonfire, bubbling with porridge, and hanging skewered roasted meat beside the bonfire.

What a talent, how did he think of using the bonfire to cook?

He hurriedly went over to express his gratitude, and the latter nodded, then pointed beside them, where Tusi noticed his teammates all holding bowls of porridge, staring blankly.

"Oh, quick recovery of strength, truly worthy of Gold Level," he praised repeatedly, so Aleya enthusiastically ladled him a bowl of porridge.

"Thank you!"

When Tusi took the porridge, he noticed his teammates all staring at him with intriguing looks.

As if they were waiting to see his reaction.

"What is it? Drinking porridge and you guys are dragging it...."

When his eyes landed on the milky white porridge in front of him, his whole body went rigid.

The porridge was perfectly cooked, each grain of rice full and gleaming, floating in a broth of just the right consistency, emanating a rich aroma that whetted the appetite—one could tell the chef had put in some effort.

But in his eyes, this bowl of porridge had changed.

"Worms!"

"Clang—"

Tusi screamed and fell to the ground, the porridge spilling and steaming on the ground as he recoiled in fear.

Behind him was a wall, and he accidentally nudged a small stone, which rolled across the ground with a gurgling sound, at which he shouted out again.

"Why are there maggots here too!"

Rice grains, stones, strings, Tusi kept shouting, until finally even buttons appeared as maggots in his eyes, and he once again passed out, quite thoroughly.

"I knew the boss would have psychological trauma."

"Didn’t expect the reaction to be so slow."

"Luckily, our mental strength is strong, totally unafraid."

The Bone Stick Team discussed for a while, picking up their bowls and sipping in circles, seeming not to mind at all that the rice looked very similar to what they encountered at the cemetery earlier.

But it wasn’t a few seconds before someone put down their bowl.

Then the second, the third... until they all looked around, staring at the remaining porridge in their hands with distress.

No one said a word, but it seemed like everything was being said.

Aleya was cleaning the porridge spilled on the ground, looking a bit sad that the food was wasted, and Fingerley whispered to her, "Didn’t I tell you not to make porridge? After seeing so many worms, how could they drink it?"

She pointed tearfully at the supply backpack, and Fingerley realized there was only rice and some other ingredients inside, as they had forgotten to replenish the food supplies, leaving only rice.

"Okay, my bad."

He looked helplessly at the Bone Stick Team members and asked, "Do you need memory erasure magic?"

They replied in unison:

"Please do..."

The magic took effect on everyone one by one, and when it was Tusi’s turn, he slowly woke up, stubbornly saying, "I’m not, I don’t have psychological trauma, I don’t need memory erasure."

"Really?"

"Really! I’m going out to use the restroom!"

He wiped his pale face and walked out of the Purification Church. Not long after, a scream was heard from outside, and rushing out, they found Tusi had fainted again.

His pants belt had just been unbuckled, not yet taken off. Anyone who’s used the restroom knows, after unbuckling the pants belt, the first thing you see is...

Fingerley instantly understood that this guy was seeing something hallucinated as maggots and suddenly showed a look of sympathy that only men could understand.

In the end, Tusi was subjected to a short-term memory erasure.

Otherwise, he would faint every time he went to the bathroom in the future.

Once everyone returned to normal, the adventure continued.

To care for these juniors who sincerely respected them, the Hasavi Team took the lead, and right before departure, Aleya plucked a few mushrooms from the straw man’s body and handed them to the Bone Stick Team.

"This is...?"

"Hallucinogenic mushrooms. After eating them, you’ll see a different world." Fingerley explained, "If you really can’t stand it, just take a bite."

"Then, doesn’t that mean being poisoned?"

"Which would you choose, poison or psychological trauma?"

"..."

With the previous lessons learned, no one was willing to engage the animated corpses in close combat anymore, resulting in Shield Guards being protected, while Rangers and Magicians took the primary combat roles outside.

Then people found that deliberately maintaining a distance from the animated corpses drove them to madness.

Not to mention the spitting, when far away, the animated corpses’ power would increase all around, and even running became energetic, with a punch capable of denting armor.

Upon closer exploration, it became apparent that animated corpses came in various forms: thoroughly animate corpses, ones that have twisted humanoids crawl out from their stomachs when attacked, and those entirely resembling twisted humanoid figures.

Each attack they made would scatter bugs, which, if landed on the body, would gnaw at flesh, and blood would gush from the wounds, rendering conventional treatments useless aside from magic and potions.

Aside from animated corpses, a taller and stronger creature called the "Tomb Guardian" was noteworthy, with a cunning and swift combat style making them considerably threatening. If not for their fragility allowing a single heavy blow to be lethal, a single Tomb Guardian could be labeled as an Elite Monster.

Animated corpses and Tomb Guardians were the only monsters in the cemetery region, each with their distinctive features.

The cemetery’s terrain could be described as rather tricky, primarily because of repetitive scenery leading to disorientation, which is more than enough to confuse typical adventurers.

Yet, the Hasavi Team, after a few rounds, found the path, whether from experience or intuition, demonstrating exploration speeds surpassing those of the Strategy Group.

Compared to the Strategy Group, Fingerley and his group were not obsessively pursuing rewards, ignoring light points even when a little effort could easily obtain them, as if rewards were insignificant, while Sain’s map and monsters were their main interests.

Thanks to this, the Bone Stick Team made significant gains, obtaining items including Tomb Guardian weaponry, Astara Greatsword, Flame Gems, etc., with torches being surprisingly abundant?

Strange, why are there so many unlit torches here?

They never considered using torches against the maggot-infested animated corpses, leaving all battles to the Hasavi Team.

"No, I can’t stand it anymore, where’s the hallucinogenic mushroom, give me a bite!"

Someone couldn’t endure the SAN-dropping scenes in the cemetery and ultimately chose to eat the hallucinogenic mushroom, instantly making his world vibrant and colorful, with no fear of anything.

"Hehe, I see the Golden Lion flying in the sky~"

But it also affected his eyesight, making him oblivious to a Gem Crystal Worm slipping away from right under his nose as he cheerfully muttered nonsense.

About an hour later, they reached the cemetery’s end.

Their steps halted, not because of an Elite Monster guarding the door nor due to any other grotesque monster; they stopped simply because the scene before them was quite baffling.

A long and wide wooden plank lay on the ground, with the other end leading to the roof of the Deep Church, looking abruptly out of place, as if some construction worker took a shortcut putting it up here.

Tusi held back an old remark, knowing he should let Fingerley have the first chance to comment.

Indeed, Fingerley curiously said, "Did we just wander around here avoiding disgusting monsters only to end up stepping onto a broken plank to the roof?"

"Why didn’t we use the Flying Skill from the start?"

Who knows, perhaps Sain’s map was so well-crafted that everyone couldn’t resist taking their time to savor it?

As everyone stepped onto the roof, the wooden plank creaked like it was about to collapse at any moment, but fortunately, they made it safely.

What can you say, it’s indeed the Deep Church, even the roof is built so spaciously.

"Seems like we could roll around freely, even if faced with a mass encounter battle against monsters—"

Fingerley’s words were immediately muffled by Matilda, with Tusi beside him showing horror.

He had just mentioned the unmentionable taboo!

The sound of something breaking through the air came, and when people looked up, not far up in the sky was a dark and massive figure approaching.

"Is it the Stone Statue Ghost?"

"No, that thing is humanoid, holding a bird... Quick, get out of the way!"

A heavy landing sound echoed, dust scattered, and when they looked up, there stood a large armored figure across from them, its Special Large Sword and Big Shield indicating formidable strength.

"Curse Binder"

From Dark Souls II, the Boss called the Curse Teacher, a rookie killer that once blocked the progress of many players.

"Finally, an Elite Monster appears, everyone, get ready to fight."

Just as Tusi invigorated everyone’s fighting spirit, some strange sound suddenly reached his ears, faint yet seemingly near, and he’d heard this sound not long before.

Could it be... the sound of a Heavy Crossbow being drawn?

And not just one!