"Once upon a time, my companions and I lived near the mushroom forest, enjoying abundant water and rich food."

“But all of this has now vanished into thin air.”

"The furious tribe of goblins has taken over our homeland. Horrible monsters have appeared in the woods, driving strange flying vehicles to destroy the land."

"When did things start to get so bad?"

"Did the previous chief of the bugbears want to go to the Rage Tribe to ask for the barbarian's way of taking office, but he was killed by them?"

"Or did the last chieftain of the hobgoblins lead a group of goblins into the woods? In the end, only the last chieftain ran back?"

As Carl used the [Telepathy] feat brought by his psychic power, an effect equivalent to the 2nd-level prophecy spell [Detect Thoughts] was released on the bear goblin.

The thoughts of the dying bugbear appeared in Carl's mind as information that he could understand.

While Carl was "listening" to the other person's thoughts, he was also watching the revolving lantern of the other person's life.

At this time, the bear goblin has entered the final stage of his life, and the revolving lantern of life is beginning to emerge before his eyes.

The images imagined by the bear goblin's brain were shared with Carl in a strange way.

Carl saw some scenes that were clearly in his memory, as well as some things about the goblin tribe outside the woods.

"It turns out that the goblins now are from other tribes. The local goblins either died at the hands of the Fury Tribe or have been transformed into hideous monsters due to the influence of the black energy."

"This is really unlucky."

Seeing the local goblins so unlucky, Carl even felt a little guilty.

But soon, Carl saw a scene in the bear goblin's memory that made his blood pressure soar.

This bugbear actually found the wooden house he built!

Unlike the shortsighted ones of the Rage Tribe, the local bugbears have normal vision.

Because of his previous contribution in leading the Furious Tribe, he was incorporated into the personal guard of the Furious Tribe chief.

While on patrol not long ago, he accidentally discovered a wooden house located above a petrified mushroom.

"Then how did he end up like this?"

As this doubt emerged in his mind, Carl also saw the last scene in the life of this bear goblin.

In the field of vision, the Nautilus spacecraft suspended in the sky absorbed the energy of the giant mushrooms everywhere, and the petrified mushrooms were crushed by the huge tentacles.

Carl's wooden house was naturally among those destroyed.

The metal gloves of the power armor creaked as they were squeezed, and anger instantly rose in Carl's heart, but then dissipated helplessly.

In order for the Nautilus to operate, the Mind Flayer needs to use psionic control.

The Nautilus spacecraft in the bear goblin's memory is obviously far beyond the ordinary situation.

He couldn't afford to offend such a mind flayer at his current state.

But even though he couldn't take revenge now, Carl still held a heavy responsibility against the Mind Flayer in his heart.

Soon, the bugbear's memory came to an end.

His team was being hunted by brain-eating monsters dropped by the Nautilus spacecraft. In order to escape, the bear goblin savages from the Furious Tribe cut off his tendons and left him as bait.

The bear goblin used the warrior's [Recovery] feature to recover some of his strength, but he still couldn't withstand the attack of the Brain Eater.

In order to avoid having his brain occupied, he jumped into the pond before he died.

“…”

Carl released his hand that was pinching the other's head, took a half step back, and watched the bugbear's body gradually float up.

At this moment, Carl was extremely glad that he and Hope chose to hide in the giant's mine cart. If they had really returned to the cabin, who knows what would happen now.

"That mind flayer controlled the Nautilus spacecraft to absorb the energy of the giant mushrooms. Does this mean that he knew that those giant mushrooms could produce Eberron Dragon Crystal?"

"But Eberron Dragon Crystal shouldn't have any amplifying effect on psychic power? It's magical, unless..."

His brain was working rapidly, and knowledge about the Mind Flayer began to emerge in Carl's mind one by one.

"A Mind Flayer Arcanist? This is an existence that is rejected by the Mind Flayer community. How could this Mind Flayer choose to take this path?"

"So, what is the relationship between this mind flayer that appeared in the dungeon and the one that captured me?"

"Or is it that the guy who controls the Nautilus spacecraft is the mind flayer who captured me in the first place?"

The word "Mind Flayer" repeated in his mind so many times that Carl felt he almost didn't recognize how to write it.

With a long sigh, Carl, feeling extremely angry, turned around and returned to the cave.

I can’t go for a walk because the situation outside is too complicated.

If you go out for a walk now, you might be targeted by some monster.

"You're back so early? What's the situation outside?"

Seeing that Carl came back soon after going out, Hope, who was replenishing water, asked casually.

"The situation is very bad, Hope. We may have to avoid going up there for a long time."

After taking off his power armor, Carl told Hope everything he had learned from the bugbears.

Carl didn't notice how bad his expression was when he was telling these things.

Hearing that the situation had deteriorated to this point, the atmosphere in the room became stagnant for a moment.

After a while, Hope brushed his shoulder-length hair and said in a casual manner:

"Ha, if it doesn't work out, we'll just live here forever."

Having said that, both of them knew that this was impossible.

The bacon and mushrooms would eventually run out, and then the two would have to go out.

Carl's ability to perceive emotions thanks to his telepathic expertise made it clear to him that Hope was also extremely depressed.

But looking at Hope who was trying hard to cheer him up, Carl stepped forward and hugged her.

"Don't worry, I will definitely take you out of this dungeon!"

Holding Hope tightly, Carl's voice was firm and powerful.

But Hope didn't pay any attention to what Carl said at this time.

The not-so-broad arms and the breath blowing in his face made Hope feel dry in the mouth.

Subconsciously hugging Carl, Hope felt Carl's warm breath on his ear and felt his heart beating faster than ever.

The tip of the tiefling's special heart-shaped tail trembled slightly, and driven by some emotion in his heart, the powerful red tail suddenly wrapped around Carl's waist.

Karl's body stiffened when he noticed something strange around his waist.

But he did not push Hope away, but continued to hug his only companion.

In this chaotic and dangerous dungeon, only Hope's warm and soft embrace can bring Carl a little comfort.

When a person is in a tense or dangerous environment, his heartbeat will involuntarily speed up. If there happens to be a person of the opposite sex next to him at this time, he may mistakenly interpret the accelerated heartbeat caused by the environment as a physiological reaction caused by the other person making his heart beat faster, and thus develop feelings for the other person.

This is the so-called suspension bridge effect.

This is also the theoretical basis for some disaster movies where the hero and heroine have just met each other and the situation is critical, but they are still hiding in some corner and clinging to each other.

Carl didn't know whether his and Hope's current situation was due to the suspension bridge effect.

But what he was sure of was that their relationship was indeed gradually heating up.

(End of this chapter)