Chapter 496, page 495: If There Is an Afterlife
After confirming that the demons would not launch a large-scale attack for the time being, Fifteen once again crossed the Scarecrow Abyss and arrived at the Elf Palace.
This time, he was led directly to Galadriel's private courtyard.
Despite having already received news of the Sword Saint's fall, Galadriel still felt a wave of dizziness when Fifteen, with a sorrowful expression, appeared before her holding the broken Oborozuki.
She instinctively grabbed the ancient tree beside her, her silver hair fluttering gently in the breeze.
Galadriel reached out her trembling hands and took the broken sword.
The blade of the Moonless Sword had become dull and lifeless, with only a few remaining moon patterns stubbornly emitting a faint glow.
She gently stroked the broken section, as if she could still feel the sword saint's last warmth.
Fifteen was still talking about compensation, but her mind had already drifted far away.
She remembered a dawn when the man who had left in haste left behind a moonbell flower on the terrace.
I recalled the scene in the Moonlight Courtyard, where the two of them practiced swordsmanship under the guidance of the previous Elf King.
The memory finally settled on that bloody night, when the excessively young swordsman stood among a group of cult corpses and asked her, "You're the idiot from the elven mission who got captured, aren't you?"
She was an elf, and she knew she would watch Elwayne die sooner or later. But she never expected that what she would receive in the end was not his peaceful passing with white hair, but the devastating news of his death on the battlefield.
I suddenly recalled the study of the soul that I read in ancient books when I was young.
The scholar with the "inspiration" once wrote: "Death may simply be the soul shedding its old clothes and waiting for a new vessel."
Galadriel now desperately hoped that this hypothesis was true, so that she might see Elwayne again someday, even if Elwayne was no longer the person she remembered...
...
Pfft—
At the top of a small hill near Mushroom Capital, on the branch of a towering ancient tree, Sword Saint Puji awkwardly twisted his short legs.
His feet always made a "plop plop" sound when he walked, which made him feel really awkward.
However, he didn't have a good solution to this, and could only try his best not to pay attention to this detail.
At this moment, he alternately used Puji's various sensory abilities to observe the booming city below from different angles.
Puji's perspective is different from that of humans, and the difference is quite novel for the Sword Saint.
He also marveled at the tremendous changes in Mushroom Capital.
The last time I came here, this was a remote border town that was in danger of losing its life due to the changes in the underground city.
Who could have predicted that it would develop into such a prosperous city in such a short period of time?
Of course, war is definitely a factor in this.
As the original mushroom-producing area, and located in the rear area, it naturally attracted many refugees.
To his amazement, despite the rapid increase in population, the city remained orderly.
The market was bustling but not chaotic, the newly built residential area was neatly planned, and even the water supply system operated flawlessly.
Elvien recalled that the manager of this place seemed to be a young man named Far.
Turning back on my own is an option...
Elwin paused, remembering that he was no longer a human swordsman, but the fourteenth member of the Mushroom Clan.
He recalled his previous conversation with the fungus master—the cataclysmic crisis.
The world has never lacked people or organizations that preach the impending destruction of the world. Most of them are cults, and such claims are merely a means for them to intimidate their followers.
The fog is indeed constantly shrinking everyone's living space, but its spread has never been fast. Even when it swallows up the archipelago, crosses the ocean, and climbs onto the mainland, it takes decades or even centuries.
So when the Lord of the Fungus told him that the Mist had already landed during the Battle of Three Mountain Cities and unleashed an entity called "Wrath," Elwyn's first reaction was skepticism, but he quickly came to believe it to some extent.
After all, such things are easy to verify, and given the abilities the Bacteria Master has demonstrated, there's really no need for him to fabricate such an easily exposed lie to deceive him.
【Moonlight Steps LV4】
The mycelium gently pushed off the treetop with its two feet, leaving a trail of moonlight beneath its short legs, and then gracefully landed.
To bestow skills...such amazing abilities.
Whether it was the skills he possessed in his lifetime or the fields he had never explored before, that mysterious Puji was able to implant them into this mushroom body.
This ability is like a blessing bestowed upon believers by a deity.
Moreover, it can grant a wide variety of skills, including even rare ones like Moonwalk.
Although his level is far below his peak, this footwork is the most comfortable to use compared to other skills.
Elwayne's deal with the Fungus Lord was simple: the Lord would grant him the authority to respawn, gather intelligence, and act freely, allowing him to personally verify the authenticity of the apocalypse.
In return, he is required to accept the identity of Number Fourteen, keep the secret of Mushroom Garden and his own identity as the Sword Saint, and frequently carry out tasks assigned by the Mushroom Master.
For Elwayne, who has died once and whose life and death are no longer in his own hands, these conditions are quite generous.
He came out this time for two reasons: to see the current state of humanity and to go to the Scarecrow Abyss to retrieve something for the fungus master.
After landing, Elwayne used his mycelial tentacles to examine the two swords that were crossed on his back.
While other Puji prefer to use their innate tentacle blades, the Sword Saint is clearly more accustomed to using a sword.
In fact, he unexpectedly discovered that the mycelial tentacles, which are not restricted by joints, have an advantage when using swordsmanship, and can perform some sword moves that human limbs cannot complete. Of course, he is still exploring this point.
These two were skill weapons that Lin Jun picked out for him from her inventory, both of which came with simple attribute damage.
One halberd crackled with violent lightning, while the other was wreathed in blazing flames.
It's definitely not as good as the two swords that the Sword Saint broke before, but it's still much better than ordinary weapons.
"Can we... leave now?" A timid thought echoed from within the mushroom network.
The light beside the tree trunk was slightly distorted, and the figure of Number Five gradually appeared. This Poogie always had a habit of hiding itself.
Elvein didn't quite understand why the Mushroom Lord would arrange such an escort. If it was for surveillance, a more astute Mushroom Clan member should have been sent instead.
Number Five looks a bit...
Elwin nodded his mushroom cap: "Let's go."
Just as he was about to step down the mountain towards Mushroom City, Number Five hurriedly grabbed him with his tentacles.
"Let's go, let's go this way..." Number Five pointed to an inconspicuous burrow covered in mycelium next to the tree roots, her voice filled with fear, "Going through the surface will lead to a lot of trouble... the Master of Mycelium said so..."
Elvien stared silently at the dark cave entrance, where there were even things that looked like monster excrement not far away.
He kept repeating to himself, "I am Puji now," and finally resigned himself to his fate and burrowed into the hole.
(End of this chapter)
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