This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 342, Section 341: Scouting the Spot
On the outskirts of the Mushroom Capital, at the edge of a carpet of mushrooms bordering mushroom fields.

Kloro had been waiting there for a long time.

He hid in a woodland connected to a mushroom field.

Looking out, there were large, neat mushroom fields in the distance, where some humans were either picking mushrooms or using carts to transport the corpses of monsters.

The woods where he was located cleverly formed a visual barrier; from the direction of the fields, one could only see a dense canopy of trees and could not see what was happening inside.

Finally, the person he was waiting for appeared—a bald man with a shiny bald head, wearing the usual adventurer's leather armor.

The highly mobile nature of adventurers is indeed often used as a perfect disguise for various secret rendezvous.

The two sides were complete strangers and only briefly met here because of the needs of the mission.

For this meeting, Chloe even made some minor adjustments to her appearance.

Spies must be extremely cautious about such temporary, clandestine contacts.

However, when he realized that the person who came was not a familiar face, Chloro couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

While his current situation doesn't quite qualify him as "physically in the mushroom garden but mentally in the demon's den," he would inevitably feel guilty if he were to harm his former colleagues with whom he had a good relationship.

It's much easier if we don't know each other!

A secret scroll containing detailed information about Inanna was handed out by Chloro.

The bald man, Milo, leaned against the dappled shadow of the tree trunk, quickly scanning the contents, a subtle hint of surprise flashing across his face.

In addition to the target's basic strength and physical characteristics, which were known when the mission was accepted, this intelligence also includes the target's current location, as well as predictions of possible times and locations, and a detailed assessment of the regular guard force around the target.

This crucial information saved him a lot of preliminary reconnaissance work and greatly improved the efficiency of the operation.

Milo neatly put away the secret scroll, without any further pleasantries or probing, and turned to leave decisively.

He was part of the assassination squad, so he didn't need to be as calculating or accommodating as intelligence agents who needed to cultivate relationships.

The mission is the only goal.

After leaving the rendezvous point, Milo did not enter the city of Mushroom Capital. Instead, he turned around and disappeared into the dense forest near the city's outskirts. After many twists and turns, he arrived at a very secluded temporary camp.

He looked around but saw no one. He grew impatient and muttered, "Stop hiding! We've got the intelligence! Hiding like this every day, are you a bat or a rat?"

A low chuckle sounded from the side, and a figure slowly emerged from the dense shade of the trees not far away: "It's never wrong to be cautious. Who told you to be human? Who knows if you might suddenly decide to sneak back with the Church's Wings of Judgment?"

"You talk as if you were born a vampire!" Milo didn't dwell on the topic and simply tossed the secret scroll to his partner.

Milo himself is a genuine diamond-level assassin, and for the time being, he is still a real human.

The reason for his defection from the demon race was quite simple: as an assassin, he had previously taken on all sorts of dirty work.

He made a fortune to enjoy himself through his superb and discreet assassination skills.

However, even the most careful person can make mistakes. An unexpected slip of the tongue landed him on the United Kingdom's wanted list.

If he didn't want to spend the rest of his life hiding like a rat in a gutter, then seeking refuge with the northern empire became his only option.

This is also why, although he is human, he is extremely reluctant to enter human cities—there are too many troubles!
Logically speaking, for a human of his rank, who is above the Diamond level and has only been a member of the Embrace for a short time, obtaining the precious opportunity of "Embrace" usually requires a long period of testing and waiting.

But this time, Lord Sigismund was unusually generous, promising that if they could complete the mission, he would be granted a conversion slot as an exception.

It's important to understand that the blood core energy he consumed during his transformation as a LV56 Diamond-level powerhouse was enough to confer the title of a vampire count. Countless seasoned viscounts eagerly awaited this opportunity, only to miss out on it simply because their assassination skills were inferior to his.

His partner, Giles, a level 50 vampire viscount, was also chosen for this mission because of his expertise in breaking various protective magic arrays.

Of course, Milo was well aware of the enormous risks involved in this operation.

Look at the target of this assassination: a duke's daughter!

All the targets he had assassinated in the past combined probably didn't match the status and position of this little girl whose strength might not even have reached the gold level.

However, if he had always sought stability, he would never have chosen to embark on the dangerous path of an assassin!

After quickly reviewing the intelligence, the mage Giles pondered, "Next, we need to verify the authenticity of this intelligence."

“The verification is fine,” Milo said, crossing his arms. “But this ‘verification’ you’re talking about, you don’t mean secretly observing for a week or two, do you?”

“To be on the safe side, that’s the proper way. Is there a problem?” Giles asked in return.

"Have you forgotten how tight the time limit Lord Sigismund gave for this mission?" Milo's words left Gilston speechless.

Unaware of the torment their leader, Sigismund, had been enduring every night, they only knew that this assassination mission was given extremely high priority and an incredibly tight deadline, leaving them no time to meticulously execute each standard procedure. A day later, the two stealthily crept into the dense thicket on the outskirts of the St. Clair family's private woodland.

Forcibly breaking through the Duke's mansion's impregnable magical defenses, infiltrating it, assassinating the Duke's daughter under the heavy protection of a high-ranking butler and numerous elite guards, and then fighting his way out—this was undoubtedly the least successful and almost suicidal option.

Fortunately, the intelligence report contained a crucial piece of information: this young lady would come to this private woodland belonging to her family to play every few days.

At that time, the dreadful butler usually did not accompany him; only a regular guard followed.

This is undoubtedly a golden opportunity!
Of course, as a nobleman's private property, even if it is far less important than the Duke's mansion, this woodland must also be filled with various hidden alarms and defensive magic arrays.

Therefore, the two must scout the location in advance, with Giles discovering the positions of all the magical nodes. If necessary, they may even need to silently destroy some key nodes to clear obstacles for their operation.

Inside the woods, Milo remained highly vigilant, monitoring his surroundings from the treetops.

Giles then took out a ring from his pocket, inlaid with three strange gemstones, and carefully put it in his mouth.

This ring can greatly suppress the magical fluctuations around him, minimizing the risk of exposure.

He then tore open a specially made scroll of small-scale reconnaissance techniques.

An invisible ripple of magic spread out silently, and all the hidden magical structures within its range appeared clearly in his mind one by one, like underwater reefs:
[Early Warning Magic Circle]

[Explosive Magic Circle]

【Puji】

[Magic Fluctuation Detection Magic Array]

【Puji】

【Puji】

【Puji】

……

Giles: "..."

He looked up in disbelief, glancing around.

As far as the eye could see, the forest was quiet and deserted, and not even ordinary monsters could be seen.

Milo, who was on guard in the treetop, also gave a gesture indicating that everything was normal and that he had not noticed anything unusual.

Giles silently activated the second, equally precious scroll of reconnaissance.

【Puji】

【Puji】

【Puji】

……

Gollum—

Call your partner down.

“Milo,” he lowered his voice, “you stay here and keep watch. Don’t move around unnecessarily, lest you trigger any hidden alarms we haven’t discovered. I’ll go scout in another direction and see if there’s a better route for an ambush and retreat.”

“Then I’ll go with you…” Milo suggested instinctively.

“No!” Giles immediately interrupted him, his tone carrying an unquestionable “professional” consideration. “My perception range is limited, and the two of us acting together cannot guarantee that you will completely avoid all the trap nodes. You wait here patiently, I will be back soon!”

After successfully persuading Milo, Giles quickly turned around, bypassed the dense bushes, and once he was sure he was completely out of Milo's sight, he immediately stopped suppressing his panic and ran wildly in the opposite direction from the woodland!

An explosion came from behind.

A trap! It was definitely a trap!

I hope my good partner can stall for enough time!
After running for a while, he suddenly stopped. The surrounding environment seemed to have changed. When he turned around, the path he had come from had disappeared.

"Illusion?"

Ahead of him, several "Aidin" strolled out leisurely.

(End of this chapter)