This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 365, Section 364: Colleagues Who Sleep and Slack Off at Work

Countless pale pilgrims gathered together, their branches gleaming with a pure and cold silver light. From afar, they resembled a shimmering silver ocean, presenting an eerie yet sacred beauty in the dimly lit lower levels of the underground city.

However, beneath this breathtaking beauty lies a deadly danger.

At the edge of the silver forest, the corpses of countless monsters piled up like mountains, with one or two pale pilgrims, also lifeless and broken, lying on the ground, occasionally visible among them.

“It’s like a natural barrier…” Salian murmured, gazing at the scene before him.

“It is indeed a barrier,” Iros explained calmly behind him. “It is a defense mechanism of the sacred tree itself, which prevents anything from getting close to its center.”

"They look...as if they won't get infected?" Salian noticed that all the saplings' trunks remained silvery-white, without showing the typical dark red veins that would appear after being corrupted by "madness".

But Iros slowly shook his head. He raised his hand and pointed to a small tree in the pile of corpses, which had long since broken and was half-buried in the wreckage.

On one of its withered branches, those dark red patterns were clearly visible!
"It's not that they won't get infected, but that those individuals that have already been contaminated will clear themselves out on their own."

"Are we going to... forcibly eliminate them?" Salian couldn't help but ask.

“Of course not,” the chief guard, Eco, interjected from behind. “If we cut them all down, are we going to have my forest rangers stand guard here day and night?”

Subsequently, under his command, the well-trained elven rangers quickly divided into several groups.

They approached stealthily from different flanks, cautiously purifying the poisonous fog in the air while provoking the enemy with arrows or disruptive magic.

Soon, a portion of the Pale Pilgrims were drawn to these actions, breaking away from the silver-clad group and chasing after the source of the disturbance.

Gradually, the silver forest blocking their path began to thin out.

However, when only a thin layer remained, no matter how much the rangers intensified their provocations, the remaining saplings would only chase for a short distance before resolutely turning back, firmly guarding that final boundary, and refusing to stray any further.

"What do we do now? Should we force our way through?" Salian asked.

Iros gazed at the last line of defense and raised his staff: "Inevitable sacrifices... are still within acceptable limits."

Without hesitation, Captain Eko drew two elven scimitars from his back with a "whoosh," their blades gleaming with a chilling light in the dim light.

Even if the remaining pale pilgrims tried their best to release poisonous mist and wave their roots to resist, how could they withstand the combined advance of the two powerful beings, Iros and Eko?

Before long, they were reduced to charred fragments and broken logs scattered on the ground by the sharp blades and powerful magical impact.

After clearing a path, Iros did not allow everyone to go any further. He left a few mages to provide support on the perimeter, while he himself, along with Eko and his three most capable students, strode into the deepest part of the cave.

The darkness gradually faded, and the surrounding environment became brighter.

Finally, a pure beam of light from the sky shone directly down from above, causing Salian, who had already adapted to the dim environment, to subconsciously squint his eyes.

They reached the very bottom center of this massive underground spiral structure.

However, in the center of this empty, muddy land, there was only one extremely small seedling, which could not even be called a tree!
“Teacher, could that be…” Salian asked uncertainly.

Iros confirmed his guess: "That is the sacred tree."

Another monk accompanying them couldn't help but click his tongue: "I thought... it would be enormous."

Eco laughed when he heard this: "That's what I thought when I first heard it."

Although this was his first time seeing the divine tree in person, as the chief guard, he had already read about it in various documents. Iros added, "The divine tree is indeed enormous; what you see is only a tiny fraction of it."

"The rest... are they all underground?"

As Salian speculated, he subconsciously cast a spatial reconnaissance spell, attempting to investigate the form of the sacred tree beneath the earth.

However, what appeared in the orb was a chaotic spatial distortion, with all the images appearing as if they had been forcibly squeezed and disordered. This was the first time Salian had ever encountered such a situation!
Just as he was about to move to check if he was being disturbed, the little creature above him suddenly kicked his head repeatedly with its two short, mycelial legs.

Salian, who had gradually gained experience from "sitting" on the ground, immediately understood that Puji was warning him to stop.

Almost at the same time, Iros behind him reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.

"Everyone stay where you are and don't move," Iros's voice was unusually serious. "The spatial structure here is not as simple as it appears to the naked eye."

Salian looked at the scouting orb in his hand, which seemed to be deformed by an invisible force, and suddenly realized what was happening. A cold sweat broke out on his back, and he dared not act rashly again.

At the same time, he was once again amazed by Xiaoji's abilities. In addition to magic perception, this Puji seemed to also have a means of perceiving space.

When he gets back, he'll definitely take the little guy for a full checkup to see just how many unexpected skills it still has hidden!
Lin Jun had no time to care what Salian was thinking. In fact, even when she stopped him from wandering around, it was only because of Elawen that Lin Jun reminded him in her busy schedule.

He is now staring intently at the panel of the sapling in front of him!
Name: Essogal

[Level: LV99]

[Race: Sacred Tree]

[Racial Talent: Mana Harvesting]

【Skill:】

[Status: Hibernating]

[Title: Dungeon Administrator #5 (Gains the highest level of access to this dungeon)]

……

Lin Jun shifted her perspective to the far north, where Xiao Hei was carefully scraping a piece of ice with its claws, studying whether it was shiny.

Pull open the panel.

[Name: Xiao Hei]

[Level: LV62]

The panel is fine.

In other words, this is indeed a level 99 dungeon administrator named Esorgar, with a completely blank skill bar and in a dormant state?!
Thankfully, it was in hibernation mode; otherwise, Lin Jun would have had to consider whether she should say hello to her fellow dungeon administrator at this time…

While Lin Jun was engrossed in studying the information on the panel, Iros slowly walked over to the tender seedling.

He stretched out his palm, and a vibrant, natural magical light emanated from it, gently enveloping the seedling as if exploring and communicating with it in some profound way.

Time passed quietly, and Eko, the captain of the guards who wasn't very knowledgeable about magic, finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Iros, what's the situation...?"

Before he could finish speaking, something unexpected happened!
(End of this chapter)