This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 383, Section 382: The Elf's Choice
Amidst the chirping of birds, Salian slowly opened his eyes.

The sound came from her sister's blue parrot, but Salian wasn't annoyed at being woken up, since the sun was already high in the sky.

His treehouse was mostly destroyed by rampaging giant trees during the turmoil, and he is now only able to sleep in a bed thanks to his sister.

only……

As he pushed open the door, his sister's crying suddenly filled the small house:

"Little Chii! It's all my fault. I carelessly entrusted you to my useless older brother, and now you've ended up like this..."

Elawen hugged the scout with the crooked mushroom hat tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, glancing at him repeatedly as she cried.

Salian himself couldn't understand why Puji, who was perfectly fine before returning to his sister's house, suddenly became dazed and confused as soon as he entered.

The younger sister insisted that it was because the mushroom cap was crooked, and at that moment, the happiest person in the house was probably the parrot Feifei, who was perched on Elawen's head and chirping triumphantly.

However, in all fairness, he should indeed take responsibility for this.

“Alright, alright,” Salian sighed helplessly, “After I finish my business today, I’ll take Xiaoji to see some of my druid friends. They should have a solution.”

“That’s more like it…” Elaine finally returned to normal.

After Salian left, Ellawen also went out to catch fish for the Earth Bear Bean and the Shadow Swamp Python Bubble, leaving only Feifei and the sitting Puji in the house.

Feifei first landed by the window to confirm that Aylawen had indeed gone far away.

Then it circled inside the house, accompanied by a high-pitched bird cry, and swooped down, unleashing its deadly dragon claw at Puji without hesitation!
Snapped--

Feifei, who had been slapped to the ground by a tentacle, began to contemplate its bird life.

……

Inside the council chamber of the Elven Palace, around the long table that had once hosted human delegations, almost all the important figures of the Elven race who could speak were gathered.

Even an elder who had entered his twilight years and begun to age and had resigned from all his posts was specially invited back. Only the ranger commander who was in charge of overseeing the Scarecrow Abyss was not present.

The two most eye-catching figures in the hall were the two members of the Ranger Squad.

The ranger's lieutenant was wrapped up like a half-dumpling. After Iros knocked him down, he didn't linger. The lieutenant's life was saved thanks to the timely treatment from the druids and mages in the party.

Another focal point was Eco, whose white mycelium was interspersed between his skin and flesh. Even more exaggeratedly, a round, plump creature sat atop his head, while he himself maintained a calm and composed demeanor.

In fact, Eko's injuries were far more serious than his adjutant's, but he was moving normally at the moment, which made him vaguely realize that it was mostly due to the effect of the strange mycelium on his body.

“Eco,” the old elf with graying temples and less than ten years of life left spoke first. Now, he was the only one in the entire council hall with enough seniority to speak so frankly, “Do you really have to bring a magical pet to the meeting?”

The other elves had been trying to avoid this awkward scene ever since they entered.

"This guy saved my life, and he insists on staying up there, so I can't stop him!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Puji with both hands as if to take it off, but Puji responded by wrapping its tentacles around his head, as if it wouldn't let go unless it was torn off.

It wasn't until Eko let go that it resumed its original position of clamping his head between its short legs.

Seeing this, no one could say anything more. They couldn't very well let Eko tear the life-saving mushroom apart with his bare hands, could they?
However, the old elf was still somewhat worried: "Eco, are you really alright looking like this?" This time, before Eco could speak, Galadriel explained for him: "There's no need to worry. According to the information I've obtained, the phenomenon of symbiosis with mycelium has been appearing in human city-states for some time. This is a new symbiotic mode evolved by the Puji, which can significantly enhance the host's recovery ability, at the cost of only changes in appearance and a slight consumption of magic power."

Galadriel didn't mention the matter of the Puji Master controlling the Puji, since Eko didn't need the Puji's combat power at all, so there was no point in talking about it.

"On the human side... then why is there one in the Divine Tree Dungeon as well?"

"It probably came through a spatial rift when the human's amethyst underground city was in turmoil."

Galadriel hoped that others would not harbor any resentment towards Eko because of the mycelial symbiosis, but Eko felt that they should be more cautious: "To be on the safe side, I will mainly be responsible for the border defense affairs of the Forest Guard in the future, and will no longer participate too much in the affairs within the royal city."

The elves then discussed many other things, including searching for the missing Iros and the artifact, rebuilding Isildorin, and ensuring that the new city plan was capable of dealing with the giant tree going berserk again.

When the discussion extended to foreign policy, the vast majority of elves believed that their current state made it unsuitable for them to get involved in continental conflicts.

Only Salian had a different idea; he was deeply impressed by the worlds swallowed by mist that he had seen in the Abyss.

He also felt that the elves should try to go out into the world, but he didn't approve of his teacher's radical approach.

However, as one of the best of the younger generation, Salian was able to attend the meeting, but he did not yet have enough say, and his proposals were quickly drowned out by the voices of the other elves.

However, the elves didn't simply shut the door and ignore everything; they still considered the current situation on the continent.

The internal strife among the elves was too large to be completely contained, even with the borders sealed off.

With fewer constraints, the demons will naturally increase their pressure on humans.

Therefore, the meeting ultimately decided to open up aid to humans in terms of resources, including food and magical potions, while extending the same support to dwarves.

With dwarves putting pressure on the demons at the empire's borders, humanity should have no problem holding on.

As for the human heroes, the demons are probably much more anxious than the elves. In this situation, we can only let the humans and demons deal with it themselves.

The elves began rebuilding their homes and gradually got used to the ubiquitous Puji, after all, they were carrion-eating monsters, and their numbers would naturally surge after a disaster.

Nobody thought these round, plump things were harmful. Didn't they see that the former Royal Guard Captain Eko always carried one around with him?

Occasionally, elves discover that the creep is decomposing elf corpses, but everyone seems quite nonchalant about it.

In their view, whether it is decomposed by trees or by fungal carpets, it is essentially a way of returning to nature.

However, a faint sadness still lingered over the entire Elven race. Whenever they dismantled the badly damaged treehouses, seeing familiar objects inevitably brought to mind acquaintances who had perished or disappeared in the turmoil, and they couldn't help but feel sorrow.

Beside the ruins of the potion shop, a female mage quietly wiped away tears as she cleaned up the wreckage.

She could never forgive herself. On the day of the giant tree uprising, how could she have forgotten to save little Riel, who was the most vulnerable to self-defense?

Little Riel is officially "missing" now, but everyone knows that either her body is too badly mutilated to be identified, or her body was dragged away by monsters in the chaos.

"Poor little thing...it's all my fault for forgetting you..."

The female mage had no idea that, deep within the warm dungeon, her beloved little Riel was clutching a giant mushroom, trembling as she stared at the terrifying lizardman before her, whose claws were at least ten centimeters long…

(End of this chapter)