This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 658, Section 657: The Priests of Neferella
Along the coast, white waves repeatedly crashed against the rocks.

The cat-person priestess Crescent Moon crouched on a rock, her tail swaying gently behind her, her amber vertical pupils fixed on the movements beneath the water's surface.

A dark shadow flashed across the water, and with a flick of her claws, a pillar of earth rose up in the water, lifting a scaly salmon about half an arm's length out of the water.

Crescent Moon's right claw shot out like lightning, piercing the soft flesh behind the fish's gills. The fish struggled twice at her claw's tip, then quickly quieted down.

She grinned, revealing her sharp canine teeth, and brought the fish to her nose to sniff.

The fresh, salty aroma of the sea made her nod in satisfaction. She planned to make a soup with the fish to give the High Priest a change of pace.

"It's really not easy, meow."

They are currently hiding on a deserted coastline in the western part of the empire, near the Eleanor territory, which belongs to a vampire baron. However, it is uninhabited because it has no value and there are no settlements nearby.

This is one of the many hidden hideouts of the Hand of the Dead. The reason they hid here is because of its seclusion and convenience. Being close to the sea makes it easy to obtain food, and it does not require a large-scale search, thus reducing the possibility of being discovered.

However, it seems that this was a miscalculation.

It's indeed well hidden; no one has been able to find this place even after hiding here for so long.

However, there was a problem with the food.

For some reason, most of the fish in the sea have disappeared, and fishing from the sea is even less efficient than picking fruit in the mountains.

Although the specific reasons are unknown, in Crescent Moon's view, since the world is gradually dying, it is quite normal for various anomalies to occur.

A few years ago, how could she have imagined that Kurug, who had worked with her for more than ten years, would fall into the hands of Puji tentacles?

Come to think of it, Puji didn't have tentacles a few years ago.

Suddenly, Crescent's furry ears twitched, catching a whistling sound of sharp claws cutting through the air.

She jerked backward, her supple body arching like a bow.

The fish in her claws was flung away by her sudden movement, then sliced ​​into four pieces in mid-air by something unseen, falling around her.

The cat-man grabbed the staff on the ground and leaped backward, but enemies appeared behind him.

However, as the magical light on the staff gathered, a giant rock hand reached out from under the invisible enemy behind him, grabbed it, and squeezed it hard, staining half of the rising stone giant with purple blood.

"Purple Blood, it's the sea's Kesscat!"

Crescent leaped onto the stone giant's shoulder, raised her staff, and smoothed out the distorted light around her, revealing the strangely shaped insects.

The number of them was not large, and given that New Moon had already noticed them, they posed no threat to her whatsoever.

She noticed an eye worm hiding in the sea, and quietly condensed a stone awl in her palm, intending to kill it.

Unfortunately, the Eye Worm was very alert and seemed to have noticed her movements. It immediately burrowed into the depths of the sea, and even though the other Keiths had been trampled to death by the Stone Giant, they also dived back into the water without lingering.

Seeing Qisi being driven away, Crescent Moon showed no joy whatsoever.

The appearance of the sea monster indicates that this hiding place is not as safe as imagined.

Moreover, she suspected that the scarcity of fish in the sea might also be related to Keith.

If that's the case, it means that the number of Qis may be much larger than they and the Empire anticipated.

After confirming that no invisible Qiss was following her, Crescent Moon, preoccupied with her thoughts, returned to her hiding place.

Upon returning, I saw Ginny and the still-weak High Priest examining a Puji. "Ginny, what are you doing, meow? How could you bring a dangerous Puji right in front of the adults?"

“Don’t worry, it’s just a little guy from the factory who’s responsible for moving things, and I’ve already tied it up very tightly,” Ginny said.

Crescent Moon was still uneasy, the scene of Knight Puji killing Kurug right in front of him still vivid in his mind.

She advised, "Lady Mira, this is too dangerous, meow. We've all confirmed that these Puji have some kind of special communication ability. If your location is exposed again... we're too weak right now and need more power, meow, to fight them."

"Resistance, why?" the high priest asked softly.

This question puzzled Crescent Moon: "Why... why did they kill Kurug, and didn't the oracle also say so..."

The high priest shook his head:

"It wasn't mentioned in the oracle."

“New Moon, we should not presume to fill in the gaps in the oracle; that is disrespectful and an arrogance to replace divine words with our own will.”

The cat-man lowered his head, trembling, and said, "Disrespect... I... I'm not a cat..."

“I know your piety,” the high priest said, extending his thin hand to gently stroke the cat-person priest’s cheek, looking at the believers who were busy setting up the new ceremony not far away. “Everyone who came here has a firm faith, but don’t make the same mistake again. We have no more chances to make amends.”

High Priest Mira stroked the motionless mushroom cap: "Although the oracle is incomplete, the mushrooms mentioned in it are most likely these Puji and the Mushroom Clan. Whether our Lord wants to destroy it or use it, we should try our best to understand them before obtaining the complete oracle."

Crescent nodded and obediently squatted down next to Puji, no longer trying to stop her.

However, she still mentioned that she had been attacked by Keith on the shore and asked if they should consider moving again.

Ginny sighed, "There aren't many safe hiding places left. This is the only one near Eleanor's territory. As you know, the only place in the empire where the Puji exist is Eleanor's territory."

“Moreover,” she said, looking at the new ceremony not far away, “we don’t have many materials left, and it will be difficult to gather enough to start from scratch. Not to mention, the cultists who are in charge of gathering people have already set off. Moving now will inevitably cause many problems.”

Once all the factors are considered, they can no longer be easily transferred.

The interrupted ritual had depleted most of the Hand of the Dead's resources, and they were no longer able to conduct another large-scale sacrifice under the watchful eyes of the Empire, which had intensified its search efforts.

Outside the empire, the threat comes entirely from the Mushroom Clan.

All they could do in the end was to perform an internal sacrifice, using the most devout believers to complete the remaining part of the interrupted ritual.

The so-called "summoning" is to gather devout believers who are still scattered in various places and bring them together through various channels to offer sacrifices.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a last-ditch effort.

Crescent sighed, "If only Kurug were still here, he would always come up with some unusual and ingenious ways to solve problems."

……

Beside him, the high priest stroked the soft body of the little creature and, through the layers of seals, unexpectedly sensed that the creature possessed some kind of mental protective mechanism.

However... it's very weak.

She tried to intrude, and the next moment, darkness surged from her pupils, startling Crescent Moon and Ginny into retreating.

"What...what's going on, meow?"

(End of this chapter)