Our Family Has Fallen

"Boss, would you just spit it out? It's seriously killing me here!"

"I don't know if there are any social spiders in the world, but just by the size of these spiders, it's impossible for so many to gather together – there wouldn't be enough food to support them. If these spiders haven't been infected with a fungus but are still attacking us in groups, that in itself is very strange."

"Got it, there just isn't enough to eat," Boudica said with a sudden look of realization.

William only understood what the Lord had meant upon hearing this; he hadn't grasped it until just now.

"Right!" Lance seemed to realize something suddenly.

Boudica's words reminded him that these spiders obviously lacked intelligence. This behavior didn't seem like a collaboration; otherwise, they wouldn't have split apart earlier. It looked more like each was fending for itself, scrambling for prey. They must have been attracted there together, but the very act of scrambling for prey suggested another problem – that there was no prey to be found. This further confirmed that something had happened in the wilderness that forced the spiders to leave their territories in search of food.

"Boss, how come you always speak in halves?"

"It's simple. The only explanation is that they gathered here temporarily. Look at the trees around us, and the trees the spiders crawled on before – this place isn't where those spiders usually linger, yet four were still drawn here. Regardless of what caused them to leave their territories, it definitely has something to do with the situation in the wilderness."

William stepped forward with a torch to inspect closely. He found that indeed, on the trees the spiders had crawled upon, there were either marks where pointed feet had pierced the tree bark or traces of movement using silk threads, while other areas lacked such signs.

My Lord's observations are so meticulous...

"Alright, whatever the reason, we're bound to find what we're looking for over there."

Lance looked up to estimate the time, yet all he saw was pitch-black darkness. It then dawned on him that he was disoriented from lack of sleep.

"I plan to keep moving. You all must have had enough rest by now, right?"

Lance's words were self-explanatory. He knew moving at night would expose the team to danger, but he had no choice. Having found these clues, he needed to follow up on them quickly. It was a gamble. If nothing was discovered, it would further deflate the team's morale. Conversely, if new clues were found, it would help him unravel the conspiracy of the elders.

After the night assault, the others were wide awake and started packing up.

Lance raised his hand to Sacrifice the remains, yet his gaze was fixed on the dark wilderness. This time was different from their previous encounter on the old road. The traces of the bandits had been easy to find, and the enemy was clear. But now, his understanding of the wilderness was shallow. He had some idea of what the enemy might be up to, but he wasn't sure. Pressure was building inside him, but he couldn't let it show. He had to keep moving forward.

"Put out the torches. The enemy will spot us."

Lance stamped out the torches, and darkness instantly engulfed the small team that had lost the Sanctuary of their campfire.

Now darkness ruled everything—as black as death itself.

Even Boudica was reluctant to venture into the wilderness under such dark conditions, let alone the other two. His action immediately subjected the rest of the team to immense pressure.

However, the team's formation had changed. Lance led the way, relying on his Spiritual Vision to see through the darkness. Boudica and Wang Cai brought up the rear, vigilant for any potential enemy attacks.

...

CRACK!

A noise sounded, followed by the thud of something hitting the ground.

Paracelsus didn't hesitate, quickly taking up her tools to dissect the Giant Spider, which had been shot through the head, extracting its glands. After dissecting two types of Giant Spiders, she found the Webbing Spider's glands were in the abdomen, and the Venomous Spider's glands were on both sides of the lower jaw – these were the most valuable parts.

Lance watched her finish, then directly Sacrificed those bodies, feeling the return of Spiritual Essence that was more than three times that of an adult human's.

Initially, Lance had some objections to the spiders' night attacks, but now he couldn't wait for more.

The team had only ventured a short distance when Fergus, who was walking steadily, suddenly stopped. He crouched down in one direction without a sound. William, holding the dog leash, sensed something and immediately spoke.

"Fergus smells that scent!"

The advancing team was instantly on alert at William's words, but excitement surged in Lance's heart. We've finally found it!

"Let's go, take a look."

Lance didn't hesitate to issue the forward command. Their goal this trip was reconnaissance; naturally, they had to investigate any situation they encountered.

He quickly found the target—several eerie shadows standing in the wilderness. They didn't seem human.

In Lance's Spiritual Vision, these creatures all emitted a faint fluorescence of Spiritual Essence. To some extent, could they actually be considered Extraordinary beings? I remember the corpse I examined earlier didn't have this... Something feels off!

The other team members couldn't see what was in the distance and were suddenly stopped by Lance.

He pulled out a torch and had just lit it, its light dispelling the darkness around the team, when it seemed to trigger something. The parasites, which had been dormant, suddenly began to move.

What surprised Lance even more was that their movements weren't as stiff and slow as he'd imagined. On the contrary, they were staggering and even running.

"Careful, enemies!" Lance thrust the torch backward as a Crossbow materialized in his hand.

His shout put the others on alert, but the torch's light had a limited range. They didn't know what kind of enemy they faced, where it was, or how many there were. In some ways, Lance's warning only increased their pressure.

It couldn't be helped; aside from Boudica, the other two had no experience with situations like this.

WOOF!

Fortunately, the dog could distinguish the enemy's direction by smell. Paracelsus raised the torch in the direction Fergus was pointing. As the torch burned brighter, its light grew, and they finally saw the enemies approaching the team from afar.

Not seeing them had filled them with pressure, but glimpsing these monsters only intensified it.

The creatures had human-shaped bodies with tattered clothes hanging from them, evidence of their former identities. Beyond that, however, they bore no resemblance to humans. Their bodies were almost completely fibrous. Their outer skin had become as tough as brown tree bark and was covered in yellow mushrooms of various sizes, stacked haphazardly and growing wildly upon this "deadwood." The muscles on the creatures' arms were shriveled and contracted. Their fingers were splayed uncontrollably and twisted into claw-like shapes, the tips mutated into sharp talons. Their entire hands were tinged yellow, as if smeared with fungal spores.

What truly shocked them was the creatures' heads... or perhaps "head" was the wrong term, because a large mushroom had taken the place of the original skull, making it a literal mushroom-head.

And these were just the common ones; the real horror lay in another type of creature, one that instilled inexplicable fear at a single glance. This indescribable creature retained more human features; despite its withered and contracted muscles, its limbs and head still resembled those of a human. But the truly bizarre thing was that this "human's" body was arched backward, with its limbs on the ground and its stomach facing upward. A large, red fungal mass grew from its abdomen, resembling a honeycomb-like tumor covered in dense, tiny holes. Around this fungal mass, many smaller yellow mushrooms also grew haphazardly.

What truly shocked the team was that these creatures, with limbs bent in ways that completely violated human anatomy, could actually move—and their four-limbed crawling was not slow.

Only when these things drew nearer did the team understand the true meaning of a 'nasty surprise'!

What was even more horrifying was that there weren't just two of them—there were three mushroom-heads and one honeycomb fungus.

"Oh, the corruption is so severe!"

"The blight has devoured their lives!"

"Mushroom freaks!"