Chapter 13: The Final Beginner Dungeon is a Dungeon Full of Poison Mushrooms!
The last condition for passing the E-rank guild promotion exam was to clear a Beginner Upper-tier Dungeon.
Its name: <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon>.
It was a cave resembling a limestone grotto, its walls crawling with all sorts of poisonous fungi, the whole place dyed in sickly shades of purple. Just looking at it made you feel queasy.
From this dungeon onward, slip damage from the terrain itself would start to appear in earnest, so we had to carefully choose our path.
That said, riding a <Mount> nullified most of the slip damage. A <Beast Mount> would still take the damage, but a <Carriage> took none at all—super convenient.
Man, I can’t wait until we finally get our own carriage. Ah, crap, speaking of which… I forgot to tell the others that in my excitement I’d already put in a request for one to be built. Eh, guess I’ll report it after we’re done today.
"Poison! There’s poison everywhere! Ah—over there too! Everyone, you need to be careful when you walk! And if you get hit by anything, tell me right away, I’ll heal you immediately!"
Lana, putting on a bit of a "senior" act, looked around the cavern and issued her warning. Honestly, it was pretty obvious, but… it was kind of heartwarming.
I don’t know why, but whenever Lana said stuff like that, it didn’t feel nagging—it was soothing. Maybe it was the way a princess earnestly looking out for everyone came across as wholesome.
"I’ve heard that stepping on these floors inflicts a fixed five points of HP damage. Lady Lana, Miss Hanna—since your HP is especially low, please be very careful," Ester warned.
She was right. The rear guard always had lower HP. Hanna, in particular, her equipment boosted her HP a little, but she only had 90 in total.
Lana, on the other hand, had nearly 200, so I wasn’t too worried about her.
"When I heard it was a cavern, I thought it’d be something more mystical. But it’s nothing like that. Honestly, it reminds me of the Ghost Cave Dungeon…"
Sierra muttered, glancing around uneasily. So… was she scared?
Sure, the place did look like a ghost could pop out at any moment, but—
"Don’t worry. There aren’t any ghosts in this dungeon."
I assured her. She turned to me, eyes serious, and said.
"But I heard ghost monsters appear here."
"What!? This dungeon has ghosts!?"
Hanna chimed in immediately, spooked.
"Ah… you mean those. Technically, yeah, they look like ghosts, but not really…"
To be precise, they were more like those "spooky mushrooms" you’d see in certain famous games.
For some reason, poisonous mushrooms that moved around looked ghostly to people.
"They’re just mushroom-type monsters. Creepy, yeah, but not actual ghosts," I explained to calm the two of them down.
"Oh, I see. You startled me, Zephyrus-kun."
"So it’s just mushroom monsters. Then I suppose that’s fine," Sierra added, her shoulders easing.
Truth was, Sierra wasn’t great with ghosts. And naturally, she wasn’t good with "spooky" things either.
Hanna once told me she hated ghosts because "you can’t hit them with a stick." Yeah… that tracked.
"By the way, those damage floors? You can actually harvest materials from them. They drop poison reagents. Hanna, give it a try."
I handed her a vial for liquid storage and a <Gentle Shovel>, then showed her how to collect it.
In <DanKatsu>, damage floors doubled as harvest points. But since they yielded special materials, you either needed a dedicated skill or storage items like vials. Forgetting to bring them meant wasting the chance.
Regular Harvest wasn’t enough, which is why most people didn’t even know damage floors were gathering spots.
"Wow, this is amazing!"
"Nice. With this, we can make poison items. I even brought some recipes, so let’s try alchemy later. Who knows? Maybe the 【Alchemist】 job will open up a whole new fighting style."
I’d seen games where 【Alchemists】 fought using bombs and poisons, so this was basically me trying to copy that. No idea if it’d actually work, but maybe if we paired it with armgear that had 『Slow』 effects, it could turn into something viable.
"Ah! Monster spotted! Everyone, get ready!"
Just like that, while we were moving along, Lana suddenly spotted our first monster. At her voice, everyone raised their weapons.
"Maa, maa, maa…"
What she’d found was the standard monster of the <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon>: the mushroom-type monster known as a <Poison Mush>.
It looked like a grotesque purple mushroom with only a mouth attached. And for some reason, it walked on two legs.
They appeared on every floor, but aside from inflicting poison, they weren’t all that strong.
"Just one. Guess there’s no need to pull aggro? 『Shield Bash』!"
"Maa!?"
Sierra gave it a casual twist of her shield.
The <Poison Mush> let out a cry that sounded like, You’ve gotta be kidding me!? Before tumbling to the ground in a slipdown. Ester and I moved in and finished it off with regular attacks.
"Maa… maa…"
And just like that, our first encounter was over in the blink of an eye.
As the <Poison Mush> dissolved into particles of light, its fading cry almost carried a note of regret. …Probably just my imagination.
"That was weak!"
"Well, it makes sense. Beginner Upper-tier Dungeons unlock at Job Lv25. We’re already around Job Lv40—ordinary monsters don’t even stand a chance."
We had been grinding for ages, after all.
For reference, Beginner Upper-tier Dungeons open at Lv25 and let you train up to Lv50.
The recommended level for tackling the boss was Job Lv35, so the mobs on the upper floors were no more than fodder for us. Just like Sierra had proven a moment ago.
That said, the experience points we got were barely a trickle, so leveling up on regular monsters had become pretty tough.
In short, the most efficient way was just to head straight for the boss room.
Man, if only we had <Mounts>…
From there, our party steadily pushed forward through the dungeon, cutting down monsters along the way without trouble.
"Monsters here really just drop mushrooms, huh," Hanna muttered, her arms loaded with mushroom drops by the time we’d reached the 15th floor.
We’d been rushing straight along the boss route, so fights had been kept to the bare minimum. But for some reason, a whole mob of mushroom monsters had been loitering around the stairs to the 16th floor, so we’d had no choice but to engage—no, to steamroll them.
The result: a mountain of mushroom drops.
I nodded at Hanna’s remark.
"Well, this place is nicknamed the <Mushroom Dungeon>. Oh, and be careful—the drops include <Edible>, <Edible Poison Mushrooms>, and plain old <Poison Mushrooms>."
"What’s the difference? Especially between <Edible Poison Mushrooms> and <Poison Mushrooms>?"
"Good question, Hanna."
A sharp one, too. She really had grown.
Then again, thinking back, Hanna had always been sharp with her questions. She never hesitated to voice her doubts. More than once, I’d thought, You’re seriously asking that out loud!? Damn, respect.
"Anyway, it’s simple. <Edible> and <Edible Poison Mushrooms> fall under the 【Cook】’s domain. <Poison Mushrooms> are for 【Pharmacists】 and 【Alchemists】."
When handled properly with the right job and skills, these materials could be turned into actual items—whether food dishes or poisons.
But if, say, an Alchemist with no affinity for cooking tried to work with Edibles, failure was practically guaranteed. That’s how it worked.
As for <Edible Poison Mushrooms>, a 【Cook】 could use skills like 『Detox』 to turn them into normal food, or just use them as-is to make poisoned bait for monsters.
"So yeah. Always have <Medra> to appraise any mushrooms you pick up. Whatever you do, don’t just eat them blindly, alright?"
Some poisonous mushrooms were so nasty they could chunk down your HP in a single bite and leave you KO’d on the spot. On the other hand, some mushrooms could restore MP just by being eaten raw.
Those were known as <Medicinal Mushrooms>. Unfortunately, since this was the <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon>, the only kind spawning here were the toxic ones. Medicinals only started appearing in the Intermediate Upper-tier Dungeons.
After sweeping through the 16th floor, we stopped at a certain spot.
By now, it was a familiar sight, and the others perked up instantly.
"Zephyrus! There’s one here, right?!"
"You got it. Hand me the key."
"Here you go, Zephyrus-kun."
Hanna, already prepared, handed over an <Iron Door Key>.
As you guessed, this was a hidden door.
This time, it looked like nothing more than a solid rock wall along the path, but on closer inspection, there was a tiny keyhole. Camouflage at its finest—without knowing in advance, you’d walk right past it. Normally, you’d need a skill to spot it.
Me? I had both my game knowledge and the 『Intuition』 skill, so there was no chance I’d miss it.
I slipped the <Iron Door Key> into the keyhole. The wall sank inward, then slowly swung open, revealing a passage. The sight made my heart pound. A real hidden room—it gave me a thrill the game never could.
And there was one more reason to get excited here.
""A <Gold Chest>!""
Both Lana and Hanna shouted in unison at the sight of the golden treasure chest sitting inside.
The two of them bolted forward like racers.
Given that Lana’s AGI was over 50 while Hanna’s base stat was only 10, the outcome should’ve been obvious… yet somehow they were neck-and-neck.
"I win!"
"Aw, I lost…"
Against all odds, Hanna got there first.
Instead of wondering when this had turned into a race, I found myself more baffled by how Hanna had actually won. Was this the power of sheer obsession for a <Gold Chest>? Hanna’s determination was terrifying.
"Zephyrus-kun! Can I open it?!"
She asked with the air of a rightful victor, though if I remembered right, it was supposed to be Ester’s turn.
"I don’t mind. I’ll open the next one instead."
Ester whispered to me with a graceful smile. Well, since she said so, I might as well go along.
"Go ahead. Open it."
"Yay! <Lucky Cat-sama>, please bless me with something good!"
Hanna leapt up in delight and prayed to the <Lucky Cat-sama>.
Sadly, treasure chests behind hidden doors always had fixed contents, so not even the <Lucky Cat-sama> could change that.
Still, this time’s <Gold Chest> did contain something worthwhile.
"Wait, this is… a <Item Bag>?!"
Exactly. The very same <Item Bag (Capacity: Large)> we were already using—meaning we now had a second one.
With this, Kalua’s party would finally have more breathing room when it came to hauling materials.
This bag costs a fortune if you buy it.
That’s why it’s better to farm it as a drop when you can. Since it can be obtained from fixed treasure chests like this one, we’d been putting off buying another until now.
Whether or not you have a <Item Bag (Capacity: Large)> is a huge deal when it comes to dungeon runs. Ideally, you want to stock up on multiple large ones whenever possible.
Talk it over with your wallet and try to secure one early.
For now, we decided not to use this new <Item Bag>. Hanna suggested we keep it pristine and gift it to our successors later. Honestly, I liked that idea—her thoughtfulness was really heartwarming. I agreed right away.
"Alright then, next up’s the boss."
The <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon> only has one hidden room. The trade-off is that it holds a <Gold Chest>, but still, it feels a bit stingy. The gamer in me always wants more. Well, can’t be helped. We’ll just squeeze the rest of the gold chests out of the boss.
Since we’d been ignoring most monsters, we reached the safe zone earlier than expected. It was only noon.
As usual, we took our lunch break there, and I explained about the boss.
"This time it’s the <Mother Mush>. Nickname: <Mama>."
"Mama…"
Hanna muttered softly.
Strange nicknames like that are par for the course in <Dankatsu>, so please forgive us.
"This thing periodically releases poisonous spores. If you get poisoned, cure it right away. Lana, that’s on you."
"Leave it to me. But you’re helping too, Zephyrus."
"Of course."
Spells have cooldowns. On top of that, Lana’s 『Prayer of Purification』 is still low-level, so it eats up a lot of MP. Unlike attack skills, 『Prayer of Purification』 actually reduces both cooldown and MP cost as it levels up.
Which means curing the whole party would be tough on both time and mana. That’s why I’d be supporting with 『Recovery』.
"As the name suggests, <Mama> spawns hordes of little ones. Same hate rules as with <Debubu>—if you attack <Mama> while the <Mini Mushes> are out, they’ll all rush you. So watch it."
At least it’s not like <Debubu>, where the boss healed over time.
Instead, even when <Mama> spawns <Minis>, its HP doesn’t drop, and its body doesn’t shrink.
"The <Minis> also use poison attacks, just like the <Sabottenders>, so watch out for that slip damage. Lana, keep up the status cleanses and don’t let the regen buffs fall off."
"Got it."
"Understood."
"And once the <Minis> swarm us, we’ll wipe them out with AoEs. Any questions?"
"I have one."
Sierra raised her hand.
"Go ahead."
"Does this <Mother Mush> attack directly?"
"It’s got arms, so yeah, it swings. Sometimes it even coats them with elemental attributes."
Oh, and since it’s bipedal, it actually walks around. And it’s huge.
That said, its movements are pretty sluggish.
"I see. So, in short, it combines traits of the bosses we’ve faced so far?"
"Pretty much. It’s the final boss of a Beginner-Level Dungeon, after all. You could call it the culmination of everything up till now."
…Even if that culmination is just a mushroom.
Kinda makes you wonder if that’s really fitting.
Anyway, after carefully going over countermeasures, we finished lunch.
Past 1 PM, we stepped through the gate to the boss chamber.
"Maama… Maama…"
"That’s the <Mother Mush>."
"Maama…"
Hanna blinked wide-eyed at where I was pointing.
Waiting for us at the heart of the <Poison Mushroom Cavern Dungeon> was the boss—<Mother Mush>.
It stood three meters tall, but just as wide, with a massive, barrel-like build. Its umbrella-like cap flared upward, broad enough to keep off any rain. Red, streaked with lurid purple blotches, it radiated toxicity. Eat that thing by mistake, and you might grow gigantic yourself. (Not really, don’t worry.)
It had tree-trunk arms, daikon-sized legs, and walked upright on two feet.
Its face sat smack in the middle of its body, just like the <Poison Mush> we fought earlier—red glowing eyes and jagged, tooth-like mouth stuck to its torso.
Because of that, even though it was tall, its face sat lower than expected in melee, which apparently threw a lot of people off. They never knew whether to watch the upper cap or the creepy face below.
With a lumbering motion, the boss stirred, raising both arms high in a threatening gesture.
"Mamaa!!"
"Everyone, focus fire!"
"Maama!?"
For some reason, it almost sounded like it shouted, Hey, that’s cheating! But I was sure that was just my imagination.
Actually, the <Mother Mush> is pretty slow. It doesn’t charge or use any rushing techniques, and before it starts spawning the <Minis>, you can pelt it from range without worrying about counterattacks. The trade-off is that its HP is insanely high, so whittling it down takes some effort.
So the standard tactic is simple: focus fire right from the start.
"『Blessing of the Lion』! 『Blessing of the Holy Magic』! 『Blade of Light』!"
"『Fireball』! 『Flare Lance』! 『Ice Lance』!"
"『Shine Lightning』! 『Lightning Burst』!"
Our ranged magic slams home nicely, racking up damage.
Oh, hell yeah! I finally got to try out my first Tier-3 spell—『Lightning Burst』—and holy crap, this is awesome! It’s like blasting a breath attack straight out of a sword! A massive, wide-beam laser cannon! The sheer cool factor is off the charts! Damn, this is so much fun—I just wanna spam it nonstop and forget about MP!
"Mammaaah!!"
"Zephyrus, I know you’re having fun, but get a grip! You’ve pissed the boss off. 『Provoke』!"
Whoops. I got so swept up in the awesomeness that Sierra had to snap me back. Kuhh… I wanted to bask in that thrill just a bit longer! Damn you, boss! I won’t forgive you for ruining my moment!
"Mammaaah!!"
"Stop screaming ‘Mammaaah’ at me, damn it! Give me back my joy, you overgrown shroom! 『Sonic Sword』!"
"Ma!?"
My rage-powered strike slams right into <Mama>, landing a critical hit.
The boss topples in a critical down—huge opening!
"All-out attack!"
"W-wait, I’m still on cooldown! 『Pillar of Light』!"
"『Fireball』! Ugh, maybe if I swap orbs I can squeeze in another shot—"
The sudden knockdown throws our backline into a fluster.
…Yeah, I might’ve gotten a little carried away and pulled off something way better than expected. Didn’t think we’d nail a down this early. My bad.
Hanna’s fumbling with her Orb Swap to squeeze out another 『Flare Lance』, but honestly, it’d probably be faster to just wait for the cooldown.
"Hah! 『Lance Charge』! 『Long Thrust』! 『Precious Thrust』!"
"『Shield Smite』!"
"Here we go—『Brave Slash』! 『Falcon Strike』! 『Lightning Slash』!"
"Ma!?"
The frontliners’ attacks pierce through, chunking <Mama>’s HP hard.
I even got to unveil my brand-new Tier-3 skills—『Falcon Strike』 and 『Lightning Slash』.
Man, they’re not just strong—they look insanely badass too! Watching <Mama>’s HP bar drop like a rock is pure bliss.
As expected of Tier-3 skills and spells—their flashy animations alone are worth it!
"Whoa, Zephyrus! That looked amazing! 『Blade of Light』!"
"Damn right it did—wait, oi!? You aiming that at me!?"
For once, Lana misjudged her aim. Fired her spell right at me while praising my new moves! My 『Instinct』 skill kicked in, triggering 『Hyper Reflex』, and I barely dodged in time. Without it, that shot would’ve nailed me square!
"Oops, I made a mistake. Ugh, it’s your fault anyway for showing off something that cool, Zephyrus!"
"How’s that my fault!?"
Lana’s got this habit of firing skills at whatever she’s looking at. The timing slipped, and since she was facing me, well… yeah.
Still, that was basically textbook tsundere. I’ll forgive her.
She did apologize properly afterwards, too. Honestly, that’s why I like her brand of tsundere.
"You two, focus already. The downs’s about to end."
"Lady Lana, we’ll be having a talk later."
"Eek…"
<Mama> stands back up, looking absolutely furious.
And yep, the hate’s all on me. Can’t blame it—after all, I crit-downed it and blasted it with high damage.
"Mammaaah!! Mammaaah!! MAMMAAAH!!"
"Spore attack incoming! Everyone but Sierra, fall back!"
<Mama> shakes its massive cap, scattering purple spores all around.
Touch those, and you risk getting poisoned. So we'll back off for now to play it safe.
Problem is… <Mama>’s shaking its cap and stomping straight toward me. Terrifying.
"『Provoke』! 『Guard Stance』!"
Finally, with her cooldown up, Sierra pulls aggro off me.
Good thing too—she’s got 『Status Ailment Resistance Lv.10』, so poison barely ever sticks to her.
With that, she can even withstand <Mama>’s spore armor. As expected from Sierra—totally reliable.
"Mammah!"
"Kuhh… that’s pretty heavy."
"『Prayer of Healing』!"
With a loud thud, <Mama>’s massive fist(?) slams into Sierra’s shield.
The downside of Mama’s slow movements was that its punches(?) packed a ton of force. Even through her shield, Sierra took some chip damage—Lana immediately threw out a heal.
"Mamma! Mamma! Mamma!!"
"Summoning minions! Everyone fall back! Sierra, you too!"
I bark out more orders as <Mama> begins its next phase.
Its minions are <Mini-Mushes>.
The spores hit the ground, sprouting into little mushrooms one after another.
And not just a handful—this wasn’t anything like the <Sabottenders>. A quick count said there had to be at least thirty of them.
Even Sierra, with all her toughness, would be in danger if she got surrounded.
So, just like back with the <Mini-Ghosts>, we pull Sierra back, splitting the mobs between the two of us.
"『Appeal』!"
Since Sierra’s 『Provoke』 was still on cooldown, I took the first dozen or so myself.
"『Shine Lightning』! Keep pouring on the attacks! Just don’t hit <Mama> by mistake!"
"Hah! 『Legion Thrust』!"
"『Pillar of Light』!"
"『Dark Javelin』!"
Our barrage quickly thinned out the swarm of <Mini-Mushes>.
Ah, so Hanna did swap out her orb after all. Her 『Dark Javelin』, with its piercing effect, skewered a cluster of the <Mini Mushes>.
"『Provoke』!"
On the other side, Sierra pulled aggro from the rest of the <Minis>.
With only three left on my side, I signal the others to shift over and back her up.
「『Guard Rush』!」
A slashing counter while bracing behind my shield.
The <Mini-Mush> in front of me took the hit straight on and burst into effects.
『Guard Rush』 looks plain compared to flashier skills, but damn is it practical.
Once I’d cleared my group, I swung over to Sierra’s side and helped finish hers off too.
Then Sierra resumed tanking <Mama>, while the rest of us hammered it from range, steadily shaving away its HP bar.
<Mama> summoned its minions twice more after that, but with our experience from the <Debubu> fight, we handled it cleanly without much trouble.
Finally, when its HP dipped into the red zone (10% remaining), <Mama> entered rage mode. Just like with <Takewari Taro>, it cloaked itself in flames, boosting its attack power and unleashing burning punches.
This was the move that baffled so many <DanKatsu> players, leaving them asking, Hey, mushroom, you’re on fire, how are you not burning up yourself!? Even a tank couldn’t survive a direct flaming Mama Punch.
…Well, unless you know the counterplay. In which case, easy.
"Sierra, fall back! Everyone, full-range assault!"
"Ma!?"
Sure, its fire punches hit harder now, but it’s slow and terrible at ranged combat. Once we pulled back, there was literally nothing it could do.
I swear I saw it give us this look like, You’ve gotta be kidding me, but… eh, probably my imagination.
「Ma… ma… maaa…───」
Our nonstop barrage of skills and spells tore into it until its HP hit zero. With a last groan, <Mother Mush> dissolved into the sea of effect and vanished.
What remained was a mountain of loot—and one gleaming <Silver Chest>.
And with that, all the Beginner-Level Dungeon was completely cleared!
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