The Fungeon #3

'Now help this tough child already…. My cutest Holy knight.'

Hearing those words, he felt his body changing from head to toe. He could feel himself being filled with a feeling of calmness and power.

"It was me after all, Bibo…." Ardian spoke under his breath as he remembered the presence which believed him the most. He found his throat parched as he wanted to feel the warmth of his friend beside him,

'It is not the time to cry…' he thought as the roots enclosing him finally opened,

"I am sorry, Pine, I made you wait" he smiled at the pine tree roots, which had been protecting him all this while when the Pine roots stopped yet another attack on him.

'Please…. I cannot hold anymore…' the pine tree replied as he felt the changes in Ardian, and Ardian moved near the tree and asked in a low yet clear voice,

"If I give you a method to revive the forest with your death, would you be pleased?"

'It would be the greatest Karama for this old me…. how?' The Pine asked, and Ardian touched the roots and spoke.

"[Mistilteinn]! With this, your death won't be wasted, Pine" his voice was filled with kindness and resolve, and in return to this, Pine tree accepted his fate,

'Thank… you…. Sir Holy knight,' Pine replied, and Ardian thought, baffled,

'He knew already?' he wanted to ask how Pine knew he would be Holy knight, but it was already late the skill showed its effect. The whole tree leaving the part corrupted by fungi contracted and compressed towards Ardian's hand; the whole room shined serene green from the mana Ardian emitted,

"Have a great next life," Ardian spoke as the tree turned into a sword.

'Now it's their turn' Ardian looked towards the other Trents and brandished his newly acquired sword.

Outside the boss room Ryu, Jue, and Rafa were still fighting with a seemingly endless amount of dungeon monsters when suddenly, the roots on the wall began moving away. The monsters finally started to decrease in number visibly.

'Just what is happening inside!?' Ryu wondered as he looked towards the boss room. He could not believe Ardian was holding his own against the dungeon boss for this long. He slashed another monster,

"Jue, fall back!!" Ryu shouted to Jue, and Jue nodded as soon as Jue rolled back after punching a mushroom monster. Ryu smirked,

'It is the time!!' Ryu channelled his mana through many glyphs he drew on the floor while fighting. It was an intermediate fire summoning glyph, but against fungi monsters,

"Big brother, amazing!!" Jue said with shining eyes as he saw many fungi monsters die in flames produced by Ryu's glyphs and then as the blood rush from the constant battling settled down, he took a few deep breaths as he realized,

"Big brother… Ardian brother is still inside!! We need to save him," Jue said in a concerned voice, and Ryu thought,

'If only we could break the doors….' His gaze moved towards Rafa, and he couldn't put it in words, but it was like an instinct he knew from his soul.

'If it is her, she might be able to break the door….' and he spoke,

"Rafa, big sister!! Can you get rid of the door?" if there were someone else in place of Jue and Rafa, they would've thought that Ryu had gone mad because breaking open the boss room door was something only heard in old legends and stories, but there was no shred of doubt in Jue's eyes and Rafa replied,

"It will take five minutes,"

'Normally it should be impossible!!' thought Ryu, but she didn't question how she could do that as he was the one who made the request,

After fighting for ten more minutes, no more monsters were spawning.

'Is it really possible?' Ryu wondered; even though he was the one who made the request, but his mind was already in depths of confusion and conflict as he imagined what was going on inside the dungeon as Ardian was a support type at best,

"Rafa sister, are you ready?" Ryu asked as Rafa was standing a few steps away from the gate in front of it, preparing to burst it open, and Rafa replied with a pout,

"It is a big sister!!"

"Yes, Rafa, big sister, are you ready," Ryu said with a troubled expression, and she nodded. Jue was looking at Rafa with eyes filled with a mixture of awe and jealousy.

'Rafa big sister is so strong… I couldn't even make a scratch,' he thought as Rafa began to jump towards the giant gate, her sword bent towards the back, putting as much force and power she could muster in the blade to do something which is otherwise considered impossible, but something totally unexpected happened and the door opened while she was middle of the jump,

Ardian, who had just opened the door after defeating the dungeon boss, felt a chill run down his spine as he saw Rafa jumping toward him with a sword, a menacing expression on her face as if she was going to destroy him.

Rafa noticed Ardian and moved her trajectory forcibly in the middle of the air by slashing her sword middle air, creating a shock wave,

It all happened quickly. Ryu noticed the door opening, and Rafa slammed her sword into the ground. Dust filled the room for a while.

'What the f@ck happened!?' he thought his vision was clear due to the effect of [Hide and seek], but he still couldn't recognize the person who came out of the dungeon with a muscular body on top of holding a heavy-looking sword,

The dust settled, and finally, Ryu could see clearly,

"I ended up defeating it… I am sorry there was no other choice," Ardian spoke as he saw the expressions on Ryu's and other's faces, which he confused with expressions of displeasure,

'Was the boss monster a year's worth of gym plan!? How is he so ripped suddenly?' thought Ryu as he stared at Ardian wide-eyed, whose body was looking very muscular compared to when he entered the boss room,

"Ardian brother!? what is that sword?" Jue asked, his eyes shining, and then he questioned,

"No!! how did you defeat the boss monster alone first!?" his eyes filled with curiosity, he moved towards Ardian, who rubbed the back of his head awkwardly,

And Ryu's eyes turned crimson as he examined the wooden-looking sword with green emerald in the middle.

[Weapon- Mistilteinn: the sword of legends said to be the seed of the tree Drasil. It absorbs various kinds of attacks. The sword is the result of skill by the Holy knight of Goddess of Bounty and harvest and will cease to exist the moment the Holy knight decides, or the Plant's mana depletes]

Ryu moved near Ardian, who was looking embarrassed due to Jue's constant questions and praise and spoke.

"Ardian? Who are you?"

'It couldn't be. Was he just acting being with us…. He was a holy knight all along!?'

"I am…. I am…. I am just a plant lover" Ardian stuttered for a while before he finally found his answer and answered confidently. Ryu took two steps back as he thought,

'Okay… so the result is he lost more screws than before' he joined his hands and wondered if there were mental hospitals in this world when Ardian spoke.

"I left the Dungeon core behind…. I never saw one before, so I did not know how to pick it, and I did not want to mess it up,"

'Good job doing that….' Ryu smirked as he signalled Jue to take the Dungeon core, and Rafa spoke,

"You smell like her now…."

"Smell like who?" Ardian asked, and Rafa sniffed for a bit before she spoke with a conflicted expression,

"Elm Drasil…." She didn't know who it was and how she knew him, but this name was popping into her mind as she stood near Ardian, and Ardian's face went pale as he spoke.

"How did you know him, Rafa!?"

"Oii, what happened suddenly?" Ryu asked as he decided that Ardian being a holy knight isn't necessarily bad because after scanning him, he made sure that this change that occurred in him was indeed after going inside the dungeon and Ardian replied with a conflicted and questioning gaze,

"It was my Great grandfather…. Elm Drasil, the Holy Knight of Goddess of Harvest, many years back, he was dead before my father was born though," he sneaked a peek at Rafa, wondering how she knew the name and how he smelt, but Rafa was already looking confused and replied,

"I don't remember Elm… I just know the smell" she went near Ryu for pats, who patted her and spoke.

"It is fine, Rafa sister…. If you remember anything later, tell then"

'Her condition had been weird since we entered the dungeon…. But I want to know more!!!' Ryu thought but decided on opting for patience, as he spoke to Ardian straight,

"What are your plans with that sword?"

"I will use this to revive the forest."

"All the best with that," Ryu replied as he thought,

'I can't have a fragment of sense while talking to him…!!'

Jue collected the dungeon orb, and the dungeon expedition succeeded. The Fusion souls party, accompanied by buffed Ardian, departed back for Doran after resting a bit. The way back was smooth, although Ryu was having trouble seeing Ardian's status before, he was shocked this time as he could see more and more things every passing second,

'His belief in me is increasing? Why?' Ryu looked at Ardian's back with a questioning gaze when suddenly he and Jue heard the voice of someone,

"Do Lord Hathi really need to make us walk all the way here everyda…." It was a small and exhausted voice if not for training by Village chief Jue and Ryu hadn't been able to hear it,

"Jue, pull him aside… Rafa sister, hide," Ryu spoke as he moved behind a half-dead tree. Ardian was confused as Jue pulled him but didn't resist as he sensed Ryu's and Jue's caution.