This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

Before the morning light had fully dispersed the cold mist hanging over Puji Fort, Pollock pushed open his door and took a deep breath of the crisp air. Then he rolled his shoulders in mild surprise.

“That’s strange…” he turned to another dwarf washing up at the stone basin outside. “Is it just me, or does it feel less bone-chilling this morning than the past few days?”

The other dwarf scooped up a handful of warm water from a heating puji and wiped his face. He nodded. “Now that you mention it… the wind doesn’t sting as much.”

Pollock had already completed symbiosis and experienced the wonder of thoughts flowing through the fungal network. But like all newcomers, he hadn’t fully abandoned the old habit of speaking aloud.

He couldn’t be more satisfied with life in Puji Fort.

The massive, professional-grade forges that made him gape in awe, the mountains of ore freely available for use, and those delicious mushrooms that could bring tears to a dwarf’s eyes!

He could clearly feel his craftsmanship improving in real, tangible ways. With every hammer strike, the finished piece edged closer to the standard he held in his heart.

In the beginning, when it was just him and Gaddin, facing this vast and unfamiliar miracle-city, a certain loneliness was unavoidable.

But as batch after batch of dwarf apprentices arrived and naturally clustered around the forging complex, that sense of isolation was drowned out by heated discussions, ringing hammer blows, and the booming voices unique to dwarves.

In his eyes, Puji Fort truly was a blacksmith’s paradise.

If there was one minor flaw, it was that this “paradise” was undeniably freezing. It was fine while working around the furnaces, but every time he returned to his quarters after work—or like now, stepping outside in the early morning—the gust of cold wind that rushed in when opening the door always made him shiver, even though a puji had warmed the room beforehand.

So this noticeably milder chill was a pleasant surprise.

At that moment, Gaddin stepped out of the neighboring room wrapped in a thick fur coat, bits of frost still clinging to his beard. “Where to for breakfast?”

Pollock’s eyes lit up. He grinned. “Let’s go knock on his door.”

“You still not tired of that?” Gaddin said helplessly.

“That’s a highborn vampire noble,” Pollock huffed, rubbing his hands together eagerly. “The kind who could swat the two of us flat with one hand! Hearing him rant every morning gives me the strength to swing fifty extra hammer blows. Coming or not?”

They exchanged a laugh and walked toward the cafeteria, crunching across snow that seemed slightly softer than usual. Along the way, they noticed that the icicles hanging from the eaves were a little shorter than yesterday, slowly dripping in the morning light.

Puji Fort truly seemed to be warming, little by little.

…

Within the ruins, the riot of ice and fire continued.

“Y-you two… stop fighting already!”

Caught between blazing flames and freezing frost, Inanna’s voice carried helpless frustration.

Elemental Favor could forcibly shift an elemental spirit’s attitude toward her, but it wasn’t absolute domination.

Especially for elemental lords, that “favor” felt more like an instinctive urge to protect than unconditional obedience.

Above them, blizzards and roaring infernos constantly clashed, each collision scattering shards of ice and streaks of flame.

Cold fronts and heat waves wrestled into violent turbulence, sweeping dust and rubble into the air.

The moisture generated by their clash became thick white mist, quickly enveloping the entire ruin in chaotic haze.

The poor site, already ancient and of archaeological value, suffered massive structural damage under such forces.

Thankfully, Lin Jun had long ago stripped anything valuable from the ruins. Otherwise, he would have been heartbroken.

The two elemental lords had been fighting for most of the day with no clear victor yet.

Number Four, relying on stubborn vitality, finally broke free from the swirling vortex and tumbled behind a partially intact low wall.

It raised one of its tentacles to inspect it. The tip had first been frozen solid like a popsicle, then scorched by passing flames, resulting in a bizarre texture—charred black and crisp, yet dusted with frost.

It carefully curled the damaged tentacle closer, examined it thoughtfully, then snapped it off cleanly with a “crack.”

Holding up the frozen-crispy tentacle, it presented it to the anxious Inanna. “Pink puji, taste this for me. How’s the texture? Crispy outside, tender inside? Or is it too frozen to have good flavor?”

“???”

Inanna felt that Number Four might be heading down a very questionable path…

As time passed, the battle above finally approached its conclusion.

An elemental lord’s greatest strength lay in altering the environment and then leveraging that altered environment to enhance its own power—a self-amplifying loop.

And the Northern Territory was clearly the Frost Elemental Lord’s home field.

Every gust of cold wind and every drifting snowflake aided the Frost Lady. Meanwhile, the Fire Elemental Lord was constantly losing heat simply by existing there.

Gradually, the domain of flames began to shrink.

Each blazing punch the Fire Lord threw took longer to reconstitute after dispersal, while the ice spikes and freezing breaths grew denser and more relentless.

The outcome was becoming clear.

The Fire Elemental Lord, far from foolish, wasn’t about to fight to the bitter end.

It gathered its remaining strength and unleashed a massive burst, blasting the Frost Lord backward.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you! Ice scum—fine, you win this time! I’ll boil you into a puddle of useless water sooner or later. Just you wait!” Its voice was thick with humiliation.

For a former overlord of the Molten Dungeon, this was akin to being beaten and robbed of something precious.

But circumstances were stronger than pride.

Its weakened body of flame collapsed into a streak of fire and retreated into the Binding Ring on Inanna’s left hand. The ring’s glow dimmed completely, as though it had entered dormancy.

The ruins were left with lingering warmth—and the returning cold.

From beneath a pile of shattered stone and ice, the Frost Elemental Lord stirred.

Rubble fell away as the slender crystalline figure floated free.

Its ice-crystal gown bore minor damage, but its bearing remained flawless, as if it had not even heard the Fire Lord’s insults.

It drifted before Inanna, raised its hand of purest ice crystal, and without hesitation replaced the Blessing of Flames on Inanna with its own Blessing of Frost.

This time, no one stopped it.

Afterward, it floated behind Inanna, its long skirt swaying lightly.

Those cold, temperatureless hands gently cupped Inanna’s cheeks in an oddly intimate gesture.

Then, through the Binding Ring, Inanna successfully subdued it. The powerful elemental lord offered not a single trace of resistance.

Thus—

Flames housed in her left hand, frost drawn by her right, Number Four perched on her head, Sword Saint puji in her arms—

The strongest summoner of the era was born.

And the temperature of the Northern Territory finally began to rise… even though it was still winter.