After being reborn, I was turned into a slave girl by a princess.

A colossal skeleton stood tall in this underground world.

It was probably several hundred meters long, with the ribs only a few dozen meters wide and a dozen meters high—thus forming a natural skeleton that provided support for the lizard people's village.

There are no trees here, so the lizardmen's villages are mostly built of clay. Besides the lizardmen around her, Lonnies also saw many elderly lizardmen and children in the village.

A rough estimate suggests there are around a thousand reptilians here.

The village chief also rushed over eagerly, addressing Lonnie on the street, "Divine Envoy, welcome to our village. We have some excellent offerings here, may I ask, Divine Envoy..."

"Hmm, no, that's not necessary! I see there's some commotion in your village, has something happened?"

Lornes asked, her face slightly flushed.

In fact, when you arrive at a strange village and strike up a conversation with the villagers... there are almost no people in the whole world more experienced than Lonnie.

After all, she had done far too many similar things in the past as a hero.

"My lord, have you already figured it out?"

The lizardman village chief, being rather naive, was immediately taken aback by Lonnie's words.

"Hmm, tell me more about it."

"Actually, it's like this... Recently, a lot of strange pests have suddenly appeared in the mushroom fields of our village."

"Strange pests?"

"Yes, they devour mushrooms and attack anyone who gets too close. It's been a real ordeal for us. And lately there's been some noise coming from the ruins. We sent someone to investigate and found out it was your... servants. That put our minds at ease."

The lizardman looked at the girls who were with him; it seemed that the sounds coming from the ruins had caught his attention.

"Yes, they... they are humans I captured from another place. They won't be in any danger."

"Ah, then we can rest assured. Your Excellency, are you going to rest now?"

"No, take me to see the farmland instead."

……

……

And so, the group continued toward the farmland.

However, Lonnies discovered many interesting things in the lizardman village.

For example, although their buildings are made of mud, you can see many fragments of circuit boards in the cracks of the walls.

While lizard people don't have livestock like cattle and sheep, they do keep a type of snail that they use to transport small goods.

Although the village's gravel roads were rather dirty, a statue of a fox spirit stood tall in the very center of the village!

It wasn't an ordinary fox, but more like a fox spirit from mythology... Not only was it alluring, but it also had a huge tail! It's just that the lizardman's carving was a bit lacking, so it didn't quite get the blood pumping.

(It looks so beautiful... Who is this sculpture of?)

……

To explore the village's customs, the girls continued deeper into the village.

After passing through the back road of the village, you will come to a vast expanse of farmland.

There's no sunshine here, so naturally, it's not wheat that's grown... Mushrooms of all sizes are growing in abundance, almost forming a continuous patch.

The air was filled with an indescribable scent of heather, which made Lonnie feel strange.

But in reality, it wasn't some kind of offering to the fox god, but rather spores that drifted out of the mushroom.

Most of the mushrooms were growing very vigorously, with the largest even reaching the height of two people. At the end of the road, however, there was a grove of blackened mushrooms.

The mushrooms here have all withered, looking shriveled and charred.

The lizardman village chief picked up a jet-black insect and said:

“My Lord, this is it.”

"This one……"

"This is the thing that's wandering around our mushroom fields, destroying our crops!"

This insect looks a lot like a slug; it has a long, soft body with dark purple markings on its surface. Even when lifted up, the insect continues to wriggle wildly.

Lonnies had never seen such a thing before and just felt disgusted, but Elusia frowned and exchanged a glance with Cecily.

Both of them had serious expressions, and Bai Ye seemed to have seen some kind of natural enemy, so she took a step back in fright.

This made Lonnie realize the seriousness of the situation:

"Village chief, how long has this thing existed?"

"Ah, that's probably one ley line cycle, right?"

"Oh, um... I'll take my entourage inside for a bit."

"Should we come in together?"

"No need. There might be danger inside. You can just guard the door."

And so, Lonnie stepped down from the sedan chair and entered the mushroom forest with everyone.

With no outsiders present, this should have been a time for a sigh of relief, but Princess Cecilu shook her head and said seriously:

"Elcia, what was that thing just now...?"

"That's right, it's a puppet worm."

Elusia's resolute reply startled Lonnie.

It wasn't that she hadn't seen puppet insects before, such as in the Snow Kingdom and in the small village—it's just that the puppet insects in her memory were all very small, and they didn't have such strange patterns on their bodies.

And now...

"This is no ordinary puppet worm, but an abyssal puppet worm... It is the best of the best puppet worms. Just one of them can control a person's mind."

"what?"

"Hold your breath and proceed carefully. Everyone should try not to separate and pay attention to every corner."

"Yes, got it."

The girls worked together, keeping a close watch on their surroundings, and gradually made their way deeper into the woods.

Chapter 17 Girl VS Puppet Insect

"How disgusting!"

"What...is this?"

Despite being mentally prepared, Lonnie almost threw up what she had eaten for lunch.

because……

Countless densely packed puppet insects are climbing on a mushroom that has long since withered.

Their contorted appearance was so eerie, it looked as if maggots were wriggling on their bodies. Even though Lonnie wasn't prone to trypophobia, she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Waaah, this is so scary."

Su Ling was so frightened that she immediately hugged herself, while Cecilu gasped and said, "How is this possible? There are so many..."

"Is this some kind of 'poisonous insect breeding'? They release a large number of puppet insects, and the ones that survive are the high-grade ones that the lizardman village chief just caught."

Elusia frowned, seemingly lost in thought.

"So, does Master mean... that the lizardmen have also been controlled?"

"No, those lizardmen could be considered part of the demon race. Demons themselves cannot be controlled by puppet worms; they are part of the demon race's food chain, just like our locusts... But so many puppet worms are too strange."

"what……"

"Forget it, all these disgusting bugs are giving me a headache. White Coconut, could you try to get rid of them?"

"Received, I'll give it a try."

……

……

Although burning down the decaying mushroom forest might have been the best course of action.

However, the fire is difficult to control, and if it spreads to the nearby mushroom forest, the entire lizardman village may be engulfed in flames.

Secondly, although the underground cavern where the girls were located was vast, it was still underground. If too much smoke and dust were to spread all at once, it wouldn't be able to dissipate and would choke people, making it impossible for them to breathe.

Considering that the lizardmen were merely "farmers" living in a remote corner, and the girls were not demons who massacred villages, it was absolutely impossible for them to set fire to the village.

Therefore, Baiye prepared to use the power of the Tree of Ruins to try to devour and capture these puppet insects.

……

"Hmm, I'll try using a pitcher plant...wait, what's going on?"

The white coconut planted lush green seedlings and then wanted to spray them with nutrient solution to help them grow quickly.

However, the puppet insects that were originally devouring the mushrooms suddenly pounced on the seedlings as if they had spotted a delicacy.

"Everyone, protect White Coconut!"

"clear."

"Lonnies, summon the Crimson Hammer."

"Ok!"

Lonis, who had been to the Underworld, knew that monsters like the Puppet Worm were most afraid of the Crimson Hammer.

That crimson light, like a raging flame, seemed capable of purifying all the filth in the world, inspiring awe and fear.

but……

"what happened?"

"!!"