Chapter 24, Slugfest

Zelaria

Leaving the carcasses behind and running back towards the valley where I previously spotted the trains of fungus parasites I stop to take in the changes before going any further. There are still a few dozen of them making their way through the valley and after checking that my mana reservers are back to full I take off towards the closest group of them.

This group consists of five of them and I’ll have to take care to only use as many enhancements as my regeneration can support when going into this fight.

I start slicing them apart and it’s quite difficult to not take any damage without dealing it when there’s more than three of them attacking all at once. If it’s not the acidic spores melting my eyes it's a limb scratching me or cleaving off a piece of me.

I weave between their attacks with some success while dismantling their limbs before striking at their slug body just beneath their heads, tearing them apart and spilling acidic goop all over the place.

I keep slicing and tearing their heads off without finishing them until every glowing purple eye is staring indignantly up at me from the ground as the mycelia tries to reconnect their body parts.

Moving between them and piercing their eye sockets with a dagger, rummaging around in the skull until they go still and the purple light flickers out, I go from fungus to fungus in the order they were killed to make sure none manage to reconnect themselves in time. It’s quite the effective way of killing them but the small amounts of acidic, slashing and piercing damage and my constant use of enhancements are too much of a drain on my mana regeneration to keep up indefinitely.

I’ve only lost about half my capacitor in this fight but the fact that I lost any mana at all means that I can’t keep fighting these things forever like I did with the rats in the dungeon. I’ll first have to refine my technique to use as little mana as possible while increasing the killing efficiently before it becomes viable long term.

“Should we really be fighting with daggers, Ari? They’re good for dual wielding but their range is extremely short. It would be much more efficient to use swords or something.”

She considers my point before putting my doubts aside for the moment.

“These slug-like fungi creatures are soft enough that we can tear into them with ease even without any increase in range. I say we continue using daggers until we reach the Riverflow kingdom as we most likely won’t be fighting anything except these things while here.”

“Hm. True enough. We don’t really have the mana regeneration to support continuous battle with anything else either. We could always start using more ranged magic and punching our enemies instead but that seems even less efficient without the strength to instantly obliterate our targets.”

I get the equivalent of an image sent from Ari, depicting us fighting bare handed against hordes of monsters, utterly covered in blood while flinging celestial flames all around us like a wild beast. I’m not sure if she sent it sarcastically or not but it looks quite cool to me.

The battle only takes around a minute but the screeches have attracted the attention of more parasites. I stand still in the carnage waiting for them to arrive as Ari regenerates the last remaining damage to my body and I recharge the capacitor.

I don’t bother repairing my clothes as they will only get eaten up by the acid and waste my mana. The only pieces I allow myself to constantly regenerate are my panties, belt and hair tie.

It’s probably a good idea to display some sort of modesty in case an adventurer expedition finds me and the hair certainly can’t be completely loose as it would get in my eyes and distract me in the middle of battle. Having sheaths hanging on a belt is likewise important if I need to run and want my hands free.

The next parasite to join my soon to be ‘feast for the lucky winner who doesn't get added themselves’ gurgles and screeches before rushing me. I dispose of it by launching myself into its embrace and carving up vertically along the stomach, going into the long cut with my forward momentum and finishing with a slash through the other side.

Landing on its slug-like back with bare feet feels disgusting but I don’t let it stop me from doing a slippery, spinning roundhouse kick to separate its upper body wholly and not merely carve a path through it. The head separates and does a few lazy spins, spraying the surroundings with goop before landing with a cracking sound, face down.

“Zel… That was a disgusting way to finish it off even if surprisingly effective.”

“I agree, I’m not doing that again if I don’t have to.”

Rubbing slimy and burning guts from my eyes with the back of my likewise slimy hand I shake my head like a wet dog before Ari takes pity on me and cleans my face of all the goop. The next foe has already arrived between the trees and is making its way towards me from the other side of the carcasses. I finish off the one I’m working on with a decisive stomp, cracking the skull open, before meeting its charge.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Parasite - Level 62]. Less experience awarded.

They keep coming and I keep killing. Steadily increasing the number of carcasses between the clearing in the trees. When I’ve killed 14 of them I decide to test if this will work.

Having just finished my last opponent I sprint away from the caracasses and hide behind a tree and boulder standing close together at the clearing’s edge.

It isn’t long before the next parasite makes its way towards where the sounds of battle had just echoed from. It looks at the scene of carnage as if in disbelief before quickly pulling itself in hasty movements towards the closest carcass and starting its gurgling sucking noise. I identify it before it finishes its meal to get a look at its current level.

[Fungus Parasite - Level 68]

One of the highest leveled parasites I’ve seen so far. There hasn’t been a single one over level 68 but these have all been birthed from animals and not monsters. I bet there will be a difference in level between those two types but they’re surely located closer to the curse’s source by now.

I watch as it consumes the mycelia and it seems to grow slightly with each level it gains. Its eyes also steadily increase in luminosity as its slug-like body grows thicker and more solid looking. Even its sharp three jointed limbs seem to grow even sharper and longer as it makes its way ever faster between the carcasses as if in a frenzy.

When it finishes sucking out the mycelium of the last carcass I identify it once again, hoping fervently I haven’t set myself up for failure.

[Fungus Parasite - Level 82]

“It worked! Ari, it worked!!”

I’m ecstatic about the apparent success of the experiment and I do a little dance out of sight in celebration. Ari chuckles at my antics before getting my back on track.

“It did. Now we just have to kill it before anything else decides to join it.”

With Ari’s reminder that it might get reinforcements at any time I start running towards my newly strengthened opponent. I bring out my mystical golden daggers from their sheaths and twirl them a little in anticipation as my firm bust bounce freely, sending the gore previously covering it flying.

I lower myself into a half crouch as the parasite turns my way and analyze it more thoroughly before attacking. It's larger now and the disturbing glow from the eye sockets has increased but nothing else has obviously changed.

The now 2.6 meter tall parasite takes up a stance I haven’t seen before. It might be an adaptation to my fighting style and I grin like a madwoman as my fighting technique finally gets put to the test in a very literal sense.

The parasite has its left front limb and right back limb piercing the ground for stability while its other two free limbs ready themselves to pierce me as I approach.

It also lowers itself towards the ground, presenting a smaller target if I want to jump above a limb to cut at it, as was my first instinct. I would have moved towards the left front limb piercing the ground and jumped over it to get at its main body but it looks prepared to counter such a move. Quite a fast adaptation on its part.

I run straight at it instead and it lets me come at it without moving itself, hunkered down with purple glowing eyes encased in a skull just visible below its forward tilted purple cap. As I get within reach it stabs a limb straight at my chest and I dodge to the right, moving towards one of the anchored limbs.

Instead of trying to redirect its piercing attack it stabs the limb straight into the ground where I’d been before dodging. Tilting its body in the same movement as it pulls another limb out of the ground it swipes it horizontally at my right side with deadly swiftness I’ve not seen before.

Barely managing to react in time I jump towards it, trying to cut the limb off at the joint. Yet another limb coming straight at my chest tells me it was the expected move and I mentally curse as I prepare to trade a blow for a cut off limb.

The sharp limb goes straight through me as easily as if I was made of cotton and even if I manage to slice the left front limb off at the joint it doesn’t feel like my win. The flashing purple eyes showing beneath the cap apparently agrees with my racing thoughts. Twisting the sword-like limb in my chest with enough speed to make the thin hole completely round it angles it vertically before pulling straight up, going for my head.

My gurgling curse gets cut off with a bloody cough as I tilt my neck sharply to the left just in time for the sharp limb to exit through my collarbone and only shear off my right ear, not split my skull in half.

Giving Ari the go ahead to spend as much mana as necessary to pull my split upper torso back together I can feel a fourth of all of my remaining mana sinking into the manifestation of new flesh. The parasite doesn’t let up though and the limb comes back down after having gone up a couple meters, gathering speed fast as it goes straight for my head once more.

Having healed enough to at least move without falling apart completely I dodge and dash backwards, avoiding the blow but not the parasite. As I move backwards it follows me and keeps pace, trying to slash me with its remaining left limb while using its right ones to move.

As my torso finishes closing itself I run at the parasite but this time I also manifest a missile next to my left shoulder. It slashes two limbs at me when I’m in range and I block them both using my daggers, staggering and further enhancing my arms to keep them at bay before I fire the missile straight at its neck.

It tries to catch it with the remaining right limb that had been stuck in the ground as an anchor but only manages to unsteady itself as gore splatters everywhere in tandem with the detonation. It’s not enough to completely sever the neck as it has grown thicker with the level ups but it gives me an opening to strike and I don’t miss it.

Crouching lower to further unsteady the parasite I enhance my legs before launching myself up and forwards, pulling the limbs hooked on the inside of my daggers down with my arms in a fierce movement to unbalance it. It almost manages to right itself and regain its balance before I reach it but I’m luckily faster this time.

Kicking upwards with my left leg and hitting it hard in the neck but not severing it I transfer the rebounded momentum into a front flip. Extending my right leg as the front flip nears completion I transfer the rotational momentum and crack the cranium with a right footed axe kick.

There’s barely half a second delay between the impacts and the resulting gurgling cry of pain from the fungus as it collapses, me landing on top of it, is music to my ears. It’s not dead though. Only cracking the skull isn’t enough and I fire a missile into the slowly squirming parasite’s face to put it down. The detonation heralds the notification.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Parasite - Level 82]. Experience awarded.

“This was fun, Zel. We should burn this mycelia though as we don’t want its knowledge to spread outside of our control somehow.”

I toss a glob of fire into the skull and watch as the golden flames eat away at the fungus brain until only ash remains. Deciding to keep at it for a few more rounds I clarify my plan to Ari and she agrees that staying here and waiting for more to arrive is our best bet.

It hasn’t been overwhelming thus far and we could really use the experience and training. We’ll have to see if the now rising morning sun will draw more or less parasites towards us than it did in the dark of night.

I carve through the thick slug-like neck with the tearing edge of my right dagger, grabbing the skull from behind before tossing it aside as the over 3 meter tall fungus drops to the earth in a squelching thud, spilling innards all over the ground.

Jumping off the slimy back I’d been standing on and dodging a still twitching sharp limb, I approach the bodiless skull before jamming my daggers into both its eye sockets and ripping it apart while manifesting golden flames through the cracked cranium, smiting it from existence like a holy knight would smite a demon.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Amalgam - Level 104]. More experience awarded.

“Holy fuck that was difficult. How did I do, Ari?”

“Well it was much better than the last amalgam we created at midday as we couldn’t even regenerate our torn body after that fight without waiting for our mana to regenerate.”

“That was quite unpleasant, yeah.”

I shudder slightly at remembering lying a few meters away from the slowly regenerating amalgam and only having a head myself, my separated and completely torn apart body slowly dispersing on the other side of the monster. The anxiety of regenerating an upper body before the amalgam could reconnect its separate parts and then crawling over on elbows to finish it off without any legs was a thrilling experience.

“This time though we’re down to almost nothing in mana and the gaping hole in your stomach is still there if you hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t worth the expenditure to patch it up quickly during the fight.”

I look down on my naked form and see a gaping hole under my right breast, 5 centimeters in width and still dripping golden blood. It’s curious how the pain only registers as I get visual confirmation of being injured. Is it the simulated adrenaline leaving my system that finally has me noticing it? Absently brushing some goop from my breast I respond.

“Yeah, well turn the regeneration up to max will you?”

I look towards the sky to get my meaning across without words.

“Yeah it’s definitely gotten darker and we need to seek shelter. There’s no need to risk getting cursed rain inside of us.”

Gazing upon our latest kill, a creature that looks like several fungus parasites mashed together I wrinkle my nose in distaste. The skull is a fusion with several others to create a stronghold for the enormous clump of mycelia connected to the oddly shaped, slimy body.

I kick one of the no longer twitching limbs as I pass it by, feeling the durability of their increased size in the resistance it provides. They’re still manageable with daggers but the slight difference makes it harder to tear apart.

Ari draws upon all mana regeneration available to quickly seal the outer layer of the wound before slowing down the regeneration of the inside as I set off towards the mountain north of here. No need to go closer towards the epicenter of curse magic two peaks further south when seeking shelter.

I put my daggers in their sheaths as I use both legs and arms to vault over boulders and overhangs on my way up towards a cave a few hundred meters above the valley floor. I found this cave when luring more parasites too far away to hear the fighting down in the valley and we planned on using it as a cover when the cursed rain eventually returned. That time is now.

I killed my first strengthened parasite this morning and it is now almost midnight. I’d steadily increased the number of parasites I let the selected target consume and at midday when creating my fourth strengthened fungus it got to level 101, becoming the first amalgam.

The [Fungus Amalgam] are a lot stronger opponents than parasites and the first one nearly killed me. The second went down easier and the third was the one I just finished off, barely getting hurt but still emptying out my reserves.

The cave entrance is a vertical crevice in the mountainside 3 meters in height and 1 meter in width. I slink in between the narrow passage before it opens up to a slightly oval cavern with a width of 3 meters, height of 2 meters and length of 4 meters. It is a lucky find as it limits the number of creatures able to get at me at once while not constraining my movements too badly.

My glowing golden eyes swipe over the rocky and uneven inside and I sigh as I steal a bit of the regeneration Ari is using to patch me up for manifesting a cozy thick blanket to sit on.

“Hey! Don’t you want us to be completely healed?”

“Hey! Don’t you want us to be comfortable?”

“... you’re right.”

Chuckling I let Ari clean the gore off as I disperse the dirty panties and hair tie, manifesting every piece of clothing back on when she is done. Tying up my hair as Ari finishes with regenerating my internals I sigh and sit down on the blanket, golden eyes shining their brilliance out into the night through the crevice.

Not really feeling like blazing a beacon of light out through the cave opening I lower the glow of my eyes before manifesting a small golden flame that I feed all the gore Ari left in a corner, cleaning up the cavern a little. I let it remain in a corner to provide a little cozy light and a few dancing shadows as entertainment.

“You know, Ari. We don’t even know if the curse will activate every time the rain arrives. It’s only been 2 days since it last activated, remember?”

“Sure, but better be on the safe side. It’s not like we don’t have things to do while resting either. When the rain comes we’ll see if we have to stay here or not.”

We wait in the cozy cave under a thick blanket for the rain to fall and as it starts to drizzle an hour later it isn’t long before it moves on to a continuous downpour. As if something was waiting for the rain to pick up its pace a bright purple flash lights the sky behind the mountain in front of the cave. A loud crack and what sounds like tumbling rock sliding down a mountainside echoes between the valleys a few seconds later.

The purple light refracts through the rain outside the mountain peak’s black silhouette, giving it an otherworldly look before fading in and out of strength, growing ever dimmer before disappearing.

Booom!

A great echoing sound of thousands of tonnes slamming into the earth in the valley to the south shakes the earth badly enough that the vibrations from the rock rattle my teeth.

“Fucking hell. Is it trying to remove the whole mountain top?!”

“No idea, Zel. Imagine being in that valley though. I wonder how the minions are faring over there or if they’ve moved somewhere safe to not get hit by the falling debris.”

That gets me pondering.

“We don’t actually know the relationship between whatever is causing the curse or whoever is using a curse and the fungus parasites. They might be trying to kill whatever is behind this or they might be rallying to create a cursed army in its name. Hell, they might even be food for some sort of gigantic abomination for all we know.”

“Yes. We’ll need to slowly make our way there when we’re strong enough to get a good look at the source.”

“Since we’ll be staying here for a while we might as well take another look at our notifications.”

Ding! You have slain [Rock-hoofed Boar - Level 1]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Cave Bear - Level 3]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Mountain Warg - Level 24]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Parasite - Level 63]. Less experience awarded.

…

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Amalgam - Level 106]. More experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine] has leveled from [87] to [95]. +[40 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [23] to [31].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [55] to [69].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [50] to [67].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [60] to [78].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [81] to [93].

Ding! General skill [Sneaking] has leveled from [14] to [25].

Ding! General skill [Harvesting] has leveled from [6] to [8].

Ding! General skill [Smoking] has leveled from [7] to [14].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [75] to [94].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [83] to [102].

Ding! General skill [Unarmed] has leveled from [26] to [47].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [43] to [51].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Missile] has leveled from [36] to [46].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Spatial Ring] has leveled from [23] to [45].

Ding! Skill [Mana Sight] has leveled from [78] to [81].

Ding! Skill [Mana Sense] has leveled from [252] to [263].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [303] to [356].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [388] to [415].

Ding! Skill [Capacitor] has leveled from [57] to [103].

“We’re so close to evolving our class and getting a second one, Ari!”

“Yes! And look at all these skill gains we have in all our combat skills. Some of them have even reached milestones and might help us in getting new classes.”

“But... Didn’t we say we should kill more higher leveled creatures to get better evolutions for our class when we first got our current one?”

She rolls her eyes at me and I raise my eyebrows in return, mystified by the reaction.

“Of course that would be amazing for class evolutions but do you honestly think we can kill something at least 200 levels above us? Or even 100 levels above us? The one achievement of killing something 200 levels above us we gained long ago is still there and we either have to kill more in that range or kill one even higher leveled being. Like killing something around level 400 or higher.”

“Yeah that’s not going to happen. But maybe we could kill a few creatures 100 levels above our own?”

Ari, knowing me as well as anyone can, immediately catches on.

“That will be dangerous and difficult to accomplish. We’ll also be stuck at level 100 and accumulating experience until we’ve killed enough fungus abominations at level 200. They’re probably not even amalgams at that stage and we might not be able to do it.”

“But we should try at least. We don’t really lose anything except power in the short run but might gain a new class evolution that’s absolutely worth the struggle. What do you say?”

Ari takes some time thinking it over but I can feel her growing excitement spilling over and I know her answer before she gives it.

“Let’s do it.”

“Aright! You’re the best, Ari. Love you.”

Giving her a mental peck on the cheek I return to the notifications.

“So we have 40 attribute points at the moment and we’ll get 25 more until we’re stuck at level 100. How should we spend it? Bring up the attributes, please.”

“Sure, Zel.”

Attribute Points: [40]

Strength: [24] -50%

Constitution: [24] -50%

Vitality: [24] -50%

Agility: [24] -50%

Dexterity: [24] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [265] +195%

Mana: [3260/3260]

Mana regen: [781] / Minute

“This doesn’t feel right… I think I know what feels wrong though. Our capacitor isn’t represented in our total mana. Could you add another line for that, Ari?”

“Okay, give me a moment.”

Mana: [3260/3260]

Capacitor: [3357/3357]

Mana regen: [781] / Minute

“Thank you, Ari. That's much better.”

“I agree, now how will we spend our points? Even if we spend all of them on wisdom our mana regeneration won’t reach 1000 before we evolve our class. That milestone is out.”

“We could spend everything on intelligence but it would still not get us to 5000 mana either. I guess that milestone is out as well.”

We spend half a minute in silence thinking it over before Ari finally decides for us.

“How about this, Zel? We spend 6 points on every physical attribute, getting them to 30 each, before dumping everything remaining into wisdom to give our mana regeneration a small boost. We will steadily increase our capacitor skill and can therefore increase our total mana capacity even after getting stuck at level 100. Sounds good?”

“Alright, you can assign the attributes this time.”

Ding! Attribute [Strength] has been increased from [24] to [30].

Ding! Attribute [Constitution] has been increased from [24] to [30].

Ding! Attribute [Vitality] has been increased from [24] to [30].

Ding! Attribute [Agility] has been increased from [24] to [30].

Ding! Attribute [Dexterity] has been increased from [24] to [30].

Ding! Attribute [Wisdom] has been increased from [265] to [275].

Attribute Points: [0]

Strength: [30] -50%

Constitution: [30] -50%

Vitality: [30] -50%

Agility: [30] -50%

Dexterity: [30] -50%

Intelligence: [163] +100%

Wisdom: [275] +195%

Mana: [3260/3260]

Capacitor: [3357/3357]

Mana regen: [811] / Minute

My body is growing stronger, sturdier, more energized, faster and more responsive as Ari allocates the points to each attribute. The feeling of increasing the physical attributes gives a potent feeling of growing stronger even if the improvement is tiny compared to my wisdom.

It’s no wonder why a lot of adventurers prefer spending points into the physical stats, neglecting their mental and magical ones. I haven’t been led astray by the good feeling of increasing my physical attributes but I think it might be helpful to do so more often in the future. [Passive Power] continues to level and it seems to have a lot more to give than what I’m currently making use of. It’s like squandering free power by not having a body able to normally perform at that level.

Sighing as the feeling of strength slowly fades to the back of my mind I speak once again.

“We got a plan for the next few days or weeks then? Killing these fungi, growing stronger and continuously fighting higher leveled amalgams until we can kill whatever they become at level 200.”

“Yes, now we just have to wait for this cursed rain to die down.”

“Let’s smoke and dance in the meantime. I don’t remember any movements for dancing but we got the skill and I remember liking it. With the pipeweed high going we might get some entertainment out of it before we start the slaughter once more. It might even be fun to invent a new dance ourselves.”

The pipeweed is good and Ari’s laughter even better as I dance. It’s a fun night and even though the dance is chaotic and poorly executed, both Ari and I know we’re going to do it more often until we get good at it.

Ding! General skill [Dancing] has leveled from [4] to [5].

I’m eating a strawberry when the cursed rain finally dies down. Letting the ground dry a little in the morning sun peaking over a mountain, shining down the valley in strips of sunbeams and shadow, I sit in the crevice opening enjoying my fruit. It’s actually quite good if not as delicious as peaches.

There hasn’t been anything here to hunt as all wildlife making its way in here gets seeded by those cursed parasites and turned into slimy fungi every time it rains. I’m not even going to try to eat the cursed fungi and I still have fresh fruit. The time distortion on my storage ring is starting to show its worth even if I’ll have to finish the last of it soon.

I watch from my vantage point as the first groups of approaching fungi make their way into the valley from north, northeast and northwest. It’s a lot more today it seems or I was just late to the party last time. Looking closer at the skulls however tells me a darker tale on why there are more groups of parasites today.

Human skulls. Those are definitely mostly made from human skulls with a few animals and wargs in the mix. I guess the adventurer expeditions coming here learned the hard way why the cursed rain is such a pain in the ass. Well, it looks to have been more than a pain for them as they’re dead.

“I wonder how many of them survived. Do you think they all died, Ari?”

“Hmm, no I don’t think every expedition was wiped out as they all traveled from different locations and should therefore have arrived at slightly different times. A few of the late arrivals should have realized that something was wrong when the expedition’s scouts turned into monsters when walking into the rain.

"Most here probably died here from the curse though. If they had much higher curse magic resistance than us or if they could peel away their skin and flesh before replacing it as we had to do, they might be fine.”

“I don’t think replacing one’s body is as common as having high curse magic resistance.”

“No. Probably not.”

This is good news for me since I need a lot of carcasses to feed the empowered fungi I’ll be creating but it’s still sad to see this many adventurers die to cursed, fucking, rain. I’ll put them to rest by killing the parasites twice over as it’s the greatest honor I can bestow on the dead adventurers.

I throw away the tiny twig the sweet strawberry had been attached to before stretching and flexing my newly strengthened body. It isn’t much of a difference from yesterday but it’s enough to be enjoyable and I test its limits as I rush down south across the mountainside, jumping down cliffs, vaulting over boulders and doing various flips and acrobatics in the open space afforded to me on my path towards the valley floor.

Pulling out and twirling my daggers a few times in my hands and settling on a reverse grip for both I disperse all my clothes except my panties, belt and hair tie before sprinting to intercept my first target moving into a perfect clearing between the thin trees.

[Fungus Parasite - Level 93]

It has a human skull for a face and the purple glowing light in its sockets matches the intensity of the displayed level. A level 93 fungus from just being born from a human? Can it be born at over level 100 as a fungus amalgam from the beginning or does it need to consume its own kin to evolve or something?

I don’t have any answers but I do know what to do and it will be fun to have a little more challenge as I begin my slaughter. I’ll reach level 100 before I’ve even created my first fungus amalgam at this rate.

It doesn’t really matter though as these creatures need to be put down before they reach wherever they’re going. I’m starting to get a very bad feeling about what might be going on just on the other side of the mountain south of here.

Charles Windsnatcher

I can’t fucking believe this! His majesty looked so mad but what the fuck was I supposed to say? Four expeditions were completely wiped out and only one returned with half its members turned to fucking monsters by a curse covering a whole region.

I mean, how. the. fuck. is anyone supposed to know that setting foot in there is more of a deathtrap than entering the fallen Terosvar Empire nowadays? The curse wasn’t active when the scouts searched the perimeter of the Rhodolite Peaks region and none thought to look while the weather was bad, poor foresight and all that.

I’m honestly not sure if the king’s going to execute me for this blunder if I don’t manage to provide results. He’s nothing like his father who was a just and personally powerful king. The current king might put on a strong front but is ultimately weak and petty in comparison. Anyone managing to annoy him might as well flee the kingdom before he gets his hands on them.

I’ll have to try my best to remedy this situation but he can try capturing a diamond ranked adventurer like me if he wants to. I’m not getting executed for something I had no control over.

A sigh escapes me as I exit the palace and make my way towards the central Adventurers Guild of the Riverflow kingdom. The weather seems to match my mood as it’s a drab, cold drizzle, water running down my neck and into the formal wear I had to don before coming here. I miss my sturdy griffin hide armor at times such as these.

Being the Branch manager overseeing the whole kingdom is the most tiring job I’ve ever had and I’d planned on retiring in a few years when I can live comfortably on my earned gold.

Now what do I do about the current situation to keep the king happy? It’s no use mass recruiting adventurers and the king won’t let me borrow his personal guard… It would be a shame if he decided I needed to be silently replaced for “incompetence” when I’m this close to being rid of the job.

Ah, fuck... I don’t have any other choice, do I? I’ll have to give an exorbitant posting to that diamond ranked whore, Julie. Howard who’ll come with her always earns his keep and he has my honest respect. Why does he follow someone like her? It’s honestly a mystery to everyone who’s familiar with the woman.

I’ll probably send him some payment on the side out of Julie's eyes so she doesn’t snatch it up or something... The rumors surrounding her in the higher circles are absurd but there’s no way to verify them.

Honestly, I can’t stand that bitch but the king likes her and sending her to take care of any cursed adventurers is the best option. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumor that she actually fucked the king is true though. Her strength in light magic should give her enough respect nowadays but she seems so fixated on her physical appearance even though she’s so plain looking. It’s honestly baffling, shouldn’t social appearance be more important to someone like her?

Running a hand through my slightly greasy black hair before rubbing at the dark circles under my eyes as I reach the adventurers guild, I try looking cheerful and composed when greeting the various high-born or successful people. There aren’t any rumors surrounding the incident yet from what I can hear, letting me breathe out a sigh of relief as I close my office door.

It’s time to gamble on strength over numbers even if the price will be exorbitant. I’m probably going to crash soon after sending these letters. This has honestly been a nightmare to keep it hidden from the public.

Zelaria

Spinning upside down in the air I slash with my right hand dagger before kicking down hard with my heel on the last remaining of the monster's 4 jointed limbs. It cracks but doesn’t break off completely, hanging on by a thread. The gurgling howl of pain it elicits is at least satisfying.

I fall to the ground before springing right back up into the face of the monster, kneeing it in the amalgamation of skulls making up its face before hooking my reversed left dagger in its eye socket, throwing myself over its capped head and tearing its slimy back to shreds. On my way back down with daggers piercing the several meters wide, bulbous body, innards spray above me as if launched by a great internal pressure.

The remaining limb makes a painful looking grab backwards, trying to reach me but only scratching itself on the new wound. I manifest three missiles and launch them into the torn open wound before doing a backflip off the monster and dashing away from the long reaching limb still looking to pierce me.

The detonations finally manage to draw the remaining limb away from me long enough, allowing me to reach the front of its huge skull once again. I try piercing the bone making up its face with my daggers but one dagger chips and the other merely penetrates a half a centimeter. This amalgamation of bone is simply too hard to get through without manifesting stronger and sharper daggers.

As dispersing and manifesting daggers in the middle of a battle is a huge waste of mana I instead try to go in from below. There’s usually a hole in the skull where the nerves and other vitals are supposed to go through. I’ll go through the same opening if I have to.

Landing and doing a flip over the remaining limb attempting to cut me in half I immediately launch myself at the front of the monster. The slimy body's outer layer is quite difficult to get through as it's springy and absorbs a lot of force before getting pierced or torn.

Enhancing my arms to their fullest extent and drawing violently on the remainder of my capacitor's power, I slash into the slimy surface with my right dagger immediately followed by my left in the same shallow cut. It barely manages to get through the outer layer and I follow up with a side kick to forcefully tear it open.

The monster's cries of agony are music to my ears as I dodge the renewed and frenzied attempts by the remaining limb to get at me. When it finally overreaches I spin past it, slashing its outer joint apart with my left dagger before dashing into the still open wound in the chest of the monster.

It’s absolutely disgusting to carve my way up through the slimy interior of the monster and several wriggling threads of mycelia try to strangle me or bind me on my way up. It even starts stabbing into itself with its remaining limb, piercing through and missing me by centimeters. I use the much harder limb still stuck inside it as a springboard to carve a faster path upwards and finally reach what must be the brainstem of this creature.

The mass of wriggling, white and purplish mycelia looks completely alien and I want nothing more than to burn it all. Manifesting a massively powered missile and dodging another piercing thrust of its limb going through itself I launch the missile upwards accompanied by a ball of celestial flames. It takes half of my remaining mana from my mana pool and my capacitor is empty but the result is definitely worth it.

The practically throbbing golden missile carves a path through the mass of wriggling and undulating fungus above me and ends its path in the skull's interior, the ball of celestial flames just behind it and setting everything aflame before the detonation.

I dive downwards through the slime as a shockwave behind me cracks the skull open from within, spraying burning fungus all over the ground in a radius of 20 meters. I barely escape my own attack and only a thin layer of slimy flesh still covers and protects me from the golden flames. A piece of the cranium has even pierced straight through me.

Pulling out the shard of bone and putting out the flames just above me I raise myself through the slime, breaking its surface with a wet pop before it sloshes off of me. I stand in the middle of what had been a monster just seconds ago, looking around at the half a meter large pieces of crania scattered around the clearing. Burning goop and no longer wriggling pieces of mycelia cover everything.

Ding! You have slain [Fungus Horror - Level 204]. Experience withheld until class has evolved.

“Pfft. Eww this is so disgusting. It gets in the mouth and nostrils every time no matter what I do.”

Spitting, cursing and blowing my nose with two fingers like a savage I loudly complain to Ari as she cleans me up, removing goop and acidic guts from places I don’t want to think about.

“Well it's still better than the time you accidentally swallowed a mouthful of goop and it got stuck in the back of our throat, triggering gag reflexes while you tried concentrating on not getting skewered.”

I shudder at the memory. Ari had thought it so funny how I gagged while swinging my daggers that she’d let it go on for a few seconds before deadening the mana nerve in that area. I’m going to make her gag in our next session when we reach an inn in the Riverflow kingdom’s capital, having her feel my pain. But I suppose she’ll just enjoy me dominating her like that. Fuck. How do I get revenge?

Snapping my wrists and splattering the gore from my daggers onto the ground I sheath them before manifesting new clothes. A whole set of them this time and not only the ‘battle panties’ as Ari named them. It’s not my fault that swimming through acidic gore makes any clothes practically useless.

Fixing my hair and walking out from the recently destroyed clearing while jumping over fallen trees and dislodged boulders I make my way up towards the mountain south of the valley we’d spent the last three weeks in.

The wind has to shift direction before the revolting smell of fungus innards disappears and is replaced with the smell of wet rock, clean air and thin foliage. The cursed rain had fallen the previous night and it’s now afternoon with a clear blue sky, the sun glinting from the rose colored crystalline mountain peaks while a white, squawking bird actually makes its way between the mountains far overhead.

“We’re going further south now, Zel?”

“Yeah I think so. We’ve been here for three weeks and the number of fungi parasites have been declining recently. Probably the adventurers figuring out how to survive the curse or not entering the mountain range north of us.”

“True. And we’ve already created and killed 14 [Fungus Horrors] and who knows how many thousands of parasites we’ve had to kill in order to get it done. I’ll be happy to start with our class evolution but why not do that before we check out the southern part of this mountain we’re currently climbing?”

Kicking a rock down back towards the valley I stop to look back north, the crisp wind blowing through my hair and caressing my thinly clothed upper body for half a minute as I take in the view. Ari’s correct that we could have hunkered down in our usual spot but I’m sick of staying there by now.

“We could have gone back to our cave I suppose but I’d rather find a new hiding spot to keep a closer watch on whatever is on the other side. We’ll probably need new targets to practice on when we’ve evolved our class and there are almost none coming through this valley any longer.”

“The few hundred that do come through each day are practically only good for making one single horror and it’s not efficient to continue killing the same thing over and over. Alright let’s go and find a new hiding spot.”

Walking diagonally upwards and around the east side of the mountain I spot skeletons of different creatures lying between boulders, roots and moss. There’s obviously been a lot of wildlife here at one point but it’s now all gone.

Moving into the shadow on the eastern side cast by the mountain as the sun moves further west, slowly expanding with the sun’s descent, I can see the end of the mountain range and the beginning of the Riverflow kingdom on the eastern horizon. The western border of the kingdom is marked by a wide river that separates the Rhodolite Peaks from the lower grasslands, forests and flowing waters.

Closer at hand on the western side of a mountain facing my direction, about 10 kilometers away, there’s smoke rising and maybe even humans. Adventurers most likely as no one else would currently be here. They must have tracked the curse in this direction after figuring out a way to avoid or negate it. It would have been strange if I was completely alone here after three weeks even if the first adventurers were massacred.

I don’t move towards them though as they’re further away from the curse’s epicenter than I am and instead start moving even further up while decreasing the distance traveled around the mountain. I have a feeling that I might want to be as far up as possible before looking at whatever the valley in front of me is hiding. The adventurer parties or expedition wouldn’t have set up their base of operation that far away otherwise.

I’ve almost made it to where the mountain takes on the pink hue of rhodolite, a few hundred meters above the valley I left behind, before I find a crevice and cave that seems like a good spot for evolving my class. It’s 2 meters wide and 1 meter high at the entrance and I have to crawl into it to fit.

There isn’t any need to crawl for more than a meter before it opens up into a cavern 3 meters high, 4 meters wide and 2 meters deep. It’s not the most comfortable spot as a chill wind makes itself known closer to the crevice but it's good enough. It will serve nicely as a base for when I scout the valley to the south as the entrance is pointed to the southeast and has the adventurer expedition within view.

The adventurers seem to be gathering logs and wood from the valley and building shelters, covering them with leather, canvas or some such to no doubt keep out any eventual cursed rain. I sure hope they succeed and don’t get their little camp destroyed by a rampaging monster when it's raining.

I’m laying on my stomach on a manifested blanket, peering down at their camp. It looks quite large now that I take the time to properly study it. I can’t make out most things but I count at least a score of adventurers making their way around the outside of the camp and there must be more of them out scouting or inside the 5 different shelters they’ve constructed. There’s probably no larger expeditions than this in the Rhodolite Peaks as it would more likely be called a small army at that point.

As the sun is still out for another hour or so, casting long and dark shadows over the lower mountains and valleys, I figure I might as well take a quick peek on what I’ve mentally dubbed ‘fungi valley’, even if I have no idea what it contains.

Rolling out from the crevice I continue around the mountain peak on the same elevation as I’m most likely high enough to be safe from anything down below. What comes into view, cast in the evening glow from the descending sun between peaks is a lot worse than I ever could’ve imagined.

Down below, reaching halfway up this mountain and the mountain further to the south, is a literal forest of fungi. There are large, white, purple featured mushrooms growing from the mountain walls and sprouting from the valley floor, pushing the ground apart with enough force to create ravines. Some mushrooms must be close to 50 meters in height. Between these giant specimens are mushrooms of all sizes and variety, creating an oddly beautiful landscape. It looks wrong though.

Crawling all over this white and purple fungi forest are parasites and amalgams. They are moving around like a cohesive whole, creating specific paths for different directions and seamlessly avoiding going into each other's way. It’s unnerving as this is very different from the movements that I’ve seen them display just on the other side of this mountain.

It’s almost like they know every thought of each other as they move purple crystals from the bottom of the largest ravine, spreading them out and digging them in the ground or carrying them up and into a large entrance in the southern mountain’s base.

To the northeast of the entrance where many parasites carry purple crystal in and none come out, lies the huge mass of rhodolite that I saw fall all those weeks ago. The cracked peak of the mountain has purple streaks of energy moving in the pink crystal and it has visibly deteriorated in other places as well.

“Holy fuck, Zel. There must be close to ten thousand fungus parasites and amalgams just within our view. How many more are beneath the mountains, in the ravines and inside the peak positively thrumming with that strange purple energy?”

“Yeah… And the eerily coordinated movement of it all. It has to be some sort of hive mind or mental collective. Fucking hell, the thing controlling everything must be keeping an eye on the whole valley. There’s no chance at getting in there without being spotted and positively swarmed with those things.”

It’s both frightening and exhilarating to find such a good spot for testing out a class evolution.

“Imagine the creatures born from the carnage of, let’s say, 50 adventurers plowing their way through a few thousand of these parasites. Halfway through the forest they’ll get ambushed from behind by at least 10 level 200+ horrors with battle experience collected from all those carcasses.”

“I say we go back and evolve before even thinking of getting close to this place and we’ll just have to hope that the adventurers are smart enough to figure it out and not stupidly rush in.”

“We can only hope but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did.”

Casting a final glance at the next challenge I turn on my heel and start making my way back towards the new hiding spot. I sure hope our hard work has paid off.