“Alta, can you name these mushrooms?”

“Yep. I see a Mana Shroom, a Life Shroom, and a Mind Shroom.”

“Good job.” Since his mother’s journal focused more on the basics of herbalism and the most crucial materials and catalysts in the wild, he hadn’t yet memorized every single detail of the plants inside. Thus, he wasn’t certain of her accuracy until he looked through the book. He preferred his father’s journal more, which detailed wilderness survival tips, deadly rank two monsters, epic bosses, and dungeon adventures.

An irresistible scent wormed its way into his hippo’s nose. Its eyes focused on a single direction.

“Death cap, Berserker’s Mushroom…”

“Oh, Cordyceps.” Caesar watched a few large ants walk across the vicinity, carrying large spindly mushrooms on their backs and heads.

“Those are really rare.” She turned her head and hesitated. “Should I take these?”

“No, don’t. You’ll need a high level of alchemy to make something useful for us out of them, and these rank zero materials aren’t worth enough to sell.”

Herbalists studied how types of materials interacted with each other and with the people who consumed them. They governed catalyst creation for most people but could also increase stats with recipes like Starflower Dust and grow their own materials. In contrast, alchemists often prioritized the creation of potions for more temporary yet powerful effects. These mushrooms were more helpful for alchemists.

The hippo nudged Caesar and began to move by itself into the deep forest, its Mummified Bear following it to where mushrooms increased in number until they covered most of the forest floor. The rest of the party followed.

A beetle as large as a bear appeared in their sight. Wooden armor and a much increased size reminded Caesar of a Gray Bear, the first rank two monster he had fought. This time though, the hippo alone smashed the bug into paste and trod onward.

This area contained a much better proportion of rank two creatures, making it a good spot for leveling compared to traveling around aimlessly. Scores of insects crawled out from nests in the tree and in the ground, assaulting the hippo as its bulk crushed anything in its path. Necromantic magic flourished and most bugs were killed within moments, their stats much too low to withstand its attacks.

As they drew closer to the heart of this section of the forest, even Caesar began to smell something wonderful. It reminded him of spicy, warm meat during winter, juice during summer, perfectly baked bread with a tinge of sugar, and much more. Something eluded him and an ache arose inside his mind, pressuring him to pursue the smell. But this mind trick had little effect on his party. It was an obvious lure, yet he didn’t think he’d be the prey.

Even more bugs appeared in all directions, and the rest of the party joined the fight. A storm of bone shards blended scores of legs and crushed abdomens together. Even the rank zero bugs had come to feed. But they seemed unaffected by the lure; clearly, it was meant to attract large beasts for the bugs to overwhelm. Indeed, his Bone Elemental’s shards ran out, with no way to fill them.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Tomb Hippopotamus has leveled up to Level 24! +2 Free Stat Points

He hadn’t noticed just how much his hippo and its mummy had killed, but it was enough to level up again. Nevertheless, he didn’t expect to maintain the same speed though after this – level twenty-five was quite major.

All four remaining free stat points went into its Magic, bringing it up to thirty, and introducing more power to all its spells. Insect legs splattered onto trees with greater force, and the expanding fog corralled more bugs into a choke point of Withering Blasts.

Caesar replaced the Bone Elemental for his Skeleton Mage, keeping the spikes in reserve for actual threats. Its eyes beamed as flames began to spread across the forest before Boulder became necessary to put out the blaze.

A secret tunnel covered by trees and foliage appeared. The smell grew increasingly stronger, coming from this point. Ripjaw Ants swarmed from the opening and tore at the hippo’s shield with their bladed mandibles, bodies piling up until an empowered Fireball stopped their advances. He let the smoke burn for a while, then extinguished it with spells.

While the mummified bear guarded the entrance, the party went inside and discovered a new underground world, replete with mushrooms like trees and the scuttling of hundreds of giant legs. Light was lacking, and so he brought out the torches again, while he set his Bone Elemental loose. Most of them scattered, but a few tried to fight back. He noticed cordyceps growing from their bodies.

Alta and the hippo saw perfectly fine in the dark. “There are two types of ants here with fungi growing on them. Ripjaw, and Royal.”

“Very interesting. Follow them and see where they go.”

The ants traveled through the mushroom forest in teams, with Royal Ants protected by Ripjaws. Occasionally, cordyceps-infested ants in the middle of the swarm detected the party and ordered their entire group to attack, stopping Caesar’s progress. But Alta used her Illusory Veil to hide, tracing the highest numbered horde back to an opening within the walls.

That opening led to a cave, where a gargantuan ant queen slumbered. The steady trampling of the hippo awoke it, but its weight kept it from moving much. All it could do was wriggle. Behind the ant grew a massive mushroom, which Alta recognized as the same Life Shroom outside, only bigger and of rank one. On top of the ant’s head grew a cordyceps, which glimmered with light and served an unknown purpose.

Royal Ant Queen (Cordyceps) – Level 25

[Rarity]: Rare

The poor thing could only gaze at Caesar and his party. It produced some kind of foodstuffs without stopping while other royal worker ants carried them away from the cave, into other places. A few Uncommon royal guard ants with iron carapaces attempted to defend their queen, but the hippo’s charge shattered their bodies and pulped much of the queen’s body. He put it out of its misery.

Meanwhile, Alta followed a group of royal workers delivering food to another cave, in which slept a rank two beetle. She snuck up on it and ripped off a horn. It screeched and flung its head around, but she dodged and struck twice with her khopesh to hack away its armor before clawing at the wound. Unlike what the party was expecting, no mushroom plant grew underneath this beetle. Some of these caves might be duds.

The Bone Elemental was not to be outdone, however. It had discovered plenty of noise from creatures awoken by the sound of invaders. Caesar followed it hurriedly and allowed his skeleton mage to open up three different caves of ants, whose royal ants almost blocked the passageways with their bodies.

The first cave led to a smaller chamber, where flies buzzed around a Mana Shroom tree. Two flies – bigger than the others – had cordyceps growing from them and sprayed disgusting goo everywhere. His bone horror shot them down with pinpoint accuracy and the skeleton mage incinerated their corpses.

The second cave contained a massive Shell Worm, a Rare creature with shell-like scales around its body. Spells softened before they hit its armor, and the party engaged it in close quarters. Its body writhed and smashed into the wall, but the behemoth shattered its armor – enough for the Bone Elemental. It died beneath the earth.

Tattered cicadas cried in the third cave, their sounds like the music of home. Fungi spread from their bodies to the insects listening to their song. But his horrors had no qualms killing them, their emotions unaffected, and their bodies immune to parasites. They uncovered a growing Mind Shroom tree, a hallucinogenic mushroom with many uses.

They spent the rest of the day marking down key locations where other rank one mushroom trees might grow. Dozens of ant walls had formed in each cave, making them a difficult task to clear. Still, sounds of panicked scuttling could be heard through each, making suspicious places easier to identify. His skeleton mage took its time burning through as many ant walls as possible before resting to regain its mana.

The first two caves were empty, but the third gave them exactly what they needed. Inside the chamber lay a huge ant queen, surrounded by her retinue.

Ripjaw Ant Queen (Cordyceps) – Level 28

[Rarity]: Rare

Ripjaw Ant Queensguard (Cordyceps) – Level 25

[Rarity]: Rare

Ripjaw Ant Berserker – Level 21

[Rarity]: Uncommon

He immediately marked the miniboss. Their twin rank two leaders rushed forward in response to the hippo’s yawning maw, who responded with a Curse of Impotence on the Queensguard. Their mandibles ripped at its shield but did not do enough to break its concentration. The rest of the ants flooded forward, as madness overtook their eyes.

Caesar and Alta targeted the weakest berserker ants, smashing their bodies into paste as their stronger, wolf-sized brethren moved to surround them. Even after the hippo’s Necrotic Fog spell had finished, the ants still stayed aggressive under the corrosive fog, assaulting the duo with bites and tears. An empowered Fireball gave them room to breathe in return for their barriers.

The hippo had ripped two large chunks out of its enemies – lion-sized berserkers. Dark Wave had expended more than half its mana, but it still had the power to fire a few Withering Blast into the midst of the swarm. In response, the ant queen’s cordyceps tendrils glowed green, and a healing wave washed over the berserker leaders. Its fight had reset.

The rest of the burning ants streamed through the flames, relentlessly chasing after the duo as they repositioned. Caesar readied himself for pain. His Bone Elemental replaced the skeleton mage, and the party arranged themselves in a triangle.

A halberd swept through a pile of ants, while Alta’s khopesh lodged itself in one of the rank one berserkers. She forwent her blade for claws, ripping and tearing into the swarm. Their sharp mandibles bounced off her reinforced armor.

The bone serpent slammed into another group of ants, blending them apart. It had regenerated a few bone shards into the whirling cloak of spikes around it. Cracks littered its body.

The hippo rejoined them, charging away from its fight and into the defensive position. One of the berserker leaders lay dead with its head crushed and limbs still twitching. The other was in no shape to help the ants yet. Caesar poured a rank two healing potion over its wounds, and it provided much needed relief from the maddened swarm. He and Alta drank their respective healing potions and pushed toward the queen.

By the time the other berserker leader had regenerated, all of the swarm had perished. Now, only three rank two ants remained. Although larger than the hippo, the queen was not built for direct combat. And the amplified curse had made its guard much weaker than normal.

While the hippo and Bone Elemental rammed into the impotent Queensguard and shoved it into the wall, away from the queen, Caesar and his Doppelganger ripped apart the berserker ant. The queen ignored it and skittered to defend its guard. A flurry of Cobra Strike bone spikes slowed it down, causing spots of ice to appear around its body, but massive amounts of healing and some Vitality passive helped it survive.

His behemoth switched targets. It tore off a final chunk from the Queensguard, exposing the internals to the Bone Elemental, then charged directly towards the queen. The earth rumbled with every step. Caesar hacked off another piece from his target and turned away. His halberd lopped off a few legs from the queen, giving his hippo enough leverage to overwhelm it.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Bone Elemental has leveled up to Level 24! +2 Free Stat Points

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Doppelganger (Alta) has leveled up to Level 24! +2 Free Stat Points

An essence core flew out from its corpse and into his crown. His eyes widened at the status screen, especially at its first talent: Swarm Queen.