Chương 68: Chapter 67 - Shroomies.

THRUMPPPPPPPPP Multi-yard long spikes shot across the room, smashing into the walls in a shower of wood shrapnel. One smashed into the cannon, jolting the whole thing back. A spine pinned Dominic straight into the wall through his shoulder. He screamed. Peeking one eye out from behind the cannon she took stock of the situation. The tree was pulling its own roots out of the ground, onto what appeared to be several spidery legs. Nope nope no no no I am not going to allow that. You DIE NOW.

"FIRE" she screamed. The cannon bucked backwards, pushing her back. Flux screamed, fleeing as fast it could. Nythera watched. Not allowing her eyes to drift from the carnage. Turbulent multi-color flux ripped apart the center of the room systematically as it spread from the impact point. The whole room vibrated, sending rock falling from the ceiling. Rowen pulled Dominic off the wall, spine and all. Kennick helped him limp back into the tunnel. SHIT.

Nythera scrambled back, trying to climb the roots on the rocky walls. A wave of agitated water slammed into her, nearly yanking her from her perch. Knuckles turning white, she refused to let the cold water rip her from the wall. It was gone as fast as it had come, flowing back into the lake-turned-crater. The pine was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the island. Level Acquired! x 5 Aether Cannon (lvl 20>22) (3 tokens) Flux-Condenser (lvl 5>7) (1/2 tokens) At this rate Cannon will hit the level capacity soon.

It should do considerably better against Obros-Ka… now if only I could get some more dangerous shells.

"Nice job Nythera, I think you killed the boss with just one shot" Rowen sauntered out of the tunnel, flaunting his still-dry clothes.

"Thanks Rowen" Nythera tried to wipe off the water, but she was thoroughly soaked. The cannon had been washed down half-way to the lake, so she dismissed it. Dominic came next, bandage wrapped tightly around his shoulder "Fucking thing was poisoned, and nastily soon. It could take days to clear it out of my body" Kennick was supporting him with an arm around the shoulder.

"Are we leaving? If you get dragged off by a bundle of roots you could die" Nythera said.

"Let's at least see what's in the chest, I reckon there's one on the other end of the room" Dominic's delver avarice couldn't be suppressed. A great woven trunk with a lid of granite sat on the other side, covered in moss as if it had been waiting for centuries. Dominic kicked open the lid. A dozen embers, a broadsword, and some kind of gemstone. She sighed "this is it? For a strata two guardian?".

"This is small fortune by most standards, milady" Rowen corrected her.

"I'll take the embers and you can keep the broadsword, I don't need it" She pocketed the baggy in seconds.

"Kennick you carry the broadsword, I know a few men who would kill for that thing. Now onto the gemstone" he smiled. Wait I swear I have seen something just like this before, where was it?

"Nythera you clearly were not paying attention but that is a stat gem and based off its color, its a dexterity type, orange means dexterity. Remember that." Dominic said. She pocketed the stat gem as well, her right as the sole killer of the guardian.

"We should leave" Kennick hissed. Nythera fought back with a plea "But I still got enough for another hyper-shell and I haven't gotten any shell materials yet" Dominic looked from one to the other.

"We continue. Milady's mission is of paramount importance" Dominic nodded. The tunnel down this time lay at a far steeper angle, with a small creek running down the center. Worse yet, brown mushrooms sprouted from the wall.

"If it is a guardian, Nythera can take care of it fast, we can harvest it… possibly, and then leave. If it's a room full of regular fluxspawn, we will re-evaluate and possibly leave. Understood?" Dominic received nods from each. Rowen lost his footing and slammed into one of the walls. Maybe he needs the dexterity more than I do. Dominic had to be lowered down slowly, Kennick applying more medicine to the wound and giving him a tonic. Mushrooms.

Nothing but a somewhat-wider tunnel full of mushrooms, with a single path through the center. A chest sat on the far side of the tunnel, twenty yards down.

"This is a first. I've never seen a tunnel type room. This is the smallest chamber I have ever seen" Dominic remarked. The mushrooms grew in a variety of sizes, from gigantic, Hugh-sized greens to tiny brown ones. Blue and red knee-high shrooms speckled the ground nearest the path.

"The chest is bait" Nythera sucked in a deep breath.

"What?" Rowen asked.

"The mushrooms have more flux than my cannon" Dominic's head snapped to her "What did you say?" She turned to him, a look of terror in her eyes.

"The mushrooms have more flux than my cannon" she whispered. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"THE GUARDIAN IS-" Dominic was cut off as the room exploded into violence. Gusts of flame burst out of the red shrooms, which had all turned to face them. Something knocked against her leg, glancing down, she came face to face with a blue shroom, trying to hobble up her leg. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO It bit down into the cloth, tearing through, reaching down she tore it, and some skin, right off.

"Don't let the blue ones approach" her shout was drowned out by bursts of fire and screaming. With a single stab of her dagger the shroom died. Kennick's arrow skewered one of the red shrooms in the distance, killing it. Rowen cut them down in droves, a single slash of his sword bringing down half a dozen. The great green towers, taller than any one of them, Thumped over slowly. Kennick's arrows bounced off the sides harmlessly. Another blue shroom slid off her dagger.

I bet the cannon can handle everything in this room, but we need to get further back. Her cannon had already materialized near the entrance. Kennick crawled along the ceiling like a spider, dropping onto one of the green shroom's wide canopies. Bringing his dagger down, he tried to slay it from the top, but could not pierce the flesh. Neither could Rowen's blade pierce the side.

"Retreat for the entrance!" Dominic shouted, cutting down yet more along the right side of the path, while the left was overrun. The great green shroom toppled over, throwing Kennick off and crashing into the stone, sending shards flying.

"Nice job Kennick!" Nythera shouted. He looked back with obvious confusion. Lightning arced off Rowen as he took a stance, blade radiating with electricity. Bringing his blade back in a greatly exaggerated motion, Rowen brought down the force of a thunderstorm on the green shroom before him. The lightning ripped through the stone as it arced straight to its target. And then rebounded off, drawn into a small, immobile mushroom on the walls of the cavern. It glinted with the color of iron.

"Anti-lightning measures? Really?" Rowen stood flabbergasted. And was crushed by the falling of a green shroom. It crashed straight onto Rowen, as he tried to dodge, his legs got caught under it and the floor. He screamed. Blue shrooms swarmed him, ignoring Nythera and Dominic as easier vulnerable prey had exposed itself.

"FIRE" Nythera screamed, cannon aimed straight at the green shroom. I will not let them take my liaison! So many fucking council meetings I'd have to deal with. The shell tore straight through the great green shroom like it was paper. Detonating against the ground behind it. A noxious dark green cloud released as soon as its flesh was pierced. The gas burst out with force, spreading to rapidly fill the tunnel. Rowen's screams could be heard above the chaos, piercing and filled with agony.

Fire exploded from the detonation site as shrooms were lit ablaze. Dominic shoved her back into the tunnel without a word and dove into the green mists to grab Kennick. Hoisting him up with both hands, Dominic tossed him straight towards Nythera, propelling them both deeper into the entrance tunnel. The blue shrooms advanced towards them, unaffected by the smoke, while Dominic dove into the poison to get him out. Gouts of flame erupted from the sides in an attempt to scorch him.

Dominic retreated back to the tunnel entrance, ripping a blue latched to his arm straight off. The cannon is terrible in here, low roof, tiny room, tinier enemies. Time for the backup skill. I am not going to let my liaison die here! Nythera peaked out from the entrance and unleashed Cannon-Arm on a cluster on the leftside, cratering a dozen mushrooms at once in a small explosion. Her back hit rock as the recoil threw her, shoulder-first, into the wall. Her vision went dim from the impact.

"I am going to get his dumbass out of there, stay back here" Dominic said, an aura of strength emanating from him. Flux coiled in muscles and arms. With but a bit of ripped cloth wrapped around his mouth he charged into the poison. I need to wake up or I am GOING TO DIE. Nythera jammed her shoulder into the wall and held her arm straight.

"FIRE" she screamed, lungs filling with toxins. Another cluster of mushrooms was turned inert as fire blackened their skin. A burst of flame came from the far left. A cluster of red shrooms sat, perched on the wall. She did not try to dodge. The flames brushed over her. The smell of burning skin and hair.

"FIRE" She commanded. The red shrooms were gone, onto the next. Rowen's screams pierced the air. Dominic dragged him forth by the collar but two towering green shrooms were catching up quickly. A lightly glimmering energy coated Rowen, emanating from his wrist. The glimmer stopped at his mangled legs. Another ball of energy whipped from her arm, slamming into an oncoming group of blues on the right side.

"NYTHERA HIT THE GREENS" Dominic screeched, looking back to haul Rowen right of reach of another falling shroom. She took aim, bits of blackened hair blocking her view. With her good arm she held it up and out of her face. Kennick's arrow skewered a blue that had nearly latched onto Rowen's leg. One clean shot, if I miss I'll kill both of them.

"Fire" she whispered. The shell slammed forth, jamming her shoulder against the wall once against. The mushroom detonated into a cloud of noxious gas, the green air thickening around them. Her mind dimmed.

"Youuuu neeeed me, open the box, put onnnnnnnnn the ring" A rasping voice entered her mind. She replied "Stay in that box and get the fuck out of my head, I don't have time for you now""FIRE" she screamed, pushing Xyrk out of her mind. The other green mushroom detonated, the room now layered in a thick toxic smog, not even her flux sight was working through it all. A hand grabbed her collar and yanked her into the tunnel, dragging her in. The smog thinned as she was pulled.

Dominic came through a moment later, charging forward with Rowen behind him, inert.

"Fire" her voice came out hoarse, eroded by poison. The shell rocketed right past Dominic and into the approaching swarm. Mushrooms were sent flying through the air from the impact. A cloth was wrapped around her mouth, too little too late. She nodded at Kennick, not willing to risk her voice further. No more shrooms came up the tunnel, dissipating smog and the group was all that remained. Nythera pulled herself up, using the roots in the wall as handholds. She pointed forward at the cavern.

Kennick looked back at Dominic, who had collapsed against the cavern wall, and Rowen, who still lay inert. He nodded. She crept forward, eyes drowsy but looking for the slightest movement. They passed dozens of dead blue and red shrooms, fragments of the green giants lay about mixed in randomly. Her right arm ached. The cavern still had a dusty green tint but the visibility had improved greatly, smog being sucked down to deeper caverns.

One blue hobbled over to the pair, before Kennick's hunting knife decapitated it. Where are the levels? Why did we get nothing for this? That's… insane. They must all be the same organism, which means its not dead yet. By the time she had reached the impact site, not a single thing moved in the room, just layers of dead shrooms. And a very very bright crack in the wall. Where flux leaked in obscene quantities, invisible to all but Nythera. Fucking BASTARD. She held up her arm. Or tried to.

Pain lanced down the limb. Her shoulder did not seem to be working. She ripped her dagger out of her cloak and advanced on the last remaining shroom. A small, brown mushroom that blended with the walls perfectly. As her knife cut through the squishy, weak flesh, the shroom trembled, as if in pain. It fell from the wall, the gash bleeding flux. Shrooms fell off the walls to the floor across the room. A bombardment of system notifications assaulted her.