Point of view of Mafu

  Soon the invasion force would return. Since I became a mushroom, I have not experienced emotions the same as when I was human. For example, I should be nervous now. Maybe even anxious to know the result of my plans. But I had this "blanket" that lay over all my emotions, that made every emotion become numb. I still felt them, I think. But it was slower and thus less horrible when it came to negative emotions.

  If everything had gone to plan, they would return mid-day today. It was the early morning hours, or what was called the twilight hour now. The sun was about to rise. I had decided a few days ago to fortify the border of the forest with firecaps and small puffcaps in a rather erratic manner. The puffcaps had not grown much in size from the upgrades, which I appreciated. Their purpose was that of a trap, and if they were larger, they'd be easy to spot.

  I had also tried to grow my mycelium a little bit outside of the forest but realized something was blocking me. It felt like an invisible wall if I tried to grow in that direction, and any attempt was followed by a short but searing pain.

  I theorized this could be because the forest's edge was where the influence of the portal ended and the influence of the human god began. Maybe I, an entity created to oppose that god, was not allowed in its territory?

  It did not really matter to me; I think the forest is more important to me anyway. I would need to take over human territory in time, but right now I was only level 16. The last four levels hadn't gained me any skills, simply stat increases.

  I have started to recognize the usefulness of some stats. For example, the stat "Perception" is what allows my vision to become not only larger outside of the territory but also sharper. I had started with 20/20 vision, but only in my territory. Somehow my vision was now sharper, and I could see quite a bit outside of the territory.

  My main stat, "Growth," I had known for a while, increases the speed at which I naturally expand my mycelium, but I had recently noticed that my construction projects via my mushroom workers were not only faster but cheaper as aswell.

  There were other stats that I had not figured out yet, like "Regeneration" and "Capacity." I figured the basic effects were recovering wounds and increasing my maximum mana, but further than that I had no idea.

  Then there were the useless stats. "Agility" and "strength" mattered little to me. I could not move, and unless strength had a pronounced effect on me gripping stuff with my mycelium, I did not see a use for it. "Toughness" was something I also considered useless to some extent. It seemed to increase, lo and behold, my toughness. As in my physical defense.

  But I was a mushroom. Mushrooms are notoriously easy to squash. Unless my toughness was 100 times what it is now, I do not think I would be as tough as even a human.

  My research tree had been at a standstill for a while. I required some sort of information for me to unlock further paths. I assumed it would be some sort of knowledge, such as a new metal or wood type or something, that I could then use the research function to gain full knowledge of its uses.

  My "Symbiosis" research had been my last research, and it allowed me to "trade" with trees. I could trade things such as water or certain minerals via my mycelium to nearby trees, and they would grant me a low amount of mana and experience. It was not terribly useful, as trees did not want all that much of either water or minerals, so I could not abuse it to power-level myself.

  I felt Toqlan enter the outer range of our mental connection. It seemed like he was quickly approaching the forest. Something felt wrong.

  Maybe an hour later, our connection had grown enough that we could talk, so I asked:

  "Has anything gone wrong?"

  "Yes! We are being hunted by two men on horses!" Toqlan responded in a panicked tone of voice.

  "Can you make it to the forest?"

  "Maybe the ants are delaying them the best they can."

  "Can the ants kill them?"

  "No, their mental attacks seem to have no effect on them."

  I tried to think of a way to help, but if the ants could do nothing, then I had nothing to do.

  "Can the mushroom soldier do anything?"

  "No, the bastions are dead, and no attack had any effect on them."

  "Can the ants kill the horses?"

  There was a pause.

  "They tried just now; it stopped the horses for a while, but before they died, the men seemed to have activated the same defense for the horses."

  Well, shit. I have nothing to do then.

  "Sacrifice all mushroom soldiers and ants to get you, Taressa, and the beast-kin back here."

  "Understood."

  Now, I felt nervous. I tried to make plans to fight these men but came up with nothing. If the mushroom soldiers and ants can't touch them, then what could I do?

  I created more firecaps on the border, as many as I could fit in, and waited for the inevitable fight.

  As the sun reached its apex, I could see... humans? They weren't soldiers. There was beast-kin among them, and they seemed to be running together.

  "Toqlan, who are these humans?"

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Sympathizers. Taressa has read their minds; they want to defect to our territory."

  "Where are you?"

  "I am not far; I am coordinating the soldiers with the ants. I will arrive soon."

  As the humans and beast-kin came to the forest's edge, they stopped briefly as my firecaps surprised them. I then chose one of the beast-kin and spoke to their mind. I was not good with it when Taressa was not here to guide my telepathy, but the situation was urgent.

  "Enter the forest unless you want to die."

  The beast-kin, a large, muscular man that looked to be in his forties or fifties, waved the beast-kin and humans through, into my territory. The prevailing atmosphere was fear. Toqlan showed up a few minutes later.

  The two men on horses arrived a few minutes after that, swords drawn. One of them had a large, rectangular shield that seemed to be made out of thick steel. He was large and seemed to be in his forties. The other one was smaller. He carried no shield, just a longsword that seemed to be thinner than what it should be.

  The longsword glowed a slight pale blue. The men dismounted just outside of earshot. All my firecaps were ready. As soon as they stepped close enough, I would try my strength against these seemingly immortal men.

  ---

  Point of view of Jod.

  It was on the second day, somewhere around midday, that they had caught up to some of the ants. The ants had noticed them at the same time, but surprisingly, they did not attack or flee at the sight of them.

  They seemed to communicate with each other and surrounded them instead. Their movements were those of soldiers, not mindless insects, and this took both Jod and John aback.

  "These are not normal insects," John said, with an equally surprised look as Jod.

  "No, they seem to communicate."

  Then came the attack. The ants did not move, but Jod could hear faint screaming. It did not hurt him, as he was covered by John's barriers.

  "Well, that's proof these are the ones who killed that slave hunter." John said with a slight smile.

  "Jod, kill them off for me, would you?"

  Jod unsheathed his sword and activated his skill [Moonlit Blade]. It covered his blade in mana and gave it a pale blue color. With it, he slashed the air a few times towards all the ants. The blades left imprints of that blue glow that flowed through the air almost imperceptibly and cut the ants in half.

  Jod sheathed his sword, and then they started riding again. They had not yet seen the humans that were captured, but Jod inwardly prayed that his mother wasn't one of them. He had not had time to check back in the village, and even if he would have had the time, John would have noticed.

  On the way they were constantly pestered by the ant's mental attacks, but John told him to keep moving. The ants could do nothing about the barrier.

  Then, as they caught up to the group of humans and beast-kin, they saw mushrooms. Not growing on the ground, but heavily equipped mushrooms. Some of them had shields, some greatswords. A few of them shot arrows and fire arrows.

  John's barrier blocked it all, but the surprise caused them to slow down a bit.

  "John, what the fuck are those? Have you seen anything like those?"

  "No, I haven't read about anything like that either. How are they using human weapons?"

  They collected themselves for a bit, and then John gave the order to just push past them and kill them if they were in range. Jod yet again activated his moonlit blade, and whenever any of the mushrooms or ants came close enough, he unleashed a flurry of attacks at them.

  The mushrooms with shields could block a few of his attacks, but when he put more mana into the blade, their shields no longer held together. They continued for a good while, attacking as they closed in on the main group. The constant attacks did slow their approach, though, and then something changed.

  First the ants changed tactics and attacked their horses with their mental attacks. The horses bucked and turned around, trying their best to get away.

  "Fuck these bastards!" John exclaimed as he widened his barrier so that the horses would be protected.

  After they had calmed their horses enough, they turned them around and continued their chase. Then as soon as they caught up again, the ants started just running at them. Wherever Jod looked, ants came at them. He tried to slash all of them in time, but eventually some of them got to the barrier.

  They could not stop the horses, but the horses tried to evade the ants they were about to step on. That slowed them down considerably. Then the mushroom soldiers came, and they dove at them, trying to hinder the horses from progressing.

  They could see an old man, a beast-kin of some sort, in the distance on a hill. He seemed to be commanding the ants and mushroom soldiers, and next to him was a huge ant. Was he a beast tamer?

  The forest soon came into view, and the humans and beast-kin had already entered its boundaries. Jod could see some of them standing behind large orange mushrooms. They dismounted.

  "I assume you don't know what the fuck those are?" John asked him.

  "No, I have never seen..." Jod stopped dead in his tracks.

  He saw the long, sand-blonde hair next to that mushroom. And as he looked closer, he saw her, and all his memories came flooding back. The lullabies, the scoldings, and the tears. The kind eyes and the rough hands as she had scruffed his hair. The smell of flour being baked into bread, and him helping knead the dough.

  His mother was one of the captives.

  "Alright, just follow me, and we'll deal with whatever those mushrooms are." John said and started approaching the forest.

  Jod felt fear. What if she is killed as a hostage? He only had five years left of his service. Five fucking years. He shrugged his head and quickly stepped up next to John.

  "What if we can't deal with them?" He asked John.

  "My barriers won't fall to mushrooms," John snickered.

  Then they noticed the darkness that seemed to emanate from the forest. It was concentrated around those mushrooms. John stopped his approach.

  "Those mushrooms are challengers?" He asked Jod.

  "How about we back off for now? Maybe we can negotiate the release of the humans at least?" Joad asked, increasingly worried that something bad would happen here.

  "What kind of shit Templar are you? Challengers die on the spot. That's the rule." John responded angrily.

  They had entered earshot of the people behind the mushrooms. And Jod heard his mother's words for the first time in 25 years.

  "Jod, is that you?"

  His heart dropped. Fuck. Five years, and he would've made it out.

  "You know that woman?" John asked, now suspicious of the situation.

  "Yes, in passing."

  John looked at him and decided there were more pressing matters as he started approaching the mushrooms again. Then a barrage of fire appeared; jets of flame seemed to fly out of the treeline, all of them focused on John. They fizzled, but Jod saw that John had to use quite a bit of mana to replenish his barrier. He had stopped.

  His mother spoke again.

  "I have betrayed Doloran; the Inquisition will kill me!" She looked straight at him, and when their eyes met, Jod knew that his choice was made for him.

  Five. Fucking. Years.

  ---

  Point of view of Mafu at that same moment.

  I heard the woman talk to the templar, but my focus was on the templar with the shield. My attacks had done something to him; he had staggered a bit as I unleashed my [Firespikes]. No defense can be impenetrable, surely.

  I heard the woman mention the Inquisition, and the other Templar stopped in his tracks as he looked at her. Never mind, I readied my next volley of [firespikes].

  But I had no need for them anymore, as I saw the pale blue blade sticking out of the bigger templar's mouth. He had been attacked by his fellow templar from behind. In the next moment his head was rolling on the ground, his neck cut cleanly through.

  The living Templar then threw his sword aside and knelt next to the corpse.

  I was honestly taken aback. What now?

  The woman started walking out of the forest, and I suppressed my instinct to stop her. This was her victory, I guess, although I failed to see what and how it happened.

  She knelt next to the templar and embraced him in a hug. I could hear both of them crying.

  "Toqlan, make sure everyone has a place to sleep, and feed them. We are done here."

  Toqlan took the group in further, and Taressa and I stood by and watched the templar and the woman.