Chapter 84 - Ew

“Mason, I’m here!” Mayry shouted back.

“Mayry! Where are you?” The voice said again.

“I’m here! I’m here!” she replied, frantically trying to follow the sound of the voice. “Mason? Mason? I can’t find you!” The fear that had briefly left came flooding back at the lack of a reply.

She had searched every room and had seen nothing that hinted anyone else was in the house.

“He isn’t coming for you, you know.”

She whipped around and saw nothing. The words had been whispered to her as if the voice and been right next to her ear. The voice had sounded somewhat familiar but yet also completely alien; it was as if something had taken Mason’s voice and twisted it to sound… wrong. “Mason isn’t coming; Daddy isn’t coming. Nobody is coming to save you, Mayry.” Using her magic sense produced no more results than her eyes did. The voice she was hearing was seemingly coming from nowhere.

Adrenaline was taking over her body, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She shouted the last words and allowed her human form to slip away, leaving her half-demon form on display. Skin scarlet with black flames that danced across her skin, licking and tickling at her flesh, causing the air around her to warp and twist. She heard the whispering voice again, but this time it was quieter as if it had less of a hold on her while she was in this form. “Chaos? Interesting… Still, just half of a whole.”

Her mind cleared by the second. It was obvious to her now that the voice was merely in her head. It had been pulling and twisting her fears and insecurities, causing her to act like a scared little girl. She had faced down far worse than whatever was invading her mind. She was not afraid of anything! With that thought, her mind briefly flickered to the one thing she was scared of, the one thing she had been scared of ever since she was a little girl.

“BUKARK.”

Her heart felt as if it had stopped. She had heard stories all her life about the creature that made that noise. She had hoped that after hearing about how Mason had fought and killed one of the creatures if she ever came face to face with one, she would be as able to face it. But now, she was hearing its horrendous sounds; she huddled in the corner of the room, unable to move.

“BUKARK.” It sounded closer this time. Her mind was racing, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t force any semblance of order to her thoughts.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. This isn’t real. It can’t be. It’s all in my mind.

The more distraught she got, the less of a hold she had over her powers; the wood of the building around her was being scorched and catching fire, and the metal was turning red hot before starting to melt.

Mason

There was no sign of Mayry anywhere, real or fake. Every now and then, he’d hear the creak of a floorboard or what sounded like a whisper, but the moment he turned around, the noise stopped, and there was nothing the see.

“Mayry? Where are you?” he called hesitantly, still unsure what he would do if he found her. How would he know if it was really her or just another illusion this place was showing him?

“Mason, I’m here!” he heard Mayry’s voice shout. The panic and fear in her voice made him forget his caution and start running towards the sound of her voice. Room after room he searched. He stuck his head into a grimy-looking bathroom and saw nothing; he was about to leave when he noticed that this room was significantly warmer than the rest he had checked. “Mayry? Mayry, are you in here?” He whispered. He waited, straining his ears as much as he could. He thought he heard something… It was quiet, but he was pretty sure he had heard a faint, shuddering breath, almost like a whimper.

"Mayry?" he called again, moving cautiously towards the sound.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room spiked. The walls seemed to pulse with heat, and the air shimmered around him. He could feel sweat starting to form on his forehead and trickling down his back, which was impressive as his tolerance to heat had improved exponentially with the level he’d gained. He was certain he could hear whispering now; it was louder, but he still couldn’t hear it clear enough to make out words. “Mayry, if that's you, I need you to try and stay calm. I'm going to get you; I’m going to figure this out”, he said, trying to keep his voice steady. Taking another step forward, he felt the temperature in the room spike again, this time to a point that was unbearable even for him. All around him, the air seemed to ignite, searing his skin. He took a step back instinctively, retreating from the intensity. The moment he stepped out of the room, the temperature dropped slightly, giving him a momentary relief, but before he left the room completely, something caught his eye. The walls that, moments ago, had looked completely normal were beginning to melt. As the paint and wallpaper slid down in a molten mess, it revealed something he definitely was not expecting: it wasn’t wood or plaster but a mound of what looked to be some sort of living pulsating mass of thin strands of fabric. The surface looked damp and spongy and had dark fibres writhing through it like the roots of some ancient, buried plant. Strange, bulbous growths poked out from the whole, resembling swollen, disfigured mushrooms that seemed to throb and move with a life of their own. The entire thing was covered in a shiny, slimy coating that caught the light, making it glisten in a way that made his stomach churn.

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It pulsated and thrashed about, unable to get away from the heat. He stared at the thing in the wall for a moment and wondered if it inhabited the entire building and whether it was responsible for the mental attack he had fought off. He took a few more steps out of the room, escaping the heat further; he needed to save Mayry and killing this thing seemed like it would be a good starting point.

He didn’t want to attack the part of the creature in the room as he wasn’t sure whether he could accidentally hit Mayry, but if his hunch was correct, he wouldn’t need to. He turned to a wall in the hallway he was in and shoved his fingers into it. As strong as he had become, it hardly took any effort at all for him to rip a chunk of the wall away. His suspicions were confirmed when behind the wall was more of the strange being. Now that he was able to get a look at the monster without the intense heat affecting it, he could see that all around it were what looked like clouds of dust that were circling in the air, almost as if they were orbiting it. Half disgusted and half intrigued, he used his Identify skill on it.

Monster - Mycelythe - Level 49

This one requires a bit of backstory. The shack you are in was used by visitors from Ganehfrel many years ago as one of their go-to bases for when Elders needed to come to the trial world to intervene on their student’s behalf; it was a lot nicer back then. The last Elder to visit was a bit of a slob and carelessly left half a sandwich unfinished on the kitchen table. A few days went by, and as you’d expect, the sandwich went bad as mould started to grow on it. After a few weeks, the mould had completely sucked the sandwich dry of all nutrients, and as mould tends to do, it sent out spores looking to spread itself and find more sustenance. After the spores found nothing, the small mound of mould began to die. It sent off one more batch of spores as a last-ditch effort at survival, and this time, while it didn’t find food, one single spore landed on a rune. It found that while it was on the rune, it felt energised and was able to grow itself with the need for food.

While not unique, the Mycelythe is an incredibly rare monster that only occurs when buildings with a strong magical infrastructure get a mould infestation, it is unintelligent but is driven by powerful instincts. The longer the mould feeds on the building magic, the stronger the monster becomes. Its spores are able to spread over a wide area. Inhalation or even exposure to these spores causes those affected to experience vivid hallucinations that can tap into the deepest fears of the victims, manifesting as horrific visions that feel incredibly real. Mental Resistance may cause the effect to be less effective and more easily broken.

Pulling his shirt over his mouth in disgust, Mason reread the oddly long description. So gross, a mold monster. It seemed this world was intent on throwing the most disgusting monster it could at him. The bleach elemental would have been pretty perfect right now. The description did explain a few things. The spores were obviously what had been affecting his mind, making him see all the weird crap and were probably doing the same to Mayry. The only thing that had saved him had been his resistance against mental attacks, which had probably done a fair bit to weaken the effect.

Judging by the incredibly hot room he suspected Mayry was in, he didn’t think Mayry shared his mental resistance. At least her demon fire was enough to protect her from the mould getting any closer.

The only thing left unexplained was why he couldn’t see Mayry, and she couldn’t see him. It could be a lingering effect of the spores… but that didn’t seem right.

Sticking his head back into the swelteringly hot room, he shouted, “If you can hear me, just know nothing you’re seeing is real! I’m going to kill the monster doing this to you!” Unsure as to whether she could hear him, he added, “Just hold on!” He gave her one last worried look and turned back to the hole in the wall he had just made.

Focusing on the disgusting mass of the Mycelythe, he worked on formulating a plan. The description his Identify skill had given him had yielded crucial information, but he was struggling with how he could use what he’d learnt to kill the monster and save Mayry.

If the creature was as pervasive as he thought it was, it could be embedded in every wall, every floorboard, and every ceiling tile. Destroying it in a full-out attack could cause the whole place to collapse; usually, that would be fine, but he had no idea what it would do to the building’s magical infrastructure; he already couldn’t see Mayry, so for once, blowing stuff up didn’t seem like the best option. There had to be a way to weaken it without accidentally harming Mayry.

The only thing he knew about mould was that it had trouble growing in places that were too hot or too cold and didn’t like sunlight. This all applied to mould back on Earth, but there was no way to tell if any of that even applied to this monster. If Mayry was him, he’d get her to use her elemental magic to burn the creature away bit by bit, but as she was currently indisposed, he would have to make due.

Holding his hand out in front of him, he used his mana manipulation ability to make a small orb of mana. It started as a speck but, within a few seconds, grew to the size of a basketball. Straining his mind slightly, made the ball of mana spin. After its failed attempt at ensnaring him earlier, the Mycelythe had mostly been ignoring him; as soon as the ball of mana got near enough to burn it, however, the monster split open. Each half of its body tried to flee in a different direction, one half compressing itself, trying to escape through the various cracks and holes in the building, the other half, with nowhere else to go, came rushing straight at him in a flood.