The moment I entered the cave, I was hit with a wave of mana. For a while there, I was a bit overwhelmed as the mana seeped into my body and went into the air at a faster rate, I felt that my head was about to explode, and my TK vision went static.
Thankfully, the effect faded right away. I breathed out a sigh of relief. I was probably overwhelmed by the mana in the dungeon—my parents had hinted that mana concentration was far more potent inside dungeons than anywhere else, and it’s because of that mana concentration that dungeon cores and monsters are formed. My dad claimed to have seen one, but was prompted by a god to leave it alone.
Apparently, gods are real. Who figured.
I don’t know if I would get to meet one—apparently, moments like the one dad had were rare—but if I did, I felt a strong urge to either kick the god’s ass or find a way to tie a noose to their neck. Intense anger was welling up, but I suppressed the irrational anger and instead tried to think of any reasons why I was angry at them.
… I wasn’t? I had no reason to be angry at them, at least.
Should I be worried and go to a therapist? I’m getting a bit worried. I hope it’s just a phase and nothing too serious.
The worry disappeared from my mind as I heard a screech further in. My body tensed as my hand that was holding the pebbles trembled, but I shook my head and took a look at my surroundings.
The mouth of the cave was simply an entrance to another entrance—except unlike the natural cave mouth, this seems to be a simple wooden door, albeit cracked and mossy in places. Patches of grass grew under it, as if there was a lot of grass behind it. The cave’s walls had growing vines on it that, oddly enough, didn’t seem to be going for the sunlight at the cave’s mouth, showing the oddity of this dungeon.
The door slowly opened, as if it wasn’t properly shut in the first place, so I decided to cautiously walk towards it. My TK Vision wasn’t working properly inside the dungeon—it was too mana dense. I couldn’t get any proper images, which made me worried for my battlefield awareness. I don’t fancy the idea of being caught with my pants down, so caution is a must.
I peek through the door.
It was slightly disappointing—a large, square room of stone. There was some sort of grass near the door—or was it a herb? I can’t tell. I’m not an alchemist, and I don’t plan to be one, I think. I would have liked to be a mage, but there was a severe lack of offensive magic that didn’t require a chant.
That’s a big downside to being mute. It sucks, I wanted to do magic but because of some stupid guy, I got my vocal cords slashed and went mute.
It was probably my fault. If I had waited a few more minutes, someone from my family would have thought of something to take me out of the situation—it was because of this lack of trust in my end that I went mute.
Probably. I don’t want to dwell on it much.
I enter the room without much problems. The grass flattened under my boots—which I had the foresight of taking before leaving the house. My stomach grumbled, and I cursed the lack of foresight to bring food.
Well… I guess I’ll have to come back later.
… probably wouldn’t hurt to explore a bit, though.
There were two corridors on the left and right of the room—the left smelled slightly of grass and wooden things while the other reeked of bad hygiene. Since I didn’t want to stay too long or explore too far in an area I couldn’t handle, I decided to go for the grassy smell.
As soon as I stepped into the corridor, the ceiling lights up, making me snap my eyes towards it. Dotting the roof of the corridor I was in, patches of grass seem to glow a soothing shade of green. My mouth opened slightly as I see it go further in the corridor, the lights getting brighter as it gets closer and closer to the end of the rocky hall.
I did not, however, rule out the possibility of it being a trap. It could be a lure, like those light things from anglerfish. It could be emitting a toxin of some sort to make me more complacent and easy to kill. I don’t know—but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I shake my head to get rid of the growing fascination within me. I walk forward cautiously, watching the walls and the floor in front of me. There were a couple of small holes and mushrooms growing at the sides, but there doesn’t seem to be a single monster in sight yet.
But then, the dungeon pulsed.
The mana inside the dungeon stirred awake, and I felt a disturbance at the flow of the mana, as if some things were actively starting to use it instead of fading into the background. At the same time, the mushrooms I saw innocently just planted there turned to me, revealing two beady eyes and a scary mouth. They uprooted themselves and started encircling me with their thin root legs. The mushrooms that were stuck on the wall faced me, but instead of their cousins’ sharp teeth, they had a cannon-like protrusion where their mouth would have been.
Damn it, Murphy.
I tried to see behind me with my TK Vision, but the dense mana in the atmosphere was still interfering with my radar. I tsk’d and whipped my head around quickly. There were only cannon-shrooms, but no melee-shrooms. I had an escape route if I ever need to run.
I yelped as a ball of something hit my back, shaving off 21 HP due to the effects of a [Backstab Bonus]. I quickly faced the monsters again and frantically waved my hand horizontally.
A wave of psionic energy pushed the incoming projectiles and melee-shrooms back. The projectiles, which I finally saw as green balls of goo-like material, suddenly stopped for half a second in midair before going backwards on a downward arc. The melee-shrooms who were unfortunate enough to be in their path were hit, making the walking cap monster screech in pain.
The goo thing was melting through the afflicted ones mushroom caps. I shivered as my hand instinctively went for my back—my clothes were sizzling, but my flesh was, thankfully, fine.
Whatever the goo was made out of, it was dangerous. An acid of some sort—might be too weak to affect human flesh, or maybe there was some magic stuff going on here. Nonetheless, I can’t let it hit me, else I find out the acidic effect stacks up the hard way.
My TK Vision thankfully still worked within a meter of me, but it was incredibly fuzzy. Now that I wasn’t using it passively, I was getting somewhat alerted of things approaching me. The path to the exit had at least four cannon-shrooms stuck on the walls, while the path to the grassy smell numbered at least eighteen.
This is bad, I should just run away, The logical side of me muttered. However, it wasn’t quite as heard as my relatively new side.
BEAT THESE FUCKERS INTO THE GROUND! GET THE GOD DAMN POINTS AND STOP BEING A FUCKING PUSSY, ME! My new power-hungry side roared out. The loud shouting coupled with my situation almost made me grin, but I need to stay focused if I were to survive this fight.
The mushrooms weren’t attacking now, instead, they were focusing on me and watching me for any sudden movements (probably). They screeched and growled at me, as the melee-shrooms pawed at the stone floor with their thin legs.
Well, there’s an idea.
The mushrooms screeched as I set myself in a beginner’s form—that is to say, a form so bad that it was obvious that the child using it has never fought a fight before—readying my Telekinesis.
The melee-shrooms charged at me with their relatively big arms raised to hit or trap me. I almost froze when they charged, but the imminent threat of getting beaten and or eaten by mushroom men made me snap back into reality and fight.
I pushed my Telekinesis downwards to the ground, imagining that it was as thin as a sheet of metal. My body followed this, kneeling as I pushed my palms into the ground before raising them up. I then pushed that sheet of Telekinesis forward, right into the charging mess of melee-shrooms.
There were twelve melee-shrooms. Of the twelve shrooms, three of them lost their legs, making them howl in pain. The rest were pushed backwards, screeching in anger and frustration.
I couldn’t celebrate my small victory yet, however. I quickly whipped around and ducked as I dodged four globs of acid. I Punched a cannon-shroom stuck in a wall, flattening it. It couldn’t even let out an ‘eep’ before it died. I took my attention off the flattened mushroom, noting the spider web of cracks forming at the contact point, and swiped at another cannon-shroom, making it screech as I tore it off the wall.
I threw it at the floor in front of me, then I lifted my foot and quickly brought it down onto its stem.
I squashed it easily, green blood then splatting underneath my boot.
Eugh, I wrinkled my nose, before I suddenly stumbled forward as I felt a weight press onto my back.
It was a melee-shroom! I cursed as I struggled against its hold. It just screeched as it held me down. It was surprisingly strong for a being that barely reached my neck—though my current age probably had something to do with it.
I felt another weight pile on top of me as another mushroom added their weight onto me. I saw a red number appear out of thin air, signifying my decreasing HP. I struggled uselessly against the growing pile of mushrooms, but I couldn’t push them off.
Get… I growled inside my head. My HP was continuously decreasing, and my HP Bar was now in the red. OFF!
A pulse of psionic energy came out from my core, making the mushrooms screech as they went flying all over the corridor. I stumbled to my feet, my back bleeding from various bite marks that the mushrooms gave me. I glared at them angrily, the mushrooms who piled on me and the ones on the walls suddenly stopping as they watched me glare, bleeding, but alive and powerful.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Or perhaps I was always powerful. To them, anyway. I was simply holding back because I still had the mindset of an innocent child. I know that I’m hardly innocent. My nightmare that appeared before my kidnapping proved that well enough—I’ve probably seen death in my last life, and I have a feeling that some weren’t necessarily because I happened to be at the same area.
I’m not going to die! I defied them. I defied this dungeon, I defied its inhabitants, and I defied myself. I will struggle until the very end, I won’t fall…
At that point, it clicked. I was fighting monsters.
I’m not going to fucking die to some pathetic level one Mushrooms! There wasn’t any kind of power up after my internal enlightenment. A fierce light showed itself into my eyes, and I stopped trying to fight like I was fighting another human.
I fought monsters, and monsters deserved to be killed.
I dashed forward, surprising some of the mushrooms. There were three in front of me, one was still dazed from the psionic shockwave. My hands imitated claws, and I swiped it in front of me. The mushroom couldn’t let out a strangled cry as it separated in 3 different areas, falling to the floor with a wet plop and a pool of green blood. The other two beside it couldn’t let out much as I immediately followed up with a Punch, flattening one to the wall and glancing a blow to the side of the other.
By that point, it didn’t matter much anymore. I kicked it right in its face, making it stumble back, and I finished it with a Crush, crumpling the mushroom into a tiny bit, feeling the magic leave its body. I threw the crumpled body into a cannon-shroom, flattening the thing and relieving me of one of my enemies.
By now, the shrooms have snapped off their daze, now glaring at me with even more anger than before. I recall the weapons back on Earth—guns. Superior ranged weaponry to anything this planet can do on its current technological level.
And I’m about to somewhat use it.
I pointed at the rushing mushrooms with a finger gun and applied the same theory I had with the Punch—which was basically the compression of psychic energy and ‘letting it go’. However, instead of using my entire hand as a focus point, I compress it to the tip of my pointer finger. It was a bit harder to do as it required more control, but it worked.
And it missed.
Clicking my tongue, I shoot four more times, two of which missed, one scoring a headshot and instantly eliminating a melee-shroom, and one dealing a glancing blow to a cannon-shroom.
My aim was shot, and I was sure that I was just too stressed to aim properly—after all, the bullets were of my own creation, and I was sure that I could guide where they went if I practiced hard enough, but the fact that I could was amazing on its own right. I was giddy—maybe next time, I’ll do an assault rifle.
That’s right. I’m going to have a next time. These monsters, however, are not.
One of the melee mushrooms got close, but I simply socked it right in the face with a Punch, sending it flying a few meters back before I Pushed it to the floor, flattening and killing it immediately. The few mushrooms that were in the range of the Push were also affected, making them stumble during their weak charge. I took advantage of their predicament and darted forward, my right hand imitating a claw again.
I slashed, but instead of the clean cuts like the ones from earlier, I only made a few surface wounds on a mushroom’s face. It also took far more mana than using a Punch, so I guess the thing a while ago was a fluke—that, or something magical happened and I didn’t notice.
I didn’t let the injured monster recover though, simply flattening the monster at the wall with a Punch and then ducking under a hail of acid. I ripped out a cannon-mushroom and threw it to another to flatten both—they were ridiculously fragile.
I aimed my finger pistol again and fired. Using this technique wasn’t quite draining my mana, but it certainly occupied me. I can’t keep using this on a horde situation, making it null inside a dungeon unless I had a range advantage like right now. Moreover, guiding the invisible projectiles also took more concentration, making me an unmoving turret. It didn’t matter, though—I immediately shot down the remaining cannon-shrooms, leaving me with at least twelve or so melee-shrooms to kill.
I wasted no time—I Pushed the mushrooms back, making them screech as they flew backwards. My mana was dangerously low, so I have to be a bit creative here. I ran towards the fallen mushrooms, stomping my feet on the stem of one, ending its life quickly.
I levitate a few pebbles that I had and threw them at some charging melee shrooms—the combination of their momentum and the strength of my psionic throw proved to be too fatal for the idiotic mushrooms, proven by the hole in the middle of their ‘heads’ and the green blood dripping down it. I back stepped as a melee-shroom got too close then Punched it, sending it back and toppling a few mushrooms like a bunch of bowling pins.
I took a deep breath and threw a few more pebbles, slowly whittling down the dozen or so mushroom monsters into a scarce few. My mana was slowly getting depleted with every pebble I threw, with every Push, Punch, and Crush that I did, some taking more mana than the others, and it was showing on my body. My stamina had already been depleted a while ago, and my HP was in a similar state to my mana. Thankfully, the remaining mushrooms were also quite wounded—gashes on their sides and low screeches instead of the annoying screams earlier, showing me that they’re probably just as tired from dodging the pebbles as I am.
There were three melee-shrooms left, and we were stuck in a stalemate. They can’t get too close to me, and I ran out of stray pebbles to throw—stretching out my Telekinesis would drain out mana, and I can’t afford to expend any more lest I fall unconscious—mom told me that I shouldn’t waste all of it, and I intend to heed her words.
I stared at the small monsters, and they stared back, baring their teeth. I took a small step backwards, watching the slow trickle of mana regeneration with despair. If they decide to charge me now, I just might run out of mana right after the first Push, leaving me vulnerable right after. My mind was racing just as fast as my heart as I watched the mushroom men take a tentative step forward, their fists raised again.
I took another step back, but then internally curse as I hit a rock wall. I looked behind me—this was the end of this tunnel. There was a rotting wooden door beside me, and I could smell the strong aroma of the grass I found at the entrance of the dungeon. This was probably what was causing the smell, but considering my position right now, I doubt I’m in any shape to do an investigation inside.
I took a deep breath and glare at the mushrooms.
I stretch out an arm to them and motioned at them to ‘come hither’.
I have no idea if they understood it or not, but they screeched as they charged far quicker than before, trying to overwhelm me with their speed and taking advantage of my dazed state. My eyes sharpened as I Pushed the mushrooms back again, making them screech in an unholy manner as they stumbled to their nonexistent asses.
I charged forward, my mana now depleted to only 1 point. Exhausted physically and mentally, I make it to the mushrooms in a few seconds and attempt an axe kick towards one of the fallen mushrooms.
It wasn’t quite an axe kick as it was a stomp, but it worked well enough. The mushroom’s face caved in, proving to be quite weak and tearible, getting some of its green blood stuck on my boot. I forced myself to turn to my side to end another mushroom’s life quickly, and send an obviously desperate punch to the mushroom that was coming about.
It didn’t have the same force as my stomp, considering that I didn’t have gravity helping me this time. It simply staggered back, a dent on its soft face, before I penetrated it with the last of my mana, making a large amount of blood gush out as the body staggered back.
Back to one point of mana again…
The remaining mushroom screeched in anger, and I sluggishly turned towards it. The mushroom was charging at me again, this time holding the advantage in strength. I weakly raised my arms to try and defend myself and make the mistake of looking away.
I hear the screeching suddenly stop as I hear a thud.
I peek at the mushroom. It had tripped. I have no idea how it tripped, only that it was trying to get up again and failing to do so. I shakily stumbled over to the mushroom, my blood still trailing down my back. It screeched as it pounded on the rock floor, trying to get up.
I didn’t let it get up.
As soon as the fight was finished, a status message popped up.
Congratulations! You’ve defeated a horde of lesser mushroom men.
Choosing to fight a horde of monsters above your capabilities has granted you a title! The title “Foolish Warrior” has been awarded.
Defeating a horde of monsters with the Child debuff has granted you a title! The title “Born Killer” has been awarded.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You are now a LV. 6 Psion. + 6 INT, + 6 WIS
Telekinesis has gone up a tier! [Sting] – [Stab]. + 15 INT, + 10 WIS
+ 64 Power
+ 72 Control
Physical Resistance is now LV. 3! + 10 END, + 10 STR
Your dodge training paid off! + 7 DEX
A special skill has been created through your actions! Intuition LV. 1 has been granted. +10 DEX, +5 INT
A special skill has been created through your actions! Unarmed Combat Mastery LV. 1 has been granted. 50% damage boost in unarmed combat, +10 DEX, +5 END.
The box was the last thing I saw before I passed out.
---
The married couple were quiet.
Selene stopped siphoning off mana to her Invisibility Cloak skill, showing their positions at a few dozen meters away from Kane. They had been quiet and hoped to help Kane when he got body piled, but it appeared he didn’t need much help.
“I mean, I expected that he would do well, but…” Keith muttered, amazed.
Green splotches of blood was everywhere. Mushroom matter were stuck on walls, on the ground, and some were even on the ceiling. The two Psions were watching his fight from afar, Keith determining that this would be a great way for his son to level up and get stronger. Selene was pained while she watched her son constantly get hurt, struggling for his life while they simply stood back and watched, so she decided to at least help her son right at the end of the fight, just so he can win.
She rushed forward to her son. “It’s okay,” she murmured. She saw Kane stir a bit as he reacted to her words and the green healing magic emanating from her palms. “It’s okay, momma’s here.”
The scratches and bruises began to fade as her healing magic did its work. Keith inspected the walls—there was a spider web of cracks on one side, making Keith whistle.
“Our little tiger’s progressing fast…” He traced a hand over the cracks. “I don’t think I ever did this much when I was a kid.”
“You weren’t born a Psion, though,” Selene rebutted. However, she too, had to be impressed. Their son’s growth was extraordinary. She herself had only started cracking rocks at six, while her son had started cracking monsters at age six. His sister was considered a genius as well, but he should be considered far above that. His battle sense was something that she had only seen in some experienced adventurers, and his will to fight was far stronger than any C-class adventurer she knew.
The healing light faded from her palms, and she telekinetically lifted Kane. He stirred again, but remained unconscious for the time being. Selene just sighed as she dragged Keith with her, making him sputter as he stretched out his arm to try and inspect more of the mushroom gore that happened.
“Kane really is something,” Selene murmured. Her green eyes flitted over to Keith, who was rubbing the back of his head while he prodded his son telekinetically.
“Yeah,” he replied absent mindedly. “He’s gotten a lot stronger, too. Physically, and from the way he was throwing around psychic attacks back there, I bet mentally as well. And magically.”
Selene nodded and fought the urge to smile. Her son getting stronger was always a good thing—it meant that her enemies—and her husband’s enemies—would be having a little problem if they abduct her child again. It didn’t mean that she agreed with her husband’s method—she’d rather keep Kane at her side and protect him from the dangers—but it means that she won’t be against it from now on.
She brought Kane close to her and lightly tousled his hair as they came out the cave, the dungeon sending a warm gust of wind towards them to thank them for their ‘patronage’. The sun shined down on them as they stretched, the light seeming to shine on Selene’s skin.
“So… are we going to talk to him about it?” Keith then asked her.
Selene smiled sweetly at him. “Sweetie, you’re going to explain everything to your son. This was your idea, and if you dare not take responsibility for it, you will be sleeping on the couch for a month.”
“… Duly noted.”