It became clear after the second of exploring it that the [Mushroom Alcove] was much more expansive than he thought. Larger than even the inside of a Grren Tree had any right to be. It left him intensely curious to explore.
The derailment of his original plan didn’t weigh on him at all. The rise to the top of the canopy was not particularly time-intensive. It was born from an urge to explore.
The glow of mushrooms, the shadows of long tunnels, and the mystery of hidden rooms drew him further and further in.
He pulled his head out of the reach of the swinging arm of a fungoid in the shape of a bear. He was now familiar with the sharp mushrooms that made up both its claws and teeth. That aside, the creature was one of the largest shapes he’d found they’d come in.
A whoosh of air passed overhead and he stabbed the thing center mass. He watched as its glow winked out in places around the wound. The majority of it did not stop, the strange sponginess of its body did not leak blood, but rather some type of sap. It flowed freely as he pulled his [Steel Sword] out.
He’d taken a couple of bruises fighting these creatures already. Their casual swing was enough to break bones, their bodies made out of a harder type of mushroom than the others. He’d learned that the hard way.
Their light was not as intense as the wolves though the creature had more blinking clusters than most. He wondered exactly what that meant as the fungoid fell over, twitching.
He breathed heavily, sweating. The cavern was not hot in the same way the plains were, just humid, which was, to him, somehow worse. The damp atmosphere seemed to exacerbate any exercise.
The blue glow of his foes was something he was long accustomed to by now. A deep blue that evoked images of crystals and jewels, the swirling depths of water. It matched the mushrooms throughout the alcove. So it was to his surprise he found another path, this one lined with mushrooms that glowed another color.
Instead of blue, he stepped into the glow of something like the sunset. Only more harsh. A burnt orange that he found unsettling. The mushrooms here were different, less calm. He paused as he heard something.
He should’ve been prepared for worse, much worse. He’d been lax, naive in the face of shambling mushmen and foes that, while dangerous, were not anywhere near a real threat.
An angry orange glow was all the warning he had before something stabbed him in the shoulder, riding him to the ground. He screamed, the noise shattering the silence of the alcove. His sword arm was pinned and the moment he tensed to swing it wracked his arm with mind-numbing pain.
His eyes sharpened, pushing through the pain, and stared at the jagged spike planted in his collar. He had the time to stare at a fungoid that’s glow was a steady pulse that seemed to light up even the flesh of his shoulder, illuminating it from the inside.
He screamed again when the spike was abruptly pulled out, tearing flesh with a sickening squelch. He twisted, pushing off the creature that was lighter than he expected. It rolled away in a movement more refined than he’d seen from any of the other shroomish inhabitants.
Its eyes were deep hollows, single small mushrooms lighting up their recesses. Sharp fungal clusters rose off its back like some kind of spiked spine. Its arms were no different than his if they had ended in curved blades.
The way it stared at him, head cocking to the side, let him know this was nothing like his previous encounters. He bled from the shoulder and his sword arm was limp, despite the white-knuckled grip on the weapon.
He cursed, switching hands.
New Creature: [Bladeshroom Sentinel] (Unusual)
Type: Mushroom
A creature of primal instinct. The product of a bladeshroom colony given form, purpose, and thought. Its greatest drive is survival, the acquirement of resources to fuel the growth of the colony. Bladeshrooms, as all others, thrive on decaying organic matter. Given sentience, a bladeshroom colony is uniquely equipped to accelerate such processes.
He’d have paused and considered the nature of this Article if he wasn’t immediately attacked. Their blades clashed and rather than the bite of spongey flesh he expected, his sword rebounded. The sentinel also jerked from the impact, pacing away warily. Its eyes seemed to regard his weapon with interest.
A short distance between them, he considered running. He took a step backward, the sentinel followed with a step forward. He frowned, grimacing as blood ran down his arm. He believed himself stronger, although in the short exchanges he also judged the fungoid to be faster.
He popped the other [Blood Mushroom] into his mouth, feeling, he hoped, the faint trickle of regeneration. The bite on his torso had already noticeably healed.
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His right arm was still useless and this wasn’t a fight he was interested in prolonging. Being that the [Bladeshroom Sentinel] didn’t seem keen on his retreat. Well, his options were limited and there was no real choice to be made. Retreat would not only invite pursuit but run the risk of encountering other fungoids in numbers he wouldn’t be comfortable facing. More so without this Creature at his back.
His sword came up in his left hand, one which he’d found to be his non-dominant over the course of the last few days. His sweat glistened, catching the glow of his enemy upon his arms and mingling with his blood. Injured but not down.
He stared at the creature with a focus born from adrenaline and danger. A heady rush that brought his body to both complete stillness and hyperactivity. Orange light pulsed and he moved, meeting the creature in the space between them.
Both blows were untrained, feral strikes. One with neither practice or experience, the other born of instinct. This time he was ready for the clash of their blades. The fungoid sentinel was not. Rebuffed, it stepped away again, but he went on the offensive pressing the creature’s speed and reaction.
It repeated patterns, if not exact movements. It would strike, then dart away and observe. He didn’t allow it the time to process anything but his attack. Defense, it seemed, was not something it had ever needed to implement. Still, its speed was up to par, the danger of his own strikes forcing it to learn to evade or die.
His blade struck air but his swing was non-commital. Another follow-up strike was faster, quicker, and more deadly. He caught the creature at the base of its arm, where the ‘blade’ became flesh.
It bled milky orange sap and some of the glow in its arm dimmed.
It stared at its own body in either cold calculation or plain confusion. When its head cocked back to him, a pulse ran through its body, coalescing around one of its forward-facing spikes. He prepared for a sudden rush.
And blinked when something knocked his sword off-center. The object hit the ground behind him and he had just enough time to see it was a spike about the span of his hand before he had to defend himself.
He whirled his blade deflecting his foe. The hard orange light of its body pulsed rapidly and he couldn’t help but stare at the source as he fought. The fight was messy and he took to using his legs to create distance. Its body pulsed in one place and his eyes widened as he dodged a projectile too fast to see.
Then he was on defensive, a full rush that was eerily similar to his own tactic. He struggled with a limp arm coupled with his opponent’s speed. He was more scrambling than dodging, swinging his weapon in a poor approximation of control.
He tired but he could tell the fungoid did too.
The pulses came slower. Strangely, he realized they were coming from its shoulder. The same place it had stabbed him prior. It was his turn to cock his head as he approached, a window of a moment between its attacks.
He parried the blade he knew would come, stepping into the sentinel’s retreat he knew would follow. His sword pierced through the air, seeking its shoulder. At the last moment, its blade flashed with orange light and it was over.
He stood, his [Steel Sword] embedded in the quickly darkening body of his enemy. A body that went limp over his weapon. He was… not without injury. The [Bladeshroom Sentinel] had, in its last attack, aimed for his other shoulder. For it, he realized, the place had to be something vital. The heart of a colony he didn’t have.
He pushed the thing off his blade weakly, its body slumping to the floor and his sword now coated in orange sap. He himself was a painting of milky orange and scarlet red, backlit by the soft blues of the cavern behind him. Steam rose off him in the damp heat and he was soaked in glistening sweat.
“Damn.” He breathed, chest heaving and arms limp, looking at the burnt orange paths ahead. “I think… I think I might’ve run into the higher levels.”
He hadn’t forgotten the recommended levels for this Dungeon. But when he’d seen the break in the monotony of the alcove, he hadn’t been thinking. It was a mistake, a fatal one. Somehow he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment.
He was alive. And more…
Congratulations!
For overcoming the Creature, [Bladeshroom Sentinel] (Unusual), you have been rewarded accordingly. Rewards are adjusted based on each encounter and modified by the First Discovery Bonus.
Reward: [Homeshroom] (Uncommon), 10 Nex
Like last time, the mushroom grew from the floor. He found his eyes drifting to the spot naturally as if he’d known it would appear there. It was a small grey mushroom that looked entirely mundane. Plain of any irregular markings or even glowing ambiance.
He picked it up, noting the fact the message hadn’t mentioned the First Discovery Bonus kicking in. He assumed he would’ve gotten the mushroom regardless of it.
New Item: [Homeshroom] (Uncommon)
Type: Structure, Mushroom, Consumable
A magical mushroom that when activated will grow a complete temporary shelter. The size, shape, and duration of the structure will depend on environmental conditions.
The small mushroom’s appearance gave no hints to its advertised capabilities. Seeing as he could simply step back into his Nexus the Item didn’t really speak to him. Nonetheless, he supposed there was an off-chance he might need it.
The 10 Nex was more welcome. That could translate to any number of useful Articles and equipment in the Nexus Shop. There were a few things he had in mind already. He shelved the thoughts for later though in favor of more pressing matters.
He looked around the glowing alcove. He was at the border of the burnt orange and shimmering blue. The recommended level for the Dungeon hadn’t been a singular number but a range of them. He took that to mean there was a likely disparity between these sections of the [Mushroom Alcove].
“I ran blindly into a stronger area.” He said, clutching his arm. “The blue area with the mushmen and other slow fungoids… must be the low-level area.”
He took a breath and regarded his injuries. He needed to rest, let the [Blood Mushrooms] kick in before he even considered exploring further.
The next hour he gathered anything edible and then returned to his Nexus.