Squad 4 had been in the jungle for 12 days before they reached the monarch’s lair. So far each day had gotten progressively harder, but the situation they now found themselves in left them out of their depth. They were surrounded on all sides by grotesque fungal humanoid creatures. As far as the eye could see they were swarmed. While they weren’t particularly difficult to kill, the fact that there were so many was the main problem.
The squad pushed forward into the horde, moving towards their target, a large temple made of rock solid fungus. The temple was covered with strange and glowing carvings which looked to depict a mixture of runes and history of the fungal tribe. At the front of the squad leading the charge stood two hunters. A man with a dark aura wielding a large black battle axe. The axe was double headed and had a black smog leaking off it. The other hunters' aura was one of light, they had a gentle glow around their entire body and seemed to wield a rapier made of pure energy.Together the two pushed the group forward, slashing their way through the fungi.
Towards the rear of the group stood two hunters, one wielding a wand and the other a shield. Each imbued their item of choice with a different type of energy. The wand spewed out torrents of fire towards their attackers, melting them in place. The shield wielder slammed the ground and made the earth beneath their enemies erupt beneath them. From a distance, with the two combined skills, it could have been confused for a small volcanic eruption given the plumes and earth and fire rising into the air. This was the work of the legendary magma duo in action.
Throughout the squad, the skills and magic used by them varied, some imbued their weapons with water to help slice through the fungi while others imbued their bodies with air to enhance their agility and speed. Wave after wave they slaughtered but it wasn’t enough. With only 50 meters left until they reached the temple, the scales finally tipped in the favour of the enemy.
The earth hunter who had been the primary line of defense for the rear of the squad began to slam his shield down to cause yet another eruption of earth. Only this time upon impact, nothing happened. Lifting his shield he struck the ground again–nothing. Something didn’t feel right, and in the heat of the moment he was struggling to understand what was going wrong.
As the horde approached, his fire wielding partner couldn’t hold them off alone, and flame covered fungi were closing in on them. Again, the shield holder struck the ground and…nothing. It was at this point he noticed the problem: around their feet was a field of dense Mycelium. There was no way to tell how thick or deep the roots of this ran, however the closer to the temple they got, the thicker it became.
Realising the current issue, the shield holder raised his shield into the air and slammed down with all of his might. The strain on his body was beginning to show, he was pushing past his own ability, and a slow trickle of blood began to come from his left ear. He kept pushing harder and harder until the resistance changed and he felt his shield connect with the earth. As if on queue, the floor in front of him exploded the second contact was made. An eruption of earth and stone flew into the air, completely covered in fungal roots. Hope returned to the eyes of the hunter, but it was all in vain. While pushing deep into the ground, the fungal monsters had gained too much ground.
He lifted his shield into the air one final time and began to slam down, but this time he didn’t make it through the Mycelium quick enough. Before he could break down to the earth under the layers of thick mushroom roots, they reached him. Like a pack of rabid dogs they pounced on him and began to tear off pieces of his flesh. Blood covered the creatures for meters behind and this only seemed to spur them on. Eventually he was completely covered in the creatures and fell from the sight of his squad.
His fire mage partner screamed in a mixture of agony and rage. Throwing down her wand she began to channel the fire magic through her body and turned into a swirling inferno. Changing to a hand to hand combat tactic, she battled through the oncoming monsters to reach her squad mate. The earth around her was being scorched black, and her teammates behind her had to shield themselves from the heat. A spear-wielding warrior threw his hands into the air and a wall of water as tall as the canopy around them formed, blocking the heat. It required his full attention, as the side closest to the raging inferno continued to evaporate.
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She continued forward, each punch melting away the fungus before contact. Nothing within a radius of 5 meters around her was left untouched. The fungal monsters clearly understood the danger of her and began to back away, showing them the first sign of intelligence in their 12 day expedition.
Slightly in front of her lay the other half of her duo. He didn’t move and appeared to be dead. The patches of missing flesh looked to have healed. That didn’t make sense, she saw what they did to him, how they mutilated him. The thought drove her to rage again and she turned to face the retreating monsters. Placing both her arms in front of her, she began to unleash plumes of fire into the retreating monsters, decimating them as they retreated.
A strange noise came from her partner's body, somewhat like static. Immediately, she stopped her assault and turned to him with hope in her eyes. Instead of joy, what filled her was terror. In front of her stood her partner, his injuries covered in fungal spores. He started to approach her as she began to plead, begging for him to snap out of it and come back to her. It was pointless–he was already gone.
The closer he stepped the weaker her fire became, as if her body refused to hurt him. She fell to her knees with tears in her eyes as he made his final steps towards her. She looked up at him for one last time before the fungal monster lifted his fist and smashed it down into her. There was no resistance this time, only a small crunch and a pile of crushed human remains.
While the events between the magma duo unfolded, the missing fighter was very much noticed in the middle of the squad ranks. The team needed every able body to be on the offence to ensure they could hold back the swarm. For him to be pulled away to prevent friendly fire had tipped the scales in the favour of the monsters. Only a few short moments after he raised his wall of water, a fungal monster slipped through the cracks of his team and tore into his leg. With no choice but to keep the liquid barrier up, he grit his teeth and bore the pain, shouting for his squad to help.
A young air mage turned to hear his calls and sent a blade of air towards the creature, slicing it in two down the middle. Sadly, this was a mistake on her part, as the moment she turned, the swarm was on her. Her death was quick as the fungal creatures swarmed her within seconds, but to the horror of her squad, as before with the earth wielder, she turned. This was the beginning of the end for the bulk of squad 4.
As the last member of the squad in the mid ranks fell, the only two who remained were the light and shadow warriors. Together they held back the horde while pushing towards the temple. From this close they were able to see an opening. A large doorway, standing 10 meters high, was wide open. There were no fungal creatures inside as far as could be seen, and so it looked to be their only option.
Knowing that they would soon be overwhelmed, the shadow warrior gave a signal to his partner, and she fell to the floor. Shadows erupted from his body and began streaming into the axe, a volatile black dome formed around them, pushing back their attackers before collapsing into his weapon. As soon as the dome finished merging with his weapon, the axe wielder swung it across his body. A pure black crescent emerged from his blade and sliced through the enemies around them. Within a 100 meter radius of them the mushroom began to slide apart, having been dissected by the blade of darkness.
The moment the crescent reached its final point, the woman began to glow brightly. A shimmer formed around her body, and she began to vibrate slightly. While the fungal monster had been decimated around them, more poured in from the forest like a never ending horde. A large majority of them headed towards the front of the temple, as if to protect it. This was the second sign of intelligence–this wasn’t a theory now, it was clear these creatures had some level of sentiance.
A few short moments later, the glowing woman began to charge forward at an alarming speed, closely followed by the shadow wielding man. Placing her rapier in front of her, she condensed the energy into her weapon and in front of them formed an arc of blinding light. Each creature it came into contact with turned to ash, and before long the duo had reached the entry to the temple. Stepping inside and turning to continue their fight, there was nothing. All of the fungal creatures were gone.
They looked at each other, puzzled, before turning back around to stare off into the dark temple ahead. As they began to walk forward, the two enormous fungal doors behind them slowly closed shut. Upon fully closing, lines of green light flooded the walls and illuminated the runes and glyphs. Where there was once a door stood now a wall, leaving the duo with no way out. With no other choice left, they continue into the dimly lit darkness.