Chapter 26: Descent into the Mushroom Kingdom 2
The air hummed with raw power as the guardian's cannon charged, its stone frame groaning under the pressure. The mushroom clenched its fists, scanning the battlefield. Running was no longer an option. If they wanted to survive, they had to act, now.
The piglet trembled beside it, ears twitching as the charge built to its peak.
Then.
BOOM!
A blinding surge of energy erupted from the cannon. The mushroom barely had time to react. With a desperate push, it shoved the piglet aside before throwing itself backward. The blast struck the ground where they had stood, leaving a molten trench in the earth.
Too close!
The guardian turned, its golden eyes locking onto them once more. The mushroom gulped. The thing wasn't just powerful, it was relentless. If they didn't find a way to disable it, they wouldn't last another minute.
Then, an idea sparked in its mind.
The guardian wasn't moving randomly. It had a pattern. A rhythm.
It always took three steps before charging another shot.
One… Two…
The mushroom's eyes darted to the glowing blue veins pulsing across the guardian's chest. Those markings weren't just decorative, they were power channels.
If they could disrupt them…
Three!
The guardian raised its cannon once more. But this time, the mushroom was ready.
"Piglet, distract it!"
The piglet, surprisingly obedient in the face of death, let out a loud squeal and bolted in the opposite direction. The guardian's golden eyes flickered, tracking the movement.
Now!
The mushroom dashed forward, leaping onto a large root jutting from the ground. With all the strength its tiny legs could muster, it jumped.
For a split second, it was airborne.
Then.
It landed right on the guardian's chest.
The impact sent shockwaves through its tiny body, but it held on, gripping the glowing blue veins tightly. Up close, the energy pulsing through them was almost blinding. The mushroom wasted no time.
It reached into its bag and pulled out a vial.
A potion, one it had brewed itself, using the slime gel it had collected earlier.
With a fierce cry, it smashed the vial against the guardian's chest.
The effect was instantaneous.
The enchanted rock beneath it began to sizzle and crack, steam hissing from the point of impact. The potion had the properties of a corrosive catalyst,
weakening magical structures upon contact.
The guardian shuddered. Its glowing veins flickered erratically.
It tried to reach for the mushroom, tried to pull it off, but its massive hands were too slow, too cumbersome.
The mushroom dug in deeper, pressing against the weakened spot.
The guardian let out a deep, metallic groan. Its cannon, which had been charging another shot, suddenly short-circuited. Sparks erupted from the barrel as energy misfired, detonating inside its own arm.
The explosion sent the guardian staggering backward, smoke rising from its damaged core.
The mushroom leaped off just in time, landing hard on the ground as the massive stone construct trembled. Its golden eyes flickered once, twice.
Then.
It collapsed.
A deep, resounding THUD shook the ground as the guardian's massive form crumbled, its energy fading into silence. The battlefield went eerily still.
For a long moment, the mushroom just lay there, gasping for breath.
Then, the piglet trotted up beside it, sniffing curiously at the fallen guardian.
"…We won," the mushroom whispered.
Before it could process what had just happened, a deep rumbling echoed through the air. The ground beneath them began to tremble once more, but this time, it wasn't an attack.
A nearby boulder started to vibrate.
Another boulder also began to vibrate alongside it.
There, in that seemingly innocent grassy field, the little mushroom and the piglet found themselves surrounded by enormous stone mushrooms. These were not ordinary mushrooms, each of them stood tall like ancient sentinels, their hardened surfaces cracked and worn by time. Yet now, they were moving.
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[BOULDER MUSHROOM] LV.26
HP: 1088/1088
MP: 180/180
SP: 100/100
Attack: 350
Magic: 30
Defense: 200
Speed: 5
Critical Rate: 100%
Magic Defense: 150
Mushroom monsters often evolve through this particular transformation path. The excessive consumption of stone essence transformed the creature into a solid rock. Boulder Mushrooms develop massive weight due to their body structure yet they achieve remarkable defensive capabilities. The creature moves slowly which allows it to pose as a stone while it waits patiently for prey to approach.
***
The mushroom's small body tensed. Throughout his journey he had encountered numerous strange occurrences yet this particular experience felt different from everything else.
The piglet observed the moving stone mushrooms with big curious eyes without showing any sign of fear. The piglet made a quiet grunt while turning her head to evaluate if these stone creatures could be eaten.
A heavy silence built through the air while everyone might have been holding their breath.
One of the stone mushrooms paused in its movement. The stone mushroom shifted slightly as its coarse edges dragged across the earth. The stone creature focused its deep yellow molten rock eyes on the piglet as it studied her more intently.
The creature seemed to understand something new.
This was not a mushroom.
The silence shattered.
The creature's deep rumbling voice emerged with anger and alarm in its tone. The stone mushroom yelled in an unknown tongue which made the little mushroom unable to understand but its message was clear. An intruder had been discovered.
The stone mushrooms throughout the field started responding with deep voices that carried across the field. The ground shook violently as the stone mushrooms moved through the field while their bodies shifted with powerful yet deliberate movements.
The small mushroom experienced a sudden wave of panic.
They were completely surrounded.