The ritualistic mushrooms continued to grow, pulsing slowly like breathing flesh. A putrid aura stabbed into their lungs. The atmosphere grew heavier—as if the very sky was petrifying.
Reynard stood in the center. Silent. His sharp eyes swept the surroundings. He didn't ask questions. He didn't call out. But Edric knew.
That was the signal.
CRRRINGG—!!
Edric leaped from the ruins of the wooden fence, the Etherium rapier in his hand vibrating, emitting a sharp sound. Its tip glowed pale blue, piercing the air like frozen lightning.
"Cover them!" shouted Velan—the shield mage whose half-cloak was singed. His hands formed a seal, ZZAAK!!—a round Etherium shield appeared, protecting the shivering students on the side of the field.
BRAAAK!!
Marek, the giant, tattooed man, slammed his crystal shield into the ground. An Etherium explosion spread underground, destroying fungal roots in its path. His massive body became a wall, moving with brutality—yet each movement was full of control, like a dancing elephant.
Behind him, Adriana—known to the children—ran sideways, her two Etherium daggers like flashes of silver lightning, slicing through predatory fungi before they could reach the students.
"Don't let him finish the ritual!" Velan barked.
But that voice vanished... replaced by a faint sound from the ground:
Krrrk… KRRRRHHHH…
The fungal circle glowed. Strange symbols appeared within it—not a human language, but alive. As if something beneath was... waking up.
Reynard stepped forward.
TAP. TAP.
Three giant mushrooms erupted from the circle, shaped like humanoids, but their heads resembled bloody mushroom caps. Their mouths weren't mouths—but black holes spewing sharp spores.
Reynard didn't wait.
WUUUSHH—!!
He vanished in an instant. Reappeared behind one of the monsters, kicking the creature's knee from the side—with fatal precision. CRAKK! The fungal bone shattered, followed by an uppercut to its chin. Its head exploded like a rotten gourd.
He spun. Threw something—a shard of Etherium crystal from his pocket. The moment it touched the ground—
ZRRRRAAAT!!
A light explosion burned a narrow area, forcing the two remaining fungal monsters to cover their faces.
Edric attacked the moment that opening appeared.
TRRRTTT!!
His rapier stabbed in rapid succession—four times, then a final thrust into the creature's core. He backflipped away, narrowly dodging a swipe of sharp fungal branches from the right.
"Two left!"
Velan formed a magic seal, drawing with blood from his wound. A circle of fire appeared, which he then slammed into one of the still-standing creatures.
BAAAFFSHHH!!!
The mushroom screamed. Not with sound… but with frequency. All the students and volunteers covered their ears, some kneeling from the sudden headache.
Reynard was unaffected. His body slid through the air, leaping over the creature—and…
BAMM!!
A spinning kick shattered its back. He landed, one knee touching the ground, then immediately stood again like an unsheathed blade not yet done cutting.
Everyone saw it. But no one spoke.
No need to.
They were the ones still standing amidst this chaos.
---
A green mist enveloped the western side of the field. The sounds of explosions, screams, and creature roars blended into a symphony of hell.
Adriana, bloodied, stood in front of the line of students. One of her arms was torn, but her eyes still blazed. Her daggers dripped blood—not human blood, but a greenish fungal fluid that slowly evaporated.
"KRK-KRK-KKRK!!"
Fungal tendrils emerged from the ground, surging towards her.
"Not today."
FWOOSH!!
Adriana leaped high, spinning her body mid-air, then slammed into the ground with two glowing Etherium daggers. The shockwave from her thrust shot electric sparks in all directions.
"ZRAAAAKHH!!"
Several tendrils instantly blackened and crumbled, but others writhed again as if possessing a second life.
On the other side, Marek rammed his massive body and giant shield into a wall of fungi.
"BAAAM!!"
His shield morphed into a giant drill, spinning with a heavy roar.
"VRRRRRRRAAAAAHH!!"
He cleared a row of tendrils attempting to break through towards the hall.
Velan, atop a small tower of rubble, stood on one foot. Half his face was burned, but his eyes glowed bright blue.
"MAINTAIN DISTANCE! AREA ATTACK INCOMING!!"
He raised both hands—nine blue fireballs floated around his body. Their sound hummed softly like magic bells.
"DOOOONG… DOOOONG…"
Velan's hands bent, then—
"FWOOM—FWAARRHH!!"
The nine fireballs shot forth simultaneously, striking the central area of the field where the fungi were gathered.
Explosions occurred in unison.
"BOOOM! DOOOM!! KRAAAAAKH!!"
Smoke billowed high. The ground was pitted. The mushrooms burned and groaned, emitting sounds like screams from within a cave.
And before the smoke cleared, that figure appeared again.
Still standing.
Still silent.
It swung its hand… and mushrooms erupted from the bodies of the already-dead volunteers.
"BASTARD—THEY'RE BEING REANIMATED!!" Adriana screamed.
One of the risen corpses—Old Liem, a volunteer—limped forward with fungi piercing his eyes, then ran like a wild animal.
"GRRRRAHHHH!!"
Adriana couldn't bear it, but she had no choice.
She dashed forward, her daggers merging into a twin-bladed Etherium weapon, then struck Liem's body with a swift, spinning motion.
"TAAK!! SHRAAAAK!!"
Liem's body split in two, and the fungi inside him exploded like a gas sac.
"BOOF!"
"They're not our comrades anymore! AIM FOR THE CORES!" Velan shouted while forming an Etherium ice arrow in his hand and firing it into a fungal core in the ground.
"ZINK!!"
The arrow struck—for a moment, the field fell quiet.
But then…
"DOK-DOK-DOK-DOK-DOK…"
The ground trembled.
A giant creature emerged, five meters tall, formed from fused fungal roots and amalgamated bodies. In the center of its chest was a single skull with a black crystal crown—not a royal symbol, but an emblem of execution.
"The final creature…" Marek whispered.
"NO—THE FIRST TRUE FORM!!" Velan corrected.
The creature opened its mouth, not to scream… but to spew a green spore gas that enveloped them all.
"SHHHHFFFFHHHH!!"
Adriana covered her mouth with cloth, then slipped beneath the creature. She planted two explosive runes on the ground while running in a rapid zigzag.
*"BIP… BIP… BEEP!!"
BOOOOOMMM!!
The runes activated—the explosion threw the giant fungal body backward. But the creature immediately rose again.
And at that moment, Marek threw his shield into the air—which split into five spinning discs.
"WHRRRR!! SHINGG! SHINGG!!"
The five discs attacked the creature from five directions, slicing through its massive roots.
Velan? He had already begun chanting a great spell. His magical voice echoed.
"Etherium, O soul of fire… shatter the will of roots…"
His hands formed a giant seal in the air.
"VHOOMMMM!!"
A fiery Etherium symbol appeared—absorbing the remaining fireballs and forming a transparent fire dragon.
"ADRIANA! FALL BACK!!"
Adriana ran away as the dragon shot toward the giant fungal body.
"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
"BWOOOOOOMMM!!"
The fire burned down to the marrow. The creature burned, howled, melted.
And finally—fell still.
Remaining mist still drifted down slowly. Smoke curled upward. The faint sound of a falling dagger echoed.
"Is it over?" Marek asked.
"Not yet," Adriana answered, looking toward the right side of the field—where the thickest mist remained untouched…
And from there, more bodies began to rise.
---
—At the Edge of the Field, Still in Chaos—
"Help! Don't push each other! Follow our directions!"
Alarisse's voice echoed, clearly audible despite the atmosphere full of screams and flying dust. Her neatly-styled blonde hair in a hime-cut swayed as she tried to calm dozens of panicked students. Her dress was dusty, yet her demeanor remained firm—as if she was the only wall standing between the students and the terror in the distance.
Several other volunteers assisted her—some formed a human fence, some shouted instructions, and others lifted fallen younger students.
"To the hall! The hall is more enclosed, safer! Don't stay on the field!"
A female volunteer with short hair and a blue armband—Santi—carried a child with an injured leg. Her face was pale, but she still smiled reassuringly at the child. Yet behind her… mushrooms began to grow silently, like a wound waiting to burst.
"Neir… come on! Let's go to the hall too!" Tira pulled Neir's hand, but Neir remained fixated, her eyes staring toward the center of the field. There, Reynard and several volunteers were still fighting, dark figures moving within the thickening mist.
And from another corner of consciousness, Dani witnessed it all—through Neir's eyes. Their heartbeats seemed to synchronize.
"Dani… you see it too, right?"
She asked softly, even though she knew Dani couldn't reply directly.
But within her mind, there was a faint vibration. Not words, but a feeling. Tension. Anger. Disbelief.
And a foreign sensation they couldn't ignore: Death before their eyes wasn't just loss—it was a message.
---