Morris and his group finally arrived at the foot of that super Giant Mushroom.
It looked towering from afar, but up close, it was so shocking it left one speechless.
The thick stipe alone would probably require dozens of people to encircle it with their arms, and the massive cap blotted out the sun, casting a shadow that enveloped the entire forest clearing.
"Ha... haha... hahahaha!!"
Morris opened his arms, looking up at the spectacle and letting out a laugh that bordered on madness; the fatigue and wretchedness of the past few days seemed to vanish instantly.
"Finally... I've finally arrived! Ronald, let's see how you stop me this time!"
...At this moment, Sammy was leading his squad, trailing behind the Marines, when he suddenly came to a dead stop.
An indescribable sense of crisis made him look up instantly, his gaze piercing through layers of forest leaves toward the Giant Mushroom.
"That mushroom... seems to be moving?"
Almost simultaneously, in the Marine ranks ahead, Captain Ronald also seemed to sense something, and his expression changed drastically.
"Something's wrong... Attention everyone! Abandon concealment, full speed ahead! Target the center of the island, move out!"
Hearing this, the Marine Soldiers ignored the forest obstacles and sprinted with all their might toward the shadow of the Giant Mushroom.
However, when they finally burst out of the dense forest panting and reached the open ground at the foot of the Giant Mushroom, the scene before them took everyone's breath away.
Morris was already standing calmly directly in front of the sky-propping Giant Mushroom, leaning against its rough stipe.
Beside him were only the last two or three Executives in relatively good condition, guarding him as if facing a great enemy.
"Captain! The Marines! They're here!"
Morris slowly turned around.
His face was even paler and gloomier than before, but the fanaticism and excitement burning in his eyes were terrifyingly bright.
"Morris!" Captain Ronald stepped out from the crowd, his snow-bright blade pointing at the other man. "You are surrounded, there is no escape! Surrender immediately! This is your last chance!"
"No escape? Surrender? Hahaha..."
Morris twitched the corners of his mouth into a distorted smile.
"You Marines... are always so laughably naive! Just how many times do I have to say it before you understand?"
He suddenly threw his arms wide as if to embrace the entire forest, his voice abruptly rising.
"It's not that I have no escape—it's you who have broken into my kingdom! Now, it's you who are surrounded by me!"
Before his voice finished, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he pressed his hands heavily against the stipe of the Giant Mushroom behind him!
"Feel... what a true Kingdom of Fungi is! Great Proliferation!!!"
With his full-throated roar and the activation of his ability, the entire Rongrong Island seemed to tremble!
It wasn't an illusion!
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
With that super Giant Mushroom as the center, a dull roar like rolling thunder came from deep within the earth, and the gravel and fungal leaves on the ground began to jump uneasily.
Then, under the horrified gazes of all the Marine Soldiers, that Giant Mushroom, which seemed to have existed since ancient times, actually began to shake violently at a visible rate!
Accompanied by the shaking of the Giant Mushroom, endless spore dust beneath its incredibly vast cap poured down like a waterfall!
The coverage of this spore dust was extremely wide, instantly enveloping the large area at the foot of the Giant Mushroom, along with Morris, his remnants, and the Marines who had just formed the encirclement!
Within their field of vision, everything was a blanket of white!
"Cough cough! Wh-what is that?!"
"Spores! The Giant Mushroom is erupting spores!"
"Watch out! Cover your nose and mouth! It might be poisonous!"
The Marine line, which had just been standing ready, was deterred by this terrifying sight; the soldiers instinctively covered their faces, and the originally tight encirclement inevitably showed a hint of commotion and chaos.
However, the even more terrifying part was yet to come.
In just a few breaths, those spores that hit the ground formed humanoid creatures made of spores, with silhouettes seventy to eighty percent similar to Morris, and stood up from the ground.
Then a second, a third, a tenth, a hundredth... in the blink of an eye, hundreds and thousands of figures condensed from spores stood up!
As fast as the spores fell, that was how fast these Spore Soldiers were born!
Their numbers instantly exceeded the number of Marines present several times over, and with the continuous replenishment of spores falling from the sky, that terrifying number was still growing exponentially!
Looking around, they filled almost every inch of space under the Giant Mushroom, counter-surrounding the Marines in the center!
"Wh-what the hell are these things?!"
"Clones? They're Spore Clones!"
"Damn... this number... it's simply endless! Does he want to drown us with absolute numbers?!"
The scene before him had completely exceeded Captain Ronald's worst expectations.
He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart and shouted loudly, trying to stabilize the troops' morale:
"Don't panic! These are just puppets made of spores, they're all show! Morris is a Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit user, and these Spore Clones are most afraid of fire! Flamethrower Team, step forward immediately! Everyone else, maintain a defensive formation and prioritize attacking Morris's main body! Capture the leader to catch the bandits!"
"Hahahahaha!! Do you see it? Ronald! Do you see it, my spore army!"
Morris stood in the sea of troops, backed by the Giant Mushroom; although his face had turned pale from over-activating his ability, his laughter was full of the madness and pleasure of controlling everything.
"Here, my soldiers are endless! I can wear you down to death! Go—crush these ungrateful intruders!"
He waved his hand suddenly.
In the next moment, the boundless spore army, with slightly stiff steps, launched a charge against the Marine's circular defensive line!
Although individual Spore Soldiers weren't fast, the overwhelming sense of pressure built up by absolute numbers still made the Marine Soldiers' scalps tingle.
"Fire!! Free fire!"
Bang bang bang—!
Gunfire rang out like popping beans as the Marine Soldiers fired with all their might; bullets could easily disperse a Spore Clone.
The hit Spore Soldier would instantly explode, turning back into a cloud of drifting dust.
However, this small loss was like taking a ladle of water from the ocean for the entire spore army.
As soon as the soldiers in front fell, the ones behind stepped over their companions' remains expressionlessly and continued to surge forward.
"Hahahaha! Do you feel despair? On this island, I am God! I am the Kingdom!"
Morris's wild laughter sounded particularly piercing amidst the sounds of battle.
"Marines? Never mind a mere Captain like you, even if a Marine Admiral were here today, I would dare to fight them on this Rongrong Island!"
Captain Ronald's face was ashen, his saber swinging like the wind, hacking apart several Spore Soldiers that had broken through the fire net, getting covered in dust.
But his heart had already sunk; although flamethrowers were effective, ammunition was not infinite and had to be used in the most critical spots, yet the enemy's numbers... Sammy's squad witnessed this scene of one person becoming an army, and even a reckless man like Aldo who feared nothing could not help but gasp.
"My goodness... this spectacle... no wonder he didn't even bother to care about his own subordinates! With this kind of skill, who needs subordinates!"
Kailo also turned to Sammy with a solemn expression.
"Boss, these Marines... are in big trouble. This numerical gap is too huge; it's not a confrontation on the same level at all."
Sammy's gaze was fixed on the battlefield, especially on Morris's pale yet fanatical face and the Giant Mushroom behind him that seemed to have come to life.
He slowly shook his head.
"Let's wait and see. Although these Spore Clones are terrifying in number, the individuals... are too weak. I doubt the Marines will just sit and wait for death, and Morris... maintaining an ability of this scale must cost him significantly."