How does one convince a scaredy-shroom to follow you? Threats? Treats? In this case, the answer was doing nothing at all. 

The scene looked extremely ridiculous. Josh was walking in front, and a few meters behind was a trembling giant shroom that was stalking him very poorly. Whenever Josh turned around, it would back off in fear hiding behind a scrawny tree.

Yet, it kept following him, not that Josh knew where to go. It was the lost leading the coward. Well, at least it didn't seem like it would fight of its own volition. They kept going until the world began rippling once more, but it remained the dead-looking one. 

The ripple caused a dozen of the evil mushrooms to appear in a circle. They were only a few paces away from the friendly one. They began screaming loudly at it before charging, maw open first. The poor cowardly shroom was frozen in place in fear, expecting to die. 

So that's how it was! The protection target would be peacefully minding its own business and assassins would be sent to kill it. Should one fail to defend it, they would be sent to the mirror realm for a while before being allowed another try. 

This punishment wasn't too harsh in itself, but it would likely put a heavy strain on a party's preparations. It was a matter of dodging the poisonous clouds or having brought enough antidotes or even having a competent enough Healer. 

Josh felt it would be easy to clear such a Floor, but doing so while turning a profit might be hard. It would have been the bane of an inexperienced and broke party. Especially that there were roaming enemies in the mirror realm. 

But, all that didn't matter much. For now, his job was to kill these invaders. Josh turned his weapon into a big knife, and then he dashed right in the pack, using an ultimate killing technique. He called it the Heavenly Mystical Knife of Obliterating Annihilative Extermination And Mushroom Sauteed In Garlic Butter Attack!! (!!, not !)

His mastery of it was so high that it could have had its own successful rapping career. In fact, his mastery of it was so sublime that it took him more time to shout the name than it did to accomplish it. As Josh heroically posed, he magnanimously declared: "No need to applaud, all in a day's work." The friendly mushroom perfectly followed that directive. 

That is when items spawned. Fun fact, there had not been a single one dropping while in the mirror realm, but it had given XP. Josh proudly grabbed the Sliced Mushroom Material. How very fitting! But then he just threw it on the ground. He couldn't be bothered to carry it. 

He looked at his companion, showing a bit of disappointment. It didn't have arms, so he couldn't ask it to carry stuff. He did think of tying items around it using the strings he had gotten recently, but he felt it would probably be a waste of a good string.

They resumed their journey, man and shroom. Somehow, the creature was shaking less than before. This perfectly made sense, right? There was no better way to reassure someone than to slice some of their long-lost cousins into thin pieces right in front of them. 

Oh, there was also the fact that Josh had saved its life. That could have helped a bit with the trust. Still, where was he supposed to go exactly now?

"Hey, Navi. Any info in the database about the destination?" 

<According to the database, one needs to return the target to its family. Location randomly generated. One should instantly recognize it upon sight. Good luck.> 

Oh well, at least it wasn't some kind of hidden easter egg that would only be discovered years afterward (totally no reference intended). Josh happily kept walking while humming a light melody. Every other minute, there would be a short rippling of the air, then more enemies would appear nearby. 

It turned out that the normal difficulty was extremely easy. At least, he had done some poison testing and had figured out how to find the protection target. Actually, was it possible that the enemy mushroom circle was actually them using magic?! 

What if him killing them and staying right in the middle had been hijacking their ride forcefully? So what if it was a dumb method? As long as it worked, everything was good. He felt like this theory actually made sense. 

Now, why in the nine heavens would these creatures try to kill the one he was guarding? Was it simply some dumb setting to be used in the challenge? Was there perhaps a deeper reason why they had to kill it? Because this all seemed like a lot of effort, to mirror realm (?) hop just to kill one guy—one shroom, actually. 

Anyway, ever seen a vegetable blender work? Every time they spawned, the scene would look somewhat similar. Each assault included at maximum a few dozen enemies. This made it pretty boring. Sure, they'd somehow have to be killed three times, but that was only individually. 

The trick was to slash, punch and kick to finish more than one at once. Considering their strongest attack was the poison one and that Josh seemingly was immune to it, he was simply having fun. 

As he kept seeing them try to bite him, he'd go: "You hungry? Here eat a snick—skean" as he plunged the blade straight into them. Good times. They kept walking until they arrived at a small clearing. 

This one was as dead as the other areas of the forest but had a peculiarity. Behind it could be seen a lazy river that flowed softly and a decrepit wooden bridge. Now, this totally screamed BOSS BATTLE! Why? Well, there were plenty of mushrooms growing everywhere and also the general layout. 

Josh was currently on Floor 13. This meant that this Boss would most likely only be optional. But! Perhaps for him, it wouldn't. Most parties would have the option of the Tank attracting the enemy's attention while the others crossed the bridge. For Josh, it wasn't that easy. 

If only he could have communicated with his companion. Anyway, it wasn't that big of a deal. Josh stepped up and before long reached the very middle of the clearing, with the shroom staying far away in the back. 

Unsurprisingly that's when the shrooms on the ground began rising up. But instead of a legion, it soon formed one single colossal shroom. It was even taller than a tree! But that was probably because they were all dead. 

It looked similar to the regular ones and had a mouth so large it could easily fit Josh entirely. In fact, these teeth looked like spears to him. Then came the scream. It was a very primal one that was meant to invoke fear in its target. But Josh just stood waiting for it to be done as he softly remarked. "Okay." 

<Big Fungus The Massive Lv 21☠️>

What was with that name? It was only level 21, so in theory, it was weaker than the White Spider. Of course, that was all because of the normal difficulty. 

That is when the creature started straight up spitting. But instead of saliva, it threw up some sort of brown sticky, gooey mass. It landed with a disgusting SLOSH! It just remained there without doing anything. Taking his spear, Josh stabbed it, but it didn't seem to accomplish anything. 

Thus he turned toward the Boss once more. The big guy was in the process of moving its body toward him. It could be seen mouth wide open in all its disgusting splendor. It then went for the kill!

Yet, after showing all its sharp teeth, it wasn't even using them! The monster just tried to crush him directly with its own body weight. Josh quickly dashed away, dodging. Every time it would try that, it would fall to the ground for an instant. Every repetition sent tremors across the ground. 

In turn, this all sent the friendly mushroom panicking even if it was far away from the combat. Josh went for the steady but surely tactic. He kept damaging the Boss, slowly chipping at its HP. 

That's when it screamed once more, and the brownish goo began to wriggle. Before long, it erupted on the ground sullying the dark soil with its color. The area atop it began rippling, something Josh knew all too well. 

So these things were quite similar to teleporters? That's when spawned the first squad of poison shrooms. They disregarded Josh and ran toward his protection target. Talk about assholes! 

Josh had to run after them while dodging the big guy's attacks. But no matter what it did, not only did it not catch him, but Josh also used these efforts to stomp on some of the shrooms. The Boss didn't even show any kind of remorse whatsoever to crushing its own brethren. 

However, what it did was figure out that its current strategy wasn't working in the least. That is why it walked near Josh and opened its mouth wide, letting a purple mist escape from it. 

It began filling the entire clearing. At this very moment, it was time to run or use a specific spell to counter it. At least, that's what most Climbers would do and what the Boss seemed to expect. 

But instead, Josh dived right in it, at the edge at first, but then deeper and deeper as he noticed that it didn't seem to affect him. He made sure to properly listen to the signals his own body was sending him. 

But honestly, all that Josh detected was the faint smell of honey in the attack itself. He was fine. Seeing the Boss busy spreading the purple mist, Josh finally could approach without fear of becoming flatter than a pancake. 

He began to violently hack the creature, making it feel pain and confusion. At least, that's how it all sounded to Josh. It couldn't seem to understand why the human was still fine. It couldn't understand why pieces of its body were falling so fast. It really had trouble with the overall situation. 

But understanding or not wouldn't change the outcome. Josh reduced it to scraps. Oh, it did fight back, even trying again to bite him, but that didn't work. Eventually, the monster fell with a heavy THUD. 

There was loot too. It was a ring that didn't seem that good. It gave a very specific resistance bonus against shroom-based poisons. The issue was that Josh didn't seem to need it at all. But, he still kept it, for he'd attempt the Possible difficulty afterward. Who knew if it would come in handy. 

Josh and the shroom then calmly began crossing the bridge. There it was, the end goal! Josh could see many other shrooms exactly like the one he had been escorting in a circle. There was one spot left open. 

Josh smilingly turned around, for he was done with the mission: Like a Boss! He did so just in time to see the shivering shroom lose its balance and fall in the river.

[Mission Failed: Punishment, half a day in the mirror realm.]

"….Motherfucker!"