Chapter 29 The Mushrooms

Elysia sheathed her machete, withdrawing a throwing knife just in case something attacked. With her throwing knife raised, she stepped further into the clearing filled with a rainbow of mushrooms growing out of the ground, growing on fallen trees, and some even growing sideways on tree trunks.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. After a scan, she came up empty, only finding more mushrooms. Something moved from the edge of her peripheral vision, this time to the left, but again, nothing moved when she turned. Spooked, she turned to leave, but froze when she heard shuffling behind her. She spun but found nothing until her eyes landed on the mushrooms. To test her theory, she glanced away, then shot her gaze back, finding the mushrooms shifted slightly.

She bent down to inspect a green and white mushroom, poking it with her finger. At first it acted like a regular mushroom but after a few prods, it came alive. Root shaped arms and legs pulled themselves from the ground, standing on its thicker rear roots. It tilted its mushroom head upward to reveal two black eyes, causing Elysia to squeal. So cute! She moved to pet the adorable creature, but when her hand touched its head, a black mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth opened.

A squeak escaped her lips as she leaped back, staring down at the mushroom with a betrayed expression. A travesty! How could something be so cute but viscous? Maybe the other mushrooms are only cute. That thought led to horror. Elysia scanned the clearing to find hundreds of mushroom creatures moving to surround her.

A shuffling behind her alerted her to more mushroom people approaching from behind. She turned to jump over the mushroom horde to escape into her trail, but an explosion of spores filled the air. Her vision swam, swaying on her feet.

Gained Poison Resistance.

The resistance gave her a moment of clarity, allowing her to jump over the knee-high mushroom creatures. Before she could escape, her vision spun, causing her to trip over a root, sending her sprawling to the ground. Adrenalin kicked in once again, clearing her vision as she shot to her feet. Violet lightning sparking on her throwing knife, still grasped in her right hand.

Any fondness for the little mushroom creatures vanished as a hard expression took hold. She electrified her knife before chopping it downward on the nearest mushroom creature, cleanly slicing it in half.

Killed Level 38 Mushroom.

These aren’t mushrooms! They are vicious monsters under the guise of cuteness!

Her knife flashed out to cleave another mushroom but two more replaced their fallen brethren now all glaring up at her with void black eyes and nightmare inducing mouths agape. Lightning flashed from her hands, smiting another mushroom, then to her surprise, the lightning arced from one mushroom to the next, frying a dozen in quick succession.

-110 Charge.

Killed Level 38 Mushroom x13.

Level up! Level 34 Channeler.

Level up! Level 35 Channeler.

New skill learned! Chain Lightning!

A vicious smile formed as the hundreds of mushroom creatures turned into experience in her eyes, but a moment later, more spores released into the air. She shook her head, mushrooms doubling in her blurry vision.

Poison Resistance level 2.

Momentary clarity allowed her to fling another lighting strike, frying another dozen and with it came the warmth of a level up, wiping away the effects of the spores.

Killed Level 38 Mushroom x12

Level up! Level 36 Channeler.

A growl rumbled in her throat as she flung two lightning strikes in quick succession, frying two dozen more mushrooms, earning her another level, but she willed it away in favor of continuing her assault. She fell into a trance, flinging one strike after another, taking the lives of dozens of mushrooms in seconds, but they just kept coming.

After over a minute of constant strikes and level ups, she stretched her hand out to release another, but nothing came. She tried again, but only a little spark escaped, then her legs went numb, sending her crashing to the ground.

Charge 5.

Her blurry vision looked up at the much smaller horde of mushroom in front of her with wide eyes. In a panic, she crawled toward her trail just as the spore attack hit her. She drunkenly zigzagged her failing body forward, numbness spreading by the second, before smashing her head on a tree trunk. Stars added themselves to her blurry and spinning vision, but she pushed herself on with a sheer force of will.

Finally, she reached the trail, giving her a burst of strength. Her hands and knees scraped on the sharp edges of bush stumps as she crawled on. After a minute, the numbness reached her arms, sending her crashing face first onto the ground, smashing her head on a rock.

The rock gave the last nudge to her body to induce unconsciousness.

A warmth spread through her body, causing her to curl up with a content smile. After several seconds, the warmth cut off, eliciting a shiver from loss. Her eyes cracked open to find a familiar man with short white hair and electric blue eyes.

Elysia snapped awake, springing to her feet, grasping for her knives, but found them gone. While backing away, she scanned her surroundings, finding herself back at the camp with the other three members of the group sitting on logs surrounding a fire. She turned to run, but before she took a step, the short-haired man flashed in front of her with a discharge of blue lightning.

With a hard but compassionate tone, the leader spoke. “Elysia is it? Please don’t fight us. We don’t want to hurt a fellow Changed, but we will if we have to.”

Elysia glared at the man with her hands sparking with violet lightning. “Leave me alone then. I’m fine on my own.”

A friendly smile formed on the leader’s face as he continued, disregarding Elysia’s proclamation. “My name is Alex.” He pointed at the trio at the fire with the older women in her thirties watching over the teens. “My second keeping the kids in line is Michelle. As for the siblings, they are Max and Holly.”

Elysia glared at Alex with her arms crossed, unimpressed at the diversion. “Stubborn huh?” commented Alex, intensifying her glare, violet electricity sparking off her eyes.

With an intrigued expression, Alex stared into her eyes. “They weren’t kidding about a lightning variant. We lightning Changed are rare as it is.”

While continuing to glare at him, Elysia growled. “Will you quit it? I know all about your orders to force me into your group and I have no intention of joining.”

As if a flip switched, Alex’s face hardened. “Is that so? Well, that makes things easier.”

Alex lifted his hands, causing a stream of violet electricity to rip from her chest. The moment her electricity reached his hands, he jerked back, cutting the connection. A pained expression formed, as if he was trying to suppress something but losing ground.

-30 Charge.

Elysia gasped for breath but recovered a second later, dashing for the exit while the trio focused their attention on their leader. As she reached the door, an explosion shook the cavern, lighting it up purple, but Elysia ignored it in favor of escaping into the forest. She snuck through her hidden path, reaching the crater filled mushroom clearing a few minutes later, finding it cleared of mushroom.

Without pause, she sprinted to the other side wiggling her way through more dense brush before stopping to catch her breath. After her breathing calmed, she trained her ears on her surroundings, finding it silent. Still expecting them to follow, she continued struggling her way through the dense forest without her machete.

Several minutes later, she reached the eastern wall. Her exhausted body slumped in relief, finding the edge of the dungeon much thinner. No longer needing to force her way past thick brush and bushes, she moved along much faster.

The sound of explosions caused her to stop, but after finding them in the distant west, she continued on. While keeping her ears training on the distant explosions, she followed the wall, now curving westward, giving her pause, but with no other choice but to move forward, she pushed on.

A half hour passed before another clearing appeared with a cave like the previous one. Learning her lesson from the previous floor, she scanned the cave for any irregularities but found nothing unusual visible from the outside.

After staring at the cave for a minute, the nearing explosions pushed her inside. She rounded a corner to find a fork in the cave. Darkness shrouded the tunnel branching off the main tunnel to the left while the wider tunnel led upward.

The sound of footsteps caused her to trot to the fork, gaze flicking between the two choices as she listened to the voices echoing down the cave. “Do you think she snuck in here?” Asked a teenaged male voice, presumably Max.

After a pause, an older female voice responded, likely Michelle. “Her trail leads in here, but she could have backtracked.”

Elysia squeaked as she dashed down the dark tunnel, figuring they would expect her to take the tunnel leading upward. The moment she entered the tunnel, a ding and notification appeared in her vision.

Congratulations! Port Alberni’s inner sanctum conquered! As the first participant to complete this dungeon, your name and date will be displayed to all who come after.

Reward: +10% damage to insects - Combined with spider and crab damage to create Arthropod damage bonus.

Bonus Solo Reward: Hidden Dungeon.

Port Alberni’s inner sanctum: First conquered by Alysia Arashi May 25 AS 1

Welcome to The Flooded Depths! As the first participant gain double experience.

Elysia skidded to a halt, turning back the way she came, but as she expected, she ran into a wall. She tensed when the Changed squad arrived at the fork, but they walked right past her as if they couldn’t see her. Still, she held her breath while watching them converse.

“Did she steal our clear!? I wanted the first clear bonus!” Fumed Max, but again Alex shut him down with a glare over his shoulder.

Alex turned to face his team before speaking, focusing most of his attention on Max. “She cleared the first floor on her own. She deserves the reward. Never disparage the accomplishments of another Changed. Unlike us, she made it this far without the support and training we received. When she joins us, she will be a valuable addition.”

“How? She escaped even you?” Max questioned.

Alex flicked his wrist, releasing a streak of blue lightning at Max, forcing him to erect a barrier of fire to protect himself. Max stumbled back several steps, but his barrier held against the casual release of lightning. “She will join us. I reported her to the headquarters. They will send teams to capture her. A lightning variant capable of overpowering a stronger lightning Changed is too valuable not to have under our umbrella.”

Damn it! Just leave me alone! Should I risk crossing the ocean to Sereia if I escape here? Elysia’s face hardened as her competitive pride spiked, fueled by her lightning. No. If they want me under their thumb, they will have to force me! I can’t rely on running to Sereia. What if she is in a similar situation? I need to stand on my own two feet. If my lightning is special enough to mobilize teams, then that means it is strong.

Done with spying on the Changed team, she spun on her heels, strutting down the tunnel ready to face any obstacle in her path to strength and freedom.