Chapter 10: Fallen of the Mushroom Forest

Horror beyond compare was coursing through their veins. ''What have we just seen? This monster is capable of infecting other monsters with its spores?! What even is the level of that thing?!" Jack thought.

Anna, like him, was convinced that this creature belonged on the fallen level. Not just that, it was of a pretty rare fungi type, this was for sure its main body, but even she was unsure if destroying it would kill all the others.

She couldn't tell, but the forest had been plunged into a deadly silence, no monster sounds in the distance, no soft humming of the mushrooms around her. All life was holding its breath, and that included the pair, who had been doing so without even noticing. Only the tranquil, flowing sound of the great river besides them continued to pour over the environment as if in defiance of the horror in front of them.

After what seemed like hours, the two monsters appeared to be having a private conversation.

For a moment, Jack had the fleeting paranoia that the topic of said discussion might be "the two hairless monkey treats waiting to be devoured right close by." But they quickly dismissed it, because they had been in that location for quite some time, and if the monster had seen them, there would be no reason for them to be alive.

Laura did say that the beasts in the fallen category were much smarter than regular beasts, but not smart enough to create elaborate schemes.

So they both froze still and kept on holding their breaths for as long as humanly possible.

Laura was on the verge of passing out, which was actually preferable to gasping for air and actually dying.

Jack, on the other hand, had a much larger lung capacity than she did and was able to keep his full attention on the two beasts.

Finally, both of them just went their separate ways, not noticing the two spies above them.

Only after Jack had released his breath did Laura do the same, as it meant his instincts didn't scream danger anymore.

Looking at her breath coming in anxiously, he couldn't help but say:

"That... was way too close for comfort. I thought that since the two had already clashed, we wouldn't have too much trouble, but this is way out of our league."

She nodded in response, then pointed backwards as if asking: "So do we go back?"

''No, we have to keep going, in the end, we have no way of knowing how dangerous either of the choices are. If we go back to the cave exit and try to climb, we might just be attacked by that huge bird or an entire flock of them, for all I know. So trying to make our way up from within this cave is dangerous, but much less so than fighting with the risk of an endless fall.''

She quickly understood what he meant, at the very least, they would be able to get stronger in here, whereas in climbing they would just be overexerting themselves and maybe training their bodies. Thus, she nodded to him in agreement.

As Jack had slept enough, he had Laura rest while he became the lookout until the end of the night. When he sensed that she had fallen asleep, he began thinking to himself. "When I compare that thing's strength to my current power, it's painfully clear how weak I am; even one minute of survival isn't guaranteed if we fight."

''I need to get stronger... but how do I do that? How can I get better fast, so we might survive?'' His thoughts were interrupted as, in perfect timing, Jack saw a beast wondering around, their hiding space. It seemed to be wolf like in appearance, but with vines and leaves instead of fur, and even two antler horns sprouting from its skull. In the eerie light of the fungi, it looked like some kind of mythical messenger from nature itself.

Jack wondered if this was an opportunity or a threat to their safety, and after a few minutes of observation and thinking of the consequences, he decided to go down and hunt it. He felt like he needed to improve somehow, even if it meant risking his life. On the other hand, his instincts seemed to flare in danger, but not even close to what he experienced just a bit before, be it with the lord of the forest, or with an ox infected with its fungi.

Not knowing which path to take, he went with the middle ground and decided to stalk the creature for a bit and just observe for now. He made sure there weren't any enemies to disturb Laura's peaceful sleep and followed suit.

The creature moved with significant mastery and finesse over the mushrooms and odd terrain, indicating that it had lived in that forest its whole life. Jack, on the other hand, had a harder time traversing and following it. But thanks to his instincts and body, now much more used to strenuous activity, he was able to keep up. Soon he felt the forest wolf enter a medium-sized clearing in the woods, which Jack approached with caution and stealth.

Looking into it, he saw the beast on the other side of the clearing, staring and waiting for something. ''Crap, did it notice me?'' he thought. It wasn't difficult for it to notice the young one's sloppy movements, but even if it did, he didn't seem to care.

Jack waited behind a mushroom field and some small bushes, anxious, as if the creature were waiting patiently just for him to reveal himself.

When he was about to do so, something moved on the brushes to his left and came out in the open. It was that winged leopard from before, who had turned from a slightly green tone to a purple one, due to the infection of the red fungus.

The wolf growled in warning, but the thing didn't even heed it as it jerked forward robotically. Something in its movement made it seem like someone was pulling on strings to control its body, and Jack could only think that the Lord of the Fungi Infected was behind it.

And apparently, the grass wolf wasn't too keen on finding out, as it immediately burst into action. Sliding over the leaves as if it were a small blade of grass blown by the wind, she was swift and gracious. At the same time, the leopard lifted itself off the ground with its wings in a rather clumsy fashion as it was re-learning how to fly. Thanks to that, the wolf had a few instants of advantage as the infected was still adapting, which it used to its full advantage by biting one of the wings while using its antler to partially gore the beast.

Yet, the infected had no reaction to this, as it just began clawing at the wolf, who received a couple of wounds. It seems like the infected feel little to no pain.''

Which was odd to Jack as he knew they felt fear from his previous battle with the bull.

In front of him, the battle progressed despite his being immersed in thoughts. When the wolf's soft howl reverberated all around, the leopard leaped over towards it, and the sounds of the mushrooms became much more intense, as if in response.

From the ground, several roots and vines spawned, trapping the infected and strapping him to the ground. Now unable to move, the wolf approached with dignity and pride, ready to end this skirmish.

However, when it was about to bite the damned infected's head off, ending the fight, the purple cat opened its mouth only for a red cloud to come out, stunning the wolf. The grass-coated canine immediately jumped back, whimpering in pain.

The fight was basically over as the leopard had stopped moving, satisfied with infecting another even if it were to perish. Jack's instincts gave him a sign, if he was to ever get out and hunt them, it was now.

Thus, he did, running with all his might out of the bushes, and he had to decide which of the creatures was going to be his first target. Knowing that the grass wolf was incapacitated by the spores, he chose to go for the still bound panther monster.

With all his momentum and the unmoving opponent, there wasn't much he needed to do but use all of his force, jump over it, and use his blade to decapitate it. And it worked, as its head rolled out of the natural grip that had formed around the infected creature.

But that didn't mean it was over, far from it, as Jack knew how much more dangerous a cornered animal could be. And he had just stolen its kill right in front of it. He positioned himself in a combat stance, preparing for the rest of the incoming battle, but the creature did nothing, it just stared at Jack for a few seconds. That is, until Jack heard something beyond unexpected.

''Humans sure are opportunistic, aren't they?'' It spoke in an ethereal female voice that almost seemed to emanate from the woods all around them.

Jack was stumped for words. ''The beast is talking?!'' he shouted in surprise.

"Can you hear my voice, human?"The beast was equally surprised.

They stared at each other for a moment until Jack muttered.

''How can this be... Wouldn't I have been able to hear all the beasts so far if my heritage made it so?''

The grass wolf hearing the young hero was astonished, even humans that could communicate with animals due to a gift couldn't do so with a monster, so the wolf, who was surprisingly astute, came to a conclusion.

''You aren't really human, are you pup?'' Jack froze in his mental tracks, unable to process the extremely unexpected and awkward situation.

Meanwhile, the wolf seemed to have calmed down and sat on the soft grass below him.

''It might be fate that we met here, as I'm probably the only animal in this forest that is capable of such communication. Well, most of the others are infected with the spores anyway, so even intelligence would be quite hard to find around here.''

''Wait, what's so unique about you that we can talk like this?'' He asked.

''Well, firstly, I'm from an intelligent species that can communicate with each other through the mind. Second, many centuries ago, I had a very fortunate encounter that expanded on that very intelligence, with the condition that I become a sort of guardian of this place.

''If you are so intelligent, then why are you so calm?! You've been infected with that thing's spores, so you'll become one of them soon even if I'm not a threat!'' He retorted, with anger and worry.

The beast's facial expressions were unrecognizable this whole time, but when Jack said the last sentence, the wolf's mouth almost contorted into a faint smile, and a resounding laugh reached his ears.

''If you are worried about me, that indicates that much more that you aren't human. Or if you are one, then you are also kind, bordering on stupidity.''

''Hey! That was kind of rude, you know!'' He answered.

"Anyway, pup, I don't have much time left with or without the spores, so I can also guess that what you want is my blood so you can become stronger and survive this place, right?.''

Jack remained silent and nodded, its voice solemn.

''Great so there is no reason for us to fight here, in fact, I can even help you on a couple of conditions.''

''How? Wouldn't I get the blood if I killed you anyway?''

''Indeed, but I can sense that you don't entirely want to anymore. Furthermore, the benefit of the blessing I received, which increased my intelligence, can be passed on, along with a slew of other information I'm sure you "humans" don't have.

Now, things were starting to get intriguing. The beast wasn't just offering its blood, but also a blessing that boosted one's knowledge and provided information that could save their lives and give them some direction in these hellish woods.

''What are the conditions?'' He asked, nervously.

''Well, one could say that both of them are, at the same time, simple and complex: Firstly, behind me is an egg of my kind, the last one that survived the fungi infection, and I want you to take care of it.''

Jack's eyes widened in surprise, not just because he was astonished at how much the beast seemed to trust him to reveal something like that before he even took the deal and how terrifying the infection seemed to be—that it drove entire species to extinction, even infecting the eggs.

''Don't worry; when my child is born, it will imprint on you and do you no harm. Hell, it might even help you with the goal of survival.''

Why do you trust me so much? We just met, and I was a step away from fighting you!''

''Indeed, it would be hard for me to trust you that easily, but there is something I sense within you, something extremely contradictory. You killed the flying leopard not with hatred in your eyes but with pity. You wished to end its agony, just as I hope you can end mine.''

Our hero wasn't oblivious to the contradiction the wolf was talking about, as he himself felt it. A monster raised to be human, only to reawaken its monstrosity for vengeance. At this point, even the system considered him a great unknown.

''Then what about the second condition?'' He asked, somewhat irked at how the beasts had gotten such an accurate read on him.

'' I... want you to kill the two monsters bringing havoc and ruining the balance of this place.''

''I'm sorry, but what the fuck?! Do you expect me to kill two fallen level beasts after only two days of fighting?''

''Hoho, so you began fighting two days ago and already have such skills? Now I'm even more convinced you can do it. Also, it doesn't have to be right now, you can go, find more humans, become stronger, then come back and do it. Despite me not knowing why you walk among them, I just want my species to live on and my duty as a guardian to be avenged.''

''It still won't be easy...'' he muttered.

''But you will gain my power, which is on the cusp of breaking through to the same fallen level, or whatever you humans call it. Whatever decision you make, I will not interfere in it; even if you just leave, I won't fight you, I just ask you to decide soon, as these old bones can't handle the infection for much longer.''

Jack was lost in thought as he considered his options; he would be taking on not only a great risk, but also a great responsibility.