It took another four days to reach Rettmore.

Unlike Glanwood, Rettmore was not located in some remote backwater. It was a village built along a crucial road that ran from Crownsguard to a set of gold mines in Sebshire. The place was also much, much more recently settled than Glanwood had been. There were rumors it had been specifically placed there in order to fend off the encroaching Lair nearby and keep the roads open, but Clay hadn't been able to confirm or disprove those.

Nestled into the low hills near the road, the place almost resembled a fort more than a simple village. A low wooden wall surrounded it, making it look like a miniature version of Michford. Unlike Michford, it didn't seem like the place had ever developed beyond its humble beginnings. There was no Shrine, and the small manor house had a wooden watchtower rising from the middle of the place. All around the place were the rolling, rocky hills that the local [Commoners] used to feed their herds. The main export of the place was apparently mutton, and Clay could even see a few flocks roaming the hills on the supposedly safe side of the road.

The opposite side of the village seemed far less inviting. Grass that grew green and inviting on one side seemed to be brown and wilting on the other. Trees were full of leaves in one part, but were bare and fragile-looking in the other. It wasn't hard to guess which side hosted the Lair, at least, especially as they drew closer. There was a faint scent of rot and spice that the wind carried to him from the nearby hills, making him wince and wish he had his own scarf.

To Clay's surprise, there was a cluster of tents pitched outside the front gate. He frowned as they approached them, wondering what kind of person would camp outside the fortifications when there was a dangerous Lair nearby. Why would the Baron even allow it? It would almost be like bait to the monsters, whatever they were. He exchanged a quick look with Olivia as they drew close; despite the fact that her scarf was back up, she seemed just as puzzled as he did.

When she shrugged, he turned his attention back to the tents. He'd just have to convince the fools to move inside and ask the Baron to shelter them until the Lair was done. The last thing he wanted was for a frenzied pack of whatever the Lair spat out to massacre these folks.

Clay was nearly halfway to the cluster of tents when a man stepped out from one of them. He looked a little worn and unhappy, but then he caught sight of Clay and Olivia and his posture suddenly turned to one of excitement. The man jogged towards Clay, crossing the distance at an impressive pace for one that young, and Clay stared at him as he drew up short in front of him.

Andrew Cooper paused for a moment to catch his breath and then grinned at him. "Welcome to Rettmore, Sir Clay. We've been waiting for you."

Clay marched towards the front doors of the manor, his jaw clenched and his fists swinging at his sides. The two [Guards] standing on either side of the door immediately recognized signs of hostility, and to their credit, they started to step between him and the entrance. They lowered their spears, and one of them opened their mouth to call for him to halt.

Then they both froze as invisible tendrils carefully picked them up and moved them aside. Clay glanced back at Olivia, who was walking along beside him. She gave him a raised eyebrow and a gesture to continue forward. He nodded, more a jerk of the head than anything else, and stalked past the immobilized [Guards]. Neither tried to follow when Olivia released them.

As they stepped into the foyer, there were servants cleaning the furniture. The [Cleaners] glanced up at them and abruptly stepped back, going pale in the face as Olivia's appearance registered. Clay looked at one of them and growled. "Where is the Baron?"

Shaking slightly, the woman pointed towards one of the side rooms. He nodded, trying to seem a little more courteous. Then he stalked off in that direction, Olivia slinking along in his wake.

They ran across a handful more servants before they reached their goal, the Baron's dining room. Clay walked through the doorway and caught sight of the Baron finishing his morning meal. The [Noble] was a blunt, battle-scarred man, with both age and experience heavy on his blunt features. He looked up in apparent surprise at Clay's arrival, and then his expression clouded with apparent outrage. With a burst of motion, he threw himself up out of his chair and glared at Clay. "What is the meaning of—"

"My name is Sir Clay Evergreen." Clay tried to keep his voice even, and he thought he'd mostly succeeded. "You requested my help. Why are my people being kept outside the walls?"

For a moment, the Baron recoiled slightly, his expression growing concerned. Then he appeared to rebound, the anger gathering in his eyes again. "By your people, I'm assuming that you mean the fools in the tents outside the main gate?" He snarled at Clay in obvious contempt. "If I had asked for your help, I would have expected you to respond personally, and to at least send actual adventurers, not a band of deluded [Commoners] who are going to get themselves killed and provoke an assault from the Lair itself! At this rate, I would consider myself lucky if they only get themselves killed, and spare the rest of us!"

Clay clenched his fists, trying to contain his initial reaction. His voice remained far colder than it should have been. "You claim you did not request for us to be here?"

"I am the Baron of Rettmore, Sir Clay. I am more than capable of handling the responsibility to protect this place without your… supposed help." The Baron glanced to the side, his eyes growing a little more heated. "Despite what others might think."

He followed the man's gaze and realized that the [Noble] had not been alone. An older woman, probably the Baroness, and two other adults wearing fine clothes were there as well. Each of them were either watching him with interest or looking at the Baron with exasperation.

One of them, a young man probably only a year older than Clay was, sighed. "Sir Clay, I must apologize for our… misunderstanding. I was the one who wrote you, on behalf of my father."

"And without my permission!" The Baron glared at his son, his fingers curling into fists on the tablecloth. "Something we have yet to address, Simon."

The Baroness interjected, her voice cool. "Now, David, you know that Simon was just concerned for you, and for our people. Such things will be part of his responsibility someday, will they not?"

Her husband's glare lost some of its ferocity as he looked back at her. "They will, but not before time, dearest." The Baron looked back at Clay, his eyes still fierce. "And for now, this town, and the responsibility for the Lair beyond it, are mine—which means you are here uninvited 'Sir' Clay. Your assistance here is neither wanted or needed."

Clay looked back at him, some of his anger ebbing now that he understood the situation a little better. Andrew hadn't been sure why he'd been given the cold shoulder—the [Crafter] had just chalked it up to [Noble] politics and cheerfully gone on about his mission. From the sounds of things, someone had been sneaking food and other supplies out to the [Commoners] over the past couple of weeks, so they hadn't been starving, but it had smacked of some kind of nonsense.

Of course, now that he was seeing the furtive looks between the Baroness and her children, he realized exactly who had been behind the smuggling efforts, and who was the real obstruction. He let out a slow breath and unclenched his hands.

"I see. I apologize for the intrusion, then." He glanced at Olivia, who was giving him a questioning look. The Baron's belligerent stance had relaxed slightly, a look of satisfaction crossing his expression. "We'll make sure to finish the Lair's destruction in the next two or three days and then be on our way."

The Baron was nodding along as he spoke. "Well, I'm sure that—wait. What did you just say?"

Clay tilted his head and smiled. "I think you must have heard me, Baron Rettmore." The Baron's face flushed with either embarrassment or rage, and Clay continued in an even voice. "If you have need of assistance from me or my companions, you know where we can be found. I'm sure I can count on you to defend the town while we work, at least?"

Rettmore's expression became an almost feral snarl. He spoke like he'd been stabbed. "I have done so since before you were born. I do not intend to fail now."

"Then that is all I can hope for, Baron Rettmore." He bowed before the man could continue. "Again, I apologize for disturbing your breakfast. Farewell."

He turned on his heel and headed for the exit, Olivia once again trailing after him. A quartet of [Guards] trotted up, their faces sweating and nervous. They appeared incredibly relieved to see Clay already on his way out; a glare from Olivia convinced them to keep their distance. Behind them, he heard a crash as the Baron started yelling.

Olivia kept her voice low as they walked. "We're really just going to accept that treatment?"

"He's within his legal rights." Clay shrugged. "As long as he doesn't try to get in our way, it shouldn't be a problem."

She glanced at the [Guards] around them. "And if he tries to escort us out of the territory?"

He snorted. "Then the Lair will mysteriously vanish on its own a day or two later." Clay shook his head. "I doubt he'll try it, though. If he's tolerated Andrew and the others, then he isn't going to want any trouble with us. Besides…"

Clay let his words trail off as he heard footsteps running after them. He took a few more strides, and then turned, just as a young woman called for them to wait. Both the Baron's son and daughter were there, their faces flush with their short run. With a polite inclination of his head, he spoke in an even tone. "Lord Rettmore, Lady Rettmore. Is there something you need?"

The daughter spoke first, her voice breathy. "We wish to apologize for our father's… poor reception, Sir Clay. Everyone in Rettmore has heard of your efforts, and they have every hope for your success."

There was another loud crash from the dining room, and Clay thought he could hear the Baroness' cold voice answering the Baron's bellows. Lady Rettmore winced, and her brother sighed. "Our father has spent his life fighting this Lair, Sir Clay, and he is… set in his ways. Others have promised to defeat these monsters before. None have succeeded." Another loud bellow echoed through the manor, followed by a sudden silence. The siblings exchanged a look, and Lord Rettmore looked back at Clay with determination. "If there is anything you need, just mention it to the soldiers at the gate. You can rely on us."

Clay bowed. "You have my thanks, Lord Rettmore, Lady Rettmore." Then he cracked a smile. "And you have my word. One way or another, the Lair will be destroyed."

The [Nobles] returned his bow, and then Clay turned and led Olivia out of the manor. He held his peace until the [Guards] had broken off, letting them head for the exit on their own. "We need to talk with Andrew. If it really is just a bunch of Undead, then maybe we can have this finished by tomorrow."

Olivia snorted. "As if life is ever that easy." He gave her a reproachful look, which she returned with a raised eyebrow. Clay rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, no. There are definitely no Undead here." Andrew paused to swallow a bite of bread, dipping another piece into the morning's stew. "That would have made things a lot simpler, wouldn't it?"

Alice snorted, the former [Guard] chasing the last bit of stew around with her own hunk of bread. "I'd say. I'd give just about anything to head back to Sarlsboro at this point."

Clay frowned. "So what are we working with, then? I thought the descriptions talked about some kind of rot."

"Fungi." Andrew glanced up at Clay and grinned at his blank look. "You know, mushrooms?"

He looked around at the others, expecting one of them to give some sign that it was a joke. All he found was a certain kind of dark humor. "The Lair creates mushrooms?"

Martin nodded. "Yep. Nasty ones, boss." Britney, the third member of their team, nudged the former [Guard], and he grunted. "What, it's true. These things are gross."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I don't want to think about it while I'm eating, you big lug."

Olivia spoke up, sounding as baffled as Clay felt. "How does that even work? Aren't they stationary?"

Andrew shook his head. "Not these ones. All three of them are mobile." He paused long enough to take another bite and swallow it down. Then he picked up a stick and started to sketch out some images in the dirt. "First up, you have the shifting shrooms. The smallest versions tend to look like these little tentacled things with big sacs on the back."

Britney looked at the image and shuddered. She turned so that it wouldn't be right in her line of sight. Clay looked at her, and the [Cleaner] grimaced. "They just… it's like watching something made out of mud try and squirm after you. They try to jump and grab your face a lot, too."

Martin nudged her. "They're fragile though. One good hit to the sac and pop they go." Britney shuddered again and forced another bite in her mouth. She chewed slowly as Andrew continued.

"Bigger shifters can try to mimic other things, like dogs or cats. They can squeeze into any hole or crevice, and their tentacles get a lot stronger." Andrew made a face as he sketched out another figure. This one looked almost human, though the limbs looked off. "The really big ones can try to look like one of us. They mimic sounds and voices, too, so be careful when you respond to someone."

Martin shook a stew-sodden piece of bread at them for emphasis. "And make sure that you hit the bulging part each time. They survive if you don't pop that part, and sometimes they fake being dead." He shook his head. "Just so nasty." Britney mumbled something under her breath and spat on the ground.

Alice spoke up, setting her empty bowl aside. "They aren't all that bad, Britney. The spitters aren't the worst thing in the world."

Britney gave her a glare. "They're mushrooms. That spit at us. What are you talking about?"

Clay looked at Andrew, who had just finished drawing another image on the ground. This time, the thing looked far closer to a normal mushroom, with a broad cap over a thick stalk. The only aberration was a large hole in the stalk, and a crawling mass of tentacles rather than a root system. "Seriously?"

Andrew nodded. "The cap's armored, and they hit like a sling or a light crossbow up to fifty strides away. Accurate too." He shrugged. "The smallest ones are about plate sized and only shoot every minute or so. Bigger ones are platter sized and can fire multiple shots at once, almost in a spread. The biggest ones are about the size of a table. Their shots explode, so be careful when you're dodging."

He glanced at Olivia, who looked like she was starting to sympathize with Britney. "And the third type?"

The group fell silent for a moment. They all exchanged a quiet look. Then Britney stood. She looked Clay straight in the eye, her voice completely serious and unwavering.

"Hoppers. Are. The worst."

With no further explanation, she stalked away, leaving her discarded bowl. Clay watched her leave and then looked back at the others. He saw no arguments on their faces.

With a sigh, he turned to look at Olivia, who seemed faintly horrified. He forced a grin. "Well, this should be fun, huh?"

Olivia took a step, and the ground exploded. Her furious cursing was muffled slightly by the sudden cloud of spores that swirled up around her. Clay winced at the anger in her voice and looked away, searching for the real source of danger. Sure enough, a few strides away, another burst of spores puffed into existence. Above them, unfolding a web of rootlike appendages like the strands of a net, was the hopper.

It started to descend towards its blinded target, the roots already stretching towards the victim. Apparently, if it made contact, it tried to worm its way into the victim's spine and assume control of it. Just the image of that possibility made Clay shudder, but he forced himself to focus. He pulled out his bow, fit an arrow to the string, and shot it out of the sky.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

{Juvenile Hopper Shroom slain! Soul increases by 5}

He heard an indrawn breath of air behind him and pivoted. Attached to the branch of a nearby tree, a dull colored mushroom cap had tilted to reveal the open face of a spitter. It fired at him, and Clay stepped out of the way just in time to feel the clump of hardened material brush past. He returned a shot and caught the thing right in the stem.

{Juvenile Spitter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 5}

There was a muddy, slippery sound to the side. He drew his knife and slashed just as the shifter launched itself at his face, having emerged from a near-invisible hole in a nearby log. Clay caught it right in the center of its cluster of tentacles; it gushed a milky white fluid and died, shriveling into a withered husk on the forest floor.

{Juvenile Shifter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 5}

For a moment, Clay stayed still, reaching out with his senses. They were screaming, of course, but that appeared to be a side effect of the hopper shrooms. The things had extensions of themselves everywhere, plenty of which were geared to explode the moment someone applied pressure. Finding the actual shroom itself was much more difficult, but at least he'd started being able to spot the little capped mushrooms that marked the explosive traps.

Of course, both his armor and Olivia's were stained by the evidence of previous failures. Britney had definitely not been wrong. Hoppers were awful.

As Olivia fought her way through the cloud, she looked around in obvious rage. Clay grinned at her. "You know, you should really start being more careful. The clouds are poisonous further in."

"And the biggest ones can paralyze you. Yeah, I heard." She grimaced. "How long have we been doing this?"

He glanced at the sun, which was easily visible through the sparse branches of the mostly dead forest. "I'd say we're getting close to lunch. Want to stop?"

She shook her head, and he grinned. They were close to the [Achievement] at least, which would help at least a little. With their level of progress, they'd probably at least have the second wave of reinforcements for it before the end of the day. As long as Olivia didn't keep exploding herself, of course.

Still grinning, Clay turned and stepped deeper into the Lair's territory. Too late, he caught sight of a small mushroom poking out from a mound of moss.

He had just enough time to groan before the ground exploded. It was going to be a long day.

As the day wore on, they pushed further into the lands around the Lair. The same way that the lesser monsters had clustered together in larger numbers, the shrooms appeared to attack in larger groups the further they went. They'd finished the first levels of the [Achievement]—called [Shroomsbane]—before they'd even needed to rest at all.

It helped when they gave up on any kind of stealth. Drums of the Earth made it easier to set off the explosive spores early, knocked spitters from their perches, and occasionally crushed hiding shifters. The Melody of Frost also simplified things, imprisoning the fungi where they laid in wait. Clay wasn't happy about giving themselves away so quickly, but it was infinitely better than trying to identify every bit of terrain that represented a threat.

Of course, that effort was complicated by the way that the monsters had changed the world around them. The hills to the west of Rettmore had always contained more rocky terrain with scattered thickets of trees, but the shrooms had made the situation far, far worse. Between the invasive root systems they seemed to rely on and their parasitic nature, it seemed as if they had been incredibly effective at reducing the countryside to a mass of stunted trees and struggling underbrush. He'd seen the Lairs scar the land and savage the world before, but it seemed like this time, it was far more widespread than it had been in other places.

The corruption sickened him, even as they continued to butcher their way through waves of the monsters. He did not know how long it would take the land to recover once the Lair was gone, but something told him it would remain barren and broken for a long, long time. It was hard to imagine that nature would ever return.

Of course, that only made it more surprising when they ran across a small herd of deer, picking their way through the underbrush ahead of them.

Clay had stepped carefully forward, peering at the creatures through the stunted undergrowth. There were two adults and three children, all with their heads bowed to the browning grass. He had no idea how they'd managed to not step on the traps laid by the mushrooms, but so far, they seemed to have been safe.

Olivia crouched next to him, her expression showing the same mixture of confusion and concern that he was feeling. She shook her head slowly, and her fingers moved in Andrew's hand signs. Situation odd. Illusion.

He frowned as he looked back, his eyes narrowing. Andrew hadn't mentioned illusions here, of course, but what he had mentioned came back to him. Clay leaned forward a little, his eyes searching the forms of the creatures.

What he found made him recoil in horror. The shapes of the younger deer seemed normal, at first. When he looked closer, however, he realized they were too small for normal foals, and worse, they weren't breathing. His eyes widened as he picked out the discoloration on their hides and the fact that their forms rippled a little when a breeze blew. They were shifters, mimicking actual wildlife.

Gritting his teeth at the sight of them, Clay looked at the adults. Surely, they were too big to be shifters, unless the elites were starting to stray far outside the Lair. He studied them for a moment longer. They were moving, unlike the others, and although each motion was a harsh, jerking thing, they did appear to breathe. Their eyes, however, were a milky grey, and there was an odd lump on their back…

He grimaced as he realized what they were. Hoppers, at least two of them, latched onto hosts. Clay pointed at the lumps, helping Olivia notice them. Her breath caught as one of the 'deer' stumbled forward a bit, staggering on unfamiliar legs. Then her hands tightened on her scythe, and she nodded.

Clay spent another moment looking around, searching with both his eyes and his ethereal senses. He doubted that these creatures would have left themselves out in the open with no support. His search was rewarded a short while later, when he found a bunch of rocks a short distance away. They formed a small rise in the hill, but the tops of the rocks were just a little too regular and even for natural stones. Perhaps they were spitters, camouflaging themselves to do their part in the ambush.

As he turned to point them out, Olivia gestured to him as well. She directed his attention back to the clearing, towards small, almost unnoticed mushroom stalks that poked up out of the fallen leaves and moss. Clay blinked as he recognized the signs of more hopper explosive spores. There was another one out there somewhere, waiting.

Anger filled him at the sheer perversion of nature in front of him. Clay looked at Olivia again and nodded. They both began to whisper the words to [Chants], Olivia choosing the Canticle of Ice and Clay focusing on the Melody of Frost. They spread out a little, trying to make sure that they wouldn't catch each other in their attacks.

A moment later, icicle spears formed above Olivia's head, and Clay saw the ground begin to freeze. He smiled, and they charged in together, their footsteps pounding the hardened soil.

The mushrooms reacted immediately, attempting to spin and face them. Unfortunately, the ice beneath their feet betrayed them, even as it protected the humans rushing towards them. The shifters attempted to throw themselves forward, but their tentacles failed to find solid purchase on the ice as they lost their assumed form. As they slipped and slid, the hopper-infected deer similarly seemed unable to keep their feet. Both of them fell, their stiffened legs thrashing helplessly as they landed on their sides.

Even as they fell, Olivia lashed out with her spell. Sharpened ice pinned shifters to the ground, while other spears stabbed out at the spitters, who were just now beginning to come to life and pivot towards them. Clay felt a laugh bubble up inside him as they closed with the shrooms; there seemed to be nothing the monsters could do to stop them.

Then the 'deer' both exploded, shattering the frozen ground with the force of their detonations. A gigantic cloud of greenish-yellow spores engulfed the small clearing, hiding the monsters from view. The spikes of ice imprisoning the shifters shattered, and a bit further away, he heard the spitters suck in air.

Clay skidded to a stop, his feet slipping on the ice created by his own spell. Two blurred forms shot out of the cloud, heading for the sky. He saw them begin to arc, their gossamer webs of root-like tendrils spreading out. They drifted downwards, already stretching towards him and Olivia.

He started the Cycle of Return and hurled his spear, throwing it into the closer of the two hoppers. It pierced straight through the descending fungal body, and milky blood showered down as it died.

{Mature Hopper Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

As the corpse dropped, Clay yanked his knife from his sheath. He threw himself forward, trying to avoid the descending predator. Hardened chips of stone shot past him as the spitters took their aim, and one of them clipped his shoulder. Pain flared to life, but he ignored it.

The toxic cloud loomed up before him, but Olivia was already diving towards it as well, her scythe beginning to whip around in a pattern meant to ward off the hopper aiming for her. Clay started to move towards her, only for the first of the shifters to burst from the cloud, its flailing tentacles reaching and grasping for him.

He reacted almost before he could think, grabbing the closest tentacle and yanking it towards him. The shifter tried to wrap itself around him, but Clay stabbed the knife forward, using the heavy blade like a claw to rip through its midsection. It tried to avoid him, shifting the bulge that represented its true body away from the Pell knife's edge, but Clay ripped it along the thing's body until he caught its core self, tearing it open.

{Mature Shifter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

Just as he freed himself, a second shifter jumped him, trying to latch onto his legs. Clay stabbed down, just missing the bulge but pinning it to the ground. He felt two more impacts on his back as he bent; his armor absorbed some of the hits, and his toughness absorbed more. With one balled fist, he punched down on the shifter's core and smashed it flat. Its limbs went limp as green fluid burst from its squashed body.

{Mature Shifter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Might increased by 1! Fortitude increased by 1!}

Clay looked at where Olivia was, and was treated to a heart-stopping sight. The hopper had nearly enveloped her in its whispering filaments; for a second, it looked as if she had been captured already, as the gossamer strands wrapped around her hands and scythe.

The Cycle of Return brought his spear back to his hand, and Clay hurled again without a second thought. It caught the second hopper square in its body; the strands tore loose as the impact ripped it away from Olivia. She gasped and gestured her thanks just before the final shifter leaped on her from behind. Screaming, she spun and ripped into it with her own knife.

{Mature Hopper Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

He took a step towards her, only to hear the sound of the spitters drawing in air. Clay grimaced and turned, seeing that at least one of the things looked dead, slumped with half a dozen spears of ice through its shell, but the other two were more than ready to unleash another volley on them.

Clay started the Pursuing Leap as he hurled his Pell knife towards the closest target. The heavy blade struck with enough force to pierce the iron-hard cap; the spitter rocked back from the blow, clearly wounded, but not dead. Both of them turned their attention to him.

With a grimace, he avoided his instinct to throw himself to the side. Anything he did to make himself a smaller target might convince them to hit Olivia. Instead, he charged forward, willing them to treat him as the bigger threat.

His wishes were granted. Both spitters opened up at the same moment. Small dark shapes that looked like slingstones shot towards him, though they were moving so fast he could barely see the blurs.

Clay tried to weave his way around them. One shot past his leg; another skipped off the ground and grazed his knee. Another brushed past his shoulder; two more hit him directly in the chest, rebounding off his armor with solid cracks. Pain radiated out from the impacts, burning along his ribs.

Then the spitters paused, and Clay grinned. He finished his [Chant] a moment later, and then he was shooting across the clearing. The spitters recoiled, but he was on them before they could do much more than twitch.

He slammed into the closer one, his hand wrapping around the knife still buried in its iron cap. It flailed at him, its tentacle-like limbs scrabbling at his legs, but Clay ignored it and yanked the knife along the thing's cap. As it opened a chasm in the armor, he shoved both hands into it and yanked. Fluid spurted as he tore the cap open and ripped the monster in half.

{Mature Spitter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

Before its companion could react, Clay lunged at it. He ducked below a hurried shot that put a hole in a nearby bush and then stabbed the Pell knife up and into the thing's stalk. It tipped backwards as he ripped the knife free, and then he reversed the blade and stabbed back down along its exposed underside. More fluid gushed over him, and the thing gave a reedy, dying wail.

{Mature Spitter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 30}

Clay shook himself, turning away from the stinking carcasses to search for Olivia. He found her breathing hard, standing over the corpse of the shifter that had struck at her. She turned to look at him, and her hand came up, as if warning him.

His eyes narrowed, and he took a step forward, ready to join her.

The ground shifted under his feet. He felt something give way beneath the calm, unfrozen soil. Clay had just enough time for his eyes to widen before an explosion of green spores blasted over him, erasing the world in a stinging, burning haze.

He grunted and desperately tried not to breathe in. Staggering forward, he ran headlong out of the cloud, tears streaming from his eyes and his nostrils burning. Clay started to gasp out the words for Clean Heart as he exited the cloud; his sight was too blurry to see much more than a smudged image of the world around him.

All the same, he looked up, and though he could see something moving towards him, shimmering lines drawn in the air above him. Clay grimaced and raised his knife. He knew it wouldn't be enough to stop the hopper, but at least he could stall it for a little time. The very idea seemed ridiculous, but at least he wouldn't die for nothing. A sense of doom filled him as the blurry shadow of his approaching killer descended.

Then a sudden flurry of shining projectiles tore the shape apart, and Clay relaxed as he realized that Olivia had taken care of things. Moments later, as he completed the [Chant] and the poison was cleansed from his eyes and lungs, he straightened up with a grimace. Olivia was already at his side, her eyes on the surrounding terrain as she watched for more threats.

She looked over at him with a worried expression. "You all right?"

Clay nodded. He took an experimental breath, then a deeper one, trying not to notice the heavy, fetid stench in the air. Then he exhaled and looked at her. "Britney was right. Hoppers are the worst."

{Mature Shifter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Mature Shifter Shroom slain! Soul increases by 15}

{Commoner reaches Level 20!}

{Maximum level for all Stats is now 35!}

{Experience gained (Searcher: Gain 10% bonus to Ethereal Senses. Gain 10% to all skills when hunting monsters.)}

{Experience gained (Resilient: Gain 20% resistance to poison.)}

Clay sat back and watched as the last two shrooms burned. Reaching the next level was satifying, but fighting these monsters was leaving him drained. When he looked over at Olivia, he saw the same fatigue on her face.

She stood up from where she'd hacked a group of spitters apart and glanced over at him. "One or two more groups?"

He nodded. "Just enough to get [Shroomsbane] a little higher. Then I think we head back." Clay looked at the sun, which was slowly sliding towards the horizon. "No point in pushing ourselves too hard for more. Not when we can come back with the others tomorrow."

Olivia kicked one of the shroom corpses, and nodded her agreement. Then she shouldered her scythe and sighed. "Then let's get moving. I, for one, don't want to be fighting these things in the dark." Clay snorted, though he agreed with her completely. They set off together, hoping to finish their work for the day and be back home before the last of the light failed.

They found the others back at their makeshift camp outside the walls. Andrew was waiting for them by the fire; he gave them a half-hearted grin as they stomped back through the tents. "Welcome back. Here's your medicine."

He handed them each a small packet of some kind, and Clay frowned. "What's this?"

"The shrooms don't just hit you with poison sometimes. Those spores can give you some parasites." The [Crafter] shrugged. "They don't hurt too badly if your [Fortitude] is high enough, but they do make you a little weaker and give you some stomach trouble. Better to get rid of them entirely."

Clay glanced at the medicine. "And this?"

Britney spoke up. "Just a mix of things we noticed tended to kill the spores. Wash it down with some bread, and you'll be fine."

Marin nodded. "Try not to taste it. You will, but it's better than what the shrooms'll do. Trust me."

Alice snorted, but she nodded as well, and Clay grimaced. It wasn't the most encouraging endorsement, but he swallowed it down all the same. The taste was nearly enough to make him wretch, and it seemed to burn all the way down into his gut, but he trusted Andrew. His contraptions and ideas had already saved them more than once.

Andrew watched as Olivia swallowed her pill with a faintly horrified expression and then grinned. "So, how did it go?"

Olivia answered first, as if trying to distract herself from what was happening in her stomach. "I've had worse afternoons, but that's not saying much." Her voice grew hoarse by the end of the sentence, and she coughed into her hand.

The [Crafter] snorted. He turned back to the pot that was boiling over the fire. "I can hear that. How far did you get? Did you see the Village?"

Clay shook his head, frowning. The burning sensation wasn't going away, but he could almost feel bits of the same warmth spreading out through his hands and feet. What was in this mixture? "No. Just far enough to start killing the mature shrooms. What's the Village?"

Alice answered. "The center of the Lair, we think." She shrugged. "Looks like an actual village, overgrown with mushrooms of all kinds. Some look like they're as big as buildings."

Andrew nodded. "Not sure what the Guardians look like, but I'm betting that's where they are waiting. Especially since most of the advanced shrooms seem to hang around the farms there." He glanced at Olivia, who was scrubbing at her mouth. "Did you see any of those while you were out?"

With another shake of his head, Clay resisted the urge to cough. "Not yet. We might just need to find them when we hit the Lair itself." He spat on the dirt as the burning reached his tongue. "Ugh. What is this stuff?"

"Just bear with it. It usually won't last long." Martin chuckled to himself. "Sometimes I suspect that Britney made it burn like that on purpose, though. Just to get back at me over the mushroom thing."

Britney gave the [Guard] a surprised look. "Really? I'd never do that." As Martin raised an eyebrow, her expression grew predatory. "My vengeance will come when you aren't ready for it. Believe me, you'll know it when you see it."

Martin started to look a little worried, but Andrew spoke up again before he could dig himself into a deeper hole. "So, are you thinking we should hit the Lair in a couple of days, then? I don't know how many of the advanced shrooms are left, but you should at least be able to find some."

Clay exchanged a look with Olivia. Without words, they suddenly agreed that life would be much better if they could put the whole experience behind them. He smiled. "Actually, what do you think about hitting it tomorrow? Would you be ready?"

There was a moment of silence. Andrew stared at him in shock, his mouth slightly open. The others were just looking at each other, as if asking each other what they thought without saying anything.

Alice was the first to speak. "I'd be ready to be done with this place."

Martin nodded. "The sooner we clear out the Village, the fewer of those things we have to fight."

Andrew was shaking his head, looking worried and pale. "I… I don't know if I'm ready. I mean, we've only been here a couple of weeks. If I just had a few more to study everything and make a plan…"

Britney walked over to the [Crafter]. She crouched down in front of him to make eye contact, and her expression was serious. "Andrew. You can do this." He looked at her, clearly not believing her, and she grabbed him by both shoulders. "Please believe me, because if you don't, I'm going to start lighting everything in this place on fire. And I mean everything."

There was another short silence. Then Andrew snorted and hid his head in his hands. He started to laugh, even as grins broke out among the others. Even Britney cracked a smile, though there was an undertone of seriousness that Clay thought he still sensed beneath her expression.

Eventually, Andrew scrubbed his face and looked over at Clay, his expression looking much more relaxed and resigned to the task ahead. "All right. We'll be ready. You'll be there anyway, right?"

Clay nodded, and the [Crafter] sighed. He looked back at Britney and nodded as well. "Then let's get this done. I wouldn't want to provoke Britney to a life of crime, after all."

The [Cleaner] nodded and clapped him on the shoulder. She went back to her own equipment, and the others returned their attention to their meals. Olivia spat on the ground again, still unhappy about the aftereffects of the medicine. Clay grimaced and started looking for a piece of bread, like they'd recommended. As bad as tomorrow might be, at least he wouldn't have to deal with the medicine again. After the next night, at least.

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