Derek studied the creature; it was a fungus, a living, maybe sentient, but definitely animate, fungus, capable of perceiving its environment and murdering things nearby. Lightning likely wouldn''t do much good against it, unfortunately, so he''d probably need the magma sprite again; then he could switch it up and start blasting the thing with fire magic as the sprite cleared out the smaller ones. As he focused on calling up the magma sprite, one of the smaller creatures; a cluster of wings that must have once been a pair of vultures; flew towards him, apparently attracted by the noise; but Kylie smashed the thing out of the air with a swift stroke.


    He gave her a nod as he finished the spell; and soon the ball of fire and tendrils was lashing out; keeping its distance from the big monster as it splattered the smaller creatures with bits of molten rock; apparently quite effective, as they started catching aflame immediately.


    Kylie, for her part, slowly advanced after dispatching the small one, chanting something he hadn''t heard from her before; and as she did, the flail in her hands glowed. After a few seconds, a second flail... one made out of radiant light... emerged from the real one... and when she swung it down at the monstrosity, it flew a few feet to the right... and did exactly the same. Both weapons, real and magical, tore through the monstrous flesh and bone, shattering limbs and sending bits of flesh flying; even as they heard Terra cry out the end of her own spell...


    As an orb of red-hot light burst into existence amidst the mass of smaller creatures, setting dozens of them aflame immediately as it started to roll towards the big one; and while it wasn''t an aware, targeted thing like his magma sprite, the orb was a wide, indiscriminate battering ram as it rolled through, making dealing with the swarm of lesser creatures far easier; as both he and Terra almost simultaneously blasted the thing with bolts of fire.


    There was another shriek; louder.


    More movement was coming from deeper in the cave; and Terra sent the orb rolling further, deeper, letting it wreak random chaotic havoc, as she turned her own attention to the mass before her; as Kylie struggled to keep smashing at the thing, backing away constantly as it kept trying to grab hold of her, her weapons, and the vile stench made everyone feel as if they were going to be sick... suddenly the larger monstrosity hurled one of the smaller ones at Kylie like a projectile; slamming her off of her feet to the ground.


    The flail she''d summoned lashed out, knocking the creature off of her; sending what was mostly deer and racoon parts off into the underbrush; but it was too late; the bigger creature had managed to grab her legs, and start pulling her into its mass... even as giant chunks of it started actively burning, as it appeared the fungus itself was flammable. Kylie let out a scream that tore at Derek''s soul as he stepped closer; wishing, for the moment, he was a warrior rather than a mage so he could do something a bit more blunt, more direct, as he focused and pumped even more fire into it, knowing he might burn Kylie but not wanting to let this thing eat her.


    This couldn''t happen! This was their first real fight! He''d said they could...


    A sudden crunch. Kylie was ejected onto the ground before the beast, as a massive chain wrapped around it tightened, squeezing it; the audible sound of hundreds of bones breaking, as the devil stepped forward; and swung with both hands; massive, heavy flails slamming into it from both sides at once.


    He stopped the constant outpouring of fire long enough to grab Kylie and start dragging her back, away from it, and rose to his feet; immediately focusing on the right words, the right gestures, the right feel, and unleashing another burst of fire at it. He checked on his sprite; it was still busily swatting and sweeping away the smaller ones, and Terra''s work with the orb seemed to either keep the others from fleeing, or effectively clear whatever was in the cave...


    As the devil crushed the thing, shattering enough bones to render it immobile, it quickly became a mopping up action. An exhausted, irritated, but still mostly fine, Kylie rose back to her feet; a bit unsteady at first; and joined the devil and her companions in methodically crushing and burning every errant, moving limb of the giant mass.


    The most disturbing part of the whole mess was crushing the lumbering corpse of the farmer... and of course, the fact that even after the bones were broken, the thing was still alive, and burning, just... immobile.


    "...What the hell is this thing?" Derek stared at the larger mass, and all the smaller pieces... Terra seemed almost gleeful as she was throwing bolts of fire into every tiny bit of squirming mass, while he and Kylie were just standing back, exhausted... and the devil used the chains to move all the squirming bits into the pile which was taking its own sweet time catching alight.


    Derek looked it over more closely... and frowned. "Its flammable, but not too flammable. You break the bones, it can''t move around... but is still alive. We either need a hotter fire... or to add in fuel."


    Terra gave a nod. "That orb is still rolling through the cave, and I can only focus on one at a time... and there''s still more of them dying in there, in droves. Its gotta keep going. We need something else."


    Derek glanced into the cave, as the devil kept working to keep the mass of fungus together.. and gave a nod. "Kylie, while me and Terra keep blasting it, grab any dry wood you can, and throw it onto the thing. Its got too much water in it to burn well, but once it gets hot enough..."


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    She frowned, staring at the fungus, then at Derek. "Just... start throwing sticks at it?"


    "As big as you can find!"


    ***


    At first, it seemed to be a terrible mistake. The fungus seemed to be unable to make tentacles more than a few feet long; but was almost immediately able to use one of the sticks Kylie threw into it as if it were a bone, extending a limb outward... only for it to break under the weight of the fungus. And once the stick lit aflame.... it started burning, steadily hotter; and lighting more of the wood the priestess kept adding.


    Soon, between the burning wood embedded in its flesh, and the constant lesser bolts of flame, the thing finally stopped its moving; and everyone was able to relax, as the creature was turned into a funeral pyre. Terra stood at the cave''s entrance; she seemed to be ordering that rolling orb of firey death back and forth through the cave, ensuring the whole place was cleansed.


    Praxius turned, and glanced at Derek. "That thing felt like it was as strong as all of you put together. And you go into this saying ''its just a few levels higher''. I think whoever taught you these numbers, to assign levels to things, didn''t know what they were doing."


    The boy stepped closer; and carefully placed a sample of the fungus in a glass bottle, using a knife to cut it. "Look... the academy maintains a long tradition of study. Before they came up with their classification system, we compared things to how many circles the spells used; like, say, if you were a spellcaster, you''d be able to use a fifth or sixth circle spell, right?"


    Praxius sighed; and used a chain to shift and turn the mass, ensuring every bit of the fungal mass was burned, not wanting to leave any pockets to cause problems. "There''s a problem with that, as well. Two people who can use a third-circle spell can be dramatically different in terms of danger they pose to you. A succubus can cast third-circle spells, generally. But a human wizard that can cast a third-circle spell is usually far more dangerous, and knows a larger variety of them. At the same time, if you meet one of my people who can cast a third-circle spell, he''s likely able to crush both of those."


    Derek stepped up next to Terra, looking into the cave; both the first rock Kylie had thrown, and the orb of fire, which was finally starting to die off but not there yet, revealing a long trail of bones and ash. "Yes, that''s true. And out of a whole mass of level five spellcasters, some can use a third-circle spell, some can''t, because magic tends to accumulate however you use it, not just in spellcasting. But at the very least, it would give me a good base amount of power the thing has. And seeing that the depths of this cave are a level four area lets me know that creatures who grow up here naturally are going to be at a certain level of power... and that the ones that kill and eat them higher still. Two level five creatures might be dramatically different... and I should probably be a bit less confident in fighting things I don''t have good information on. But... the classification system itself is eminently useful for training purposes. For example, I know that the energy we got from the lot of them got us far closer to the fourth level. If we had to do it again, or that warren, we''d be there."


    The devil rolled his eyes, and, once satisfied the thing was truly dead, joined the women at the mouth of the cave, looking in. "Hmmm. Stay here, and be wary of anything else coming. I''m going to head in and make sure Terra''s fire got the job done, check for any valuables... or signs of what made this. Sometimes creatures just naturally change as they get stronger, but... this seems odd."


    He started walking into the darkness... glancing back to ensure the others were following directions... and started examining the cave as he advanced.


    Bones. Sheep bones, deer, bear... a few more strange, exotic skeletons. Piles of ash and debris he had to walk through. That spell his granddaughter used would be trivial against some big monster, but against confined swarms like this, it was perfect.


    And when he reached the end of the cave... he found a small, green gem, glowing softly, mounted in a sconce hammered into the wall. He had no idea what it did, exactly.... but it reeked of transformation magic. For a moment, he considered destroying it; extremely good odds that a few months ago, this fungus was just an ordinary mushroom, and constant exposure to this thing had altered it with time, along with the normal effects of a creature reaching adulthood in a high-magic area...


    He looked around. This was a valuable spot. Like rivers and lakes, villages were often founded on places like this; the Imperial Academy was on such a spot, only a much larger one. Some conflux of how magic moved through the world caused it to accumulate here. So... if they built a barracks, and started training guards here, they''d steadily improve over time, even without killing any monsters. Or raise guard beasts here; a dog raised to adulthood in this cave would be an intimidating creature for most humans.


    He gave a firm yank; pulling the gem, and the sconce that it was attached to, from the wall, and headed back out of the cave; emerging covered in ash up to the waist.


    "I''ve got something new for you to research. We should mark this spot down on the map, it could be valuable. Otherwise... we can return for a reward with the dead farmer if you''d like, but otherwise... we should keep moving. We''ve got bounties for other towns here in the dales to collect, and I''m growing more optimistic about getting you to your goal quickly. This thing was more powerful than anything I expected you to encounter out here."


    He handed the sconce to Derek; who stared at the gem, and gently touched it with a finger. "This... just amazing."


    The boy simply stared at the gem for a few seconds, as if enthralled. "I can feel it... the magic in this thing....I''ll need to study it thoroughly to understand its effects, but there''s some sort of basic transmutation effect built into it, constantly working on its surroundings. Whatever it is is extremely slow, but... we should keep it covered. I don''t think we want to see what would happen if we were exposed to it for days or weeks rather than minutes."


    Terra stepped up; and casually yanked the gem from Derek''s hands, dumping it into a leather pouch; and abruptly the light winked out, as she shook it a bit, then tied it shut. When the aura completely vanished, the others turned to stare.


    Praxius gave a low chuckle after considering it for a few seconds. "Sea salt?"


    "Sea salt. Good for seasoning if you aren''t a mage yourself, or for making some basic, cheap, wards if you are. Not exactly the most effective, but hey. Useful, and in this case... more than enough."