Now the fight is on in earnest. I probably should be scared and maybe I even am, at least a little. It isn''t a mind numbing, paralyzing fear though. No the opposite is true. It makes my heart beat faster while at the same time sharpening my senses. At least that is how it seems to me.


    In all likelihood it only means that my mind, when faced with the choice between fight or flight, has firmly settled on the fight option this time around. It could be my improving skills too of course, but somehow I rather doubt it. It doesn''t really matter anyway. What really matters right now is, that I chop up those crazy ambulatory mushrooms. Thus that is what I proceed to do.


    I decide to take a risk, as only the one uninjured myceloid presses the attack, while the other curiously enough takes a moment to pick up his own club from where it landed on the ground.


    It is their weird way of walking that inspires my course of action. I risk taking a hit and swing for both legs of the so far uninjured opponent, aiming to sever them both in one swing. The murderous mushroom''s weapon connects first, but the hit isn''t any more effective than the first. Sure it hurts, but only a little. It''ll probably only leave a bruise at worst.


    [*Ding!* You have been wounded! Health reduced by 4!]


    Even better, a divine whisper lets me know that [Clothes], my armor skill improves due to it.


    [*Ding!* Your skill Clothes has leveled up to level 4!]


    Then my sword strike connects. And how it connects! The spongy flesh of the mushroom doesn''t offer as much resistance as real flesh would. There are no bones, at least none worth mentioning, either. My swing that took off the other one''s arm already made me suspect as much.


    [*Ding!* Critical Hit! Myceloid Forager''s Health reduced by 64!]


    It is almost like I cut the strings of a puppet. Everything above the cut stops moving almost immediately. The rest follows soon after.


    [*Ding!* You have defeated a Myceloid Forager!]


    I don''t have time to enjoy this victory though, as the other one has retrieved its weapon by now. I don''t repeat the risky maneuver. I don''t want to tank another hit. Instead I aim to disarm this one again, quite literally, as it shambles my way once more.


    It swings at me too. Surprisingly enough even missing its other arm, its attack is no more clumsy than before. In a way this is good. After all it means my own strike finds its target as intended. I have no trouble evading the club either.


    [*Ding!* Your skill Dodge has leveled up to level 2!]


    As my blow lands and the second myceloid keels over a whole slew of additional notifications follows.


    [*Ding!* Hit! Myceloid Forager''s Health reduced by 28!]


    [*Ding!* You have defeated a Myceloid Forager!]


    [*Ding!* Your skill Melee Weapons has leveled up to level 4!]


    And just like that my most intense fight yet ends.


    I take a deep breath to steady my nerves, but my heart won''t slow down. Not yet anyway. It is still beating fast, as if it wants to jump out of my chest. I can hear my pulse thunder in my ears.


    Somehow I have trouble judging just how much time has passed. It really can''t be more than just a few seconds. I only exchanged a few blows with those nasty mushrooms. Somehow though it feels like much more time has passed.


    My eyes dart left and right to make sure there are no other nasty surprises coming my way. Nothing else is moving anywhere close by. This isn''t quite as reassuring as I want it to be, considering my suspicion that most of the fungal threat might be hidden below ground, well out of sight.


    I better get away from here. Except, my own curiosity makes me pause. I go over to one of the felled mushroom monsters. I ignore their actual remains though. Instead I focus on the club it carried. It really doesn''t look special, but I want to make sure anyway. And besides, I need to work on my achievements.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    I pick the improvised weapon up and focus my attention on it to scrutinize it with the [Identify] skill. Some of my Mana drains away and I''m rewarded with a few tidbits of information in turn.


    [Rotten Club (Wood, Common) – A thick branch of moderate seize and weight. If it were fresh it would make for a halfway decent improvised bludgeoning weapon. It isn''t though. In fact fungi are already eating it from the inside, reducing both its impact and its durability. Category: Melee Weapon/Club, Attack-Power: 5]


    No big surprises there. It is a useless piece of crap. That is a good thing too. Otherwise I might be in a whole different world of hurt right now. I guess I should be thankful.


    Just as I drop the useless piece of wood again, a roar resounds through the dead, fungal plague woods. No, just calling it a roar doesn''t do it justice. It shakes me to the bone and not just in a figurative sense either. No, it actually shakes me. The ground and everything else around me too.


    My eyes widen, as my heart, which just began to slow down a bit, picks the pace back up again.


    It takes me a moment to realize that while the roar, or rather its echoes, might be fading, the shaking doesn''t stop. It isn''t just my body shaking in fear either. No, I can feel the tremors through the ground. Whatever is causing this, it is big and it is getting closer. And, to be brutally honest, I don''t want to stick around and find out what it is. No, not at all. Not right now anyway.


    Is this the effect of a skill? Or just common sense finally reasserting itself? In the end it doesn''t really matter. I turn and run, not caring for stealth at all for once.


    This has one good thing going for it. I finally get to give my [Running] skill a good workout as a divine whisper lets me know soon after.


    [*Ding!* Your skill Running has leveled up to level 2!]


    I just wish that I could appreciate the notification a little more. Instead I keep running a little longer, keeping roughly to the way I have taken into the area affected my the fungal plague. Eventually I slow down again, among other things to catch my breath.


    I can still feel the tremors, although they are fainter now. A shudder runs down my spine. The kind of shudder I have come to associate with my [Danger Sense] by now. This is a little to vague for me though, thus I decide to climb one of the nearby trees to try and get a glimpse at whatever triggered it.


    I''m not picky this time around. I just pick a tree that looks sturdy enough to support my weight. I don''t climb all the way up either. Instead I stop as soon as I''m high enough to get a good look of the area I just vacated. There is another notification whispered into my mind by the voice that is almost like my divine patrons, but what I spot makes it hard to pay proper attention to it.


    [*Ding!* Your skill Climbing has leveled up to level 5!]


    My jaw drops as I take in the sight. It is a mushroom person of sorts. A myceloid of truly gigantic proportions. It is not just tall. It is big, no, it is downright massive! I have trouble coming up with a proper comparison. It is much bigger than any creature I know. My best guess is that it has to be a walking mushroom the size of a three story building. At the very least.


    Each and every of its steps sends tremors through the ground. Even here, up in a tree and quite a distance away I can feel those. Thankfully its pace seems rather sedate, even considering that each of its steps covers a lot more distance than mine.


    It isn''t just a walking giant mushroom either. It carries an uprooted tree across one shoulder like a grotesquely oversized club and its skin is covered in thick scabs that look like some kind of natural armor.


    Finally I manage to regain some semblance of composure. I close my mouth and swallow hard. Even a glance is enough to tell me, that I can''t fight that. Not yet anyway. Not for quite a while probably.


    Yet, there is this burning curiosity. I have to know just how badly I''m outmatched. Will [Identify] even work on it? I wait until it is facing away from me. Then I trigger the skill. The information I receive in return as some of my Mana drains away is a little more vague that I would have liked.


    [King Boletus (Spore, Rare, Level ???)]


    Yes, those question marks really aren''t very helpful. The best I can guess at is, that its level has to be higher than mine. How high exactly though? No clue.


    And of course it has noticed my use of the skill! It begins to turn ponderously. I don''t wait for it to finish. Instead I slide back down the tree, barely slowing down at all in the process. I guess I''m lucky not to take any fall damage. Never mind though. As soon as my feet touch the ground I take off running again.


    Only moments later another whispered notification hits me.


    [*Ding!* Your skill Running has leveled up to level 3!]


    I suppress a chuckle. I don''t have any breath to spare to something like that right now.


    A moment later another mighty roar resounds through the woods. Thankfully that seems to be all though. Either the mushroom king hasn''t spotted me in turn, which would suit me just fine, or he simply doesn''t care, not enough to pursue me anyway, which is just as well.


    By the time I stop again to catch my breath once more, I have left the mushroom tyrant well behind. I take a moment, not only to suck air back into my lungs and to calm my nerves, but to make sure there are not other threats around. Then I slump against the nearest tree''s trunk. I even screw my eyes shut tightly for a moment.


    It takes me a little while to reorganize my thoughts. I can''t fight a monster like that. Not on my own. Not as I''m right now. I can''t exactly ignore it either though. This fungal plague won''t go away on its own. No, it will just keep spreading and get worse.


    I need to either find some help to deal with it, or I''ll need to point someone else in the right direction. Fox mentioned that there should be others who''s job it should be to be all heroic and deal with threats like that. Either way, I need to find my way back to civilization, or what passes for it around here. Maybe it''ll be enough to pass along the news to some kind of adventurers'' guild or a local lord?


    I slap my cheeks and get back up. The smoke column I saw in the morning is my best bet right now. It doesn''t really matter if its an outlying farm, a traveling merchant or adventurers out on a quest. Hell, bandits could be a good start too, even if they are, strictly speaking, not the kind of help I''d want in a situation like this.


    After taking another deep breath I resume my trek in the general direction where I saw the smoke column. I start paying more attention to my surrounding again too. It isn''t just sights and sounds I''m paying attention to, although those are probably my best bets. No, I pay attention to the smells of the woods now too. The smell of smoke should stand out around here after all.