As we walked down through the first corridor leading to the center of the Dungeon's Second Floor, which looked pretty much the same as the first one except for the quantity of spiderwebs, which were much less now, we found ourselves surrounded by colorful mushrooms.
What my friends didn't expect is that they were all living monsters, not just an average normal mushroom of poisonous qualities. And what triggered them from waking up as getting closer to them, much like back in our town when we would find Walking Mushrooms or Myconid, as some call them, resting near trees, camouflaging as normal, big mushrooms.
However, any unsuspecting person would get closer, only to get viciously bitten by them, and this was the very same strategy these monsters employed against us.
An over three-meter-big purple capped mushroom gained arms and legs, and a giant, vertical mouth covered on sharp fangs.
"Uwaaagh?!" Eric was shocked by the discovery, stepping back in horror. "These mushrooms are monsters?"
"Yeah." Elfriedden laughed. "It was funny seeing your reaction though…"
Dozens of Giant Poisonous Mushrooms began waking up one after the other, surrounding us rather quickly. They were all C Rank at the very least, although they weren't as huge or stronger than the Giant Bugs, they were still sizable threats.
"Prepare for battle!" I said, taking my out magic handgun.
Without hesitating, I shoot down three bullets at the Giant Walking Mushroom that tried to attack Eric, blowing its head off before it could even move.
"They're C Rank, but rather weak and slow, their most lethal power is their poison, but now that we've gained resistance, this should be a cake walk." I smiled.
"Alright!" Erika celebrated, rushing forward and swinging her blade against the Mushroom in front of her.
"GYOGYOOHH!" The Mushroom roared, attacking back against her by trying to punch her with its enormous fists while letting out a deadly poisonous spore cloud.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! POOOF!
However, Erika swiftly intercepted each blow with her sword and then began spinning and dancing with it, slashing across the entire body of the monster, its limbs were sliced apart quite easily, and then, she swung her blade and sliced its cap apart, and then, she split it into two perfect halves with a powerful vertical swing.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLAAASH!
"Heheh, if they weren't poisonous I would gladly have them grilled!" She giggled.
"Fang, Woo, Hendrick, Saphira, Eleanora, take care of our back, protect everyone from incoming blows to minimize damage." I said.
"Very well!" Fang roared, jumping into battle as he kicked one of the mushrooms rushing towards Alberta's back.
"Uwaah! Thank you!" Alberta nodded, reading herself while wearing her heavy armor and summoning her Hammer Spirit. "HYAAAAH!"
BAAAAM! BAAAAM! BAAAAM!
She unleashed three powerful blows with her Hammer Spirit, which grew several times larger, crushing the mushroom that Fang kicked down.
"There's too many coming from behind!" Eric sighed, quickly summoning his two Spirits, and merging their power together with is magic. "{Yggdrasil's Domain}!"
A domain of spirit trees emerged, surrounding us as several spears made of wood started emerging around him, piercing the bodies of the mushrooms.
They were big and tanky though, so these attacks only delayed them at most. But it wasn't as if mattered, Eric imbued Spiritual Power into his arrows and fired them against the skewered mushrooms, blowing them up from the inside out as the arrows grew whole trees out of their bodies when they pierced their spongy bodies.
Meanwhile, I saw Erdrich and Elfriedden working together for once. While Elfriedden used his Frost Threads and Needle to pierce through the bodies of the mushrooms and then freeze them on the spot, Erdrich crushed them into pieces with powerful meteoric fist attacks.
CLASH! CLASH! CRAAASH!
"Hey, we don't make such a bad team!" Erdrich smiled.
"Hmph, you're just stealing my prey." Elfriedden sighed.
Those guys are an odd combination for sure…
"I can't just let only Blake's spirits do all the job here!" A Holy Dragon as big as three meters said, resembling a golden serpent with small arms, and a white mane.
"It would make us ashamed… Ellergest said we must protect you at all times, little Elizabeth…" Yawned an enormous turtle whose shell resembled a giant, pointy rock.
Both Spirits protected Elizabeth, the Dragon unleashed constant beams of light against the Mushrooms, blinding them and piercing their bodies, while the turtle began spinning around and crushing them into pieces once they were blinded.
"Hahah, you guys don't really need to go this far." Smiled Elizabeth, as her first Spirit, the Little Angelic Guardian, floated around her, offering her barrier protection while she used her fists and staff to fight against the giant mushrooms.
Elizabeth was a special case, instead of developing a second Spirit once she hit Rank 2, the Spirits she inherited from Ellergest took that place, so she'll have to wait up to Rank 3 to get a new Spirit, though seeing her affinities, it might be an Angel Spirit once more.
That small Angelic Guardian has a special transformation, and also seemed to know more than it makes itself up to be, after all, back then it saved her life and everyone else… I still remember that.
Perhaps, much like my own Spirits, some other spirits can be the reincarnation of powerful beings demons and angels included.
"GRYOOOHHH!" Three Giant Mushrooms, all of them rather colorful, ran to my side. I pointed my gun at them and shoot one of them dead.
However, the other two got too closer, so I simply imbued Mana into my Spear and sent it flying towards another's head, making it explode into pieces in an instant.
The last one got a kick into the face, followed by Infernal Demonic Flames into its open jaws, being roasted alive.
"Hmm, kinda boring." I sighed. "Huh?"
Suddenly, the ground before us trembled, as it cracked wide open, an enormous Titanic Walking Mushroom emerged.