Chapter 288: Two Hundred And Twenty

“A bold claim.” I said, drawing the attention of the massive, bloated Myconid that lurked at the centre of the spring. I gestured behind my back to Ixitt, who nodded in understanding, slowly starting to remove items from the hovering wagon, which now it had reached the final destination was allowed to sink to the ground, wind energy within almost entirely spent. “All will be you? Sounds like hell to me.”

Myrcolaxriath snorted, a great hissing noise accompanied by a cloud of dripping spores. “You should be less proud of killing the many puppets of I, my many avatars. Do you think the great I is defeated? You were merely beneath the notice of I.” Another hissing breath of pungent rot was exhaled between the gaping jaws, frond-like arms flailing to gesture his annoyance. “You Fae creatures, so… distinct, worthless, unlike I. I am perfection, the only being that deserves to exist. The others, they were fools, not wishing to be part of I, the great culmination of all life. I spread, I consume, I exist. Therefore you shall fail. I endure!”

The longer he talks the more time Ixitt has to set up. Still… he probably wants to delay us too. The air is filling with more and more spores as he breathes out. “You’ll have to pardon me, but I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“Of course you do not, fool. All you were capable of is killing the lesser clones of I, though I admit, you are the first beings to cause I so much trouble. But it will matter little in the grand scheme of all things. Every Myconid… they are all I, and I them, merely a collection of commands modulated by spores that exude from I. Oh how they protested at first, the Noble fools. The lesser Myconids have always been our puppets, why should they be any different? No, to be part of I is to be one with greatness. The other Myconid Lords, they did not wish to succumb to I, the fools. Let them rot in whatever dark caves within Pandemonium they can scavenge. In time, the spores of I will reach them, and they too will know peace within I.”

Shit, this guy is insane. But I think I get it. In a way I’m actually relieved. Perhaps the other Myconids could be reasoned with… but that’s a problem for future me.  “So all the Myconids we fought, they were like… what, a hive-mind?”

“A hive-mind? This great I does not understand that term. They are simply I, my will conveyed through the ever-present spores that throng this land, my new nest, from whence I will spread to all corners of this world in time, bringing all inside I.”

Shaeula looked as if she was about to speak, but I motioned her to silence. Not yet, he’s doing a classic villain monologue here, who’d have thought anyone actually did that? But I suppose if anyone would, It’d be this one, as it seems he’s all alone, despite having an army. Maybe we can extract some more information we can use before the battle starts. Strangely enough, despite the overwhelming presence of aether radiating from him, enough to make us tremble before, I was less scared the more we talked. “Yeah, that’s a hive-mind. A consciousness that has many bodies but only one controlling mind. Well, there are variations, but you sound like that, right? I’m guessing the Sporecasters and other Dark Noble Fae were once independent beings, but you took control of them?”

“I see. At least you understand I, foolish Fae. I give you a modicum of respect, if only for that. It would not have been possible, but for this Spring.” Grinding laughter filled the hollow hill, acidic sludge running down the bilious flesh of Myrcolaxriath, boiling viciously when it made contact with the befouled water below.

Here it comes. He’s revealing his plans. I mean, I get it, the urge to get praise for a wonderful scheme, and it isn’t like he can talk to himself about it. Even so… if I ever do something that dumb, I hope Shaeula or Eri gives me a damn slap across the face! “How so?” I egged him on, not even having to feign interest. Seeing my stance, Shaeula also nodded, inciting him. “I don’t see the connection. Besides, with your deadly spores, surely you could have pushed deeper into the Seelie Court rather than holing up here? Trust me, I know how lethal such biological weapons can be.” He couldn’t see my smirk behind the mask and hood I wore, but my tone achieved the desired result, provoking him further.

“What could you know of matters? No, this great I wronged you. Turning the very powers of I against my puppets was impossible. Not even the other foolish Lords could do such. Perhaps only you will understand, so I shall tell you, before you become part of I. Weep tears of joy, Fae, as I deem you worthy to become I.”

Such an honour. I think I’ll pass though. “Well to be honest I can’t think of anything worse than being all alone in the world, just myself to talk to. Without my family, Eri, Shaeula, my friends… no. I’m afraid I have to decline. Though of course, if you abandon the Spring and retreat, nobody has to die. Since all I’ve done is kill your puppets, we can still make peace, right?” I have to delay him a bit more.

More grinding laughter, and Myrcolaxriath spoke, his voice thundering. “You seek to barter with I, the End of all Individuality, the Perfect Existence? Foolish. You know nothing. This Spring, I have fused with it, the sacred spiritual waters that flow here, a wonder unmatched, permeating the very being of I, the absorbed light from the very moon that overlooks the lands of the Fae eternally, nourishing I. Immutability, spirituality. With this power the reach of I spreads. I grow ever more perfect, and one day soon even the Territory of the Seelie Court, Dark Pandemonium, the Hunt… all will sprout with I, life itself becoming one with I. I shall be as a divine being, fit to ascend beyond this cage of the lower Astral, where I shall reign eternal, spreading the great I until everything within existence is I, and I am all existence!”

No, I was wrong, he’s not insane. He’s jumped six steps beyond that and gone fucking Lovecraftian! I had no expectations of him agreeing to release the Spring, but now, hearing that, there was no way I could let him go. Hyacinth tapped my back, signalling we had stalled long enough, so I was ready to voice my denials to this insane wannabe-God. “I have to say, I’m extremely impressed.” I clapped sarcastically, chainmail clinking. As Myrcolaxriath bent slightly, peering at me with his eyeless cap, dark light flashing, I continued, holding up one hand. “Let’s see. One.” I stuck up a finger. “Villain monologue, spilling his plans and a clear weakness we can exploit. Two.” A second finger. “A plan so pointlessly evil it makes absolutely no sense. Well, not to me anyway.” I shuddered. “A universe of just me? Screw that. Without loved ones, it’s nothing but empty, in every sense. Though I guess you only love yourself.” As the Myconid Duke thrashed his tendril-arms, more lifting out of the water, I carried on. “Three. Delusions of Godhood. Four, massive, crippling over-confidence. Have I missed anything? Oh yeah, Five.” I put up my thumb at last. “The Demon King faces the heroes on his throne. Though I guess I should call it a lake.”

“It does seem rather like some anime I have seen.” Shaeula agreed, tossing her head. “Anyway, this Unseelie repulses me. Akio, we should-should slay him.”

“Yeah, we’ve stalled enough. Hyacinth, try the spores!” I cried, and as Shaeula and I stepped to the side Hyacinth unleashed her nature energy, a boiling cloud of red and yellow filling the caverns. I don’t want to set a flag, but I can’t see it being this easy. But we’d be foolish not to try.

Even as that attack rolled out, Ixitt had produced his rifle and had loaded it with some explosive rounds. He opened fire, the fusion of human ideas and Faecraft a triumph of engineering. Shots flared through the murk, and we could hear explosions, just for a moment, until Ixitt cursed, the gun jamming, a shell shattering the firing mechanisms. “The acid spores are causing trouble. I have used barrier cream on what I could, but delicate devices like this will be useless soon.” He tossed aside his weapon with a mournful look. Shaeula had launched an attack with her pinwheels, but she too was straining, the wires trembling as though something was holding them.

“Little Fae pests, this great I is not so foolish as you claim.” He boomed, sounding unphased by the attacks. “Mocking I, that is unforgivable. I shall expunge you, unworthy beings who will now no longer have the honour of being part of I. Stalling? I too, was waiting. Now perish!”

Explosions rang out, and rings of our spores blasted outwards. Even so, though the gloom we could see that it was only the fungi, toadstools and scum around the lake and on the cavern walls that had been taken over and feasted on by Hyacinth’s deadly fungal pathogens. Myrcolaxriath was untouched, and apart from several severed frond-arms that were now sinking into the pond, a dozen others wrapped around the pinwheels, keeping them locked, he had suffered no significant damage.

“The puppets of I did die, but I was moving them all, for they are I and I are they. I am this Territory, it is my body, my will. So all of I responds to my spores, my call. You failed to slay all my puppets, so now die!” The faces embedded within Myrcolaxriath were howling and hooting, gibbering a froth of spores and putrid water, looking like a myriad of inky tears smearing the yellowing flesh of his torso.

“They are coming from the passageway!” Ixitt called. “Hundreds, perhaps thousands. Everything that’s left here, perhaps!”

“Your spores are useless against I. Dying puppets brought this great I your spores, even as they ceased to be I, dissolving away. I consumed them, and though the power of the Spring, this Great I overcame them! Still, you are valuable.” The hundreds of faces turned to look at Hyacinth. “These other Fae are nothing, but you deserve to be a part of I, your spores as mine!”

Two arms lashed out at Hyacinth, too fast for her to dodge. She squeezed shut her eyes, but before she could be struck down I was there, the Twin Fangs slicing through both the metre-thick ropes of gristly fungus as well as the space around it. As the severed ends fell, they sprouted mushrooms and detonated, choking smog filling the room.

“Fuck off. If Hyacinth deserves to be anything, it’s a part of our lives!” I shouted, enraged, though my mind was cool, my massively increased abilities from the ten levels I had gained churning. “Ixitt, do it now! At least this dumb fucker has brought all his troops to us, saves us cleaning up later!”

“Fine!” Ixitt channelled his aether outwards into the corridor. The Territory fought him, especially so close to the centre, and so he was pale and sweating before he was done, a good chunk of his aether spent for what should have been a simple task. Still, as soon as the first explosions sounded, his tired expression turned delighted. More explosions echoed, closer now, and then one blew close to the exit into the Spring, a rain of small metal spheres propelled in all directions, still faint tinges of jade glittering around them, their surfaces slick with green gore.

“The explosive mines work beautifully.” Ixitt crowed, before hanging his head. “Still, some did not go off. I suspect the acid ate into the mechanisms.”

“Yeah, we’ll need to design for that next time. But stay strong. Hyacinth, Ixitt, block the tunnel. Shaeula, Grulgor and I will handle our big friend here!” Grulgor had unloaded all of his throwing spheres, the solid metal projectiles scoring several hits on the main body of the huge Myconid, but most had been batted away by the many arms it was withdrawing from the water.

“All right. It’s time!” I declared. Blades of wind soared from Shaeula and I, and her pinwheels wrenched themselves free as fungal debris rained down into the lake. “You need to learn that having allies is far better than relying only on yourself!” I declared boldly as a prelude to the battle.

“Fool. If I am the allies of this Great I, I know I shall triumph!” he howled. “Feel despair!” The towering Myconid shuddered, the weeping, babbling faces screaming, before they began to rip themselves free of his body, dropping to the lake below, before rising, dark water streaming from their massive, malformed frames. The cascade continued, until dozens of the brutes were forming up to block us.

These ones don’t look anything like the previous Myconids we fought. They are grotesque, and covered in plates of white and grey armour, grown from their bodies. Maces and blades have grown out of them too, multiple arms waving savagely. I remembered seeing a picture of the Hindu goddess with many arms in an old game I played, and these looked like vile mushroom parodies of her. They towered over even the Myconid Champions we had faced before.

“They look dangerous, be most-most careful!” Shaeula cried, and I didn’t disagree. My Eye flared, and the description was troubling.

Myconid Annihilator [Noble Dark Fae] was their moniker, and as they charged towards us, matching Grulgor for bulk and height, they certainly looked ready to do their task well.

“Grul will crush you!” He roared, his mace meeting the first, shattering limbs and fungal weapons. It fell, but a second stepped in, and a third, and Grulgor found it impossible to parry all the attacks pressing down on him. Armour began to crack, rings pinging free, and he roared with rage. Still, we had little time to worry about him, as we were besieged ourselves.

Behind us, Hyacinth was pouring her fungal spores into the confines of the passageway. And it was having some effect, yet the Myconids seemed more resistant, the process of consuming them slow. Even as some of the red and yellow toadstools detonated, spreading their poison, the Annihilators that were bathed in it suffered seemingly no ill effects.

“This great I told you it was hopeless. I am the greatest Myconid to have ever lived, the only I who deserves to exist. Your tricks were cunning, but now this great I understands them, I shall use them for my own. Die knowing you shall never be a part of I, yet have aided I, as all things must!”

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“I think I’ll pass!” I quickly realised that the Twin Fangs were useless against the weight, power and numbers of the Annihilators. What was called for was… destruction. “Come forth Foehn, and devour them all!”

The damp, foetid cave was suddenly a searing furnace, the thick curtain of spores in the air cooking off and igniting into a cascading shower of sparks.  A yellow tide struck the press of the Annihilators, and their dry flesh quickly caught, the Foehn using them as fuel to spread. It was in that brief moment that I conjured a wall around us, mud drawn up with ruby earth energies to shield us all, before the thick dust-like particles in the air exploded, a thermobaric surge glowing brilliantly for a few moments, the very hill itself shaking. The mud-wall boiled away, only to meet a second barrier, that of wind energy, which I used to diffuse the blast and insulate us from the heat. Trying to calculate multiple precise elemental workings at once, as well as perceive the whole battlefield using aether to expand my vision again, fighting the suppression of the Territory, was incredibly complex. Still, we had succeeded, and as the mud collapsed into a puddle, the wind walls dying away, I could see a ragged crater in the ground, the filthy lake water starting to drain into it, Foehn licking over it like a burning oil-slick, parts of annihilators scattered everywhere, dozens of corpses littering the ground aflame, the remaining spores in the air dancing on the resulting breeze like a myriad of tiny fireflies.

Blinking away tears, I could see Grulgor racing through the scorching air, mace in hand, smashing down the unresisting enemies. Myrcolaxriath was reeling, having shielded himself from the blast with his many arms, and a lot of them were broken and charred. Still, more and more screaming mushroom-faces were sprouting from his body, and they began to spit at us, bolts of steaming acid slime, like a barrage of bullets.

“Shaeula, mop up the Annihilators before we respond. Ixitt, Hyacinth, how are you doing?”

“Toooooo loud, master!” Hyacinth complained, using nature energy to turn the fallen corpses into a sea of thorny vines that formed a strangling cage around the entrance, ripping apart the near-mindless Myconids who were acting on instinct, their controlling spores consumed by the flames. “Hyacinth has sooore ears. The buzzing within makes me angry, I want tooo hurt someooone! But not master, nooo!”

“There’s plenty to hurt here!” Ixitt declared, throwing an orb containing bluesteel powder charged with earth and air energies. The shell exploded, and with a blast of flame a dozen Myconids fell. “Hmm, so inferior to your attack, Akio. Disappointing.”

“If you can-can still complain, then you can still fight, can you not-not?” Shaeula’s pinwheels ripped through the remaining Annihilators as they were sluggishly starting to respond, the Myconid Duke spewing controlling spores out from his mouth. As he did so I ignored the level-up message I received, taking me to Seventy-Two, and used more Foehn, igniting the spores once more, sending flames rushing back towards his mouth.

“Insolent!” Myrcolaxriath roared, sacrificing some of his damaged arms to soak up the inexhaustible blaze, other arms tearing them off at the shoulders, murky green fluid weeping from the ripped flesh. “Lesser beings should not trouble I so! Your end is Inevitable, as I am the End of your False Life, I shall Inherit All Things!” Bulbous, bloated pustules sprouted near the cap that was his head, before ropy arms burst free in a gushing spray of foul liquids. They were thinner and wiry, like steel cables, but numbered in the hundreds, and began to lash at us like whips, coming from all angles.

“Here comes phase two then!” I laughed, the chaos of the battle somehow slightly exhilarating.

In addition, he was birthing more Myconids, but these were small, lean and fast, with brilliant blue and purple colouration, the caps striated with violet zig-zags. Myconid Detonators [Dark Fae] my Eye declared to me, and I shouted out for more barriers.

“Emerald Wind Prison, Second Form!” Shaeula declared, surrounding herself with the howling jade gale. Whips from Myrcolaxriath slammed down on it, causing the winds to buckle, but Shaeula exerted all her effort, and the arms were repelled, shredded to fragments that scattered violently. I threw up spikes of earth, fending off the oncoming horde of quick opponents, funnelling them into a trap, where my own wind energy surged into a cage of fine, vibrating wires. Chunks of Myconid scattered, but then a series of explosions rang out, the mushroom-creatures blowing apart spectacularly, scattering corrosive acid far more potent than any we had faced before.

“Fuck, this is bad.” I used a gale of wind to force them back, but acid was pouring down on me, even the barrier cream unable to withstand it, as it washed away, dissolving. But it wasn’t me I was concerned about. Grulgor had waded into the fray, his greater bulk and strength allowing him to smash deep into the heart of the Myconids, only to be overwhelmed as dozens of them exploded. He continued to break through, though he was shedding chainmail quickly, the rubber underneath starting to disintegrate, his flesh exposed. Even so, Grulgor ignored the pain, trying to reach our enemy.

“Without your contraptions and little armours, let I see how you deal with my spores!” Myrcolaxriath declared, and Grulgor growled an answer, his yellow eyes glinting balefully.

“Shut up rotting fungi. Grul thinks you talk too much, fight poorly. Grul is not scared of you!” He swung his mace, destroying another group, more acid sheeting him in their death-throes. His armour was all but gone now, and his flesh was seared and bubbling. Even as it regenerated, small mushrooms were starting to sprout, eating into his grey, stony skin. Grul used his free hand to tear clumps out, but they continued to spawn, the pace accelerating.

“I am infinite!” Myrcolaxriath declared, spewing out a hot breath of spores at Grulgor, while more and more of the blue and purple faces were starting to push their way out of the flesh of his stalk-like torso, gibbering. “For each I that perishes, ten more shall take I’s place!”

“Golden Sakura Falling!” Shaeula declared, having lowered her barrier. Fire and wind spiralled up in a beautifully complex pattern, one I was sure would impress Shaeraggo, were he to see it. As the sizzling cascade of pretty citrine fireballs poured down on the Duke, any Detonators that were struck blew apart prematurely. The lake was sizzling, fireballs vanishing into the dark waters.

“You dare?”

“I dare, as many times as I must-must!” She answered, her pinwheels managing to slip through and slice a narrow gash in his torso before the arms drove them back.

“Hey, have you secured our rear yet?” I called, and Ixitt grunted in annoyance, Hyacinth still spewing spores and attacking with thorny vines beside him, though she was flagging, her stamina her greatest weakness.

“Soon. The acid has damaged several tools, and this is not one I want to misfire. Buy us a minute and we shall be free to aid you!”

“Fine!” I started launching stone bullets filled with Foehn at our enemy. As he was trying to defend himself from the fiery rain from above several shots got through, piercing his flesh. At first he thought it a mere nuisance, but as the shells shattered and Foehn began to blaze, he howled, furious. His body shivered, and the burning areas were pushed out by small, sacrificial Myconids, who fell, ablaze with yellow, to disappear into the lake below.

“You aren’t infinite!” I taunted him, switching up my methods, sending more Foehn out to coat the water around him, so that any Detonator he spawned fell into the flames and perished. “You’re clearly slowing down.” I just need to buy Ixitt some more time. “I was never a fan of steamed mushrooms, but in your case I’ll make an exception.”

“Fine then. You have pushed I to this. Die!” As he declared his fury, Grulgor was fording the lake, heedless of the heat and the Foehn. He battered aside several arms, only to suddenly be thrown backwards, one of his arms sheared completely off by an unseen attack. No, not unseen, a jet of water.

Several more lances of the dark liquid erupted from the lake, piercing him through several times, foul blood gushing. As Grulgor staggered back, trying to right himself, mushrooms and fungi began to sprout from the wounds, his regeneration unable to keep up to the constant exposure.

“You are next.” Myrcolaxriath promised. The fetid lake bubbled and more beams flared out, only for barriers of rock, mud and wind to mute their blasts.

“Shaeula, can you handle this? I’m going for Grulgor.” I declared, and she nodded. I ignored the burning of my now exposed flesh, the acids I had been splashed with having eaten through chainmail and rubber, trusting my Ether Healing to adapt quickly. In that case, I need a distraction. “Shaeula, dagger!” She tossed it to me and I channelled aether, sending bolts of light at the cap of our opponent. He flinched back, the indigo shots missing, but that bought me time to reach the haggard Grulgor. As I did so a brilliant explosion behind me erupted, and one massive barrel packed full of chemicals, alloys and some special bluesteel powder erupted, sending a wall of liquid flames into the corridor, the last Myconids engulfed.

“Well, it is not Foehn, but the closest I can approximate, as of now!” Ixitt crowed. “We’ve sadly cut off our escape route, so are you sure? I intended this for our enemy here.”

“We can still get out. Don’t worry.” I called, still sending out brilliant bolts, harassing the Duke. Reaching Grulgor I grabbed his one remaining arm. “Are you ready?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Grul hates this place. No joy in battle, only vileness.” He spat a frothy bile filled with fungus. “But Grul not die easily. He ready.” Even as he spoke, he was glowing a dull red, the earth elemental energy that made up his core being overfilled by me. “Just like we discussed, right?” I said, and he nodded.

With that, Grulgor let out a great bellow, as the nearby wall of the hill shattered, rock flying towards us, slamming into Grulgor and melting into his flesh, forming a golem-like form. His missing arm was replaced by stone, the shaft of his mace absorbed within. Encased entirely within rock, apart from his eyes, which still bore the glass lenses, Grulgor let loose a great bellow. “Try and pierce Grul now, foolish fungi!”

With a quick surge of Ether Healing, purging the worst of the spores from him, giving his acidic blood and regeneration chance to work, I turned back to Myrcolaxriath, who was trying to bring down Shaeula now, bursts of concentrated water slamming into her wind walls, steam and spray scattering, glittering rainbows winking in and out of existence briefly.

“Phase three. That’s usually the last one, right?” I declared, making a cutting gesture with my thumb along my throat. Beside me, Grulgor leapt forwards, mace-arm raised, landing with a great splash amidst the Foehn, flames wreathing him and splashing onto several more of the flailing arms…

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