“Hmm. So you can use holy magic? You must’ve been secretly using it on the stupid delinquent earlier. Now I know why I suddenly lost control of him. But is that all? I didn’t do much to the beastfolks, but I strengthened my control over this idiot every day. Or is your holy magic that strong?”
It seemed that powder was the source of her control—some kind of drug-like poison, not magical mind control. It’d be hard for me alone to instantly cure someone who’s been dosed daily with a strong poison. But what if there was something more? Like food with purification and detox properties.
The fruit sauté that Godlord ate in the safe zone should’ve had those kinds of effects. That must have weakened her control during our journey, and my magic had finished the job.
“You don’t come by holy magic users too often, so it might be nice to control you and keep you by my side! After all, if you can heal yourself as long as you’re alive, that means I can torment you as much as I want!”
“Purification! Deto— Huh?”
“Aha ha ha! Idiot! That one isn’t poison!”
I tried to use magic to block the white powder she’d cast again, but it didn’t work this time, and it got all over my body.
“Dammit! Purification! How about water?!”
Purification didn’t work, so I tried washing the stuff off with water magic—that turned out to be a big mistake. Right after, something began swelling all over my body. Through my clothes and on my skin, round, fist-sized lumps began forming everywhere.
“What the—? Are these m-mushrooms?”
The stuff wasn’t really swelling—it was growing. Covering my entire body were countless mushrooms. I knew exactly what they were: an edible kind called mana mushrooms.
True to their name, mana mushrooms grew by absorbing mana and were considered a luxury material for food and medicine. They were rare and hard to find, and withered within days of being harvested, so they almost never appeared on the market.
So how are they all over my body right now?!
No, this wasn’t the time to be impressed. If these mushrooms grew by absorbing mana, that meant they’d drawn mana from somewhere. They probably sucked some up from the water I’d conjured with magic, but there was a far richer mana source nearby: my body. They’d drained a massive amount of mana from me and grown fat off it.
I had to hand it to her; it was a good attack. Since it wasn’t poison or anything dangerous, purification and detox couldn’t block it, but it could drain an opponent’s mana drastically.
This did, however, raise a question.
Where did the spores come from? Did she pull them out of some storage-type cheat? It looked like she’d just used the same Poison Sorcery she’d used during our journey here...
“Tee hee. My cheat isn’t Poison or Healing Sorcery! It’s Mushroom Force! It’s a wonderful cheat that lets me control, create, and grow any kind of mushroom! Poison, healing—mushrooms can do anything!”
She must’ve read my puzzled expression.
Machina grinned smugly, spilling everything. She was probably feeling bold now that she was convinced she’d won. She’d called Godlord an idiot, but she was no different.
Still, I could see why she felt triumphant. Ridiculous name aside, her cheat was far more dangerous than I’d expected. This world was full of magical mushrooms that produced all kinds of effects when infused with mana.
Some were used to make medicine, while others had powerful healing properties on their own. Some were so poisonous even dragons avoided them, and some had such insane reproductive power they could wipe out entire nations. If she had all these mushrooms at her fingertips, she was a grave threat.
I also understood how she’d controlled Godlord. She must’ve fed him a parasitic mushroom that could manipulate its host’s behavior. If she could control the mushroom, she could probably control the host too. And if she combined that with mushrooms that affected the brain and mind like narcotics, the effect would be even stronger.
“With all those big mana mushrooms growing on you, your mana must be completely drained. They also hinder the movement of the host, so you’re probably paralyzed by now,” said Machina, laughing gleefully. “Now, how about we have a little fun before I make you mine? I hope you’ll make the most adorable expressions and let me hear the most angelic cries.”
Mana mushrooms slowed their host’s movements so they would be eaten by other creatures, letting the spores stick to the predator and be carried far away. That was what Machina must’ve been talking about. This wasn’t paralysis caused by poison—this was mycelium interfering with nerve transmission, so detox wouldn’t work. Purification might work, but it’s not like the mushrooms are evil, so who knows?
Machina approached me carelessly, the look of pleasure on her face so grotesque it made me sick. Her fantasies must’ve been running wild with all the different ways she was going to torment me.
“How should we play?” she said, chuckling quietly. “Maybe I’ll start by peeling off your nails?”
I couldn’t respond.
“Oh! That’s so cute how you’re keeping your head down! But I don’t need to see your face to know that you’re in despair!”
She started cackling loudly, but the next moment, she went flying.
“Ugh...?!”
My wind magic had exploded against her face, stomach, arms, and legs. She slammed into the wall with the force of being hit by a truck and collapsed.
When I stood up, the mana mushrooms covering my body crumbled to the floor. If you looked closely, you could see they’d shrunk a little.
Without saying a word, I unleashed magic at Machina with everything I had. I wasn’t gonna go easy. I fired low-tier water, wind, and lightning spells one after another, with no thought as to whether she’d live or die. My specialty, needles made of magic, shot at her like bullets.
“How...do you still...have mana...?!”
I’d thought the wind magic had dealt heavy damage, but she hadn’t lost consciousness—she’d even managed to put up a mana barrier to block my spells. That seemed to be all she could do, however; she couldn’t move.
She was shocked that I still had mana, but I hadn’t done anything special. I’d simply cooked the mana mushrooms growing on my body, extracted their essence, and drunk it.
Thanks to my high mana reserve, I hadn’t hit zero after being drained. I’d used my remaining mana to cast a spell for compression and expression inside the mushrooms, extracted their essence, and used telekinesis to bring it to my mouth. It helped that since I’d been lying face down, I could hide my face from Machina just by tilting my head down a little.
The effects of the concentrated mana-recovery potion had been boosted because it had been considered a cooked dish. It was quite potent and almost fully restored my mana.
Machina grunted as she tried to block my spells with a wall of mana, but after taking a dozen hits, she couldn’t maintain it anymore, and the wall shattered.
After that, she was nothing but a sandbag. Magic struck her all over, pinning her to the wall and punching countless holes through her. At some point, she stopped regenerating, and her hole-riddled body collapsed. The sounds she made grew weaker and weaker.
And yet, she was still alive, as stubborn as a cockroach. It was probably the effect of some mushroom.
Fine then, I’ll finish her with a big spell—one that’ll send her body into oblivion with a single blow.
I gathered my mana and looked down at Machina.