Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 14 - Mushroom Conflict (Patreon)

Elania dodged the spear by jumping backwards, a purely instinctive reaction. In contrast, channeling her [Power] into her legs to give her a burst of speed was purposeful. One thing she had noticed right away was that the Mushroohums weren’t agile. The hidden hunter chased after her, but she quickly left him behind in the trench-like maze between the grassy Elnat plateaus.

As she created distance between her pursuers, she ducked behind a boulder as the sound of clacking spears thudded into the area she’d have been if she hadn’t paused. There were at least five of them, meaning there were more Mushroohums that she’d not spotted yet.

She darted forward again, heading in the direction of the ruins. Another volley of spears missed their mark, falling close by but falling short of their mark. Each one left a distinctive clack as her assailants gave up their volley fire and began taking opportunistic potshots.

She outpaced them, but when she reached the edge of the cavern’s corridor below the ruins, a half dozen new figures came out of the shadows of the vertical terrain around the ruins. They’d infiltrated her camp!

Not that she’d left anything of hers behind, but a jolt of panic ran through her.

Where was she supposed to go?

The new arrivals didn’t waste any time speeding her on her way, and she had to leap out of the way of another group of thrown spears.

“I didn’t mean to step on the Elnat! I am not your enemy, please!” Elania shouted.

The vocalization only seemed to help them aim at her better, and she gave it up and focused on escape. She reached the stream and splashed to the other side before bolting down the bank. The cover was much worse, but that gave her the chance to really put her new abilities to the test.

She reached a sprint speed that was scary enough that she had to slow down before she made a mistake and slipped. The distance created put an end to the spear throwing, though.

Thoughts ran through her head quickly; maybe they thought she was the Bone Demon? But her level was much lower, and she definitely didn’t resemble the hateful thing.

The stream deepened, then disappeared into the ground, and she found that the end of the cavern was a dead end. Thick [Fungal Growth] clogged the passage she had expected, a solid wall that she had no idea how thick or solid it was. Had the Mushroohums grown it?

Being blocked in was not good; she hadn’t bothered to scout the entire chamber before, and now she had cornered herself with bad navigation.

Turning around, the Mushroohums slowly picked their way toward her position, their heads briefly poking out from behind rocks as they moved from cover to cover.

She took the time for them to catch up to regain her breath. Despite all that had happened in the last few days, running so fast was not something she was used to, and dumping [Power]had a very perceptible effect on her energy and endurance. She’d been keeping herself topped up, but maybe she should have been pushing it further.

But that would drain her mana shard faster…

The introspection was almost enough to get her killed as a spear flashed by her head and cut its way through her shaggy mop of hair.

“Fuck you! Leave me alone!” Elania shouted. She picked a route back the way she had come and began a new sprint back toward the staircase.

Almost immediately, a row of Mushroohums appeared with shields and spears and blocked her path. Two of them suddenly charged forward, and she parried its spear with her javelin. The other tried to attack her from the side but she darted in, shoving power into her leg muscle as she kicked its shield, hard.

Hard enough to send her flying backwards; the Mushroohum was large and apparently sturdy enough to absorb the blow. What did she expect from something over seven feet tall? A chorus of “Glau-Glaa!” echoed through the cavern, hinting that there were even more reinforcements coming and she was well and truly cornered.

She held up her hands and dropped her javelin on the ground. “I surrender!”

A few of the Mushroohums shouted their stupid “Glaa-Glaa!” but there wasn’t even a pause before more spears lashed out at her. She jumped to the side to avoid them, but one of them led her enough for the spear to leave a bloody gash in her arm. She shrieked back at them and grabbed one of the spears and threw it back.

Her throw was, predictably, terrible.

She ran and picked up another of the thrown spears; they were better made than her garbage javelin, anyway. She had other skills to use, though, and focused on activating her [Demonic Aura] skill. She channeled it a bit forcibly, and the familiar sensation of energy expanding like a sphere ran through her.

Sure enough, the chorus of insects that had continued unabated went silent. The Mushroohums, however, were unimpressed, and she had to duck behind a boulder to avoid being skewered again. Why wouldn’t they give up?

And they weren’t taking prisoners…

She remained under cover until one of them worked its way around to get a throwing angle on her. She scooted around to keep the rock between them, then peaked above the rock. Several spears clacked against the stone, but she got a good visual on where the nearest ones were approaching from.

She didn’t want to be hunted down, and she spotted a spot that would make throws hard for the others while she engaged the two Mushroohums on the path. Focusing another burst of [Power] into her muscles, she jumped out and put her plan into action.

It seemed like a good plan at the time, but the large overbearing Mushroohum she collided with almost changed her mind. Before she could rethink things, it jabbed its spear at her. She used her own to stab back at it, the fungal wood shafts flexing as the two weapons collided. A thick scent of musk assailed her nose, but she had little time to consider the smell as she was forced to dodge another attack.

The skill difference was evident; the thing wrapped its weapon and smacked her hand with the tip, cutting her hold and causing her to drop her weapon.

Time seemed to slow down as she did the only instinctive defense she had: Dump more [Power]into her body to make herself stronger and faster.

It worked.

The motion of the Mushroohum’s spear seemed to slow down so much she was able to reach out and grab it. She yanked hard on it, and it pulled him toward her with it before it jerked out of his grasp entirely.

Stepping forward, she slammed her shoulder into the opponent that had towered over her; it lifted him off his feet and he slammed into the cavern wall then fell with a heavy thump. Reaching down, she grabbed the purloined weapon.

[You have gained a rank in Improvised Combat!]

[Village Defender – Mushroohum – Level 21 has been defeated!]

[You have gained multiple levels!]

A fit of anger took over her, and she raised the spear to jab the man in the chest and make sure he couldn’t chase after her ever again. Hadn’t he intended to do exactly that to her? The stupid creature looked ugly and smelled bad, and its sheer strangeness called out for her to put an end to it.

Elania let out a deep breath and lowered the weapon.

Wasn’t she the invader here, though? And she’d threatened their livestock.

A desperate plea came out as a shout, even if she didn’t expect it to help. “Let’s stop fighting? I never wanted to fight any of you. Just let me go!”

Of course, it didn’t work. A spear clacked against the cavern wall overhead, and she moved away from the incapacitated Mushroohum. She tried to move up through the cavern, but every ramp and direction was covered by more hunters.

The only way left was down towards the stream, so she took it.

The Mushroohums apparently had no mercy for Elnat Stompers.

She traced her way around the pool of water, where the stream disappeared into the rock. There were multiple boulders that were tall enough to take cover behind and she found a small cover in the corner where there was only one line of approach they’d be able to attack from.

If she’d been cornered before, now she was trapped.

At least she had a chokepoint.

A chorus of Mushroohum cries filled the air before going silent. She watched the only way into the copse closely for several minutes. The thought that maybe they were like game mobs and she’d lost aggro hit her. Maybe she’d be fine?

The danger of thinking that everything worked like a video game became apparent when two warriors appeared, backed up by two more behind them. Each set linked their shields together and slowly approached with their spears leveled straight at her.

Elania took a few deep breaths as a cold calm filled her. She raised her spear and pointed it back at them. “I don’t want to fight. Please leave me alone.”

Her voice was surprisingly calm. It didn’t have any effect, but at least she had tried. “Don’t blame me if you get hurt,” she added. They approached silently. One gestured as if he was about to throw, but she remained limber on her feet and the throw turned into a feint.

When they were halfway to her, she decided to strike first. There didn’t seem to be any point in holding back, so she channeled her [Power] hard; draining it even more. She hadn’t been checking how much she had left, but it was probably scarily low and she didn’t need more distraction.

She slid to the side and then caught both forward spears under her armpit, then slammed them into the ground and pushed. The shafts snapped as she jabbed her spear straight for the front Mushroohum’s shield. Instead of focusing the power into her arm, she forced it into the tip; the wood turned a solid yellow then ignited before punching through the leather covered shield and into the man’s chest.

[You have gained a rank in Improvised Combat!]

[Hunter – Mushroohum – Level 18 has been defeated!]

[You have gained a level!]

The other one pushed forward to slam into her with its shield, that pushed her back and when she tried to pull her weapon out, it was stuck. She forced her strength in her arm higher and the weapon snapped in two, leaving the pointy end still lodged in her opponent.

The broken shaft served well enough as a weapon, though. She grabbed the shield, pushing her back and slammed the broken spear into the Mushroohum’s head like a club. Multiple times.

It punched back at her regardless, managing a disorienting blow to her head, but the shoving stopped. She pushed forward with even more force, pushing it backwards only for the second pair of the attack to arrive and stab at her from both sides. She spun to the side and dodged one, the other one sliced into her leg.

Elania realized she was getting slower. Her pushed of [Power] had less and less effect each time and she was probably running on empty. As the spear slid out of her leg, she grabbed the shaft and pulled it; the warrior didn’t let go, but that was fine. The off balancing put him directly into the path of his compatriot and they fell to the ground in a mushroom heap.

She stepped back to gain some space and pick up a discarded spear on the ground. During the lull, four more Mushroohums appeared, shields and spears raised.

There was no end to them, and she could tell she was almost spent.

The three she’d knocked about began to pick themselves up and rearm themselves with things on the ground that weren’t broken or shattered.

She looked for a way out, but of course she’d put herself in a corner because she had nowhere else to go. Unless so many of them came in after her she could run around them?

They had formed a column of two wide and four deep, and that was a good amount. Maybe it would be enough. Channeling a burst of power into her legs, she jumped up to the large stones surrounding the cubby hole and pulled herself up.

Almost immediately, spears began to clack into the rock around her feet. One spear hit her, leaving another gash, but she shook it loose and the weapon fell to the ground.

Being on top of a large stone, in plain view of much of the cavern, was a bad place to be.

There were also a lot more Mushroohums looking up at her than she had expected; dozens and dozens of them, all armed with spears.

They stared back at her for a second before the quicker ones began to aim at her.

When the tidal wave of projectiles came, she jumped out of the way.

That landed her in the pool of water, rapidly draining out of the cavern and into the rock below.

The suction was much stronger than she had expected as it pulled her under the water.