Chapter 1329 The Brave Young Myconid
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The Myconid were a peaceful tribe of mushroom people that lived in the Mushroom Sanctuary right below the depths of the Sacred Mountain, the biggest and richest mountain in this area of Muspelheim, which absorbed nutrients and energy from the skeleton of the fallen Primogenitor Fire Dragon, Muspel.
Unlike the Fire Giants, who had arrived much later, the Myconid have lived for thousands of years earlier than them in these depths, born from a species of mushrooms that one day, magically started to move. Slowly, they gained sapience amidst the many other mushroom monsters, becoming people.
Their culture is deeply rooted with their way of life, slow, calm, and long-lived, Myconid live in harmony with their surrounding nature, and are the oldest worshipers of the Mountain Guardian, who had protected them since their birth as species.
They developed the ability to communicate through telepathy with the Guardian of the Mountain through their innate Psychic Powers, and keep a close relationship with this ancient being.
Yet… only a hundred years ago, things changed forever. One of their most audacious and intelligent of their tribe, Trafalh discovered the ability to conjure Dark Arts magics after making contact with a mysterious being…
As the Mountain Guardian felt afraid of such power, the Myconid of the tribe forced him to move away from the village. Filled with frustration and hate for not having been able to show them the true might of the powers he had acquired, which he believed were superior for their independence from the mountain guardian, he grew a deep hatred, and a desire for revenge.
Such desire slowly corrupted his heart, as he manipulated the beasts of the Mushroom Sanctuary. Little is known about what happened to him, or how did he acquired such powers, but since then, the monsters of the forest have grown aggressive, and the Myconid were forced to protect themselves by lifting enormous stone walls surrounding their once peaceful village.
Generally being a peaceful tribe of people, they didn"t possess the might to fight against their new foe, which was once part of their very family, that grew corrupted by this ancient and mysterious dark powers.
After fighting against his forces for a hundred years, the Dark Priests has final achieved enough strength, and without a doubt, he decided to crush them once and for all.
And use their lives as a good sacrifice for the being he worshiped.
His big, sharp red eyes glanced at the village being slowly attacked by his mad beasts with a creepy smile, his mushroom-cap glowing with purple and black light, as his aura continued expanding and spreading across a gigantic tower he built inside a ma.s.sive, black colored mushroom.
"You who neglected my teachings… You who treated me like an heretic will pay with your lives!" He smiled.
A single red eye glanced behind him at what he was doing, controlling his very thoughts and ordering to do things for it.
While the Myconid tried their best to defend, the monsters were too strong. The Myconid Chief, simply referred as "Elder Truffle" was perplexed.
"W-We have to evacuate!" He cried, trying to call everyone. "There"s no way we can win against those powerful beasts!"
"Elder…"
"But our evacuation path has yet to finish constructions…"
"We haven"t dug up enough!"
"It doesn"t matter! We must hide below the earth and slowly dig there, eventually, we"ll be able to get outside and-"
"How about we fight instead?!"
Suddenly, a young Myconid stepped into the commotion, with a red and white colored cap, and cute, small eyes, his mushroom body was small and rather cute, with small arms and legs.
Unlike the older Myconid, he seemed much smaller and weaker. However, this young one was someone everyone knew by now.
"Jamar, what are you talking about?!" The Elder Truffle sighed.
"We need to fight! Stop being cowards!" Jamar angrily said, lifting a long sword made out of a red metal. "This is the sword my dad left behind! There used to be warriors in our tribe! We must take arms and fight! If Psychic powers can"t do it, then physical attacks will do!"
"What is he talking about?"
"He"s… crazy!"
"I"ve heard he"s the only youngling that hasn"t developed Psychic Powers yet…"
"Is he trying to compensate for that lack of talent by being reckless and lift that dangerous weapon?"
"Our bodies are thin and weak, we cannot fight physically, we"ll get killed instantly!" The Elder sighed. "Jamar, you must come with us and-"
"I"m not going!!!" Jamar roared angrily; his face filled with frustration.
Not only over their cowardliness, but over their harsh comments, and how they always saw him. Jamar was never taken seriously on his path to strength, no matter how many years he had been training his sword skills, and no matter how much effort he had put into everything.
His father used to be the leader of a squad of strong Myconid, they were untalented with Psychic Powers, but made up for it by cultivating their weak and frail physical bodies.
They were once recognized, but were forgotten once the entire squad was wiped out when they defended the village from a large group of monsters.
Since then, the Myconid believed that fighting physically wouldn"t work, even as hard as they tried, they would always be weak and frail beings, unlike the Fire Giants of the surface with their strong muscles, skin, and bones.
Yet Jamar carried his father"s legacy, and his red-colored sword, he was the last Myconid Warrior, even if n.o.body recognized him as one…
"I"ll fight… for my village, like dad did once!" Jamar said angrily. "You"re all ungrateful cowards! I"ll show you all I can fight!!!"
"Jamar! WAIT!" The Elder Truffle cried.
Jamar started running into the walls, as the rest of the Myconid there quickly ran his opposite direction, scared by the beast that had jumped into the village.
"ROOOOAARRRR!" The amorphous, slightly wolf-shaped chimeric mushroom monster roared against Jamar, its many eyes locking into his small body.
"T-There it is…!" Jamar muttered, feeling afraid, yet he couldn"t step back now. "I-I"ll face you, monster! I am this village"s only warrior! And one day… I"ll become a Hero like dad!"
Jamar ran towards the beast, imbuing all of his Mana into his sword and movements!
"Take… THIS!"
SLAAASH!
"GRRH?"
However, the damage he caused was… feeble. A mere scratch, which slowly regenerated from the monster"s front arms.
"E-Eh?!"
"SHAAAAHHH!!!"
CLAAASH!
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