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‘Free’ was an overstatement – he was still trapped inside the mushroom cap after all, drowning in a syrup-like acid.

Still, he looked on the bright side in such situations, to mentally keep himself going.

“Nice to move again.” he thought, gripping the wall of the mushroom and trying to tear away a chunk of its flesh, yet to no avail.

In all this he had not panicked, but soon his own suit of armour which had kept him safe all this time sent him a message which did:

[Internal air supply – depleting]

[Air left: 1.3 hours]

His thoughts began to spin rapidly in his mind.

“Fuck. How far away are they?”

“No way to tell how far away they are.”

“All I can do is conserve my air.” he shook his head, “I should have filled up my air reserves to the brim. Too late to think about that now.”

“Save my oxygen… or find a way out.”

Channeling some mana into his suit, he first tried to punch his way out.

Cavities of air formed behind his armour-clad fist as the power and speed was so great as it shot towards the mushroom, landing directly on the wall – however, the mushroom didn’t budge.

Not one bit.

It was like an immovable object. It was like a natural law.

“Physical damage immunity.” he thought.

Still, he tried his sword next – also to no avail; Its surface quickly bubbled and turned a shade of reddish-brown before he could even add it back into his inventory.

For a moment he considered taking out his arc stones again, but since he was floating in acid he thought they would surely either dissolve or have their enchanted engravings broken.

Now, he had one option left: to wait, floating in the pool of acid within the mushroom capsule.

Without hesitation, Number Three closed his eyes and began to meditate, calming himself and slowing his breathing before successfully falling asleep.

Some time later though, he woke up.

A few hours passed, and he managed to make his air last longer, but not long enough.

His breaths were getting more and more strained, faster and somehow feeling more empty.

Each of his fingers tingled while his head felt like it was getting heavier.

“Fuck. They didn’t make it in time.” he thought, not wasting his breath on words.

He was out of time.

He couldn’t tell how much time he saved, but it didn’t matter now anyway.

Regretfully, he took out one last item from his inventory – the only one he thought which could get him out of this. He didn’t consider it an option before as he wasn’t this desperate.

The item in question was a strange weapon he picked up from a travelling merchant many years ago.

It was pitch black within the mushroom cap, but he felt it in his palm. Channeling some mana into it, he then threw it down – as fast as he could in the thick syrup-like acid within the mushroom.

He pulled himself upwards to the top of the mushroom and waited until –

*BOOM!!*

An unbearable pressure spread across his body.

Despite being in his armour his body shook wildly, the vibration felt like it had shattered his bones. Thankfully his helmet was made sturdier than the rest of the armour and his head was spared from most of the impact.

Much of the explosion was contained in the mushroom head, so he had absorbed a lot of it.

After a few moments though, his body healed as some of his health was drained.

While his armour was heavily damaged, he didn’t care as long as it saved his life.

Thankfully, it seemed to work as the liquid was draining out of the bottom of the mushroom – though was quickly replaced as the mushroom simply produced more.

“An exit” he thought, quickly pushing himself down.

His plan worked.

He pushed himself to the bottom, and soon pushed his leg out. Dying for air, he kept pushing desperately and soon the other leg came out.

Unfortunately, he soon couldn’t push anymore. Something below the mushroom was blocking his path.

“What the fuck.” he thought, still straining to get air. His lungs felt like they were about to collapse; he felt like his consciousness was about to slip away.

Adding large amount of mana to the armour he continued to push and made it a little further but there was just not enough strength to push through the mushroom cap.

“Why” he thought, now panicking as he was on the verge of a coma.

“The elemental bomb should have…”

“It cant…”

Looking down, he realised something else was wrong.

It was still pitch black, even after his leg poked out of the bottom into something blocking his way. But it was still daytime. It didn’t make any sense.

With an oxygen-depleted brain, he couldn’t figure it out. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

A few more shallow breaths and a few more pushes was all he had left.

With no mana left and barely hanging onto consciousness, he finally gave in and passed out.

[Stimulants Activated]

*Hur!*

He took in a large strained breath, then another and another. His eyes were bloodshot and red, his mind sprawling with confusion before he passed out again.

[Stimulants Activated]

The process repeated itself.

Stimulants were injected a few more times only resulting in him passing out again. It was like torture.

Finally though, after another round of stimulants, he never woke up again.

The mage hunter was dead – but his suit was not.

[User status – deceased. Other suits undetected.]

[Sorah Protocol Activating]

[Respond to disable Sorah Protocol]

A few moments later…

[Sorah Protocal Activated]

[Three minutes remaining]

Deep in the sand, under the earth, within an acid-filled mushroom cap, a timer slowly and quietly began to tick down.

A dead mage hunter in a suit of armour responded to no prompts as the timer ticked away. The outside world completely oblivious.

–

“Two. Reached the tip of the desert. Found the skeleton. Waiting for Four, then we will proceed along desert.”

“Negative. Keep moving.”

Number Two paused for a moment.

It was unusual for his commanders to abruptly change his orders.

“…Acknowledged.” he said, storing away his communication crystal before he kept moving.

After walking for a while longer though, he felt something was wrong.

The wind seemed to go quiet.

For a moment, reality seemed to pause. The sun disappeared as new shadows formed from a stronger source of light.

An eruption of violent noise and light and trembling happened in the distance.

The mountains trembled and the skies split.

A deafening noise was followed by a hot wave of concussive force.

It was a sight he had not seen for a long time.

Two didn’t duck behind a rock or run for shelter though, even as molten boulders and burning debris were thrown at him – all of the like crumbled as it met his unrelenting shield.

He guarded himself as he waited for more debris to pass by. Some at lightening speed and some falling from the sky.

His commanders were a days journey away and on the other side of a grand mountain range, but even they would have seen the light, heard the noise and perhaps even felt a tremor, so he knew he would be contacted in a short moment.

“REPORT” an angry voice growled into his mind.

Taking out the communication stone, he shielded it from any stray debris before replying.

“…Three. Seems like Three activated the Sorah protocol.”

The mountains responded to the explosion and large rocks and boulders had began tumbling down towards Two.

Taking out his shield he braced for impact while protecting his crystal in his other hand.

He expected to hear ‘investigate’ being yelled at him next, however it seemed that they weren’t sure what to do – that Lieutenant Marsh wasn’t sure what to do.

Did Jay really cause a mage hunter to activate the Sorah protocol?

“Surely it wasn’t because of the level nine kid.” Number Two thought.

A house-sized boulder thundered down the mountain side and smashed against his shield; it didn’t crack into two, but instead rolled right over him.

He shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

“Investigate.” the voice hastily spoke again, adding “Three encountered an environmental hazard approximately two hours ago. An obstruction. No other communications since then.”

Two had a questioning look on his face, but decided not to say anything.

“Acknowledged.” he grunted, slamming a smaller boulder away with a shield bash.

Two decided to burn through much of his mana as he sprinted along the edge of the desert towards the crater left by Three.

The Sorah Protocol had been activated, and contrary to most opinions, it was used as a form of information control, of all things.

The mage hunter suits themselves held secrets, advanced technology, advanced heximistry, and hundreds of years of research.

Though on the outside they often looked like chipped or worn armour made from a sort of dark lustrous stone, each of them were technological masterpieces, and some would even say part of the reason humans were not yet extinct.

“Environmental hazard…” he thought, staring at the mountains, the mushroom-desert and then the forest. All three of these seemed as questionably dangerous as the others.

He knew that it was safe next to the desert so he ran forward.

Soon enough, he came the crater left behind.

Seeing how deep in the ground it was, he could only guess that it was underground.

A lot of the desert sand was streaming into the crater, while oddly, many mushrooms were left standing, their caps undamaged despite being so close to the force of the blast.

The edges of the crater had turned to a black tarry glass, still flowing slowly. The bottom was already covered with sand, which had since flowed in.

The explosion had created a divide in the desert, splitting it into two – the crater itself was about as wide as the desert.

Number Two quickly make a report.

“Two. Sorah Protocol confirmed. There’s nothing left but a smoldering crater.”

Again, he waited for a few moments as his commanders decided on what to do. They were most likely consulting directly with Marsh at this point since a mage hunter had died under his command.

Eventually a response came though.

“Three was crossing the desert, following the tracks of Jay. Continue tracking Jay.”

“It’s going to be hard since everything was fucking blown up.” Two thought. “Acknowledged.” he said.

Two slowly walked away from the crater and took a gentle step into the desert sands; his heavy armour sinking into the sand.

With every action he acted paranoid as he was trying to not become the second mage hunter to die today.

For a moment he watched and waited.

Nothing.

Next, he prodded the mushrooms with his shield.

Nothing.

He took a few more steps in and stabbed his sword into the sand.

Nothing.

“If there was a sand beast of some sort, that explosion will have killed it… but Three said environmental hazard.”

Two began marching slowly. He wasn’t sure if there was some trap under the sand but remained cautious with every step.

Finally, he bumped against a mushroom.

The damn thing attached its tendril to his foot.

“Dammit.” he tried to hit it off with his shield. Unsuccessfully.

Over the next few minutes he discovered the same things Three did: it was impossible to cut with a sword or pull off. Arc stones worked to cut it but were slow.

After cutting off a tendril, Two didn’t proceed, instead he experimented. He was not going to repeat number Three’s mistake.

Some fleshy bits of a creature had left blood stains in the sand at the edge of the crater, so he quickly went back there and dug it up.

A bloodied lizard in hand, he journeyed back to the mushroom and tossed the lizards dead body onto the fruit.

He shook his head, disappointed in Three as he watched the mushroom fold up with the dead lizard and disappear underground with a small prize.

“What an idiot.” he thought.

“Two. Number Three was killed by mushrooms.”

Before waiting for a reply, he quickly added “Not poisonous mushrooms, but man-eating mushrooms. Impervious to physical damage.”

“Brief Four when they arrive.” a commander said.

“Acknowledged.” he nodded, waiting for Four.