The Life, Death, and Relife of the Mushroom Mage

Chapter 5

Mally led Rat alongside the carriage, looking around the area in concern. The foliage here was thick, and it was prime real estate for bandits. If they were going to attack a carriage, this would be the place they did it.

"You seem nervous," Artesia commented, and Mally looked back at her. She had picked up on their anxiety, and her hands were fisted in her robes. She was nervous, too. She was looking back through the window in the back of the carriage, as if to watch for Edwin's carriage, and Mally gave her an easy smile.

"Sorry, my lady," they said. "Just listening for any weird sounds."

Just like clockwork, there was a snap in the forest, and Mally's head whipped around as they reached for their sword.

"I'm going to check it out," they said and swung off Rat, and suddenly, figures emerged in front of the carriage.

"Why, hello there," the bandit leader purred, and Mally inhaled slowly and exhaled. They had already killed a body. A dead body, but a body. They could do this. "We don't want no trouble. Just hand off the lady in the carriage and the valuables and you can go."

"We can't do that," said the lead paladin and drew his sword.

"Oho? That important, is she?" the bandit leader asked, and Mally drew their sword as they circled around Rat. There were three bandits to their left, and they grinned at them.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Mally asked, and the three bandits exchanged glances.

"You're a kid. What are you gonna do?" one of the bandits asked, and Mally activated their spores.

For a moment, there was no reaction, and then one of the bandits had the veins blacken in his face. He coughed, took a step forward, and started foaming at the mouth. Mally stepped forward and slashed his throat, and blood splattered over their face. There was a muffled gasp from inside the carriage, and Mally tried to ignore that. This would be her first experience with death. Mally had been taken down to their father's torture room at the age of seven. They knew people had to die, and sometimes, they had to kill them. That was all there was to it.

Of course, they had thrown a fit about that, unable to do much else, and went on a hunger strike for three weeks until they were force feeding them, but...

Unpleasant memories rose up, and they increased the output of the spores, poisoning the bandits thoroughly. Apparently, they had no magic that made them poison resistant. That was good to know.

One collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth and seizing, and the other rushed them, swinging his sword high. They blocked it, and, with a neat twist, sent the blade flying and skittering over the hard packed earth. Another neat slash across the throat, and he was down, spewing blood all down their front.

The spores pinged with danger, and they spun, blocking a strike from behind, and they watched as he inhaled the invisible spores and went down, choking on his own spit as the mycelium blocked his airway. Another man came rushing at them, but a paladin rode up on him, stabbing him through the back. They nodded in thanks, and then they danced back from another strike. There were about thirty bandits, and not many of them, so this would be messy. They had to make sure not to get cut.

He swung at them, and they blocked it and shoved him back with a forearm to the chest. He stumbled back, and they spun their sword around and slashed his face, carving a line through his eye. He dropped to his knees and screamed, covering his eye, and Rat was probably the most amusing in all of this. Whoever had trained him had made sure this horse was bomb proof, because he was munching on the grass at the edge of the road.

Another bandit came running at them, and they blocked his first strike and pushed the spores. He began foaming at the mouth, eyes wide and terrified, and swung at them again, but they blocked it again and counterstruck, scoring a long strike against his chest. It was a good thing they designed this body to the same proportions as the last one, with a more masculine face, or they would be having a hell of a time.