Gatekeepers ch.7 (Patreon)

Chapter 7:

Amidst the falling debris, Minato centered himself and took stock of the situation. The pit they were falling into was wide and quite deep, but the fall itself wasn’t an issue.

The glowing, purple roots covering the walls, and waggling like tentacles in a bad hentai were a far more immediate concern.

As if triggered by that thought, some of the mycelium tried to stab the Gatekeepers again.

Minato caught Shiraori bending the wind to dodge the assault, bursts of air propelling her away from danger and using the debris as temporary footholds. She became a bouncing ball across the wall of the pit.

For his part, the redhead waited for the first tentacle to reach him before his hand gently brushed it aside. He twisted his body to avoid another. Four tried to cage him to stop him from dodging.

One he pushed down with his foot, the second he avoided with a tilt of his head, the third he deflected, sending it off course and right into a collision course with the fourth.

The ground finally appeared and Minato rolled off the bone-breaking fall. His grandfather would have killed him if he died of a fall. Dispersing the impact of getting thrown around was the first lesson of the Kamikiri style, after all!

Shiraori landed behind him, carried by the wind.

Both of the Gatekeepers had a grimace on their face. The fungus-born tentacle that had impaled Ren Kurogane was here, his corpse still hanging limply from the wiggling root.

Then, the earth shook again as the mycelium roots covering the walls suddenly all came to life.

“Not good.” Minato understated while he raised his guard, his Stone Monkey Palm spell still sheathing his hands in stone.

All of the fungi started extracting themselves from their earthly prison, widening the pit even further as the walls lost cohesion. They all started gathering in one spot.

Ren’s corpse spasmed and wriggled as the purple tentacles entered the body, stuffing him like the most morbid straw doll

There were far too many for a normal human body to contain. At points, the skin split, showing how the unnatural mushroom was taking over Ren’s muscles.

When the parasitic mycelium finally finished entering his body, Ren rose like a zombie, his movement twitchy and raw. The purple roots showed in place, like a glowing musculature on the partially flayed corpse. His hair had been replaced with wriggling tendrils. His face was mostly whole, except for his eyes now glowing the same purple as the rest. 

Minato and Shiraori watched the hole in his chest glow before it was covered by a layer of Mycelium fibers.

“The Core was the mushroom, not the treant.” Minato finally pieced it all together. A parasitic fungus in a swamp that paratized the monsters. That was why the goblins were like that.

He didn’t have the time to think about it more before Zombie Ren suddenly leaped at them, right arm reared back, and still in possession of Ren’s conjured blade.

The strike was so telegraphed that even with the surprising speed the zombie showed, Minato was still able to sidestep it.

Speed wasn’t the only upgrade. The ground splintered and a shockwave traveled along the floor until it hit the wall. Minato didn’t want to be hit by that. Zombie Ren seemed like he was physically stronger than the treant.

Shiraori slamming into his jaw the next instant and barely making it budge was just more proof.

Minato exhaled. He had already used a fair amount of Mana today, between the culling of the regular monsters and the fight with the treant. His senses told him that Shiraori had a lot more Mana than him, as expected from a supernatural species.

The parasite mushroom seemed to give more strength to its host depending on the mass inside it. And the fungus had stuffed itself whole inside Ren.

Minato raised his arm, sparks flying off his rock-sheathed hand as the blade of the mushroom warrior glided across it.

The Gatekeeper backed off from the following swing. That single strike went through most of the stone and almost reached his skin. He was going to have to be careful.

“Don’t ignore me!” Shiraori roared, roundhouse kicking the mushroom zombie in the back.

She then had to bend backward to dodge the wide swing it retaliated with. However, this left her exposed as Ren’s corpse raised its sword.

Minato grabbed its arm before it could swing, and put it in a bent arm lock. With a forceful wrench, the sound of a dislocated shoulder resonated in the pit.

Minato mercilessly followed with a palm to the jaw alongside a sweep of the feet. 

The zombie was slammed on the ground, back of the head first. Minato raised his fist for another blow when he felt a powerful impact on the side of his body.

He slid to a stop with a hand cradling his ribs. The zombie should have been able to throw a strike in that position. The redhead hissed both in pain and in irritation when he saw that Zombie Ren had hit him with the arm he had dislocated.

One one hand, the mushroom zombie could apparently only use physical attacks, if the treant and Ren were anything to go by. Minato could negate most purely physical strikes. On the other hand, the zombie didn’t care one bit about things like broken bones and could still move just fine. The mycelium was what actually moved the body.

Minato’s gaze went to Shiraori. She was a powerhouse, but she was clearly used to being the toughest in the room. She could do the most damage to the Core Monster, but was ironically the one who could be downed by it the easiest between the two Gatekeepers

This was going to be an endurance match with him as the tank. He was already hating it.

“Hey, you overgrown truffle! Come and get me!” Minato challenged.

There was a bit of silence before Ren’s face distorted in pure rage. The Fungus-powered zombie charged at him with a howl.

Minato didn’t think his taunt was going to work that well!