The Laughing Swordsman

The old forest that Otis had created was abandoned, left to rot and die. Creating a forest was the way he was used to fighting. However, Otis came to the realization that sticking to old ways wouldn't always work.

He needed to change.

And that started with using the environment to his advantage instead of letting it hamper him. Otis had grown a mushroom in the toxic wasteland before, but didn't see a way to attack with them. That was why he didn't use them earlier.

However, his old strategy clearly wasn't going to work.

And so, he adapted to the situation.

Otis didn't have to create anything new for these mushrooms. The mycelium, or roots of the mushroom, did not go incredibly deep. However, they spread through nearly every inch of the toxic wasteland.

Taking advantage of that mycelium, Otis could forcefully grow mushrooms as needed. On top of that, he could use the individual hypha of the mycelium like the vines. The hypha was better than the vines, both larger in size and more durable.

Apollo got to experience that firsthand.

Countless hyphae shot towards him, giving Apollo no choice but to fight back. He slashed at the hyphae around him.

Apollo used strikes that prioritized speed in order to hit every hypha that went for him. However, he quickly found out that they were not as easy to cut through compared to the vines.

As such, his body was pierced by the hyphae.

It was as though Apollo's body became a sieve. He forcefully moved his hand towards his pouch, twisting the hyphae as he moved.

After a great amount of difficulty, Apollo pulled out a few food pellets out of his pouch and tossed them into his mouth. After accomplishing that, Apollo twisted his body until he could place his foot directly onto one of the hyphae.

Then disappeared.

Right when Apollo appeared, the hyphae twisted and shot towards him. Now understanding that they weren't so easily dealt with, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his bokken until his knuckles became white.

Apollo also tensed his free hand, ready to let it take a beating.

He let out a flurry of strikes.

Apollo's bokken cut through many hyphae while his hand forcefully bashed some more away. However, some of the hyphae were still able to reach him.

They pierced through his thigh and stomach.

Apollo quickly cut them off, then found that even more hyphae came for him. Once again, his bokken flashed while his hand whipped around.

The sides of his free hand were pretty badly maimed and were bleeding quite a bit. Both the pinky and the thumb were bent in strange directions and were close to snapping off.

Like last time, Apollo was unable to block all of them and was pierced in the stomach and arm. He rushed to cut them off, but the split second before he did, the hyphae spread through his arms.

Apollo cut it off, however, he still had an invasive mycelium within himself. Though it was definitely a problem, Apollo couldn't spend any time taking care of it.

The unending wave of hyphae wasn't ending anytime soon. Apollo continued to swat most of them away, breaking off a few fingers of his free hand in the process. Unfortunately, a few of them slipped through anyway, piercing his body.

The split second that they remained in his body, they spread through like a virus.

As the mycelium in Apollo's body grew even further, his movements gradually stiffened up. In the end, more and more hyphae slipped through, piercing him and worsening his condition.

The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control.

Apollo's movements slowed further, finding it far more difficult to block the attacks. Even his laughter slowed down. If he kept doing this, then his end was inevitable.

Apollo no longer bothered with blocking the hyphae and reached for the pouch. His body was pierced on all ends while the mycelium deepened further. As Apollo's motor functions slowed, he continued forcing his arm to move, pulling out nearly fifty food pellets.

He raised it up to his mouth, but with each second, it was as though time slowed further.

Apollo's arm trembled fiercely, resisting the tug of the hyphae. It continued to rise until his hand was in front of his mouth.

...But then, his hand couldn't move.

Yet, when it all seemed like it was too late, his head suddenly shot forward, biting down on his hand. Apollo even ended up tearing off some of the flesh on his palm. However, he succeeded.

For a moment, Apollo was completely still.

But moments later, he twitched.

Once a second passed, Apollo began to move as though he had become molasses.

His body was already emitting large amounts of heat before, but once he had eaten all those food pellets, the heat rapidly ramped up. As for the red scars across his skin, they began mending, but before it could fully heal, they would rip open again.

It was as though a tug-of-war battle was going on.

The heat coming from Apollo increased even more. It was so intense, the ground under his feet began to sizzle. As for the mycelium network that formed in his body, the heat was even more overwhelming.

And so, it rapidly burned away entirely.

Apollo let out countless counterattacks, slamming aside the hyphae. His broken fingers regenerated quickly even though they repeatedly suffered from the recoil of his attacks.

Apollo's eyes widened while his laughs gradually became louder. His momentum similarly grew further while fewer hyphae were able to pierce him.

However, while he was essentially performing extremely strenuous exercise, the excessive energy in his body was hardly consumed from it.

After all, he recklessly tossed nearly fifty food pellets into his mouth, which is almost a year's worth of food. In the past, when Apollo had eaten too much food, he evolved.

First, it was his bones.

Second, his muscles.

Third, his skin.

And now....