He pushed his body to its limits, reaching very dangerous speeds as he got towards the approaching hoard.
He wasn't sure how the undead creature had tracked down his camp, but he couldn't let it get to the pods. Or at least he would make sure that it paid a steep price for attacking his commune.
As he zipped from tree to tree, causing a few of the branches to crack from the force with which he launched himself, he used his earth sense to detect which of the creatures were the strongest.
But there were so many creatures that he couldn't pinpoint a single one, so he decided he would open things up with a high-powered solar burst to cut down as many enemies as possible, before going hand-to-hand with the remaining few.
He would've liked to sneak up on the undead mage and kill it, but that wouldn't be possible as he was certain it had an 'earth sense' just like his.
~It's time,~ he thought to himself, just a few meters away from the hoard. With one final push, he leaped into the air, pushing as much solar energy as he could into the solar burst he was creating.
The very air exploded from the heat he was releasing, and just as he was about to let the 3-meter radius ball of death lose on his enemies, he heard a familiar voice.
"Lighted One?"
And immediately, he dissipated the energy, blowing off the surplus as a solar pulse that reached a radius of 4 meters before completely disappearing.
"Pagan? What's all this?" he asked, landing on the ground with a loud thud.
***
~What have we gotten ourselves into?~ thought shroom A, one of the many that had been captured by the monstrous creature.
They had been forced to carry their belongings from their home toward the monster's den. The shroom was nearly certain that they would all be devoured once they reached their destination, but couldn't say anything out of fear that the monster might hear it.
~Why is she siding with that thing? Can't she see that it's just using her and will eat her later?~ shroom A thought to itself as it walked behind the monster and the female shroom who had led it to their den.
They had been walking for nearly an hour, and it was beginning to get tiring. But to slow down meant bothering the monster, and that was something it would not tolerate.
"If this monster is just a chieftain, how powerful do you think the elder is?" one of the shrooms next to it whispered. However, it knew not to reply to such an idiot. It was quite obvious that there was no elder, this monster could have no superior, and it doubted even the owners of the forest could fight against the thing.
~What's the soun-~ shroom A couldn't even finish its thought as it found its answer flying in the sky. A large creature, with a tail longer than its own body and horns long enough to gore through a boar carried a burning sun in the palm of its hands.
~So this is death?~ the shroom thought, certain that it was seeing an apparition.
"Lighted One?" the monster said excitedly, not the least bit worried that it would soon meet its death.
~No, even a monster like this would go mad from seeing such power. How creatures like these have been living amongst everyone else is a mystery to me. But I am glad to have seen such brilliance,~shroom A thought to itself, watching as the very sun was about to come crashing down on it.
"Pagan what's all this?"
~Eh?~
***
Lucius quickly shook off the pain from landing so hard, inspecting the nearly 400 shrooms that Pagan had led here.
"We wish to serve the Lighted One," the shrooms said, all of them lowering their heads before genuflecting in unison.
"Pagan, what the hell is going on?" Lucius asked again.
"These are the creatures that wish to join the commune... however, if they displease you I can quickly take care of them," Pagan replied. At this several shrooms began shivering in fear, Lucius was even certain that he saw a few of them pass out for a split second.
"Asclepius?" Lucius whispered, unable to take Pagan's word for it.
"It is as he says, they all wish to join the commune," Asclepius replied awkwardly.
"And you trust their word?" Lucius asked, skeptical that they had agreed even though they knew nothing about the commune or its goals.
"Y-you can trust u-" one of the larger shrooms was about to say, but one look from Pagan and it went silent.
"I thought I told you not to use strong-arm tactics," Lucius sighed. It was blatantly clear that these creatures were all traumatized.
"Lighted One, they were being uncooperative. And I made sure to only kill those who I figured would be a nuisance," Pagan replied.
Lucius turned to Asclepius as if asking for confirmation.
"Well, the few he killed were indeed troublesome. He dealt with it way better than I could've," Asclepius said.
To be honest, she figured it would be too much to explain to Lucius that his subordinate was a kill-crazy lunatic who was spreading even crazier ideals. All she wanted to do now was have a photosynthesis session as payment for her troubles.
"Hmm, but even if you say that, these are still too many. I'll need to think of a way to deal with them," Lucius whispered thoughtfully, still skeptical that he could trust these creatures.
"I can deal with the ones you don't need, Lighted One," Pagan said, at this the shivering began once again.
"It's okay, your mission is done. I'll reward you your rank after this," Lucius said, dismissing Pagan's suggestion with a wave of his hand.
"Are any of you familiar with building... uh, creating living spaces," Lucius asked, looking towards the creatures.
Though after waiting for nearly a minute none of them responded.
"Is that a no?" he asked after, confused by their silence.
"The Lighted One is speaking to you," Pagan shouted, to which one of the larger shrooms began stuttering.
"H-he did not allow us to speak. Y-you said we would only speak when he allowed it," the shroom explained.
~Just what did Pagan do to them?~ Lucius wondered.
"Pagan, head back to the camp, I left it unprotected," he ordered. Perhaps they would be more comfortable with Pagan gone.
