They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 31: Working Off the Debt
No!
Bulwark One!
I spent an entire month shaping that thing!
Damn it, there were seven or eight pieces of equipment inside!
Admittedly, Evan had raised Bulwark One’s Constitution to 40 and given it LV4 Detonation precisely to deal with anyone who refused to follow the rules.
He had not expected that precaution to become necessary so soon!
If he had known, he would have put fewer pieces of equipment inside. He had somehow managed to maximize his losses!
Humans killing humans was none of Evan’s business. He was a monster and had no reason to interfere.
But how dare someone attack his mushroom?
The guilty Dwarf had already been blown to pieces. His companion would have to repay the debt!
Nash wiped the chunks of flesh from his face. Spores and dust suspended in the air flooded his nose, making him cough in ragged bursts.
He shook his dazed head. Only after the black spots dancing across his vision began to fade did he stagger upright.
The rock around the cave entrance looked like dough crushed in an invisible giant’s fist. The opening, once six feet high, had been violently torn open to ten feet.
The fat walking mushroom and Grunbar were both gone.
No, that was wrong.
Nash spotted half a set of steel teeth embedded in a nearby tree trunk.
Grunbar had not vanished. He was everywhere.
The nearness of death sent a shudder through Nash.
Thank the gods for his little hobby. Thank the gods he had not gone with Grunbar to inspect the bulwark Puffcap.
Convinced he had narrowly escaped disaster, Nash lost all interest in tormenting Vera and the others.
He picked up his knife to finish them quickly and leave.
He fell the moment he took his first step. A long mycelial tendril had wrapped around his ankle without him noticing!
“What is this!?”
Nash hacked at the tendril with his knife, but the blade lodged only a third of the way through.
He had to saw and wrench at it repeatedly before it finally parted.
Nash tried to stand, only for another mycelial tendril to crawl up his back and coil around his waist.
Before he could swing the knife, more tendrils surged forward and bound every joint in his limbs.
Puffcaps with tendrils hanging beneath their caps had appeared all around him, encircling Nash before he realized it.
“Walking mushrooms? Tendrils?”
The Half-Elf frantically tried to reach inside his clothes for a packet of powder, but the tendrils only tightened.
“No, no!
“Take them! Eat them instead!
“Help! Hel ... mmph ... help...”
Countless tendrils wrapped Nash into a human-shaped cocoon. Still struggling, he was dragged deep into the forest. Only his muffled pleas remained, fading gradually among the trees.
Fiona, the sole witness to everything, bit down hard through her trembling and refused to make a sound.
Only after every Puffcap disappeared did she begin to sob softly.
“Sever...”
“Sever...”
“Sever...”
...
Fiona did not know how many times she cast Sever before the ropes binding her finally broke.
She hurried to free her sister and Vera.
Faye was all right. She had only been knocked unconscious.
Vera’s breathing, however, was barely perceptible. He might die at any moment.
Their packs were nowhere to be seen, and all their potions had been inside.
Fiona did not know any healing spells. Without a potion, Vera would die!
Tears gathered in her eyes again.
Through her blurred vision, she caught a flash of red.
A Healing Potion!
It was the bottle the Half-Elf had taken out earlier!
Fiona scrambled toward it on all fours. Her hands shook as she poured the entire potion into Vera’s mouth.
“Cough! Cough!”
Vera suddenly choked. He did not awaken, but a hint of color finally returned to his face.
“Thank goodness. Thank ... thank ... sob...”
Relief washed through Fiona, and at last she let herself cry.
Deep in the forest, within the now-empty Gnoll camp, Puffcaps repeatedly smashed the Half-Elf against a rock.
Nash looked wretched beyond description. His nose was broken, every tooth had been knocked from his mouth, and half his tongue appeared to have been severed.
Barely conscious, he could make only faint, incoherent noises.
The Puffcaps continued their work with mechanical precision.
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