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Leo held up his hands in surrender, yet nothing happened. The calamity stared at him through her many hosts. The pounding headache had mostly subsided, as his senses had time to cool off. He waited for her to make the first move.

Marem closed the small gap between them and grabbed Leo by the collar of his shirt. He offered no resistance as she pulled him down. He was face to face with his infected friend. He attempted to remain relaxed and focused, as he had faith in his seemingly nonexistent plan. He could handle whatever may happen.

She pulled him in for a kiss. He felt shock and confusion flood his thoughts. He pulled back and moved his arms in between them. Leo knew that the calamity would try to infect him, but this was more than he had bargained for. He tried to calm down as the calamity started to speak.

Marem’s unnatural smile returned, “Hm, you really are resistant to us. You avoided infection from the spike devil, and even now your body resists.”

“Yeah, I really can’t do anything about that. I’m willing to admit that I’ve lost, but the status of my body seems unchanged,” sighed Leo.

The ever familiar blue screen popped up right on cue. Through the translucent screen he saw that the calamity didn’t seem to notice it. No one had noticed his status before, though he wasn’t certain if she could.

There were smaller pieces of information to the side of his main stats, but he ignored most of them as his eyes shot to the right. Here was where the notifications for his status effects occurred, whether it was Spikesnake venom or curses. He also saw exactly what he’d hoped to find.

[RESISTED STATUS EFFECT]

[HOST OF THE SPOREMOTHER]

[EFFECT: YOUR MIND IS CONTROLLED BY THE SPOREMOTHER]

Leo had wondered how Marem could be infected while he wasn’t. The spike devil had splattered its brains over him, yet he still had complete control of himself. He figured that his Impenetrable Mind ability had protected him.

“So, sister of David, do you have anything else?” taunted Leo.

He felt the eyes of the crowd focus on him. Their stares were near overwhelming, but Leo did his best to keep calm. The outskirts of the clearing seemed to be overflowing with people. He watched as Marem turned around and joined the crowd.

He was now alone in the clearing, as all the others stood by the forest’s edge. Leo felt the ground start to shake underneath him, as if the Earth itself had started to shatter. He lost his footing, as the land erupted beneath his feet.

The burst had thrown Leo to the side, as he now found himself caked in dirt and mud. He quickly wiped the mess from eyes, and stared at the gargantuan beast before him. There stood a monstrous fungus that somehow looked cramped within the large clearing.

It balanced on four large arms, each arm seemed to be as thick as Leo. Its body was littered with mushroom caps that grew haphazardly. The largest cap seemed to take the place of its skull. This left a large snarling mouth as the only recognizable feature of its head.

Leo had faced many large beasts in his journey, but there was only one that eclipsed this monstrosity. David, the dracolich. He stared down the calamity while he stood up. The last calamity had left him terrified in their encounter, but this time was different.

The large beast approached. Each step forward echoed throughout the trees, as if it were a march of death. The calamity lowered itself to be face to face with Leo. Her mouth was stretched wide enough that should have eaten Leo whole.

A thick burst of spores shot forward. Leo could feel the blanket of fungus form around him, as the monster continued to spew. He held his breath until there was finally an end to the fungal vomit.

The monster's mouth seemed to crack into a wide smile. This was difficult to tell for Leo due to the obscene amount of shiitake on his face, but he was certain that she was smiling. He wiped his face clean once more and stepped forward.

Leo shoved his arms through the tough carapace of the beast. He plunged his arms as deep as he could and attempted to grab onto anything that felt sturdy. With a firm grasp, Leo proceeded to jump as high as he could.

Unfortunately, the monster did not tear apart as Leo had hoped. He quickly rose in altitude while he held onto the monster. The calamity did not seem to take this lightly, as she started to attack Leo while he was defenseless.

Her fours arm smashed against his back. Each blow resonated with a loud thud. He could feel the immense force behind with each blow, but they amounted to nothing against his body. Leo knew that her arms would fall off before she would have a chance to bruise his skin.

The two of them burst through the clouds and left a crater in their wake. Their speed had gradually decreased until they reached the peak of their ascent. Leo placed his legs onto her chest and ripped his arms free.

The beast roared, “IT CAN'T BE. EVEN OTHERWORLDERS CAN'T RESIST A HIVELORD!”

“Of course they can’t, they aren’t me.”

Leo cocked back his fist, and he gave the calamity one last look. Her chest had been torn open by his arms, and her arms were outstretched in a desperate attempt to grab him. His desert training had succeeded in teaching him how to fight in the air, as he threw his punch aimed squarely at her head.

[Generic Ability: Basic Strike]

He saw the fragmented remains of the calamity plummet down towards the ground. Leo aimed to land straight back through the hole in the clouds. He picked up more speed with each passing second until he finally landed on top of her corpse.

The force of his landing sent dirt flying as he landed in the crater created by the calamity. What small portion had survived his original blow was all but destroyed upon landing. Leo climbed out of the fungus-filled chasm, and he was greeted by the sight of the once stalking crowd now unconscious on the ground.

There was only one person left standing, Marem. She staggered towards Leo.