Lex summoned his brilliant knife and cut the ropes of vine off his body. Snarling, he ran forward shortly after the Mushroom King vanished into spores. He had woken up moments before the others, and it hadn't taken long for the rage to hit him.
He didn't care if it was suicide.
Didn't care if the thing was ancient, divine, or something else entirely.
He just wanted to make it bleed.
But the clearing was empty gone. No trace of the fungal king or his children remained. Only a patch of soil, impossibly still, and the faint warmth of where the King had stood. It made Lex sick.
He fell to his knees and screamed, dragging his nails across the earth until they tore. The knife clattered beside him, forgotten, as he slammed his fists into the dirt over and over again.
"You don't just put me down like that! I'm not some dog!"
He choked on his own breath, his voice raw. His whole body trembled, veins bulging at his neck, sweat and blood mixing at his fingertips.
Behind him, William stirred from the corner he hid in while he waited for the others to wake.
Then Darius.
Darius immediately grabbed his head with both hands, stumbling forward with a grunt. Blood streamed from his nose, his breathing ragged and unsteady. "Fuck… that thing crushed my mind like a wet napkin," he gasped.
William sat up slower, eyes glassy. He didn't speak.
Lex didn't even look back. He just kept muttering, over and over. "I'll burn him. Burn them all. I swear to god, I'll—"
"He let us live," Darius said finally.
Lex froze. Then he laughed—a short, bitter sound that didn't reach his eyes. "No. No, he spared us. There's a difference."
Willam wiped his face, struggling to stand. "Why didn't he kill us though? That's what I don't get."
Darius spoke "Because we're not a threat. Yet."
That quieted them.
Lex stopped and turned. "We need power. Now. I don't care what it takes."
William and Darius looked up.
"I mean it," Lex continued. "Gear. A base. Followers. A faction, maybe. Whatever the hell it takes to not get stepped on again. If the Mushroom King's going to storm that Tower in a month… then I want to be there."
Darius nodded slowly. "And you want to be ready."
Lex's eyes glinted. "No. I don't want to be ready. I want to be deadlier."
He turned toward the darkness of the forest, eyes gleaming with something feral.
"We're not going back to warn the others. Not tonight. Tonight, we hunt — and we slaughter everything in our path."