"Suck it in! Draw its attention!" Steve roared.
He even deliberately slammed his shield hard against a relatively weak section of the mycelium in front of him, producing a deafening crash.
His purpose was simple and crystal clear—
He could not let the main body focus all of its "eyes" on Saitama alone.
Under the concentrated fire of the agents, part of the mycelium defense zone was forcibly torn open into a gap that kept on widening.
Strange, distorted howls echoed from deep within the main body, as if it really had been enraged by Steve and the others' fierce assault.
More mycelium tendrils tore free from its bulk, writhing as they lashed out toward them.
"Captain! It's locked onto us!" an agent shouted, while firing a shoulder-mounted sonic cannon that sent a tendril as thick as a water barrel into violent spasms.
"Good! Keep it up! Give 'the strongest punch' room to work!"
Steve's eyes never left that red figure in the distance, closing in on the main body at a speed almost impossible to track with the naked eye.
He had only one thought in his heart:
Saitama, it's all on you now.
We'll carve the path.
Though the agents' focused fire successfully drew part of the mushroom core's attention, continuously tearing fresh wounds into the surging mycelium wall and disrupting some of the bat monsters diving toward Saitama, the pressure on everyone did not lessen in the slightest.
The all-pervasive psychic contamination wrapped around each person like a soaking wet, icy blanket.
Every breath felt like inhaling molten lead, organs tensing up, cold sweat soaking through combat suits.
Their movements inevitably started to warp.
Their aim worsened.
Even Steve, behind his vibranium shield, felt his wrist growing heavier and heavier.
Just as he was about to order the squad to try expanding the breach further and completely open a passage for Saitama, a sudden change struck.
The mushroom cap's main body contracted violently.
In an instant, a layer of eerie violet light flooded out across the surface of that massive "meat mountain."
The glow flowed like living water over its rough, wrinkled hide, swollen with pustules.
Wherever it passed, the mycelium wounds torn open by energy weapons and pierced through by armor-piercing rounds stopped deteriorating and began to solidify—
at a speed visible to the naked eye.
What truly sent a chill down everyone's spine, though, was what happened next.
Those mycelium zones that had been relatively fragile before—blasted into a mess of holes under concentrated bombardment—suddenly hardened when washed over by that purple glow.
The mucus on the surface instantly solidified, forming a layer of shell-like plating that gleamed with a metallic sheen, frighteningly tough.
Breaching rounds that hit it rang out with sharp "clang, clang" sounds like metal striking metal, leaving only shallow dents.
Energy beams were deflected and scattered, their power drastically reduced.
"Damn it! It's boosted its defenses!"
An agent stared in disbelief as the armor-piercing grenade he had just fired—strong enough to rip through light armor—only managed to blast a small spiderweb crack into the hardened mycelium shell.
"Everyone, listen up! Maintain maximum firepower! Do not stop!"
Steve's heart sank.
The hardened mycelium defense net became nearly indestructible in an instant, and the gap they had just forced open was rapidly sealing shut, reinforcing itself.
…
But that was only the beginning.
The huge base of the mushroom cap main body—pressed tightly against the ground like a rotten tree stump—suddenly began to emit a grotesque gurgling sound that made one's skin crawl.
The thick carpet of fungus covering it, constantly writhing and spawning new growth, bulged outward as if something inside were pushing through from below.
Then, with a sickening tear, it was ruptured from within.
Countless—densely packed, entirely new monsters—came pouring out like a tidal wave!
They were no longer in the form of flying bats.
Instead, eight razor-sharp jointed limbs supported bodies wrapped in half-rotted metal carapaces.
Their huge heads, packed with clusters of compound eyes, were split by twisted, gaping maws—
Like some kind of mutated mechanical spider-beasts.
(End of Chapter)
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