While the rest of the classroom were settling inside the cave, the fourth and final group was moving deep inside the mushroom field.
While moving in the open field, one of the girls asked them,
"So, Hugo, what is your desire?"
"Anjali, can you please stop phrasing it like that? It gives me creeps," Hugo replied, looking at her with strange eyes.
"All of us have told their abilities, so why are you hiding the name? Just tell me yours, and I will tell mine—petty please. And wouldn't our bond be greater after knowing each other's desires? No... what!? That indeed sounded wrong. Forget about the last line. Just tell me the name."
Hugo had been dodging this question for the past hours, but seeing how persistent the girl was, he couldn't help but think it wasn't worth the trouble anymore.
"It's Author. Now happy?"
"Yeah! Very much.... See, it wasn't that difficult now, was it? And in fact, it was easy to guess. You and Elysia had long figured out what you wanted. On the other hand, Rajeev... what's yours?"
"Me?" Rajeev asked.
"Yeah! Do you have any problem telling us..." she asked.
"No... not really. I mean, sooner rather than later we will figure out each other's desire more or less, so there isn't any point in hiding them, is there?" he asked, looking at Anjali with a smile.
"Quite observant, aren't you... hahah! Yes, that would indeed be the case. Still, can you tell me yours?" Anjali asked.
Rajeev was about to reply when Hugo chimed in and said, "Well, isn't this your turn to answer?"
"Indeed, it is. Lo and behold... my desire is Watcher."
Hearing this, everyone was taken aback for a second.
After reading about their desire descriptions, all of them had long figured out that the Desire they get is something deeply rooted about them. It describes what they are or what they want to be.
And now, Anjali says her desire is Watcher.
What's that supposed to mean? Is she some sort of stalker?
"Creepy…" Rajeev muttered out loud.
"Hey! Hey! Who are you calling creepy? It's nothing like what you both are thinking! And look at you two… you're more like creeps," she pounded and was about to say something in defense, but stopped.
Suddenly, her expression changed as she caught a glimpse of something moving to her left.
"Guys… something is stalking us," she whispered, alerting the group to the danger preying on them.
"Can we deal with it?" Hugo asked, instinctively stepping closer to Elysia, the fourth and final member of the group.
"Let me check..." Anjali said.
She stopped walking and turned to observe the monster quietly tailing them. As if it sensed being watched, the creature also froze.
Its eyes met Anjali's for the briefest moment—then it stepped into the open. It had made its decision. It had weighed the risks and found the hunt worth it.
Their Desires were too good, too overwhelming to let go.
"Yes… We can deal with it," Anjali whispered. "But it'll be tough. Everyone, get ready."
As the creature fully emerged into view, the group's expressions changed to one of disgust.
It was a grotesque fungal beast—bulky and standing around seven feet tall. Its rubbery skin was mottled in shades of brown and pale white, rough like tree bark, and crawling with lichen.
Its body was cloaked in moss and twitching mushrooms. A large, volcano-shaped cap glowed faintly on its back, releasing slow puffs of green gas.
The creature's face was deeply unsettling—glowing yellow eyes sunken beneath a bony ridge, no visible mouth, and two thick horns jutting from its head, clearly built for brutal charges.
Sensing Rajeev as the biggest threat among them, the creature lunged toward him with fast, sudden, and terrifying power.
It moved like a bull, and Rajeev barely had time to react. He tried to dodge, but the monster was faster than he'd expected.
Its horn tore through his clothes, then ripped into his side, flinging him violently to the ground.
Ahhhhhh!!!
Pain filled his senses as he clutched his stomach. There was a deep wound soaking his shirt with blood.
"Rajeev!" Looking at the bloodied side of his, Anjali shouted with a worried voice.
While the monster had charged toward Rajeev, Hugo had run toward a long, broken piece of mushroom stem lying on the ground.
Thinking about the properties, he picked it up.
Soon, its organic stem turned into something soft and sticky, like tar. Without thinking twice, he threw it on the ground ahead of the charging monster, preventing it from attacking Rajeev twice.
Stumbling off the ground, Rajeev somehow got out of the monster's way. Frowning from the pain, he concentrated his essence upon his hand.
While the monster tried to free itself from the tar, Anjali kept her eyes locked on the beast, observing everything about it.
"The pores it releases from its back have a hypnotic effect... try to avoid it as much as possible. Don't breathe it in! It will mess with your head!"
The warning had come a little late, as most of them had inhaled some of it. The effect was subtle at first, but now it was showing its effect. Their vision started to get blurred, while their thoughts scattered.
Despite not wanting to do it, Elysia yelled, "Back!"
Everyone soon moved aside as she stopped near the monster. Looking at how it was still trying to get out of the tar, she looked at it and screamed.
It was faint at first, but in an instant, her voice grew louder and louder until it burst into a shock wave. The sonic blast slammed into the monster's side, throwing it out a few meters away from the group.
Despite the pain clouding his mind, Rajeev was keeping all his attention on collecting more and more essence in his hand.
Staring at Elysia, the monster charged again, but this time it was slower. With how close the sonic blast had hit it, it was now bruised, bleeding, and dazed a bit.
Tar once again turned back to a mushroom stem as Hugo touched a rock and changed it into a dense, rubber-like thing. Taking advantage of its slow speed, he flung it toward the monster's legs.
It barely worked, and the beast stumbled, crashing down in front of Elysia. Looking at it, a grim smile appeared over her face as she blasted a sonic blast right into its face.
Once again, the monster crashed down a few meters from them.
Looking at it, the grim turned into a frown.
'Was that not enough!!' she thought while massaging her windpipe.
This blast was from point-blank and should have been enough to finish the monster, but somehow it was still standing. That wasn't all, either; the pores' effect was getting dangerously dangerous as they could feel the area around them distort.