Chapter Thirty-Eight: Mage, Save Me!

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Shanna charged into the glow of a survivor’s lantern as if she were entering an unguarded place, felling one opponent with a single strike.

“The Mage” felt his mind go blank.

He began to suspect he had chosen the wrong opponent.

“What are you standing around for!? Get moving! There are more of us—we can definitely take them!”

The survivor whose defenses Shanna had just smashed through watched as his thralls were taken down one after another. Panic twisted his face as he turned to see his companions frozen in shock.

At his furious cry, the others finally came to their senses and launched their counterattack.

Now, there were four survivors attacking Shanna, and with their thralls, they numbered seventeen in all.

But in just those few seconds that they had hesitated, Shanna had already defeated one survivor and all his thralls, completely disrupting their offensive rhythm.

“Finally got it.”

Shanna gripped the lantern she’d seized. This item was crucial for her—without it, she’d be forced to stay within Colin’s lantern’s glow and could not truly unleash her strength.

With a few kicks, she sent her opponents sprawling into the circle of Colin’s light, then swept forward to launch another fierce assault.

Shanna’s strength—four times that of an ordinary person—defied simple arithmetic. If a normal person could throw a punch with a force of fifty kilos, her casual blow now delivered two hundred. If she didn’t hold back and aimed for a vital spot, a single strike could kill.

Even after casting a protective blessing over the group, with one hand holding the lantern, she could still fight with overwhelming force, leaving her adversaries completely unable to retaliate.

“Mage, help me!”

A lord, overwhelmed, cried out in terror as he watched Shanna tear through their defenses with ease.

His two first-level thralls hadn’t lasted a single exchange against her. One thrall, whose strength had reached 2.0, still proved no match.

Was this supposed to be a healer?

This was no gentle healer—this was a juggernaut.

In that instant, they all felt as though they’d fallen for Colin’s trickery. He’d misled them, making them believe Shanna was the weakest one present—the softest target—only for her to reveal herself as a fearsome adversary.

Now, the survivor sent a desperate plea for help to the “Mage”.

But in the next moment, his body gave way and collapsed, landing atop his four thralls.

Shanna snatched his lantern and set it on the ground.

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Shanna had no intention of killing him; his fate would be left for Lord Colin to decide.

She understood well that lords could plunder one another, and these “high-quality” thralls were valuable spoils.

Then Shanna turned to face the “Mage,” holding the lantern in one hand and the Bible containing the battering ram in the other. She fastened the chain on her wrist to the book to avoid losing her grip, then rushed forward.

“What a bunch of useless fools!”

The “Mage” spat the insult under his breath. He couldn’t see the others’ attributes, so he had no idea what Shanna’s stats were at that moment. But given her performance, her strength was likely close to—if not at—three.

Otherwise, she could never have overwhelmed their forces so easily.

A cruel light glinted in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he hissed, “You forced my hand!”

He barked, “Eat the mushrooms!”

The five thralls under his command shuddered at his words, despair flickering in their eyes, but they carried out the order without hesitation.

Each had a red mushroom tied around their necks by a string.

[Flesh Mushroom: A mushroom that grows by absorbing twisted flesh and blood. For those with less than 2 strength, it provides a massive 100% boost in power, but also reduces sanity, spirit, and intelligence by 95%. While under its effect, thralls cannot be knocked out.]

[Description: A red mushroom that appears unremarkable.]

[Note: Half an hour after use, those with an initial constitution below 2 will die in extreme agony. Those with constitution above 2 will suffer “idiocy” and “weakness” for an hour; the effect diminishes with higher stats.]

Clearly, none of these thralls had base stamina or constitution above 2. The only result of eating this mushroom would be death.

But a lord’s command could not be disobeyed, no matter how much they resisted or even if their loyalty was questionable.

A bitter, foul, almost unpalatable taste filled their mouths. As they swallowed, a burning heat began to rise in their guts.

Their blood surged, their eyes reddened, veins bulged at their temples, and they were filled with a furious rage, desperate to tear apart everything in sight.

A tenuous leash still held them in place, keeping them standing—like beasts chained and barely contained.

Once released, there would be no reining them back in.

“You deserve to die!”

Shanna’s usually gentle voice was hoarse. She couldn’t see the mushrooms’ details but sensed instinctively...

Those who ate them were beyond saving.

In that instant, her thoughts flashed to Colin—another lord who, even with his thralls, still showed basic respect for human life.

And then to this one, who saw people as mere disposable tools.

“Kill her!”

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The “Mage” met her icy gaze and his heart lurched. He shouted desperately.

After consuming the mushrooms, his thralls’ strength peaked at 2.5—he was certain that, now, they should be able to handle her.

He’d once killed a mutated sorcerer in wizard’s robes using this very method, having discovered the mushrooms earlier and sacrificing thralls to win.

Since the trading market opened, whenever he encountered a powerful mutant, he’d use this trick and always reaped rewards.

As for the lives of those thralls... The trading market was full of replacements—why feel any remorse?

This time, he expected the same outcome, though it was unfortunate that once the mushrooms were eaten, those thralls would become uncontrollable. That woman was doomed to be torn apart by their frenzy.

But what he didn’t expect was that, before his very eyes, it was the same as before—utterly pathetic.

His frenzied “army” was like paper figures, each one knocked down by that woman with a single blow.

And because they couldn’t be knocked unconscious, she used even rougher methods—shattering their leg bones, rendering them completely immobile.

In that moment, he even wondered if the mushrooms he’d given out were expired.

“Damn it! Why is she so difficult to deal with!”

A sudden thought struck him, and in a panic, he fumbled through his pack for a parchment scroll, hoping to buy new thralls in bulk from the trading market and use his “mass-production” tactic.

But as soon as he opened the market, a hand seized his wrist bone.

Crack—

“Ah!”

He barely resisted as his bone was snapped by brute force. His wrist was released, and he recoiled in agony, clutching his arm and falling to his knees.

What chilled him even more was the cold, merciless voice that came from in front of him:

“You may die now.”

At those words, he ignored the pain and looked up, trying to beg for mercy.

But in a flash of white, he saw blood droplets splattering through the air, fragments of bone, and then... another eyeball?

That eye, its nerve still attached to a sliver of muscle, drifted through the air and slowly rotated inward. In its reflection, he saw...

A headless, exploding corpse.

It was draped in tattered mage’s robes.

With a dull thud, the “Mage” collapsed to the ground, convulsing unconsciously—and after only a few twitches, he was still.