Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

The marshlands were especially hot and humid today. There was a reason for this. The sage of space, Eon, was currently testing out a simple device. Usually, magic crystals would fuel magic devices. For this device, however... 

A beam of fire-cooked the surface of the water. The water boiled almost instantly, and Eon quickly put down the weapon.

"Hmm… It's not bad but…" Eon was not confident that this flamethrower fueled by magic mushrooms would be able to pull through against the hydra. Currently, Eon was testing out different elemental weapons fueled by mushrooms.

The purpose was obviously to bolster the strength of the lizardmen. Eon wanted the best possible chance during his encounter with the boss monster. 

Unfortunately, the mushrooms weren't cutting it. He might have to abandon them or just think of an alternative.

"Maybe a bomb of sorts will work…" Eon ruminated through his thoughts, looking for possible solutions. Finally, he landed on something.

"If I can't increase their power with weapons… I can try making their rides stronger" Eon was of course talking about the boats which were just canoes at the moment. If he rigged them, he could have them become weapons for ramming against the hydra.

"There will be a high loss of life" But as that was the plan from the beginning, there were actually no real downsides.

"Hm, I'll get that done and then we'll set off" Eon said to himself. The sun was bright today, he hoped that was a sign of a good omen.

***

At the same time, in the mushroom caverns. Var Agus and his lizardmen were in a panic.

"The mushroom god has been despondent for a whole day now..." The mushroom god's teachings were vital to them, this was a horrible turn of events!

Var Agus did not know when Eon and Kurgher would initiate their strike on the hydra deity. They needed someone to supervise them and inform them, but Var was not confident in sending any scouts.

For one, marshes were mostly flat. There was nowhere to realistically hide. Two, the only time the lizardmen could move covertly would be during the foggy days. But that brought its own problem. Visibility!

What was the point of sending a scout that could be spotted easily, or a scout that couldn't see? In either of these scenarios, the scouting was almost pointless!

Sure, scouts didn't have to remain hidden, but it was definitely preferable. A known scout would be in danger, which was clearly not good. The ones being observed might also act more occult or purposefully feed false information if the scout was known.

Whatever the case, Var Agus saw it fitting to leave as soon as possible. If they couldn't get the mushroom god, it was better to just go ahead. If they went ahead of the Mensch tribe, they could try setting up an ambush at least.

Var Agus was angry about his dependence on the mushroom god, but he eventually managed to calm down and decide on what to do.

"One last check" He would do one last check on the mushroom god, if they weren't present, he would rile up his men and set off towards the hydra god.

Var left his home in the cavern and started to walk down the deity's path. He was soon to reach the keep when he suddenly felt something different.

"Huh?" His mind felt…

'Var, I see you are already coming, I will wait for you' These words entered Var's mind. Var was only dazed for a moment. He felt like jumping up from joy!

While he did not know where the mushroom god went, he did know it promised to help. Something that would force a deity to lock themselves from the outside world had to be strong!

Var's pace increased and he hurried over to Ed's main body. Soon enough, he was face to face with the hundreds of brilliantly shining magic mushrooms. The sight was never uninspiring.

'Welcome' Ed greeted Var Agus who protracted himself on the spot.

Ed watched this act of loyalty with gratitude. Thanks to the link, he felt the emotion behind every subtle movement of Var Agus. Even if that was just a quiver.

Since the link wasn't entirely one-sided, Var was also able to feel the gratitude from Ed. His admiration and respect towards this deity only grew stronger.

'Var, I have prepared equipment for you and the others, gather your men outside the cavern, I will join you all soon' Ed transmitted this message to Var who stood up and nodded resolutely.

The mushroom deity was confident, so of course, Var Agus was also confident! He marched away from Ed with conviction just oozing from his every step.

As for Ed, he stayed to ponder things. Well, his other reason for staying was that as a mushroom, he couldn't actually go anywhere…

'Looks like it's time to face Eon' He had made a lot of preparations, Ed felt ready. The only problem was that he could not actually go to the scene of the battle.

'It's time to split up again' He would need to make a new living mushroom puppet. Not just that, but he also had to figure out how he could get the boats and ships out into the water.

'I can try growing my mushrooms all the way up, but…' That would take a while. If he was that capable, he would have conquered the entire caverns by now.

'Just having the lizardmen lug the ships is not very practical or a good idea' The lizardmen might be impressed by the boat summoning, but the wow factor would be quickly lost when they had to haul the parts of the ship out of the cavern. Not to mention, this was also a time-consuming method!

Ed suddenly realized something.

'I am so stupid!' He just needed to have access to his system space by the swamp shore, and for that he needed… himself.

'Let's make the living mushroom puppet first' Once he got that, he would be able to leave the caverns.

With a plan in mind, Ed entered the system space. He used an earthen puppet as a basis for the mushroom puppet before. This time, he planned to make a metallic puppet.

[Bollumetu]

{ A metal well attuned with plant and fungi }

Unfortunately, Ed didn't actually have much of this ore. There was only one weapon with it, and it was the staff of a mage.

'I'll have to leave some aside' He could always regrow it then.

With the main material chosen, it was all about molding it.

'I don't think I've ever started from scratch in the forge' The things usually had a shape and could be easily merged.

Ed tossed the Bollumetu into the forge. There, the metal melted at a steady pace.

'Ah, on second thought' Ed used some thongs to quickly grab the metal out of the forge. It would be bad if it turned entirely fluid!

Ed hadn't worked with the forge from scratch before. That only meant one thing, he was not using all the tools at his disposal. The forge had all sorts of holy-looking smithing tools.

That included the hammer Ed picked up. His plan? It was to wack the metal into shape. After being loosened up by the forge, any material became malleable. Taking advantage of this, Ed could make most shapes with ease.

The sound of metal on metal resounded in the empty white space as Ed worked tirelessly to form the metal into a humanoid form. Soon enough, the puppet was done. It was actually fairly small.

'Now I just need to make the other components for the puppet' Although the puppet body was done, Ed planned out some components. The first was a small glass container.

The problem was that he didn't have any glass. The design for this component had to be changed to a metallic bird cage-like structure.

'It's a pity' If there were holes, there were risks for the thing inside the cage.

The cage was a bit tricky to form from scratch, but Ed didn't take too long to make it. He was even able to cut corners in a couple of spots by using some chain mail from the storeroom.

The beauty of the birdcage took a hit, but the quality was really not bad. Ed didn't have much time to admire his handiwork, however.

He needed to quickly make another blood clot. This would be his backup plan. After the clot was made using human blood, Ed left the system space.

Once out, he summoned the metallic puppet and tried to give it consciousness. After a couple of attempts, Ed realized it wasn't working as intended.

The small and simple consciousnesses Ed inserted could not move the puppet. Ed didn't believe a split part of himself would be too powerful either, the part would be just as incapable of moving.

'Back up plan' The blood clot he created was not really a blood clot until it had a consciousness in it.

Ed returned to the system space and split himself up. After some internal screaming about the infernal flames, Ed was able to create the new mini him.

A.

After W went the letter A, it was alphabet 101.

A was stuffed into the blood clot, being Ed, A knew the next necessary step. The puppet Ed made had various blood channels. The blood clot entered the puppet and controlled it from inside as if it were wearing armor.

'Good, now the final part, scoop me up' Ed thought, smiling inwardly. Fungi had a tenacious nature.. Uprooting them did not automatically mean they were dead. Ed would plant himself into the birdcage!