Fungi

**Fungi** are as numerous as plants, but are as different from plants as plants are from humans. Undead and Abominations are the natural banes of Hordes since fungi can't feed upon them whereas the opposite isn't true. Fungi are able to mimic another's appearance down to the smallest details as a sign of respect toward a member of another race.

## Fungal Creature

*Elements: Water, Earth*

The magical beast equivalent of fungi. They take the form of a colossus over 3 meters (10 feet) tall with bright yellow eyes but no other features or definite shape. The whole dust cloud acts as its body and are actually its spores. Fungal creatures are capable of moving each spore individually and can use them to flood a living beings respiratory system, making it impossible for them to breathe or cast new spells. The spores are also able to feed upon their host and drain their fluids to increase their numbers. Surviving to such a multi pronged attack is nigh impossible without darkness fusion magic, which can feed on the spores and turn them into nourishment. While permeating a target's body, fungal creatures can release mycotoxins that cover the entirety of the skin in seconds. Light magic is useless against it and only accelerates its spread.

Fungal creatures can retrieve their spores, condensing them to assume a physical form. However, they are still able to manipulate their body, such as opened a hole to let a spell harmlessly pass through the empty space. The spores can arranged themselves in tendrils capable of freely attacking from every direction. The pseudo arms have no bones or joints, so they can change their trajectory at any time. As fungal creatures feed more, their spores increase in hardness, making them able to withstand most Tier 3 spells without effort.

Fungal creatures are flammable, but setting them ablaze causes a strong small explosion that spreads the spores everywhere. They also emit a prolonged, bass noise when in pain. Fungal creatures can be enslaved by infecting part of their spores with a slave agent due to the consciousness they share. In the same vein, the fungus can be freed simply by destroying the enslaved spores.

* Loma (formerly)

## Horde

The **Horde** are the Fae equivalent of fungi and are the next evolutionary step of a fungal creature (such as the one from Kulah, though the Horde have access to all elements, not just water and earth, and possess much more powerful cores). They consist of a bright colored mist that is actually comprised of minuscule living beings that, despite each having their own body and a bright violet mana core, all share the same energy signature. The countless creatures form a single entity that have a hive mind and core. Currently there are 8 Hordes in existence, one having perished in the battle against Vareen the Plaguespreader.

Their rarity is due to their inability to give birth to offspring. Once Awakened, a mold can reproduce, but the newborn just becomes part of the hive mind and body of their progenitors, not a new being. On the one hand, the phenomenon makes the fungi nigh-immortal since a single spore can rebuild the colony from scratch as long as they have enough nutrients. Age doesn't matter because new beings replace the old ones the moment they die. On the other hand, it makes their race incapable of growing in number over time. The chances for a fungal colony to manage to Awaken is nigh zero because the process is individual, and the mycetes have to find a way to share the technique before their demise. Fungi have a very short life span and even Awakening doesn't extend it by much. It makes the Horde incredibly rare, to the point that only a handful of them exist on the entirety of Mogar.

The Horde's greatest strength is also their weakness. To go beyond the bright violet, a Horde has to merge into a single body and pool up their mana. Being split into countless small beings makes them hard to kill, but at the same time limits their mana flow. The magical strength of a single mycetes is irrelevant, forcing them to assemble in order to conjure any form of magic. To do that, the mist has to converge into a single point, making themselves vulnerable to a lethal attack. The packed minuscule violet cores amplify each other's mana flow, increasing their individual magical prowess by several folds. On top of that, each spell they unleash is actually comprised of several small spells, making them hard to defend against.

The Horde is able to prey on every life form in sight to regain their mass without the need to stop their advance. Even though the Fungi lack the white core, their eternally youthful bodies and their ability to coordinate the countless small violet cores that comprise each colony to weave spells of untold power make them into the next best thing. The creatures possess great attack and defense. By spreading thin, they can avoid most spells, taking little to no damage even from Tier 5 spells. When they converge into a single point, instead, the Hordes can unleash powerful Spirit Spells that can pierce through any defense.

Hordes can sacrifice themselves to take down their enemies. By infusing themselves with darkness magic, they turn each spore into a living weapon capable of eroding physical and magical barriers alike. Invigoration allows them to recover the lost mana and by sacrificing their exhausted members, they even reset its effects. The newborns have fresh bodies that can use the breathing technique to its fullest.

The Hordes' racial affinity allows them to temporarily make their energy signatures match and become a single being. In their new form not only do the Hordes achieve a body with superior mass, but also the ability to make their countless mana cores work in unison and conjure spells beyond the limits of what any bright violet-cored creature can. As the spores pile up and become part of a single massive mana core, the aura of the combined Hordes turns bright white. Strong with multiple minds, the resulting creature is able to weave a dozen Tier 5 Spirit Spells at once.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 818: Utopia (Part 2)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 1519: United They Stand (Part 1)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 648: All Are One (Part 4)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 646: All Are One (Part 2)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 645: All Are One (Part 1)
6. ↑ Chapter 647: All Are One (Part 3)
7. ↑ Chapter 1352: Unveiling the Truth (Part 2)
8. ↑ Chapter 1520: United They Stand (Part 2)
9. ↑ Chapter 1524: Chaos Hybrids (Part 2)