What's the Deal With This Mushroom?!

Tianping, Whirlpool, and Rose had all noticed the Mushroom Man standing in the warehouse, but none of them could figure out what he was.

"Forget the mushroom! It's probably some recruit's summon. Look how dumb it looks—it must be a failed product. Moon Ghost can't hold out much longer! Stick to the captain's plan!"

Tianping pressed one hand downward, instantly changing the gravity and force fields around the warehouse. Meanwhile, the hammer in Rose's hands, already taller than a person, abruptly grew three stories high and came smashing down at the recruits.

"Holy shit! Qiye, isn't this a bit ridiculous?!" Lin Qiye had just laid out a plan: they would pretend to break through toward Rose in the west, but their real objective was to escape past Whirlpool in the south.

Rose had initially thought making the hammer that big would be enough, but considering that a monster like Lin Qiye was down below, she made it grow taller and larger still, until it was the size of a seven- or eight-story apartment building.

The recruits were on the verge of buckling, but Lin Qiye and the others still hadn't escaped the hammer's range.

They're really coming at me for real?

An idea flashed through Lin Qiye's mind, and he suddenly ordered the somewhat dazed mushroom:

"Mushroom Bro! Block that hammer!"

It was as though the Mushroom Man had been infused with life in an instant. He stepped toward Rose's descending hammer and swung his cocked right fist forward.

Rose's original plan had been to flatten everything in the warehouse with her giant hammer. She hadn't paid any attention to the mushroom.

You mushroom, you're not even as big as my hammer. What use are you?

She decided to smash the mushroom and the recruits into mushroom pancakes together!

But the moment the hammer met the mushroom's fist, Rose suddenly felt an immense force coming through it—one even stronger than the force she had put into swinging it!

The hammer could go no farther! The fist was braced firmly against it! It couldn't advance a centimeter, or even a millimeter!

How is this possible?! A mushroom stopped my hammer?

"Aah!!!!" Rose let out an angry roar, gripped the hammer's handle with both hands, and pushed again.

But the hammer didn't budge.

At the same time, Rose could feel the force against the hammer growing.

This is bad! I can't hold on!

"Boom!!!!!"

An earth-shattering crash rang out as the mushroom sent Rose and her hammer flying! She slammed into the wall of a nearby building.

Wang Mian, Tianping, Whirlpool, and Moon Ghost all faltered for an instant.

What happened? Rose lost a contest of strength?

And she didn't lose to one of the recruits, but to a giant mushroom?

That hammer had grown several times its size. Even if Rose's strength had been suppressed from the Sea Realm to the Cup Realm, that was on the level of spiritual power. In terms of physical strength, Rose was unquestionably among the best on the team!

Yet a mushroom had sent her and her hammer flying?

Wang Mian had no time to check on Rose. Because of that punch and her defeat, the encirclement the five of them had formed around the recruits in the armory was no longer serving its purpose.

The recruits on Rose's side had already fought their way out against Tianping's doubled gravity, while Lin Qiye and his two companions were breaking through to the south.

"Whirlpool! We'll handle the recruits in front of us. You go stop those three!"

Whirlpool didn't reply. Instead, he immediately carried out the order.

Lin Qiye and his companions were rushing toward the other side of the warehouse, which had collapsed during the fight.

Whirlpool flashed over to the warehouse entrance.

Having seen the punch that sent Rose and her hammer flying, he was still extremely wary of the Mushroom Man inside the warehouse.

But he had also observed that, although the Mushroom Man was powerful, he moved slowly. His strides were long, but his pace was not fast. With his own movements, Whirlpool could easily dodge his attacks.

Good, Lin Qiye and the other two are right in front of me!

But when he looked up, he saw Lin Qiye standing on a roof beam, grinning down at him.

Immediately afterward, he sensed that something had flashed past behind him.

Whirlpool whipped around. A huge white body topped by a large red mushroom cap was swinging a punch at him with all its might.

Whirlpool's pupils dilated.

At that moment, what he saw was not the Mushroom Man's fist, but what seemed to be a huge character appearing behind it.

"Death!"

If he really took that punch head-on without defending himself, there would be no possible outcome but death!

Fortunately, Whirlpool's many years of experience allowed him to react in time. He had another defensive vortex: the Devouring Vortex.

He brought his hands together before his chest, instantly activating the Devouring Vortex, but the mushroom's punch had already reached him.

"Bang!"

Whirlpool was sent flying, crashing through and bringing down the remaining half of the warehouse.

"Holy shit, what's the deal with this mushroom?!" Whirlpool cursed as he got to his feet in the rubble, only to suddenly discover that he was surrounded by detonators and explosives, which were emitting a very ominous countdown.

"Beep beep beep beep beep!"

"Fuck! Do all God's Agents like playing dirty this much?!"

Looking at the warehouse ruins being blasted sky-high in the distance, and hearing the earth-shaking explosions, Baili Pangpang, standing beside Lin Qiye, couldn't help smacking his lips.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The Masked Squad's in for it this time. They're nothing special after all. I reckon Mushroom Bro could take them all on by himself—oh, no, by one mushroom."

In fact, Lin Qiye had another way to use his summon besides giving him direct orders: he could teleport the summon within a certain range around himself.

Just now, he had exploited their lack of information, banking on the Masked Squad not being on guard against the distant, slow-moving mushroom. He had suddenly teleported him behind Whirlpool and sent him flying into the pile of explosives prepared deep inside the warehouse.

Blowing him to death was impossible; this was the Masked Squad, after all. But blowing up his mask was worth a try.

"All right, it looks like they didn't follow us. It's just a shame we couldn't bring Mushroom Bro along." Lin Qiye shook his head slightly.

The ability to teleport his summon needed time between uses; he couldn't use it whenever he wanted. Maintaining a summon also consumed Lin Qiye's spiritual power, so he had chosen to leave the Mushroom Man in the warehouse.

If the big mushroom had been even a little faster, Lin Qiye would never have given up such an excellent fighting force.

This was a being who had sent both Whirlpool and Rose of the Masked Squad flying with two punches! Though even now, Lin Qiye didn't know where the creature was from.

"They're not chasing us for now, but what's our next move? What do we do?" Baili Pangpang and Mo Li both looked at Lin Qiye. Without realizing it, he had become the backbone of their three-person team.

"Our next move? We should go to the dormitory building!" After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiye reached a conclusion.

Meanwhile, in the warehouse ruins, Rose, limping slightly and leaning on her sledgehammer, was searching for Whirlpool alongside Wang Mian and the other members of the Masked Squad.

"Where's that mushroom?! I want another match with him!" Furious, Rose swung her hammer wildly through the rubble.