By the time we reached the mycelid colony, the growth our new friend had on me had thickened like a layer of clothing underneath my robes. Its white mycelium was elastic, emanated warmth and magic. Whatever properties it possessed, allowed us to telepathically communicate with each other. 

My only issue was the mycelium spreading into the holes between my legs, invading my ass and pussy without regard for privacy. Of course, it didn't know what privacy was— that was a human social construct. Every time they spoke to me, magic coursed through the growth and teased my body. Full blown conversations were going to give me orgasms.

We have arrived.

It said, causing a tingle on my arms and legs.

Their colony was situated on a series of elevated stone columns that jutted out from the ground. A forest of mushrooms were cultivated to create huts, long and thick stalks cut down to form bridges between the pillars. Above us, clusters of magic crystals grew from the ceiling and provided light to the surroundings. A coat of mycelia covers the ground beneath my feet.

Humanoid mycelids of different shapes and sizes walk about like machines, harvesting the magic crystals and mushrooms. Others stand guard as still as statues at the edges of the pillars.

We landed on the largest column, which itself was wide enough to host a small village with huts and storage houses. The mycelids didn't skip a beat, not minding that a witch and cat had come to their colony.

Well. They already knew that from the one clinging to my body, given that they operated on a shared consciousness.

Earthwalker. Your coming here is fortuitous.

"Don't tell me. The colony is in danger of being wiped out by those slugs," I said.

Those half-eaten bodies back there were mycelid corpses. It wasn't hard to put two and two together to know that the slugs were gorging themselves on the magic.

For centuries we had lived in a perfect balance with vesper slugs, and all manner of beings in the Underground. In recent months, they had grown larger and more ravenous.

"I… think I know why that is, too…" Inner Talmora was drowning in massive amounts of magic, gathered from the world into the towers. The surface wasn't the only one affected, I should have guessed it would throw off the natural balance in other places, too. The remsectnids I had to visit might be affected as well. "At any rate, time's wasting. Just tell me what I have to do."

Whatever they tell me could only be to cull the slug infestation. To simply systematically remove a species from the food chain might further upset the delicate balance down here. I had to navigate the conversation carefully, too, since I needed something from them.

That is exactly what we wish for you to do— if you wish to receive our spores in exchange.

"Don't read my mind." I glared at the mycelid that had finally detached itself from me. Their mycelia was still on my body. Keeping it on might be for the best, even though I didn't like the idea of something knowing my thoughts.

If the vesper slugs are not entirely removed, they will continue to propagate. The problem will remain. We will still be in danger. Our species may become extinct— 

The mycelium on me was pulsing so much I was nearing another climax.

"Stop, stop stop!" I shouted until they went quiet. The mycelid cocked its head to one side, then leaned in as though expecting me to say more. "I'll do what I can. You mushroom heads better have a big bucket of spores for me when I get back."

That sounded a lot worse coming out of my mouth.

We shall have what you came for upon your return.

Satisfied on that front, I took off with Rio back to where the slugs were first sighted. This underground paradise of moss-covered stone pillars and sky of magic crystals was beautiful in its own right. I could scream and hear my echo bounce off cliff sides miles off in the distance. It was so strange to be enveloped in darkness and light at the same time. 

If— When I resolved everything back on the surface, I'd need to add the underworld to the list of places to revisit. Mira and Belle would both have a field day collecting new, untapped alchemical reagents down here.

I brushed the rest of my thoughts away in case the extra ears began to jump to conclusions.

It wasn't long before I found the scourge of vibrant slugs, slowly making their way towards the mycelid colony. It was like watching the ground itself move, there were so many of them. Hundreds upon hundreds slithered on with only a single thought in mind— to consume. Many were about half my size, some were so engorged they looked like crawling orcs.

The mycelids couldn't possibly fend off this horde.

"What do you think, Rio? There has got to be a vesper birth-mother nearby." I tossed a magic crystal to the ground and watched as a group of slugs quickly converged on it.

Rio belched in response.

Attacking them with magic earlier didn't do anything. Another way of culling them would be to let Rio eat. However, even a gluttonous soul had its limits, and there were far too many.

"Hmm…" I noticed several slugs moving against the stream, carrying in their mouths pieces of fungi and crystal chunks. Rio followed the ones going the opposite way until we came upon an enormous stone formation with a deep blue fluorescent glow.

We discerned right away that it wasn't part of the environment. It moved forward at a very gradual pace. Slugs emerged from underneath its crystalline and moss-covered skirt. A pair of tentacles unraveled to reveal eyeballs at the tip.The vesper birth-mother looked right at me and secreted mucus that glistened on its body.

You must find a way to kill it, earthwalker.

My whole body trembled. The mycelid just had to speak at a time like this.

While I wasn't paying attention, something heavy fell onto me and Rio. I fell hard to the ground, but the impact was fortunately softened by my robes' properties. Slugs fast surrounded me on all sides. Rio was dogpiled to such an extent he couldn't open his jaw to eat. I was about to cast a spell when I recalled that my magic would have no effect.

"Black magic it is— aaahh!" I jolted as two slugs, one from front and another behind, pressed their slimey heads to my crotch and ass, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Their proboscis, an elongated and tubular mouth slickened by mucus, pushed into each of my holes. They started fucking me with their mouths, tiny cilia along the surface brushed and scraped my insides to scoop out the mycelia.

Our connection… weakens. If they remove the mycelium network, we will no longer—

"Argh! I know that already… but if you keep talking, you'll just attract more!" I shouted.

Another slug fell on top of my face and silenced me. The thick phallic sensation I felt when I first encountered them was actually a penis, and one had now jammed down my throat. Unlike human and demi-human cocks, these were elastic and pulsed with magic.

They were attracted to the mycelia on and in my body, and likely wouldn't stop until they licked it all up. Only some slugs had taken interest. Most slithered on by, but if the birth-mother caught up, it would crush me to death.

I could have my robes eat them, but they were screwing me so good I didn't want to stop. Those proboscis were so long, it reached into my womb. They were going to slurp up the tennoraphallus spores at this rate.

It was hard to think with slugs fucking me downstairs. As they removed the mycelium from within me, the mycelid's voice became less clear in my head. I didn't even realize I had fallen onto my side. More slugs closed in on me, humping my body for the mycelia. They had jaws they didn't use, instead they prodded me with their proboscis and rubbed their slimy penis on me.

I managed to exert enough strength to push the slug off my face and its member out of my throat, but not before spraying me with its ejaculate. 

"Ahh— Yes, I'm cumming! Aaahhhhh!" My moans of pleasure echoed back to me. The slugs at my crotch, seemingly emboldened by the sound of my voice, continued their assault without rest. "Eugh… being made to orgasm by slugs… why did it have to feel so good?"

"Mraa!" Rio ran to me after breaking free and eating his fill.

"Okay. I've had just about enough of this, too. Thanks for the fuck, but I'm not interested in mating with a slug!" I compelled my robes to regenerate and consume the slugs raping me. These creatures were made of delicious energy that recharged the magic they tried to drain off. My hands and staff were brimming with power but that attracted more slugs than anything. 

Rio lifted me into the air as I cast a mortis spell. A cloud of death rolled over the slugs like a blanket of black haze, wiping out the infestation in seconds. All that was left were bubbling pools of sludge where the slugs were. Even the birth-mother degenerated into a viscous, oozing pond. The remaining vespers slit away, hiding into holes in the cavern and retreating to the ceiling to camouflage themselves.

It should take decades for them to repopulate. Hopefully it would be enough to convince the mycelids the vespers were not a threat anymore.

I returned to the colony to nothing but the sound of humming crystals and footfalls of working mycelids. One would have thought saving their lives would result in celebration, but they carried on like nothing had changed. The mycelia that had been partially eaten off my began to regrow.

The same mycelid I had saved came to speak to me again.

Welcome back. We see that you are successful despite your unfortunate mishap with the vespers. The cluster has confirmed that the greatest threat has been eliminated. We should be able to survive against the few that remain.

"They nearly ate me down there. You better keep your end of the bargain," I said, marching up to the pint-sized mycelid.

Follow us. We shall guide you.

It led me into a small hut covered in mycelia, the center of which had mushrooms growing from a dirt patch. They were unique in that the multi-colored caps had ridges. I'd never seen fungi like this before. A faint, sweet smell filled my nose.

These are our sacred spawns that eventually become what we are. Please, collect them at your leisure. But do not uproot them.

"How am I supposed to collect it?" I asked, walking up to the dirt patch with a vial in hand.

The mushrooms suddenly sprouted from the dirt reminiscent of the anoragrathi. Without giving me a chance to react, they wrapped around my wrists and ankles, lifted me off my feet, and began to poke at me with their heads.

"What the hell?!" I glared at the mycelid watching from the entrance.

Do not struggle. They will retract if faced with resistance, and you may lose your chance at collecting the spores.

A mushroom tentacle, much thicker than the rest, tugged my underwear away and rubbed against my clit.

"Oohh… mmmh... " The pleasure was overwhelmingly addictive. Especially since I was still sensitive from the slugs' aggressive violation of my body.

This mushroom appeared to have a mind of its own, taking joy in acting out foreplay as if it were human. As it worked for its anticipated fuck, another mushroom rose to my mouth. I started sucking on it, wrapping my tongue around the head and licking under the tapered shaft.

It might have been my imagination, but I thought I heard a voice in my head moan or react to pleasure. The mycelid could very well be connected to these mushrooms, too. My crotch was soaking wet, my juices streaked down my thighs, and I was rubbing myself on the tip of the mushroom.

"Come on. Give it to me already," I begged.

My pleading was answered with the mushroom stretching me open and sliding into my wet pussy. Its thrusts were gentle, like it was trying to make love to me. Completely unlike the vespers. As it pistoned into me, I served the mushroom at my mouth. Sucked on it until it throbbed and gushed what I imagined was the spore in liquid form.

"Mmm— it's so big… ahh! I'm close, I'm close!" My body was burning up. The pleasure was different than with the slugs, its thick head reached so deep. It was so good, my hips gyrated and rode on it even as I was being suspended in the air.

Another tentacle drilled into my ass that was still recovering from being raped by a slug. The stuffed feeling made my body several times more sensitive. Tentacles groping my breasts were shocking me with smaller orgasms, my mouth felt good milking the one in my throat. More mushrooms sprouted from the ground to replace others that retracted, taking turns one after another.

I couldn't take it anymore. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, every inch of my body clenched, the quaking orgasm briefly robbed me of my consciousness. I came to lying on the dirt patch with tentacles mushrooms pouring ejaculate all over my body. The cool sensation of the mycelium tickled my chest and belly, while my back and ass were hot from their cum.

That was quite the experience. We very much enjoyed it.

"In a way… did I just get gangbanged…?" I asked, catching my breath as a tentacle squirted one final load to my face.