"Cough, cough… What's going on!?"
Caught in a thick cloud of mushroom spores falling straight from the ceiling, Thistle choked violently, unable to catch his breath.
He quickly noticed his clothes becoming looser, his limbs shrinking, and his long pointed ears becoming round.
Thistle, once the textbook image of an elf, had instantly transformed into a short-statured halfling.
Eyes widening, Thistle was stunned.
Transforming mushroom spores? They planted them on the ceiling in advance!? But why was the transformation happening so rapidly after contact?
As he puzzled over his sudden transformation, he realized that the dragons he had summoned were also changing under the influence of the spores.
Their forms shifted in an instant—far faster than what normal transforming mushrooms could induce in monsters—throwing them into chaos.
"Rain… I'll use rain to wash off these spores…"
Familiar with transformation mushrooms, Thistle immediately tried to conjure rain with magic to revert the transformed dragons back to normal.
As he desired, rain poured down, soaking the air and dragging the airborne spores to the ground. Thistle prepared to cast another spell to prevent those damned thieves from making their next move.
But just then, a massive bullet shot through the spore cloud—striking one of the dragons closest to Thistle square in the body.
The sudden blow sent the beast reeling and broke Thistle's concentration.
"You stupid dragon! Stop moving!!" Thistle roared in frustration—and saw the source of the shot.
Naofumi Iwatani now stood with a rugged, beast-like Heavy Bowgun in his hands, clad in strange armor. Smoke still curled from the barrel after firing a Dragon Piercer round. But what truly caught Thistle's eye…
Was the shield on Naofumi's arm—crafted from a transforming mushroom.
"Ten minutes!"
Naofumi chewed a Nullberry in his mouth to stave off the transformation's effects. Dressed in Taunting Armor, he had drawn nearly all the dragons' attention onto himself.
The spores came from his shield.
By incorporating the transforming mushroom into his Four Holy Shield, he had unlocked a new form:
[Transforming Mushroom Shield: Produces mushroom spores that forcibly change the target's race for ten minutes. When struck in close quarters, emits directed transformation spores.]
Furious, Thistle tried to cast another spell—but dizziness overtook him. He collapsed backward, clutching the two Winged Lion tomes as he fell to the floor.
He had succumbed to Mana Inebriation, a side effect now afflicting his halfling form.
"What's going on!?"
Marcille, who had transformed into a goblin, was completely at a loss. All she could see were the hunters, each clad in the same glimmering golden armor, moving in synchronized formation.
They were such conspicuous targets—surely the dragons should have attacked them immediately.
But most of the dragons, now agitated by Naofumi's heavy fire, had turned their aggression toward him instead.
Still, a few dragons did try to prevent those radiant hunters from approaching Thistle.
One Flame Dragon, now turned into a White Dragon, instinctively tried to spark its breath with its teeth—but, unfamiliar with the anatomy of a different species, the breath attack jammed.
And that's when the hunters pounced—with their signature toolkit of tricks.
In the moment of hesitation, a Clutch Claw latched onto its face. Kairo Retsu grinned savagely as he clung to the dragon's head and raised his clawed gauntlet high. "Turn your head!"
Thunk!
The dragon tried to shake him off, but Kairo's attack twisted its entire body unnaturally toward a nearby thick table leg.
"Slinger loaded! All rounds—fire! Drop it!!"
With a roar, Kairo unleashed every stone in his Slinger, sending the dragon lurching forward into the table leg with a thunderous crash. It howled and toppled backward.
Elsewhere, a Green Dragon that had taken to the air tried gliding toward the hunters. But in that moment, Joseph Joestar launched a Flash Bomb right into its face, sending the creature plummeting from the sky and crashing to the ground.
"Tanjiro! I'll handle this one!!"
Kazuma excitedly pulled out a green Wirebug. "It's finally my time to shine!"
"Wyvern Riding!!"
Iron Silk wrapped around the transformed White Dragon. Still dazed from its earlier collision, it had no resistance—and Kazuma seized full control of its body.
"Mwahaha…"
The White Dragon, still adjusting to its unfamiliar body, was now puppeteered entirely by Kazuma. Meanwhile, Tanjiro followed suit—seizing control of the stunned Green Dragon using the same technique, clumsily steering it into battle against the other dragons.
As for Kazuma—he was piloting the White Dragon with more finesse than a purebred one. With a combination of dodges, strong and light attacks, he drove a Blue Dragon steadily into retreat… nearly unleashing a Mounted Punisher!
"!"
Chilchuck stared, dumbfounded, as Kazuma and Tanjiro—both riding dragons—engaged the others in combat.
They'd just hijacked control of the monsters right out from under the Mad Sorcerer. Was he dreaming?
"Wait! Where's Laois!?"
Marcille, now protected by Naofumi's shield, suddenly realized something was wrong.
Though the distracted dragons couldn't reach those protected by Naofumi…
Where was Laois!?
"Don't go out there."
Naofumi kept his shield and Heavy Bowgun raised. "You guys can't fight dragons. Laois knows how to stay hidden… He'll be fine."
Marcille still looked worried—but Kairo Retsu had already begun climbing onto the table.
Thanks to Kazuma's excellent Wyvern Riding and Naofumi's effective distraction, the number of dragons in the area had already dwindled significantly.
"Laois," Kairo Retsu called, reaching toward the nearby Laois dressed in Invisibility Armor, "Time to move!"
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