Don Quixote took the lead.
Mounted on Rocinante, he had the best mobility and excellent breakthrough power. He was clearly perfect for the role of clearing the way from the front.
The problem was that the opponent was not an ordinary being. No matter how sturdy his armor was, the erosion possessed by the gray fungus nullifies it completely.
In other words, Don Quixote's greatest advantage disappeared. Don Quixote was well aware of this but he still volunteered to clear the path.
It wasn't a baseless decision. Even that terrifying fungus wasn't without weaknesses.
"Rocinante!"
When Don Quixote gave the command, Rocinante opened his mouth wide as hot flames shot out from the steel horse.
-Puhwahak!
The emitted flames devoured the tentacles. The gray tentacles struggled in the heat before turning to ash and scattering. Each time Rocinante breathed fire, the tentacles on the floor and ceiling turned to ash.
But there were many tentacles, and Rocinante could only breathe fire in one direction. Eventually, the unscathed tentacles took advantage of the gaps and attacked."How dare you! You try to lay your hands on my precious steed!"
Such tentacles received judgment from Don Quixote's lance.
-Hwarrrruk!
Though it didn't create actual flames, the surface temperature of the heat weapon was much higher than real fire. The surrounding air rippling with heat was proof of that. The tentacles that touched the lance burned helplessly before they could attempt erosion.
Every time Don Quixote thrust and swung his lance, a crimson trajectory was drawn in the air. The air heated up intensely along the trajectory and the fixated heat hindered the movement of incoming tentacles.
"Hahaha! You can't move at all!"
Don Quixote let out a joyful shout. It was because his image of advancing toward that monster was identical to the valiant knights he had seen in chivalric novels.
The knight's dream he had cherished since childhood. Although it wasn't perfect, he felt alive just by practicing a part of it now.
"I asked you to go wild, but this is too extreme."
Osian, watching from behind, muttered. He said he would break through, but Don Quixote was too emotional. There was joy, but also anger toward that monster mixed in.
'He did show the most intense reaction when Neo was stabbed at first.'
Don Quixote still had something hidden that he hadn't revealed. But this wasn't a good time to ponder that question.
The gray fungus wasn't just targeting Don Quixote.
"What an annoyance."
Osian cut down all the gray tentacles that were secretly targeting him. The tentacles cut by the power of Starlight couldn't maintain their strength. The power wielded by knights was also a natural enemy to it.
A brilliant light sword danced elegantly in the air. Each time, tentacles were severed, and the gray fungus writhed as if in pain.
With countless tentacles being easily defeated, the main body also took considerable damage. But Osian raised his vigilance even more at the sight.
That gray fungus had also put everything on the line for this battle. It too was fighting on the boundary between life and death. Naturally, it wouldn't just be easily defeated like this. Beasts without reason are most dangerous when wounded.
-Kiiiiik!
As Osian expected, the fungus began to respond.
-Kaang!
Don Quixote's lance hit one tentacle and was deflected at an angle. That tentacle eventually crumbled, unable to withstand the heat, but what was important was that it had deflected the attack. Moreover, the sound of the collision was clearly like that of metal hitting metal.
"What! It has become harder!"
Three tentacles aimed at Don Quixote and Rocinante, stabbing forward like lances. Rocinante opened his mouth and breathed out flames. Normal tentacles would have turned to ash there, but this time was different.
-Chwaaaaak!
The tentacles pierced through the blazing flame emission. In the process, they partially melted or were crushed, unable to fully withstand the heat, but what mattered was that they endured.
"Oh no!"
Don Quixote quickly pulled the reins, changing Rocinante's direction. If it had been an ordinary horse, it would have fallen, unable to overcome the inertia of running, or been pierced by the tentacles.
But Rocinante is a special automaton with all sorts of modern technology.
-Hihihihing!
A recorded horse sound rang loudly through the speaker.
-Chiiiiiik!
White steam erupted near Rocinante's legs. The intensely sprayed steam became a powerful propulsion in itself. Rocinante performed the feat of changing direction vertically while running, without reducing speed.
Thanks to that, the tentacles only swept through empty space. Although Don Quixote had aged ten years from the experience, he couldn't feel relieved.
"Oh my."
The approaching tentacles one by one had a metallic texture unlike the other tentacles. It was the method chosen by the gray fungus, which was vulnerable to flames, for its own countermeasure.
"What a strange being!"
Thinking about it, it made sense. The gray fungus had survived the Return of Fire.
If it had simply been weak to fire, they wouldn't have poured enough firepower to permanently devastate the entire District 49.
No matter how deep in the laboratory it was, the heat from the Return of Fire would have been extraordinary. Yet it endured and survived.
The reason was revealed just now. It eroded metal and assimilated its body into a form similar to that metal.
External beings, instead of adapting to the world, influence it to make the world like themselves. That's what the process of erosion is. Normally, the gray fungus would have made that choice too, but with its life in danger, it made a different choice.
It decided to 'adapt' to survive. And that process of adaptation was the assimilation with surrounding materials.
That material, instead of the original body that was unilaterally vulnerable to flames, it was sturdier, heat-resistant, and something so common around here that it could be easily found anywhere.
'Old metals.'
Rusty metal doesn't serve its proper function. But metal assimilated through erosion was different. The fungus absorbed the characteristics of the metal and imitated it. It was a process driven purely by instinct.
As a result, the number of tentacles decreased compared to before, but conversely, the remaining tentacles were much sturdier and more resistant to heat.
"Urgh!"
Don Quixote had to laboriously parry the incoming tentacles with his lance while Rocinante, who had been continuously advancing, backed up to protect its master.
Even with the help of the cutting-edge suit, it wasn't easy to fend off tentacles flying in from multiple directions simultaneously. With the initial momentum gone, Don Quixote was helplessly pushed back.
"Be careful."
Osian stepped forward and quickly cut off the tentacles. These tentacles could somewhat withstand heat weapons, but they were useless before the Starlight sword.
It was also because Osian's Starlight had become stronger than before.
The output of the Starlight increased, extending both its width and length considerably. Naturally, its power also rose, allowing him to easily cut through tentacles that would have taken some time to sever before.
"Th-thank you. I received your help."
"That thing is also struggling desperately to survive. It would be troublesome to think lightly of it."
"Then what would be the best course of action?"
"If we drag this out, we'll dry up and die."
Though the gray fungus was also rapidly burning its remaining strength, judging by the process of erosion around it, its sustainability seemed quite long. Rather, if it devoured more metal and produced more tentacles, we would lose in a war of attrition.
"We need to settle this quickly before that happens."
"It seems difficult to break through that."
"Draw its attention. I'll try to break through."
"How? It's dangerous without armor."
Unlike him, Osian didn't have armor or a horse; what could he do? The risk was too great to do such a thing with bare hands.
"Who said I don't have armor or a horse? I am a knight."
Osian surrounded his entire body with the Starlight. The white light engulfed him from head to toe and transformed into the form of armor. A cloak fluttered over his shoulders, and the shield on his left hand blazed with brilliant starlight.
Hwaruk! Flames spread on the ground, and from within, a horse rose. Osian naturally mounted his warhorse.
Don Quixote gazed at the scene as if entranced from behind his helmet.
"Oh, ohhh! This can't be! So beautiful!"
Armor and horse made of stars and the beautiful white cloak. Unlike himself, who merely imitated them with machinery, Osian was a knight straight out of a story.
'Truly, was he the Knight of Heaven only passed down as legend!'
Don Quixote, who had maintained a certain pride until then, felt somewhat intimidated. He remembered how he had posed as a knight in front of a real knight until now.
How ridiculous it must have been. How pathetic it must have seemed.
As dark waters began to rise in Don Quixote's heart, Osian asked.
"Can you draw its attention, comrade?"
At those words, Don Quixote felt a strange heat rising in his chest.
Comrade. That word resonated in his heart.
Why? From Osian's perspective, a genuine knight, he was just a silly old man wearing a tin can.
The high-functioning suit and the expensive latest-model automaton were just crude imitations to realize his desires.
Why didn't Osian look down on him or mock him despite having such power?
-Because it's not right to mock.
He recalled what Osian had said in front of the campfire last night.
"Ah."
Yes. A knight is noble. They never mock the recklessness of others because they themselves commit the most reckless acts. Even knowing it's dangerous, they advance. They charge forward without stopping, toward walls that cannot be overcome. Like fools. Stubbornly and brilliantly.
'That is the knight's mindset. That is chivalry.'
For a moment, he was captivated by the inferiority complex of being fake in front of the real thing. Don Quixote felt like a fool for having such weak thoughts.
'No. It was because I was such a fool that I could come this far.'
Yes. It had been the same before. Everyone who saw him said he had lost his mind.
Having amassed such wealth and honor, what he did was spend a huge amount of money to create objects imitating knights.
They asked if he had dementia or if his mind had gone wrong. People whispered that he was crazy. Even his own children laughed at their father, saying he wasn't in his right mind.
Still, he didn't give up. Because it was a dream he had cherished since childhood.
More than 50 years ago. Just like the protagonist in the story from the book read to him every day when he survived here as a child.
He had always admired that unwavering attitude in the face of finger-pointing and criticism.
Therefore, even when people around him pointed fingers, and called him a madman, he deliberately ignored them.
'For this very moment.'
Don Quixote stood beside Osian. The starlight steed looked at the steel horse and exhaled with a snort.
It was as if asking what this completely different being was. However, even that noble horse showed no sign of mockery.
"May I join you?"
"Weren't we together before?"
"...Ha, haha. Hahaha! Right! We were! Because we are knights!"
Don Quixote laughed heartily.
Yes. Let's go. Let's burn everything to the fullest.
He may not be the protagonist of the story he admires. But being able to advance together beside the protagonist of that story, that alone makes his heart race. This is precisely the romance he has been pursuing.
"Ha. What is this?"
David, watching the scene from behind, let out a hollow laugh.
"I'm dying of envy."
Rocinante moved. Unlike before, this wasn't a reckless charge. It quickly circled around, maintaining a distance that precariously traversed the fungus' attack range.
-Shushushushuk!
Countless steel tentacles flew in. In the meantime, those enhanced tentacles had become much sharper and faster.
"Haha! What are you doing! Aren't you too slow!"
But Don Quixote didn't mind. Together with Rocinante, he performed divine horsemanship, evading all the tentacles.
Osian charged in, exploiting those gaps.
He wanted to finish a 3-stage charge and rush in, but time was short and even without that, the power was sufficient.
The fungus shot out tentacles upon seeing Osian charging in.
-Teong! Teong! Teong!
The incoming tentacles were blocked by the power of Starlight and bounced off. Like that, Osian, who had become a streak of meteor, quickly closed the distance and reached the main body of the fungus.
The ground split like a beast's maw and the earth full of sharp teeth was the result of the fungus taking root and eroding the area.
Osian and the starlight steed, having lost the ground to step on, were swallowed by the fungus' maw.
"Lord Osian!"
Just as David shouted that, Neo spoke instead from the side.
"Don't worry."
"What?"
"Trust your friend."
As Neo said this, his pupils, though merely yellow lenses, held a firmer trust than any human's eyes. David, who was about to shout not to talk nonsense, lost his words at that inexplicable sense of discomfort.
Instead, his trembling gaze turned toward the ashen earth that had swallowed Osian.
A bright yellow light flowed from the gray ground where Osian had been swallowed.
"Good heavens."
The light gradually intensified, then broke through the ground and soared high into the sky. And from within, the Knight of Heaven emerged unscathed even from the space of erosion. The Starlight Armor and Nebula Silk perfectly protected Osian even in the erosion.
-Kwadeudeuk!
The fungus' enormous head turned toward Osian. No longer even in the shape of a flower bud, it was a terrifying sight with dozens of split mouths and teeth.
-Puhuk!
The fungus flinched at the burning pain felt around its neck. It was the blade of the heat weapon thrust by Don Quixote from behind that had accurately penetrated its body.
"Aren't you underestimating me too much!"
-Keudeureuk!
The fungus' body began to erode Don Quixote's weapon. The output of the heat weapon decreased compared to before. Moreover, the fungus' body now had stronger heat resistance.
Just as it was about to widen the range of erosion and devour Don Quixote's body through his weapon.
-Cheolkang!
Don Quixote disassembled the lance's handle and blade. The fungus could only watch as Don Quixote and Rocinante rapidly retreated. Immediately after, the blade being eroded by the fungus overheated and exploded.
-Kieeeeeek!
More than half of the fungus's neck was blown away.
"Now!"
With Don Quixote's shout. Osian's Starlight Sword severed the fungus' dangling neck.