The entire cavern lit up as the top of the Myconet was wrapped in flames. And Colby meant that quite literally. The ginger-cheese men on the Myconet were on fire. They grasped the mold with strength that was slowly melting away.

  How did Colby manage this? It was simple.

  The Arcanist’s main focus was stopping flames from reaching the Myconet, while ignoring pretty much everything that wasn’t on fire—barring Elaine. He could smuggle a [Flaming Saganaki] if he kept it hidden within a [Cheese Pouch], but chances were, it would only work once.

  So, Colby had to get creative. He had to figure out how to maximise the flames using the single shot he had. And there was only one way he could think of. He would’ve much preferred another option, but time wasn’t on his side.

  Typically, he made cheese armor out of mozzarella. However, nobody ever said he couldn’t make it out of halloumi. Especially halloumi that had been treated to become [Flaming Saganaki].

  There was a restriction on what the troops of [The Ricotta Army] could be made of—it’s in the name—leading to this roundabout method.

  The ginger-cheese men wore armor made out of unignited [Flaming Saganaki], slipping past the Arcanist's defenses. Once on the Myconet, they’d scrape off as much of the enzyme layer, exposing the mold to the world. When that was finished, they knew their time was up, as short as it was.

  The final ginger-cheese man’s armor would be ignited, hidden away within a [Cheese Pouch] to slip under the puppet’s radar. That was his one and only chance, and by Gouda, Colby was going to make the most out of it.

  And it was a blazing success.

  For once, the Arcanist moved. She rotated around, staring at the bonfire that was the ginger-cheese men, flames spreading to the exposed mold.

  Taking advantage of the distraction, Elaine rushed in. She swung her sword only for it to strike rock with a dull and stubborn clang. The Arcanist had wrapped herself in a layer of rocky defense…again.

  As part of her routine, Elaine rushed towards the Myconet. She braced herself for the incoming wall of stone that would block her, but it never came. Instead, for the first time, she found herself at the bottom of the Myconet.

  Her sword flared with light, shimmering across the thin membrane around the Myconet like moonlight along a calm river. She swung. Slash after slash after slashing, trying her best to carve the life out of the Myconet.

  Another glow radiated behind her. It wasn’t her usual white glow.

  This one was emerald green.

  It seeped through the cracks of the Arcanist’s rocky defenses as she channeled power through the mini-tree staff in her hand.

  Right above the Myconet, the ceiling trembled. The layer of mold that covered the roof peeled back in strips, revealing jagged rock beneath.

  Dust and debris began to fall, sprinkling onto the fire to no avail. That was only an appetizer for what’s to come.

  Elaine stopped her attacks and bolted, putting as much distance between herself and the center of the cavern as possible. Porter picked Colby up, carrying him to the furthest walls of the cavern.

  The stone overhead began to crumble, breaking down into granular pieces until it was nothing but sand. A stream poured onto the flames, drenching them in a shower of solids.

  Then, with a flash of green, the ceiling gave way. Sand poured down in a roaring sheet, crashing down on the flaming sphere and its supports, smothering the fire.

  When the dust settled, a mound of sand at the base of the Myconet sphere. The fire still held strong. It glowed red with fiery vengeance, spreading downwards as the melted ginger-cheese men slipped through the tiniest of gaps.

  Smoke filled the cavern. A dark, heavy cloud crawled up towards the ceiling. The air around the Myconet distorted from the sheer heat.

  More green spewed out of the rocky casing that surrounded the Arcanist, intensifying with every passing moment.

  The ceiling trembled again. The entire ceiling, not just the area around the Myconet. More and more mold peeled away in strips, exposing raw stone as dust and pebbles drizzled down.

  “Elaine, what’s happening?” Colby asked.

  “Nothing good,” she said. “Help me.”

  Elaine [Dashed] towards the cavern entrance, the one that was blocked by a massive boulder and a curtain of mold behind it. Her sword shone with light as she swung.

  White arcs cut shallow grooves into the boulder. And that was it. If she kept it up, she’d eventually be able to slice the boulder in half. But ‘eventually’ was not on their timeline.

  She sheathed her sword and braced her shoulder against the boulder. Muscles strained, and boots dug into the carpet of mold beneath as she pushed with all her might.

  Colby disembarked the Porter Delivery Service, pressing both palms against the large and rough boulder, and pushed with everything he had—which wasn’t a lot.

  Porter joined in. Then Thornelius. Even the ginger-cheese men who had been watching over the downed Knights and Arcanists stepped in.

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  Stone groaned as the boulder just barely budged an inch despite all the muscle and cheese put into it.

  “Push harder!” Elaine yelled.

  “What do you think I’m doing?” Colby yelled back, nearly slipping as muscles he never knew existed burned.

  “Guys…” Porter trailed off.

  More and more dust spilled around them as the glow from the Arcanist intensified. The fire answered in kind. It raged harder as melted halloumi slipped through the minuscule gaps of the mold fibres, adding more fuel to the fire.

  “Just focus on pushing, Port,” Elaine yelled.

  They continued to push, but the boulder still refused to budge past that barely an inch.

  “If only I were stronger,” Elaine grunted, muscles bulging even larger as she channeled [Strengthen].

  “Me too,” Colby said.

  “I’m sorry,” Porter said. “All I’m good at is running.”

  “And all I’m good at is cheese.”

  Elaine sighed, “I’m not even a good Knight. Letting civilians—even worse, you too—die here with me. I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll forgive you if you manage to get us out of here,” Colby said.

  “What do you think I’m trying to do?”

  Elaine roared, tapping into hidden strength reserves that even she didn’t know existed. The boulder budged once more. Now, it was a full inch.

  “It’s hopeless,” Colby sighed.

  “No, it’s not. The only thing you should give up is giving up,” Elaine said. “That’s what you told me, Colbs.”

  “In all honesty, I just wanted to sound smart when I said it,” Colby sighed. “You know, I’ve never actually given you your true reward, just an intermediary one. Looks like it’s not going to happen.”

  “You can give it to me once we’re out of this cave.”

  “In this life or the next? Because Laine, all I’m good at is cheese, and I don’t—”

  Colby’s eyes widened, gears whirring in his brain.

  “Colbs?” Elaine said, looking at him as she continued to push.

  “All I’m good at is cheese,” he muttered.

  “We know. No offense, but it’s literally the only thing you’re good at.”

  “Exactly!” he yelled. “I shouldn’t be pushing the boulder. I should be cheesing the boulder.”

  “What?” Elaine asked, looking at Porter.

  Even the usually supportive Supply Runner shrugged in confusion.

  “Laine!” Colby yelled. “Give me your helmet!”

  “What? Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  With her shoulder still against the boulder as she pushed with all her might, she removed her helmet, revealing her damp red hair, and passed it to Colby.

  “It reeks,” he said, holding it as far away as his arms could stretch.

  “I’ll kill you before the cave-in gets you,” she snapped.

  “Kill me later,” he said, putting the helmet on the ground, slightly away from the boulder.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Using my biggest muscle, my brain.”

  “The brain’s not a—”

  His ears had stopped working. Instead, he focused on the plan that would hopefully get them out of this pickle.

  Colby commanded the ginger-cheese men, ordering them to help secure the helmet in place. While they did that, Colby honed in on his Core.

  Using the one-year-old Gouda, it was molded into a long and thick rod with the help of Temp-tation. Curd-Cutter came in to ‘cut the fluff’, resulting in the hardest cheese he had ever created.

  Congratulations! Temp-taion has reached Level 12!

  Congratulations! Curd-Cutter has reached Level 15!

  Congratulations! [Hard as Cheese] has reached Level 18!

  Materializing in Colby’s hand was a long, thick, and hard rod. It was perfect for Elaine. And, hopefully, it was hard enough for what he was planning to do with it.

  With the help of the ginger-cheese men and some strewn rocks, he managed to wedge one end of the rod under the boulder before placing it on the nearby helmet.

  One look and Elaine knew what Colby was going for.

  “Colby, you big, dumb, cheesy genius,” she said.

  “Of course I’m big. Now, quick.”

  Elaine let go of the boulder and moved toward the other end of the long, thick, and hard rod. She grabbed it with both hands, slowly placing more and more strength into it so that it wouldn’t suddenly snap.

  The ginger-cheese men held the helmet in place, preventing the slick mold-covered ground from sliding it around as Elaine drove the rod down.

  Stone groaned. The boulder lifted. Only an inch. But an inch was an inch.

  Elaine held the rod steady, while a separate platoon of ginger-cheese men scrambled in, wedging rocks under the gap. Rocks that had been generously donated by the Arcanists, who had been trying to kill them. The rocks were wedged in tight, preventing gravity from stealing all of their progress the moment Elaine eased up.

  Then, Elaine reset the rod and inched it a bit deeper, before doing it again. And again. And again.

  They didn’t have to completely move it out of the way, just enough so that Elaine could squeeze through. Not like they had the luxury of time anyway.

  More and more mold on the ceiling began to peel off, as the drizzle of sand over the Myconet restarted.

  The trio squeezed through the gap, along with the valiant troops of [The Ricotta Army] and the bestest boy in the whole wide world, Thornelius.

  Except that the mold curtain still blocked their path.

  Elaine hacked away at it with her sword. Despite the Myconet burning away, it still had the energy to stitch up the mold, preventing them from escaping.

  “C’mon, Laine,” Colby said. “I did my part. It’s time to do yours.”

  “Not helping!” she grunted.

  He glanced back. The ceiling was trembling. The glow from the Arcanist rivalled that of the flames. Sand poured down like a monsoon, hissing as it hit the fire. The whole ceiling was coming apart, and soon it would all give way. An avalanche of sand would crash down to smother the fire.

  And them with it.

  Desperate, Colby looked to the spell that had previously saved him from a sandy demise: [Cheese Pillows].

  They materialized in front of him. He stacked them along with Porter and the ginger-cheese men, building a soft and cheesy wall across the entrance. They were wedged in a cramped little nook between the mold curtain and pillows.

  The whole cave shuddered.

  On the other side of the pillow wall, a huge clump of sand dumped down all at once. The impact thudded through the wall of softness like a massive punch. For a second, Colby expected the whole thing to collapse, and they’d be sleeping with the sand-fishes—something that might or might not exist.

  But through some miracle, or maybe it was the huge boulder taking the brunt of the force, the wall of pillows held.

  Except, sand started to sift its way through.

  Without any orders, the ginger-cheese men moved immediately. Using their bodies, they jammed themselves between the pillows to plug the leaks.

  It’d buy them some time. Hopefully.