Volume 2 Chapter 23 Frog! Frog! Frog!
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I’m not sure if my experience has finally piled up just right or if the number of attacks has reached the required amount, but the [Spearsmanship I] Skill has been unlocked.
I’ll check after the battle; for now, I have to take down as many giant toads as possible.
As I fought, Aurelia returned to the vanguard after finishing her healing.
”Haaaaa!”
She simultaneously decapitated two of them and signaled me to fall back to the rearguard.
I stepped back to protect the two in the rearguard.
After that, with Lina providing support fire, the number of giant toads quickly dwindled thanks to the efforts of the vanguard.
Eventually, the number dropped to just a handful when something jumped out from the swamp in the back.
”Whaat! That’s huge! What is that!”
I was shocked at the sight of the creature that jumped out.
It was a giant toad, measuring over 5 meters in height and about 7 meters in length.
Milly, seeing the creature, murmured to herself.
”…Wow… a king-sized one just jumped out… I might need to get serious.”
”Milly, is that a giant toad?”
”No, it’s a king toad that’s undergone years of evolution with magic elements condensed after becoming a giant toad. It’s not unbeatable, so we just need to be cautious in this fight to avoid getting hurt.”
Every time the king toad jumped from the back, the ground shook with a thud.
The other members, who had never seen anything like this before, were stunned by its enormous size.
”Hey! Everyone, stay focused!”
Milly shouted at us.
As the king toad crushed our dwindling giant toads, it appeared right in front of us.
Ribbrawwwrr!!
The king toad opened its mouth wide and let out a roar-like cry.
The shockwaves echoed painfully in my stomach.
”I’ll take the King Toad’s hate, so Ines, Feria, and Aurelia, aim for the King Toad’s legs. If we crush its legs, the King Toad will lose half of its attack options, making it easier to fight. But be careful of its body slam and crush. Even Golerg’s armor may not fully protect against those. Rearguard Lina should aim for its mouth and eyes with Fire Arrow to avoid friendly fire, and Kent will help defend Lina and Talia. The King Toad can extend its tongue to attack the rearguard, so stay alert!”
Milly quickly directed the strategy against the King Toad, and everyone got ready for battle.
Then the fight began.
Milly threw a dagger towards the King Toad’s eye to draw its attention.
The dagger struck, crushing one of the King Toad’s eyes, causing it to unleash its anger at Milly and leap toward her.
”I got its attention; vanguard, now’s the time. Everyone aim for its legs!”
With the King Toad drawn out by Milly, Annabella, Aurelia, Feria, and Ines all rushed in to attack its legs with their weapons.
Ribbrawwwrr!!
The King Toad let out a thunderous croak that shook the soul.
”It’s too tough! The skin is hard, and my blade can’t cut through!”
”Lady Miriallia, my axe isn’t cutting!”
”I managed to make a small scratch with the Sword of the Diamond King, but it’s still hard.”
”It looks like blunt damage might work!”
Everyone reported back, but during this time, Milly kept up provocative attacks to gain the King Toad’s attention.
”Everyone, even if the blades aren’t cutting, we’re still doing some damage, so keep attacking!”
Following my instructions, everyone started to strike at the King Toad’s legs again.
Lina started to shoot Fire Arrow at the remaining eye to help out, but she couldn’t hit it easily.
Then, the King Toad began to move its mouth in a munching motion.
Milly sharply alerted us.
”Here comes the slime! They’re aiming for the rearguard!”
The King Toad shot out slime from its mouth.
The target was Lina, who had been firing Fire Arrows.
”Lina!”
I instinctively jumped in front of Lina and raised my shield.
Boom! Splash!
The splatter of the King Toad’s slime hit my body, binding my movements.
”Kent! This damn frog! I’ll turn it to ashes! Gathered magic element, become flame and burn the enemy to nothing, fireball!”
At the same time Lina unleashed the fireball, it seemed she ran out of magic and collapsed.
Boom!
However, the massive fireball created by Lina’s last bit of magic hurled towards the King Toad’s head.
Bang!
The King Toad staggered and fell over after taking the fireball to the head.
”Now’s my chance to crush its legs. I’m joining in.”
””””Okay!””””
The fallen King Toad struggled to get back up, but our vanguard team of 5, including Milly, mercilessly took one leg after another.
During this time, I was unable to move due to the slime, but Talia purified me, allowing me to move again, and I helped the unconscious Lina back up.
The King Toad, with its legs gone, couldn’t rise, hop, or even push anymore, gasping for breath and on the brink of death.
”Did we do it…?”
But the King Toad didn’t give up and continued to munch its mouth.
It forcefully shot its sharp tongue towards Milly, who was in front.
Milly kept a close eye on the King Toad without letting her guard down, easily dodging its strike and slicing off its tongue with her dagger.
”It’s tough. I’ll leave the finishing blow to you, Kent. I have no more offensive options left.”
Milly entrusted me with the final blow against the King Toad.
”Got it.”
I repositioned my grip on the Hard-Horn Beast Spear and thrust it toward the forehead of the King Toad, which was oozing black mist from its body.
Thud! Ribboaaaarrr!!
The King Toad’s dying scream echoed through the swamp as it released a massive amount of black mist from its body and eventually disappeared.
What remained was the loot, the ‘Rainbow Tongue,’ and the remains of the toad.
”I did it!”
”We won! I’m totally worn out.”
The two Maid Warriors, perhaps out of stamina, sat down carelessly on the wet ground.
”Nothing can withstand my sword. The Sword of the Diamond King that Lady Miriallia gave me cut without dulling at all. Hehe.”
Aurelia was blissfully rubbing her cheek against the sword.
Her eyes are scary.
”Kent, thanks for earlier. You were really cool. Just like my Kent.”
Lina, revived from fainting thanks to Talia sharing her magic, had a bright red face, possibly from embarrassment.
”I have higher defense than Lina, so it’s only natural to protect you. Of course, I’ll protect Talia too.”
I spoke to Talia, who was beside me.
There were no serious injuries from this battle, but she helped by purifying the slime and healing Aurelia.
Since Lina’s fireball had covered her in mud and burned her hair, I thought I should compliment her.
”Sir Kent, my hair got burned in this battle. Lady Lina helped, but I wish I could have avoided the fireball.”
”Well, it helped, didn’t it? Your hair will grow back quickly.”
Lina looked at Talia, who was complaining, with a bit of annoyance.
I leaned closer to Talia and whispered in her ear.
’Talia, when the reward comes in this time, I was thinking of giving Talia a comb as a present. Of course, just for Talia, special just for you. You’ve worked hard this time, after all. So, if you can hold on a bit, it would really help me out.’
Hearing the whisper, Talia nodded vigorously.
”Lady Lina, I had misunderstood. It was the height of arrogance to complain after you helped me. I sincerely apologize.”
Talia quickly calculated and changed her attitude towards Lina.
Her quick change was truly a sign of a fox type.
”You don’t have to apologize that much. Helping each other is what a party is for, right?”
Though she was suspicious of Talia’s sudden change, Lina accepted the apology.
Looking elsewhere, I saw Milly and Annabella talking, so I interjected.
”Ah, Sir Kent. I was just discussing with Lady Miriallia. After we finish gathering materials, I was thinking of heading back to the base for a bit.”
”Yeah, Lina is low on magic, and it seems everyone is getting tired from fighting the giant toads and king toads, so it’s probably about time, Milly.”
”Right. If we encounter a large group next, it will be tough. Let’s head back to the base and take a break.”
”Got it. Let’s quickly gather the materials and head back.”
As Annabella wrapped up the discussion, the Maid Warriors who had been sitting started to stand and began gathering materials.
The other members also started collecting scattered loot.
In the end, the gathered loot consisted of 168 ‘frog tongues’ and 1 ‘rainbow tongue’.
With 5 copper coins per item, that’s 840 copper coins and a total of 84,000 yen.
Adding the previous 29,000 yen to this 84,000 yen gives us 113,000 yen.
Earning a month’s salary for one person from half a day of hunting really shows how lucrative this profession can be.
Even a beginner F-rank quest can yield this much profit, so those with skills will surely become hunters.
Also, the King Toad isn’t a target for slaying, but I wonder if there’s any bounty or something for it? If we take that into account, I think it would still be a decent reward split among 8 people.
Thinking about that, we made our way back to the base.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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