Billy woke in the morning to a cold breakfast and even colder weather. Dark clouds were gathering in the distance and there was a strong wind blowing through the camp.
The brown trousers and green tunic that Yuki had made for him were more comfortable than his robe but certainly no warmer. If the temperature continued to worsen, they would need to think about warmer clothing and improving their shelter. They might even have to use the rat fiends’ cave.
After a brief discussion, they decided to split into two parties. With Lorna gone they were going to have to take some risks. Billy and Su Li were going to hunt frogs while Trevor and Yuki were going to look for plants from the list given by Dilchak. If they could start cashing in on their work, they would be able to purchase better equipment.
Billy and Su Li headed back to the swamp. For once Su Li did not seem inclined to flirt or tease him. Her face was focused and her knives were ready. Neither one of them were taking the frogs lightly, not after their first meeting with them.
They had not gone far into the swamp when Billy spotted the first frog, which appeared to be alone. Billy signaled to Su Li and they moved to a suitable position hidden by a large clump of swamp grass. The frog was level 2 so he thought it would be a great test for Su Li’s new weapons. After yesterday’s quick foray with Trevor he felt quite confident in his own ability to take down the frogs.
He decided to let Su Li take the initiative while he remained hidden. With his war-hammer he needed to get close and he was still wary of the poisoned tongue.
Su Li stepped out and whipped the chain around her head. Soon the air was filled with a whirring sound. She closed to within five meters and then released the chain. The knife flew towards the frog and struck it shallowly in one of its front legs.
The creature immediately took a massive hop towards her. Su Li back-pedaled while pulling in her chain. She still held the other knife in her left hand but with her current skill level she would hold that for defense.
The frog took another hop and was now level with Billy. Its tongue lashed out and was narrowly avoided by Su Li. Billy dove at the creature and swung his war hammer. The beak of his hammer sank into the creature’s slimy skin. He noticed su Li moving to the other side of the frog and attacking with her knives. Before he knew it the frog died and the notification came.
Now that they were only a party of two the XP was only shared between the two of them. The only problem was that Billy was now level 2 so he would need to kill a lot of frogs at this level. He would need to find higher-level creature to reach level 3. Still, for now, this was the perfect way to train with Su Li without too much risk.
He gave Su Li a thumbs up and she smiled.
“Next time you lure the frog,” she said. “I want to stab stab.”
“You have the distance and you need to improve your throw. You won’t get better without practice.”
“Yah yah, teacher.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
Billy cut out the tongue and they moved on to the next target. One down sixteen more to go.
The next target did not go so well. They found a slightly larger brown and grey frog. Billy analysed the creature.
He was not sure what hardy meant but level 3 should be achievable.
Again, they followed the same battle plan. Su Li stepped out while he remained hidden. However, when she released her knife the frog sensed the attack and hopped out of the way, unfortunately landing too close to Billy. Before he could react, it leaped in his direction knocking him flying with its frog snout. The creature then lashed out with its tongue at Su Li who was still stood there in shock.
She screamed as the tongue lanced into her thigh and fell to her knees. Tears started to stream down her face as she felt the poison burning into her bloodstream.
Billy quickly rose to his feet and shouted. “Su Li!”
She looked up with dazed eyes but there was some sign of recognition.
Billy lashed out at the frog but this creature’s skin was tougher and his beak merely penetrated the surface. The creature ignored him and again its tongue lashed out at Su Li. To Billy’s surprise Su Li had recomposed herself and deflected the tongue with the chain wrapped around her left hand. She then ran to the right side of the frog her right hand knife again swinging over her head. The knife flashed out and sank deeply into the frog’s eye. The frog let out a strange noise like a squealing grunt. Billy took the opportunity to stab the creature in its left flank with extra force. This time his hammer sank in.
It was not much but he hit the same spot again.
Now he had the frog’s attention.
“This one is mine, Billy,” Su Li shouted. “Just keep its attention.”
He stepped back drawing the frog towards him. He dove to the side as the tongue lashed out. Su Li took the opportunity to dive underneath the frog and both knives were driven deeply into the underside of the beast’s mouth. Again and again she drove her knives until the creature died falling on top of Su Li.
Billy lifted the frog off Su Li. He checked her wound. Apart from a block mottling it was a small puncture.
“How are you?”
Su Li groaned. “Hurts like shit. I will live.”
“Try meditating. It will speed up your regen.”
“Hard to concentrate right now. The poison burns. One tough frog!”
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They waited until the poison had worked its way through her system. Billy kept watch while she meditated. After ten minutes her eyes opened.
“I have added one more point to agility,” she said. “I think I am near to understanding your meditation method. I could feel the energy moving into my body. Just one more stat points to go.”
Billy was proud of her and a little jealous. The girl seemed to be a genius with meditation – it came to her so easily. Still, she was physically still quite weak. The stronger she became the better.
They set off again vowing to stick to the red frogs.
They took down three level 2 red corrupted frogs in succession. Billy noted that Su Li’s movements were becoming more fluid and she was gaining confidence in using the chained weapons for both defense and offense. Su Li had also reached level 2.
Billy figured that they had picked off all the targets around the edge of the swamp. They would have to go deeper if they wished to find more.
“We have five tongues plus three from yesterday,” Billy said. “Ready to go deeper for the rest?”
“Swamp stinks, Billy.”
“Yes, it does. It will also be more dangerous. Harder to move and harder to see what is coming. Remember what happened before. There are more than frogs in there.”
“Then we go slow and we hit hard,” she said. “I think we can do this, Billy.”
For a moment self-doubt made Billy pause on his tracks. His brain was telling him they would be safe to return to camp and to sort out their unassigned stat points. However, his heart was telling him that he needed to get stronger faster. For now he let his heart make the decision.
The marsh smell permeated Billy’s nostrils and he could already feel sweat dripping down his neck as they stepped through the spongy ground. His nice new clothes were becoming more and more soiled. Yuki would be furious.
A couple of times his foot sank into softer ground and soon his feet squished with water seeping into his boots.
“Remind me to get better footwear too,” he whispered to Su Li.
She nodded. Her own sneakers were probably not any more waterproof.
Billy stopped when he heard sounds ahead. Unfortunately, the marsh grass here was too tall for him to see. He signaled to Su Li and then moved forward as stealthily as he could. He vowed to himself that he would work on mastering the some sort of movement skill or technique as soon as possible. His level 1 stealth skill was too low levelled to be much help.
As he moved he also tried reaching out with his senses. He could sense something ahead – something watery and foul at the same time. Was this mana he was sensing?
He raised his hands and sprang forward. He burst through the grass to find himself facing three frogs, two medium sized red frogs and one larger purple frog. Fortunately, the frogs seemed as surprised as he was.
He struck out at the nearest frog with quick punching attacks with the beak of his war-hammer.
He managed to get in three attacks before he was thrown away by a jet of foul water that gushed from the purple frog’s mouth.
He raised himself from the ground, dripping in water now, to see that Su Li had joined the attack. She concentrated on the injured frog, striking deeply into its flank from one side as she used the frog’s body to block attacks from the other frogs.
The other red frog leapt over its colleague, but Su Li saw the attack in time and ducked beneath it.
When the frog landed, Billy launched himself at it and sank his hammer into the creature’s back again and again. He was just trying to keep it occupied until the first frog was finished.
Soon, the notification came.
Now that the first frog was dead, Billy worked on doing as much damage as he could to the frog he was on top of. He clung to the slimy skin with his right hand as he hammered into the creature’s back.
Again, another critical hit. He was about to strike again when the frog leapt in the air, throwing him away. As he climbed to his feet he was hit with another jet of water from the purple frog.
Shit, the debuff was stacking. Billy’s limbs were heavy and his guts were turning over. He stumbled; trying to move his wobbly legs. The purple frog leaped and hit him in the stomach.
He had barely got to his knees before a red tongue lanced into his neck.
Billy cursed. With the debuff and the poison he was only a couple of hits from dying again. They would have to finish this fast. But what was Su Li doing?
As if summoned, Su Li appeared from behind the red frog. Foul, brown murky water dripped from her face. Her eyes gleamed fury as she stalked forward. Before either frog could react, she screamed and whirled both blades around her head. Faster and faster the blades rotated, the whirring sound seeming to mesmerize the frogs. This time she did not release but allowed out more chain until the blades started cutting into the red frog’s flesh. The frog hopped up – trying to move out of the way, but as soon as it did, she released the blades, and they sank deeply into its belly. She yanked on the chains. Purple blood and guts gushed out of the frog as the blades were pulled back into her waiting hands.
The purple frog turned towards her clearly assessing her as the biggest threat at the moment.
Billy used this opportunity. He stumbled forward moving as fast as he could. Every movement felt sluggish and he could only anticipate the frog turning back to him before he closed.
Su Li however saw his movement and again started whirring the chains over her head. The purple frog opened his mouth but Su Li side-stepped the gushing water. She threw one of her knives at the frog but it merely glanced off the creature’s hide.
Billy was now within a metre of the frog. He bolstered his energy and surged forward as fast as possible. He reached under the frog, dug his free hand in the creature’s soft belly and heaved upwards. Luckily, although the frog was large and bloated it was not that heavy. With one movement, Billy flipped the creature onto its back.
The frog flipped its legs wildly but with Billy on top of it it could not right itself. Again and again, Billy sank his hammer into its belly until the notification came.
Once the notification came Billy relaxed for a second. That creature was level 5.
He realized he still had four seconds left of the poison debuff and about thirty seconds on the nausea debuff.
He wanted to try something, so rose to his feet. He went through his body cleansing routine, forcing his sluggish muscles to move as smoothly as possible. Black sweat again oozed from his pores and dripped from his body. He carried on until he received another set of notifications.
“Are you ok?” Su Li asked.
Billy nodded. “Still alive. I managed to cleanse the poison from my body. And somehow, I received plus one to my willpower, but my unassigned stat points have not changed.”
That bit confused him. He had assumed they could only increase stats through leveling up. What if that was just the easiest way to get stronger. After all, in their own world you could improve your strength and agility through exercise.
“I got an attack technique – Whirling Air Blades. It says it mesmerizes my opponents for two seconds at level 1.” She groaned and sat down. “That purple frog was nasty. When its water jet hit me, I flew off into the swamp. I got back as quickly as I could.”
Billy could tell she had expected to find him dead.
She looked at him and looked down at herself. “We both stink!”
Billy laughed. “Yes, we do! But we don’t suck. Ok let me meditate to get back my health. Then we can continue this hunt. We only need nine more tongues to complete the quest.” He quickly checked his stat screen. “And I only need 298 more XP to level up.”
“I will help you finish this quest, Billy, but you will owe me.” She squished her feet in her shoes. “And you can start by buying me some new shoes.”