The first toad leaped two yards to hit Edmund’s shield, leaving a splatter of sickly slime against it. The Vanguard’s shield illuminated and battered it back a dozen feet.
“Don’t grab them, Daniel!” Alys warned. “They don’t bite; they leak and spit poison that dissolves into the skin.”
“Doesn’t sound bad… I spoke too soon.”
The soft drizzle fell over them, a green, grassy hill sloped to a thick river, and out of it crawled hundreds of frogs. He paused as the party fanned out, getting into formation.
Edmund rushed south, sliding down the slope as Marg darted the opposite way.
Alys shouted orders from the rear.
“Nich, don’t waste the mana on F-tier trash! They’ll pop at a shield thrust.”
“I know, you harpy. I’ll wait ‘till you gather them up so I can blast them. Or we can see what Mr. Perfect can do.”
Ralph was at the front of the wagon, talking to the driver and checking their angles.
They’re experienced.
Julia posted up beside Daniel, glaring at Nich, who looked unimpressed so far, holding his jeweled staff.
“This is Daniel’s first combat scenario with us. Give him a break. And don’t do anything close range; we can’t afford to waste cleanses. Alys can only cure toxin ten times a day.”
Edmund bashed his shield, shouting something that turned all the frogs his way. More were exiting the river. Daniel just watched and listened from atop the hill as Julia and Asper joined him. The girl had her bow and the man his rapier.
“Yeah, not much we can do here,” Asper said, making a motion at the horde. “Green frog toxin is deadly. Used in a lot of poisons for monsters. This is a pretty good haul if we can take them out. They’re fairly easy to gather if you have a class with taunt. We have two.”
Daniel glanced at the wizard, still waiting for him.
This is a good opportunity. What can I do in a situation like this?
Edmund hit the ground in front of them with his shield down and roared something that wasn't a word. The whole green tide turned toward him at once. He stood there, laughing, while guiding them into a cluster.
“Marg! Left!”
“Working on it!”
Daniel ignored their commands and croaks to watch their movements.
I don’t need to worry about poison since Clara will just heal me.
But I shouldn’t show these people I’m immortal.
I have four cards.
[Tarnished Sword] isn’t suited for this fight.
[Clara’s Heart] is more for advice.
He held up the cards, spreading them out.
Wait, [Pet] changed? It’s not the wolf. Is it now a dog?
Daniel glanced up to see another hundred emerging from the river.
Nich cursed with a tired sigh.
“I’m going to have to cast a few fireballs for this. What a drag… And what is that?”
Daniel tossed the card forward.
[◈ Pet #7: Marsh Hound &]
Julia squealed and knelt down on the wet grass to rub the floppy ears of the pet.
“A puppy! So cute!”
“Yip. Yip.”
Nich snorted, turning toward the fight and getting components ready.
“And I thought you had a big wolf. A spiritual puppy. Absurd.”
The wizard held up his hands, heat expanding, light pulsing.
Alys choked. “Wait! If you blow them up…”
He held it between his fingers and thrust them forward, shouting, “Fireball!”
A flash of orange erupted with a blast of wind as the sphere vaporized the rain. It struck in the center of the mass of frogs, jumping over one another to reach the two tanks. The detonation sent goo and muck flying everywhere, splattering the two tanks.
“Fireball, Nich?” Marg shouted in fury as Alys’ light bathed her, evaporating the slime. “You’re wasting money! They’ll die from a backhand. Use Binding Ice!”
“I don’t have the components on me…”
“Useless!”
The tanks started to collect the second wave, pacing themselves and arguing with the wizard. Daniel was starting to see some cracks in the team of personalities.
Ralph hurried over as the heatwave dissipated.
“You have a wolf and a puppy?”
“No.” He looked down at the loved puppy being smothered by Julia. “It changes each day.”
“What? That’s interesting.”
Alys just smiled at him, holding up a star symbol and sending a beam of light at Edmund.
“Don’t worry, Daniel. We can handle this… I have extra components, Nich. I know you tend to forget them.”
That got Ralph’s head snapping to his wife.
“You bought his components again? Again, Alys!”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“It wasn’t that much. I got them on sale,” she said with a big grin, handing them to the smirking wizard. “We need all the options we can manage. Safety first.”
“Ugh… He’s playing you to get free components.”
“No. Nich is just forgetful.”
“I am. Thanks, Alys.” Nich snatched the pouch away from the beaming healer. “Poor quality. But they’ll do.”
Daniel shook his head.
They’re more of a mess than I first thought.
He looked at his last card, then up at the bright screen that flashed for only him.
He smiled upon reading the description again.
“It’s worth a try.”
Asper bent down to join Julia.
“What was that, Dan?”
“Alys,” he asked, ignoring the man, “can they target-taunt someone else?”
The wizard gave him a raised eyebrow, everyone else looking at him.
The healer’s brow creased.
“Bulwarks can’t. Vanguard can redirect to someone if they stand in front of them.”
“All I needed to know.”
“Hey!”
Daniel dashed down the hill, sliding over the slick grass. Julia cried out as the hound dog wriggled free of her and dashed after him, only to trip over his feet and somersault down the hill. A frog jumped at the pup as he recovered, and the dog managed to chomp down on it.
“No!” Julia screamed, running down to collect the little guy. “Alys, heal the puppy!”.
[Pets are highly resistant to poison.]
Good to know!
“He isn’t poisoned?”
Daniel dodged frogs that turned to him as he got close. Edmund’s shout pulled them back off him. Ideas flowed into him from what must have been Clara’s stories.
“What are you doing?” Edmund yelled as he ran to him. “If you die—”
“Redirect threat to me! Trust me.”
“What are you doing, idiot?” Marg yelled from across the rain-soaked field.
“Your death wish! Grrrah!”
He darted right, all frogs leaping after him as he skidded to a stop in front of Daniel.
“Show us what you’ve got, bud.”
Daniel stood there in the rain with about four hundred toads in front of him, the smell of burning flesh still smoldering from the blackened scar at their center. Then, he started to laugh as the puppy managed to dodge Julia and enter the thick of it. The hound went into the green like a scythe into wheat. He caught them midair. He shook them. He rolled in them.
The little doom puppy.
Ralph was taking notes as the crew gaped at the pup.
Daniel wasn’t about to be outdone, though.
Four hundred toads with a card and a dream.
The Vanguard put his shield up and bellowed right behind him. Every green eye on that riverbank forgot the wagon, the hound, and the Bulwark, jumping right for him.
And Daniel held up his trap card.
It says it targets intent when activated.
Three bolts period? Or three bolts per intent?
Four hundred toads with a card and a dream.
[⌖ Trap #10: Cinder Snare &]
The card flared white, and bolts of fire erupted around Edmund and him in a cyclone of heat thirty feet wide. Half a breath passed, and the entire field lit with blazing streaks that raged past Edmund and him to pepper the whole zone in magic artillery.
Three bolts per toad brought twelve-hundred bolts to bear against the tiny frogs. The grass blackened with the soil, steam hissed, veiling the bombardment, and the falling rain was the only sound that followed when the fire bolts stopped.
The riverbank had come apart.
Steam blew around them in waves that rolled outward and cooked the reeds flat. Daniel and Edmund stood at the edge of it with their coats smoking.
Marg was the first to speak.
“…What the Fireball was that?”
“That was one of my cards.”
Edmund’s slack jaw flipped to a grin that escalated into a full laugh.
“Do it again!”
“I think we’re out of enemies,” he mumbled, scanning the scorched battlefield. “No, wait, there are a few… Never mind.”
“Rrrrr. Arf! Arf!”
His little doom pup came flopping into the blast zone, paws swiping, tail wagging, and frog running. The terror was on a rampage.
That got laughter from most of them.
It didn’t take long for Ralph to book it down and examine the destruction.
“For all the flash, they were just fire bolts… I’d say 70% of them are usable. Better than that mess,” he grumbled, pointing at the impact crater of the fireball.
The wizard wasn’t smiling, just glaring at the devastation.
“Anyway,” Ralph jumped back in as the others joined them, “Poison glands go for two copper per ounce at the alchemists. Not that you’ll see half that after tax and fees,” Ralph grumbled. “I’d say we may be able to get at least twenty out of this. Crazy money. Fortunate ambush, wouldn’t you say?”
Daniel’s gaze fixated on the army of fist-sized creatures.
“Do they have cores?”
“F-tier,” Asper noted, bending down to start collecting. “They’re not the most clouded of cores. But not worth nearly as much as the toxin.”
His smile grew.
“Then what do you say we trade my share for what the cores would bring?”
“No,” Alys protested, “don’t scam your—”
“Wonderful trade!” Nich and Marg cut in. “Cores are all yours.”
Julia and Asper backed Alys up, her husband remaining silent.
“Daniel, they’re scamming you,” the girl huffed, scratching the pup’s floppy ears.
Asper jumped in, rubbing his chin and observing the quiet field.
“Guild doesn’t even have you log F-tier cores. Not worth the paperwork. You could take the money and buy more cores in town from junk sellers.”
“Not in this quantity,” Nich argued back. “Let the man have what he wants. He’ll probably get a few coins anyway once everything is tallied… Dangerous Contract you have there. I have to wonder what being grants you that sort of spell, all without mana.”
In the background, Daniel saw their driver flipping out over what he’d witnessed, talking with Edmund. He held up his hands to break up the argument, giving those defending him a thumbs up, telling them it was fine.
Alys glared between her husband, wizard, and tank.
They didn’t know the cores were worth far more to him right now. Money would come well enough in the dungeon, as he’d already experienced. Cores brought him closer to his wife.
It took roughly thirty minutes to collect everything. The crew was efficient when not bickering, and loot seemed to be something they distributed evenly without a word.
He sat in the back of the wagon that evening with two hundred and forty clouded shards in his lap. It was all that survived. And the crew looked at him funny as he slowly fed them to his wife one at a time, and found out he could do the same with the cards.
The symbols along the edge lit and went dark, lit and went dark, and somewhere around the eighth shard the light flaked gold around the box. It wouldn’t accept any more.
Maybe I need to upgrade the cards now?
He moved onto the individual cards, testing what feeding them would do.
[Tarnished Sword: duration extended. 3 hours]
[Pet: duration extended. 3 hours]
[Server: duration extended. 3 hours]
Wow. Three hours now?
He glanced at Julia and Asper, still playing with the hound pup. Ralph was staring at the pup, too, but he wasn’t smiling. He kept mumbling to himself, as if confused.
Daniel just shook his head. They were still trying to get over his trap card.
These cards are more complicated than I first thought.
He moved on to the trap card. If anything, he wanted to upgrade this one. It only took nine, then stopped taking them. No changes seemed to appear. He knew there must have been something, but it wasn’t duration, which was what he wanted.
I’ll have to ask Clara about it.
With those experiments done, he dumped the vast majority into his wife’s heart.
[⟡ Clara’s Heart &&]
Daniel looked at that for a while.
Two stars now?
“It means I can see you for a meager five minutes a day, my love.”
Daniel’s eyes grew wide as light bloomed, feathers and wings unfolding like a flower to reveal his sly, smiling wife. Not a soul reacted as his heart stopped.
“Now I can rest in your lap!”