Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Toads (I)

Projectiles against me? protected Eldi and his companions from the toad's poison attack, from the few mucous that they had failed to dodge. For none of them it was a novelty that their enemies could cast poison.

Then, the amphibian jumped on its two legs, causing a small earthquake around it. Eldi used Balance to get up and Stability to stand, while throwing Javelin to one of its legs, and switching to axe.

Meanwhile, warriors-moles also struggled to maintain balance and to attack the amphibian legs, while the rest of the warriors were arriving with their spears. And a pair of them fired arrows, because they had found in the bows that Eldi had let them try their ideal weapon.

The difference between levels wasn't excessive, so the numerical advantage overwhelmed the toad, although everyone avoided attacking its body. Its head and legs were completely shattered, and it could no longer use one of its best weapons, its tongue. Soon, it succumbed to the barrage of attacks, and Eldi quickly began to cut the stomach of the beast, not caring about the poisonous membrane that covered the skin.

The man-mole didn't move, and both the human and those who had approached desperately were applying healing to the battered body, as well as first aid to expel the liquid that could have entered his lungs. His body was covered with what looked like burns, but they were nothing but the effect of gastric juices and poison.

"Cough, cough"

It was like a miracle come true when he coughed, expelling part of a poisonous liquid from inside. That liquid would have caused incurable wounds inside his body if in this world there was no magic capable of regenerating even the most inaccessible parts of the body.

"Dico!" A woman-mole hugged him tearfully, a woman who would then have to be healed from the poison she had just contacted.

"Gita...," he said in a murmur.

The others looked at them, relieved to have saved his life, and wondering, with a somewhat mischievous smile, how they were now going to hide the fact that they were dating, something everyone already knew. In fact, when they calmed down, they both realized that their relationship had been exposed and, embarrassed, they discovered that it hadn't been a secret for a long time.

However, both the stress to which his body had been subjected and the horror of being eaten alive had taken a toll on him, so they secured one of the excavated houses to rest.

It had been abandoned many hundreds of years ago, part of the walls had come off, and there were obvious signs that other beings had lived there. Even traces of broken plates that the owners hadn't taken with them could still be found.

And while they were resting and some were recovering from their wounds or the contact with the poison, they were also discussing the best way to deal with those toads, since they assumed there would be more of them. Their tongue and poison were the main problem.

But they were far from thinking that they were going to meet ten of them at the same time, with levels ranging from 50 to 55. They had surrounded the area where they were hiding, so they couldn't escape, they could only face those amphibians.

"They are territorial and consider us a threat," Fita muttered, while distributing the groups, preparing to face them.

"I'm going too," got up the mole-man who had been swallowed up.

He felt humiliated and wanted revenge, so it was hard to tell him not to go, besides they couldn't deny that he had physically recovered. Maybe he wasn't in the best condition, but he wasn't a hindrance either. Therefore, they assigned him to the largest group and, in theory, the least dangerous.

They were a little less than 50, so they practically were five for each toad, but they chose a tactic similar to the one they had used against the ants' Royal Guard. Ten groups of three would be in charge of retaining them, three by toad, or in some cases four. Meanwhile, the rest would go in a group against the weakest, attacking the next one when it fell, or supporting those who had problems. They called it the annihilation group.

Or that was the plan, but it remained to be seen if they were able to contain the strongest, as they could be up to 10 levels higher. They only needed to distract them, but that didn't mean it was an easy task.

Eldi, next to the two archers-mole, was going to face a level 55 one. He had more resources than anyone to dodge and distract it, so he had volunteered. The other two were his backup, to distract and annoy the amphibian, with the order to flee if they got too close, since their levels were only 42 and 43.

He invoked Earthen Wall as soon as the toad opened its mouth, disappearing from its sight and preventing it from attacking him with its tongue. Near there, Tica couldn't prevent the attack from another toad's tongue from reaching her.

"It's disgusting but it works," Tica murmured.

All had been covered with the fats they had extracted from their prey, with the intention of being too slippery, and not being a victim of the sticky tongues. And they had achieved their goal, although she was ready for the plan B, clutching her hammer, with the spear on her back and a small bottle with a very powerful poison within reach.

The toad retracted its tongue, baffled at its prey had slipped from it. But that wasn't the only surprise that awaited it. It spat its own tongue due to the acidic taste it had brought, the taste of a poison they had mixed with the fats, and that Tica herself had created days ago from a recipe from her ancestors. It wasn't enough to kill them, they were beings that also used poison, but it could weaken them. The one in the bottle was more powerful, but they couldn't mix it with the fat.

In addition, the poison also had a deterrent effect, as the enormous amphibians didn't use their tongues again once they had tasted it, although that didn't mean they were going to give up. They felt somewhat uncomfortable that they couldn't use their favorite weapon and that their prey were resisting them, although there was something else that was affecting them.