As the Alpha Trip Toad began to descend from its jump, Bryn injected himself with an enhance potion and dashed in the opposite direction of the fallen tree as Jordan stood to meet it. He pinpointed where the toad was aiming, and was able to dodge while remaining close enough to counterattack. As the enormous beast landed, the ground shook violently, and Jordan was barely able to maintain his balance while he activated his Sense Weakness skill. He felt the familiar warmth behind his eyes, scanning his opponents body.

The Sense Weakness skill highlighted the best targets to aim for, with an orange glow emanating from the point on the enemy’s body the skill assessed to be the best target. His eye caught the glow coming from the alphas left eye. After taking a moment to identify his target, he launched forward with the power of the symbiosis fueling his enhanced speed.

As Jordan approached the Alpha, he leaped toward its face, the bulging eye making for an obvious target. The fog of Dregmoor flowed from his body, and he thrust his sword forcefully in his target’s direction. Just before the blade made contact, he heard a deafening croak that rang in his ears.

Then the really big toad was gone, and Jordan face planted into the mud.

He heard a scream from behind him, turning around to see Bryn flying through the air. He crashed into a tree, the large burst of blue light indicating the loss of multiple defense crystals. Looking over at the direction Bryn had flown from, Jordan saw the Alpha. He wasn’t sure if it was some sort of psychic trick or some sort of teleportation ability, but he didn’t like it one but either way. Jordan raced over to Bryn, scooping him into his back and dashing away from the monstrous beast.

“I don’t think we can talk things out” Jordan said as they retreated. The path they were fighting on was narrow, and he scanned the battlefield for more space. While retreating to the wet marshland would provide more room to work with than the narrow dirt road, the thick mud would restrict movement too much. “Any more violent ideas?” He asked.

Bryn looked back as he clung to Jordan’s shoulders. They had no surefire way of beating this creature, especially with Jordan not having fully recovered from the previous fight. The trip toads hadn’t been researched very thoroughly, as they had only popped up in the Morten marshland areas in the last couple of years. While the hallucinogenic effects were obvious, abilities such as the acid spit ability that had injured Jordan would come as a surprise. That was also the case with the Alpha, though with even more risks.

“We don’t know anything about weaknesses or proven strategies for fighting these things, so let’s throw everything we have at him. Drop me here and we’ll rush him together.” Bryn said. Jordan stopped and put Bryn down, returning his attention to the Alpha. Its bumpy green skin flapped as it stomped toward the two, and Jordan charged forward, the fog trailing behind him.

Once he was within a few feet, Jordan quickly retrieved a pouch from his hip, revealing a doom cube he had brought from Zyphtal. The technology to make these wasn’t available in Dregmoor, which is a shame considering their destructive power when compared to potions. He activated the cube, tossing it toward the toads face as he slashed at the creatures legs.

As the cube exploded in a burst of ice magic, the toad’s pained croak echoed through the marsh. Jordan swung his sword into the toads leg, the limb as thick as a tree stump. Despite the immense girth of his target, Jordan managed to slice more than halfway through. The beast fell to the ground for a moment, attempting to regain its balance immediately, thought it struggled as purple blood poured from its leg.

“Jordan Bail!” Bryn said, and as Jordan looked over he saw his friend toss a cloth sack toward the beast. For a moment Jordan was confused, but as the sack began to glow with several different colors, he understood what Bryn’s impromptu strategy had been: put all of their explosive materials in one bag, and throw it. Yanking his sword out of the Alpha’s leg, he followed after Bryn as the two of them sprinted toward the fallen tree, and dove into the bog below as the sack made contact.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The explosion was louder than any sound Jordan had ever heard. It was as if an entire army fired their cannons simultaneously, then decided it wasn’t enough, doubled their number, and fired again. The variety of elemental magic and the sheer amount of den caused the air to feel like electricity was flowing through it, and Jordan took shelter in the waist deep murky water with Bryn beside him.

Once the noises had stopped, the pair climbed up to the road once again. “Do you think we got it?” Jordan asked, the smoke of the explosion obscuring his vision. He looked at the percentage in the corner of his vision as he attempted to assess the battlefield.

3%

Jordan grimaced at the low number, and began to deactivate the skill when he heard a familiar noise: an intimidating and deafening croak. As the smoke cleared, the Alpha lumbered forward. The scorch marks on its wrinkled skin and the blood pouring from its mouth indicated it hadn’t been unscathed, yet it was still much less dead than the two had been hoping for.

“Live to fight another day?” Jordan asked, a weak smile on his face as the Alpha approached from behind.

“Yeah that would be best.” Bryn said, nodding furiously before the two began running toward the fallen tree. Almost immediately once they started moving, Jordan could feel the ping of his Nature’s Credit skill in his head. Some of the targets he had spotted earlier were closing in on their location, and they were still at least a mile away from town.

After climbing over the tree, the pair continued running down the path until Jordan felt a large body slam into him. He crashed into Bryn, both of them falling to the ground. Looking up, Jordan saw they were now surrounded by 3 more trip toads, their synchronized croaking sending chills down Jordan’s spine. As the two stood up, the fallen tree was crushed under the webbed foot of the alpha, its presence extinguishing any hope of escape.

The two of them stood back to back, the fog from Jordan’s new form fading rapidly. As he held a sword in each hand, Bryn held his hand to the dial of the Arsenal Watch. They were surrounded on all sides, with most of their weapons used up, and their enemies closing in slowly.

“We’ve gotten out of worse than this right?” Jordan asked, the croaks around them overlapping in rapid succession.

“Other than the casino trip I don’t think anything comes close” Bryn said, chuckling slightly as the toads continued to approach. Jordan looked at his friend and smiled sadly. They had done so well, and so much better than anyone expected them to. The ending taking place in Dregmoor, an unceremonious mauling by toad, was so lame.

Throughout his life he hadn’t felt particularly important to the big picture. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have dreams or desires, more so that he was satisfied with what he was doing in his own life, and he didn’t feel the need to save the world. If he made a good amount of money, was able to take pride in his work, and enjoyed the relationships he had in his life, that was enough. Though he had to admit, adventuring with Bryn and eventually being the big heroes that saved the day didn’t sound too bad. As the toads came within a few feet, Jordan watched their throats begin to expand, and he looked once again at the number.

.05%

“It was good run man, nothing to be ashamed of” Jordan said, deactivating his skill and handing one of his swords to Bryn. “Since you never had a boon, do you want to go out fighting with a sword? Might be kind of cool” he said, Bryn chuckling and nodding as he took the blade. It was clearly too heavy as he almost immediately dropped it, eventually precariously holding it with two shaking hands. The pair laughed loudly as the 3 toads acidic orbs flew towards them. Jordan closed his eyes, hoping it would be over quickly.

It wasn’t.

In fact it didn’t end at all, he just stood there in silence with his eyes closed.

“Is this death?” Jordan said out loud, opening his eyes in confusion. The scene around him was unexpected to say the least. Bryn was no longer next to him, and the ground he stood on was completely coated in the acidic slime, the liquid steaming as it mixed with the mud. Despite this, he hadn’t been injured at all. He looked to the toads and saw the 3 that had just arrived crumpled on the ground, covered in large gashes and bleeding profusely. Even the alpha lay dead, and Jordan began to walk before he realized how wobbly his legs were. He settled into a sitting position in the place he had been standing, as it was the only part of the ground not covered in steaming acid mud. After rubbing his eyes for a moment, he looked up to see Bryn in front of him. He was covered in purple blood, though his clothing was nothing compared to the viscera that coated the sword he held.

Jordan looked at his friend with concern. While he was happy to be alive, the glazed look in Bryn’s eye concerned him. “Hey man, you o-?” He asked, but before he could finish Bryn fell forward, face planting in the mud. Jordan stood up and carried Bryn out of the mud, ignoring the immense pain he felt as he dug through Bryn’s bag for the health potions. Both of their skin was sizzling with the acidic mud that coated their bodies, and Jordan sighed with relief as he saw they still had a good supply left. Uncorking 2 potions, he drank one as he fed the second to Bryn, and as he looked at his friend, something popped up in his field of vision. It appeared in the same spot as his Environmental Symbiosis percentage, but this time it had words instead of numbers.

Peculiar Skill Activated: Sword Of The Lost One Successfully Transferred To Party Member.