Chapter 185 - 184: Roar of the Great Swamp

Chapter 185: Chapter 184: Roar of the Great Swamp

CROAK—

CROAK—

The distant shore had just come into view when the loud cries of the Frogmen reached their ears.

Hom lowered his body and steadied the boat with a long pole. "They probably heard the disturbance on the water and came over. Should we go straight for them?"

Grek snorted. "The Silver Scales are serving themselves up on a platter. Why wouldn’t we go?"

Hom ignored him and looked to the squad’s leader, Hayley, who in turn looked to Hesia.

Seeing him nod, Hayley then nodded at Hom.

Only then did Hom push off with his pole again, guiding the small boat slowly toward the muddy flats.

Green figures gradually appeared before them through the thin mist.

If not for their cries, Hesia would have thought a few goblins were waiting for them on the shore.

As the boat slowly drew near, Hesia finally got a clear look at the Frogmen.

Their enormous heads were nearly as wide as their shoulders, with a pair of bulging, amber eyes protruding from the sides of their heads, slowly scanning the uninvited guests on the boat.

Disproportionately wide mouths split their faces all the way to their gills.

Their powerful hind legs were bent, sporting wide, webbed feet that gripped firmly onto the slick, muddy beach.

Their forelimbs were relatively short, and they clutched simple spears held horizontally in front of them, as if ready to lunge at any moment.

Their overall appearance was like the features of a frog, magnified and crudely mashed onto a humanoid body, exuding a primitive and savage sense of oppression.

Unlike his recklessness when they encountered the Gnolls, Grek didn’t charge in immediately.

It was unclear if it was because he had completely given up on pursuing Hayley and thus felt no need to show off, or if the powerful Gnoll leader had left him with some psychological trauma.

Seeing Hesia and the others approach, the most robust-looking Frogman took a step forward, puffing out its mucus-covered chest.

It jabbed a thumb hard against its own thick chest, making a dull THUMP-THUMP sound.

Then, its massive mouth snapped open, unleashing a series of rising and falling, threatening croaks:

"CROOAAK! CROAK CROAK! GURGLE-CROAK—!"

"CROAK-GURGLE, CROAK CROAK CROAK CROAK! CROAK-GURGLE-GURGLE—CROAK!"

The two Frogmen beside it joined in:

"CROAK! CROAK CROAK CROAK... CROAK-GURGLE! CROAK CROAK!"

Hesia was getting a headache from all their croaking. He was just about to raise his Magic Wand when he heard Hom speak up from the side.

"Master Adventurer, he’s saying he’s the ’Roar of the Great Swamp,’ and the two next to him are the ’Ruler of the Mud Swamp’ and ’Grok the Crocodile-Fearer’!"

"You can understand what they’re saying?" Hesia asked, somewhat surprised.

"Not really, but these Frogmen basically just repeat the same few phrases over and over. Someone in town studied them, and this is the general gist. Anyway, all these Frogmen love giving themselves incredible-sounding titles."

He paused, then added, "Oh, and at the beginning, it also called us ’long-legged scum’!"

Seeing Hesia’s group show no reaction and just talk amongst themselves, the Frogmen seemed to assume they were afraid.

A smug look appeared on the lead Frogman’s face, and it puffed out its chest even higher.

"GURGLE-CROAK-CROAK! CROAK! CROOAAK—!"

A vicious glint shone in its huge eyes, and it was about to stomp its massive webbed foot forward to put a ferocious end to its "speech."

However, a whistling ball of blue light was already hurtling toward its face.

"Croak?"

With a dull THUD, the ball of light accurately struck it on the head.

Its huge body swayed, and with a SPLAT, it fell into the mud. It twitched twice, then went still.

Hesia adjusted the direction of his Magic Wand, feeling a bit speechless.

He had been about to hit it with a second [Magic Missile], not expecting the "Roar of the Great Swamp" couldn’t even take a single one.

Hesia shifted his Magic Wand slightly, and two more blue lights shot out in quick succession.

The "Ruler of the Mud Swamp" and "Grok the Crocodile-Fearer" also hit the dirt.

The increase in power after [Magic Missile] reached Level 2 was obvious compared to Level 1.

The power boost was one thing, but Hesia hadn’t even used half of his Magic Power after firing three missiles.

Considering the recovery effect of [Earth Affinity], Hesia estimated he could fire ten missiles in rapid succession without any problem.

Of course, that was assuming he got off the boat first.

Seeing this, the two remaining Frogmen in the back let out a strange shriek of fear and turned to run into the reeds.

They moved surprisingly fast in the mud, hopping and bounding away, about to vanish in the blink of an eye.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

Two more precise beams of blue light, and the two fleeing Frogmen also fell, becoming proficiency points for Hesia.

[Magic Missile Proficiency +1, Level 2 (17/20)]

Looking at the notification in his mind, Hesia couldn’t help but marvel that killing Demons was a much more efficient way to raise proficiency than just practicing on his own.

Hom stood at the stern of the boat, his mouth agape, wide enough to fit a fist.

He had guided other Adventurer Squads before. He’d seen Warriors swinging Greatswords and Rangers with superb archery, but this was the first time he had ever seen a scene where enemies fell with a mere lift of a hand.

’Magic... so this is Magic?’

He looked at Hesia, his eyes filled with awe.

"I’ll go get the webbed feet!" Grek snapped back to reality, immediately jumping off the boat. He scurried forward and used a dagger to cut the webbing from the Frogmen’s feet, casually tossing their shoddy spears into the water as he went.

Perhaps because Hesia’s Magic had given Hom a boost of confidence, he was no longer as cautious as he had been on the boat.

He even had a spring in his step as he led the way.

Under Hom’s guidance, they soon found a Frogman Cave.

It was a mud hole hidden beneath the roots of a giant tree, its entrance adorned with crude decorations made of strung-together fish bones and shells.

The opening was wider than expected, but the inside was pitch-black, emitting a pungent stench that was a mix of foul fishiness and rotting aquatic plants.

"Damn, this smell..." Grek instinctively pinched his nose and fanned the air in front of his face with his other hand. "I’d rather smell a Giant’s ass."

"All Frogman caves are like this. You’ll have to bear with it, sir," Hom sidled up. "But the smellier it is, the more of them are inside. And that means more walking Silver Scales!"

Hayley ignored their banter. She drew her warhammer and said in a low voice, "I’m going in first."

"Wait."

Hesia extended a finger and tapped it lightly on the head of Hayley’s hammer.

A bright ball of light instantly attached itself to the hammer’s head, dispelling the surrounding gloom and causing the shadows deeper in the cave to flicker.

[Light Technique]

Mr. Hughes also cast his blessing to increase her Physique on her again.

Hayley nodded, tightened her grip on her warhammer, and was the first to enter the cave.

Hesia followed close behind with Bruce and Mr. Hughes. Grek brought up the rear, with Hom sandwiched in the middle, nervously glancing around, afraid something would leap out from a dark corner.