Chapter 56 The Frogman Chief— Cassis

  The group took a brief moment to recover after the last bout. The air was thick with tension and damp with swampy moisture. Camden, now level ten, sat with his back against a crooked tree trunk, quietly scrolling through his class evolution options while the others caught their breath. No one planned to evolve just yet. The dungeon still held potential for titles and rare achievements—opportunities that could easily be missed with premature choices.

  Everyone had been happy after the fight since they finally got the Monster Bane I title. By now they had killed over 100 monsters already. And they were not done yet.

  Cassis noticed that Arianna had given him the Courage Blessing again. He knew it would spill over to the others since he was her avatar. He was glad she was using every advantage she had and didn’t forget any of her abilities.

  When they finally moved out, they advanced slowly, navigating the winding path toward the heart of the village. The terrain grew more treacherous with every step—ponds thick with algae and tree hollows half-submerged in murky water littered their way. More than once, Cassis and Arianna’s Awareness saved them, warning of frogmen lurking just out of sight. They struck from water and wood alike, hurling themselves from ponds or bursting out of hollow trunks with startling speed.

  It was getting harder to fight while staying upright. A misstep here could be more dangerous than a spear or tongue attack. Camden slipped once, his foot skimming the edge of a bubbling pool. Cassis reacted instantly, grabbing his arm and pulling him back before he fell in. He didn’t need to test the water to know it was poisonous. Painful, maybe not fatal with Arianna around—but still dangerous.

  Camden gave him a curt nod of thanks, breathless but steady, and they continued forward, dispatching attackers as they came. When they reached the pond they’d needed to leap across Cassis moved behind Liam without thinking. Just in case. His younger brother didn’t need the help in the end, landing firmly on the far side, but Cassis didn’t relax until everyone had crossed safely.

  Now they were close to the centre of the village.

  Better-armed frogmen emerged to meet them. Shields fashioned from bark, crude weapons tipped with jagged metal. These monsters weren’t the mindless grunts they’d been fighting so far. Another skirmish broke out, and Cassis quickly realized that his fire blade had lost its usefulness. The stronger frogmen resisted his fire, and even worse, the fire mana was dampening the force of his physical attacks. Gritting his teeth, he stopped his Fire Blade. He wished he knew how to channel non-elemental mana into his weapon. It would have served him better now than all the fire in the world.

  His gaze flicked ahead and froze.

  The Frogman Chief stood in the distance. Unlike the others, it towered upright, spine straight, broad shoulders layered with bone charms and scraps of ancient cloth. A massive obsidian axe held in one hand; a blow dart hung from a necklace. Cassis felt an old weight settle in his chest. He remembered that figure.

  The first time he had faced this dungeon he’d been part of a ten-member raiding party. Eight people had been guild mates and he and one other guy had been loners hired for the job. He and half the team had been around level 15 but four others had been E-ranks around level 25 to 30. So, they had though it would be safe.

  But the fight had been brutal. Half their number had died as soon as they reached the chief. And when they’d finally brought the monster down, battered and bleeding, the survivors had turned on him and the one other unaffiliated member.

  Greed had eclipsed honour. They’d wanted the loot, the experience, everything. He still remembered the betrayal, the fury he had felt. He’d barely escaped with his life, stumbling into the depths of the jungle where he’d found the Healing Vine and those monsters who had watched but not killed him. Why they’d let him leave, he didn’t know. They had been busy with something else, but they could have trapped him until they were ready to deal with him.

  But that Healing Vine had saved his life as he had been able to leave the dungeon with it. Awakeners needed to bring proof of completing the objective to the gate in order to leave. A party automatically passed if one of its members had the proof, but he had left the party since they could have tracked him otherwise.

  This incident had marked the end of his trust in people.

  That had been three years after the first wave—back when most still held onto some semblance of morality, but dungeon diving had become normal. How quickly that had changed inside a dungeon.

  He forced his mind back to the present and let out a slow breath. No time for ghosts.

  He slashed through another frogman, carving through armour and bone alike, fireless but no less deadly. Around him, the others were struggling. The enemies matched them in levels, strength and ferocity. Camden, Luke, and Helen fought with grit, but they were being pushed back, their stamina flagging. Liam held his own better than expected—his new title lending him strength—but Cassis could see that it was temporary. He wouldn’t be able to keep up forever. Nadine would soon run out of arrows and would need to regenerate her mana or switch to the short sword.

  Arianna was the team’s anchor. She flickered between offense and healing, cleansing poison and closing wounds as fast as she could. Her presence was a safety net for everyone, but the toll it took was visible in the tightness of her movements, the sweat on her brow.

  The fighting dragged on, and at last, only the Frogman Chief remained between them and victory. The battlefield quieted for a breath. The bodies of frogmen lay still around them, the last of their kin hissing low in the pools, unwilling to leave the safety of the nursery hollows behind and guarding their eggs.

  And then the chief moved.

  As if sensing the shift, it stepped forward, heavy feet splashing into the muck. It gave them no time to rest, no chance to regroup.

  Cassis raised his sword, chest rising and falling with effort. This was it. The final fight had begun.

  That single leap brought the chief crashing down into the heart of their group.

  It landed like a meteor, the earth beneath them shuddering. With no hesitation, it swung its massive obsidian axe down toward Cassis. He barely had time to raise his blade. The clash rang out like thunder, the force numbing his arms. He tried to counter, but the angle was wrong, the strength behind the blow overwhelming.

  This thing was strong—likely past level thirty; maybe even level 40.

  Around him, the others scrambled, caught off guard by the sudden, explosive entrance. Camden was too slow to dodge the next swing. The axe slashed across his stomach in a brutal arc, sending him tumbling to the ground with blood pouring from the wound. At the last second he had managed to jump back otherwise he would have been dead immediately.

  "Cam!" Liam’s voice cracked with panic. His eyes lit with fury as he launched himself at the chief, reckless, desperate to draw its attention away from his boyfriend.

  But Arianna was already sprinting toward Camden, her magic flaring as she prepared to heal. Cassis exhaled sharply and moved to support Liam, cutting across the chief’s line of sight, blade flashing.

  Nadine, perched just behind them, loosed her final wind arrows. They whipped through the air toward the frogman’s head, forcing it to flinch and giving them a brief advantage. Liam’s earth blade struck again and again, but even with the effectiveness of his element, his low level meant the cuts were shallow.

  Luke joined the fray, sword dancing in smooth arcs. Together, they kept the chief engaged, dodging and parrying as best they could. Every swing of the axe was like a falling tree—slow but devastating.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Cassis saw Arianna beside Camden, healing him, her face tight with focus. And then the chief saw her, too. It must not have noticed her from the distance before, but now it was a lot closer.

  A terrible intelligence flickered in its gaze. Cassis felt dread pool in his gut. It had recognized Arianna as a healer. Just like the hobgoblin had. His mind flashed back to that moment—the blood, the silence, the breath he thought would be her last.

  No. Not again.

  Fury surged like wildfire through his limbs. Cassis lunged at the chief, slashing in tight, rapid combinations: slash, stab, parry, counter. The ground was slippery, uneven, but he didn’t care. He activated his dash skill, knowing the risk, and blurred forward.

  Helen had crept behind the chief unnoticed. She leapt, aiming for the back of its skull but the monster twisted at the last second, and her knife only sank into its shoulder. With a roar, the chief threw her aside like a doll. She skidded toward a bubbling pond, inches from disaster. Fortunately, Nadine caught her arm just in time.

  His distraction of watching Helen cost him. Cassis couldn’t intercept in time, and the chief kicked Liam aside. As Cassis rushed toward his brother he soon realized with horror that the chief wasn’t aiming for Liam.

  It was going after Arianna. With a leap it arrived in front of her, already swinging its axe.

  Arianna had just finished healing Camden and was already pushing him out of harm’s way, planting herself between the chief and her teammate. Cassis’s heart stopped.

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  The axe came down.

  Arianna’s water shield snapped up. But it was too small to deflect a weapon of that size.

  And then—it grew. The shield expanded, meeting the axe in a gleaming arc of water. The impact shattered it in an instant, but it had done enough. The force of the blow was reduced, and instead of cleaving her in two, the axe bit into her shoulder.

  She screamed, stumbling, but didn’t fall. Her free hand surged forward, her staff swinging like a hammer. The strike caught the chief’s arm, staggering it, almost making it let go of its weapon. Then she let out a roar, which somehow boosted his and the other’s mana regeneration. He could feel the uptick in his mana regeneration. This had to be her Warcry spell.

  Camden, recovered, dove forward. His wind blade slashed across the frogman’s legs, cutting deep into muscle. The chief stumbled again, dragging its axe back and Arianna screamed once more as the blade tore free from her shoulder.

  Cassis was already in motion. He dashed, leapt, and struck at the chief’s head, the blow jarring his arms but failing to cut deep. Without his Fire Blade, his attacks lacked power.

  Thankfully Arianna wasn’t down. Her shoulder already healing, she pressed the attack, mace raised, Water Shield summoned anew.

  One by one, the rest of the party rejoined the fight. They hurled themselves at the chief, blades and spells flying. It bled from dozens of wounds but none were deep. None were fatal. Its skin was too tough, their strength too worn.

  Cassis growled in frustration. His blows didn’t do enough damage. His fire element was useless against this opponent. In the other timeline he had strong team members who had damaged it. He had just needed to keep fighting and distracting it. But now he was the main damage dealer. The others were too low levelled.

  He cursed internally. He needed non-elemental mana to push into his blade. But he had no idea how to do it. He wasn’t like Arianna and couldn’t just separate his element from his mana.

  They were tiring. Mistakes crept into their footwork. Parries slowed. Dodges came a second too late.

  Then the chief also started attacking with its tongue which was half a person’s size. Not only would it probably kill a person on impact, but should the victim survive, they would be poisoned.

  This was getting bad.

  Arianna must have sensed the same thing. “Water Barrier!” she shouted once everyone was closer together again. The barrier surged up between the chief and the party, shimmering with layered ripples of protective magic.

  For the first time in minutes, there was silence.

  The chief slammed its axe against the barrier, over and over but it held. For now.

  “It won’t last long,” Arianna said, her voice shaking with exhaustion. “But it’ll buy us a moment. Meditate. Recover. Get ready.”

  They did. Cassis sheathed his sword just long enough to breathe, to centre himself.

  This wasn’t over. The chief was still out there, attacking the barrier.

  While the others meditated, Cassis couldn't shake the thoughts that had been circling his mind. If only he could use non-elemental mana for his Elemental Blade spell he was certain he could deal a real wound to the chief. Maybe even a fatal one.

  He’d been too optimistic about this fight. His team, while courageous, wasn’t ready. Last time many of his other teammates had been E-rank and they had barely killed it with most of their team dead.

  But in this team, aside from Arianna and him, none of them had the power or experience needed to bring down a high-level E-rank monster. And Arianna did not really have enough strength right now to deal a fatal wound, and she had the same elemental affinity as the chief. Well, Helen had the instincts and training, but her fire affinity, like his, was nearly useless here. And she was still too low-level to match the chief’s sheer might. Liam had the earth element but was too weak to do anything with it.

  Some of the others were whispering about whether they should evolve their classes right now, despite the lost opportunities. Every bit of strength mattered, and they were desperate. But Cassis raised a hand. Maybe he could do it.

  “Wait,” he said, voice low. “Give me one more minute. I want to try something.”

  Arianna turned to him, curious.

  He leaned in and spoke quietly, “I want to try channelling non-elemental mana into my Fire Blade. Just for a bit. If I can do that… I think it might be enough. But I need your help.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded, understanding what he was aiming for and why. Without a word, she sat down across from him and placed her hand over his heart.

  Her mana flowed into him.

  There was no barrier to it this time, no buffer between her and him. Whether she was too tired or just moving quickly, Cassis could feel everything. Her presence filled him, warm and wild, strong and steady. His breath caught, not from shock but from the overwhelming familiarity. Her mana, her essence—he'd missed it.

  Arianna smiled softly at his expression, but her voice was firm. “Focus, Cassis. We don’t have long.”

  The barrier was still being hit by the chief’s massive axe. Its edges flickered now with each strike. Their time was almost up.

  He nodded, drew his sword, and summoned his Fire Blade. The flames licked along the steel, bright and eager. Arianna kept her hand on his chest, observing with her mana from within.

  She grimaced. “I can’t… explain what I do with my mana,” she admitted. “It’s more instinct than technique. I didn’t realize that until now.”

  Disappointment bit into him. “Then—what now?”

  But a spark of an idea formed. He looked up at her.

  “Then don’t explain. Do it for me. Change the mana that’s feeding the spell. Let’s see if I can feel it, learn from it. Maybe I’ll figure out how it works by watching.”

  Arianna blinked, surprised. Then slowly, she nodded. “Alright. I’ll try.”

  She reached into the current of mana feeding his spell. The moment her influence touched it, Cassis felt it. His connection to the flame flickered. Something shifted. His mana felt alien, hollowed out. Like something had been stripped from it. It made his skin crawl. He tensed.

  Arianna sensed it. “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” she whispered.

  He gritted his teeth and pushed through the discomfort.

  The flames on his sword sputtered then vanished. In their place was something else. A faint shimmer, translucent and deadly, like a mirage given edge. The blade thrummed in his hand, strangely light and cold.

  He felt the non-elemental mana inside the spell, guiding it. But he couldn’t replicate it on his own.

  When Arianna stopped feeding it, the mana dissipated. The spell collapsed, the shimmer evaporating from the blade’s surface. Thankfully, his discomfort vanished, too.

  Cassis exhaled, drained. “I have no idea how you do that. It won’t work.”

  But Arianna only smiled. “Then we’ll cheat.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  She leaned in, eyes bright despite her exhaustion. “I’ll make a reserve of non-elemental mana inside you.”

  Before he could protest, she was already working.

  The sensation was painful. She was reaching deep into his core, separating the fire from his mana like peeling skin from muscle. Cassis ground his teeth against the ache, sweat beading on his brow. How did she endure this? How did she do this to herself so often?

  When she finished, he gasped, his chest burning—but it was done. Inside him sat a compact reserve of non-elemental mana, cocooned in his own fire mana.

  He couldn’t control it exactly, but he could prod it. He could guide it with his fire mana, pushing it toward his sword, into the spell.

  It wouldn’t last long. He hoped it would be enough.

  He looked up. The water barrier shuddered under another axe blow. Cracks spiderwebbed through it.

  The others stirred, weapons in hand.

  Arianna met his eyes and gave him a tired smile. “Ready?”

  He rose to his feet. “Let’s end this.”

  He still felt hollow with the non-elemental mana resting inside him. It was unnatural, like it didn’t belong there. But there was no more time to think about it.

  With the chiefs next attack the barrier shattered.

  It roared and leapt forward in a blur of muscle and steel. Cassis barely had time to raise his sword before the chaos began again. Luke, Liam, and Camden rushed forward to intercept, their blades clashing against the heavy swings of its axe. They parried, blocked, and dodged as best they could, but the chief’s strength hadn’t diminished at all.

  Helen had vanished into the shadows again, and Nadine, having recovered a few arrows with her mana during the break, let them fly. Each one struck true, aiming for the head, but barely seemed to faze the monster. When she ran out, she joined Luke, drawing a short blade and pressing in close, trying to divide its focus.

  But already, the chief’s eyes were on Arianna again.

  Realizing this, she did something that made the chief focus on her even more. She had used the Baiting skill.

  “Damn it,” Cassis muttered.

  He gnashed his teeth in frustration, but didn’t stop her. This was their best shot. It was risky, but she knew that. And this time… he wasn’t as afraid. Her evolved class gave her better durability, and she could heal herself on the fly. Still watching her stand alone and drawing all that fury toward her let him feel like he’d failed. Like there was a knot in his stomach.

  The chief attacked her with the violence of a storm. Her shield flared, collapsed, and flared again. Blood bloomed across her body, only to vanish a second later as healing magic washed over her. But even with that, Cassis could see her strength failing. Her movements slowed. Her arms trembled with every parry.

  But her distraction was good enough. Cassis dashed in unnoticed, sword drawn, feeding the shimmering mana into the spell as he ran. The blade glowed with that eerie, sharp light.

  Helen had also snuck behind it. She struck first and her knife sank into the chief’s back. This time it didn’t see her coming. It was too focused on Arianna, too furious. It shrieked and twisted, but Cassis was already leaping.

  He landed on its shoulder, boots slipping on blood and slick skin, but he found his mark. He stabbed into the thick muscle of its neck, twisting the blade as he did. The translucent gleam of his spell hissed like a live wire. The chief screamed.

  He yanked the blade free, then slashed again and again at the same spot. Green blood spurted in gouts. The chief flailed and finally batted him away. Cassis hit the ground and rolled, breath knocked from his lungs, but he saw the damage. It would bleed out.

  The chief staggered. But instead of retreating, it turned its wrath back to Arianna.

  She was barely upright now, her mace hanging in her hands. Still, she raised it, her body shaking. Then Camden and Liam flanked her. Together, they deflected the next blow that would have split her in two.

  Helen circled again, silent as a shadow, and this time she went for the open gash in its neck. Her blade sank deep, and the chief screamed once more. It spun, wild and desperate, swinging its axe in a full arc. But Helen held on.

  Nadine didn’t see the axe coming. She was too close. Cassis’s heart jumped but Luke was fast enough. He shoved Nadine aside and took the hit across his back.

  “Luke!” Nadine and Arianna shouted. Nadine drew him into her arms, keeping him steady for Arianna who was already sprinting toward him, her hands glowing with healing light.

  The chief lumbered after her again, relentless.

  Cassis stepped between them. “No,” he said under his breath, sword raised.

  The chief swayed, the light in its eyes dimming. Then, with one final breath that sounded more like a growl than a sigh, it dropped to its knees.

  And died.

  The system message appeared before his eyes, bright and triumphant.

  [Congratulations! You have completed the objective: 'Kill the Frogman Chief.']

  [You may now leave the dungeon if you bring the chief’s blow dart necklace to the gate.]

  [EXP gained. Level gained.]

  [Skill Body Reinforcement rank up to Intermediate]

  [Skill Dash rank up to Beginner]

  [New spell gained: Mana Blade (Low)]

  [Unique Ability gained: Shared Channelling.]

  That last two made him stop briefly. That was new.

  Before he could think too much about it, Camden and Luke both let out stunned, breathless laughs. “I got a new title!” Camden exclaimed.

  Luke, grimacing as he sat up with Arianna healing him, held out a hand. “Me too. Did we seriously survive that?”

  Nadine giggled. “We did. I got a title, too. Giant Slayer.”

  Helen chimed in with a huge grin. “The same for me.”

  Arianna stood nearby, pale and swaying. She wasn’t moving—just staring blankly, likely reading her own barrage of system messages.

  Cassis looked around the group. Helen wiped blood from her knife. Liam leaned on his sword, panting, staring at his messages. Nadine had her arms wrapped tightly around Luke. Nobody had died.

  Cassis exhaled slowly, a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in for the entire fight. They’d done it.