Here's today's chapter! Thanks for reading and supporting my efforts :) Have a great weekend.

-Plum

18 – The River’s Price

As Andy charged the gigantic bogwart, the monster saw him and threw out its arm, instantly summoning ten shimmering globules of green mana that streaked toward him. Andy dove, rolling with a kind of grace that would have been impossible before the System came to Earth. It was something straight out of a superhero movie; he flew parallel to the stone ground, the globules of mana bursting behind him, and as he lost momentum and almost hit the ground, Andy tucked his shoulder and flipped, springing onto his feet and continuing to sprint.

His top speed was inhuman—he streaked over the distance—and the giant bogwart barely managed to turn to face him before Andy was flying through the air, driving Scirocco with tremendous force toward the monster’s broad chest. It tried to block him, but Andy was too fast—the spear struck home, punching the full length of the blade into the creature’s meaty pectoral. Balefire flowed into the wound, along with a virulent dose of Scirocco’s venom.

Andy planted his feet on the bogwart’s hip, bunched his knees, and leaped back, yanking the spear with him as he backflipped off the monster. The bogwart staggered back, but only for an instant, then it whipped its massive quarterstaff at Andy. The attack was fast and powerful; the weapon whistled through the air, but Andy saw it coming—his superhuman Speed attribute let him track it from the moment the bogwart’s massive shoulders twitched. He leaped back, and the heavy length of wood cracked against the stone floor like a gunshot.

Andy was already inhaling, charging his lungs with hot, smoky mana, and as the bogwart lifted its quarterstaff, Andy exhaled, bathing the giant toad-man full in the face with his Cinderstorm Blast. The monster let out a tremendous croak—more high-pitched than before and with a staccato repetition to the sound. It broke into a frenzy, slamming its staff left and right, smashing it against the ground. Andy wasn’t even within range; he’d backed off to see how the smoke would affect the boss monster.

He heard a commotion behind him and turned to see a wave of bogwarts charging down the slope, away from the tunnel opening. Then it clicked for Andy: the giant bogwart’s croak had been a cry for help. He slipped into his smoke and circled the giant, stabbing it again and again.

Scirocco’s seemingly random magical effects did their damage—venom, fire, electricity. Unfortunately, the most common were his gusts of wind, and those didn’t seem to harm the great toad-man. Instead, they cleared the smoke. Not for the first time, Andy hoped that, as the spear gained levels, he’d learn to control which of his magical effects he applied.

As for the great bogwart, it screamed and thrashed, slamming its quarterstaff this way and that. It repeatedly cast spells charged by its potent poison-attuned mana—gas poured from its skin that Andy had to back away from; it spat gouts of sizzling acidic liquid, but never anywhere near Andy; and the bogwart continued to summon globules of green liquid, throwing them haphazardly into Andy’s smoke cloud. All the while, the toad-man boss burned—its green, warty flesh sizzled and blackened, and its croaks became increasingly desperate.

When the wave of smaller bogwarts arrived, they threw themselves into the cloud, despite their already injured states. Andy darted around to the far side of the boss and coughed out another Cinderstorm Blast, renewing and thickening the existing cloud. The giant bogwart screamed, and its smaller brethren echoed the sound; many of them erupted in flames, flailing and falling—their desperate attempt to save their leader aborted.

Andy ignored the surviving bogwarts; they couldn’t harm him inside his smoke, and he continued to deliver devastating spear strikes to the giant bogwart. Once, it tried to cast another poison wind, but the spell took it a pair of seconds to cast, and Andy was there, stabbing, interrupting the process.

As the fight stretched into minutes, he worried about Omar and the others, but the fact that the boss had called for help and only twenty or so bogwarts had come seemed promising to Andy; maybe Delilah or even Chani had managed to clear the poison wind—maybe it had fizzled out with the distance. Andy put it out of his mind, determined to finish the giant bogwart; in his mind, that was the best aid he could give.

After Andy drove his spear into the huge toad-man’s flesh for maybe the twentieth time, the creature finally began to fail. It stumbled to one knee, catching itself on its quarterstaff, but only barely. Andy yanked Scirocco out and stabbed again, and for the first time, the spear unleashed its thunderous lightning strike. The cavern boomed with the clap of thunder, and Andy had flashbacks of the cave-in he and Lucy had barely escaped.

As the tremendous bolt of lightning blasted the giant bogwart to the ground, its searing afterimage rippled across Andy’s vision. He hastily turned, scanning the great cavern. To his relief, he only saw a few small stones falling and, if he looked closely enough, some small cracks spreading through the stone. “Damn, buddy,” he gasped, panting from his exertions, “you gotta get a grip on those special attacks.”

He stepped closer to the sizzling corpse of the giant bogwart and nudged it with his spear. When it didn’t flinch after he sank the blade a few inches into its warty, charred thigh, Andy turned and jogged toward the tunnel. The System hadn’t given him any sort of victory message, so, in his mind, that meant the fight was still ongoing.

Inside the tunnel, his eyes watered and he coughed at the harsh burn of the air—a combination of kerosene smoke and the bogwart’s poison wind. It wasn’t terrible, though; he could still breathe, and that gave him heart as he charged into the darkness, illuminated by the flicker of flames and brightened by his magical sight. He passed scores of bogwart corpses—so many that he had a hard time believing any were left alive.

When he reached the gate, broken and burned and littered with more corpses, he had to climb over a mound of squishy, half-burned corpses to get through. He encountered a similar choke point by the giant toad statue where he and the others had built their fortification. He jumped and climbed through, and when he didn’t see any sign of his friends, genuine panic began to set in.

“Omar!” he screamed. “Bella!”

He charged into the tunnel, noting a thinning trail of bogwart corpses. It seemed his friends had fought while they retreated, punishing the toad-men who’d given chase. He was halfway out of the tunnel when he saw a flash of purple lightning and heard a bellowing croak. “Oh, shit!” His jog became a sprint as he realized what had happened: in their retreat, his friends had run into the giant toad from the river.

Andy flew toward the tunnel mouth, and when he burst free, his fears came to light. Omar was holding his ground against the enormous toad, his shield glowing with silver-blue light as he crouched, panting, trying to keep the beast away from Bella, who was sprawled on the ground behind him. She looked wet and bloody; her hair covered her face, and the utter stillness of her form sent a cold jolt through Andy’s heart.

Another crackling arc of purple lightning flashed into the toad’s back, and it croaked, bunching its legs to leap over Omar toward Chani and Delilah, who were pressed against the cavern wall. They saw it coming and split; the giant mouse ran in one direction and Delilah in the other. Andy didn’t see Trevor, but he didn’t stand there searching for him; he lifted Scirocco and threw him with all his might.

As the giant toad came down, it was already turning, already spreading its gaping maw to flick out a long, rubbery tongue. The tacky appendage stretched out, streaking toward Chani—then Scirocco struck.

Thunder boomed in the underground canyon. Chunks of concrete and stone fell from the distant heights; the river flared like a silver ribbon, and a bolt of lightning like God’s own wrath smote the giant toad. It convulsed, spasming as the bolt tore through it. Andy smelled cooking meat, but all he could see was a white light; he’d failed to blink in time to save his vision.

As he squeezed his eyes shut, using his ears and heightened Perception to determine what was going on, he heard Omar fall to his knees, his shield scraping on the stone as he tended to Bella. He heard Delilah gasping, crying out for Trevor, and he heard Chani scamper past him, also rushing to Bella. The toad sizzled and its bulk moved a bit—spasms, Andy guessed, or maybe it was still partially alive. He summoned a spare spear into his hands and stalked toward the sound, blinking away the brilliant afterimage of the lightning strike.

When he reached the toad, he heard its wheezing breaths, and he saw its dim silhouette as its two hind legs twitched. It wasn’t dead, but it was nearly so. By then, Andy could see its shape well enough, and he aimed the spear toward the depression behind its eyes, near the base of its skull—his Critical Mastery told him that was the place to strike. He drove the spear home, and the creature spasmed and then fell still.

As System messages flashed across his eyes, Andy sent his spear into storage and yanked Scirocco out of the giant corpse—the weapon was hot in his hands. “Good job, buddy.”

“Andy!” Delilah cried, and he hurried around the body toward the slight Elven woman.

“Yeah, it’s me!”

“Do you see Trevor? There were two toads!”

Andy spun, scanning the rocky riverbank. There was no sign of the tall fighter or another toad. “Did it take him into the water?”

Delilah gasped out a choking sob and fell to her knees. “I’m afraid it did! It had him in its mouth!”

Andy helped her up and said, “I can try to go after him. Let’s get you over to Omar and Bella.” In truth, he’d been afraid to look at his friends because he didn’t want to see Bella still lying the way he’d last seen her. When he helped Delilah up and guided her over, he breathed a sigh of relief; Omar had her up in a seated position, and she was looking around, eyes wide with confusion. Chani was there too, lying on her stomach, her head in Bella’s lap.

“Omar, can you look after Del, too? I have to go after Trevor.”

Omar looked up, glanced at Delilah, and then shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be smart.” He reached out a hand toward Delilah, though she wasn’t close enough for him to touch. “The toad, it…swallowed him before it jumped back into the river.”

Delilah sagged, and Andy found himself holding her entire weight. He slowly let her down to her knees again, and she slumped forward, crying. “I saw it. I didn’t want to believe it, but I saw the toad take him into its mouth.”

“Trevor?” Bella asked, blinking.

“Yeah,” Omar said. “You’ll be okay, Bella. I used Cinerath’s Touch.” He looked at Andy. “Glad you came when you did. What about the bogwarts?”

Andy squatted beside Delilah, gently patting her back. “They’re done. Sorry I missed a lot of your fight, but I had to kill their boss—it was sending poison gas into the tunnel.”

“Yeah. We had to clear out, and the toad people followed, but they were all burned or hurt, so we did okay.” Omar spat to the side. “Until those damn toads came out of the water and hit our flank.”

Andy stood. “I have to look.” He walked to the edge of the river, sent his coat and boots into storage, and jumped into the river. He knew it was probably hopeless—he wasn’t sure how anyone could survive being swallowed by a gigantic river toad—but he had to look. Swimming with the current for a while, he saw some fish, but nothing larger than a good-sized trout. He didn’t like leaving the others for so long, and the river showed no signs of narrowing or slowing, so he turned and kicked his way toward the surface, gasping for air.

He knew that if he were in Delilah’s shoes and it were Lucy that was missing, he’d want confirmation—rock-hard evidence that she was either dead or alive. He swam against the current for another five minutes, scanning desperately toward the depths, left and right, but if the toad was living in that section of the river, it was well-hidden.

Andy was torn; they still had people to rescue, and his friends weren’t exactly safe back on the shore, so he forced himself to accept defeat and used the current to swiftly return to the bank.

He clambered to his feet, shivering from the chill, and summoned a towel from his ring to dry off a bit. After he’d pulled on his boots, he walked over to the others, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Delilah—I couldn’t see any sign of him or the toad.”

She continued to look down, shoulders shaking.

Bella held out her hand, and Omar pulled her to her feet. “How did I get all wet?”

Omar looked at her, tilting his head. “You don’t remember?” He pointed to the dead toad. “That big sucker did some kind of spell and coughed about twenty gallons of slimy water all over you.”

“Oh my God!” Bella started peeling off her armored jacket, but stopped, shaking her head. “No time for changing. Did you check on the captives?”

“Not yet…” Andy said, still watching the elf, still feeling like he’d failed somehow.

“Help me, please,” Delilah said, holding up her arm. Bella quickly took her hand and pulled her up. “I have to finish our mission.”

“Before we do that, you all should check your System messages,” Omar said. “I gained eleven levels.”

Andy blinked at the Paladin, stunned by the announcement. Hastily, he focused on the messages on the side of his field of view, and they came into focus. He wasn’t expecting to have gained as much as Omar; after all, the Paladin had only been level twelve. Even so, his eyes widened as he read the messages:

***Congratulations, Andy! You and your party have routed the bogwart settlement that was overrunning the depths beneath the city. While some bogwarts remain, they’ve fled and will surely struggle to regain a foothold among the predators of the deep. For your part in the heroic battle, you’ve earned enough experience to gain four levels in your Brimstone Stalker class. As a result, you’ve gained 2 Improvement Points and 60 maximum mana.

If you claim the bogwarts’ System Node, you’ll complete your quest, gain extra Boon Points for your own settlement, and earn System-generated treasures for your party. Make haste before someone else claims your prize!***