Nightmare Fantasy Online - Chapter 33

“Kill!” – Garami

*Ribiiiit!!*

“Kill!” – Garami

*Ribiiiit!!*

“Kill!” – Garami

*Ribiiiit!!*

“Kill!!” – Garami

*Ribiiiiiiiit!!*

One by one, I discovered and practically assassinated a Darkland Frog/Toad whenever I found one. [Detect Monster]’s improved effect made it more difficult not to notice one of those huge blokes, and the damage-output of [Mystical Threads] has been enhanced as well.

It’s mostly due to the environment that I can fight so great. In addition to the naked trees and the huge boulders that I can use to hide, there are slippery patches of mud all over the place. They seem to contain some “darkness mana” or something that hides the mud, as my Manavision lets me see the bad places to step on for a slippery experience.

The frogs aren’t that lucky. I managed to trip one of the unluckier ones and made him slide into one of the huge ravines that can be found here too. Rest in mushy pieces.

It’s not all fun and games. Both my MP and SP get used up due to using all these skills and moving around so much. When I have little MP left, I take a break to let [Mana Auto-Recovery] do its job. For my SP, I have to rest even longer, but I have some food items from the Fort’s Café with me, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

And if there’s an HP crisis after a fight, I simply sneak behind the next toad with [Lurk] and drain it with [Dark Drain]. The skill takes the effect of some black energy that comes from the palm of my hand and can stretch like a piece of slime to reach something at most 5 meters away. Some green stuff gets sucked out from the target and into my palm.

And I used [Weakning Evil Eye] to grant weakness onto a frog if it seems too strong. Like this one.

Kukukuku. With the latest upgrade on [Identification] as well, I have finally reached the point where I can see my opponent’s stats! Some of them, at least.

But man, these frogs are real muscleheads. Look at that HP and SP. And it’s on the same level as me. Or, before I started. I’ve killed a good dozen of frogs and toads each now, so I reached Lv.6 a few frogs ago. But that frog has easily three times more HP than me, and twice as much SP.

Then again, it dies after getting hit with [Mystical Threads], and it’s easily affected by [Weakness Evil Eye], so I guess its RES must be in the dumps. Poor thing. Our matchup is the worst. Also for me, as I’m not good at taking a huge hit like from these guys. Its tongue is also nasty to deal with, for various reasons.

I killed the frog I was busy with before its Weakness ailment expired.

You see, I didn’t just exterminate those ribbits in a blind rage. I also experimented with the Evil Eye. Or more specifically, the status ailment it inflicts.

From my observations, I can say that a status ailment will have different levels of strength depending on how many stacks of that ailment the victim has. In the case of Weakness, 1 stack of this ailment leads to the victim’s stats going down by 0.1%. Also, the stack gets reduced by 1 for each 10th second.

On another note, I tried to stack as much Weakness on a toad once, but the stack didn’t go any higher than 100. Do I have to do some sorta Quest to unlock a more powerful Weakness or something?

Not caring. Professor Garami is taking her day off now. And replacing her is BERSERKER Garami!! Attack!!

Soloing the frogs was damn easy, considering they’re just wandering around without any worries. The only problem is that the eyes they drop with a high ratio is attracting new frogs before I can get ready for them! Why’re they so gung-ho about eating their killed friend’s eyeballs? Some sorta ritual? Or are they some sick kinda gourmet?

Not that I’ll get to know, nor care…, I stand corrected. I found the reason for their appetite for eyes, I think.

An E-rank…, a special evolution? It’s still a toad instead of a frog. A switch into a superior race instead of growing up?

The Darkeye Toad didn’t look that different from the Darkland Toad. The same size, the same coloring, but this toad had lots of wart-looking bumps all over its body. Except that it wasn’t warts or bumps, but white-colored eyes.

Don’t tell me that eating enough eyes will unlock a new evolution for that kind. But it seems that’s the truth even if nobody spills the beans. Tch.

And worst of all, from what of its stats, it seems this eyeball-toad has switched from a physical type to a magic type. Maybe its RES has gotten better.

While I wanted to test out my theory (okay, I just wanted some smashed toad), there’s a group of toads and frogs around the eyeball-toad. I mean, with this many bodyguards around it, does it even need higher RES?

Or, maybe the normal toads/frogs are waiting for the eyeball-toad to kick the bucket so it will drop a “concentrated eyeball” or something that they can gobble up? So they’re scavengers instead of guards! That’s not a clique I wanna hang around with.

Scavengers or not, I doubt that they’ll just stand around and watch the eyeball-toad die if push comes to show. Unless they’re really stupid. Or if they can’t see any enemies…

Having an idea, I used one of the MP Potions I had on hand and fully recovered my MP before taking out one of the throwing daggers from the specialized pouch they’d come along with and aimed at the eyeball-toad.

Tch. I only aimed at it and the eyeball-toad still seems to have noticed me. It’s looking around confused for something, at least. Guess all those eyes aren’t for show. It still hasn’t discovered where I’m hiding, so it’s better to end this quickly.

I used [Demonic Combat] to spend almost all of the recovered MP to increase my STR and threw the dagger at the toad. Before a “ribbit” could leave its troath, its HP had been reduced to 0. Maybe switching to a magic-type reduced its VIT compared to the frogs?

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Your level has increased by 1. You have reached Lv.7.

You have obtained 0.6 Aether Points.

YES! I didn’t expect that, but I’ll take everything I can get!

The normal frogs/toads looked confused at the collapsed eyeball-toad, but they couldn’t see me as I was hiding with [Lurk] and had already moved away from my sniping position. The amphibians paused for a second, but the second the eyeball-toad’s corpse had disintegrated, they started to fight over the remaining eyeball like aunties over a 50%-sale.

Yikes. Guess I was right about the eyeball thing. Not sure if they can evolve by eating it, but they won’t be living for that long anyway.

I fired a volley of [Mystical Threads] using all my MP and killed the frogs and toads before they could do so to each other. A lot of eyeballs fell to the ground after the volley was over.

I don’t wanna pick those up, but if some frog starts eating them…, that’s it. I could use these as baits…, but the risk that something (or lots of things at the same time even) above my weight limit appearing is probably high. Let’s quit for today-*rumble*-eh? No way, they’re already here!?

Not wanting to let the eyeballs become dinner for a future eyeball-freak, I triggered the effect of my bracelet and fired a Fireball at them, burning them to crisps. And not a moment too soon, because something came from the sky with a *BOOM*!

The new contender is a frog, but with lots of eyeballs all over its body. I can guess its name, but let’s confirm to be safe. [Lurk], don’t fail me now.

Geh!? A D-rank frog!? And it’s some sorta boss!? That’s more than I bargained for!

The frog looked at the scorched remains of the eyeballs before making an angry roar. Just how cannibalistic is this species?! L-let’s keep a low profile for now…

*SMACK!*

But the frog refuses! It smacked away the boulder I was hiding behind with its tongue! And it covered said tongue with mana when it attacked…, a skill that transforms magical power into physical one!? Not to mention that this guy doesn’t seem affected by [Lurk] at all!

I fled. No way I can beat this one. And I bet it may even have some magic-type skills as well. Meaning it could probably crush someone with weak physical defense, a guy with weak magic defense, and a poor beauty’s stealth-based defense. It’s a complete defense-crusher!

The frog jumped after me. Does it have such a grudge over the lost eyeballs? You glutton! Kin eater! Stop chasing meeee!!

The tongue-whip flew toward me, and it was only thanks to [Evasion] and that I could see the mana building up in the frog’s mouth that allowed me to escape an instant return to my Player Room.

This is too much for an E-ranker like me! Why do these frogs have to come after the dead remains of their comrades!? It’s impossible to get a good hunt going on then!

Somewhere between the third or fourth failed attacks after I started to run, the frog switched to magical blasts. Probably something from the Darkness- or Shadow elements, if I have to judge from their appearances. Luckily, that turned out to be easier to dodge than the tongue thanks to Manavision.

But even if I can escape its attacks, how am I supposed to beat it!? Or, maybe I don’t need to?

While running down a slope, I used [Create Trap] to give the frog a special surprise. A birdlime-ish trap produced from sticky threads a la [Mystical Threads]. The second the frog stepped on it, it lost its balance and started to tumble down the slope.

I fled to the side to escape getting run over by the frog and started to run in a different direction. See you later, froggy…, is that a cliff? The frog fell into it…, is that safe?

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have defeated the Area Boss of the “Darkland Plains”. It is now possible to cross the “Darkland Pass”.

For defeating the Area Boss, you have obtained 2.0 Aether Points.

A special reward for being the first to defeat the Area Boss of the “Darkland Plains” has been delivered to your Player Room.

Guess not!

And what’s this “pass”? That determines what I’ll be doing…, tomorrow. It’s getting late, and I need to place the last crystals in the Fort. Back home, I go!