15.2. Red Glazed Swamp

The Red Glazed swamp was mostly unnatural, brilliant blue shallow water. A close look would reveal what appeared to be bloody mist deeper in the water, while even the reflections had a red tinge.

Near black, dark brown trunks and branches jutted out from the water. Violently bright red leaves covered the branches in thick clumps forming a dense canopy. Dark, bloody looking vines swayed from the branches, stirring the water and briefly dispelling the bloody mist in its depths.

If all had gone well, despite the beasts that inhabited this region, the rescue mission should have been relatively safe. The only reason Faust had gathered a large team was for the just in case scenario, as the Mirror Hall elder had suggested.

But…

Of course we aren’t that lucky. Faust seethed in his mind.

The Golden Mirror Formation was just a precaution, he hadn’t actually thought they would be relying on it.

Well… To be more precise, Satheon and Damarius just didn’t know the words retreat.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

A golden cone of light engulfed more or less the entire western direction of this area of the Red Glazed swamp.

“HOLD!” Faust shouted to Phalecia, Sue Jane, Sirius and Dan Chen, who were maintaining the Golden Mirror’s in the sky, orbiting around the area like burning stars against the blue sky.

“We’re trying, you know!” Sirius shouted back, following the Golden Mirrors as she and the other three were forced to feed two mirrors at once.

“CROAK! CROAK!” The elephant sized golden frog croaked as it turned from its missed shot to the rest of the group, having obliterated Yue Zong’s wooden clone.

“Is it making fun of us!?” Sirius shouted.

“Fighting a 4th level beast is not what I signed up for!” Yue Zong shouted, letting vast amounts of Qi flow through her arrow.

BANG!

The arrow sailed through the sky, closer to the likes of a cannon than a bow.

The golden frog seemed to regard the arrow with disdain however as it hopped over it, moving almost before the arrow was released.

A sharp hill protruding from the swamp had its top sheared off by the stray arrow, shattering in a cloud of dust.

Golden light gathered at the golden frog’s mouth.

“Heaveeeeannnssss!!!!” Yue Zong screeched as she tried her best to get out of the path of fire. Not that it was so easy to evade a 4th level beast. Restraining the Heaven and Earth qi with the Golden Mirror formation was only sealing one part of the Golden Core’s power.

Faust finished his spell casting.

Solaris Lance!

Moments before the golden light erupted, the frog was engulfed in white flames.

For a brief moment, the world was bathed in yellow and orange hues. It only lasted a moment. Blue light shone through the orange, until it engulfed the amber hues, turning the world shades of blue.

“CROOOAAK!!!”

The golden frog’s croak reverberated across the swamp.

The ball of light dispersed into a shower of blue and orange motes of light.

The frog’s attack had been interrupted, but it was uninjured.

“Tch.” Faust didn’t have time to complain, he immediately began casting again even as the frog’s black pupils spun around in their sockets and glanced at him.

“HAAAAHHHH!!!” Satheon roared. His halberd glowed with golden light as he shot across the water and smashed through the remains of the red swamp trees.

Black shadows curled around Damarius’s pitch black spear as he glided across the water from the opposite side of the Golden Frog.

The frog glanced between the two people before jumping towards Satheon.

ZING!

Damarius’s spear missed, a black shadow shooting forwards and obliterating a line of trees for hundreds of meters.

Satheon’s halberd came down, but the Golden Frog hardly seemed concerned as it kept its eyes on Damarius, before flicking to Faust once again.

“HAAH!!!” Satheon’s halberd hit, cutting a shallow line before the Golden Frog leapt away.

Another arrow from Yue Zong shot past where the Golden Frog had been a moment before.

BOOOM!

The swamp in the distance was decimated for another hundred meters, turned into an open lake with nothing but floating bits of wood and bark.

Faust racked his head. Damarius, Yue Zong and himself had the capability to severely injure the golden frog. The problem was its speed and reaction. It wouldn’t be a problem if they could reduce that speed, but it was strong enough physically to brute force itself out of most attempts to slow it down.

For spells, the frog’s heavy Water and Earth Qi alignment was not in Faust’s favour. His strongest normal spell was Solaris Lance, which was Fire Qi based. There was also Heaven’s Smite. It was taxing on his channels, but seeing no other way out of this, Faust started casting it anyways.

“I’m preparing my strongest spell! Give me time!” Faust shouted.

“Do you think we’re treating it to tea!” Yue Zong retorted as her arrow sailed harmlessly past the golden frog again.

If not for Damarius and Satheon at such close range, both Yue Zong and Faust would have more options, but at the same time, there was no way the golden frog was just gonna stay still and let them both charge their attacks.

The golden frog tried to charge its own golden light attack, but it was forced to jump and evade a series of Damarius’s spear moves.

Another arrow sailed through and the golden frog finally gave up charging its golden light attack as it leapt away towards Satheon.

“ARGH!” The frog landed on top of Satheon, pressing him into the water.

“…” Faust really needed to help Satheon find a better weapon. A first tier weapon wielded with a reinforcement array and raw physical strength still worked on a peak 3rd level beast like a mostly transformed flood dragon, but it had already been at its limit even in that fight. Satheon was basically being ignored by the golden frog at this point.

Damarius snorted as he turned and struck again.

The golden frog opened its mouth and a purple tongue slithered out before curving and whipping at Damarius.

“Hmf.” Damarius snorted as he tapped the ground with his foot, jumping and spinning over the tongue, while swinging his spear upwards and to the side.

Zing!

The tongue was cut in half by Damarius’s strike and the croaking squeal echoed across the sky.

“Huu…” Faust relaxed his neck a bit. This creature was completely underwhelming compared to the flood dragon. The tongue, most probably coated in toxins or poison, could have been far more dangerous, but the golden frog wasn’t intelligent enough to be a truly dangerous opponent once Heaven and Earth Qi was suppressed.

Thunder crackled in the clear skies.

Gray clouds began to form out of nothing.

Damarius’s attacks forced the frog to leap off of Satheon.

The frog’s eyes widened, it looked up and water and Water Qi rushed up, forming a massive, thick bubble around it.

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Wrong move. Faust thought. The flood dragon had concealed its Qi attributes until the last moment when it was approaching death.

The frog on the other hand didn’t bother hiding its attributes.

Lighting Qi passed through Water Qi like air.

Heaven’s smite.

The bright blue sky turned black for a moment as a bolt of lightning struck down, revealing the world in nothing but black and white hues for a split second.

The world went back to normal, returning to its vibrant hues.

“Huuu….” Faust shuddered, feeling the strain from the spell technique.

Without having fully recovered from the minor internal injuries of the last time he had cast it, Faust felt the drawbacks even more clearly, like needles under his skin and worms in his heart.

At least, changing three of the techniques Qi paths had worked in reducing the backlash, despite the increased complexity Faust had introduced in turn.

Faust pulled out a leather wallet from his spatial pouch, unfolding it to reveal rows of different needles.

“The woes of a poor technique master…” Faust muttered, taking several needles and stabbing himself in various places while changing the way he cycled his Qi. He would give those channels time to rest, letting only a thin stream of Wood Qi through to soothe the internal injuries.

Back on the ground, the shield of water and Water Qi collapsed.

A black and burnt frog twitched violently, but slowly got to its feet. Without Heaven and Earth Qi to defend, Heaven’s Smite had proved far more effective.

“Hooo! HAAH!” Satheon, dripping wet after having been pressed under the water, charged with renewed vigor.

Damarius also charged in.

The frog leapt away, however it landed awkwardly and its eyes were as charred as the rest of its body.

Yue Zong’s arrow hit the frog square in the side.

“Craok!” The frog whined pitifully as the arrow ripped a massive hole through its side.

The shock from the arrow caused the frog to react slowly to Damarius closing in.