Mirio patrolled the outskirts of Elmvale checking the perimeter fencing to make sure it would hold against wild animals and lesser monster types. Beyond the fence he heard the sound of battle.

He turned towards Ezee, “Must be some adventurers trying to clear out the bullfrogs”

Mirio rubbed his chin as he listened to the clash of bullfrogs against tankers, and the loosing of arrows from their supporters in the back line. He still had a good portion of the fences to check so turned away from the noise. However, instead of simply turning away, he decided to jog around the fences to get through the work quicker and to leave Ezee with another one of the guards.

“Hah, hah, hah” Mirio struggled to catch his breath after having run five kilometers to check the remaining fences and back. He took a sip of his canteen and walked towards the rock crags, making his way through to the battlefield.

He gazed upon the dozen or so warriors as they clashed against the bullfrogs, “They seem to be doing okay, but there are a hell of a lot of monsters here, if I don’t clear some of these out it might become a real problem”

Mirio waved his two fingers in the shape of a sigil in the air

“Mage Armor!”

Mirio had trained these past months to use plate armor, however, the set he owned wasn’t suitable for patrols.

He dipped his head forwards and looked up at the hundreds of frogs moving about in the distance. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He drew his sword in one hand and softly adjusted it in his grip, as though he were massaging the hilt as tenderly as one might handle a bird. Kinetic energy streamed in between his hand and the handle, as very subtle use of prestidigitation helped secure the blade to his grip. Mirio breathed in sharply through his nose and entered a fighting posture, ready for battle.

He walked past groups of adventurers and headed towards another group another twenty paces away. His eyes tracked the movement of each of the beasts, and their blue gullets seemed to shimmer and glow as Mirio sensed the magic within.

*Ordinary blades will have a tough time cutting through this magical spell… The broodmothers must be casting spells of protection upon them*

Mirio slid his sword back into its sheath and pulled out a dagger instead.

*It will be faster work if I fight up close*

One of the frogs turned to charge at Mirio, it lifted its head and showed its gullet and then again lowered its head into ramming position.

BOUNCE!

Its legs kicked hard against the earth, flicking up small stones and a patch of grass as it hurled itself towards Mirio. He stepped off to the side with a graceful motion, and spun the dagger into a backwards position like how you might hold an ice pick. With one swift motion he stabbed deep into its eye, and then just as quickly as the blade had entered he withdrew it along with a trail of blood.

“One down, another ninety nine to go”

*it won’t do much if I only kill a few, so I will have to pace myself, take this a step at a time*

Two more of the beasts turned towards Mirio and hurled themselves towards him. He again slipped off to the side and stabbed one of them through the eye, and then twirled over its fallen body to reach the second frog and stabbed it.

“This isn’t exactly a tasteful strategy, but I suppose it’ll do”

“Three down, ninety seven to go”

Mirio pulled out a second dagger in his other hand. He spun and twirled quickly through several groups of the frogs, leaving a path of their dead bodies in his wake.

The archers paused firing for a moment as they looked on at Mirio in awe, “Is that him?”, “Wow how does he move like that?”, “It hasn’t been even a minute and he has slain two dozen of them!”, “That is how many we kill in a day, and he did it in seconds!”

“Thirty down! Seventy to go!”

Mirio had broken into a sweat, his undershirt and pants stuck to his skin as if he had just gone swimming. His muscles were letting off steam, and were warm to the touch. As he moved it was as though each motion was in slow motion, one slash followed by another. His blade dug deep into each of the frogs’ skulls.

“Fifty down! Fifty to go!”

Suddenly all the remaining frogs snapped out of their usual stupor and all lifted their heads at once, calling out loudly with deep croaks into the sky.

RWARK RWARK RWARK!!!

Even the frogs that were fighting the adventurers turned and began to lumber towards Mirio, surrounding him on all sides.

Mirio “Ah shit, looks like I lit a fire under their asses”

FWONG FWONG FWONG!

Frogs pounced towards him at frightening speed one after the other. Mirio slipped and dodged, but by the time he had escaped one attack yet another launched from his blind side.

CRACK!

One of the frogs smacked into him from behind. Mirio held his elbow up and deflected most of the blow, but it made Mirio’s eyes shoot wide open, “It almost got me?!”

*I don’t think I can fight them all! Not like this!*

He searched around himself frantically as he dodged their charging attacks. He looked towards the treeline and got an idea.

*If I get to the trees, the terrain will favor me better*

The adventurers began yelling out and screaming amongst each other, “What are the bullfrogs doing!”, “They are surrounding him!”, “Get out of there!”

*and in order to do that, I must first clear a path!*

“Just like I told the newbies earlier, to break a chain, you must first target it’s weakest link”

Mirio spun and shifted through the swarming bullfrogs, as they shot towards him without relenting for even a split second. However Mirio was no stranger to pressure in battle. He coiled his arms close into his body, and used the force of some of the frogs’ blows to help him change direction and make his path unpredictable. Facepalming and spinning out and away into an opening.

“I’m through!”

Mirio sprinted towards the tree line, while dodging between stray attacks, until finally…

CRACK!

One of the pursuing bullfrogs cracked its head into the trunk of one of the trees.

“Your frenzied attacks will work against you here!”

Mirio spun around the tree lines and stabbed into the eyes of the frogs that were stunned by charging into tree trunks.

“Sixty”

“Sixty five”

“Seventy!”

He spun and slashed with unerring precision, sometimes kicking off the trees with his feet to cut sharper angles than he could accomplish on the ground alone. Rolling over the backs of fallen bullfrogs to leapfrog to another. He drove his blades into them without relent, until only a handful remained.

“How many is that now? Damn I lost count”

The dozen adventurers working in two groups all ran over and started combatting the last of them, “We’ve got this Mirio!”, “Take down the brood mother if you can!”, “But be careful!”

Mirio wiped sweat off his brow and nodded to the adventurers. He then turned towards yet another clearing beyond the trees. As he made his way through the bushes he was astounded by what he saw.

The frogs were everywhere, hundreds more of them. And amidst the endless seas of bullfrogs, were at least five fully matured brood mothers standing as tall as a house.

“There is no way I can just fight my way through, even if I draw them into the trees it will be tricky… Those brood mothers will plow down the whole forest to get at me if they have to. Let alone their magic”

Mirio crouched and ran through the treelines around to the other side to get a full grasp on the battleground.

*The hills on this side could work in my favor, and there are some large rocks over on this side that will provide cover from a brood mother*

Mirio wiped his face with his hands, “Am I really going to try to fight all these guys? What am I nuts?”

He frowned “So long as I don’t get cornered, and keep some energy in reserve, I should be able to handle it fine… While these frogs are tough, it is mostly the brood mothers making it that way. If I position the fight such that I can draw them out first, the others shouldn’t pose a problem. And with a little luck maybe I can draw them out one at a time”

Mirio relaxed and centered himself before striding into the open field. A few of the bullfrogs turned and charged towards him, but he slipped to the side. He spun his daggers and holstered them into their sheathes on his belt. He dodged each of their attacks with footwork and deflections with his bare hands. He moved at walking pace, and headed directly towards one of the brood mothers.

The enormous bullfrog turned towards him, its red gullet undulating as it let out a thick glob of toxin from one of its glands. Its tongue rolled around in the black substance, before coiling at the back of its mouth.

SPLAT!!!

Its tongue shot out at several times the speed of any of the other bullfrogs. Mirio cast his shield spell, erecting a barrier to deflect the attack and then dive rolled off to the side.

He rolled to his feet and began zig zagging his way through the crowd of frogs and plunged into the treeline.

THWOMP!

The mammoth beast coiled its hind legs and shot like an arrow through the sky.

CRACK CRACK CRACK

The trees splintered like matchsticks and exploded as the brood mother landed in the forest. Mirio took a sharp turn towards the rock formations and kept his nerve steady, as the beast bouldered along behind him, laying waste in its path. And for as agile as Mirio was, the brood mother was faster as it smashed and tore through the trees like a wrecking ball. The forest rumbled behind him like an avalanche. As he reached the rock formation, he leapt with all of his might through one of the cracks, rolling to his feet on the other side. The broodmother hit the stone like a force of nature. Its hardened plate skull pulverised the stone as it collided with it, splitting off weaker fragments at its edges.

Mirio drew his sword and sped as fast as he could back around the rocks. He lightly tapped with each of his steps over the stone, as he jumped towards the great beast.

“Yaaaaaaah” he screamed out just before plunging his runesword deep into its eye socket. He swung for a moment, held up only by the sword, before the broodmother collapsed down onto one of the stones. Mirio withdrew the sword, and dropped down to the ground. He then ran up along its back, and stabbed into its other eye for good measure and to be sure it was dead.

“One down… four to go!”

Mirio withdrew his sword from its eye and crawled back up onto its back. He sat on the back of its neck for a while and looked at his runeblade, “This would be easier with a runestone, I might even be able to slice into its flesh, or cripple one of its limbs with a rune powerful enough”

He pulled out a cloth from his waist and wiped off the brood mother’s blood, “Damn it, I’m getting tired”

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He focused on the divine and arcane pools of mana flowing through his body, and allowed both to flow freely through his magical gates. As the two forms of magic combined, they turned streams of kinetic energy that were made up of all the colors of the rainbow.

“Oasis!”

The oasis spell was particularly useful for helping Mirio collect his thoughts and to restore his mind after experiencing mental fatigue and stress. He sat within its soothing magical streams for several minutes as the ritual spell took effect.

“Okay, I am ready to take down another!”

…

He stood with a green light glowing from behind his eyes. Something had changed within him after slaying the brood mother and collecting his thoughts while sat on top of it. He no longer looked at the bullfrogs in the same way, they seemed slower to him, and even more predictable. What at first seemed like a tall order, now appeared to be an act of routine.

He had often spent upwards of four hours training himself to his limits. And he didn’t even feel nearly as tired as he did in a moderately tough training session. He wanted more… No… He hungered for more.

He strode through the crowd of bullfrogs, dodging and slipping, until he set his gaze upon the closest brood mother. He started to speed up as he moved amidst the charging attacks of the medium sized bullfrogs, until eventually he was running at full speed towards the mammoth beast.

His first foot landed on its knee joint, his second saw him leap higher and place it on its neck. Where in an instant, before the brood mother had even reacted, he drove the sword through its skull, causing it to crash hard down onto the ground.

“What are you all waiting for!” he screamed at the frogs, now in a frenzy of his own.

He sped towards the next broodmother, twisting and pivoting with astounding precision through the other frogs. The broodmother turned and shot its tongue at Mirio, but it was too late as he had already leapt above where it was aiming, and sliced his sword along the path of its tongue, spraying blood everywhere. He made his way up its back and drove the sword into its eyes with ruthless efficiency. He dived off and was speeding towards the next broodmother before it had even hit the ground. His feet felt light, almost as if he was about to lift off from the ground as he zigzagged through the masses of now frenzied bullfrogs. They all turned towards Mirio and attempted to charge at him, but found themselves crashing into one another and hitting nothing but air as Mirio’s speed went beyond their ability to predict or to track.

The enormous brood mother made a magical sigil with its tongue as it looked down upon him.

*That is firebreath* Mirio noted before turning sharply to avoid the enormous spewing flames that shot out from its mouth. Dozens of bullfrogs behind Mirio were roasted instantly.

THWOMP!

The other remaining brood mother launched itself like an arrow through the sky towards Mirio. He ducked low, and let the mammoth wrecking ball loose its destruction behind him, grinding dozens more of the bullfrogs into mush.

Mirio rolled to his feet and sprung towards the broodmother that had spewed its fire just moments before.

“DIVINE LIGHT!”

The flash of his spell shone in the reflection of its enormous soulless eyes, followed by the sharp slice of his sword. He drew out the sword and pointed it towards the last remaining broodmother as his fresh kill collapsed underneath his feet.

The pile of destruction left in the great beast’s wake left an open pathway for Mirio to sprint down.

“I see you cleared a path for me, how generous!”

The beast drew a sigil with its tongue

*It’s a smokescreen spell*

Thick clouds of smoke shot out in all directions for twenty yards.

Mirio “No you don’t! Here is a little spell I just mastered!”

“Infravision!”

Within the smoke the broodmother glowed red. Its mouth opened, but Mirio couldn’t make out the sigil of the next magical spell. He darted off to the side, a massive pillar of flame burst out from the smoke cloud.

Adventurers: “Over there!”, “What is going on!”, “He has already killed three brood mother’s and is fighting the fourth!”, “Is he okay! I can’t see because of the smoke”

One of the archers who had Elven blood smirked, “Yes he is fine. He has slain the last of them in fact, and if my eyes don’t deceive me, there is a fifth over there in the woods”

One of the tankers turned towards her, “How is this even possible? By the time we finished with a dozen bullfrogs, he single handedly took out not just one, but five brood mothers”

The second tanker stepped forwards, “How the hell did he avoid all of the other bullfrogs”

Mirio emerged from the smoke, covered head to toe in blood. His mage armor flickered and fell off from his body. The remaining bullfrogs all turned towards him and continued to charge.

He slashed with his sword, slicing into their necks in a wide arc all around him.

He then called out loudly to the adventurers, “The broodmother’s had cast magic that was protecting their necks, attack the throats of the remaining frogs, they should go down quickly now!”

The adventurers recollected themselves and the two tankers and two spearmen charged into the frey. The archers took careful aim and loosed their arrows into their targets.

FWIP FWIP FWIP

SWISH

The arrows dug deep into the gullets of the bullfrogs causing them to fall dead with little difficulty, and the swift attacks of the pikemen made short work of the frogs colliding against the tanker shields.

Mirio continued to spin and dodge and slash through the swarms of bullfrogs.

He then walked towards the adventuring group, and tapped one of the archers on the shoulder, “You guys finish up here, I need a bath”.

Mirio strode back to town covered in blood and guts. His entrance turned heads, as he walked towards the guildhall through the markets.

He shouted out to the reception desk, “You’ve got five dead brood mothers out in the fields, and maybe another 200 medium bullfrogs dead, the other adventurers are finishing up the rest, I’m heading to your baths out back whether you like it or not. There is a lot of blood and guts so… You should probably put up a cleaning request on the board”

The clerk reached out with her hand, but before she could utter a word Mirio was already gone.

He stormed past everyone and made his way through the courtyard into the back where the baths were, and walked in. Everyone else in the baths scrambled out as the pool turned red.

Globs of blood and guts slid off his body making a thick soup out of the pool. He then hopped out of the first pool and then plunged into the next. This time the pool didn’t become a thick soup but rather just a light pink color. Mirio scrubbed himself off as best he could and then cleaned himself to completion with prestidigitation. He ripped off his clothes and armor and stark naked washed them in the next pool and blew them dry with his spell.

“Okay, that looks good enough” he remarked as he admired his handiwork.

“Err, sorry about ruining your bath” he said as he turned around to see everyone’s shocked faces. He strapped his weapon’s belt back on, put on his pants, then shirt and leather armor.

“I’ll get out of your way now… Ah, um, I think they are sending in someone to clear up this mess. Again, my bad”

Mirio then headed out the back door, towards a guard tower close by.

Ezee sniffed furiously at Mirio’s clothing.

“Yeah I know boy, I was fighting without you, but you are still a bit too young for it, forgive me buddy just wanted to keep you safe”

Yuf! Yuff Yuff!

“Haha, easy, I know you don’t like it, I just had to help out the guild with a problem that had gotten out of hand, that is all”

Ezee licked his cheek, and then panted happily.

“You get it don’t ya boy” he said while a big smile broke out from ear to ear, “Okay, now let’s go back and grab the reward money”

… Yuta arrived back at the guild after having handed out flyers and bought groceries for the elderly…

He smiled wide and handed in the tokens that signalled that the job was done. The clerk looked at him uncomfortably, “Um, I’m sorry but instead of cleaning the baths as we close could you do it now?”

The clerk led Yuta out to the back, “Why do you want it done now… Oh my god! What the hell happened here!”

Clerk “It was Mirio, he took out five brood mothers, and a few hundred bullfrogs”

Yuta nodded in agreement, certain he understood the situation before what she said registered.

“How many!? WHAAAAAAAAT!!!”

After a few minutes of him flailing around in hysterics, the clerk handed him the mop “Thank you for your help!”

“I see, he’s apparently amazing enough to kill that many of those stupid frogs, but so careless he leaves everyone else to clean up after him! Geez he’s cocky!”

…

Clerk “Here you go, 200 silver pieces for the 200 bullfrogs slain by yourself, and another 250 gold pieces for the brood mothers”

“Thank you, but honestly I didn’t do it for the money, it had just spiralled out of control out there”

“That was very brave of you to take on so many by yourself”

“No no, I could have escaped from them, so I wasn’t in peril or anything, they are just grade F monsters after all. Anyone with the basics can kill one of them”

She smirked and leaned over closer to him so that her cleavage was showing. “But not two hundred of them, and their brood mother’s”

He scratched the back of his head nervously under the pressure of her gaze. “The brood mothers are just grade D monsters, sure they dangerous, but any team with good execution can take them down”

She tapped her chin for a moment but then turned back to Mirio with hungry eyes. “It might be true that a well trained team could take one down in an open field. But from what another adventurer told me you were surrounded by all of its offspring, who were frenzied no less. That isn’t a feat even a C grade adventurer should be able to pull off. I wonder, are you secretly rank B? Should we put you to a test?”

“For now I am content with my C grade licence, I don’t think I could repeat what I did on command like expert monster hunters could, it was just spur of the moment and I’d just trip on my face attempting to complete the trials to become a national level hunter” Mirio replied while searching for a way to change the subject. “By the way, the brood mothers were casting protection spells on the bullfrogs in that area, if you were having difficulty getting people to fulfil the requirements of the quest, that is why. They should be easy pickings now though”

The clerk reached out and touched Mirio’s hand, “No need to be so modest, you should be proud of who you are, you put a lot of effort into it. Don’t doubt yourself so much”

Mirio froze for a moment as her words struck a chord. “Thank you Alicia, I guess I just feel I intimidate people sometimes. I notice how some of the other adventurers look at me with daggers in their eyes. And well… I’ve never been in their shoes, struggling to win. It all came easier to me. I don’t want to rush ahead in life before I understand why…”

Alicia withdrew her hand and recomposed herself. “No matter what talents you were given, you have always used them to help out. I think that shows your true character.”

Mirio smiled faintly. “There are ways that I lack character though… Like I-”

“Don’t brood Mirio, have fun, relish in what you have. Enjoy the fruits of what you have earned for yourself. Heck maybe even take a girl out once in a while if she has been nice to you”

“Right...”

Alicia’s smiling face fell into a murmuring sigh. “You are so proper Mirio, but sometimes that just isn’t what a girl wants”

Mirio grabbed up the satchel full of coins and waved goodbye. “Well, see ya later”

…

Mirio looked up to see Kabi waiting in the clearing ahead. The afternoon sun was covered by a few passing clouds, and the breeze carried the scent of grass beetles. What were once surrounding forests were now stumps covered in moss. The field in between them was lush with ankle high grass, and occasional patches of wildflowers. In the distance was an enormous manor with pillars carved from marble, and fences adorned with decorative bronze spear tips.

The wind swept Kabi’s hair as she carved out her sword forms, and the ground sloshed a little as Mirio made his way toward her.

“Hey, it looks like you started without me!”

Kabi turned in a flash. “Mirio!”

He swept her up in his arms and lifted her while she kicked her toes up towards the sky in response. “I hope I smell okay”

Kabi dug her nose into his neck and took in a big sniff. “No you smell great! Oh, wait, okay maybe a bit of a smell of blood though. Did something happen again?”

Mirio let her down. “Just some overdue quests at the guild were getting out of hand, it wasn't super dangerous or anything. I mean not really?”

Kabi lifted her eyebrow and stabbed Mirio in the gut with her elbow. “Is that Mirio speak for ‘it was dangerous for everyone else except for me’, because you know how I don’t like it when you don’t think of your own well being. If you get hurt, it won’t just be you who suffers, my heart can’t take it. I worry about you”

“I know… And I should be more careful. I am just still trying to figure out my limits”

“Don’t try too hard to find them, there is too much drama in the world, it would be easy to get caught up in something nasty without even seeing it coming” Kabi replied, grasping onto Mirios hand.

Mirio looked over Kabi’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, my father isn’t home”.

“Okay good,” Mirio replied.

Mirio stepped back from Kabi letting her hand loose. He looked her up and down; from her leather strapped boots, along her bare legs, to her short leather skirt, and up to her vest which exposed her bust. Her skin was creamy and soft just like her touch. Her neck was strong, and her jaw was stronger than that of most women. Her eyes cut through to the soul with their grey blue contrast, and her honey brown hair flowed over her bare shoulders.

Kabi spun into a pose just for Mirio. “Do I look good?”

Mirio smiled and punched her ever so softly on the arm, “Let’s train”. He then drew her sword from her sheathe and handed it to her. They both took a ready position and Kabi awaited instruction.

“One of the most important parts of swordplay is rhythm,” Mirio said.

“Didn’t you say yesterday that the problem with most people’s technique is their elbows are misplaced, is that important to rhythm?” Kabi asked.

“Yes, misplacement of your elbows breaks the flow of your movements. It means you aren’t ever moving your sword a full beat, and so you can’t time your motions correctly” Mirio replied.

“You also mentioned that you want to pull the elbows back until they contact your ribs, right? With the insides of the elbows pointing up?”

Mirio smiled “Yes, yes, exactly, just like that. And if you time that movement with the sliding back and forth of your front foot, you can maintain control of the rhythm”

“Is this how you change angle so quickly?” Kabi asked while flicking the tip of the blade in the direction of Mirio’s eyes.

“Geez, easy there” Mirio chuckled as he deflected her blow. “Yes, I withdraw the elbow position and my lead foot to let their sword swing through, and with the built up tension I drive back in from the angle; twisting my back heel out to the side I want to go”

Kabi swung her sword enthusiastically from side to side, mimicking Mirio’s style, she then pounced to an angle and struck in a combination at Mirio. “And then you come in like that, chaining attacks rapidly to put them off balance before you jump back and set up a counter”

Kabi jumped back out as Mirio deflected the last blow with a flick of his wrist. He lunged forwards with a piercing attack to Kabi’s torso. Kabi drew her lead foot back drawing her hips out of range of the thrust, and flicked her wrist towards Mirio.

“Yah!” she cried out as she playfully spanked the side of her blade against Mirio’s shoulder. “And now you are in trouble because I use this blow to get inside, and…”

Kabi lunged in towards Mirio, and put her body into a position like a K and fit her waist against Mirio’s side and drew him over her stance, throwing him to the ground with a satisfying thud. The sound of a dagger snipped at the air, and she brought its blade to Mirio’s neck. “And then you finish them!”

Mirio smirked as pressed down into the grass. “And even if they are armored, a dagger will always do the job of finishing them off”.

Kabi relaxed her hold on the dagger and swung her leg over Mirio to straddle him. “Then I can stab you in the eye, neck, armpit, and crotch,” she said as touching each spot with the blade.

“You are getting really good at this,” Mirio said with a gleam of pride in his eyes.

“Well I have a good teacher”

“What about your magic, how has that been going?”

Kabi holstered both of her blades and pinched Mirio on the cheek, “Don’t worry so much, I finally pulled off the true strike spell you taught me with the bow. I was practicing last night, and when I finally got it to work I screamed so loud the house guards came running out!”

“I heard the spell was first discovered by a ranger during a time of famine, and it helped him save his whole village”

Kabi murmured, “Yeah”, and then laid her ear down onto Mirio’s chest. She laid there for a moment with Mirio’s arms wrapped around her, as a question slowly stirred within her. “Do you think you will leave the village soon?”.

“Maybe… I haven’t decided yet”

“If you go, I am coming with you” Kabi’s hands gripped tighter onto Mirio’s armor.

Mirio caressed a lock of Kabi’s hair over her ear and cupped the side of her face drawing her up towards his lips.

“Mmph” she moaned a little as their lips clashed. Mirio unstrapped the side buckles of his armor and threw it off so that their bodies could come into contact. Kabi’s breasts pushed up against his chest. Soft, warm, and filled with the zest of youth, their flesh responded to each other like biting into a ripe piece of fruit.

Kabi leaned back, and then sat up. Mirio reached out with his hands and interweaved his fingers with hers.

Mirio looked at Kabi’s loving gaze. “It is true I don’t feel like there is enough here in Gimly for me though. If I want to keep growing, I really should leave to explore”.

“Like I said, let’s go together,” Kabi replied.