Chapter 73

We push through the forest, guided by Shururu.

Thanks to the stamina potion, Shururu glides through the forest, but even so, Eva can't keep up, so we ask her to slow down a bit.

Thanks to that, Shururu has some leeway, and I was able to hear various stories.

"How much further to the village?"

"Almost there!"

"Eva! Are you okay!?"

"Uh, somehow!"

The enemies aren't that strong, but with the giant frogs lurking around, it's dangerous to act separately.

We head towards the lizardman village, making sure not to get separated.

The name of our destination is Gourd Swamp Village.

Just to be safe, it's a completely different place from the wetlands near the old Golden Dawn. The distance and location are entirely different.

Shururu's father is apparently the village chief.

"I see, you said the giant frog monster is called a Paralyze Baron Frog? And a large number of them appeared and attacked the village?"

"Yeah. The scaled warriors defended us, the less-scaled lizardmen, and helped us escape..."

Shururu trails off.

"During the escape, there were Barons, and my companions, the chief's daughter, prioritized my escape..."

She bites her lip in frustration.

"I said I wanted to fight too, but everyone said, 'What's the point of evacuating if you do that?' and forced me to escape..."

"I see. I hope they managed to escape safely."

We didn't see any bodies on the way back to the village, so I want to believe they managed to escape.

"Craft! Raidock! I hear battle sounds!"

At Jitaro's signal, we shift from a movement formation to a combat formation.

Raidock gives the order.

"Listen up! We're going to break through the frog's encirclement at one point and rush into the village! After that, we'll follow the plan we decided on the way!"

"YEAH!!!"

"Shururu! The plan may change depending on your persuasion!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Alright! Full speed ahead!"

Instead of Reifan, Raidock takes the lead and charges in the direction of the commotion.

"Spiral Cyclone! Chaos Dance! Wind Snow Slash!"

As soon as we burst into the open space, Raidock's sword techniques explode, clearing a path before him.

I can see the village beyond the forest.

The village is surrounded by a semi-circular wooden fence near the swamp.

The village is surrounded by frogs on all sides.

Normally, the village would be safe with the fence and the swamp, but the frogs are huge and the swamp isn't serving as a defense.

Some frogs are foolishly ramming into the wooden fence, but most are entering from the swamp side of the village.

We head for the main gate on the land side as planned.

There aren't many frogs fixated on the fence or gate, but there are an incredible number of them. Naturally, there were a lot of frogs wreaking havoc in front of the main gate.

"Out of the way! Cross Slash! Wolf Rush Collapse!"

"I'll cover you! Flashing Fang Assault! Void Collapse!"

Raidock turns the frogs clustered in front of the gate into mincemeat, and Soral's bow reduces their numbers. Still, there are an incredible number of frogs!

The Baron Frogs are quite large, and there are over a hundred of them. The pressure is immense.

A lizardman wielding a spear on top of the gate, made of logs, notices us and lets out a scream.

"What!?"

"It's me! Shururu!"

"Shururu-sama!? Why are you back!?"

"Reinforcements! Let us in!"

"Huh!? B-But they're humans!?"

We form a defensive perimeter around Shururu at the gate.

We mince the Barons as they surge forward. It would be easy to break the gate, but the main battlefield is on the swamp side, so we want to keep it intact.

"Yes, but they're allies!"

"B-But!"

"There's no time for questions! You can see how strong they are, right!"

"B-But how do we know they're not enemies!?"

"If these people wanted to attack the village, they could easily break through this gate! The fact that they're defending it is proof, right!?"

"Ugh! Fine! Let them in! Open the gate! Close it immediately after Shururu-sama and the others enter!"

"Good job, Shururu!"

The wooden gate, which had barely withstood the frog attacks, opens just wide enough for us to pass through.

"Alright! Let's go in!"

At Raidock's command, we tumble into the village.

The state of the village was worse than I imagined.

Lizardmen were lying around, breathing heavily and in pain.

It seems they were paralyzed by a powerful paralyzing poison and couldn't even breathe properly.

"Everyone!?"

"Shururu-sama! What's going on!?"

"We need to treat everyone first!"

"Treatment!? There's no cure for the Baron's paralyzing poison!"

"Craft! Please!"

"Leave it to me!"

I pull out the test tubes filled with Cure Potions I had prepared and hold them between my fingers. Three in each hand.

Then, using the knife-throwing skills I honed during my adventurer days, I throw them one after another at the fallen lizardmen.

"What are you doing!? Human!"

Ignoring the shouting lizardman, the potion bottles I threw have a special mechanism.

Feature 1 of the Reifan-made potion bottles: They are very hard and difficult to break.

Feature 2: When a specific magic power is channeled, the potion bottle breaks after a proportional amount of time.

The potion bottles I threw now contain the magic power to break just as they hit the lizardmen.

This means there's no need to open the bottles one by one; the Cure Potions can be applied to the lizardmen's bodies in quick succession.

Feature 3: Potion bottles broken by magic disappear.

This prevents injuries from broken glass.

"Ugh! Ugh! Suffering... breathing! Air...!"

The potion bottle flies to a lizardman writhing and clutching his throat, breaking and disappearing just before hitting him.

Only the Mana Potion inside splashes onto the lizardman.

"Ugh! Ugh! Someone... huh? What? I can breathe! What's happening!?"

Good! It's working!

I keep throwing potion bottles, treating the fallen lizardmen one after another.

"Are you... saved?"

"I can breathe!"

"What's happening!?"

I breathe a sigh of relief as I confirm that all the lizardmen in my line of sight have gotten up.

They must be the soldiers guarding the gate; unlike Shururu, they have more reptilian features and are covered in impressive scales.

"Human? Why are you here?"

"Everyone, listen! These people came to help us! As you can see, they can cure the Baron's paralyzing poison!"

"Wow!"

"But humans must never make contact with us..."

"If we keep saying that, we'll all die!"

"Ugh!"

"Shururu-sama! What should we do now...?"

"Raidock!"

"Hey! Everyone, listen! We have no intention of harming you! There's no time to explain! We came to help!"

"Th-That's a relief... but..."

"Can you defend this gate on your own!?"

"W-Well..."

"If it weren't for the paralyzing poison, we warriors wouldn't be held back by mere frogs..."

The lizardmen grit their teeth.

"Then you can rest easy!"

I pull out a large number of potions from my spatial storage.

"These are antidotes! There's enough for everyone!"

"W-What!? Not only can you cure, but you can prevent it!?"

"Yep! I'll also leave some healing potions and antidotes just in case! Is this enough!?"

"P-Probably. But these are valuable items, right?"

"Nothing is more valuable than life, right!?"

"Craft..."

Shururu looks up at me.

Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for money.

"And here are some stamina potions. Everyone, drink them!"

"...Understood! Everyone! This is an emergency! Trust Shururu-sama!"

"Everyone! Thank you!"

"If it weren't for the paralyzing poison, those frogs wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Shouldn't we go support the swamp side?"

Raidock quiets the commotion among the lizardmen.

"No! You need to hold this gate! We'll go to the swamp side of the village!"

"But!"

"Even we would be in trouble if we were ambushed from behind! We need you to cover our backs!"

The lizardmen tremble as if struck by lightning.

"...Understood! We'll trust you! And you trust us! We'll guard this gate and your backs!"

"Thank you!"

Just as Raidock thanked them, a deep, rumbling sound echoed from the back of the village, near the swamp.

"It sounds bad. Alright! Everyone, let's go! The real battle is about to begin!"

"YEAH!!!"

With Raidock in the lead, we sprint through the village.

As we run, I throw potion bottles to any lizardmen I see.

Sorry for the delay.

I spent time on the simultaneous serialization of God Shop (´Д`).

And now I have to do my tax return... orz

I'll do my best (´Д`).