Chapter 31

The word "Frog" seems to be on the verge of a Gestalt collapse.

I, appointed as a tester for the prototype by Haruru, found myself back in the marshes of Lowres once again.

Why did I come back to this place where I had such a rough time yesterday? One reason was to test this weapon named after a ballpoint pen. The second reason was to fight the lizard-type monsters I didn't get to see yesterday.

Thinking about it calmly, it's not clear why there would be lizards in a marsh. Maybe they are aquatic lizards. It feels more realistic to think of alligators, but that's the nature of games; if you start questioning, you might lose.

"Yah, ho, terya!"

While rhythmically striking down the Amafrogs that were jumping and charging at me, I tested the performance of these dual-hand sticks.

The attack power is 35, which is higher than the Super Gold Bat at this point.

The attack power doesn't change when it transforms, but the durability of the striking part from the handle to the blade that pops out after transformation is set separately.

And because of the transformation mechanism, the overall durability, not just the blade, is not very high.

Especially after transformation, it will be used carefully, aiming for critical hits, like a spear or a naginata.

"Se-rya!"

Twisting my body and stepping in, I performed a sweeping strike. This is a basic art of the Dual-Hand Sticks skill and one of the most versatile techniques.

Perhaps because I swept with both hands or because their HP was already low, the two Amafrogs both disappeared as polygons, even though I hadn't transformed the weapon.

Incidentally, because it's a derived skill, there is another art in the Dual-Hand Sticks skill.

This is the "Rapid Strikes" art, a combo art consisting of three thrusts.

As the name "Rapid" suggests, the hit location is random except for the first strike.

Imagine a circle appearing centered on the first strike, and then hitting randomly within that circle.

However, when I held it again, I realized that the three weapon types—single-hand mace, dual-hand mace, and dual-hand sticks—are all categorized as "blunt weapons" but are completely different.

According to Haruru, the difference between these three weapon types is "length and weight."

The shortest is the single-hand mace, the heaviest is the dual-hand mace, and the longest and lightest is the dual-hand sticks.

The single-hand mace is the easiest to handle. Just the fact that it can be used with one hand conveys its ease of use. In contrast, the dual-hand mace has the worst handling.

Conversely, in terms of firepower, the positions are reversed. The dual-hand mace boasts the highest firepower in the game and is also a weapon that requires a high strength value to use.

So, what is the greatest feature of the dual-hand sticks?

It lies in the overwhelmingly wide attack range.

Each weapon has a way of dealing damage.

For a mace, hitting with the striking part, i.e., the tip, deals significant damage, while hitting with the base doesn't deal much damage.

Hitting with the hilt of a sword isn't very painful, and being hit with the shaft of a spear is less painful than being stabbed with the tip. In the case of a spear, the pommel is an exception.

In this way, weapons are designed to deal appropriate damage when used correctly.

In this regard, the dual-hand sticks, being a "stick," have a damage judgment that is almost the same for all parts.

Therefore, a sweeping strike with this weapon can deal damage to many monsters simultaneously, and hitting with the tip like a thrust also deals damage.

It is a rare weapon that can deal consistent damage in all situations and has a wide range of attack.

In exchange, the firepower of the arts is relatively low, balancing it out.

Additionally, in party battles, if you don't choose the right arts, you might accidentally attack your allies, making it one of the weapons with the highest friendly fire rate among melee weapons.

In other words, it is relatively easy to handle solo.

Of course, the "Blunt Weapon" skill can still be used when using this weapon. If used effectively, it can greatly expand your combat options.

"Hmm... no lizards around..."

After concentrating on hunting for about an hour, the lizards still showed no signs of appearing.

I kept encountering the same Amafrogs, and I had finally figured out the trick to defeating them.

Hitting the brain or tearing out the internal organs seems to be the condition for a critical hit against frog-type enemies.

It's manageable with Amafrogs, but with larger frogs like Ushifrogs or Tonosama Frogs, it's hard to imagine anything but a messy fight.

The transformation mechanism of the "Kugel Schreiber" is indeed convenient, but the blade length is short.

It's about the same as a spear, and compared to a naginata, it has only about half the blade length.

It would be difficult to cut open the internal organs of a frog several meters in size with this.

"......kyaaa..."

"Huh?"

While I was thinking about the frog that had been hit in a weak spot, I suddenly heard a voice from a distance.

"Scream... over there?"

Thanks to the open view, I could immediately see where the voice was coming from.

There was no obligation to help, and it wasn't necessarily a crisis, but since I had heard it, I decided to check it out.

As I approached, I could tell what was happening. It was the same small island with a swamp that we had found yesterday.

There, a girl in a Gothic dress was being attacked by a Ushifrog. Her HP didn't seem to be decreasing, but she was sitting on the ground, trembling.

"Hey, do you need help?"

"Please, please help me!"

"Got it."

After confirming her request, I defended against the tongue that was about to strike the girl with the gold bat I had switched to on my way here.

I jumped up and hit the Ushifrog's head with a "Smash" to scare it, then helped the girl, who was sitting on the ground, to stand up.

"Can you fight?"

"That... my weapon is broken."

"I see. Then I'll take care of it."

A quick glance at the girl's body confirmed that she had no weapon. Without a secondary weapon or combat skills, she couldn't fight.

While we were talking, I dodged the Ushifrog's jumping press attack with a backstep.

It was really agile. I've never seen a real bullfrog, but they must be this agile.

Unfortunately for the Ushifrog, I had fought it yesterday.

"Unless you change your attack pattern, it's going to be one-sided."

Saying that, I took the stance for one of my arts.

Thinking that the press wouldn't hit, the Ushifrog switched to a tongue attack. I dodged and stepped in, hitting it with the gold bat.

I followed up with another hit on the stunned Ushifrog, then another, and one more for good measure.

This is the "Four Smash" art, consisting of four "Smash" hits.

The advantage is that it consumes less SP than four individual smashes. The disadvantage is that you can only perform the smash action during the art, and you must hit all four within a certain time.

Still, the smash itself is a fairly free art, and as long as you swing it with both hands, it will be judged as a smash.

However, it's an art that's hard to land unless the opponent is relatively slow.

If I had done this in front of Aria, she would have dodged the second hit, taken a step back, and taken advantage of the post-technique stiffness to cut off my head.

"Since I'm here, let me try out various arts?"

Actually, thanks to the endless battle against the frogs, which were unnecessarily tough against blunt attacks, my blunt weapon skill had improved significantly.

Due to being thrown up by Aria, I hadn't been able to gain much proficiency for my level, and when I came here yesterday, I could only use "Smash" and "Finisher."

"Four Smash" is the art I learned after "Finisher," but the Ushifrog's HP is only about 20% down.

So, I decided to try a more effective art.

For a while, I dodged the tongue and hit with smashes, waiting for the right moment.

Finally, the opportunity came.

I stepped in and jumped straight up. The Ushifrog was charging at me, but I had already dodged before the jump and was holding the gold bat like a bat.

With the intention of smashing the Ushifrog's head, I swung the gold bat with all my might, accelerated by the art.

The counter art "Home Run." It's a pretty brutal art that uses the momentum of the incoming enemy to send them flying.

A terrifyingly realistic impact sound, "Dokya!!" and the Ushifrog's body, which was over two meters tall, flew away.

This art always sends the enemy flying if it hits, so the post-technique stiffness doesn't matter much.

However, I lost a bit of HP due to the recoil from hitting a large mass.

The amount of recoil depends on the enemy's mass, momentum, and my own stats, so using this on a much larger opponent could result in self-destruction, and there's a chance the art won't even work and I'll be the one flying away.

It's a powerful and interesting art, but it's a bit tricky to use.

I healed my wounds with a potion juice I bought from the open market and faced the nearly dead Ushifrog.

It was staggering, perhaps from a concussion, with its HP below 20%.

I didn't want to drag it out, so I used "Four Smash" again to finish off the Ushifrog.

"Phew... Ow... What!?"

Suddenly, a sharp blade was swung at my neck, which I dodged by crouching.

Taking a step back and turning to the attacker, I saw a Gothic-dressed girl with a rapier, smiling after swinging it.