Aqua and Kazuma Still Get Eaten

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Before long, the trio arrived at the Adventurer's Guild.

"This quest should do."

Without hesitation, Renzo pulled down the request to hunt Giant Toads from the mission board and went to register it with Luna.

"Giant Toads, huh? Alright! Please be careful!" Luna said kindly as she processed the request.

Those things weren't as easy as they sounded.

"We will! Alright, let's go."

Renzo nodded and led Kazuma and Aqua out of the guild, heading toward the outskirts of town.

"So… what exactly is a Giant Toad? Is it even the same kind of frog I'm thinking of?" Kazuma asked, his face twitching slightly.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Renzo replied with a mysterious smile. "Other than being slightly bigger and having slightly stronger digestion, they don't look all that different."

Kazuma suddenly felt a lot less worried.

"Hah! That doesn't sound so bad. I was expecting something terrifying."

"Oh! And there's also a rare pink variant," Renzo added.

"PFFT!"

"Wait, pink? HAHAHA!"

Kazuma burst into laughter.

The idea of a pink frog was just too ridiculous.

So girly.

It almost sounded kinda cute…

"Are you sure this is the right mission for us? I mean, I went through two weeks of hellish training, right? Boss, are you underestimating me? I think I can handle something way harder than this."

Kazuma puffed up his chest with confidence.

Taking down some frogs wouldn't even be a warm-up!

"…You sure about that?" Renzo looked at Kazuma strangely.

Kazuma blinked. "???"

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

The way Renzo was looking at him made him uneasy, like something was very off.

The last time he got this feeling was when he confidently declared that he'd master breathing techniques without regrets…

And then…

GULP.

A cold sweat ran down Kazuma's back as a horrible premonition crept into his mind.

"…No way, right? I can't be that unlucky again… Right?"

"Come on. It's just a frog hunt. What can possibly go wrong?"

Aqua, on the other hand, actually knew a bit about Giant Toads.

But considering her intelligence, she didn't take the mission seriously at all.

Not even a thought about warning Kazuma.

Soon enough, the three arrived at a wide, grassy plain with rolling hills.

And that's when Kazuma saw them.

The so-called Giant Toads.

Kazuma went completely stiff.

"…Holy shit."

GULP.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE MONSTERS?! This is what you said was 'about the same as normal frog'?!"

Kazuma's voice cracked as he pointed wildly at a five to six-meter-tall behemoth of a frog in the distance.

"Yep!" Renzo held back his laughter and nodded with a straight face. "They look just like Earth frogs. Just, y'know… a little bit bigger."

Kazuma stared in horror as the massive toad hopped, shaking the ground with every leap.

His legs trembled. "A little bit bigger?! THAT'S A WHOLE-ASS HOUSE! I'M GONNA DIE!"

The biggest frog on Earth was, what, 30 cm?

These things were six meters tall. That was a twentyfold size difference!

"Boss! Can I back out of this?!" Kazuma pleaded desperately.

"Oh, come on!"

Aqua rolled her eyes and scoffed. "It's just a regular frog. You're not scared, are you, Kazuma?"

"You're not chickening out, are you? No way, right?"

Her smug grin was infuriating.

"Watch and learn, boys! This is how a real goddess fights!"

Without even using her staff, Aqua clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and charged straight at the nearest Giant Toad.

She let out a fierce battle cry:

"GOD BLOW!!!"

A golden whirlwind wrapped around her right arm as she lunged forward.

With all her might, she punched the Giant Toad right in the belly.

THUMP.

A dull sound echoed as her fist barely made the toad's belly jiggle a bit.

And then… nothing.

Aqua: "….."

"…Bruh."

Kazuma, watching from afar, had to hold back laughter. "That was so dramatic… AND IT DID NOTHING?!"

Aqua: "Uh…."

She froze. "…Oh no."

Renzo sighed. "Nah, it did do something. She got its attention."

Aqua's face paled.

Before she could react, the Giant Toad opened its massive mouth and chomped down, swallowing half of Aqua in one bite!

Her legs kicked wildly as her muffled screams came from inside the frog's mouth.

"HELP! RENZO, KAZUMA, DO SOMETHING!!!"

Kazuma saw his chance to shine.

"This is it! My moment to prove myself!"

With a dramatic flourish, he drew his sword and charged forward.

"Aqua! I'll save you!!!"

…Except three more Giant Toads suddenly appeared.

It was like an entire family of them had spawned. They completely surrounded Kazuma.

His confidence shattered instantly.

"AHHH! I'M OUTTA HERE—"

He tried to run…

…Only for another Giant Toad to snatch him up in one bite.

Just like Aqua.

"TASUKETEEEE!!! BOSS, HELP!!!"

Renzo facepalmed. "Oh, for fuck's sake."

As expected, Kazuma was still, at heart, a useless gamer shut-in.

Sure, his training made him physically stronger, but mentally?

Seeing actual giant frogs in front of him had him shitting bricks.

"I should've known better than to expect anything from you two."

Taking a deep breath, Renzo drew his sword. "Water Breathing: Surface Slash."

With a single swing, a massive arc of water-infused energy shot across the field, slicing clean through the four Giant Toads in an instant.

SPLAT.

Their severed torsos crashed to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

Kazuma managed to scramble free from the toad's jaws…

But Aqua, being Aqua, got trapped under one of the toad corpses.

Renzo sighed and lazily lifted his hand, using telekinesis to pull her out.

Like hell he was gonna touch her.

No way. That was disgusting.

As soon as he got her free, he immediately took several steps back, pinching his nose.

"Ugh... Aqua! You two stink! Hurry up and use Sacred Create Water to clean yourselves!"

Kazuma hesitantly sniffed himself…And immediately threw up.

"UGH! GROSS! THIS IS DISGUSTING!"

Aqua took one sniff, and her eyes went lifeless.

Then, she let out a wail of pure despair.

"WAAAAAHHHH!!!"

She collapsed onto the ground, staring up at the sky, crying like a baby.

She had been almost eaten by the lowest-tier monster in the world.

Bullied. Humiliated. Disrespected.

She was a goddess! A water goddess! And now, she had suffered an embarrassment beyond imagination!

This was a disgrace.

How was she supposed to face Renzo and Kazuma after this? How was she supposed to face the other goddesses?!

"If the younger goddesses find out about this, they'll mock me for the rest of my life!"

The more she thought about it, the harder she cried.

"Aqua! If you don't wash yourself right now, people will see you like this! Then you really won't be able to live this down!"

From a safe distance, Renzo called out, still covering his nose.

Aqua: "..."

"Sacred Create Water!!!"

In an instant, Aqua stopped crying, jumped to her feet, and summoned her staff.

A massive blue magic circle appeared in the sky, spanning hundreds of meters.

The moment it flashed, an ocean's worth of water came flooding down, instantly drenching Aqua, Kazuma, the four toad corpses, and every other unfortunate frog in the area.

Renzo, of course, used telekinesis to float into the air, avoiding the flood entirely.

He was not about to get dragged into that mess.

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.

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