Chapter 11 - Frog

"Fucking shit."

Spitting, Rem twirled the axe in his hand as if performing a trick.

He had just lost that guy called The Claw of the Hawk or the Eye or whatever.

He felt uncomfortable, like he had taken a shit and hadn't wiped his ass.

'I don't know how long it's been since I failed a hunt.'

That archer bastard was quick-witted and fast on his feet.

As soon as he sensed his presence, he instantly ran away.

And the arrow he shot while fleeing was fierce.

Rem brushed his hand over the trail left by the arrow that had grazed his left side.

There was no wound. However, he had just failed to dodge it perfectly.

What felt shitty felt shitty.

He had charged in, diagonally piercing through the enemy formation.

Rem pulled back and started to return to the main unit.

"What is this bastard?"

"Kill him!"

There were hardly any allies around.

It was because he had gone a bit too deep.

Even so, it wasn't something that bothered him much.

Instead of grumbling, swearing, or letting out a battle cry, Rem swung the axes in both hands.

The axe in his right hand was one he had picked up from an enemy earlier, so its center of gravity was terrible.

This also wasn't something to worry about.

If he wasn't going to use it, he could just throw it.

SWOOSH! SLASH!

As he cleaved through the jaw and neck of the guy blocking his front with the axe in his left hand in a single strike, sluggish blood surged. A fountain of blood sprayed out.

Nimbly dodging the blood spray, Rem swung his right hand with all his might.

The axe in his hand cleaved through the air.

SWOOSH!

Even though it wasn't meant for throwing, the axe flew fiercely and hit the target.

CRACK!

The axe lodged itself, splitting the head in half.

Rem shook up the enemy lines as if continuing his charge, then returned to the allied formation.

'I wonder if our Squad Leader is still alive and not dead.'

He wasn't the type of man to die easily.

In all his life, Rem had never seen such a tenacious bastard.

'There wasn't a single person like that even among my tribe.'

He was probably watching his surroundings and somehow holding out well.

He was a man too good to die here.

Not that he was a man suited for the battlefield either.

'He'd be fine if he got the Heart of a Beast down a bit, but his lack of talent is a real shame.'

He felt so bad watching him that he even taught the man a part of his tribe's secret technique.

But it wasn't like he was trying to play the master.

There are just people like that, aren't there?

A man you just don't want to see die right in front of your eyes.

Dying out of his sight couldn't be helped, though.

That was after he had returned to the main unit.

"You acted like a madman and still achieved nothing."

It was Jaxon.

One of the biggest traits of Squad 444.

Aside from Squad Leader Encrid, no one got along with each other.

Seeing such a squad somehow function made it clear that the Squad Leader had some inexplicable, devilish charm.

"Huh? Are you talking to me because you want to die? Do you want your head split open by my axe?"

"Thanks to you losing the archer, the battlefield is a mess."

This was definitely picking a fight.

You didn't have to look at the entire battlefield from afar to feel what was going on.

This wasn't because of the archer, but because of the Frog.

A Frog warrior had popped out of nowhere and was tearing through the battlefield.

Whether it was good luck or bad.

Rem hadn't encountered it.

"Bullshit. Don't talk to me if you don't want to die."

"Crazy barbarian."

The two of them immediately ignored each other.

They had merely bumped into each other by chance.

Exchanging insults like it was part of their daily routine was all there was to it.

Squad 444 didn't particularly maintain a formation.

They fought on their own.

Because they were guys who stood out even if they didn't hold a formation or stick together.

'Except for that bastard Big-eyes.'

Rem himself probably drew some attention by tearing through the enemy lines.

As for Jaxon, suddenly appearing without a sound was his specialty.

Far away, a few other squad members came into view.

They were all taking care of business on their own.

A guy swinging a sword with a lethargic attitude.

A guy beating people to death with stiff movements.

Not a single one of them was normal.

Of course, the best among them was the Squad Leader.

Look at how he scraped by to survive with below-average talent.

Who would call that 'normal'?

'Just in case.'

Rem decided to find the Squad Leader and protect him.

He planned to subtly watch his back without him noticing.

Because he still thought he was a man too good to die.

'Not to mention, he's the first guy on this continent to learn my secret technique.'

He moved while coming up with this and that reason. Soon, Encrid came into Rem's view.

'Hmm?'

While he was distracted for a moment, an enemy soldier charged at him.

Reflexively, he tripped the rushing enemy and struck his jaw upward with the axe handle.

The struck bastard spat out broken teeth.

Continuing the motion, he spun half a turn and slammed his elbow horizontally.

CRACK! SNAP!

As he struck the helmet, it made a sound similar to thick firewood snapping.

His neck bone had been broken in a single blow.

Rem kept his eyes fixed even as he twirled his swung right arm.

No, even while dealing with the attacking bastard, his gaze had been fixed on the Squad Leader the whole time.

'He's skilled?'

It was a sight he had never seen before.

That skillfulness made him watch instead of stepping up to help.

It didn't look like he would lose. Not to mention, that intuition was becoming a reality right now.

He was fighting against a pretty decent enemy soldier.

An unprecedented calmness and boldness could be seen in him.

'How?'

How could a person change like that overnight?

"I'm amazed, too."

Beside him, it was Jaxon again. He wondered why their paths kept crossing.

Did this bastard also come to watch the Squad Leader's back?

"I've been watching him all day. While you were screwing around."

"So?"

"I thought he was living with the Goddess of Luck."

"What?"

"He had luck on his side."

Just luck? You couldn't just attribute his current form to luck.

"His skills have improved beyond recognition, too."

Jaxon got along happily with the other squads, but he was on bad terms with Rem.

Well, all the members of this squad were like that.

For example, the conversation they just had was the longest normal conversation they'd shared since joining this squad.

It meant they were that surprised.

Rem was just as surprised as Jaxon.

Moreover, after that, Rem saw two things that were even more surprising.

One was Encrid perfectly dodging an enemy's thrust and delivering a strike with an almost flawless posture.

"Nice!"

Rem spoke without realizing it.

Jaxon also nodded slightly.

Relentless effort.

Knowing how much blood the Squad Leader coughed up to wield his sword, a desire to cheer him on arose naturally.

Talent is truly a funny thing.

Because sometimes, you can leap up several steps in an instant.

Since both Rem and Jaxon had experienced such things, they didn't feel a sense of discrepancy at the Squad Leader's current form.

Because it looked like that man had also climbed several steps in one breath.

'He won.'

The opponent was no pushover. Of course, if Rem had fought him, a few axe swings would have been enough.

But he was an opponent the Squad Leader would have lost to ten times out of ten.

Yet he won. It didn't look like an easy victory.

Minor wounds were visible all over.

The shield in his left hand was split and turned into scrap.

On top of that, the leather protectors on his hands and knees were torn and tattered.

Judging by his heavy panting, his breathing was also shot.

'Heart of a Beast.'

Rem grasped the Squad Leader's condition at a glance.

Boldness and calmness.

The foundation for that must have been the secret technique he had taught him.

'He mastered it this much?'

He looked surprisingly proficient.

Rem planned to put everything aside and just throw a joke at him for now.

"Frog!"

At that moment, someone shouted. It was the other soldier right behind the Squad Leader.

What was his name again? Was it Bell?

It stayed in his memory because the name sounded similar to his own.

Just as he said, a Frog could be seen rushing forward like a black shadow.

A Frog, a frog-man.

Its face resembled that of a frog.

Its skin was the same.

Their skin was slippery as if coated in oil, deflecting both bladed weapons and blunt instruments alike.

To kill them, you had to pierce their hearts or burn them with magic or spells.

It was no easy task.

Because Frogs were a natural-born combat race with physical strength and battle senses superior to humans.

A combat-specialized species that could quickly master any weapon they held within a few days.

The Frog leaped forward parallel to the ground as if flying, and kicked the Squad Leader's side with the sole of its foot.

It didn't look like it planned to end it with just that strike.

Watching the Squad Leader fly off to the side from the kick, it landed heavily and took a stance.

It reached its arm backward, and its hand gripped the shaft of a spear.

If left alone, he would die. He would absolutely die.

Rem kicked off the ground the moment he saw the black shadow.

BOOM!

The ground dug in with an explosion. Thanks to putting strength into his stomp, the dirt ground erupted like a small fountain.

In a brief gap, Rem's body reached the Frog's side.

SWOOSH!

Without question, without even bothering to speak, he swung his axe in a long arc.

Bending like a whip from top to bottom, transferring the power from his shoulder and arm to the axe blade—

Then, instead of throwing the spear, the Frog performed a breathtaking trick.

From a throwing stance, it pulled its right foot to the side and swung the spear shaft upward as if flicking a wooden stick.

Changing its stance and swinging the spear shaft—it all happened in an instant.

CRASH!

The axe and the spear shaft met.

A ringing shockwave spread out with the two of them at the center.

"Croak, an interloper? You ugly human?"

"You fucking frog bastard, that man is our Squad Leader."

"... Is it right for a Squad Leader to be weaker than his squad member?"

The Frog recognized Rem's skill in an instant.

His dash, his axe swings, his judgment.

Frogs were a natural-born combat race.

If there was anything as outstanding as their combat power, it was their discerning eye.

Because their bulging, rolling eyes could recognize an opponent's skill at a glance.

They were a species born with the talent of reading talent.

The Frog rolled its eyes around, then soon backed away.

"That's enough. I've calmed my excitement."

"What, you bastard?"

"Ugly human, that man pierced through 'that' of a human I know. That's why I got excited for a moment. He was a guy I taught, after all. Tsk, anyway, that's enough. I don't really want to risk my life fighting here."

A Frog's discerning eye wasn't limited to seeing people's talent. Their battle senses grasped advantages and disadvantages in an instant.

To Rem, it didn't necessarily seem like the opponent was at a disadvantage.

But if they didn't have to fight, that was good.

Fighting a Frog for pocket change.

It was a losing battle.

He also fully understood what the opponent was saying.

A Frog could even regenerate limbs as long as its heart wasn't pierced. Perhaps because of that, they were sensitive to the word 'heart'.

They didn't even use the word heart.

Seeing someone die next to them from a pierced heart would make them lose their minds.

Because a Frog turned berserker gave off a truly terrifying aura.

Frogs that hadn't been trained to a certain extent didn't even step onto the battlefield in the first place.

Rem chewed over the things he knew.

'Damn it, I guess I'm getting more used to this place now.'

Seeing how he was rattling off information about Frogs like this, his life on this continent must have become deeply ingrained in him.

The Frog tapped its chest guard.

Armor exclusively meant to protect the heart, a chest guard, also known as heart armor.

Seeing that it was wearing that, it was definitely a Frog that had come out following the proper procedures.

Because it was said that the city of Frogs would rather break an unrefined blade than let it out.

The chest guard was like a Frog's identification tag.

"See you later. Ugly human."

But why did it keep bitching about him being ugly?

Frogs liked jewels and had a unique aesthetic sense.

They preferred handsome humans.

"He did have a face too good to kill."

The Frog said while flicking its tongue. Its long tongue shot out like it was catching a fly, then snapped right back in.

That must have been its smiling face.

He, no, she spoke while glancing toward where the Squad Leader was, then slowly backed away.

Women liked handsome men.

Men liked pretty women.

That was a trait of the Frogs.

They said that, unlike how they viewed humans, their standards for mating among themselves were different.

For some reason, they liked pretty and handsome humans.

Well, that was none of Rem's business.

"Is he alive?"

Jaxon could be seen holding the Squad Leader.

"One blow to the side cracked his ribs. But in that short moment..."

"Yeah, he pressed his arm in to block it."

Excellent. To the point where it was worth teaching him.

The fact that he kept his wits and blocked it at the moment of impact.

Must have been thanks to the Heart of a Beast.

Rem felt somewhat proud.

"It seems his brain was shaken from the shock of the hit. I don't think he'll die, but if we leave him like this, he might."

"The heat of the battlefield has cooled down a bit, too. Put him on your back. Let's take him."

"You put him on your back. I'll clear the path."

"... One of these days, you're really going to get your head chopped open by my axe."

"You're the one who should watch out for a dagger in your back."

Rem snorted heavily, but it didn't escalate to a fight.

Yeah, the Squad Leader had done his part, anyway.

Rem hoisted Encrid onto his back.

Jaxon casually cleared the path in front of him with his sword and shield.

On the surface, he didn't seem to have particularly outstanding skills.

But looking closely, one could tell.

He was clearing the path while showing less than a quarter of his true strength.

'Devious stray cat bastard.'

Rem walked while cursing Jaxon internally.

Carried on his back, the Squad Leader only breathed lightly, as if he had fallen asleep.