After grabbing a simple lunch in a nearby village, the duo and their wolf companion set out toward the known habitat of the Rustfrogs.
"I haven't run into Rustfrogs before," Alia said, flipping through the monster manual as they walked. Her tone was curious. "According to this, their spit can corrode metal."
"No wonder the bounty's 1 silver and 30 copper per kill," Gauss replied. "Most warriors probably avoid this kind of quest."
That was a pretty high price for low-tier monsters.
By comparison, the ratmen they fought last time were only worth 1 silver each.
Hard-to-handle monsters often came with higher bounties. For melee adventurers reliant on metal gear, creatures that corroded equipment were a nightmare.
All that hard-earned money would just get funneled into blacksmith repair fees—not worth it.
But for Gauss and Alia, this wasn't much of a problem.
Gauss had solid ranged options, and Alia was excellent at battlefield control.
More importantly, neither of them wore heavy armor. Their main defense came from Gauss's Omni-Armor, not metal, so gear degradation wasn't a concern.
Before they even set out, Gauss had already cast the upgraded Gauss Omni-Armor on both of them, evolved from his Mage Armor.
At full integrity, the Omni-Armor could last up to six hours—more than enough for most battles.
That's why Gauss had developed the habit of casting his shields in advance while still in safe zones. Then, using his Energy Storage Gland to replenish mana, he could approach encounters at full strength.
Technically, he didn't need to save that little bit of mana—but it was all about good habits and maximizing efficiency.
As they neared the Rustfrog nest, the two of them fell silent, focusing on the approach.
Suddenly—
Gauss's ears twitched.
Carried on the wind was a strange sound—urgent frog croaks mixed with pounding footsteps and panicked shouting, growing louder by the second.
"WAAHHHH—!!"
Gauss signaled Alia to stop and looked toward the commotion.
In the distance, a cloud of dust rose.
A group of young adventurers were fleeing down the trail, faces pale, breathing ragged, stumbling over their own feet.
Chasing them were dozens of squat, round-bodied creatures—clumsily leaping forward with surprising strength and persistence.
Rustfrogs. The target.
"Get ready!" Gauss called out.
There was no time to plan. It was a sudden encounter.
He snapped into combat mode. Alia gripped her oaken staff.
"Bro! Run!" shouted one of the youths in a panic, seeing the two of them standing calmly in the road.
Why weren't they running?
He and his teammates were already exhausted, lips pale, lungs burning. Stopping meant death—those deceptively dopey frogs would devour them to the bone.
Rustfrogs were omnivores. When not hibernating, they grew between 50 cm and 1 meter in length and would eat just about anything.
Small animals, plants, insects, birds—even humans.
To regular people, they looked harmless. But they were actually extremely dangerous.
Yet Gauss and Alia didn't move.
Like boulders.
The fleeing adventurers dashed past them like startled rabbits, never even looking back. It wasn't until they'd put some distance between them that they dared to turn around.
And what they saw stopped them in their tracks.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three brilliant blue magic bolts formed almost simultaneously at the tip of Gauss's bone staff.
They ripped through the air with comet-like tails, shrieking with arcane power, slamming into the front line of Rustfrogs—
BOOM! SPLAT!
Explosions and wet tearing filled the air.
The bolts pierced flesh like hot knives through butter.
The hit frogs were launched backwards like ragdolls, their tough hides shredded by the impact, blood and gore spraying in all directions.
The charging swarm hesitated, startled by the sudden violence.
The young adventurers exchanged stunned looks.
"Did we just… stumble into a big shot?"
But Gauss and Alia weren't paying attention to them—they were focused on the incoming wave of Rustfrogs.
This wasn't how they'd planned it.
They were supposed to scout the nest, confirm the numbers, pick a location, set a strategy...
But in the wild, things rarely went to plan.
One moment you're walking, the next—a fight breaks out.
Thanks to his constant training, Gauss had reacted instantly. His first barrage of Magic Missiles was already flying before the fleeing adventurers had even passed him.
His quick reflexes came from rigorous practice, both during quests and in town, where he'd simulated ambush drills regularly.
His performance also benefited from multiple passive boosts:
His staff's rapid-cast property
A synergy bonus from his secondary core
Magic Missile Lv3 (45/50)—nearly maxed out
[Rustfrog Slain ×3]
[New Monster Unlocked: Rustfrog]
[New Title Earned: 'Rustfrog Hunter.' This title will upgrade as kills increase..]
[Current Title Effect: Stagger – After activation, nearby Rustfrogs within 3 meters are mentally staggered and stunned for 0.5–1 seconds.]
Just as Gauss finished his attack, Alia completed her casting sequence.
Her staff glowed emerald green as she struck it to the ground.
Life energy surged into the soil, rippling outward.
"Entangle! Nature's Bind!"
Her left hand moved in a practiced motion—a vital part of her spellcasting process. Unlike Gauss's rapid-fire casting, Alia required chants and gestures.
Still, the missiles Gauss launched earlier had bought her just enough time.
RUMBLE!
Dozens of vines burst from the earth.
She didn't go all out this time—just about ten vines stretched across the path, forming a natural net between them and the enemy.
The Rustfrogs, enraged by their fallen kin and pressured by the swarm behind them, barreled straight into the trap.
"Ribbit! Ribbit!"
The vines lashed out like living snakes, coiling around their legs and yanking them off balance.
"Growl!"
From the side, Ulfen burst out of the grass like a grey blur, jaws snapping shut on the neck of a trapped frog—ripping out a chunk of flesh.
Gauss followed up without hesitation.
"Firebolt!"
The tip of his staff shimmered—orange flames condensed, forming a blazing arrow that rocketed forward—
WHOOSH!
Direct hit. The fire seared through the Rustfrog's body, sizzling as it burned.
The frog twitched violently, then collapsed.
At Lv3, Firebolt had excellent speed and power—Gauss had chosen it for a reason.
He wanted to test its effectiveness in combat, and it cost slightly less mana than his downgraded Magic Missile.
For numerous weak enemies, Firebolt was the smarter option.
Magic Missile still had its place for high-priority multi-target elimination, but here, the Entangle vines provided enough control to let him pace his kills.
"Firebolt!"
"Firebolt!"
"Firebolt!"
Each bolt shot out like the reaper's call, cutting down frog after frog.
A smell like barbecued meat began to fill the air.
Gauss sniffed.
...Smells good.
The spell had drained some mana, and his Energy Gland triggered a mild hunger pang.
And now that his brain had registered the roasted, juicy scent of fresh meat...
Yeah. He was hungry.
Didn't the "The Complete Guide to Foraging around the Jade Forest" guide say Rustfrog legs were safe to eat...?
With that thought, his casting sped up noticeably.
One Rustfrog broke through the vines and lunged at Alia.
She reacted instantly—power surging through her staff as she smashed it into its skull with a sharp thud.
The frog reeled, dazed.
"Firebolt!"
Gauss didn't even need to aim.
The bolt struck perfectly, incinerating the stunned frog on the spot.
This was part of their pre-established plan—Alia was focused on control and setup, not finishing blows.
None of her spells—Entangle, Speak with Animals, Goodberry—were direct-kill tools.
So they'd agreed: she disables, Gauss finishes.
Their synergy had grown with practice.
And honestly, Alia didn't mind anymore.
Gauss's kill efficiency was insane.
She was happy to support from the back—being a druid didn't mean you had to be a killer.
With their fluid teamwork, they wiped out the entire chasing pack of Rustfrogs.
The ground was scorched and torn, pitted from acid spit and tongue lashes.
"25." Alia finished counting corpses.
"Not all of them."
"The mission said the colony had over seventy. The rest must still be at the nest."
"Then let's rest a bit," Gauss nodded, checking his kill log.
[Total Monsters Kills: 458]
Excluding the random goblins encountered on the road, the recent ambush had added 23 kills to his total.
Ulfen had injured many, but only killed 2 outright.
Honestly, without Gauss's spells, Alia and Ulfen could've handled this group—just slower.
But Gauss made the fight effortless.
The whole thing had taken less than three minutes.
And now, he was 42 kills away from the 500 milestone.
If there were around 50 frogs left at the nest, this quest might push him past it.
He'd need to talk to Alia—maybe ask her to have Ulfen go easy in the next fight.
Looking over the field of corpses, Gauss quietly calculated.
Then pushed those thoughts aside.
Time to collect the bounty items: Rustfrog tongues.
He got to work, neatly slicing the tongues at the base with a knife—though his eyes kept wandering to the frogs' thick, meaty thighs.
The glistening muscle shimmered in the sun.
He couldn't help but picture a big spicy bullfrog hotpot from his past life.
What does giant frog meat taste like in this world?
His curiosity grew.
"Alia, you hungry?"
"Huh?"
She turned, halfway through prying open a frog's mouth to cut its tongue, staring at him in disbelief.
Didn't they just eat lunch at the village not too long ago?
Wait... was he seriously thinking of eating these things...?