Part III: The Toads The journey was rather smoothgoing. We had become friendlier towards one another. The joyful young girl was really capable of melting people's hearts. Throughout the journey, she had removed her chainmail, wearing only a brown robe. Initially, Crack and I were exceptionally wary of her. However, the very moment we saw her remove her armor, we relaxed, knowing that we could handle her. We started to laugh at the way she tried to catch butterflies along the way. The rest of the journey went smoothly till we reached a rocky path. Ramona began to wear her armor. Both of us looked at each other and nodded. We had to be careful now. 'We're reaching the place. Remember, this isn't going to be easy. Crack, remember to cast a 'sanctuary' spell on me upon reaching there. Gil, do whatever you can to inflict the maximum damage on the toad. I'll initiate the fight. Get it?' Ramona asked. We nodded dumbly. I felt stupid, as if I were a child listening to a mother's instructions. 'Good, let's go.' Ramona lifted her bag and followed the trail. We followed likewise. Suddenly, Ramona gave a loud gasp of shock. In a haste, Crack cast the spell on Ramona. I sprang forward, sword drawn, all set to strike. To my horror, I saw a pair of red eyes staring at me. The eyes belonged to a knight in shadowy black armor. As I looked intently, I realised that there was nobody in the armor! It was a trapped soul. I glanced at the area. Blood was everywhere , and the ground seemed to be totally turned up. Bits and pieces of armor and weapons laid on the ground, suggesting a great battle being fought not long ago. I gulped nervously. 'Think we can kill this?' I asked quietly. I was startled by Ramona's reaction. 'NO!!!!' She screamed nervously! I looked at Crack who shook his head profusely as well. 'In that case, think we can pass it without being attacked?' I asked again. 'I sincerely hope so. Otherwise, we're as good as mincemeat.' Crack answered. The voice was shaking. For once, I saw Crack in fear. I guessed the knight must be very powerful. As a fade darkknight, I knew no fear in battle. Faced with numerous warriors and paladins, I had never trembled in front of others, no matter how powerful they were. Hence, in my eyes, the knight was just another enemy. For that, I did not experience as much fear as Crack and Ramona were having. 'I'll lead the way. Hopefully, it won't notice us.' The words came from Ramona. She had managed to regain her posture despite her white ghastly face. We nodded as we followed her past the knight. Fortunately, the knight left us alone even though it saw us. We ran and collapsed only after the knight was out of sight. 'That was close!!! Whew!' Ramona panted heavily. Crack fell onto the ground, whilst I slumbered onto a rock. The heavy armor we wore had really worn us out. 'Rest! I need rest!' I exclaimed. 'We'll all rest for an hour before we move on.' Ramona replied. With that, the three of us slept. The three of us stared at the rock toad in awe. Never in our lives had we seen such a huge toad. It was greyish with the size of a cow! Horns grew all over the body. As we examined it, we realised that the skin of the toad was as hard as a rock. Ramona considered the toad, which started to laugh at her mercilessly. We looked at her questioningly. 'Sanc me and I'll whack.' She said. Crack nodded, as he raised his hands, muttering the words of the spell. Almost instantly, a white aura of protective field surrounded the female warrior, blinding the toad. Shouting a warcry, she bashed onto the toad. I joined in, casting a harm spell on the ugly creature, demolishing it. Crack followed last, constantly checking on Ramona's injuries. Whenever Ramona had many nasty wounds and cuts, Crack would mutter 'parl pzar', healing Ramona to only a few scratches. As for me, I only had to aid in the killing without much injuries, since the toad was only concerned with the one who struck it first. The toad was indeed a hard core to break. The battle lasted hours. Looking at the health of the toad, we could roughly judge that it was almost twice as healthy as the health of the three of us put together. Finally, it was Ramona who delivered the fatal blow which eradicated the beast. With a cry, the toad fell, dead. I looked at Ramona. She only had some small wounds and cuts. 'Sacrifice the corpse, and we'll continue.' Ramona urged Crack. Crack hastily sacrificed the corpse before Ramona moved on. We followed silently. As we approached the hills above the shoreline, we found another toad. Ramona was considering the health of this toad when the toad suddenly screamed and attacked us, putting us into total disarray. I could see that Ramona was fighting frantically and helplessly. The sanctuary spell was no longer there, and Crack could not cast such a spell whilst fighting. I pondered the reason for the toad to attack us without any reason or so. There could only be one reason for it. The whole world had been thrown into chaos! In order to convince myself, I tried healing myself. As I muttered 'cure serious', I felt a soothing feeling flowing into my body. Indeed! The world had been thrown into chaos! I laughed victoriously. The world was mine to kill now!!! Without hesitation, I muttered something, as I raised my hands towards the toad. As I concentrated, the insides of the toad appeared in my mind. As I finished the magical words, I sent a blast in the internals of the toad, destroying most of the internal organs. The toad screamed in great pain. Ramona, battered and torn, stared at me weakly. Crack, on the other hand, was too concerned with healing Ramona. I cast another psionic blast at the toad again. The creature screamed again. Realising that I can only cast one more time, I sent a final blast into the toad's body, as Ramona, partially healed by Crack, jumped onto the toad to plunge her sword into its body. That marked the death of another toad. The corpse crashed onto the ground, flinging Ramona towards the rocks. Ramona crashed onto the rocks and fell onto the ground, looking awful. Crack was at the verge of exhaustion. I sat heavily on the ground, totally drained and severely wounded. 'We need help.' Crack spoke weakly. 'We'll have to recall and pray for transportation.' I replied. In silence, we prayed and found ourselves lying outside the Temple of Kiri-Jolith. Painfully, we dragged ourselves into the temple to seek aid.
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