The two closest frogs spit their acid at Navia; she dashed to the side to hide behind a seat. The wood hissed as it was slowly burned by the acid. Trying to think about her next move, Navia barely noticed another frog crawling on the ground beside her.
As it opened her mouth, Navia barely moved her legs to bounce off the ground and away from the creature. Instead of spitting acid, the frog shot out its tongue and wrapped it around Navia’s arm. The frog held her, not letting her move further, and leaving Navia in an empty space for the rest of the frogs to shoot at her.
The blood turned liquid and moved to Navia’s free left arm, changing it back into a sword, she cut the monster’s tongue. She threw the cut tongue into a flying spit of acid, blocking it from reaching her. A burning pain surged from her back. While most of the frogs spat their acid at her, one sneaked behind to surprise her. Navia turned her sword into a knife and was about to throw it at the frog, but another acid spit was flying toward her. She brought her armored arm up to block it; small drops fell on her face, leaving burn marks.
Frogs were fewer in numbers, but they were smarter than Barnacles. Coordinated attacks, spacing, and strategic moves. It didn’t feel like Navia was fighting monsters but a group of assassins.
Standing in place made Navia an easy target, so she dashed forward at the furthest frog, which wouldn’t expect to be attacked. The spits of acid followed her path but couldn’t reach her in time. The frog in the corner understood it was becoming the target, so it quickly moved to another corner.
Split-second hesitation was enough for one frog to hit Navia’s leg with his tongue, almost like provoking her. A small drop of acid was enough to burn through Navia’s pants, leaving three small holes and burnt skin. As Navia turned her attention to that frog, another one came out of hiding and sent its tongue at Navia, wrapping around her right arm. As she was moving her blood to the other hand, her left leg was wrapped by a different tongue.
The frog tried to pull its tongue to make Navia fall to the ground, except it barely moved her. This loss of balance gave space for the rest of the frogs to send their acid spit at her. The acid on her shoulder did nothing as her hardened blood protected her. Next was her heel, only able to burn part of her shoe. Navia brought her arms up to defend herself from the acid, which saved her from getting hit in the stomach and chest, but she didn’t make it in time to hide her face.
Her left cheek burned and melted, showing the teeth and bone hidden beneath it. “Enough with this strategic thinking…” Navia thought as the frogs had an advantage, each second she hesitated or tried to strategize, they took advantage of it. She couldn’t waste time on thinking.
She swung her right arm with unbelievable speed and strength, throwing the frog across the room to the opposite side. One frog fell from the chair as it didn’t see the tongue, which Navia still held as she threw the monster. The frog released her arm and hit the wall, breaking a few bones on impact.
Instead of creating another sword, Navia made two daggers, and as she kneeled, both of the daggers cut off the tongues wrapped around her legs. Once she was free, she dashed toward the nearest frog she could see. The frog had enough time to spit acid before she could reach it, except Navia turned her whole armor into liquid and made a long spear, which reached the monster before it could fully open its mouth, piercing its chest.
“Hiding won’t bring me victory against you. A head-on attack is my last option. Forget about defence… All I need is to kill you all!” Shouted Navia as she swung her spear with a dead body on it, throwing it at the Frog behind her. She ran after the body, the frogs spat their acid to block her path toward the frog, which had to get the corpse out of the way to move.
Instead of moving forward, Navia dashed to the side where she saw the spit flying from. The spear went right through the seat, and as she pulled it back, there was a blue liquid on it. She kneeled for a moment under the seats. The frogs lost sight of her, and a few of them repositioned to have a better view. The moment Navia saw a single limb, she came out of hiding and jumped toward the frog.
Navia was prepared for the acid and created a small shield that only cost her a few inches of the spear. With that shield, she bashed the acid to the side and plunged forward with the spear, skewering the frog’s head. Right next to it was another monster, hiding between the row of seats. Navia couldn’t turn her spear toward it in such a tight space. The frog thought it was safe and prepared acid to shoot at her, but Navia ignored it and dashed toward it. The spear melted and wrapped around her fists, turning into a gauntlet with spikes. With a straight punch, Navia broke its bones and made five holes with the spikes.
As the frog opened its mouth to scream in pain, Navia grabbed both of its jaws and pulled on the opposite sides, stretching its mouth with enough force to tear its mouth apart. Not seeing another frog, she simply ran forward, not letting the monsters surround her. Once she ran out of the row of seats, she turned toward the first frog she saw.
The gauntlets changed into daggers, and she slashed the frog’s stomach open before it could even jump away. She then moved to the next frog she saw, slashing them one by one.
Navia wasn’t the only one who adjusted the strategy as frogs began to spit the acid more frequently, but in lesser amounts. Forcing Navia to be on a constant move, but even with that, she couldn’t avoid every spit of acid. Small but noticeable wounds appeared on her arms, legs, and back.
Navia clenched her jaw with a few muscles that allowed her to and ran forward with a spear. The frog stood on the seat, allowing Navia for a wide swing with a spear. The monster was about to jump, but its body fell to the ground as Navia cut off its legs. Once it hit the ground, she pressed its body with a spear to the chest.
The last remaining frog was on the opposite side of the room. Once Navia was in sight, it continued spitting the acid. Navia took another hit to her shoulder; her arm barely responded to her calls. “I need to take care of it… Quickly!” Running straight at it, she became an easy target, being hit with acid in the same place many times, revealing muscle and even bone under the skin. The frog was sure she would fall any second, except she didn’t. Once close, she raised the spear and changed it into a giant cleaver. As she brought it down, she cut the frog in half along the seat it was standing on.
The adrenaline slowly wore off, reminding Navia of the wounds she had received. Some of the burns were already healing, while the burnt skin and muscle barely began to regenerate. If she went to sleep, people would easily mistake her for a rotting corpse.
As instructed, she went to the center row of the seating area and looked for a leather bag. On the floor, there were many bags and items that fell out of them during the fall. Among the items were children's toys. Navia stared at them intently. She didn’t curse, she didn’t cry, she felt emptiness, a massive void building inside her. Navia didn’t know how to feel about it; she didn’t know those children, but it's not like their deaths meant nothing to her.
After a moment, she returned to her search, looking under each seat, among other bags. Noticing a shining object, she reached for it, and what she grabbed was the golden handle of a leather bag. “That must be it…”
Navia’s eyes widened as she heard a hissing sound, an acid spread and burned the leather bag and the contents of it. On the floor laid a frog, which crawled toward her, leg broken and an arm bone sticking out through the flesh. The last thing it did before dying was spit acid at Navia, who unfortunately held the bag in front of her.
She ripped the bag open and threw all the items onto the floor. The glasses broke into pieces along the magnifying glass. She pushed the notebooks aside in a rush to find the item. The broken glass cut her hands, marking each item on the floor with her blood. She picked up a small stick with a golden tip, or at least what was left of it.
“SHIT!” Navia cursed out loud, frustrated as all that fighting was for nothing. “No… It’s not that bad… At least I killed many monsters… At least…” Navia tried to make herself feel better, but the loss of an important item was nudging her mind.
After a short break for Navia to recover her strength and bits of her flesh, she went back to the staff area. She disposed of the remaining few Barnacles in the corridor and knocked on the door three times.
“Is that you?” Asked August, glad to hear a different kind of knock on the door.
“Yes… I don’t know if the item will work since it was damaged…” Answered Navia, looking down at the item in her hand. She was disappointed with what had happened and in herself, that she wasn’t able to retrieve it.
“Maybe it will work. Unseal the door and come in. You sound tired.” Gently answered August, just by listening, he knew that she was in a bad state.
Navia looked at her wounds and touched her face. She had enough muscles to speak normally, but her skin didn’t regenerate, and a few teeth were still visible through torn muscles. “Before that… Bring a blanket or towel.”
As asked, August brought a blanket and opened the door. As he handed the blanket, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Navia looked like she was already dead, her body deteriorating. Yet she stood and lived, not necessarily bothered by the pain.
He wanted to speak but wasn’t sure what to say. Navia could see that, so she answered many possible questions with a few words. “I’m fine.” Navia pulled a blanket over her head to cover her wounded face. “I’ll rest a bit…”
Everyone’s eyes followed Navia as she limped toward the room, closing doors behind her. She sat on the ground with her back to the door, not wanting to scare anyone who might come in while she was in her inner world.
While in the inner world, her body looked the same as in the real world, wounded with burns all over her body. The only difference was that she didn’t feel tired. “I am warmed up… Time to continue crashing the ground.” Cracking her finger joints, she approached the Blood Gate and began punching the ground. The process was tiring, but it showed results. Once she had to take a breather, she swept the small bits of hard ground away.
After the third repeat, she noticed that her hands were bleeding; what was odd was the same feeling she had in the real world. She could feel every single drop of it. With that realization, she tried to control the blood. She flinched as the door in front of her slightly opened.
“Master said it's impossible to use a gate while in an inner world… Is it because I am also wounded in the real world? But I was never able to use my powers while in the inner world… How is that possible… Maybe I should use this opportunity.” The process of hardening the blood was slower, but Navia was able to create a gauntlet. She raised her fist and brought it down to crash the soil, thinking this would speed up the process, but the gauntlet broke into bits on impact.
“Is the ground much harder than my blood? That can’t be true. My fists were able to crush it. Maybe power is somehow restricted in the inner world…” Navia reused the bits of the gauntlet and turned it into a dagger. The blade didn’t break as she swung it around, but once she tried to stick it in the ground, the blade cracked and broke into bits.
“Punching the ground did speed up the process, but I can’t be too reckless with injured hands. At least this allows me to train.” Navia turned the bits of blood into a long spear. She thrusted it forward, swung in wide arcs. Mid swing, she turned it into an axe. She tried to feel the weapons until the swing felt somehow right.
“I wonder if this will work…” The blades of an axe turned liquid, and the handle slowly curved, a string stretched from one tip to another. In one hand, she held a bow, and in the other, she made an arrow. Placing an arrow on the string, she tried to pull it to herself, but the blood was sturdy, and she couldn’t draw the bow. Using her power to reshape the string as if it were being pulled worked, but once she released the arrow and simulated the movement of the string, the arrow barely flew a foot away.
“Somehow I am not surprised…” Thought Navia, glad that no one was there to witness this failure.
She spent at least three hours constantly training and smashing the ground until a knock woke her up. Waking up, she turned around and said, “Come in.” In a gap of a slightly opened door was the face of August, with a light smirk on his face.
“We did it. We can leave the staff area safely.” He stated, surprising Navia as she thought that the item would be impossible to use.