Suddenly, the new Froghemoth acted first and shot out its sticky tongue in a flash! It hit Basil, and within a moment, it swallowed him up with a croak. Everyone gasped in shock and horror while the Lizard Man Shaman fainted right on the spot! Only for the earth under the frog's feet to form hands, grab its lower jaw, and force its mouth open as a rolling pin pinned it from within! They saw Basil hanging onto the magical glowing rolling pin inside the beast's jaw with all his might as the Froghemoth's tongue tried to pull him into its throat!
"No! I am not coming this far just to become breakfast!", he shouted as he used a light spell to burn the creature's tongue, causing it to throw him up.
Basil slid at his army's feet, covered in mucus before quickly shooting to his feet. Trying to wipe himself clean as he took a deep breath and let his inner anger show on his face. The Froghemoth, dumb as it was, attempted to snag him up again with its tongue, only for the man to summon a giant cutting board to block it! The board flew into the frog's face and caused it to see stars momentarily before shooting out its six tendrils at him! Basil countered by summoning six magic-cutting knives from the sky and anchoring the limbs to the ground!
Then Gossamer and Hagson joined in as the Unicorn summoned plants to anchor its legs while the Hag Spawn used a mental magic attack to disorient the monster. After it was completely stuck with seemingly no escape, Basil turned to his friends and prompted a suggestion.
"I think I can speak for all of us when I say I'm done with fighting.", he inferred from the crowd.
"Agreed!", they all said in unison.
Smiling with rage, he calmly said before shouting, "Motion carried. Magic users! To the front! Let's just shoot this thing with magic until it dies!"
"But what if it explodes?", Bow asked innocently and curiously.
"Even better!", exclaimed the Shaman in excitement.
So with the combined force of Basil, the fairies, Gossamer, Hagson, and Bow and his Elemental Constructs, they all cast their own unique brand of magic that they blasted from their hands! The twelve beams of magic shot into the beast and began to become absorbed by the beast! A harsh flash of light emanated from the monster, and everyone shut there eyes or turned away! The flash was so intense that the magic users lost concentration!
Finally, when the light settles down, they all gaze at the beast's remains, only to be shocked to see it intact and very alive! The Froghemoth had not only remained alive but also now sported a new color palette that seemed to reflect the color of every spell cast on it before!
Basil looked at this with shock and could only manage to scream out, "What the fuck!?"
"It's a Deviant!", Hagson exclaimed.
"A what!?", Basil yelled at him for clarification.
"A magicless creature that can absorb and redirect magic as its own!", Hagson quickly and nervously told him.
Basil shook his head in stupefaction and could only reply, "That's a thing!?"
Suddenly the newly magical Froghemoth began to glow and make a strange purring noise. It grew louder and louder as it curled in on itself. Basil wondered what was happening, but his Far Sight suddenly activated and sensed something amiss. Knowing if nothing was done, they'd all die, so he ran out to the front of the crowd and put up a light shield just before the monster let loose a beam of mixed magical energy! Straining under the intense blow and push from the attack, digging his heels into the dirt and crying from the strain, he concentrated with all his might to keep the shield up and the stunned monsters from getting creamed in one hit!
With what little air he had from holding his breath to talk, he commanded everyone, "Go! Run! Can't hold it! Too strong!"
Suddenly, he felt the strain lift from his body, and he opened his tightly shut eyes to see Bow, Hagson, Gossamer, and the fairy triplets all at his sides, projecting their own magical force fields within his own.
"Then let us help you.", Gossamer offered.
"You don't need to shoulder all the burden!", said Bow.
He then felt something push against his back and turned his head just enough to see Marigold standing back to back and pushing against him with her own as she told him, "Let's give this frog a fight to remember!"
As Basil was just barely able to look behind himself, he saw that the Lizard Men, Bugbears, Myeon, Broomy, and Teto were also in agreement, backing him up both figuratively and literally. Some of the Bugbears and Lizards held his back and shoulder while Myeon, Broomy, and Teto were beside his legs. Basil held back his tears of gratitude and looked toward the frog with newfound determination. So, with all his friends at his back and sides, he pushed the newly reinforced shield towards the monster! The magic shield flew towards the frog, easily pushing against its energy blast until it pressed against its mouth, causing its own attack to explode within itself!
Once the smoke cleared, the Froghemoth jumped out with a mighty leap, hoping to crush the army under its huge body! But the magic users were far faster and positioned the shield above themselves where the frog landed! Having to hold back the weight of a giant creature versus holding back its beam attack was like night and day! Even the other magic users were beginning to fall to their knees from the massive weight!
So, Basil raised his hand in a pinch and willed the shield to change shape! A Spike of light grew out from the bottom and pierced the monster's feet and body, forcing it to jump back to the ground! Once on the ground again, the army roared and charged it, but the Froghemoth kept them at bay by using its tendril to slap them away or shoot photon beams from the tips! Everyone ran from the beams while the magic users put up individual shields to ward off the many laser attacks!
But suddenly, Marigold came in and sliced one of the tendrils clean off! This came as a shock to everyone who wondered how the woman did the seemingly impossible. Until they see her race towards the Fire Elemental, slip her blade against its body, and race back off to deliver several blows against the monster's body that cuts open with ease!
Finding this out, the others ran with whatever metallic weapons they had on hand to be heated up by the Elemental. Before the army with red-hot weapons could charge the creature, it let out a bellowing cry so loud and powerful it was like a whirlwind had hit them! When the wind subsided, and the army had been scattered, Basil knew they had to do something about its defenses if they wanted to win. Then his eyes caught sight of a strange plant pod growing on a vine that had been knocked off a tree it was growing up in. His new Botany skill was activated, and he knew just what this plant was without needing his Appraisal skill! The wheels in his head began to turn, and he formed a plan within seconds!
"Bow! Tell the Earth Elemental to put up a wall!", Basil called to the boy, who gave him a thumbs up and wordlessly gave the command.
The Earth Elemental dove into the ground, and a huge wall erupted from the ground, far taller than the one Basil made, cutting off the Froghemoth from the scattered army! Once they were safe, Basil announced, "Everyone! I have a plan to take down the Froghemoth! But you gotta trust me!"
"We already are, so just spit it out.", Hagson snapped at him as he stared at the breaking earth wall with anxiety.
"We gotta get it to use its tongue!", he vaguely told them, leading to confused expressions making their rounds in the crowd. So, wasting no time for explanations, he instructed the group, "Lizard Men, grab these plant pods off these vines growing on the trees! Broomy, Teto, Marigold, I need you three to remove the Froghemoth's tendrils. Gossamer, Myeon, restrain the legs when I give the signal. Hagson, hit it with that confusion spell when its tongue is out. Bugbears, confuse the Froghemoth, don't let it move. Slow, Flo, and Moe, wait on me for the signal. Bow, and the Fire Elemental with me.", everyone nodded at this as Basil said in a deadly serious tone, "We've only got one shot at this, so let's make it count."
Suddenly, the wall broke, and Bow and Basil took to the front with the Fire Elemental. Basil condenses the living flame into a ball while Bow begins his chant! The Froghemoth wastes no time and jumps at them, but it's far too late as Bow chants the most potent part of the incantation, and Basil launches the flame as it takes the form of a giant Dragon and swallows the frog up! The flames settle, and the Froghemoth comes out at the other end, looking unfazed and unharmed. However, upon closer inspection, it was evident that its skin no longer had the shiny, slimy texture it had before. The mucus had been cooked clean off!
"Bugbears! Go go go!", Basil called out to the Goblins, who raced up to the frog and began to roar at it while swinging their clubs and other weapons around threateningly.
This caused the Froghemoth to back away and prevented it from jumping or moving forward!
Seeing this, Basil called out, "Gossamer! Meyon!"
The two creatures used their magical control over plants and webs to snag their legs, preventing them from moving!
"Marigold! Teto!", he called out as the two blade users came down on Broomy with super-heated blades.
Teto jumped off and began running on the frog's back, distracting it as Marigold sliced off three more tendrils, allowing Teto to get the last two and the third eye! When the Froghemoth had no more tendrils, the little Kenku jumped back onto the broom with the woman, and they flew off!
Seeing them leave, he ran in sight of the Froghemoth, and while Using Animal Speech, he shouted, "Come on, you overgrown side dish! Come and get me!"
This got frogs' attention and full ire! Noting how it couldn't move, it shot out its tongue to snag him up, but it got pinned by a whisk that twirled around until it stretched the tongue to its maximum length.
"Now Hagson!", Basil shouted at the male hag, who suddenly reappeared from turning invisible and hit the frog monster with a dizzy spell, causing it to see stars again.
With the Froghemoth entirely at their mercy, of which they had none, Basil commands, "Lizard Men! Throw the pods on its tongue!"
And so the Lizards threw the dark green plant pods onto the sticky tongue, where they all piled up and spread out. Once the tongue was covered in the plants, he set off on the last part of the plan.
"Slow, Flo, Moe! Let's give this toad its last bouquet!", he told the fairies as they giggled in agreement, realizing what he was doing.
So Basil and the fairies performed a small dance or rather a few poses. The fairies would fly around and take different stances while Basil changed his pose. As they did this, the plant pods began to open. First, it was the outer leaves falling away. Then, it was the purple flower opening. Finally, the flowers came into full bloom with red stems and bright purple marks on the leaves that made the plant look like a bomb with a lit fuse.
Once the plant pods had been opened, Basil made the wisk vanish and allowed the young to fly back into the monster's mouth, where he said, "Now eat up until that big belly of yours bursts!"
The tongue shot back into the mouth, and the dazed frog swallowed its meal. When it did, its eyes went wide alongside its whole body, beginning to expand like a balloon.
Basil, alongside everyone else, began to step away from the expanding frog, where the man admitted in stress, "Uh oh, I don't think the magic is mixing well with the Pop Bomb Pod."
Hagson, standing beside him, heard this and yelled at him, "Those were Pop Bomb Pods!?"
Hearing the hag's reaction, Basil knew he had screwed up and watched as the frog just kept getting bigger and bigger! Knowing they couldn't reasonably escape at this point, Basil had to do something and get the Froghemoth far away! So he used his Nature magic to cause a vine to grow and seal the frog's mouth shut!
He then turned to his druid friend and not so subtly acquiesced, "Bow!? A little Elemental aid!?"
With little more than a thumbs up, the young boy wordlessly sends the Wind and Water Elementals off to grab and carry off the huge monster ripping at the seams! The wind and water mix created a large wave that sent the monster rocketing off into the distance! Within that distance were the remaining Bullywugs, who just so happened to be in the way of the oncoming wave of water wind and monster frog. Only a few managed to jump out of the way, while all others were caught up and sent far off to be blown to smithereens!
They just got the Froghemoth barely out of range when its body could no longer take it and exploded in a dazzling display of light, color, and slimy substrate. While the magic caused an explosion of light to bloom like an exploding bomb, the slimy parts of the creature fell all over like a shower of clumpy grossness! Nearly everyone, especially Basil, was covered in the frog's remains.
"We're alive?", Basil asked after realizing the Froghemoth was gone. Once confirmed, he jumped up, still covered in the slimy substrate, and cheered, "We're alive! WE'RE ALIVE!", the rest of the remaining army also cheered with glee at their victory while Basil followed up as he looked down at himself, "We're disgusting, but alive!"
Suddenly, Basil was entrapped by a running hug from his female companion, who was also covered in slime, and said in blissful excitement, "Basil, you're a genius! I could kiss you right now!"
Basil's face went bright red at the offer, and he froze like a deer in headlights until something caught his and the rest of his companions' attention. They all heard the same familiar bubbling sound that, at this point, they were fully aware of what it meant. A sound that sent horrid shivers down their spine and unyielding fear of anticipation for what they believed was about to occur once more. And just as their fears were realized and proven correct, out of the water came a third and even larger Froghemoth than the other two! Bellowed its croaking cry once it had finally emerged from the swamp with the five remaining Bullywugs, cheering it on to attack!
The remaining army simply looked on with a mixture of disbelief and dismay at seeing yet another of those hard monsters appear! Despair settled into the riled fighting spirits of every fighter there, and some even fell to their knees and began to weep bitterly!
All of Basil's confidence drained from him in one sitting as he cried in bitter despair while asking no one, "Oh, why does God hate me so much!"
Just as the Froghemoth approached, a fast-moving…something went across its body, and the beast stopped in its tracks. It stood still as a statue for several seconds, long enough to gain the attention of everyone starting to freak out! Then the Froghemoth fell…in two halves! The huge monster fell along the ground with two unceremonious wet slaps, leading the two groups to gasp at the sight from both sides of the battlefield!
Not knowing what happened, Marigold told Basil, "Uh….nice job, Basil."
"That…wasn't me.", Basil told her, leading to more confusion.
Then, a storm of golden blades appeared overhead and rained down upon the remaining Bullywugs, killing them all in one shot! Another round of gasps made their way around, and Basil exclaimed, pointing, "That also wasn't me! Everyone saw that, right?!"
Suddenly, a man clad in large, bulky, and powerful-looking armor with an enormous sword in one hand and an ornate shield in the other stepped out of the swamp and into sight of the army. Accompanied behind him was what appeared to be a squire who was reigning in his wild yet beautiful-looking platinum-colored stallion.
The man was huge! Or he was just standing on a part of slightly raised land, or his armor gave that sense. His armor was all silver with golden embroidery and small fine gemstones placed along select parts of the armor, making it sparkle and glitter. The helmet had three long red feathers and was shaped with the visage of a stout yet stoic-looking man. A violet cape hung at his muck-covered metal boots that also got dirtied in the swamp.
His shield was also silver with golden embroidery and jewels but had the visage of a Unicorn and Dragon locked in combat. His great sword was golden at the cross guard, pommel, and hilt. The blade was pure silver but had no gems in sight. On his belt were six small daggers designed like the sword, and last was a strange talisman dangling around his neck, but it emanated a great power. In fact, all of him did!
On the other hand, his squire was short and frail, wearing the equivalent of rags with a rope belt and cap. The horse was large, powerful, beautiful, and while it tried to break free, looking ready to fight! Its platinum coat glittered in the light, with its silver adornments jingling with every movement it made. It too, was decorated with golden embroidery and small gems like its rider.
The monsters grew weary as the man approached them and took up arms! Even the ordinarily calm Myeon stood before Basil and hissed at the man with fangs bore! He sheathed his sword and placed his shield upon his back before walking up to Basil, where the man noticed it really was his armor, making him look taller. Yet Myeon, despite her apparent fear, stood firm in defense of the man with her soft, fluffy body spiking up into dangerous needles!
"W-Who are you?", Basil stammered out in a mix of confusion, fear, caution, and awe while trying to swallow.
The knight removed his ornate helmet and introduced himself, holding it under his arms, "I am Sir Eidolon, head knight of the Dauntless Kingdom, bearing the Chosen Hero title, and I have come to help you."
Having heard this, everything finally caught up to Basil, who passed out in the muck.
xXx
Later on, when things had settled, the Lizard Men decided that their village, or whatever was left, was unfit for them to live or even attempt to rebuild after all the damage the Bullywugs and Froghemoth did during the battle. So, for now, they accompanied Basil and the rest of his crew back to Ash End. Though they were all tense along the way, in fact, every monster was, since Sir Eidolon also decided to accompany them with the monsters, giving him and his horse an extensive berth.
Meanwhile, Basil was lying on the back of Gossamer, resting his head in Bow's lap as he rode side-saddle on the unicorn. He almost looked like he was sleeping but with a stressed expression on his face. Marigold noticed this, and trying to distract herself from her biting jealousy, she inquired something from the boy playing with the man's shoulder-length hair.
"Is Basil sleeping?", she asked the boy.
Without looking up or appearing to hear her at first, Bow answered right away and explained, "He's just done on all three fronts."
"I'm sorry, what?", the woman prompted him again.
"He's exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. He'll recover; just needs rest.", he explained in more detail while finally figuring out how to make a braid.
Suddenly, the man began to stir and groggily opened his strained eyes. As they started to adjust to the light and shadow, he saw a figure standing above him where he mindlessly said, "Marigold? When did you cut your hair? I liked it long."
"It's always been short.", Bow said in his normal male voice as his image finally cleared up before his eyes.
Basil's eyes shot open, and he shot up into a sitting position as he yelled, "GAH! BOW! Geeze, you scared me!", the man then looked at his surroundings and asked in a feverish tone, "What's happening? Where are we? Is the Froghemoth gone!"
Riding beside him, Marigold grabbed his hand and assured him, "Easy, Basil, easy! Everything is fine…mostly. We lost nearly all the Lizard Men in the fight and only have about two dozen left. We lost five Bugbears, and everyone else had varying injuries. And No! You are not healing anyone! You've done enough."
Basil looked highly disappointed at what she said in the last part--especially seeing her with so many injuries on her face. But seeing her severe and stern expression, he conceded to her demands. Looking around, he noticed that many, if not all, the Lizard Men and Bugbears took significant injuries in the battle. Myeon had some scrapes and missing patches of hair. Hagson looked worn out. Teto was sleeping peacefully on one of the Bugbears. In contrast, Gossamer looked as pristine and perfect as he always had, which was odd.
Then he looked over and saw the grand-looking Knight riding upon his equally grand steed. Looking back at Marigold, he asked her, "Soooooo, who's the flaming homosexual in the tin can?"
Hearing this, Hagson burst into a fit of laughter so loud that not only did he almost fall off Broomy, but it woke up the sleeping Teto! Gossamer rolled his eyes at the hag, and Bow looked confused. Meanwhile, the Lizard Men and Bugbears stared at the male witch in confusion.
Marigold did her best not to laugh and ended up snorting really hard before answering, "That would be sir Eidolon. Knight of the no-one-really-cares. He's the one who killed that last Froghemoth and took out the rest of the Bullywugs."
Basil looked back at the knight and stared at him for a long, long time. Every time the knight would look at him, he would quickly look away, and just under his helmet, where his eyes were exposed, he saw anxiety in them, almost like someone with severe social anxiety. But this was only the start of odd things the seemingly stoic knight would do. He gripped the extra length of the horse's reins too tight; his body would tremble when being looked at, and the condensation around the face grate meant he was breathing hard or quickly.
"He doesn't look so…Knightley.", Basil vaguely observed in his mind. "Anyway, I think I remember him saying he was the chosen something or other?", he asked his more knowledgeable friend.
"Inheritor of the True Hero title.", Marigold corrected him.
Now looking confused, Basil groaned, "Okay, what's the True Hero title, and what's a Title?"
"A title is something given to someone upon doing something outstanding. The gods seem to give these out to anyone. However, some are more rare than others. But the True Hero title is passed down. There is and always will be one True Hero.", Marigold explained to him.
This made Basil think for a minute. Did he miss the "Title" section of his Stat Window? Did he have that section? Did he have a title? How do you get one, and what does it grant you, if anything? So he pulled up his Stat Block and searched for the Title section. And, low and behold, he did find it amongst all his other things, and not only that, he already had a few of them. They were described as follows:
Beloved Person: gains twice the amount of reputation with people, making selling more expensive things much easier.
Novice Farmer: Decrease in Stamina while performing any Farming action and a 5% increase in plant growth and produce quality.
Swamp Treder: able to easily move through any and all kinds of wetlands.
Frog Slayer: 50% damage increase on any frogs.
They, indeed, weren't the best Titles to have, but something was better than nothing. Though he really wondered what in the world he was going to do with the last one! He had no interest in fighting any Bullywugs, Froghemoths, or any frog-like creatures in any foreseeable future of his! Then he briefly wondered what kind of other Titles and Skills someone like Eidolon also had under his belt. So he decided to take a peek with Appraisal, just to know for sure, especially with how all the monsters were treating him.
Then, he suddenly got whiplash so hard that he was nearly knocked off Gossamer! Luckily, the Unicorn adjusted himself, preventing the man from falling off. Once his mind rebooted itself from the massive influx of information it was bombarded with; he realized that this Eidolon guy was on a completely different level from anything he had seen before.
Before he could think on this any further, Marigold suddenly said out of the blue, "Though mostly it goes to Golden Bloods, which I think he is."
"Marigoooooooold!", Basil complained like a cranky child.
Marigold should've expected that Basil didn't know what that was. He didn't know much about the wider world, even the most common knowledge. She should be annoyed with him, but knowing all the stress and shit they all just went through, this was the least she could do to put his mind at ease.
"A Golden Blood is like a Chosen Touched…kinda.", she vaguely explained, making Basil look like his confusion would cause him tears, so she quickly explained in more detail, "It's said that they are related to the gods or blessed by them? No one knows. Anyway, they always come from sources of true legendary potential or power. Great Kings, Arch Mages, Legendary Warriors, you name it. Chosen Touched, on the other hand, don't have that.", Basil cocked his head to the side at this lackluster explanation and told him, "What I mean is, they just sorta…appear out of nowhere. No background, no family, no ties, no nothing. Just…poof!"
"Is that right?", Basil responded, trying not to look suspicious himself.
xXx
After another hour of travel, the remaining army managed to make their way back into the Mid Lands and back at the border of Ash End. Their journey was finally done, with many of the monsters dropping their weapons or to the ground in pure exhaustion, and no one was more excited about this than Basil. Sliding off Gossamer to run over to the giant welcome archway leading to the town's entrance, he hugged the structure like an old friend.
"Ah, Ash End! Finally! Oh, how I've missed you! I can't wait to get back home so I can drown myself in the bath and die in my bed!", He exclaimed while getting up with a longing starry-eyed look on his face.
Then Marigold approached him, tapped his shoulder, motioned with her eyes, and inquired, "Um, Basil? Aren't you forgetting something?"
Looking over to where she was trying to make him, he saw the remaining Lizard Men looking at the two of them like lost children. So he asked them without trying to sound rude, "Uh, what are you guys still doing here?"
The Shaman approached and told the man, "We have no place to go. The village is destroyed beyond salvaging."
Pulling him aside and whispering, Marigold asked with a pitiful tone, "Oh Basil, what are we gonna do? We can't just send them off. It's cruel."
"You could let sir Eidolon kill them, and those smelly Bugbears.", the squire of Eidolon offered, somehow popping up in their very private conversation.
Only to receive a very, very hard strike on the head from a rolling pin! As the small man ran away, the townsfolk took notice of the decently sized monster army standing in front of their settlement, only to be relieved when they saw Basil standing there only for the same relief to turn into shock when they saw him strike a man with a glowing rolling pin!
"Any other bright ideas from the peanut gallery?", Basil asks the crowd after seeing them appear. After many headshakes, he continues to say to the Shaman, "No? Well, I have an idea. Hey Shaman, you guys are strong, right?"
The Shaman quickly nods his head and confirms, "Indeed, my lord! And I know some magic!"
Basil claps his hands in delight and tells them, "Perfect! Then, I have a solution. There's a patch of swampland on my property. You guys are more than welcome to take whatever resources and rebuild your civilization from the ground up."
All the Lizard Men looked on in shock and joy as the Shaman asked to be sure, "Really?"
Basil nods but quickly adds, "But. I expect you all to work for me. Use your strength to build and carry things."
The Lizard Men all quickly agreed to these terms, and the Shaman, speaking on behalf of the survivors, answered, "Of course, my lord! Anything for such generosity!"
Realizing that he had been calling the Lizard Men by the species name or their apparent title, Basil inquired, "By the way, do you guys have names?", seeing them all look somewhat downtrodden by the question, Basil figured that they, too were just a bunch of nameless monsters. He blew out a stressed raspberry and asked, "Ho boy, what am I gonna do?"
"Killing the vermin is still an option.", the squire once again popped out of nowhere and put forth his unwanted input.
This, once again, gained him not one but many strikes on the head from a magic rolling pin until his head was full of lumps and unconscious. Dragging the unconscious man by his collar and depositing him at the feet of the knight, Basil told him in no uncertain terms, "Elliot, please keep your squire quiet and opinions out of things that don't concern him."
Eidolon looked down at his squire before uncomfortably replying, "That's not my name."
"Well, that's what I'm gonna call you.", Basil told him in a voice without any room for disagreement. Eidolon was going to attempt to argue, but the man cut him off and stated, "Now listen, I've just been through a whole lot in one day! Too much, in fact! So if one more thing pops up out of nowhere, I'm gonna-.", as he said this, Eidolon could see the sheer exhaustion and primal anger just barely stewing behind his eyes. If he said just one more thing, Basil would go feral or pass out from being overwhelmed, and Eidolon wasn't too keen on finding out which.
But before the man could continue with his rant, a loud voice bellowed from the center of town, yelling in demand, "Where is he!"
Feeling the wind blow hard against the ground, everyone looked to the sky to see the shadow of a dragon flying overhead! It landed on a particularly tall building where it was shown to be a very familiar and unwelcome face.
"Anaya the Black!", Hagson yelled in fear and shock.
"She's back!", Marigold exclaimed while taking out her sword., looking ready for a new fight.
"Where are my sugar confectioneries!", Anaya demanded boomingly; her voice sounded like a bubbling pool mixed with death.
"Was that today?" Basil questions himself while sweating, smiling, and with fire in his eyes, simultaneously feeling so many conflicting emotions.
Seeing what was happening to her friend, Marigold grabbed his shoulder and assured him, "Don't break down yet, Basil. After all, we have sir Eidolon here too….", as she said this, she turned to where the man should be standing, but trailed off when she saw nothing. Looking around, she called, "Sir Eidolon? Sir Eidolon? Sir Eidolon!"
Gossamer sniffed at the ground and used a spell to illuminate the man's footprints, where he observed, "He ran away."
"So much for Dauntless.", Hagson says in an exasperated tone.
Just then, Basil quickly pulled away from Marigold and whistled for Broomy. He hopped on the broom and flew toward the dragon, where the woman called out, "Basil?!"
Upon Broomy, Basil raced off to the dragon with a look of determination on his face mixed with something else. Something…scary. Zipping across the town, he finally reached where the dragon was perched upon the mayor's house and continued her bellowing!
Upon seeing him flying to her, Anaya moved her ire to the man as she yelled, "There you are, worm! Where are my promised-!"
"SHUT UP!", Basil suddenly yelled into the dragon's face, grabbing at her bony nostrils and cutting off her self-proud boasting!
This and this cat alone was something that not only instantly shut up the dragon but also caused a dead silence to strike the entire town as they watched the young man face off against the gobstruck dragon! They all expected the shocked dragon to stay shocked for a moment longer until she switched to anger and promptly melted him alive! But she never got the chance as the man continued his angry assault.
"Now you listen to me, you overgrown flying, skeletal slug! I just had to trek into the swamps again! Fight an army of frog creatures! Fight not one but three giant monster frogs! I nearly died several times, almost had a stroke, and got slimed on by one of the frog monsters after I blew it up! So if I must deal with one more bullshit from anyone or thing, then I'm going to fight god or die trying! And are you a god? ARE YOU!?", he demanded of the beasts in a yell, holding both of her bony nostrils tightly.
Anaya dared not to breathe from her nose as she replied with hidden nervousness, "N-No."
"Then shut up before I cut your heart out with a wooden spoon!", he threatened while looking dead into her eyes and manifesting a magic spoon. A sight that shockingly did keep the Ancient dragon completely silent.
As she stayed utterly silent, Basil asked the dragon, "Do you have a Magic Pocket?", without a word, she quickly nodded, and Basil told her, "Then take your sweets and get out before I really lose it and fight you tooth and nail!"
Then Basil opened his Magic pocket above her own, and all the sweets he had been making for over two weeks fell into it. But just before they awkwardly parted ways, Basil held tightly to her nose bone and told her in no uncertain terms, "And one more thing. I'll make you five hundred pounds of sweets every month and only that amount!"
Shocked by this demand, Anaya pulled away, made an insulted expression, and claimed, "Only five hundred! What do I look like to you, an ogre?"
"Is that a problem?", Basil asked dangerously.
"No.", she quickly replied.
"Then leave.", he said while pointing out into the distance.
Without another word, the dragon scooted away from him, turned around, spread her wings, and took off into the air. Once she was far out of sight, Basil flew back down to his group, where they, along with the whole town, all stared at him with differing expressions of shock, horror, and amazement! None of them could or would say anything for a long while, as they had no idea what to say in the situation.
That is until Marigold managed to blabber out, "Basil…holy….you just…I just…how did…wha…", after shaking her senses back, she exclaimed, "WHAT?! You just stood off against an Ancient Dragon and made it listen to you."
Basil, who still looked on the edge of everything with red eyes and a tired yet fractured expression, calmly regarded the woman as he asked, "Thank you, Marigold, but I'd like to be informed about our True Hero friend."
So, with Gossamer's tracker magic still very active and showing the vanished man's footprints, they all followed them to see where the grande hero had run off. After no amount of time tracking him, they came upon a usually large trash can with all its content spilled outside of it despite looking empty and the lid closed.
Quickly putting the pieces together, Basil marched up to the trash, pulled the lid off, and exclaimed, "You!"
"GAH!", screamed Sir Eidolon as the can fell over in his panic, and he tried to run away again.
Only to be quickly snagged by plant vines magically summoned by Basil, who chastised him, "Don't you run away from us! What the heck was that back there!"
After being pulled back and held up by his armor from the furious man, he could only blabber out, "I, um, I, um, I, um!"
"I, um, I, um! Stop spiraling and get talking! You're the True Hero of the World, the Dauntless Knight, and whatever! Isn't it your job to slay dragons like that!", Basil mocked the man while shaking him violently.
"I-I-I-I CAAAAAAAAAN'T!", Eidolon began to ball like a baby.
Basil looked ready to bust a gasket in his head as he yelled at him in the highest voice he ever had till that day, "What?! Start making sense!"
Before Basil could divulge any further, Marigold pulled him away and off the young man as she expressed to him, "Basil! You gotta handle stuff like this like a lady. Ahem.", just as she put on an air of class and dignity, she devolved into a childish state where she yelled at him, "Elliot you big fat dumb poopy head! Why are you so useless?! You didn't kill that dragon when it was right there! What's wrong with you?!"
"I'm not a big dumb poopy head! Don't yell at me!", Eidolon continued to cry like a child.
Basil pulled at his hair in frustration at things taking this turn as they divulged into childish tampers, crying, and name-calling. Before he could add more fuel to the fire, Bow approached him, grabbed his head, and forced it into Gossamer's huge body. The man stood there with a face full of unicorns, but eventually, his nerves finally calmed down as he immersed himself in the creature's velvet-like fur with a usually sticky, sweet aroma. After getting his stress out and gripping at the soft texture of the coat and mane, he pulled away with a much clearer conscience.
After silently thanking Bow, he went over and pulled Marigold away, where Bow grabbed her and repeated the process while the much calmer Basil took action. He kneeled down to the man who was crying into his knees and asked him, in a much more relaxed tone, "Okay, Elliot, what's really going on here? You show up and annihilate a Froghemoth in one shot, then no dif the remaining Bullywugs. You have this air of strength, power, and superiority that even other monsters fear, but you run when you face off against Anaya."
After the man sobbed a bit more and calmed down enough to speak, he told Basil, "It's not as easy to understand as you think."
Basil put his hands on his hips suspiciously and replied, "Try me."
After a bit more avoidance from the man, he finally admitted with a tear-stained face, "I-I-I-I….Im a loser.", Basil said nothing in reply, allowing him to sob again and get it all out of himself before talking more. And when Hagson tried to say something smart, Ball tackled him. "I never wanted the True Hero Title. My late brother originally held it. I immediately inherited it when he left this world and was thrust into rigorous training. I'm not an actual hero! I'm just some guy who got an important title with a lot of responsibility and skills behind it. I have no social skills; I don't know how to handle people. Normally, I just come in, kill the thing, and leave before I have to talk to anyone!", Eidolon finally explained in full, looking into his knees while hugging them.
Bow, who was now mindlessly growing flower seeds in his hands before weaving them through the young man's hair, casually asked him, "But you should have the power to kill a dragon. And the kingdom should've trained you for it."
Now, this was something that everyone was wondering.
Somehow, Eidolon became a lot calmer and told everyone, "Just because I have it doesn't mean I know how to use it. And training is nothing compared to the real thing.", he looked down in shame as she admitted with an apology, "The kingdom sent me here even though I didn't want to. I can't help with your dragon problem. I'm sorry."
Basil wiped his hands over his face while trying his best to repress a sigh. The help that they so desperately needed just turned out to be useless. And he just remade the deal with the dragon in that face-off they just had. What was he going to do?.... Then he realized he faced off with the dragon, an Ancient Dragon. Won and barely got away with dyeing. He yelled at a dragon…and got away with it. After coming to terms with this, he passed out in the nearby trash.