It was about a half hour after the fire died down and the debilitated house I was staying in returned to pitch darkness.
It felt like I just barely closed my eyes when I heard it.
A low reverberating sound that bounced off the cobblestone stone walls. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was in my tired state but after it happened a second time I jumped out of my chair.
A croak. I was sure of it. Thankfully the perk of staying in a run-down house was that there were holes in almost every wall, so I crouched low and began checking all around me.
The results? I was surrounded and it was only a matter of time before the amphibians stumbled upon my location.
From what I could see at least thirty or forty Bullywugs were stalking around the decrepit spawn camp. I ponder if the mini boss's death summoned them or if something else alerted them to this ruin. However, it might just be bad luck.
The fact remained that my options were limited. I haven't had a chance to figure out a way around their psychic croaks and I knew I wasn't stealthy enough to avoid them if I wanted to cut and run. But I didn't, I planned to challenge the ogre at least a few more times.
A foolish decision in all honesty. But what could I do? No matter where I run there would surely be more bullywug's, this damn swamp was infested by them.
It wasn't like I could just walk out and begin fighting them either. Even without their dangerous vocal attack, I doubted if I could handle more than five at once and that would be with relying heavily on the 'Wrymling Gauntlet'.
So I decided to make a trap.
I stalked to the outside of the house grabbed ten large logs of wood and hatched a rather lackluster plan.
Something did go in my favor though, out of the forty there were about eighteen groups of two searching around possibly looking for me.
But there were a few stragglers.
A few minutes later the Bullywug's corpse now sat atop the wooden logs. I make a few delicate slices to make the monster bleed as much as possible, hoping the smell lures at least a few others to investigate.
I hid behind a half-destroyed wall and waited.
It wasn't more than a few minutes later before a crowd surrounded their fallen comrade, low croaks of what I could guess was mourning reached my ears as my palm pointed forward.
'Fireball' a few saw it before it impacted the primitive mine. The ball of fire hit with a destructive force, lighting around half of them before the rest followed suit. A bolt flew in to take out one of the few unaffected before I charged in.
There were only two that were unaffected by the explosion, I threw the spear with a marked improvement as It stabbed one of the frogs through the chest and anchored it to the ground. Using the momentum from the throw I drew the Burned Schimitar and resheathed it into the neck of the last standing amphibian.
Around twenty wisps of essence entered my chest as I picked up my spear and ran like hell. A few confused croaks entered my ears as I knew it was only a matter of time before I was surrounded.
Luckily I made it back to my base as from here I could watch the remainder of my enemies checking out the disturbance.
They wouldn't find anything to help them figure out my location, that entire altercation barely lasted half a minute, surely I was safe to continue to whittle down the rest of the frogs that had surrounded me.
Luck wasn't on my side this time.
I dropped to my knee immediately as what remained of the amphibian force began croaking in a horrid mind-chattering rhythm. I never considered what would happen if they all croaked at once and now I was paying for it.
I realized then how small I was in this giant tower, I was nothing but a magot that managed to break away a small piece of power. A group of bipedal frogs could take me down at any point.
I couldn't think, I wasn't even sure I was breathing. Almost as if my brain was having a seizure inside of my skull that became even more infuriating due to the fact that their was nothing I could due to stop it.
"B…Breathee…" I said as I began convulsing on my back with my hands held against my ears in a vain attempt to reduce the torture I was receiving. Before my brain literally came out of my orifices the croaking stopped.
They were living creatures they had to stop to breathe.
I began crawling to the only place that could offer me a minor reprieve, the damnable cellar. I made it about halfway before the croaking resumed. It lasted just as long as the last attack but this time I felt blood running down my face.
Two lines of blood fell from my eyes in conjunction with both of my nostrils. I knew that if I didn't make it to the cellar door this time I would most likely pass out from the pain and possibly die.
I continued forward, dragging my useless legs along, and just as my palm touched the door the croaking continued anew.
With a guttural roar, I managed to fling the door open and roll into it, uncaring of the fifteen-foot drop that awaited my prone body Crashing against the stone floor with a pained grimace but as the cellar door slammed shut and the blue ethereal runes began to glow the sound that reverberated in my brain cavity finally abated.
It would've been even nicer if I didn't land on my head, thankfully I didn't hear any snapping sounds but I surely felt a puddle of warm liquid on the back of my neck.
As my vision began to darken I managed to rip a leg of my sweatpants off and haphazardly wrap around the most painful part of my skull.
I didn't even notice passing out a few moments later.
Even if I manage to survive my head being split open I'll have to fight for my life immediately after against a nine-foot-tall ogre. I began doubting if whatever I gained from this hellish tower would ever be worth the trauma and pain I was destined to go through.