99-a foot-dragger






Tinya, any sign of the others?
No! It's only one!
Well, that's a relief, Yol, Cu.
Hurray!
Aah!

 Stone skin frog.
 The skin on its back and head looks like stone, or rather, it's half petrified.
 It has a habit of waiting for its prey to approach, using its appearance as a special skill of mimicry.

 Because of its near-perfect ability to mask its presence, even Etan and Paula were unable to detect it when they first encountered it, and there was an incident in which Yoru and Kuu, who were playing with a stone as a foothold, accidentally jumped on it and were both blown away.

 Because of its stony skin, it has high physical defense, and its petrified tongue has a wide range of attacks, making it extremely troublesome.
 In a sense, it is like a sturdy fortress equipped with a cannon that can fire quickly.
 Moreover, even if the tongue is out of reach--

"Noemi, lower the slime!

 With a sharp voice, Paula's whip snaps and knocks away the tongue of the stone-faced frog, which shoots out again at high speed.
 Paula immediately jumped back at the sight of the snarling creature.

 The next moment, a sharp stone pillar suddenly shot up from the ground.
 The protrusion appeared in the place where Paula had been just a moment before, and as soon as it reached my waist level, it broke apart and collapsed.
 This is another of the frog's specialties, the stone spine.

 This spell, which creates stone spikes at any location, is deadly to slimes that are vulnerable to stabbing attacks.
 Noemi, who stepped forward in place of the red slime, wielded her whip as Paula did, and came to the aid of Yoru and Kuu.
 Tinya, who had somehow gotten behind the frog, also slashed hard with her black blade.

 The two magicians used their whips and charms to draw the stone skin frog's attack, while Yoru and the others attacked from above, to the sides, and from behind.
 It was a well-coordinated division of roles.

 It seems that even the demons protected by the sturdy stone skin could not withstand the beating.
 Kuu's jumping kick finally caused a crack in the stone skin, and when the knife was twisted into the crack, blood spurted out at once.
 Then, it was like cracking an eggshell.  

"Kachidoki!
Koo!
Nya!

 Yoru, Kuu, and Tinya shouted in triumph.
 The two demon race beauties who were behind the victory also looked at each other and smiled quietly.

 Yes, I think the new team will be fine.
 With a sense of relief, they collected the items from the frog's carcass.

"Hey, what did you get?
"Frog meat and the tip of its tongue.
"Yes! Meat is good!
Feast!
Yuck!

 The tip of the frog's tongue is also a secretly tasty ingredient for a defense-enhancing potion.


 The problem is that they are very hard to find.

 There's also the option of having the skeletons hit every stone in the room, but that takes a lot of time, and sometimes only one skeleton will respond if there are more than two.
 It may be that the information that skeletons are not living creatures is transmitted to the entire group.
 In this respect, Tinya's is a very useful skill.

"Okay, let's have her find the other one.
"Hey. Did you call me?
"Yeah, now watch the passage.
All right!

 The girl with the cat ears went to the next passage, but when she looked into the dark passage, she backed away, shaking the tips of her ears.

"Hey, there's something in there!
Oh, I knew you were here.
...... You're really handy, you know that?
You're too slow to notice, Noemi. You should take better care of this amazing house.
Now, can you lure me out for a minute?
"No! You're not listening to me at all!
With your quickness, you should be able to go and come out of there ...... in a flash.
"Yow! I'm sure you'll be able to find something that works for you.

 I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this, but I'm going to have to.
 I'm sure you'll be able to understand why.

It would ruin Miss Tinya's reputation if she let a scared little thing do it. Leave this to me!
I'm sorry!
"Aah!

 The scout girl, cheered on by the two animals, proudly lifted the white lightstone lantern.
 And after gulping down her spit, she stepped into the darkness.

"Hey, there's something out there, but I'm not sure where it is. ......

 Tinya continued to walk down the passage with careful steps.
 Suddenly, the tip of her ear quivered.
 At the same time, she jumped backward several meters at once.

"Nya, nya, nya! I touched something on my leg!

 The girl shouts and raises her lantern forward.
 What emerged in the light was someone's hand sticking out of the ground in the passage.