Lewd skill in a filthy world

Alongside Yuki and Ayaka, Shin moved through the dark dungeon. Ayaka, now able to trigger her True Sight Domain almost at will suddenly stiffened.

"They're just up ahead," she murmured. "About fourteen thousand Frog Fiends. Less than five hundred are old ones… the rest are hungry babies. But they're strong. And vicious."

Shin arched a brow. "Fourteen thousand? How's that even biologically possible? The Ant Beasts I fought numbered under a thousand, and ants usually reproduce faster than frogs. So why the hell—"

"It's their hatching season, Master!" Yuki cut in. "Their eggs must've hatched recently… and these bastards are born hungry for flesh. Unlike real frogs where most eggs never make it, these survive together in the swamp. One wrong move, and they'll snare you with their tongues and rip chunks of meat right off your body!"

Rip chunks of meat? Shin mused. Don't most frogs just swallow their food whole?

But this wasn't the world he once knew. Here, the impossible had no meaning. Which meant winning against the Tsukuma wasn't impossible either… if they planned well enough.

The air grew damp. Splashes echoed through the darkness, wet, sloppy noises accompanied by chewing and guttural croaks. The swamp was close.

Shin's eyes narrowed. "Alright… Ayaka, keep your distance but watch for our blind spots. We'll rely on you."

She nodded firmly.

"And Yuki…" Shin grinned, gripping his weapon. "Let's paint this swamp red."

He had lost his daggers to the Titanomyrma Beasts. Now, the only weapon left was the gun slung over his shoulder.

"Frog Fiends or not, they're still just pathetic frogs. They rely on their skin to breathe underwater. Burn through that, and we'll have the upper hand. You're perfect for the job, Yuki—you're fire itself."

"Yeah, except my MP's barely full and they're in a swamp. Fire fizzles in water, remember?" Yuki shot back.

Shin smirked. "Sometimes you don't need to overthink. Trust yourself. Trust your comrades. And charge straight in."

"…Yes, Master." she responded wigh a nod, bit it was small, almost mechanical.

Was she… afraid? The proud Yuki he'd met before would have smirked at the challenge. Now she wouldn't even meet his eyes. Could it be because she had been trapped in this dungeon for a long time unable to defeat the tsukuma, now she had almost given up on herself?

They slipped forward until shadows ahead of them took forms of hulking shapes squatting in the shallows, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Some squatted low, bellies dragging through black water. Others crouched, their muscles coiled, jagged teeth flashing when they croaked. Long, glistening tongues twitched, tasting the air.

Ayaka crouched. "I'll be your eyes, Oni-chan. Good luck."

"You got it." Shin broke into a run with no plan, just bait. The air shifted, and the fiends snapped toward him, lashing out thier tongues. Shin batted one aside with his gun barrel, his boots splashing into knee-deep muck.

"Yuki!" he barked.

"On it!" She conjured a bow from flame, the string humming with heat. An arrow flared into being, and she loosed it, hissing through the air toward a whipping tongue. It missed, and vanished into the swamp with a sputter.

"Damn it…" Her hands trembled as she drew another arrow, then hesitated. Shin was right in front of her, tangling with the fiends. She had already used her Demonic Surge skill several times, and while its power was undeniable, it always came at a price.

Every activation stripped away a piece of her humanity, chipping at her confidence. And each time, a sinister voice would whisper in the depths of her mind, urging her to give in and embrace her demonic side.

She remembered the vampire Ayaka had fought last time. He hadn't been so different from her. If she surrendered to this cursed, race-bound skill, she could lose herself completely… and when that happened, she might turn on her master and everyone she had come to care for.

A frog charged at Shin, gaping its mouth wide. He rammed the gun barrel into its skull, driving until its bone cracked and brain matter burst out the back.

[Soul Harvest Working in Background.]

[+30 MP]

[+Elastic Leap – Perform extreme jumps, both horizontal and vertical (0.002%)]

[+Amphibious Lungs – Breathe underwater like a frog (0.002%)]

He grinned. Not bad, but he'd need more kills for those traits to count.

He made a clone and sent it into the swamp. A cluster of fiends caught it with their tongues, and Shin grabbed its arm, pulling hard while they tugged back.

"Their heads are out! Yuki—shoot!"

But she froze again.

"It's okay! You won't hit me! And even if you did, you think your little arrows can kill me? Come on — you know who I am."

Her heart pounded.

"But if you don't shoot… they'll eat me alive. Is that what you want?"

Ayaka's shout cut in. "Oni-chan! Your legs!"

Shin looked down. A frog surged from below and clamped onto his ankle, its teeth ripping through his flesh. Pain lit his nerves on fire. He roared with a loud scream.

Yuki's eyes went wide and the arrow was loosed before she realized she'd drawn it. It skewered the frog's skull, missing Shin's legs by inches. Steam hissed from the wound as its corpse slipped under.

"Keep it up!" Shin shouted, abandoning the clone. The frogs tore into it, distracted, and Shin dove in with his gun, stabbing down into tbeir soft, slick flesh. Their skulls cracked under his assaults, their skin split. Yuki began shooting, though she was hesitating, shaking and missing, some of her arrows were hitting more often.

With each kill, Shin's harvest grew, his body moving faster, leaping farther, and fighting like the very fiends he was butchering. Using only his gun, stabbing into them like a spear fisherman.

But then he noticed that these were mostly older fiends.

From the swamp's center, bubbles began to rise.

"Onii-chan!" Ayaka cried. "A whole swarm of young ones is coming up from the deep!"

Shin skewered the last of the elders, then sprang onto a floating corpse, launching himself high. He hit the wall and clung to it, hands and feet sticking unnaturally.

"Well… looks like I'm turning into a frog," he muttered, a grin tugging at his lips. "Hope I don't start croaking."

"Alright… let's see what the little ones have got."

TBC