MAZE - The Endless Quest 67 A Hunter's Plea

"I honestly don't know. It has been a solid two minutes. She does not even stop to catch her breath. I'm genuinely impressed," Blue answered.

The two were watching Alex scold Leo for a couple of minutes already. Blue turned to Hera and looked for something in her pockets.

"Come here," the controller said.

Hera walked closer to her, "What's up?"

Blue then grabbed a small bottle of water and put some of it on Hera's cheek.

"Ouch."

"Oh, stop complaining. Your face got cut, and we need to clean the wound. This is just soap water," Blue said as she grabbed a small piece of cloth to remove any excess water. With the cut clean, she placed a small bandage on the explorer's cheek.

"Thanks, Blue. I wasn't expecting you to be that worried about cuts," Hera said.

"After the fourth time I had to take antibiotics for not cleaning a wound properly, I learned my lesson. It was so bad that I ended up being hospitalized for a week."

Hera stared at her friend. How bad must have been the infection for her to stay that long in the hospital? It was no wonder she was so cautious about it.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Blue asked

"My hand is a bit numb, but that's all. I guess I was holding the chakram a bit too tightly," Hera said.

Blue nodded and looked towards the frog corpses behind them.

"I guess we could check the frogs. We might get some gold with the parts," Hera said as she turned around.

"Yeah, Alex doesn't seem to be losing steam," Blue said, staring at the a.s.sa.s.sin who was making even broader gestures at the moment.

Hera and Blue walked towards the frogs. Before touching them, they activated the [Inspect] skill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giant Dichromatic Frog

Type: Blue

A type of frog common in the first layer. Know for its rapid reproduction period in less than one month, a female of the species can lay over 200 eggs. In another month, the 200 frogs will already have reached maturity.

The blue variation is known for its tongue strength, being able to pull targets over double its weight with ease.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giant Dichromatic Frog

Type: Green

A type of frog common in the first layer. Know for its rapid reproduction period in less than one month, a female of the species can lay over 200 eggs. In another month, the 200 frogs will already have reached maturity.

The green variation's tongue has anesthetic properties, making whatever it touches numb and sluggish. The toxin is acc.u.mulated at the tip of its tongue before it strikes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, so that's why," Hera exclaimed, staring at her hand.

"Maybe Leo fell because of this, but why it didn't affect me?" Blue asked.

"Well... your kevlar bodysuit is thicker than Leo's clothes. Or maybe your role has something to do with it. Since you can control the battlefield, you might have some resistance to effects that would do the same," Hera said.

"Well, that's true. Anyway, we need legs, eyes, and tongues, right?"

"Yeah, but how are we going to carry it back? Can we make something, or should we carry it by hand?" Hera asked.

"I mean, we are still close to the town, carrying it wouldn't be that bad. I can take the big legs, you and Alex the little ones, and Leo can take the tongues,"

Agreeing with the idea, the two of them started to harvest the parts they needed.

"What do you think we should do with the rest? Just leave it here?" Hera asked while cutting one of the blue frog's legs.

"Yeah, I mean, what else can we do? Give it a burial?"

For the ten minutes or so that they kept working on the blue frogs, Alex was still scolding Leo. When she finally finished, she turned around only to let out a loud yell.

"What the h.e.l.l are you two doing?"

Blue and Hera stared at each other and then to the a.s.sa.s.sin.

"We are just grabbing some parts we can sell. We need money," Blue said.

"But how are you? ... That is sooo grosss," The woman shook her head and looked back.

Hera stared at Blue, they were a bit covered in blood, but it was the frogs, and the inspect said nothing about it being poisonous.

"What's the matter? It's just like cooking a fish," Blue said.

"Yeah, or making a barbecue. Sometimes the meat is a bit b.l.o.o.d.y," Hera chimed in.

Leo took a step back while Alex walked away from the duo.

"I agree with Alex, that is too much. I'm out," the man said.

"Like h.e.l.l you are, we are in this mess because of you. Since Alex is clearly out, you are carrying some legs," Blue said.

Leo wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. He was the one that made this all happen. After half an hour, they managed to grab the six back legs and three of the eyes. The other ones were destroyed during the fight or in the attempt to harvest them.

Since Leo was still a bit numb and they had no way of transporting the materials, the group decided to go back to the city. Alex walked in front of them, aways from the frog bodyparts.

"Ok, now spill it, Leo. What the h.e.l.l was that?" Blue asked.

"I got too excited and jumped in. It was my mistake," he replied.

"Bulls.h.i.+t. Your test was all about observing your prey and finding its weakness. There is no way in h.e.l.l you jumped in because you were excited," Alex yelled from the front.

"Its... nothing," Leo said.

"Leo, look, we like you. You know that, but we need to know if you are going to do something like that. Unless we understand why you did it, we can't say for sure it won't happen again," Hera said.

"It's stupid," Leo replied.

"I sure hope so. You were stupid!" Alex said.

He tried to change the subject a few times, but the three women were adamant. Seeing he had no other choice, he started to talk.

"Look, when we finished the tour, I got a message that the group I want to join will be recruiting new members at the end of the week. The thing is, they only accept applications that have completed at least 10 quests, being 4 of them hunts,"

"Ok, I get it. But why the rush? Do they take a long time to get new applicants or something?" Blue asked.

"Well, a bit. Usually, they recruit people once every six months or so. There have been times where they stopped recruiting for a year," he said.

"Ok, I get that you want to join now, but it's not like everything is over. You can still join them even if it takes a while," Hera said.

"I just don't want to wait. They are a bit strict about being a part of other groups. You can party with others, but you can only be part of their group."

Hera nodded. She understood how it was like to keep waiting for an opportunity better than most.

"I'm not buying it. You are hiding something. Why do you need to be a part of this particular group?" Alex asked.

"My uncle… he helped raise me when I was little. My parents were always working in the museum, and I was angry all the time. When my parents got a grant for a big excavation that would last a few years, my uncle came to live with me. He showed me how to control my anger and to focus it on something else. He is the one that taught me how to use a spear. He was... he is a fighter, and he was a part of the Crimson Coalition, that's the name of the group. Five years ago, he came to the MAZE and disappeared. Apparently, his bracelet is still sending a signal, but it doesn't send the coordinates. I know it's stupid, but I came here to find him," Leo explained.

The three women glanced at each other.

"Alex, can you do me this favor? My hands are full," Blue asked.

"My pleasure," she replied just before smacking Leo in the back of the head.

"What the h.e.l.l was that for?" the man yelled.

"That's from your uncle and from us. You can't find him if you are dead. So tell your friends what is going on," Alex said.

"Yeah! Yarnball can even help with that, but we need to be in the room he was in at least," Hera chimed in.

"I can't ask you guys to go out of your way to help me. This is my aim. I need to do it," Leo said.

"Ok, first of all, do you think you can stop the three of us from going? Second, you didn't ask. We are telling you we will help," Blue said.

Leo tried to tell them not to worry, but the women ignored him. As he talked the three started to discuss the plans for hunting the frogs.

"The good part is that now we know what the different frogs do. The green one has poison on its tongue, and the blue one can pull you back, so basically avoid the tongue," Hera said.

"What do you mean, blue and green frogs? They were the same color, right?" Alex asked.

"Oh c.r.a.p, what color did you see?" Blue asked.

"Well, the color I see it's... well, I guess you call it blue? It looks like a pool, but with less vivid colors. All three frogs were like that."

"Did anyone try to observe them?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, but the names were just Giant Dichromatic Frog on all of them," Blue said.

The group discussed other differences, trying to find something that Alex could use to distinguish them. After some time walking, Hera picked the eyes she had taken from the monsters and showed to Alex. The ones from the blue frog were yellow and snake-like while the eyes from the blue ones were whitish and had some squiggly lines to it. Thankfully, the a.s.sa.s.sin could see those differences.

They figured that out close to the city. A few explorers stared at the group who was carrying six giant frog legs around. Moving straight to the guild, they circled to the back after being instructed by the guards at the entrance. There were a few people in a line waiting to sell the materials, yet none of them was carrying such a big haul.

After around ten minutes, it was finally their turn.

"What do you have?"

A gruff voice rang behind the counter. It was a very short man with a spiky ginger beard. He had a monocle movable monocle in his right eye and a heavy metal gauntlet on his left. Blue stared at the man for a moment before asking.

"Are you a dwarf?"

"Blue!" the rest of the group barked.

The man let out a resounding laugh.

"Yes, I am. Well, half-dwarf on my father's side."

"That is soooo cool. You are the first non-human we saw here," Blue said.

"I doubt it, we run most of the shops here. Most just hide their features not to scare away new customers. Why do you think most uniforms have hats?" the dwarf said.

Hera was a bit surprised, Mr. Greyson told them that the people born inside the MAZE were the origin for fantasy stories. Elfs, dwarfs, gnomes, devils, beastfolk, and many more were a common sight, especially as you went to deeper layers. Just like humans, they could also become explorers or do various jobs. The only issue is that they weren't able to leave the MAZE. Hera didn't expect to meet one so soon.

"Now, stop gawking and show me what you got," the dwarf said.

They placed the frog legs and eyes on the counter and let the man evaluate it. He started with the eyes, making a few notes on a piece of paper. Proceeding to the legs, the man seemed a bit more excited about them.

"This is some nice work, well-done boy," he said, nodding at Leo.

"It wasn't me. It was those two," Leo pointed at Hera and Blue.

"My mistake, most new girls don't have the stomach to do this work. How long did it take?" the dwarf asked.

"Between us two, around half an hour, right?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, we took some time to figure out how to start and if it was safe to do it," Hera replied.

"Not bad, not bad at all. For the haul, I'll give you 88 gold. 40 for the two green legs, 32 for the four blue legs, 14 for the two eyes of the green one, and 2 for the one eye of the blue."

"We'll take it!" Alex cheered.

"I'm never letting you negotiate," Leo said, staring at the a.s.sa.s.sin.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to disa.s.semble these things so well?" the dwarf asked.

"My dad is a butcher. I helped him out at the store sometimes. At first, just as a cas.h.i.+er, but when I got older, I started to help to cut the meat," Blue replied.

"In my great uncle's farm. I spent my summers there and helped take care of the animals, or make meals out of them," Hera said.

Blue and Alex stared at each other.

"Did you know that?" Alex asked.

"I had no idea, but it kind of makes sense, right? Not so much Hera but for Blue," Leo said.

"Hey!" the controller yelled.

"Before you start killing each other here, let me ask. Do you guys have a partner?"