Dark Dragon: The Summoned Hero Is A Villain

Cracks split through its skin as the monster thrashed, shrieking in rage.

"Noah! Galahad!" Arlo roared. "Fire spells to its head!"

Noah and Galahad sprang into action.

They raised their hands, the spell formations blooming to life on their palms.

But the toad reacted first, firing its tongue like a bolt of flesh and acid.

It streaked toward Leo, who was still kneeling, drained from the freezing spell.

Cal roared, slamming his smoking shield up just in time.

Bang!

The tongue bounced off with a wet thud, steam hissing from the contact point. Cal winced but held firm. They'd finally shook off the disorienting effect.

A roar filled the air as Bronn charged forward and swung his shield like a bludgeon.

Crack!

The metal edge slammed into the toad's head, forcing it sideways. It shrieked, dazed, one eye blinking rapidly.

"Now!" Arlo barked.

Noah let fly his Fireball spell, one after another.

The red-hot orbs slammed into the toad's face, bursting against its mottled skin. Each one left smoldering scorch marks, searing through the slime coating.

Beside him, Galahad fired his strongest fire spell, a concentrated jet of fire that carved glowing lines into the beast's flesh.

But the toad refused to die. The spells were just not strong enough to pierce its skin.

It bucked wildly, croaking in pain, its eye now bloodshot and steaming.

Galahad hissed through his teeth. "Why isn't it dying? These are fire spells! It's supposed to be weak to—"

Pop!

The toad's left eye exploded from the heat, spraying pus and blood across the stone.

Then the tongue lashed out again, a blurred strike aimed directly at Noah's head.

"Move!" Arlo shouted.

Noah dove aside, the tongue slicing through the air where he'd been standing.

Crack!

The ice shell finally shattered.

The toad surged up, limbs breaking free of the last shards.

Arlo didn't hesitate.

He raised his bow and released the arrow.

It streaked through the air, glowing faintly with mana.

An instant later, the arrow plunged into the monster's ruined eye socket with a sickening squelch.

The toad gave one last, trembling shriek.

Then collapsed, dead.

Everyone stood in silence, panting as they stared at the dead toad with wide eyes.

Then Galahad snapped.

"What the hell was that!?" He roared, turning on Leo with rage burning in his eyes. "That was a D-rank Acid Toad! You said this was an E-rank monolith!"

Leo spun around, face flushed with equal anger. "And it is supposed to be! What, you think I handpicked the monsters in the monolith myself?"

Galahad stepped forward. "You're the one who set this whole thing up! You bribed your contacts. You got us in here. You were supposed to know what we'd be facing!"

"I paid them to let us in, not to give me a full damn monster catalogue!" Leo barked back. "Monoliths change. Sometimes monsters drift in! Don't act like I could've predicted this!"

"You should've checked!"

"With what!? Magic binoculars?!"

The two stood nose to nose, voices echoing through the tunnels.

Bronn and Cal looked ready to intervene, muscles tense, but Arlo raised a hand first.

"Enough." Arlo said calmly, though his voice was heard loud and clear by all, drawing their attention to himself. "We were able to kill a D-rank Toad. I think we should focus more on that than fighting among ourselves."

"Besides, the Toad was barely D-rank. It hasn't fully advanced yet. If it had, our spells would've had no effect at all."

Galahad glared at Leo a moment longer before huffing and turning away, pacing.

Arlo continued, wiping a thin trail of blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "We harvest what we can, then check what we've got left. If another one of those shows up, we're in trouble."

Leo exhaled sharply, turning his attention to the toad's steaming corpse.

"My mana's at half capacity." He admitted, eyes narrowing. "Holding it down took more out of me than I expected. The bastard was almost two full ranks above me."

Galahad crossed his arms, still fuming. "I used a third. Could've used less if it wasn't so resistant."

Noah remained quiet, saying nothing. He hadn't even made a dent in his mana capacity. Fireball was an F-rank spell. He could keep casting it for a long time to drain his S-rank mana capacity.

He sighed before glancing at Arlo, then frowned.

Blood trickled slowly from Arlo's nostril again.

His friend wiped it casually, as if it were nothing more than a sneeze, but Noah didn't miss the tiredness in his eyes, and the slight sway in his posture.

"Arlo…" He started.

Arlo caught the look and gave a small smile, waving it off. "It's fine. It was necessary."

Noah didn't believe he was fine, but he let it go. For now.

They got to work, approaching the Acid Toad's carcass with cautious steps.

The creature's body was still steaming, the acidic slime sizzling where it pooled around its corpse.

Bronn and Cal took positions to guard both ends of the tunnel while Galahad and Leo crouched beside the toad, beginning the delicate process of harvesting.

Even if they'd come close to death, they'd gotten more than they'd expected as a reward.

D-rank resources were more expensive than E-rank resources.

They worked, using their small knives to slice through the parts that weren't too damaged.

The eyes, the sacs beneath the throat, the webbed digits, and patches of skin where the acid hadn't melted through completely.

Arlo knelt to assist them, quieter than usual, still wiping his nose every so often.

Noah stood a few steps back, watching the process, his mind spinning.

'Devour wouldn't work here.'

That was the first thought that surfaced.

His strongest spell, the B-rank spell that he'd fought to keep, was nearly useless at this moment.

Devour ate. It consumed everything, leaving nothing but traces of fading darkness.

If he had used it on the toad, the corpse would've vanished entirely.

All of its resources, all the materials they now needed to salvage for potions, enchantments, and advancement, gone in an instant.

It was the same for Rot, his other weapon. His D-rank spell.

A beam that turns anything weaker than it that it touches into dust. It was powerful, terrifying to some… and completely impractical when something needed to be preserved.

Noah's brows drew together.

This monolith expedition was proving to be more valuable than he expected.

It was showing him his limits. He wasn't versatile. Far from it. He had firepower, yes. But so did a cannon. And just like a cannon, sometimes all it left behind was ruin.

'I need control,' he realized. 'I need spells that allow me to kill without destroying everything.'

Something like Leo's ice.

There were things in the world worth more than obliteration. Resources. Tactics. Allies.

He clenched his fist.

'Next time,' he promised himself. 'Next time, I'll come in prepared. I'll build myself into more than just a monster who devours.'

He stepped forward finally and crouched beside the others, offering to help with what parts remained.

If he couldn't cast a spell to contribute, then he'd use his hands.

He was here to learn. And learn, he would.