NOVEL WEB Chapter 29: Useless frog summon
"Don't enter the van yet," Vonjo said calmly, lifting his hand in a halting gesture toward Eugene, who had already one foot up the metal step.
His voice wasn't loud, but it held an unmistakable gravity that made Eugene stop mid-motion.
The crimson, scorched air around them was thick with the stench of sulfur and something rotten, like flesh melted into tar.
Shadows wavered in the ruined outskirts of this dimension, a place half-forgotten by sanity and fully owned by madness.
Eugene's brows twitched. "What? Why Sir?"
Vonjo didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stared at the cracked earth, letting out a long breath. Slowly, deliberately, he brought his hand to his mouth.
Without hesitation, he bit deep into his own finger. Blood welled up, thick, blackish-red like melted garnet, running down his knuckle in slow rivulets. He let a fat drop fall from his fingertip.
As soon as it struck the ground, the earth sizzled.
"Well, I learned a summoning technique recently, and I wanted to see how strong the demonic creature I would summon is," Vonjo said flatly, without caring.
Eugene was speechless.
Suddenly, a deep tremor rippled through the area. The cracked stones underfoot glowed with sudden veins of blistering crimson light.
They spread like wildfire, forming an intricate pattern that pulsed with malevolent hunger.
The summoning circle wasn't like any normal infernal array Eugene had seen in system codexes or textbooks. It twisted with jagged arcs and malformed symbols that danced like they were alive, screaming as they carved themselves into existence.
The very air vibrated with chanting, though no mouth had uttered a word yet.
And then—Vonjo began.
His voice, low and guttural, poured out like smoke from a ruptured crypt.
"Zorth'hanah... Vekul'ra... Ein'nakh... shor vas y'dell…"
With each word he spoke, the demonic circle grew more vivid, bleeding shades of abyssal violet and red across the charred dirt. A foul wind rushed inward, sucking the heat and light toward the epicenter. Flames that burned low around the van turned blue, then black, snuffed out like candles under a god's breath.
The bullet comments exploded.
[xX_DemonicDab_Xx]: YO WTF IS HE DOING?!
[HellscapeWatcher]: HE'S CHANNELING DEEP HELL MAGIC. DEEP. LIKE BASEMENT LEVELS.
[BabyBaron44]: I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST A BLOODLINE ABILITY USER WTF IS THIS
[CrimsonDoomFan22]: Wait, Vonjo! I haven't moved on to your Crimson Doom yet. Why did your Crimson Doom Bloodline Ability feel different from the Crimson Doom Bloodline Ability of the Sutterfouse Family?
[ViewerYomi]: Give up on differentiating his Crimson Doom… this is an adaptation, he won't be able to hear your shits.
[HellscapeWatcher]: Lmfao.
[BabyBaron44]: Haha!
[CrimsonDoomFan22]: I know that, you b*tch. Shut up! Let me do my thing! And I'm just hoping… hoping for Vonjo to hear me.
Vonjo was too busy to read them. His eyes glowed a deeper shade of blood-red, almost shimmering with restrained madness as he continued the incantation, weaving one syllable after another like blades into the air.
The chants escalated into tongues Eugene could not even decipher—voices of ancient beings seemed to echo from his mouth, overlapping in dreadful harmonies that gnawed at the edge of Eugene's sanity.
"Ver'ahlm tzen'roth… by the pact of the dead kings… the first howl… the fourth crown… the seventh grave…"
Lightning cracked across the blood-red sky overhead. The very world began to shudder as the entire hellish plane responded to the unholy chant.
[VoidBorn1337]: This man's summoning a WHOLE WARCRIME
[SuccubusLover96]: I CAN FEEL THE TRAUMA THROUGH THE SCREEN
[KiriReacts]: Do y'all feel like the saturation just dropped IRL or is it just me?
[SimpTheLiberal: Huh! Something is coming! Something big!
The beasts in the distance—mutated centipede-wolves and horned flesh-serpents—had been charging toward them moments ago. But now, they stood frozen.
Tensed. Salivating jaws slowly closed.
Something in them… recognized the energy now pouring out of the circle and recoiled. Their instincts were telling them to leave!
The summoning circle pulsed, once, twice—then ruptured with a gout of blackened flame, releasing an explosion of pure fallen curse energy.
The air reeked of burnt feathers, decayed parchment, and old sins.
Eugene gasped, taking a reflexive step back. "Uhh.. Sir Vonjo? what are you summoning, sir?"
Vonjo didn't respond. His expression was unreadable, calm and almost amused.
In his head, the system chimed softly.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
The more you sacrifice… the greater your summon shall be.
Current Sacrifice: 18.3% Bloodline Potential, 3% Sanity, One Finger Tip, One Truth Memory.
Calculating… Summon Type: ???
Summoning Creature…
He thought to himself, 'Let's see what the system's gonna cook up now. I gave it enough. I know I did.'
But he said nothing aloud. Eugene couldn't hear the system. The bullet comments were frenzied, but none knew what Vonjo was thinking.
And then—it happened.
From the smoking circle, a pair of long, warty arms slapped out, followed by a bulbous green body.
The creature that emerged looked like it belonged in a cursed swamp and not the middle of a demonic battleground. It croaked. Loudly. Mournfully. Three huge toad heads blinked in different directions, their tongues licking the air with lazy, bored flicks.
"What the... hell?" Eugene whispered, eyes wide in disbelief.
Vonjo stared, blinking once. Then, the system's scan popped up before him.
[Summoned Creature: Gul'croagg the Plague Hopper]
Type: Amphibian Cursed Mount
Rarity: Extremely Low
Abilities: Mild Poison Resistance, Triple Vision, Croak Distraction (Level 1)
Combat Power: 2
Growth Potential: N/A
Description: A mostly useless cursed frog. Unwanted by demons, hated by angels. Nobody wants it.
Vonjo stared blankly at the screen for a long second.
Then finally muttered, "...What the fuck is this garbage."
[RipMyBloodline]: LMAO THIS IS WHAT HE SUMMONED AFTER THAT RITUAL???
[SummonScamExposed]: YO, THIS VONJO DOESN'T HAVE A TALENT IN SUMMONING!
[DelusionalDruid]: WHY IS THIS ACTUALLY KINDA CUTE THO
[SutterfouseBloodFan]: HE BURNT HIS OWN SANITY FOR A GODDAMN FROG.
Vonjo picked up the thing with two fingers. It blinked at him. Croaked again, pitifully.
He held it out like a used tissue.
"This—this is what I sacrificed a whole lot of hell Demonoids for? A freaking weak Gul'croagg!?" he said, deadpan. "Are you—are you shitting me, system?" he said loudly in his head.
The frog licked its own eyeball.
"You know what?" Vonjo gritted his teeth. "Fine."
He hurled the creature straight into the direction of the slowly approaching demonoid beasts.
The frog hit the ground with a soft splat, then stood there, unmoving.
The demonoids slowed. Sniffed at the frog.
For a moment… they hesitated.
Then—one of them sneered. Another let out a choking, growling sound that vaguely resembled laughter. Their grins split wider as they surrounded the creature.
Vonjo crossed his arms. "Go ahead. Feast on that disappointment."
[DigitalDagger]: OMG THEY'RE LAUGHING. THE DEMONS ARE LAUGHING.
[DepressedDungeonist]: This is the most tragic summon in streaming history
[ToadFan31]: DO NOT DISRESPECT GUL'CROAGG!!!
"Because of Vonjo, the bullet chats found out what it was called even though they had never seen a creature in the novel.
Eugene opened his mouth to say something but couldn't even find the words.
"What… just happened?" he asked.
Vonjo exhaled, stepping away from the circle, which was now slowly fading into the cracked terrain.
"What just happened," Vonjo muttered, "was the single most disappointing ritual of my entire miserable life."
The three-headed frog croaked once more as one demonoid gently nudged it with a claw, inspecting it like a child poking roadkill.
"Such a useless mount," Vonjo said flatly.