Chapter 3- Survived to see the next fcking wave
Yuuta’s blood-slicked frog body lay sprawled across the ruined field, a grotesque image of agony and rebirth. His limp form resembled a road-killed amphibian, flattened and broken, soaked in a mixture of gore and grass. His chest rose and fell in ragged, shallow breaths, every inhale scraping against the sharp stab of pain in his shattered leg and impaled arm. The world around him rang with the aftermath of his unintentional outburst of magic—debris settling, embers dancing in the air like fireflies of war, and the scent of charred pork hanging thick in the wind.
"Heh..." A faint, hoarse chuckle rattled from Yuuta’s frog throat. It was weak, breathless. But it was also victorious.
Then the anger returned. Like bile rising from a churning stomach, his hatred surged anew.
"That’s what you fucking get!" Yuuta spat with venom, his tongue clumsily shaping words his new mouth could barely handle. "Mess with me, the future fucking king, and you get turned into barbecue!"
He wanted to scream it louder, but his throat was scorched and dry. The words came out like a croak soaked in venom. Still, they were his words. His rage. His triumph. And it tasted sweet.
The four remaining pigmen were a sorry sight. Charred flesh peeled from their muscular frames like burnt paper. One of the shield bearers was already nothing more than scattered meat and bent metal, his companion crawling, blind and one-armed, into a smear of his own intestines. The axe wielders staggered, faces half-melted, blackened skin revealing sinew and shattered teeth. The archer was down, bow snapped in half, burnt skin, rolling on the ground with a low squeal, clutching in pain.
They weren’t charging anymore. They were trying to survive.
But Yuuta wasn’t done.
He wasn’t even close to done.
Something inside him—a pulsing, glowing instinct—itched in his still-useable left hand. It was like flexing a phantom limb, or breathing after being underwater. All he had to do was will it. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t need to.
The white-hot magic sphere appeared again.