The light in the forest gradually dimmed; the closer they got to the swamp, the thicker the fog became.
The trees grew sparse and twisted, their branches coated in slippery moss. Small pools began to appear on the ground, and the muddy soil released a distinct scent of dampness and decaying matter.
Camilla walked in the middle of the group, with Rimuru sprawled across her shoulder. The little blue body quivered slightly, clearly transmitting a sense of unease.
【Wet… Cold… Hate it…】
“Bear with it.”
Camilla soothed softly, at the same time raising her guard.
After passing through a patch of gnarled, deadwood, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
A vast wetland, shrouded in thick grayish-white fog, stretched out before them. Pools of water were scattered everywhere, their surfaces dotted with dead leaves and floating algae. Thin clusters of reeds swayed in the breeze, and every now and then, one could spot a couple of withered trees—their bare branches reaching up toward the misty sky like the hands of specters.
The air was saturated with a heavier, damper odor, tinged with something… faintly putrid.
“The blood trail leads that way.”
Lilian pointed toward the depths of the swamp, where the fog seemed even denser.
Camilla crouched down, carefully inspecting the ground. There were indeed drag marks in the muddy soil—broken but clearly pointing in one direction.
And…
“There are signs of a struggle.”
Her words made the other three tense up inside.
Following the traces, the group pressed deeper into the swamp. The terrain grew more complex, pools multiplied, and the ground beneath their feet became increasingly boggy.
After about three minutes, faint sounds drifted from up ahead.
Camilla raised her hand to signal a stop, then silently crept forward herself. She parted a dense cluster of reeds, and the scene before her made her pupils constrict.
On a relatively dry mound up ahead, a fierce battle was underway.
Three students were huddled in a circle, desperately fending off the assault of a monstrous creature.
It was a massive toad, dark green all over and the size of a water buffalo. Its body was covered with disgusting pustules, each hop causing corrosive slime to ooze from its skin.
But the most terrifying thing was its tongue—whipping in and out like a lash, moving so fast it left only afterimages in the air.
A student already lay collapsed on the ground, their chest a mangled mess of flesh and blood—clearly struck by the toad’s tongue.
Of the three still standing, one was a blue-haired girl chanting an ice spell. But her casting was visibly sluggish, and her face had turned deathly pale.
“It’s a Swamp Venom Toad, fourth-rank magic beast!”
Emma whispered in shock.
“Its slime and tongue are both highly poisonous, and its skin is extremely resistant!”
Even as she spoke, the Venom Toad lashed its tongue at the blue-haired girl again. The boy with the shield beside her roared and leaped in front to block, the shield clashing with the tongue in a deep, muffled boom.
The boy staggered back three steps, his shield now deeply dented.
“I can’t hold on much longer!”
He gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Diana, the teleport scroll?!”
“It’s… it’s on Rena!”
The blue-haired girl, Rena, choked out, pointing at the wounded student near the toad’s feet.
The Venom Toad seemed to sense the weakness of its prey, letting out a shrill “gu-gua” before its massive body coiled, gathering strength for the next strike.
At this critical moment—
“Thunderclap!”
Elena shot from the reeds like a bolt of lightning. She didn’t use the time-consuming “Rose Burst,” but raised her hand, sending three arm-thick lightning bolts directly onto the Venom Toad’s back.
Crack! Sizzle! Lightning exploded, and the Venom Toad let out a howl of pain, its charge disrupted. It spun around fiercely, its crimson eyes locking onto the new intruder.
“Emma, barrier up! Lilian, get the Antidote ready!”
Camilla barked out orders while fishing a small canister from her satchel—it was another beast-repelling spray.
The Venom Toad abandoned its original targets, turning on Elena. It spat out a huge cloud of inky-green poison, but Elena was ready—her whip flicked, and thunder roared into a whirlwind, dispersing the poisonous mist.
“Attack its eyes and the inside of its mouth!”
Camilla shouted.
“Those are its weak points!”
Even as she spoke, she hurled the spray can at the toad. The canister arced through the air, and just as it neared the toad’s head, Camilla struck it with a precise, faint Wind Blade Spell.
Hiss—!
A cloud of grayish-white, pungent powder exploded, blanketing the Venom Toad’s head. The monster screamed in agony, its eyes squeezed shut, tossing its head madly.
“Thunderclap: Rose Burst—Modified!”
This time it wasn’t three flowers, but a single, more solidified lightning rose—over five meters in diameter. It bloomed in mid-air before crashing down on the Venom Toad’s head like a meteor.
Boom—!
The thunderous explosion shook the swamp. The fourth-rank magic beast couldn’t even scream before its massive body slammed into the ground, twitching a few times before falling still.
The battle was over.
Silence filled the clearing, broken only by the ragged breaths and muffled sobs of the wounded.
Camilla’s group rushed forward. Lilian immediately began checking the fallen student, Emma maintained the barrier and stayed alert, while Elena approached the Venom Toad’s corpse, confirming its death.
“This is bad.”
After examining the critically injured student, Lilian’s face grew grim.
“The chest has been pierced through, and she’s been poisoned by the Venom Toad’s neurotoxin. The poison is spreading.”
The shield-bearing boy staggered over, voice hoarse.
“Thank you… you saved us. I’m Tom from the Warrior Institute, these are my teammates…”
As the squad leader, he quickly explained the situation.
On their way to the mission point, their team had been ambushed by the Venom Toad. They’d thought it was only a normal third-rank beast, never expecting it to be a mutated fourth-rank. In the fight, one member was gravely wounded.
“Our teleport scroll… was lost in the battle.”
Tom said bitterly.
“The locator beacon was corroded by the venom too. If it weren’t for you…”
Camilla didn’t reply, instead moving to the student with the chest wound.
It was a girl with short brown hair, her face as pale as paper, breath so weak it was barely noticeable.
Camilla knelt, closely inspecting the wound. It was in the lower left chest, missing the heart but penetrating the lung. Logically, with such a wound…
Her fingertips gently pressed around the edges, feeling for any abnormality under the skin. Her pupils narrowed again.
With spiritual senses, she detected a subtle, unnatural flow of magic deep within the wound—a nearly imperceptible disturbance, easy to miss without deliberate probing.
A parasitic summoning beast’s egg—or larva. Judging by its magical signature… it was the Bloodworm commonly used by the Dark Magic Beast Legion.
Such parasites hide within the host, slowly consuming life force and mana, secreting painkillers so the host feels no pain.
When the host dies or grows too weak, the Bloodworm bursts forth, turning the corpse into a puppet for its summoner.
Camilla lifted her head, face calm as ever.
“Her injuries are severe, but she’s not beyond saving. Lilian, pass me a healing potion.”
Lilian nodded, pulling a vial of emerald potion from her pouch.
“Standard Emergency Healing Potion from the academy. It should stabilize her for now. And here’s the Antidote.”
Camilla accepted both, quickly running through the options in her mind.
Bloodworm infestations are notoriously hard to spot early on, and even harder to deal with. Forcibly removing it might trigger it to erupt early; the best method is to use a special repellent potion to kill it from within and wait for it to be expelled naturally.
She did have such a potion prepared. The critical question was—did this squad know their teammate was infected?
Camilla’s eyes flicked silently over Tom and the two still-standing members.
Judging by their expressions, they had no idea.
“What will you do now?”
Lilian asked Tom.
“With a gravely wounded member, there’s no way we can continue the test.”
Tom gave a bitter laugh, scratching his head.
“We… want to call for help, but the beacon’s dead. We can only hope the academy notices we’re missing and sends a rescue team, but who knows how long that’ll take…”
“Join us.”
Camilla suddenly spoke. Everyone turned to her.
“Our mission site is at Moonwell in the depths of the swamp. You come with us, and once our task is done, we’ll escort you out to the outer region—then you can call for help. The rescue team will find you much faster there.”
Tom’s eyes lit up, but he hesitated.
“But… won’t we slow you down? Our wounded needs constant care, and…”
“Our squad has an alchemist and a support mage, taking care of the wounded is no problem.” Camilla glanced at Lilian and Emma.
“Right?”
Lilian smiled gently.
“Of course. We’re academy classmates—helping each other is only right.”
Emma nodded emphatically.
Though Elena frowned a bit, she voiced no objections.
“Then… thank you so much!”
Tom bowed deeply, and the other two teammates followed suit.
Camilla helped Tom up, her eyes drifting, seemingly by chance, to the gravely wounded, parasitized girl.
The Bloodworm’s incubation period was generally three to five days. Which meant—she’d been sabotaged before the actual combat.
For now, the most important thing was not to startle the enemy.
Camilla lifted her gaze, looking toward the depths of the swamp, shrouded in thick mist.