Chapter 338 - 292: The First Frogman to Experience Surfing

But a powerful force yanked him from behind, so strong it nearly pulled him apart.

In almost the same instant, a tall column of water shot up before him. Then, with a loud THUD, the monstrous fish crashed into the pool right in front of him, drenching him in freezing lake water.

"What's going..." Before he could even get a "ribbit" out, Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi fell into the pool. The cold water made him shiver violently as the rope tied to him pulled him along, making him spin and skip across the water.

"How am I—GLUG GLUG GLUG..." He sputtered, choking on water as his body was dragged rapidly backward across the lake's surface.

While Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi was still dazed, he caught a glimpse of a roiling wake in front of him amidst his tumbling. Beneath the water, the dark, greenish-black body of the monster fish appeared. After crashing into the water and realizing it hadn't eaten him, it had turned around and was now in hot pursuit.

"Stay back! Don't you—GLUG GLUG GLUG, ribbit!" Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi shouted at the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish, choking on water. His voice grew louder with panic. His hands were clenched into tight fists, but with his mind a complete blank, only his two middle fingers were stubbornly sticking straight up.

'Has this guy always been this brave?' On the shore, Shire directed the Centaurs to pull faster, his eyes fixed on the center of the pool. Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi was spinning and skipping across the water, yelling loudly, his voice seemingly filled with some Anger. The two middle fingers he stubbornly held up seemed to reflect the Frogman's state of mind. 'When we found him, I thought he was scared. It seems I underestimated him.'

"Faster! Don't let our warrior die!" he yelled, not even turning his head, urging on the Centaurs a short distance behind him.

Oreco and the others let out a collective shout. They too were in awe of Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi's "valor." A Frogman, only a meter tall and looking thin and weak, dared to face a giant monster fish that had always treated his people as food. And he wasn't even losing ground in terms of sheer presence! It made them see this small Race in a new light.

They couldn't help but speed up, pulling the rope even faster to ensure the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish couldn't catch up to the Frogman "warrior."

At that moment, Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi's mind was completely blank. His gaze was fixed on the enormous monster fish less than ten meters away. The creature's furious glare was locked onto him, and Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi felt as if the mucus on his skin was about to explode from sheer terror.

Across the lake, one frog and one fish were locked in a high-speed chase. The distance between them remained under ten meters. The movements of these two sent up massive splashes, and waves rippled outward, almost like an ocean tide coming in.

"Stay back! Stay back! Ribbit!" Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi screamed. His final "ribbit" was incredibly loud. The Centaurs were pulling him so fast that his body reached the shore, launched into the air off a wooden ramp angled into the water, and soared through the sky in an arc.

Seeing the annoying Frogman take flight, the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish completely disregarded its situation. It leaped directly out of the water, its massive maw wide open, and chased after the Frogman.

Unfortunately, without the buoyancy of the pool, its weight was in a completely different league from Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi's. The Frogman was pulled more than ten meters, while the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish could only fly a few meters before it came crashing down toward the ground.

A flash of panic crossed the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish's eyes. It didn't know why this was happening. It tried to writhe in mid-air, attempting to get back into the pool. But as it twisted, its eyes caught sight of a small, green-skinned shorty standing nearby. The look of mockery in his eyes sent it into a rage.

'This weird-looking "Frogman" was the one standing on the shore throwing rocks into the water earlier. I have to eat him.'

The Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish struggled to open its great mouth and twist its body. But unfortunately, its all-out chase and the powerful swings of its tail had exhausted it, leaving it with no choice but to fall heavily into a large pit.

The pit wasn't dry. It crashed into water, splashing a good amount out of the pit. But the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish immediately sensed something was wrong with the temperature. The water was too hot. It was excruciating, and it filled the creature with terror.

...

"It's over, it's over, my fish!" In his memory, the regretful cry of his former manager echoed in Shire's ears. The man had loved keeping fish and had just had some ornamental fish delivered to his home. But the manager had just gotten out of a meeting, and as he was about to call his family to tell them not to touch the fish yet, they told him they'd already put them in the tank.

From that incident, Shire learned that fish have very strict requirements for water temperature. If the temperature difference is too great—for example, more than ten degrees—a fish can die within minutes or hours. The direct causes of death are shock, severe hypoxia, and enzymatic system collapse.

And this pit, dug in advance, was filled with hot water that Shire had people prepare. 'Falling from such a cold pool into a pit this hot... the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish must be in agony right now.'

Just as Shire had thought, the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish was writhing in the pit, trying to find a way to leap out and return to the pool.

But just as the idea formed, a giant ice ball fell from the sky and smashed squarely onto the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish's body.

Compared to the sheer size of the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish, the ice ball wasn't that large and couldn't cause significant damage, but it effectively stopped the creature's attempt to jump.

The longer it remained in the pit of hot water, the more frantically the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish thrashed about, ramming itself against the pit's walls. But these actions did nothing to alleviate its pain. Instead, it lost its balance and slowly began to turn belly-up in the pit.

"Hit it with another one." Shire stood on his tiptoes and glanced into the pit. Behind him, Pazani stood with his arm raised, continuously forming an ice ball in the air.

He muttered, "This counts as overtime," then swung his arm forward forcefully. The ice ball shot directly into the pit, slamming heavily into the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish's belly and causing its body to arch.

"Now, we wait." Shire tried to peek into the pit again, then immediately backed away. The ones closest to the pit were him, Pazani, and Red Eyes. Only the three of them had some resistance to Magic. The Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish wasn't quite dead yet; it was still blinking its three blood-red eyes, watching its surroundings.

Although it had lost some of its mobility, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. It was too risky to approach the pit just yet.

Seeing that the Bottom-dwelling Demon Fish was almost completely immobilized, Shire ordered Red Eyes to stand guard with a Longsword. If the monster fish used its last ounce of strength to poke its head out of the pit, he was to go stab it a few times.

As for Shire, he casually strolled over to the Centaurs. Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi was lying on the ground, sputtering "GLUG GLUG GLUG" as he coughed up water, his body completely limp and weak.

"Very impressive. Your Clan Leader was right, the Frogman Race really does have some fine lads." Shire crouched down beside him and saw Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi struggle to raise his hands. Whether it was because he was still in a state of panic or a true expression of his inner thoughts, those two stubbornly raised middle fingers had still not been lowered.

"Relax, it's okay. Deep breaths, deep breaths. It's normal to be dizzy. You'll be fine once you've coughed up all the water. You'll get used to it after a while." Shire smiled, looking at the Frogman on the ground. He figured Wa Er San Wu Qi Yi was probably the world's first Frogman to experience speedboat surfing.

He then stood up, told Oreco and the others to take care of the Frogman on the ground, and walked over to the Frogman Race Leader, who was sitting on a stone slab in the distance, his hands behind his back.

"The job is done."

"Now I believe you truly are the saviors from the prophecy, ribbit." The Frogman Race Leader drained the "Light Beer" in his hand and spoke.