Chapter 24: Frogs are Endangered, You Know
With what was essentially a pointy stick as a weapon, Callisto leaped out of the boat, attempting to pierce through the skin of the frog monster and get some sort of foothold.
However, the wooden spear immediately got covered in the mucus and slipped across the frog's skin with little resistance. Callisto landed back on the boat, submerging it slightly from the force of her landing.
"My Lux, the divine frog has been contaminated!"
"I'm sorry? Divine frog? Couldn't you have mentioned something earlier?" Callisto sighed, exasperated. She wiped some slime off of her arm with a grimace.
"Any suggestions to help me?" No response, as expected. The frog positioned to leap, and Callisto threw up a shield as it dropped onto the boat, trying to squash them under its body weight.
As it attempted to crush them, she saw a dark orb in between its hind legs that looked as if it was affixed onto the frog's body by nefarious means.
Inside, swirling purple and black mist gathered at the core, spreading throughout the creature. If Callisto had to guess, that was the source of contamination.
As the monster landed back into the water, the orb disappeared into the water, and she made a decision. Bracing herself, Callisto dove into the water.
She could feel the dirt coating her skin as she touched water. As if it was staining her body, or even contaminating her. Callisto couldn't see anything, and despite how light her robes were, they were beginning to weigh her down.
Her hands searched frantically in the water for a feel of the frog. She occasionally felt a brush of movement, but it slipped out of her grasp.
Literally. Something sticky wrapped around her ankle, dragging Callisto deeper into the lake. She looked down, seeing pink amongst the mud, and suddenly had an idea.
Callisto grabbed onto the tongue, pulling with all her might. The muscle retracted and the frog's mouth engulfed her whole.
'Now, from here, where would the orb be?'
Her hands were planted firmly along the sides of the frog's mouth, battling the frog's desire to swallow her into its stomach.
The source of corruption didn't seem to have reached the inside of the frog yet, which was bad for Callisto, since it would have been much easier to identify the source.
At least she wasn't in the water anymore, and the screams of the nuns were muffled, allowing her to focus on thinking.
'It should be…here!'
Using the force of gravity, she pushed the half-paddle into the fleshy bottom. A loud series of croaks rang throughout the body before she was promptly spat back out into the water with a bunch of other bile.
Callisto scrunched her nose as she picked a half-eaten fish corpse out of her hair. Gross.
The boat that the sisters and Callisto had been on had been overturned, the other women nowhere in sight. Dead? She couldn't afford to care right now.
Callisto swam to the boat, climbing on top and freezing the boat in ice to get on stable ground. She could see the shadow of the frog as it swam about to the lake, an occasional sickening 'crunch' sounding out.
She had time to get a little bit of breath as the frog continued to snack on what was hopefully more fish, but what was most likely the unfortunate souls that accompanied her to the lake.
Callisto wasn't a hero. She wasn't gonna go out of her way to 'save' them. In fact, she was grateful that they served as a distraction, and that they now were no longer in her ear complaining.
What could Callisto say? Karma comes back tenfold.
The shadow of the creature approached the boat, and the rope-like tongue lashed out again, breaking through the wood from underwater. She narrowly sidestepped the attack, red eyes narrowed in search of an opening.
"Lady Callisto! H-Help!"
She turned to the sound of the noise, surprised to hear another person. It was a young sister, splashing around terrified.
With some pause, Callisto decided to go take the girl out of the water, stepping through the air to grab the girl by the back of her neck, and blinking out of space to return back to the rowboat.
"Thank…you…"
The girl looked barely older than her, so it was truly a shame that she had to die.
"No, thank you, for being the perfect distraction." She snapped her fingers, and magic circles appeared in the air, wrapping chains around the nun as she was lifted up into the air.
"Wh-what?"
"How many children have you led into carriages, knowing they weren't going to survive?"
"I didn't- It wasn't my fault!" She bawled, screaming louder as the frog monster's mouth became visible, coming out of the water.
"Hey, dinner's ready!" Callisto called into the water, readying her own action.
As she expected, the frog jumped out of the water to grab the prey hanging in mid-air.
Focusing on the orb of corruption, she dashed underneath the frog as it leaped into the air, gathering energy in her hand as she reached for the black orb.
Despite looking like a glass orb, she could feel her fingers sinking in, touching the corruption at its source. A blinding light covered the area as she felt the dark energy disappear.
When Callisto could see again, the lake was crystal clear, with emerald green trees and bubbling spring water surrounding the now-purified environment.
In her hand, the most adorable frog imaginable was settled in her palm, its throat swelling up as it croaked a small tune.
Placing the frog on her head, Callisto doggy-paddled her way back to shore, careful to not lose the frog on the way there.
She still needed that mucus, after all. It was the main reason she allowed herself to be dragged around in the first place.
Reaching shore, Callisto was surprised to find a series of other unconscious bodies, including the person she used as bait.
"You're not dead yet?" She poked the body with her foot, making sure not to stain her shoes with any of the blood from the torn leg.
She looked at the frog, and it made another croaking sound. Callisto wondered briefly where all the bodies went since the frog had reduced size, before stomping on the other girl's head for a few minutes, killing her.
The resulting mess stained her leg and skirt red, but Callisto only gave a small smile to her frog friend, collecting some black flakes off its legs, and saying,
"Now, let's get that mucus for my weapon, hmm?"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone