Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

As all the involved parties knew how a king toad looked, Rino did not need to give them any other explanation. 

"I will set up a temporary teleportation pad here. When you find something, you can return to the village with your kill. All the best, and try not to get hurt."

The hunters took off in different directions, and Rino started work. He cleared the trees to create space for a teleportation pad bigger than the others he made. It was temporary for now, but honestly, it might be permanent if nothing was interesting enough in the swamps to make him want to relocate this.

Mutt was the first to take off. He dodged trees and hid in shadows, smelling the prey out. There were many creatures in this forest, but none of them was king toads. He was determined to bring his king all fifteen toads by the end of the night. Thankfully, it was a full moon, and Mutt was brimming with energy. He would not lose to humans or goblins!

The archer and his team spread out and combed the forest systematically. They communicated using calls and strange bird whistles and quickly found the first king toad. From here, Rino left them to hash out a battle strategy. The giant toad might be sleeping now, but these hunters had first-hand experience to know that it would not be easily killed even if they had the advantage of surprise. The skin was simply too tough to cut through, and none of them had proper weapons.

Unlike Mutt of the archers, the goblin chief and his small army made plodding progress. Rino watched how the chief and shaman stood in the middle of the formation, giving goblins instructions to travel in groups of two or three to scout the area.

Each hunting team had a different method of locating their prey, and Rino was curious if it was possible to hunt king toads to an extinction. Was hunting these toads and culling their numbers something the gods wanted? Or was this yet another test of skills?

Whichever the case, Rino thought it might be better to exercise moderation. Overhunting anything will lead to an ecosystem imbalance, and Rino wanted no part of that. He told the pixies to continue keeping a close eye on all three hunting groups while he finished the landscaping he had to do.

It did not take long for Mutt to find a king toad and the goblins found one with the help of fairies. All three groups finally made contact with their first king toad. The show had finally started, and Rino checked the time. Everyone found their first king toad in less than forty minutes. This was good.

Mutt had no plans. When he saw a king toad, he circled it twice from a distance to choose the best vantage point before jumping down on the giant amphibian, snapping its teeth and wrestling with the big oaf. The pixie watching Mutt's battle with the king toad reported that they were both equally matched for now.

The king toad might not be very fast, but it had a very strong defence against Mutt, who was still smaller than it. The sabre tooth wolf growled and dodged that purple tongue. For such a stupid looking creature, it was quite scheming. Mutt knew better than to underestimate the poisonous monster.

On the other hand, the experienced human hunters used a different approach. They knew that they were not strong. Hence, teamwork was of great importance. The pixie reported that these men knew what they were doing even without active communication, as if they did this many times before. Rino could finally understand why the arrogant fool had such loyal followers despite his major personality flaws. He was a man who kept his word and proved his abilities in battle.

The huge king toad was snoozing soundly as the small group of hunters circled it with their makeshift weapons. Rino was impressed by their rough crafting of wooden spears, staff, and stone slingshots fashioned from their clothes. Even though the archer had no bow, he still appeared confident with the stone slingshot and waited for the right moment to surprise the king toad with an attack.

Their strategy was simple. They would provoke the toad into a chase and chip away at its tough defence. That skin was too difficult to slash, so the only way they could get to it was to continuously stab at the same spot near its heart to kill it once the spears pierce through the skin, hopefully.

Rino was impressed with their strategy when the pixie reported. The chase was less noisy than the all-out battle on Mutt's side that was still not concluded. He was almost done with setting up the teleportation pad when the first kill had been made.

Instead of seeing Mutt or the archer, Rino was surprised to see a huge group of goblins and fairies. The goblin chief and shaman had never moved from their spot near Rino, but the first king toad was already taken down.

"How in the world…?" 

Rino found it hard to believe, but from the number of goblins cheering and the fairies looking smug, he had to admit. They might be small, but when put together, they were fierce like ants.

The dead frog had all four legs sprawled carelessly open, and its tongue flopped. The goblins were carrying it upside down, and they marched towards Rino's gate, wanting to bring it back.

Unfortunately, the gate was still unfinished, and Rino apologised.

"I will take it back for you," he told them and praised them for the good work. The pixie watching the group apologised profusely to Rino after the energetic bunch left.

"They were all over the place and so numerous that I did not know which group to keep an eye on. Before I knew it, they managed to kill one."

Rino forgave the poor thing. It must be difficult to observe such a complex operation. This was something he had to oversee personally when the teleportation pad was complete.

"Just keep an eye on the chief and shaman for me. I will watch the goblins myself."

With that, Rino turned his back to the pixie and focussed on drawing the large magic array beneath the amber imbued with his magic. Should anything go wrong, at least this teleportation pad would not be destroyed so easily. He had to take more precautions out here in the wild.

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