Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait long until the first unsuspecting simpleton walked right into his chosen field. Unluckily, it was one of the people he'd just foolishly regretted not getting to know a little better. Harusame could remember this man - he had come in like a ponce, acted like a ponce, and left like a ponce. Love letters, honestly...
Still, after giving him an once-over, he decided he couldn't be too picky. This person, at least, sounded confident enough that he probably wouldn't start shaking at the first group of enemies they'd encounter. Thankfully, before he'd have to embarrass himself by doing something like calling the guy over, the guy - identified as Bellerophon by the UI - approached all by himself. How very convenient.
"A roleplayer, huh." Harusame didn't bother trying to sound more enthusiastic at the idea than he felt. Back in the good old days, he'd just attacked anyone who had pissed him off, but that was obviously not on the table. And he supposed that Bellerophon the Ponce had yet to actually annoy him more than just about any person could. "Yes, I'm here for a quest. Nightmare Elixir, if that matters. Either way, I will share, since you asked so nicely."
He accepted the party request and the Member Address, sharing his own in exchange. If all went well, perhaps he could tolerate this shiny menace for more efficient quest runs in the future. If not, he could just ghost him until he got the hint.
Yet before he could even open his mouth and say they should get moving, someone else came in. That wasn't a terrible thing on its own. A full party would mean they'd get done with this field faster than with just the two of them. However...
Harusame's expression reflected the mildly disbelieving derision he felt at the sight of the second newcomer appearing to nearly suffer a cardiac arrest and flail like a maniac. Him forcing his expression into something that somewhat resembled a polite one was nearly audible, like someone trying to bend a metal bar into a different shape. This one... was not confident, and appeared to be completely new to these kinds of games.
He had so not signed up for tutoring a noob. But! His mother kept telling him he should try to give people more chances and have patience. And he hadn't filled his "try to listen to your mother even though you disagree with her and don't think people are worth the effort" quota of the month yet, so...
"I would hope we will find them once we reach the end, at the latest. Preferably, before then," Harusame stated in response, trying to not think of how stupid the question was. For all this person knew, there had been frogs before they'd come in. Maybe he really could stand to be more generous. Maybe. Maybe what their party needed was a particularly awkward stooge. Or maybe the whole ordeal would end up pissing him off so badly he'd have to disconnect mid-field.
"We are doing the Nightmare Elixir quest. If you have nothing else in mind, feel free to join us, I suppose," he said, after a brief pause. This would be followed up with him sending this Craven a party invitation, along with his Member Address. "In any case, we should start moving. If we desire to see any frogs, we will obviously not find them here."
Whether the invitation was accepted or not, Harusame turned to start walking ahead. He was fairly sure he didn't need to worry that much about being up front, at least yet. If something hit him, he could heal himself, and he wouldn't get one-shot in a field geared for complete beginners, even with his puny HP bar. But there appeared to be no enemies nearby, anyway... though he could see something round up ahead. Frowning, he marched onwards, stopping a short distance away from what appeared to be...
WATERMELON? x2
LVL 1
ELEMENT: WATERMELON?
Just a pair of completely normal melons in the middle of a field. Nothing to worry about.
Right.
"This would fool me... if I was a moron," Harusame drawled, raising his staff, his eyes narrowing in irritation. How dare this game fool around with one of his favorite fruits (or berries, if one really wanted to get biologically accurate)! In a field where he had yet to see any frogs despite the animal being in the keyword set! "Juk Don."
Now, were this the real world, or perhaps even most other games, people would be justified in thinking him very unreasonable for conjuring and chucking a wooden stake at one of the innocuous watermelons lying in the middle of the watery path. Since this was The World, the watermelon that got struck let out a weird gurgling sound and bounced back pathetically as its disguise faded, revealing its true, slimy, fishy form. The other treacherous melon revealed itself as well, alerted to the danger nearby!
MELONFISH x2
LVL 1
ELEMENT: WATER
The unhurt Melonfish spat a stream of bubbles towards Harusame, who sidestepped them. Except the bubbles, initially a concentrated mass, kept on going and spreading after passing by him, in real danger of coming in potentially painful spell-to-face contact with Bellerophon and Craven if they didn't dodge around. Or under. Hells, one could probably jump over them if one happened to be acrobatically inclined, as far as Harusame was concerned. Whichever way, while he glanced over, he decided he wouldn't bother trying to warn his party - they had eyes on their heads, so surely he didn't need to!
The Melonfish that was already injured by the Juk Don bounced its body forward suddenly, slamming itself into Harusame's side while he was distracted with totally not wishing his party would eat shit. Then, it would swiftly try again, this time leaping through the air towards Bellerophon, aiming to bodyslam him as well.
