The Mutant Bull Toad's massive mouth opened wide, shadow swallowing light as its tongue twitched hungrily. Thick, poisonous saliva dripped from its flesh as it leaned closer.
It was ready to swallow him whole. He felt intense pressure from the creature; it was so strong he was struggling to breathe , as if staring at the point of death. 'This is not how it will end'
His mind raced through every possible solution and outcome. Then he decided to do something crazy. It was a fifty-fifty chance of working, but it was the best option he had.
'Now!' he yelled in his mind.
His right hand shot to his waist. The dagger slid free in one smooth motion. At the same time, his left hand clawed into the ground, fingers digging deep into loose dirt and mud.
The Bull Toad lunged, but Arian moved first.
He hurled the dirt straight at the creature's left eye while stepping at an angle, his small body moving just outside the direct line of its mouth. The dirt landed on the eye with a wet slap, blinding its vision.
CROAAAK!!
The creature recoiled instinctively. That was all the opening he needed. Arian thrust forward, aiming not for the skull, but for the other eye to temporarily blind it, then the thin membrane protecting the right eye popped and it seemed the eyes were its weakness.
The dagger struck shallow but true. The Mutant Bull Toad shrieked, thrashing violently. Arian didn't wait to see the result. He turned and ran immediately.
Branches whipped against his face as he plunged into the forest, every step driven by raw survival instinct. Behind him, the ground shook. Trees cracked. The sound of enraged croaks followed relentlessly.
The distraction had bought him only seconds. The Bull Toad was still coming.
Arian changed direction repeatedly, forcing himself through narrow gaps, ducking low, and suppressing his breath. For a brief moment, the vibrations behind him faded.
'Did I lose it?'
No.
The croak sounded again, closer.
His heart sank.
He ran until the forest thinned and the ground grew wet beneath his feet. The air changed. The smell of rot and stagnant water filled his lungs.
A swamp.
Arian slowed abruptly and pressed himself behind a thick, half-rotten tree. That was when he saw them.
Mutant swamp crocodiles.
Large bodies lay half-submerged in the murky water, yellow eyes barely visible above the surface. Arian didn't have time to use his Identify skill but could easily tell they were mutant swamp crocodiles.
'If I can make them fight…' A crazy thought formed in his mind. The plan barely finished forming before it collapsed.
The moment the Bull Toad entered the swamp's edge, the crocodiles reacted.
They fled.
Those on land slid back into the water. Those in the water submerged completely, vanishing into the depths as if terrified of the creature behind him.
Arian's stomach churned.
His pupils constricted. 'Why are they fleeing…? Don't tell me that they are… they're afraid of the Mutant Bull Toad. It must be…'
'Damn!. It is clear that they are Tier 1 Mutant Swamp Crocodiles…' After a brief pause, he thought further.
'They must be afraid of the poisonous skin and saliva. Even a Tier 2 Mutant Swamp Crocodile would flee from a threat like this.'
Then he suddenly remembered something. 'Oh… that explains why other creatures in the forest didn't come after me.'
He took a deep breath, centering himself. 'I can use this to my advantage. If I stay on the surface, the Bull Toad might continue searching and find me. It's safer to hide… in the swamp.'
Arian realized something else. The Bull Toad didn't seem to favor the swamp. With that thought in mind, he quickly dove into the murky water, submerging his body and holding his breath, mud clinging to his skin.
Seconds passed.
Then silence.
The vibrations retreated. The croaking faded. Relief barely had time to bloom because danger was fast approaching. The water around him rippled.
Eyes surfaced.
The Mutant Crocodiles were coming for him. He could stand his ground against them but not in this type of situation. The swamp was like their birthplace; he could not outdo them. He also didn't want to alert the toad in case it was still there. With that in mind, Arian burst from the swamp and ran, looking dirty and muddy.
That was when he saw it.
The Mutant Bull Toad was already there, hidden among the reeds. A smaller crocodile was slowly corroding beneath its bulk, half-swallowed.
The creature's eyes locked onto Arian, it was clearly pissed off from Arian tricks earlier. Then it swallowed the other half of the little crocodile and chased after him.
CROAAAK!
'Why is this damn overgrown toad still chasing me?!' Arian screamed internally.
"There are many crocodiles here in the swamp or am I more delicious than a crocodile?!" He yelled as he ran.
The answer came in the form of earth-shaking pursuit. Arian ran for what felt like twenty minutes. His clothes were already caked in dried mud. His small body weaved through the forest, dodging branches and pushing past the rough undergrowth. Every limb ached, his muscles burned, but he didn't stop.
Eventually, the trees thinned, and he reached a small cleared area, a patch of open ground just big enough for him to pause and think.
His eyes fell on a long, thick branch lying on the ground, roughly twice the size of his hands. Inspiration struck. He drew his second dagger and began shaping the end of the branch into a sharp tip, using the edge to carve it into a crude but deadly spear.
The Bull Toad was still in pursuit, but Arian made sure to keep a safe distance. While the creature hopped closer, he found some vines and tied them tightly across the ground, anchoring them to nearby trees to form a simple trap.
Calculating carefully, he stepped back and waited.
The Mutant Bull Toad leapt toward him, eyes fixed on its prey. When it reached the trap, its massive legs caught the vines, and it tripped, crashing to the ground on it's back with a deafening thud.
BOOM!
Seizing the opportunity, Arian plunged the sharpened branch into the Bull Toad's eye membrane, stabbing repeatedly with precision. Each strike weakened the creature, and with a final thrust, he drove the spear into its brain. The Bull Toad thrashed violently for a few moments, then stilled.
Arian did not relent. He hadn't received the system notification stating the Bull Toad was dead, and he couldn't risk the creature surviving. He yanked the spear free and stabbed again, targeting its heart. He continued driving the crude spear across its massive body. The weapon's edge was slowly dulling, corroded by the poison seeping from the Bull Toad's skin.
Finally, he withdrew the spear and stood back, panting.
*ding!~*
『Master has killed a Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad』
『Master has acquired 10 Free Stats Points』
『Corrupted Base Core Located — Forehead』
Arian's heart still pounded in his chest. Even a moment of hesitation or a slight miscalculation could have cost him his life.
Slowly, he breathed a sigh of relief but didn't drop his guard again. Looking around, he realized he was no longer in the swamp but on a small, dry patch of cleared land, with the forest stretching around him.
Using his dagger, he dug out the Corrupted Base Core from the Mutant Bull Toad's forehead.
Using the path destroyed by the Mutant Bull Toad, Arian made his way back to the swamp and the lake where the creature had begun its chase.
By this time, the Mutant Forest Grasshopper had decomposed, a natural phenomenon caused by the removal of its corrupted base core. The body loses structure depending on the creature's size. The three feet five inches Mutant Forest Grasshopper took thirty minutes, while a creature like the Mutant Bull Toad, at four feet five inches, took forty-five minutes.
After rinsing the Corrupted Base Core using the lake, he hesitated thinking about the poison from that Mutant Bull Toad he decided to rinse it again, it was better to be safe than sorry, he then swallowed it and received a notification from the system.
*ding!~*
『Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad Corrupted Base Core Consumed —
Purification Successful』
『Master has acquired 5 Evo Points』
He then cleaned his clothes, using the lake water and himself too.