The Teir 2 Mutant Bull Toad's massive mouth opened wide, tongue twitched and slowly stretched out hungrily. Thick, poisonous saliva dripped from its mouth as it leaned closer.
It was ready to swallow him whole. Arian felt intense pressure from the creature; it was so strong he was struggling to breathe, it was as if staring at the point of death.
'This is not how it will end, I haven't even reached grade one yet... F*#k, think!'
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 at the other eye to temporarily blind it.
Pop!
The dagger struck shallow but true, it also caused the thin membrane protecting the right eye to pop.
The Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad to let a loud shriek, and thrashing violently on the ground.
'It seems the eyes are its weakness,' Arian noted. he didn't wait around to enjoy the show, he immediately turned and ran, because he knew that wouldn't be enough to stop the Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad.
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 plan only but him thirty seconds of distance away from the Bull Toad, but it 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 entered his nostrils.
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 next moment the Bull Toad arrived at the swamp, the crocodiles all saw the Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad and retracted back.
Those on land slid back into the swamp. Those in the swamp submerged completely, vanishing into the depths as if terrified of the creature behind him.
Arian's stomach churned '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 also 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.'
There's no creature that would want to chase prey and become a prey.
Arian 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 Mutant Bull Toad didn't seem to fancy 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 as another danger was fast approaching.
The water around him rippled, huge yellowish eyes surfaced. The Mutant Crocodiles were coming for him.
Though he could stand his ground against them, but not in his current situation. He was a swamp and 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. So, Arian immediately burst out from the swamp, he now looked dirty and muddy.
Just as he was about to run, he saw it slight hidden near the reeds.
The Mutant Bull Toad.
Also it's eye that was injured had already healed. There was a smaller mutant swamp crocodile, the lower half of it's body was slowly corroding beneath Mutant Bull Toad's poisonous skin, while the other half was half-swallowed.
CROAAAK!
The creature's eyes suddenly locked onto Arian, it was clearly pissed off from what Arian did earlier. It quickly swallowed the other half of the little crocodile and chased after him.
'Why is this damn overgrown toad still chasing me?!' Arian screamed inwardly.
"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.
He 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. Looking around he saw a strong vine and picked it up.
His eyes then fell on a long, thick branch lying on the ground, roughly twice the size of his hands. Inspiration struck, with no time to spare he quickly 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 Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad was still in pursuit, but it was still far away from where Arian was. While the Mutant Bull Toad leaped over, Arian used the vines he had found and tied them tightly across the ground, anchoring them to nearby trees to form a simple trap.
He had calculated carefully the time intervals that the Mutant Bull Toad normally jumps, but to be extra careful he had to draw the Mutant Bull Toad's attention, but if the plan fails, he would become the Mutant Bull Toad's extra lunch, because he wouldn't count as a proper meal.
As the Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad approached, it saw Arian and immediately leapt towards him, eyes fixed on its prey...
BOOM!
It landed exactly where Arian calculated, its massive legs caught the vines, and it tripped, crashing to the ground on it's back with a deafening thud.
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 Mutant 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 Mutant Bull Toad's skin.
*ding!~*
『Master has killed a Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad』
『Master has acquired 10 Free Stats Points』
『Corrupted Base Core Located — Forehead』
Finally, he withdrew the spear and staggered back eventually falling on his butt.
"Hahaha... I did it! I killed a Tier 2 creature..."
"Phew~ that was crazy" Arian breathe a sigh of relief, his heart pounded in his chest during the execution of the plan, even a moment of hesitation or a slight miscalculation could have cost him his life.
Slowly got up but didn't lower his guard again. Using his dagger, he dug out the Corrupted Base Core from the Mutant Bull Toad's forehead.
Arian followed the path destroyed by the Mutant Bull Toad and was able to make his way back to the swamp and back to the lake where the Mutant Bull Toad had begun its chase.
By this time, the Mutant Forest Grasshopper had decomposed; it was a natural phenomenon caused by the removal of the Corrupted Base core from a creature with a Corrupted Base. The body of the creature loses its structure, it also depending on the creature's size. The Mutant Forest Grasshopper took about twenty minutes, while a creature like the Mutant Bull Toad would probably take thirty to forty minutes.
After rinsing the Corrupted Base Core using the lake water, he thought about the poison from that Mutant Bull Toad, and decided on rinsing it again.
After he swallowed the core, a notification played in his head.
*ding!~*
『Tier 2 Mutant Bull Toad Corrupted Base Core Consumed — Purification Successful』
『Master has acquired 5 Evo Points』
After that he took of his cloak and clothes to wash using the lake water, since they were caked in mud. After washing he dried them on a rock, and with only his boxers left on him dove straight into the lake, to get rid of the dried mud on his body.