Chapter 15 A Stormy Night
I had grown significantly in a short period.
I could only use Tail Cutting, but now I had mastered both martial arts and internal energy cultivation, even acquiring Poison Immunity. It was a remarkable achievement.
However, that was it.
I didn’t have any offensive skills.
Status window!
I still didn’t have any offensive skills!
While I received skills like Acid Resistance and Paralysis Resistance, why didn’t I get any attack skills?
Sigh.
I clicked my tongue.
Tail Whip, or Strong Bite.
Even something like that would be greatly appreciated.
Currently, I was quite a peculiar creature.
I had MP, but no way to use it.
The only skills that utilized that resource were Tail Cutting and Sprint, but I hardly used them anymore.
I needed to become stronger as soon as possible.
I had to eat the noisy toad from afar while I was at it.
Beelzebufo was practically my natural enemy.
It was much larger and even had poison, so I couldn’t dare to confront it.
But now, the situation had changed a bit.
A body immune to poison.
A martial art called Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step.
Internal energy obtained through the Minor Heaven Circulation and White Orchid Heart Method.
And Tus and Pus.
“Kieeek?”
Why were they looking at me like that?
Had they read my thoughts? The spiders were startled.
Smart creatures.
“Gek gek.”
I tapped the spot next to me.
Come here.
“Kieeng….”
They came reluctantly, looking displeased.
Pus emphasized its shrunken belly.
It meant it couldn’t produce any more silk.
Feigning weakness.
I tapped its bottom.
Swish!
Silk came out well.
“Kiiing….”
Pus, looking sullen, returned to its place.
Tus watched from afar, seemingly indifferent to the silk being taken.
I gently shook my foreleg.
Waggle, waggle.
“Keeng?”
It made an innocent face, but I wasn’t fooled.
You come here too.
*
Rain fell.
It was quite nice, drenching my body slightly.
Lizards were originally cold-blooded animals, so rain didn’t particularly bother me.
Maybe because I was a water-dwelling lizard, it felt good.
My body was a bit special.
I was too much of a lizard to be human, but still retained some human characteristics.
For one, my vision was far superior to a normal lizard’s.
It was almost as good as when I was human.
At the same time, I hadn’t lost the advantages of being a lizard, like my sense of smell.
I flicked my tongue.
I could feel the faint scents in the air intensifying.
The smell of rain, and soil.
The scent of prey far away, and the toad’s scent.
By combining my sense of smell, sight, and hearing, I located my enemy.
A toad had strayed from its group.
As long as it didn’t enter the area teeming with piranhas, it wouldn’t be in danger. It likely knew this and was acting alone.
An enemy alone.
No, prey alone.
Now was my chance.
I raised my forelegs.
My two feet touched the water’s surface.
The moment a raindrop hit the water, I exploded forward with tremendous power.
Splash, splash, splash.
Even the sound of the rain couldn’t drown out the noise of my footsteps.
I could silence the sound somewhat. Not by using the characteristics of a basilisk lizard, but by using Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step.
However, I didn’t do that.
Making noise was part of my strategy.
I ran full speed toward Beelzebufo.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Even if its hearing was poor, it couldn’t ignore this noise.
It noticed me.
Startled by the sudden noise, it seemed ready for combat upon realizing the source was just a small lizard.
Toads, unlike frogs, didn’t hunt enemies from afar with their tongues. There were exceptions, but at this size, they preferred body slams over using their tongues.
【Beelzebufo LV7】
【Status】
「Hunger」「Alertness」
Level 7. The weakest I had seen so far.
Still not fully grown, unlike the one with golden skin, this one was entirely green.
I dipped my tail into the water to slow down.
Swish!
Water sprayed in all directions as my tail sliced through it.
The moment the droplets hit its body, Beelzebufo attacked.
It lunged at me with its massive body.
The impact was immense, enough to make the ground shake.
Stronger than any creature I had faced.
Even Oviraptor wouldn’t be able to withstand its headbutt.
But as long as it didn’t hit, it didn’t matter.
I leaped over it lightly, like a small dragon flying through the sky.
Boom!
“Kwaek!”
The toad, having slammed its head into the ground, skidded a few more steps due to inertia.
I thought it would be dazed from hitting its head on the ground.
However, it was as tough as it looked. Shaking its head a couple of times to clear the impact, it soon turned and stared at me.
Its eyes held surprise.
No ordinary lizard could have dodged that attack.
But this was just the beginning.
I reached out.
Moving my arm fluidly, starting from my right hand, through my elbow, shoulder, and to the other hand.
“Geggegek.”
Teabagging.
“Geggegek. Geggegek.”
It wouldn’t understand my words.
But it would get the message. A lizard in such a strange pose had only one thing to say.
You’re so slow.
The effect was remarkable.
The toad’s eyes turned white as it charged at me.
I focused all my attention on its movements.
Dodging its attacks with minimal movement, like a matador avoiding a bull.
Almost hitting, but not quite.
Making it feel like it could catch me if it tried just a bit harder.
Crying out after each attack to excite it further.
Continuing to dodge, I tripped and fell to the ground.
Thud.
It was the perfect timing for an attack, and the toad didn’t miss it.
Anger building up, it charged at me with unstoppable force and speed.
If that hit, I would die instantly.
Boom!
The toad’s massive body rolled over.
Not stopping after one fall, it kept rolling.
“Gek gek gek.”
It was a trap made by weaving dozens of layers of spider silk.
Even a brute like this would be heavily impacted.
A concussion at least.
I quickly used my martial arts to approach it.
“Kwaaaek!”
It struggled desperately, but I still had no intention of fighting it head-on.
In my hand was a prepared spider silk.
Arthropleura didn’t use spider silk for nests.
The reason was that their silk, while waterproof, wasn’t sticky like other spiders.
But its strength was undeniable.
Like using silver threads, I moved quickly, wrapping the toad’s body in silk.
“Kwaek!”
The silk tightened, hindering its breathing.
Snap.
The toad’s fierce resistance broke a few strands of silk.
It was stronger than I expected.
My body shook as I held onto the silk.
Thud!
I tightened the silk further.
Snap, snap.
More strands broke.
At the same time, small wounds appeared on its massive body.
Very small wounds.
But that was enough.
The silk continued to dig into the exposed flesh.
“Kwaaaek!”
The toad screamed.
Its struggles grew fiercer, but then gradually weakened.
“Kwoooook….”
Thud.
Beelzebufo’s massive body fell.
A body so huge couldn’t be felled by mere small wounds.
But I didn’t think it was faking.
This silk was coated with poison.
No matter how poisonous a toad, it couldn’t withstand poison injected directly into its body.
[Level up!]
“Geggegek!”
I roared triumphantly, standing on its corpse.
“…Geggegek.”
I lowered my voice, considering the possibility of its allies coming.
*
The rain grew heavier.
It was tough moving this heavy toad back to my nest in the rain.
But it would be worth it.
The spiders and I looked at the toad’s corpse with anticipation.
They say frog meat tastes like chicken.
Then toad meat should taste like duck, right?
With a graceful gesture, I skinned the toad.
What I saw was red flesh.
It looked quite appetizing. And with such a large body, there was plenty to eat.
Turb.
I tasted the toad’s meat with a big bite.
It was slightly bitter but definitely tasted like meat.
“Kieeng….”
The spiders drooled, watching.
I slapped the ground with my tail.
You can’t have any.
This meat is poisonous.
Eat water beetle meat instead.
“Kioong….”
They looked very disappointed.
I wanted to share, but I couldn’t.
I had to eat what was harmful to them.
Not because I wanted it all for myself, really.
I felt a slight warmth in my body.
Yeah, definitely had poison.
My stomach ached a bit.
But with Poison Immunity, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
Turb.
After tasting the tough but plentiful breast meat, I turned to the toad’s legs.
Leg meat was always tastier than breast meat.
With reverence, I took a bite of the leg meat.
Turb.
The perfect blend of fat and muscle created an exquisite texture.
Not too dry, not too soft, just right.
Slightly bitter, but no fishy taste.
It felt like eating high-quality beef tartare.
Yes, this was it.
This was gourmet.
Though not visible, the Gourmet skill must have been very pleased.
While devouring the toad, I found a strange bead
inside.
A black bead. It was too small to be an egg and too large to be a core.
No matter how much I stared at it, there was no explanation.
I wouldn’t die from eating it, right?
Poison Immunity and all.
Turb.
Gulp.
I swallowed the mysterious bead.
It was slightly bitter, but nothing else happened.
[Acquired 「Crisis Detection LV1」.]
Huh? Suddenly getting a skill.
Was it because I ate that?
If not….
This chilling feeling.
I immediately put down what I was eating and readied myself.
“Gek!”
I dispersed the spiders and prepared for the approaching threat.
【Beelzebufo LV12】
【Status】
「Rage」「Hostility」
【Astrochelys Radiata LV11】
【Status】
「Sympathy」「Hostility」
My former neighbors appeared.
Maybe I shouldn’t have roared so loudly.
But they weren’t that scary.
I could handle them one-on-one, and even if they were many, escaping was easy.
…Then why was my body trembling?
[「Crisis Detection LV1」 level up!]
[「Crisis Detection LV2」 level up!]
[「Crisis Detection LV3」 level up!]
The skill’s level rose crazily.
[「Crisis Detection LV4」 level up!]
[「Crisis Detection LV5」 level up!]
My whole body was warning me.
To flee immediately.
The creatures before me weren’t the problem.
Even those who had come to eat me no longer looked at me.
They only stared at the distant water.
An empty swamp.
But I sensed something approaching.
A black shadow.
The rapidly approaching shadow grew larger.
The moment I turned to flee, it emerged from the water.
【Piranha Caiman LV30(+)】
The swamp’s ruler revealed itself.
