Chapter 82: Spirit Toad

Before the passage collapsed, Ji Xinghuo and three others had entered the cave.

The cave was about three hundred meters in diameter and over thirty meters high. It was dim, hot, and humid with a half-meter deep pool underfoot, feeling the mud through their steps.

“Sister Ren, are you sure we can find a way out?” Chi Zhonglin asked, eyeing the completely blocked passage nervously.

If the passage hadn’t been damaged, that Legendary Da Guan would have barged in.

Ren Mian didn’t reply but looked around the cave, casting a questioning glance at Ji Xinghuo.

“Where’s the Spirit Toad?”

Ji Xinghuo pointed in a direction.

The cave was filled with various aquatic plants, weeds, creeping vines on the rock walls, and numerous insects chirping.

Occasionally, juvenile toads hidden among the water grass croaked loudly.

Just by the sounds, one might think they were by a pond in the wild.

Ren Mian looked towards the spot Ji Xinghuo indicated. It was in the middle of the cave, where a mound of earth jutted out from the water, spanning dozens of square meters. Shadows loomed over it, blurry but exerting an overwhelming pressure.

Suddenly, two green glows lit up within the dim shadows.

The Spirit Toad had awakened!

However, it made no further moves, just stared toward the cave entrance with eyes as large as lanterns, its expression blank and seemingly confused as if just woken from a nap.

“Nobody move, or talk.”

Ren Mian’s voice sounded in their minds as she slowly pulled out a bottle of black liquid from her utility belt, uncorked it, and emptied it into the water.

She then handed each of her companions a few berry-sized fruits.

“Eat these quickly.”

Ji Xinghuo immediately recognized them as antidotes and quickly chewed and swallowed the fruits.

Ren Mian had poisoned the water.

They just needed to wait for the poison to take effect to kill the Spirit Toad effortlessly.

But things were not that simple.

Boom!

The collapsed passage behind them suddenly shook, seeming completely sealed, but small gaps between the rocks remained. Ji Xinghuo faintly heard shouts from the Legendary Da Guan clearing the debris to reopen the passage.

Boom! Boom! Boom…

A chilling draft seeped through the cracks, making Ji Xinghuo and the others feel the cold.

Just like Earthlings, the North Luo Master Clan had job templates fitting their genetics, some similar to the Water Ruler and Ice Edge.

These were the most common job templates among the Da Guan people.

The Legendary Da Guan outside mastered both, evolving into an advanced profession known on Earth as the “Glacial Envoy.”

A legendary fighter with an advanced profession could easily overwhelm a whole team of superhumans.

Especially when they only had three high-level and one mid-level superhumans. If the Legendary Da Guan broke through, they would have no escape.

“Don’t panic. He isn’t coming that fast,” Ren Mian reassured her teammates. “We just need to wait for the poison to work.”

Boom!

Another loud sound.

The Spirit Toad lying in the middle of the cave blinked, showing impatience.

“Oh no.”

Ji Xinghuo sensed something wrong. In the next instant, he was blown away by an invisible force, slamming hard against the cave wall, pain shooting throughout his body.

This was an attack from the Spirit Toad.

An energy-based attack!

“Engage,” Ren Mian ordered sharply. Her body had already transformed into a diamond-like crystalline form, unaffected by the attack.

Chi Zhonglin was thrown about badly, gritting his teeth as he stood up.

“Damned beast!”

His body instantly bulged, growing over two meters tall, his hair turning green and his body covered in black metallic scales, he charged at the Spirit Toad with a spear in hand.

Jiangnan Caiyi’s form merged with the air and vanished.

Bang!

Ren Mian fired a crystalline projectile that exploded mid-flight, illuminating the entire cave like daylight.

The Spirit Toad disliked light.

Hundreds of juvenile toads in the cave panicked, hopping and croaking loudly.

The large Spirit Toad instinctively closed its eyes, its energy momentarily faltering. Chi Zhonglin took the chance to rush up to it, spear aimed at its head.

Snap.

A sudden noise.

Chi Zhonglin was thrown back, almost dropping his lava spear.

His chest was caved in, as if struck by a fast-moving object, the force heavy and quick, leaving no time for reaction.

Ji Xinghuo saw everything.

He aimed his Dragon Falcon Bow at the Spirit Toad, his Wanxiang Star Eyes capturing the moment it attacked Chi Zhonglin with a sudden tongue thrust, quick as a spear of flesh, striking Chi Zhonglin.

It was the fastest attack Ji Xinghuo had ever seen, perhaps even faster than his arrows.

Yet he still released his arrow.

Snap!

The bowstring vibrated as Ji Xinghuo shot out a capacitor arrow that struggled to move through the air as if it were mired in mud.

The Spirit Toad flicked its tongue, knocking the capacitor arrow aside.

Jiangnan Caiyi appeared behind it, not by her choice but forced out. She was grabbed by an invisible hand, hurled backwards, and flung a hundred meters back, smashing into the cave wall.

Just before hitting the wall, Jiangnan Caiyi’s body became transparent, transforming into a spirit which saved her from severe injury.

Still, Jiangnan Caiyi was in bad shape.

She had just released an indescribable fear outside the palace, draining most of her star power and leaving her with little fighting strength.

“Caiyi, stand back.”

Ren Mian’s command was followed by several green thorns dropping into the water, spreading rapidly and entangling like giant poisonous snakes towards the Spirit Toad.

Realizing the danger, the Spirit Toad activated its energy, pulling the green thorn dragon out of the water.

Regardless of the captured green thorn dragon, Ren Mian accelerated the growth of the thorns, making them thicker and longer, forming a wild surge around the mound where the Spirit Toad was.

At the same time, she threw a red, palm-shaped wooden piece.

Exposed to the wind, the wooden piece grew into a three-meter-wide giant hand covered in large spikes, its center glowing red like a blood-soaked giant’s palm. Under Ren Mian’s control, it slammed down towards the Spirit Toad’s head.

Dragon’s Blood Palm!

Bang.

The red, bloodied palm met an invisible resistance, exploding on impact and sending shockwaves sweeping across the cave.

The Dragon’s Blood Palm clashed with an invisible kinetic force.

Focused, Ren Mian used the green thorn dragons to envelop the mound thoroughly.

An invisible force field wall thwarted the green thorn dragons’ onslaught.

Gu! The Spirit Toad suddenly croaked, its energy bursting out.

The Dragon’s Blood Palm was pushed back, and the onslaught of green thorn dragons also blasted away, overturning the water in the pool, forming a several-meter-tall wave heading straight for Ren Mian.

Ren Mian briefly lost control and couldn’t maintain the balance, thinking, “Dodge!”

But Chi Zhonglin didn’t dodge; instead, he charged forward, dashing through the middle of the green thorn dragon’s assault, bravely lunging forward with his lava spear, aiming straight for the Spirit Toad’s rear.

Ji Xinghuo also released an arrow.

Still a capacitor arrow, now close to overload, wrapped in electric light.

His right eye’s pupil flickered with a faint light ring, shooting the arrow at just the right moment and angle.

The capacitor arrow penetrated the water wave, flying through the fingers of the giant red palm, using it to shield the Spirit Toad’s view. By the time the Spirit Toad noticed the arrow, it was too late to block. Its energy had just burst and was at its weakest.

Shoo!

With a loud boom, the capacitor arrow hit the Spirit Toad’s eyes.

It managed to close its eyelids just in time. Its smooth, oily skin shone as the arrow slipped off to the side, slicing open a massive wound but not penetrating.

“Guah…”

The Spirit Toad let out a pained cry.

The capacitor arrow released a high voltage current, paralyzing its entire body. Its energy went haywire, and the massive wave it generated crashed down back into the pool.

Ji Xinghuo had anticipated this, his arrow achieving its intended purpose.

Chi Zhonglin seized the opportunity, thrusting his scalding spear into the Spirit Toad’s rear.

The Spirit Toad itself was not fast and had difficulty turning. Its tongue could not reach enemies behind it, and it was paralyzed by the capacitor arrow, without a chance to dodge.

“Guah!”

The Spirit Toad’s eyes nearly burst from the pain and despair, deeply unsettling to witness.

Boom!

The invisible energy wildly erupted, focusing on Chi Zhonglin. He quickly retracted his hand from the spear, focusing on the Tungsten Dragon’s Scales, letting the energy blast him away.

A blood-red giant hand smashed down overhead.

The Spirit Toad instinctively counteracted with its energy, but its gaze hesitated. The poison in the water wasn’t supposed to work this fast, but with injuries to its eyes and rear, the poison quickly seeped into its body through the wounds. Its energy flow was disrupted, brain reactions slowed, and drowsiness overwhelmed it.

The Dragon’s Blood Palm struck the Spirit Toad solidly, with a loud crash driving it into the mound.

Hundreds of green thorn dragons took the opportunity to entwine it swiftly, binding the Spirit Toad like a giant rice dumpling. Thorns pierced its flesh, constricting tightly like a group of pythons squeezing their prey.

“Guah!”

“Guah, guah…”

The Spirit Toad called out in panic, but soon its mouth was also bound by the green thorn dragons, silencing it completely.

Chi Zhonglin quickly approached, grabbed the end of the lava spear, and pulled it out. Star power surged through the weapon, glowing red-hot, he thrust the spear into the immobilized Spirit Toad’s head, killing it.

Ji Xinghuo saw +35 spiritual source energy on his interface!

“Damn, finally killed it.”

It was only then that Chi Zhonglin realized there was pain all over his body, but he didn’t forget something crucial, shouting, “Where are the Spirit Toad’s eggs?”

Ji Xinghuo had already found them.

At the edge of the mound, in a shallow pit, was a clump of transparent mucus containing thousands of tiny black spots, each a Spirit Toad egg.

“Grab all the eggs, we’re leaving now,” Ren Mian said as she walked over.

She stood beside the Spirit Toad’s corpse, pulling out a hexagonal column-shaped bizarre crystal.

As Chi Zhonglin used a piece of cloth to gather all the eggs from the mud pit, packing them up, and Jiangnan Caiyi joined the team, Ren Mian immediately turned the crystal in her hand. A burst of light enveloped all four of them along with the Spirit Toad’s corpse.

The light flickered for a few seconds and then dissipated. The cave was left empty.