I'd grown a lot in a short time.
From only being able to use Tail Sever, I'd now learned footwork, Qi cultivation, and even gained immunity to ten poisons. It was a remarkable achievement.
But that was it.
I didn't have a single skill that could be called an attack.
Oh, Status Window!
I still don't have an attack skill!
It gives me skills like Acid Resistance and Paralysis Resistance just fine, so why won't it give me an attack skill?
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue.
Something like Tail Whip, or a Strong Bite.
I'd be incredibly grateful for even something like that.
As I was now, I was a rather unbalanced creature.
I had this thing called MP, but no way to use it.
The only skills that used that resource were Tail Sever and Sprint, and I barely used them anymore.
I guess I have no choice but to get stronger as fast as possible.
And that meant eating that noisy toad croaking in the distance.
The Beelzebufo was practically my natural enemy.
It was much bigger than me and even had poison, so I hadn't dared to even think about messing with it.
But things were a little different now.
A body immune to ten poisons.
A footwork technique called the Little Dragon's Heavenly Ascent Steps.
The internal energy I'd gained through the Small Heavenly Cycle and the Baek Rang Heart Art.
And Tus and Pus.
"Kieeeek?"
Why are you looking at me like that?
Did they read my mind? The spiders looked startled.
Clever little things.
"Gek gek."
I patted the spot next to me.
Come here.
"Kieeeng…."
It came over, but it clearly didn't want to.
Pus pointed to its shrunken belly.
It must mean it's out of web.
Such a drama queen.
I smacked its butt.
Fwip!
See? It comes out just fine.
"Kiiiing…."
Dejected, Pus returned to its spot.
Tus, as if watching a fire across the river, was observing the web being extorted from a distance.
I wiggled my lizard foreleg.
Wiggle, wiggle.
"Keeng?"
It put on an innocent face, but that doesn't work on me.
You, come here too.
Rain was falling.
The cool dampness on my body felt quite nice.
Lizards are normally cold-blooded animals, but I felt fine even in the rain.
Maybe it was because I was an aquatic lizard, but it actually felt good.
My body was a little special.
I was too much of a lizard to be human, but I still had some human traits left in me to be just a lizard.
For one, my vision was incomparably better than a normal lizard's. It was almost no different from when I was human.
At the same time, I hadn't lost the advantages of being a lizard—namely, my sense of smell.
I flicked my tongue out once.
I could feel the faint scents in the air amplifying.
The smell of rain and earth.
The scent of distant prey, and the scent of the toad.
My senses of smell, sight, and hearing combined to pinpoint the enemy's location.
One toad was separated from its group.
As long as it didn't wander into the piranha-infested area, the toad wouldn't be in any danger. It was probably acting alone because it knew this.
A situation where the enemy was alone.
No, a situation where the prey was alone.
This was my chance.
I lifted my front legs. My two feet touched the surface of the water.
The instant a raindrop hit the water, I kicked off the surface with explosive force.
Splash, splash, splash.
Not even the sound of the rain could muffle my frantic footsteps.
I could have quieted my steps if I wanted to. I could use the Little Dragon's Heavenly Ascent Steps, which wasn't a basilisk lizard's trait. But I didn't.
Making a loud noise was part of my plan.
I ran toward the Beelzebufo at full speed.
Th-th-th-thump!
Even if its hearing was bad, it would have to hear this.
The creature spotted me.
It seemed startled by the sudden noise, but once it realized the source was just a small lizard, it appeared to enter a combat stance.
Toads, unlike frogs, weren't creatures that hunted by shooting their tongues out from a distance. There might be exceptions, but a beast this size would probably prefer to ram with its body rather than use its tongue.
[Beelzebufo LV7]
[Status]
「Hungry」「Wary」
Level 7. It was the weakest of the ones I'd seen before.
It probably wasn't an adult yet; unlike the one with the golden sheen on its skin, this one was only green.
I dipped my tail into the water to slow down.
Swoosh!
The water parted, sending countless droplets flying in all directions.
The moment those droplets touched its body, the Beelzebufo attacked.
It charged, ramming forward with its massive body.
The impact was so immense it felt like the ground was shaking.
It was stronger than any creature I had faced before.
Even an Oviraptor would be knocked senseless by this thing's headbutt.
But as long as I didn't get hit, it didn't matter.
Like a small dragon taking flight, I leaped over it with ease.
CRASH!
"Ggu-aek!"
The toad, having slammed its head into the wrong spot, slid a few more steps forward from inertia.
I thought it must have been stunned from smashing its head on the ground.
But the creature was as tough as it looked. It shook its head a couple of times as if to clear it, then immediately turned and stared at me.
Its eyes were filled with surprise.
A normal lizard would never have been able to dodge that attack.
But it shouldn't be surprised by just this.
I still had more prepared.
I extended my arm.
I moved it as naturally as flowing water. The movement started in my right hand, flowed through my elbow, up to my shoulder, and then to my other hand.
"Gegegek."
I was teabagging it.
"Gegegek. Gegegek."
There was no way it could understand my words.
But it would understand my intent. A lizard making such a strange gesture could only be saying one thing.
You're so damn slow.
The effect was tremendous.
The toad's eyes rolled back in its head as it charged wildly.
I focused all my attention on its movements.
Like a matador dodging a bull's charge, I evaded its attacks with the bare minimum of motion.
Almost hit, but not quite.
Making it think, Just a little more and I'll get him.
The moment its attack ended, I'd let out a cry to agitate it further.
I kept dodging like this until I tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground.
Thud.
It was the perfect timing for the creature to attack, and it didn't miss the opportunity.
Its rage had built up to the point where it unleashed a burst of speed and power it couldn't control itself.
If that hit me, I'd die instantly.
BOOM!
The toad's massive body slowly tipped over.
It didn't stop with just one fall, but continued to tumble over and over with a crash.
"Gegegek."
It was a trap made of dozens of layers of spiderweb.
Even for a creature as ridiculously tough as this one, a fall like that would be a huge shock.
It probably had a concussion.
I immediately used my footwork to approach it quickly.
"Gwaaaaek!"
It struggled, trying to resist somehow, but I still had no intention of fighting it head-on.
In my hands was the spiderweb I had prepared earlier.
Attercopus spiders don't use their webs to build nests.
That's because while their webs are waterproof, they aren't sticky like other spiders'.
But their strength was second to none.
As if wielding silver thread, I moved at high speed, wrapping the creature's body in the web.
"Gwaek!"
The web tightened, constricting its breathing.
Snap.
It resisted fiercely, and a few strands of the web broke.
It was even stronger than I'd expected.
My own body was lifted off the ground as I held onto the web.
Th-thump!
I tightened the web even more.
Snap, snap.
As expected, a few more strands broke.
And at the same time, a small wound appeared on the creature's massive body.
It was a very small wound.
But it was enough.
The web continued to dig into the exposed flesh.
"Ggu-aeeek!"
The toad screamed.
Its struggles grew more violent, then at some point, its strength began to wane.
"Gguuuuk…."
Thump.
The Beelzebufo's massive body collapsed.
It was far too large to collapse from such a minor wound.
But I didn't think it was faking.
Because this web was coated in poison.
No matter how poisonous a toad it was, it couldn't withstand poison being injected directly under its skin.
[You have leveled up.]
"Gegegek!"
I stood on the creature's corpse and let out a triumphant roar.
"…Gegegek."
Though I did quiet down a bit, just in case its friends showed up.
The rain grew heavier.
Dragging this heavy toad back to my nest in this weather was a real pain.
Still, it would be worth the effort.
The spiders and I gazed at the toad's carcass with expectant eyes.
I'd heard that frog meat tastes like chicken.
If so, would toad meat taste something like duck?
With an elegant motion of my hand, I peeled off the toad's skin.
What I saw was red flesh.
It looked quite appetizing. And since it was so big, it went without saying that there was a lot to eat.
Chomp.
I took a bite of the toad meat with my large mouth.
It had a slightly bitter taste, but it definitely tasted like red meat.
"Kieeeng…."
The spiders drooled as they watched me.
I slapped the ground with my tail.
You can't have any.
This meat is poisonous.
Go eat some diving beetle meat.
"Kiooong…."
They looked thoroughly disappointed.
I want to share, but I can't help it.
I have to be the one to eat things that are bad for you.
It's definitely not because I want it all for myself.
I felt my body warm up slightly.
Hiss, so it did have poison.
My stomach is starting to hurt a little.
But with Ten-Poisons Immunity, it shouldn't be a big problem.
Chomp.
After tasting the dry but plentiful breast meat, my snout turned toward the toad's leg.
It's common knowledge that leg meat is tastier than breast meat.
With a reverent heart, I took a bite of the leg.
Chomp.
The perfect combination of fat and muscle created a sublime texture.
Not too dry, not too soft, just right.
It was bitter, but not gamey at all.
It felt like eating high-quality raw beef.
Yes, this is it.
This is what gourmet is all about.
I couldn't see it, but I was sure my Gourmet skill was loving this.
As I was devouring the toad, I discovered a strange, bead-like object inside.
It was a black orb. It couldn't be a toad egg since there was only one, and it was too small to be an inner core.
No matter how hard I stared at it, no description appeared.
Well, it probably won't kill me.
I have Ten-Poisons Immunity, after all.
Chomp.
Gulp.
I swallowed the unidentified orb.
It was a little bitter, but nothing seemed wrong.
[You have acquired 「Crisis Detection LV1」.]
Huh? What strange timing to get a skill.
Was it because I ate that thing?
Or if not….
This feeling of a chill running down my entire body.
I immediately dropped what I was eating and got into a defensive stance.
"Ge-ek!"
I had the spiders scatter and prepared for the coming threat.
[Beelzebufo LV12]
[Status]
「Rage」「Hostility」
[Radiated Tortoise LV11]
[Status]
「Sympathy」「Hostility」
The ones that appeared were my two former neighbors.
Maybe I should have kept my roar down.
No, still, these guys weren't that scary.
I was confident I could take them one-on-one, and even against two, escaping would be easy.
…But then, why was my body trembling like this?
[The level of 「Crisis Detection LV1」 has increased.]
[The level of 「Crisis Detection LV2」 has increased.]
[The level of 「Crisis Detection LV3」 has increased.]
The skill's level was rising like crazy.
[The level of 「Crisis Detection LV4」 has increased.]
[The level of 「Crisis Detection LV5」 has increased.]
My entire body was screaming at me.
Run away from here, now!
The creatures in front of me weren't the problem.
Even the ones who had come here to eat me were no longer looking at me.
They were just staring at the water's surface in the distance.
An empty patch of swamp.
But I could sense something approaching.
It was a black shadow.
The shadow was approaching at high speed, growing larger and larger.
The moment I turned to flee was almost the same instant it emerged from the water.
[Piranha Caiman LV30(+)]
The master of the swamp had revealed itself.
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