Chapter 132: Ancient Ruins (Part Two)

The toad appeared, maintaining a bizarre posture with its head pressed against the ground as it began to circle the pond. Qin Fei was bewildered, having no idea what the creature was doing. As he observed it, he pressed his entire body into the shrubbery, remaining perfectly still. It was not that he did not want to move, but that he dared not.

While the cave was filled with bioluminescent creatures, Qin Fei and Xie Nainai were shielded by their firefly lanterns, which kept them concealed. However, making even the slightest sound would be disastrous. Creatures that survived in the darkness generally possessed incredibly sensitive hearing. Furthermore, the distance between the bushes and the pond was not great; if Qin Fei made a sound, the toad would easily detect him.

Escaping directly was not a realistic option either. There was a distance between the pond and the abandoned village, and beyond this patch of bushes, there was absolutely no cover along the way. Once they left the shrubs, they would likely be spotted immediately. They stood no chance of outrunning a toad over ten feet tall. Qin Fei reasoned that once the Toad King lost its target, it would naturally retreat into its burrow and return to its dormant state. He estimated that if they simply stayed hidden, the toad would eventually return to its hole.

But things did not go as planned. The toad began pressing its head even more firmly against the ground. A moment later, it actually started hopping toward the spot where Qin Fei and Xie Nainai were hiding.

Qin Fei was stunned. What was happening? If the toad had lost its target, it should logically have returned to its hole to hibernate. Why was it tracking them down? As the Toad King drew closer, Qin Fei noticed that while its head remained pressed to the ground, its nostrils were twitching incessantly. A bold theory immediately crossed his mind: could this toad track the scent of living beings? The more he observed the creature’s strange behavior, the more likely it seemed.

With the Toad King closing in, Qin Fei panicked. He pulled out the cryo-pod containing his Stone Shrimp and hurled it with all his might toward the beast. "Run! Run!" After throwing the shrimp, he flipped himself onto the back of his pig, Big Nose, and quickly pulled Xie Nainai up as well.

The two people and two pigs fled toward the abandoned village behind them. There was no other choice; the path forward was blocked by the giant toad. The only place left to go was this derelict underground settlement. The Stone Shrimp was less than a third the size of the Toad King. Qin Fei had only released it to distract the beast and buy them time; he never expected it to defeat such a monster.

As Big Nose carried them into the ruins, the ground began to tremble. Clearly, the vibrations were caused by the Toad King’s leaps. It seemed the creature had already dispatched the Stone Shrimp and was now following their scent.

Once inside the village, Qin Fei’s expression grew frantic. The only entrance to the village was now blocked by the Toad King, and the perimeter of the area was bounded by the map’s edge—a bottomless abyss. Nothing could cross the abyss, not even creatures capable of flight like bats.

Could he use his expertise in Tek construction to build a sealed shelter? No; Tek structures required iron, and no metal could be used in this world. Stone masonry was out of the question, too—not only had he already fed his stone supply to the Stone Shrimp, but a stone structure would offer no defense against the Toad King anyway. A Teleportation Staff? That was also useless; such items did not function in environments like caves, the sky, or the ocean.

As Qin Fei racked his brain for a solution, Xie Nainai tugged at his sleeve and pointed toward a spot nearby. "Hey! There's a gap over there!"

"What?" Qin Fei looked where she was pointing. It was a massive fissure that had cracked open in the village floor. The light in the underground cavern was dim, and they had been relying on their firefly lantern to see their surroundings. Because it was so dark, Qin Fei had not noticed the crack when they first entered. Now, however, a strange, eerie red glow was emanating from within, which was what had caught Xie Nainai’s attention.

The opening was just the right size to fit Qin Fei, Xie Nainai, Caesar the pig, and Big Nose. The tremors from the ground were becoming increasingly violent, signaling that the Toad King was nearly upon them. Without a second’s hesitation, they all leaped into the glowing red fissure and crouched down to hide.

*Thump! Thump!*

With the ground shaking, the Toad King arrived near the fissure. It loitered for a moment before discovering them. However, for a creature of its massive size, the gap was far too narrow; it was physically impossible for it to squeeze inside.

...

After a while, the outside grew quiet. "Has the toad left?" Xie Nainai whispered.

"I'm not sure..." Just as Qin Fei prepared to stand up to check, a massive tongue lashed out from above the fissure. It was the toad’s tongue! In the nick of time, Qin Fei pulled a golden harpoon from his pack and hurled it upward with all his might. The tongue was so large that he could not possibly miss. Using his sheer strength, he drove the harpoon halfway into the creature's flesh.

Drops of purple-black blood rained down from above. The blood appeared to be corrosive; as it splashed onto Big Nose's back, it hissed and sizzled, causing the pig to squeal in pain. Outside, the toad let out a pained, guttural croak. The injury to its tongue clearly caused it immense agony; it began thrashing and hopping violently, causing the entire ground to boom with thunderous vibrations.

Qin Fei stood up and peeked out of the fissure to observe the scene. It seemed the toad’s frantic movements had caused a collapse in the cavern ceiling. As the Toad King leaped, a massive obelisk plummeted vertically from the roof. Given the toad’s gargantuan size, the obelisk landed squarely on its body.

The toad’s tongue lolled out, and it went still. Qin Fei was left completely stunned by the Toad King’s self-destructive fate. Furthermore, to his utter amazement, the design of the obelisk was identical to the three great towers of the Ark world.