Chapter 72: Unroyal Toad (2/2)

With two huge bulging eyes, a body full of blue and bumpy skin that reminded the lich of warts, the yellow-striped giant toad stuck its purple tongue out and slapped its pursuer. It crawled and mowed down trees like a rampaging rhinosaur chimaera, but even its sturdily built body could not help it escape the inevitable fate to be someone else's lunch.

From the shadow realm, Rino observed everything in slow motion. For such a huge toad, he did not think there were other creatures capable of eating it. Toads have poisonous skin, and that tongue was coated in a deadly type of paralysis poison. However, when he saw who was chasing the king toad, Rino thought it looked very unroyal.

In a desperate attempt to put more distance between them, the king toad launched itself into the air, bursting through the trees and towards the sky. The huge snake monster dodged that tongue-whip and coiled itself to launch into the air after its hunt. Despite having such a huge body that could only wriggle on its belly, the huge serpent managed to reach a decent height with only the tip of its tail connected to the ground.

The shadow overcasting the king toad was the final warning it had before the snake launched itself at the toad with fangs bared and jaws wide open.

RIBBIT!

That last cry of alarm echoed as they crashed back down into the forest. Rino quickly moved to catch up with the action. Leaves and dust covering most of his vision cleared a little, and the lich saw only the two hind legs kicking weakly as the huge serpent tried to swallow more of that king toad.

Well, it was not Rino's position to interfere with how mother nature wanted to work. If he saved this toad, it would only become toad kebab when he returned to the village. A prolonged existence made no difference for those predestined to die. This king toad was lucky. If it were up to Rino, he would take his time experimenting on the effects of that paralysis poison.

Strangely, the serpent was not affected by it. Instead, it flicked its tongue as if licking its lips after the toad was swallowed whole. With a large bulge in its belly, the serpent slithered lazily away, uncaring for the trail of destruction they caused in this part of the forest.

Rino rejoiced. At least these king toads were not found only in the marsh. The giant serpent might be terrifying, but Rino had faith his hunting squad leader candidates were more than capable of hunting these ugly king toads and avoiding the giant serpent.

There might be many more other monsters in this area, but Rino would not know. For now, he was happy that his subordinates did not need to challenge the final boss on their first hunting expedition. It would be counter-effective to terrorise them before the games began.

For now, Rino looked around the area in the shadow realm. Surely, there would be more than one king toad around. That could not have been the only king toad in the area, right?

Rino would be severely disappointed if the serpent ate the only king toad in this forest. He did not like getting down and messy, but he would gut that snake if it meant digging the carcass of that king toad if he did not find any.