Chapter 124: Hunting the Giant Toad |
Everyone sat resting on a flat open area of the hillside.
"Just don't know if that giant toad will return to its lair today or tomorrow," Deng Guang murmured to himself. "At its speed, if we only set out from the complex when it starts heading back, we might not make it in time."
Li Yue pondered for a moment, then said, "It's either today, or it's tomorrow."
"That's just stating the obvious!" The others rolled their eyes.
Wang Yun said, "I checked the number of mayflies in the river this morning. There were basically none left, and not many mayfly corpses remained on the water's surface either. Judging by that giant toad's appetite, it's highly likely to be today."
Yang Cunshen said, "Most probably today."
Just as everyone was discussing, a faint yet distinct sound suddenly came from the foot of the mountain, like a heavy hammer striking deep in everyone's hearts.
"Thump."
This familiar sound made Qin Ziwen stand up involuntarily.
He felt his heart pounding wildly.
He couldn't tell if it was nervousness or fear, but he could sense his adrenaline quietly secreting right now.
"Everyone, get ready," Qin Ziwen reminded the group.
"Everyone, don't be too scared. No matter how big its body is, it's still a toad! Toads as animals are not particularly brave! If it gets injured, it will most likely run away. We don't need to deliberately block it. Even if it escapes back to the mountain cave, we have a Plan B," Wang Yun comforted everyone.
Yuan Ming's fair cheeks were flushed crimson. He widened his eyes, his breathing somewhat rapid. "Damn it all, I've never killed such a huge monster before. If we succeed, I must take lots of photos as a memento."
The giant toad's leaping sounds from the foot of the mountain grew closer and closer.
Everyone hid.
The footsteps drew nearer and nearer.
Suddenly, the giant toad stopped.
Qin Ziwen, hiding behind a rock, sensed the silence in the air and his heart tightened violently.
Had they been discovered?
After quite a while, the giant toad moved.
"Boom!"
The ground trembled slightly.
The giant toad jumped into the pit. With a flick of its tongue, it scooped up the two mayfly corpses placed at the bottom of the pit and stuck them into its mouth.
The pit floor was densely packed with over a dozen mayfly corpses, all of which they had fished out from the river downstream.
Although the giant toad had monopolized the most densely populated area of mayflies in the river.
The mayflies were active throughout this stretch of the river course. Some mayfly corpses that the giant toad hadn't eaten still drifted downstream with the current, becoming food for the fish in the river.
Previously, these mayfly larvae ate the fish in the river while swimming upstream. Now, their corpses and newly hatched young became food for the river fish. Every action, every consequence, it's all part of the cycle.
The giant toad's tiny brain couldn't be bothered to think about why there were mayfly corpses here, and why the surrounding ground seemed to have a strange smell.
But it didn't matter. For it, if it saw something, it would just eat it along the way. It was that simple.
Because it hadn't encountered a natural predator for many years.
Although it sensed some strange little bugs around, it didn't pay them any mind, as they weren't on its menu.
On the hillside not far away, Qin Ziwen and Du Yu stood up simultaneously, drawing their bows and nocking arrows, each holding a compound bow.
The two aimed at the giant toad's left and right eyes respectively.
The giant toad's eyes were huge, as big as lanterns.
Naturally, they were also easier to hit.
"Whoosh—"
The giant toad detected movement. Its powerful dynamic capture ability allowed it to observe two black afterimages approaching.
But its body couldn't react in time. Its unique physical structure dictated that when facing such high-speed moving targets, the only thing that could react was its tongue.
Its strong, tougher-than-a-whip tongue instinctively shot out.
Instantly batting away one arrow.
A pain sensation came from the tip of its tongue. The sharp arrowhead had also cut its tongue tip.
Immediately after, its left eye went dark, and a more intense stabbing pain flooded its mind.
"Guaaa!!!"
The giant toad let out a long cry.
It raised its head. An arrow was deeply embedded in its eye, piercing the eyeball and stabbing inside.
Its claws dug into the ground.
It was about to leap.
But several strange sounds came from within its eardrums.
"Crack~"
Immediately after, searing pain erupted fiercely on its back, near its feet, and on its abdomen.
Flames covered its entire body.
Its thick skin initially blocked the flames, but as the flames burned through the keratin layer, intense pain stimulated all its nerves.
It was these little bugs!
The giant toad's remaining single eye glared fiercely at the surrounding group of little bugs.
It opened its large mouth, and its tongue lashed out like a whip.
"Thump!!"
The tongue landed on a tree. The tree trunk was smashed open into a large hole, as if struck by some blunt weapon.
After losing one eye, the giant toad's vision was greatly affected. Its pride-and-joy precision was drastically reduced. It spat out its tongue seven or eight times in succession, but each shot was crooked and slanted, landing far from any person.
"Throw the second round of Molotov cocktails and then retreat."
Qin Ziwen finished speaking and quickly backed away. While speaking, he noticed the giant toad tilt its head slightly towards his direction.
Molotov cocktails dealt continuous damage. As the cocktails piled on, the burning area on the giant toad's back grew larger and larger.
Everyone threw the second round of Molotov cocktails.
"Crack!"
The Molotov cocktails shattered one after another, breaking open on the giant toad's back. Flames clung to its body, burning fiercely.
The giant toad leaped into the air, jumping seven or eight meters high, like a meteorite, shooting forward.
"Boom!!!"
The giant toad's massive body crashed directly into a large tree that would take two people to embrace. The trunk shook violently, bending into an arch shape.
"Crack—"
A fissure split open on the tree trunk's surface. Leaves rustled down. The entire tree leaned forward, its roots upturned, churning up waves of soil from the ground.
The giant toad was also shaken dizzy.
"Gurr!!!" An angry sound rumbled from the giant toad's throat. Its body ablaze with flames, it turned its head. An arrow was stuck in one eye, blood mixed with fluid constantly dripping down. Its other eye stared fixedly at Yuan Ming.
The intense pain made it extend its left claw to constantly paw at its eye, but this only drove the arrow deeper and deeper, making the wound more and more severe.
"Gurr—"
The giant toad stopped its action. With its single remaining eye, it stared fixedly at Yuan Ming to its right front.
The others anxiously gestured to Yuan Ming, signaling him to get away quickly.
After the second round of Molotov cocktails was thrown, everyone had already slowly retreated, but Yuan Ming's position was closest to the giant toad, with a cliff right beside him.
The corner of Yuan Ming's mouth twitched. He wanted to retreat too, but his legs felt weak.
He thought he wouldn't be afraid when facing the giant toad head-on, but he found he had overestimated his body's instincts.
This was a terrifying monster that, just lying there, was taller than a single-story building.
Yuan Ming leaned on the nearby tree, slowly stood up, and then began backing away slowly.
Suddenly, the giant toad moved.
Like a gust of fierce wind, it leaped heavily towards Yuan Ming.
"Boom!!!"
The giant toad slammed heavily into a tree that would take three people to embrace. The trunk bent, and the recoil force flung it sideways. Half its body nearly fell off the cliff. Fortunately, it reacted in time, its two claws hooking desperately into the soil, maintaining its position.
Then, bit by bit, it began climbing up.
"Good opportunity."
Qin Ziwen and Du Yu simultaneously drew their compound bows again, aiming at the giant toad's only remaining eye.
The two stood left and right.
"Whoosh—"
"Guaaa!!!"
The giant toad released its claws.
And fell off the cliff.
Everyone heard an extremely dull, heavy thud.
Coming to the cliff edge, they saw the giant toad lying motionless at the bottom of the ravine.
"Yuan Ming, are you okay!" Qin Ziwen helped up Yuan Ming, who had fallen to the ground.
A large lump had swollen on Yuan Ming's forehead, and his eyes were tightly closed.
Wang Yun's expression was grave. "It was probably caused by a secondary impact after the tree was bent by the collision. We'll carry him down later."
The six of them came to the cliff edge, looking at the giant toad lying at the ravine bottom, its hind legs still twitching.
"It's still not dead after such a fall!" Qin Ziwu clicked his tongue in amazement.
Qin Ziwen said, "Throw the Molotov cocktails."
Everyone found the hidden Molotov cocktails and threw them down from the cliff.
Flames gradually covered the giant toad.
The giant toad's body twitched intermittently within the flames. Finally, after more than ten minutes.
A large amount of white light points condensed from its body surface, converging above its body to form five cards.
......
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