Chapter 550 - 358: Sudden Aberration, The Anomaly in the Pool

Chapter 550: Chapter 358: Sudden Aberration, The Anomaly in the Pool

Given the sudden turn of events, they no longer had the luxury of teaching that insolent young man a lesson.

"It’s a Mutant Beast! There’s a Mutant Beast in the pool!" By now, even the slowest person present had belatedly realized what was happening.

"Boss...!" The surviving underlings all looked to Li Mai.

"Damn beast... I won’t let it get away with this," Li Mai cursed through gritted teeth. "Find a way to lure the Mutant Beast out of the water."

He had lost four of his men in an instant. ’If I don’t slaughter the beast hiding in the water, how can I call myself their boss anymore?’

The shocked and furious underlings nodded. But just as they started trying to figure out how to lure the beast out, the bottomless pool began to stir. The water churned, and two enormous figures leaped out, landing on the bank.

’What huge toads,’ Lin Li muttered to himself, watching the two giant creatures leap from the pool onto the bank.

Before them stood two creatures, each the size of a van.

Their bodies were bloated, their eyes pitch-black. Their dark green skin shimmered with an eerie sheen, and their backs were covered in rows of unsettling bumps that made one’s skin crawl.

A closer look revealed that the bumps on the backs of the two giant toads were different colors.

The bumps on the slightly larger toad were red, while those on the smaller one were purple.

"Boss, they’re Green-backed Toads! And it’s a male and a female pair!"

Just moments before, the underlings had been shocked and enraged, bent on avenging their four brothers who had been dragged underwater. But upon seeing that their attackers were two Green-backed Toads, their fury instantly vanished, replaced by pure terror.

Li Mai, who had been thinking of avenging his men, also sobered up instantly.

His Perception told him that the two Green-backed Toad Beasts were emitting Spiritual Energy Waves at the Second Order Middle Stage.

Two Mutant Beasts this strong could easily wipe them all out. ’For the sake of my own skin, who gives a damn about avenging those four missing guys!’ He immediately shouted.

"Retreat!"

With that said, he was the first to turn and bolt toward the valley entrance, moving with incredible speed.

Seeing Li Mai flee, his underlings immediately turned tail and ran as well.

As for the various Treasure Hunting Teams who had been watching from the sidelines, they weren’t about to stick around and be spectators either. For their own safety, they also turned and fled the valley.

The two Green-backed Toad Beasts didn’t give chase. They had come here to reproduce.

They had only attacked the humans because they had been in the middle of... private matters... underwater, and the incessant shouting from the shore had disturbed their mating.

In a short while, Li Mai’s group and the other Treasure Hunting Squads were all gone, leaving Lin Li standing there all alone.

"CROAK...?!!!"

The two Green-backed Toad Beasts had planned to return to the pool to continue mating after driving the humans away.

They hadn’t expected one human to remain. This puzzled them. ’Why is he still here? Does he want to be an extra snack?’

’We swallowed four of them earlier, but we’re not full. We can still eat more!’

"CROAK..." The Green-backed Toad Beast with the red bumps cried out at Lin Li. It opened its mouth, and its tongue shot out in a blur.

Lin Li instantly dodged aside to avoid the Green-backed Toad Beast’s attack.

SLAP.

The slimy tongue missed its target, striking the ground with a sharp crack.

"CROAK?!!!" The red-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast was a little surprised that it had failed to catch its target in one go.

Seeing her mate fail, the smaller, purple-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast decided to catch the human herself.

"CROAK..." It croaked, opened its mouth, and its tongue shot out.

Seeing the beast attack him again, with a mere thought from Lin Li, his Spiritual Longsword appeared in his hand.

He sidestepped the beast’s tongue, then swung the Spiritual Longsword—now glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light—and brought it down on the slimy appendage.

SQUELCH.

Infused with Spiritual Energy, the Spiritual Longsword was incredibly sharp. It sliced through the Green-backed Toad’s slimy tongue as easily as if it were tofu.

The severed tongue fell to the ground and continued to writhe, a truly nauseating sight.

"CROAK..." The Green-backed Toad Beast shrieked in agony as its tongue was severed.

Seeing its mate injured by the human, the red-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast became enraged.

It had to avenge its mate. However, having learned a lesson from its mate’s severed tongue, it didn’t dare to rashly attack Lin Li with its own.

The red-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast tensed its hind legs. With a powerful push from its thick thighs, its entire body shot forward like a cannonball, hurtling toward Lin Li.

’Fast,’ Lin Li muttered to himself, ’but not nearly fast enough to catch me.’ He immediately dodged to the side.

THUD.The red-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast landed where he had just been. As it prepared to pounce again...

...it saw a blazing Fireball ignite in the human’s hand. It immediately halted its charge.

WHOOSH.

The Fireball, a meter in diameter, shot out with such speed that the red-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast had no time to dodge.

BOOM...

The Fireball, radiating waves of heat, slammed into the Green-backed Toad Beast and erupted in a violent explosion.

While the searing flames that burst outward didn’t completely engulf the Green-backed Toad Beast, the terrifying heat still inflicted severe burns upon its body.

"CROAK..."

The burned Green-backed Toad Beast let out a pained shriek. Seeing Lin Li conjure another Fireball, its mate immediately pounced toward him, trying to stop him from attacking her partner again.

"Heh. Then you can have this one." Lin Li saw the purple-bumped Green-backed Toad Beast pouncing, knowing it was trying to save its companion. He immediately tossed the fully-formed Fireball in his hand toward it.

BOOM...

The Fireball Lin Li had conjured this time was much larger than the last, and its power had increased significantly.

It had leaped into the air to pounce on Lin Li, but while still in mid-flight, it took the direct hit from the enhanced Fireball.

The searing flames from the terrifying explosion inflicted grievous injuries on the female Green-backed Toad Beast.

The severely burned female Green-backed Toad Beast crashed to the ground. One of its forelimbs had been blown clean off by the Fireball. The wound was a charred, blackened mess from which a thick, foul-smelling mucus constantly oozed.

"CROAK..." Seeing its mate so gravely injured, the male Green-backed Toad Beast let out a sorrowful cry. Its eyes turned blood-red as it charged Lin Li, no longer caring whether it could actually defeat this human.

"CROAK..."

BOOM...

"CROAK..."

SQUELCH...

The croaks of the Green-backed Toad Beasts, the explosions of Fireballs, and the sound of the Spiritual Longsword slicing through flesh periodically rang out before the bottomless pool, weaving together into a chaotic symphony.

While Lin Li battled the Green-backed Toad Beasts, Li Mai’s group and the other Treasure Hunting Squads had long since fled. Noticing that the two ferocious Mutant Beasts weren’t in pursuit, they slowed their pace slightly.

It was then that they suddenly heard loud explosions and the cries of the Green-backed Toad Beasts coming from behind them, which left them puzzled.

"What’s going on?"

"Strange... what are those sounds?"

"Don’t tell me someone is fighting the Green-backed Toad Beasts?"

"Are you kidding? Those two Green-backed Toad Beasts are at the Second Order Middle Stage. We couldn’t handle them even if we all attacked together. Who would be crazy enough to fight them?"

The crowd stopped in their tracks, straining their ears to listen to the distant sounds. They were all wondering the same thing: who could possibly be that brave?

...

PS: Thank you to "dh大海" for the 500-point donation.