Chapter 20 - Wait there’s two of them?

After encountering the Anaconda, Tara became far more cautious of her surroundings.

She had no idea the Anaconda was there until Claw pointed it out.

The thought of something so massive being able to sneak up on her like that was terrifying.

With her recent growth in power, Tara had to admit she was beginning to grow complacent; after all, she was a human before this and had grown up in an environment where you do not need to be constantly on guard with the concern of being the target of a fearsome predator's next meal.

Despite surviving so far, Tara knew there were some things you could not make up for in a short time, and she would never match Claw's hundreds of years of experience in survival in a brief period.

Tara even wondered if she would have died in this place if she had never encountered Claw and Lady.

She was beginning to grow bold in her hunt for the Pikeakes, and seeing that Anaconda strike, she knew it would have been able to gobble her up in one mouthful before she could even blink.

It would have been suicidal to come here alone, not before she had an appropriate level of strength; Claw navigated the poisonous bogs well because he had to survive here before.

Iron Salalamanders seemed to be one of the most adaptable species in the Swamp, and you could likely find them in every section.

According to Claw, though they were a popular hunting target for both Magical Beasts and Humans, Humans harvested them for materials helpful in healing elixirs. Magical Beasts targeted them for their relative weakness in their cultivation stage.

It made sense that Claw was incredibly wary in general, given what he had endured living that long; after the encounter with the Anaconda, he began to open up more and provide knowledge like any Elder of their species does for the younger ones.

Tara was especially curious about the humans of this world. As it turned out, Claw told her to be prudent against them the most since, according to Claw, humans never enter the Swamp to encounter Magical beasts for a good reason.

Claw said most Humans consider Magical Beasts bestial savages, even though it is common knowledge that the older ones among their kind have sentience comparable to that of many humans.

He said their intentions towards Iron Salamanders were usually to hunt them since, to Human standards, they were always more valuable dead than alive, as one could harvest a dead salamander for materials.

Human Beast Tamers don't see them as valuable companions, though he did credit his and Lady's intelligence for being one for a period in their lives.

Claw did say this was irregular, though, because their species is usually not viewed as favourable for tamers, and the Human who was their tamer was considered a laughing stock among their flock even if the individual tamed them not for their strength in the first place.

Tara thought his description was somewhat accurate. After all, she possessed the insight of a human but from well in another world and knew about the treatment of Whales despite their intelligence for mere profit.

It was probably easier to harvest a species for materials if you viewed them as mindless beasts rather than something that was an intelligent species.

You could also argue that Magical Beasts treated each other just as savagely; this was no peaceful world, and Magical Beasts constantly hunted and consumed each other to progress. Humans had to rationalise it instead of the directness of Magical Beasts, but both species practically did the same thing.

It turned out Claw only warned her in the first place, not because he had particular contempt for Humans, but because humans often came to hunt them and were one of the biggest threats against them in the Swamp. He found that many of their kind seemed disillusioned about them from some of their Elders, so he always warned them to treat them like any other hostile Magical Beast.

Either way, as they continued to make their way further into the Toad's territory, Tara noticed the surrounding waters' toxicity was growing even further.

She might have even struggled to bring out her full combat strength here if not for her {Poison Qi Resistance} trait that enabled her to have no issues, with her regeneration breaking down the weakened toxins easily.

Claw also showed no issues, and his more substantial cultivation and powerful regenerative capabilities ensured his survivability.

The toxicity wasn't the only change; Tara noticed the plant life here reflected the environment.

Tara noticed plenty that resembled similarly toxic plants on Earth, such as giant hogweeds, nightshade, sumac, and other plants that, though they bore no resemblance to any she knew of, were no doubt poisonous with the way most things steered clear of them.

To some creatures, however, these poisonous plants were an apparent delicacy; Tara knew the Toads on Earth were carnivorous, yet these were not.

Tara assumed the toxic plants were a tonic to them and helped them take down prey.

Another surprise was the appearance of frogs, which she was sure did not usually coexist with Toads in a way such as these do. The difference in appearance was apparent, with the Frogs being leaner than the stout Toads and the Frogs having moister, smoother skin that seemed to match the aquatic environment more.

These Frogs were just as predatory as the Toads. The moment the Frogs caught sight of Tara and Claw, their attack was swift.

The frogs were far faster than the Toads, allowing them to close the distance rapidly. The frogs then attempted to ensnare Tara and Claw with their tongues, using them like lassos to coil around them. The tongues had a sticky, poisonous substance that burned into their skins.

However, the Frogs were not alone; it seemed they worked with the Toads to ensnare and trap prey. The Toads, the heavier hitters of the two, would then target their target with far more lethal poisonous attacks while they were distracted by the frogs.

Utilising {Insight} on the Frogs, she found them similar in cultivation to the Toads.

[Species: Toxic Bog Frog Wrangler

Cultivation: Qi Gathering 5]

The duo's partnership made the fight more difficult many times. Tara was beginning to find fighting the Toads predictable and handled them quickly, but the same could not be said for this situation.

She had Claw involved this time, though, and the brute of a Salamander was far too large and powerful for these tricks to work.

The Toads and Frogs seemed relatively weak physically for Magical Beasts of their level, and targeting a more enormous, stronger Magical Beast at higher cultivation proved too much for them.

Claw shrugged off the frog snares and began dismantling them with powerful swipes and bites from his sturdy claws and teeth.

Tara was not so lucky. The frogs still boasted a cultivation stage above her, and their tongues were strangely elastic and highly sticky, emitting a poisonous fluid that constantly harmed her.

It allowed the Toads to cover her with their highly corrosive and toxic poison all over, and the pain was horrific.

Tara became convinced if she didn't have {Poison Qi Resistance}, that attack would have been the end of her, yet she managed just about to get her claws to start ripping apart the entrapment from the Frogs, and then the carnage began to start.

Tara was more enraged and hurt than she had been in a while, and this caused her instincts to take over as she began ripping into the frogs and toads with absolute fury.

She cut through Toad after Frog to more toad appendages one after the other, and she found history began to repeat itself.

Instead of the Pikeakes experiencing a massacre, it was the Frogs and Toads this time.

The Frogs and Toads found their poison could not do enough damage to put her down for good, and she was regenerating from the damage far too fast for what they could deal.

It made the Frogs and Toads, who were not super formidable without their poison, get torn apart by the more ferocious, stronger Tara, whose claws and teeth were at the peak of what they could be for any Iron Salamander at her level.

The number of notifications was ridiculous, yet Tara was far too occupied with her killings to notice.

[You have defeated {Toxic Bog Toad}, gaining 70 EXP. You are now 2267/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]

[You have defeated {Toxic Bog Frog Wrangler}, gaining 70 EXP. You are now 2337/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]

[You have defeated {Toxic Bog Toad}, gaining 70 EXP. You are now 2407/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]

The notifications continued to come in one after the other until Tara was left surrounded by an unrecognisable mess of Toad and Frog bodies.

Tara was far from unhurt either; she had wounds everywhere; the only thing keeping her alive was the resilience of her flesh from the fruit and the power of her regeneration that would allow her to recover from almost anything that was not a quick instant death.

The final notification was shocking: She had killed more Toads and Frogs than in her previous hunts combined.

[You have defeated {Toxic Bog Frog Wrangler}, gaining 70 EXP. You are now 3877/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]

The next level, which initially seemed to have an EXP requirement that would take her a long time to achieve, was approaching.

Tara might be able to get to level 5 before her enviable confrontation with the Sphyrna Pikeake after all.

Not until she sorted out this mess, though.

Claw, who similarly dispatched many Frogs and Toads, approached her with a look of awe.

'In all my years, I've never seen such a vicious youngling like you; if you were common among the hatchlings, we'd be the dominant species in this Swamp.' Claw said with great pride in his voice.

Her viciously tearing apart the frogs and toads seemed to leave quite the impression on the old big Salamander; it was the closest thing to a compliment he ever gave her, well, if 'vicious' was meant to be one.

'Though you got some work to do.' Claw said as he looked at the bodies that were torn apart gruesomely.

Knowing what Claw meant, she felt nauseous at the thought of eating that many bodies in one go, but as her mind drifted to the fact that a far more significant, potent version of these things was awaiting her, she steeled her mind on what was to come.

Tara had never eaten so much in her life.

She kept thinking her stomach would eventually be filled after the Toad and Frogs went down her gullet one by one, but it seemed her unique physiology disagreed with her as her stomach seemed endless.

Her body broke down the Toads and Frogs quicker than she could think, and each one of them sent a strange tingling feeling in her body as if all the energy from the corpses was going somewhere.

By the time she ate the last corpse, her injuries had healed entirely, and she was just in time for a new notification.

The combination of both hers and Claws killed allowed her to eat enough of them to improve her trait further, and just in time, too.

[Toxic Bog Frog Wrangler consumed. Limit reached, enhancing trait. 

Poison Qi Resistance trait forcibly increased {2} > {3}: *NEW* From interacting with poisons… This trait is further enhanced; you are more resistant to Poisonous Qi, and your body better breaks down poisonous substances. With the conjunction of the trait {Poison Secretion}, you can stack up your enemies' poisons to release a stronger, more potent version of your poison. This new skill has a limit.]

With the trait improving, Tara's resistance to poisons was again boosted and seemed to have formed a beneficial relationship with her {Poison Secretion} trait.

It seemed Tara would have to find more similar traits that may benefit in conjunction similarly if paired. Maybe there would be interesting changes in the future if she improved them both together.

Either way, Tara knew she and Claw needed to progress further despite the danger of confronting this species' alpha.

They needed to find the fruits to beat the Pikeake, which meant confronting the most dangerous Magical Beast in the poisonous bog.

Claw approached her and said, 'It's not much farther now. I have to admit this may be even harder than I thought. Are you sure you want to go through this? With your potential, I must say this risk is unnecessary, and we can always move the herd.'

Tara shook her head and said, 'Maybe I would have considered it if you didn't mention the Sphyrna Pikeake's intelligence. Do you think something extremely aggressive, prideful and predatory will let go of a target it set its sights on? It's not an if type of thing; it's a when it will eventually come after your herd. It will come to eradicate you all. And I don't think I can leave and abandon you to that.'

Claw once again had that same look of surprise, an impressed look in his eyes, though this time for a different reason. She replied, 'You are the most unusual Magical Beast I have encountered, and I have seen some weird things. I find it hard to believe you survived living in the swamp; you are far too sentimental. We are a community-driven species, but you are something else. Many Salamanders group up in herds because they rely on each other. We are weak alone but strong in groups; it's how we survive in the swamp. Most of us, however, when we reach a certain level of intelligence, lack such protectiveness of our kin; we are willing to abandon them if it means surviving themselves; after all, they are strong and don't see it worth losing themselves over younglings when they can produce more elsewhere. An Elder is necessary to grow a herd, as we protect the group from the more significant threats that would eradicate them all; you are unusual in that you would think the way you do. Lady does, too, but a Human practically raised her at one point, yet you claim to have not interacted with them.'

If Tara remained a human, she would be sweating at how astute Claw turned out to be based on just a few comments she gave him.

Tara was saved, though, when Claw shook his head as if in deep thought and replied, 'We will discuss this another time. One more minute of leaving Lady alone with the herd runs the risk of her being attacked alone; we must move.'

Moving further into the territory, Tara realised they must have wiped out many of this place's inhabitants.

They found numerous remains of bones from all sorts of species at the bottom of the bog's floor, yet there were no more Frogs and Toads to be seen.

She grew suspicious of everything until they finally found what they were looking for.

A gigantic spiritual plant sat in a large clearing filled with poisonous plants.

She found this was not all, as this area seemed remarkably close to the swamp's surface, with the spiritual plant itself even leading above water.

Bright rays of sunlight shone brightly on them through the water; she could even see the surface from there. Large lily pads were everywhere, and practically everywhere on those pads was filled with Toads and Frogs.

The worst thing was that a gigantic Toad, many times bigger than any toad she had seen, sat menacingly in front of them.

Resembling a more significant, bigger version of the Toads she saw, its skin had a dark green tone and seemed far thicker and more durable than its kin. Sitting atop its ugly head was a crown-shaped appendage with a green-beautiful gemstone sitting on top.

A disgusting, foul substance is constantly emitted from the Toad's presence, showing how absurdly toxic it is.

And even more foreboding was that was not even the most threatening sight. Sitting beside it was a smaller, far leaner frog that emitted a no less dangerous aura.

It similarly had a crown-shaped appendage but appeared more elegant than its large, misshapen companion, and it similarly had a gemstone on the crown of its head.

Yet if the Toad's gemstone was more of a dark, toxic green, the Frog seemed more like an emerald-like sickly green.

Tara's first thoughts were, 'Wait. There's two of them?'

Judging by the crafty, cunning gleam in the frog's eyes, this was no mere coincidence either; they were dealing with something entirely different from the big dumb brute image she had in mind, and Tara didn't know if they would survive the miscalculation.