Chapter 29 – Great Minds Think Alike
The Frogs would not delay any further when Lapidus and the turtles arrived.
The Frogs did not want to involve Lapidus, who was outside their Queens plan, yet they were too afraid of the giant turtle even to propose leaving it and the turtles behind.
At the same time, it would look strange to do so; on the surface, involving Lapidus was only beneficial in dealing with the formidable Beast King.
Tara was delighted at watching the arrogant frogs who replicated the 'I always have everything under my control' vibe the Frog Queen gave off in her mannerisms.
Claw and Lady also seemed far more comfortable leading the herd of Iron Salamanders to battle the Pikeake.
Though it seemed casually agreed, Claw and Lady were battling for the herd's survival and bringing the majority of the herd fighting force was a significant risk on their part.
Working with the Frog Queen and Toad King always brings the risk of betrayal if the Pikeake is defeated.
They were the stronger party and would not want any disruptions, likely viewing it as their right to become the ruling force of the region.
Comradery and loyalty don't exist among Magical Beasts constantly fighting for resources and survival.
Alliances like this never last in the world of Magical Beasts, and adding Lapidus made it harder for all three of them to cross each other without facing retaliation from the other two.
Being the weaker of the three, the Iron Salamanders would benefit the most as it would likely be Lapidus, who has become the most threatening to the Frog Queen's desire to rule over the region.
Lapidus and the turtles provide the Frog Queen with a bigger, more eye-catching target to focus on, giving the Iron Salamanders something to hide behind.
If the Sphyrna Pikeake died, the title of Beast King would be vacant, and Tara knew that the Frog Queen wanted to be one to fill it.
And though Lapidus tried his best to hide it, the old turtle was just as ambitious and ruthless as every creature in the swamp had to be to survive.
Moving in such a large group with numerous Magical Beasts at the upper regions of power in this region made them move uncontested in the swamp.
A variety of magical beasts steered well clear of them before they even approached.
Magical Beasts were not foolish no matter what stage of cultivation.
It's like animals on Earth having self-preservation instincts when predators near, but even more exemplified, it made them far more dangerous and challenging to come up against.
Tara enjoyed not being hounded constantly by virtually anything in the swamp for once. However, as she neared the upper stage of cultivation for this region, it was inevitable for her to find it more challenging to find a Magical Beast that dared prey on her when there were far easier targets to hunt.
Yet Tara knew Magical Beasts had a difference between them and predators on Earth; often, not predators will avoid clashing with each other as the risk of injury is high for a potential return that was not worth it.
However, in this world, Magical Beasts are constantly trying to improve their cultivation and strength, and the most reliable method for them is consuming corpses of beasts of similar cultivation.
With the system, this was beneficial to her, though she knew it meant she would be in constant dangerous situations because of it. Even the Beast King seeks out the strongest creatures it can hunt to advance itself, and that was the strongest creature in the region, so the stronger she was, the more likely a creature in the upper echelons of the swamp would prey on her.
If it were Tara, who had just arrived from Earth, who heard this, she would probably be shivering in fear. However, the Iron Salamander Tara, who has experienced many bloody altercations, was excited.
Maybe that was the bloodthirsty, prideful instincts of the Iron Salamander she grew familiar with; whatever it was at the moment, it was a helpful mindset to have in such a dangerous place.
Claw, Lady, Lapidus and Tara followed the Frogs for quite a distance.
The large horde they gathered was sizable, and they had to slow their pace for the weaker creatures of the group.
Tara found herself discussing things with Lady and Claw for a reasonable distance, with the old turtle chirping in occasionally.
Lady imparted some advice on Qi Manipulation, and she was surprised at how easy it was in the early stages, though maybe that was because the bloodline ability was unconsciously assisting her.
[From repeated practice and applying knowledge, your skill Qi Manipulation {1} > {2}]
Lady's lecturing and using her bloodline ability as guidance made manipulating her Qi relatively easy.
However, she noticed the effects were insignificant, especially towards her Metal Manipulation trait.
It seemed to overlap, and she was utilising the instinctive use brought from using her Metal Manipulation trait and applying it to manipulating her Qi; nonetheless, it was still helpful for her other traits that Qi influenced.
She realised that is what Lady referred to when bloodline ability users progressed fast early in Qi Manipulation but often hit a roadblock when they reached the limit where their bloodline ability could no longer be used as a reference.
It would be as if Tara went from being guided by hand to now fumbling about on her own, having to grasp and be intuitive towards searching for ways to improve the skill.
For now, this was not a problem, and with the System able to continually improve the trait, she might be able to rely on it for much longer than most.
It made Tara curious about what other 'skills' she can acquire and what the system considers noteworthy enough to be one.
Perhaps she could ask Lady and Claw about it another time if there was anything valuable they could teach her.
After all, most of her abilities came from the system, and she did not have the chance to acquire skills outside of it.
She was in a world of cultivation, and she could go on to discover a myriad of strange abilities; even as a Magical Beast, she could aspire to be a better cultivator than the newbie she was.
Most Magical Beasts relied on their innate racial traits, which were empowered by their cultivation, which was usually enough against an ordinary human cultivator.
Yet humans were far better at utilising their Qi, and their sects were knowledgeable about techniques and skills, making them dangerous adversaries who were often unique in their fighting styles.
Tara knew humans would research a Magical Beast for weaknesses. According to Claw, most Magical Beasts per species rarely differed in their attack pattern.
And now, as they neared their meeting with the Frog Queen, her wariness and anticipation of the confrontation with the Pikeake grew.
The most terrifying creatures she encountered in this world were the ones who not only had the strength but the intelligence along with it.
Lady and Claw seemed rather ordinary among the Magical Beasts of their cultivation stage so far, and even they would be an unnerving, frightening existence to a human on Earth.
They were large crocodile-sized creatures and showed cunning that rivalled humans, and coming against creatures like that would be terrible enough.
Yet the Sphyrna Pikeake was even worse, similar to a hyper-intelligent shark-like species with supernatural powers; even with her newfound enhancements and numerous allies, she felt they might not be enough to beat it.
At least the Frog Queen proved confident, though, as they travelled for what felt like hours, they finally stopped and found the location where they would rendezvous with the Frog and Toad army.
Tara thought, 'What should have been a Toad and Frog army.'
Within an unfamiliar area in the swamp was a vast stretch of murky waters that, though originally teeming with different kinds of life, was now filled with an army of Toads and Frogs who appeared in various colours. Finally, Tara saw something she had not expected.
'Eels? Giant frickin Eels. It looks like the Frog Queen was being sneaky too…' Tara thought.
Any slight guilty feeling of mistrust of the Frog Queen was gone at that moment; in fact, she felt vindicated in her suspicion of her in the first place.
A familiar rival was teeming around the Frogs, though generally larger and stronger, having higher cultivation than the one she fought in a life-and-death encounter; it was Razor-Tooth Eels she was seeing.
Another who spotted the Eels were Lapidus and the turtles who began eyeing them as if an all-you-can-eat buffet had appeared before them.
The Eels similarly noticed the turtles and began shrieking in alarm.
Tara realised that the Snapping Turtles were likely the eels' natural predators in the swamp, which made her realise another thing.
'Didn't the Eel see me as prey when it saw me?' Tara thought; she figured the Eels might be the Iron Salamander's natural predator, and if so, the meaning of the Frog Queen bringing them here appeared more sinister.
Speaking of the Frog Queen, she was reunited with her familiar figure as she spotted her lording over the strange mixture of Magical Beasts with a prideful, noble-looking gaze.
Upon spotting them, the Frog Queen's eyes wandered casually and lazily at first, but they quickly changed into a mixture of emotions, showing surprise, frustration, and annoyance.
Tara had to give it to the Frog Queen, though. If she had not aptly paid attention to her from the start, she would have missed the brief turbulence of emotions that appeared through her eyes.
The Frog Queen now looked indifferent, as if trying to demonstrate that the situation was still under her control.
A hulking presence next to her in the Toad King was less able to hide its emotional state; the large Toad had been eyeing Lapidus with caution from the start; it regarded the large turtle as a significant threat to its liege.
And the final one among them was a Razor-tooth eel-like one she had never seen.
Like all the alpha variants that seemed to be a notch above the average member of their species, this Eel was lengthier than Claw and Lady; being around twenty feet long, it was thick and packed with strong muscle, too, yet was hyper-agile in its movements indicating as the Eels encountered previously it excelled in speed.
The main difference, though, was the colour of its smooth-scale-like skin.
It was a dark blue, and unlike the other Eels, it possessed another attribute: the strange Eel was highly agitated by the sight of Lapidus, which instinctively caused arcs of electricity to erupt from its body in small bursts.
Tara could no longer hold in her desire to utilise {Insight} on the unfamiliar magical beast.
[Species: Electrophorus Razor-tooth Eel
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
The agitated Eel seemed both enraged and terrified by the sight of Lapidus.
Both Magical Beasts knew each other, and judging by Lapidus's relaxed attitude compared to the Eels on edge's body language, it was clear who the stronger of the two was.
The Frog Queen was the first to take the initiative to talk.
'Welcome. You have finally joined us. Now, I did not expect another without our consultation to join us, though I supposed for every successful partnership, one must compromise.' The Frog Queen said in a way that pinned everything on them.
Despite the irony that she had done something similar with the invitation of the Eels, it was clear the Frog Queen was adaptive and did not even suggest the removal of the Turtrakes.
'Don't you dare try manipulating me!' Tara thought with a huff as she allowed Lady to talk.
'How about you? You thought we'd have no choice but to join regardless of inviting those aggressive, greedy eels, yet you didn't anticipate us inviting Lapidus, who has no problem joining this alliance.' Lady said brightly as amusement filled the large turtle's eyes.
It was clear that Lapidus felt no pressure from the Eels, but the same could not be said about them.
The Frog Queen's eyes darkened momentarily, and Tara thought this was where the so-called alliance fell apart.
Yet the Frog Queen recovered in the blink of an eye, and Tara once again remarked on her composure.
Despite them repeatedly provoking her, the Frog Queen had yet to respond to the slightest bit of provocation. Yet, to Tara, the more the Frog Queen held back, the more concerned she grew.
Especially when she felt the strange Eels' eyes suddenly fixate on her, she did not know if she was seeing something, but she swore the Frog Queen glanced at it briefly.
Tara was forced to focus back on the Frog Queen when she suddenly continued their conversation, 'Amp has no problems with the turtles as long as they refrain from their savage ways. Now, let's move on. We have a Beast King to bring down, and I will not delay it further. The longer the wait, the more likely the big fish breaks through.'
It was time to bring the fight to the Beast King. Despite the alliance seeming shaky, with natural enemies everywhere, they were now held together by one thing: the demise of the Beast King.
A Beast King that had ruled over the region for over a hundred years of complete suppression.
And Tara was now about to confront it in its lair. She wished she had the Frog Queen's dauntless confidence; Tara was about to see if it was founded or if she was a fool.