Chapter 091: Fighting to the Death - Part 1

His right arm was completely numb, uncertain if it was ruined for good; to the touch, it felt as hard as charred wood. Fortunately, a faint tingling still remained at the tips of his index and middle fingers—at least it wasn't all dead yet. Bai Yuxi panted heavily as he stuffed "Bioactive Nutritional Gel" into his mouth, washing it down in one long gulp with a can of "Carbon Matrix Supplement," hoping his arm would recover quickly.

As the barrier gate sealed once more, the dumb toads instantly quieted, returning to their resigned wait for death. The Abyssal Thunder Toad, after hurling its plasmaball, did not immediately lunge for Bai Yuxi. For in that moment, the small Thunder Lizard, seizing the opening, darted forward and sank its teeth viciously into the gland behind the toad's jaw!

Though the Thunder Lizard was barely a foot long—compared to the tank-like behemoth, it was as insignificant as a grasshopper—its claws and teeth were remarkably sharp. With savage ferocity, it tore open the thick, elephantine hide, anchoring itself to its foe.

The gland behind the Abyssal Thunder Toad's ear was clearly a vital spot. Taken by surprise, the monstrous, hideous toad actually showed a hint of panic. With a guttural roar, its massive bulk rolled over, desperately trying to shake off or crush the lizard clinging to its weak point.

At last, a chance—the Thunder Lizard, heedless of the risk of being crushed to pulp, went berserk, unleashing its own electricity in wild surges!

Crackling and snapping, brilliant arcs flickered like a barrage of punches from a machine, charring the Abyssal Thunder Toad's hide in the blink of an eye, the flesh beginning to carbonize.

Wracked with agony at its vulnerable spot, the toad bellowed like a maddened bull, leaping and crashing madly about!

Cowering in a corner against the barrier, Bai Yuxi was nearly stupefied by the sight of this fierce battle between little monster and giant beast! Each time the toad leapt, it smashed into the barrier with a thunderous impact, sending ripples of energy surging. When it landed, its bulk sent showers of dirt flying.

The entire space within the barrier was thrown into chaos—dust billowed, the world turned upside down. Countless plasma toads caught in the crossfire screamed and flew, either crushed to a pulp by their ancient progenitor or vaporized by the torrents of electricity unleashed by the two rampaging bosses.

Bai Yuxi was battered by the corpses of flying plasma toads, yet dared not dodge recklessly. He could only shrink into himself, curling as tightly as possible in the corner of the barrier.

In the midst of the chaos, something blinking nearby caught his eye—the particle jammer that had been knocked over earlier!

Bai Yuxi's eyes lit up. He scrambled over and dug it out, but his hopes were dashed—the fragile device was now utterly broken, only the energy diverter that Su Xiaoke had cobbled together from an info-terminal still functioning. He pried out the nearly untouched grade-6 M-crystal and, before he could retreat to his corner, felt a fierce wind surging overhead!

“Shit!”

Terrified, Bai Yuxi dove desperately, ignoring the pain in his wounded arm. He hit the ground and rolled away with the agility of a startled mule.

Given the Abyssal Thunder Toad’s size—several tons at least—if it landed on him, Bai Yuxi reckoned he’d be splattered so thoroughly his insides would fly three meters out.

A thunderous crash and violent tremor shook the earth nearby. Before Bai Yuxi could even look up, he was buried head to toe by a cascade of dirt. He barely managed to claw his way out, only to wish he could immediately burrow back in—barely two feet in front of him stood one of the toad’s pillar-thick hind legs!

From this proximity, he could see with startling clarity the blue substance flickering within the fist-sized warts on its skin.

The slope of the sinkhole was inclined, and the toad’s weight made it slide naturally over the loose soil—heading straight for the half-buried Bai Yuxi!

There was no time for thought. Bai Yuxi sprang up, seized a knobby bone spur on the toad’s skin, and scrambled up its side with all four limbs. Before he could look for a safe direction to jump, a crushing pressure pinned him flat against the beast’s back.

When the pressure finally eased and a floating sensation of weightlessness seized him, Bai Yuxi couldn’t help but scream, “Aaaaah!”

Another massive jolt sent him flying. Flailing, he instinctively grabbed something—only to realize, almost fainting, that he had latched onto the spiral horn on the toad’s forehead.

Whatever frenzy drove the Abyssal Thunder Toad, it rebounded the instant it landed, crashing about the barrier space in wild fury, never giving Bai Yuxi a chance to let go and escape.

Bai Yuxi, dizzy and nearly vomiting blood, clung to the horn with his semi-numb right arm, while with his free hand, he drew the regenerative combat knife from his back—a weapon that had thus far served little purpose—and hacked blindly at the toad’s skull.

But whether the blade’s 0.4 energy conduction rate was too low, or the toad’s hide too thick, the outcome was the same. In his desperation, Bai Yuxi shattered the blade without inflicting any real harm, only further enraging the berserk toad.

The warts covering the toad’s skin began to glow, then erupted in sheets of electric netting!

Bai Yuxi shrieked, lost his grip, and tumbled down, only to be snared by the fan-shaped bone spur above the toad’s brow, left dangling beside its enormous eye—his weapon belt caught fast.

Smoke curled from his scorched body as Bai Yuxi struggled to lift his head, blood pouring from nose and mouth. Staring directly, at such close range, into the toad’s bulging eye, he felt a chill run through his very bones.

Knowing his life was forfeit, Bai Yuxi managed a weak, bloody grin—these past two days had been one hell of a ride.

With trembling hands, he pulled an old axe from his belt and, mustering his last strength, swung it down with all his might at the toad’s massive eye!