CHAPTER 260: 260: THE MARSH’S GRAVE

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[Warning: Toxin Exposure Detected. Aura Shell Holding. Remaining Reserve: 29%]

Toad Daddy released a swirling puff of toxic gas from the bloated folds of his throat. It rolled across the chamber in sickly waves, green and bubbling with acidic spores. The smell hit Kai like a fist made of rotten onions, wet socks, and regrets. It was so foul that even his Apex instincts recoiled.

Kai jerked his head back and tore his jaws away from the toad’s shoulder. His eyes widened. His tongue twitched. His stomach threatened mutiny.

"It smells like ten frogs died inside a toilet and fermented," he choked, coughing. "I’m going to vomit. This is an illegal move. Disgusting!"

Toad Daddy saw his chance.

With a wet bellow, the massive creature threw himself forward. His entire body twisted in mid air, a monstrous cannonball of slime, warts, and vengeance. He shouted the name of his attack like it was holy scripture.

"Tongue Slam!"

Kai barely braced himself before Toad Daddy’s enormous belly collided with him like a collapsing boulder. The force shook the tunnel. Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor and walls. A mushroom patch nearby caught fire just from the impact.

Kai’s back smashed into the wall so hard that chunks of rock shattered around him. A confused worm was dislodged and blinked twice before digging itself deeper in shame.

Kai groaned and slid down the wall, leaving a very dignified Kai shaped dent behind on the tunnel wall.

He spit blood, wiped his mouth, then laughed. The sound was hoarse, dry, and deeply sarcastic.

"Was that your best tongue slap?" he asked. "Because I’ve been hit harder by Naaro in her sleep when she thought my antenna was a snack."

The frog general let out another war cry and charged again. But this time, he held something in his slimy hand. It was a murky vial filled with twitching black liquid. The contents rattled like something inside was still alive and angry about it.

He hurled it with all his strength. It exploded in midair with a sickening squelch.

A new wave of noxious vapor surged toward Kai. The gas coiled like angry snakes, filling the air with a sizzling hiss.

Kai staggered back. System messages blared in his mind.

[Warning! Warning! Toxin exposure is high. Aura Shell holding. The remaining aura reserve is twenty percent.

System advice: Finish the battle as soon as possible.]

Kai clenched his teeth. He could feel the pressure mounting in his chest. Every breath burned. But he refused to fall. Not here. Not now.

The toad general lunged forward.

Kai jumped.

He twisted his body in mid air, flipping over the two enemies like a spinning shadow. His body rotated once, twice, three times before he landed cleanly behind them.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he moved.

Aura surged along his arm, forming a spiraling vortex of red lightning. It gathered at his claw, glowing brighter with each heartbeat.

"You want to lick something?" he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Then lick my spear."

He slashed downward. The ground split.

The shockwave tore through the floor like a divine guillotine. Cracks exploded across the battlefield. A trench opened beneath the frogs and swallowed them whole. They screamed all the way down until a loud thud silenced them.

The earth groaned and sealed behind them with a hiss of dust and smoke.

Kai landed in a crouch. His claws still hummed with heat. His lungs drew slow, ragged breaths. His chest heaved with every inhale, but he remained on his feet.

From the other side of the chamber, he saw them. His people. His women. His companions.

Vel stood with one foot on a frog’s limp head, her hair messy and eyes fierce. She raised a thumb in silent approval.

Sha shouted from the back, her voice cutting through the haze.

"Sir! We are ready! We are waiting for your signal!"

Kai gave a short nod. His antennae twitched. Then the rubble shifted. Toad Daddy rose again.

His body trembled. His eyes glowed with madness. His tongue writhed like a living serpent behind his shoulders. Rage poured off him like swamp water after a storm.

"You cannot stop the marsh," he growled.

His voice was deep now, broken and desperate, the sound of a defeated tyrant clinging to his last breath.

Kai did not flinch. He stepped forward slowly. His stance widened. His eyes burned.

"No," he said. "But I can bury it."

Toad Daddy —Blor’Ghul the Tonguebringer— staggered upright, sludge dripping from every inch of his bloated form. His movements were uneven, twitching. His chest expanded and deflated like a poisoned balloon. The skin on his arms bubbled. His breath came out in steaming clouds of toxin.

His tongue lashed violently behind him like a tentacle on fire. The air thickened with his poisonous corrupted aura. The smell alone could bring an army to its knees. The stench was a cursed stew of pond rot, sour milk, fermented swamp gas, and the broken dreams of every frog that had ever tried to seduce a woman.

Kai’s skin shimmered. His Apex form still pulsed, though it was flickering now.

Chitin plates shifted with fluid grace. Red molten veins pulsed down his neck and along his arms. Cracks of crimson light flared with each heartbeat. His claw twitched.

His vision was blurred from damage. His lungs hurt. His muscles screamed. But he was still standing.

"You think you’ve won, little insect?" the bloated beast snarled, his voice rattling like a clogged pipe.

"I am the Tonguebringer. Spawned in sacred slime. My destiny cannot be pierced."

Kai cracked his neck and muttered, "You keep saying the same thing over and over. Born in goo. Made of slime. Passionate about licking womens. I have met sewer rats with more ambition and better hygiene."

Toad Daddy screeched. He lunged with surprising speed, a final burst of strength driven by rage and stubborn pride.

Kai did not dodge. He stepped into the blow.

Toad Daddy’s massive fist swung like a wrecking ball. But Kai’s claw met it halfway. The sound was like thunder punching thunder. The floor rippled under their feet.