He lunged forward with his mouth wide open, engulfing the sloth’s head in its entirety. For an entire second, the beast did not react to the outward attack, frozen in place.

After the short pause, it lost its mind thrashing side to side in a bid to rid itself of its attackers. The massive beast threw itself into trees and bushes in its terror, cracking the dense wood on contact and flattening the smaller foliage without a second thought.

The panic lasted for a few seconds as the surroundings paid the price. It eventually calmed down enough that it put up a real defense against the attacking toad. One of its massive arms reached up to bat at the creature attached to its face only to be batted away by one of Egosum’s empowered leg kicks.

The beast showed no signs of slowing down despite him clamping down on its face with all the jaw pressure he could muster. Every burst of power he put forth merely squished against the thick neck muscles that held the small head to its body.

Another clawed hand reached up to scrape him off only to be battered away again. Deciding to cut his losses by suffocating the massive beast, he went to work utilizing his control over his Dao.

The forest floor was littered with leaves and branches from the mess the creature caused earlier. Egosum leapt into the mess to disappear from the hulking monstrosities vision. It turned its neck to the side to track his flight through the air only to stock mid-way through the motion as the muscles constricted it from moving anymore.

With his escape secured, he went to work around the ground, turning it into muck to entrap the beast in his own personal tar prison. The familiar sensation of the dry soil wicking up moisture from the plants and air guided his purpose. The sight of Qi molding the world aided his efficiency and potency compared to his first attempt.

The beast turned its body to search for the attacker in the flood of leaves and tree limbs. It used its muscled arms to throw the branches aside with extreme ease. The ruckus echoed through the forest for miles, scaring off everything that knew to stay out of its way.

Cinera hung back on the trail, waiting for an opportunity that Egosum said he would provide. The beast tore its way through the debris in search of its new enemy. Stuff was flying everywhere as it went on its tirade.

The beast scanned the floor when it stumbled. Its foot was covered in thick dark mud that collected more and more debris the more it destroyed.

Egosum launched away from the beast, but was well within its sight, egging it forward to chase him into more dangerous territory. It threw its arms forward with barely enough speed to even touch his shadow before lunging forward.

It slowed down considerably as it stomped through the deep dark layer and found itself well within the battlefield the toad had prepared for him. It was tripping over itself with each labored step. All manners of litter gummed up his movements as it rushed him with furry barely contained within its muscles.

The slow beast only became more lethargic with time. Even its breaths were becoming more ragged with each step it took when it finally decided to wait.

It gave up its chase and stood its ground once it realized the pursuit would amount to nothing. It flung its enormous arms around it, clearing the space of anywhere for the smaller creature to hide inside.

The branches went flying and the leaves were picked up in the whirlwind its tantrum caused.

Egosum and Cinera watched from a distance, surprised by its patience as they decided on what to do next.

“Any good long-ranged attacks?”

“Yeah, but I will be wide open for a while as I cast it.”

They looked back at the motionless creature.

“Good as time as any.” He turned to look at his companion as she channeled her mana before her.

The ashen cloud was quickly overwhelmed by a series of flashes as the power of lightning was brought to the forfront.

A strange pungent smell overcame the area as the first sign of physical lightning formed a ball before her. The bright light flickered in the forest, drawing the sloth's glare.

“Aaahh-eeeee!” It yelled a deep guttural roar.

Egosum turned to watch the beast and blanked at the sight that welcomed him. The long garish green fur ruffled around despite the motionless nature of the massive beast.

The small eyes contained a blatant disgust for the attackers as Egosum watched in horror as huge moths came pouring from its hair in waves. They were half his size and flooded the sky surrounding the sloth.

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The soft noises of a dozen pairs of massive moth wings smothered the sound of crackling lighting.

“Eeee!” The sloth yelled again causing the swarm of moths to fly towards the duo with extreme speed. Egosum met them mid-air in an attempt to ward them from his friend.

His mass plowed through the delicate bugs, smashing two of them before they could even react.

He landed behind them and prepared for them to converge on him. As he turned to face them, he was met with the jagged mouth of the moths right in front of his face.

Time seemed to slow down as he watched them make contact with his skin and take the first bite. A flair of pain shot up his side as the beast's jaws managed to mar his skin.

He leaped forward in a bid to shake them off, only to flop to the side with the extra weight. In the same way, the sloth had flailed during his attack, he flopped around on the ground in a scramble to free himself from the attackers' jaws. A few random kicks sent showers of moth dust and bits flying around, ending a few before they could grab hold.

The pain intensified as the mouths chewed deeper into his side. A small trickle of blood poured from him as his limited mobility showed his weaknesses.

The swarm latched onto whatever surface they could without being obliterated and gnawed into his flesh. He could still hear the distant sound of lightning crackling from Cinera’s direction as she prepared the spell.

He channeled his Dao and induced rot all around him in a bid to throw the creatures from his back. Beyond a few of them falling to festering wounds, half of the beasts remained stuck to him, smothering the toad with their bodies.

He took time to calm himself and assess the situation for what it was.

‘I have a bunch of murder moths stuck to my back, eating me alive and keeping me from taking the fight back to the sloth. What are my-argh- options?’

He flinched as he felt the jaws of one bite into a sensitive area near his shoulder. On cue, the bugs started to fall off him one by one as he gained back the ability to go on the offensive. His poison glands destroyed= their insides rapidly.

He could feel the wind stinging his skin where the moths scraped wounds into him and the cool soothing sensation of his mucus covering him fought for supremacy.

‘To think some moths stood a better chance than a group of humans and dwarfs. Oh, the travesty.’

His musings ended as he saw the foamed mouths of the creature from where his poison did its work.

He turned to Cinera and watched the ball of lightning crackle with energy and wisps of power struck around her. She concentrated without fear of the danger held in front of her.

With a flick of her hand, the spell raced forward faster than Egosum could track. It left his vision, and the sound of a crack assaulted his ears. By the time he looked at the massive beast, it had staggered forward with an injury covering its entire left side.

Cinera huffed in exhaustion as she waited for her mana to calm itself. The power raged through her body, fighting to find a way out and be unleashed upon the world as her spell had just done.

“Give me a few moments before I start another spell up. I doubt any moths survived the first blast so we should be good while we wait.” She called to him in Hopity. The familiar language soothed his nerves as he moved to flank the injured creature.

“Conserve your energy. I can take it from here.” He fled from the place he spoke to distract the creature and readied himself for his strongest launch yet.

His back legs ached with power as he channeled more Qi than ever before through them. He reinforced the ground under his feet to stabilize the launch and threw his legs under him.

His enhanced sight allowed him to watch as he rapidly approached the sloth’s burnt ribcage. The fur was long gone, exposing bright red skin and labored breathing.

The full force of the blow plowed into the beast's side. The sloth fell over, crashing its entire weight into the forest floor. The ground shook and leaves fell from the tree as it made contact.

Egosum watched it for any movement as his nose bled from the sheer force they collided with. His supernaturally and genetically strengthened bones were the only reason he was able to come out on top from the collision.

The beast’s chest still heaved up and down, defying death as it struggled to sight itself.

He refused to let it up as he shot towards it again. The attack brought him crashing into the beast's arm which took the most damage from the lightning. The bone shattered under the force and sent the beast sprawling to the floor.

It let out desperate moans as it fought for its life. Each noise it made left a spittle of blood flying from its mouth.

Egosum positioned himself near the head to finish the creature's suffering.

He empowered his legs with all the force he could muster.

He watched in horror as it moved its uninjured arm from under it and reached out for him. Before he could correct himself, the attack came in too close. He shot at the beast and collided with the monstrous hand in a bid to ward it off.

It cupped his smaller figure in its claws and began to squeeze him, focusing all of its remaining strength on ending the creature it caught.

“Help! Argh!” His plea was cut short as the tips of its nails began to dig into his hard flesh.

The feeling of the moths chewing on his skin was nothing compared to the force it was crushing him with.

He tensed as hard as possible to fight off the grip. A stabbing pain shot up his side as the points slowly forced their way through his skin and into the meat.

Not much longer and they would gore his organs.

The force sent shocks of black and white through his system as he thought of some way out. All of his Qi was focused on his body to harden it, his poison oozed uselessly, and he had dismissed Cinera’s help earlier.

‘Dying to a sloth?’

As the thought crossed his mind, the pressure abated, and the arm dropped him to the ground. The hand unfurled, dropping his body in the process.

He leaked bright red blood as he focused on keeping as much Qi inside to try and force the wounds closed in some way.

He felt death still close by despite being free. The world was slowly fading from him as he tried to remain awake. A dark figure appeared above him but couldn't react as he lost his grip on reality.

‘Damn. I am fucking stupid.’