Eogsum’s understanding of the realm of touch did much of the heavy lifting.
His weapons danced in his hands with the unbelievable grace he barely thought himself capable of.
The pool of muck before him was the best playground he could have imagined. The previous fear and uncertainty of retaliation from the waiting beast became wholly unfounded.
His legs rocketed him towards the first of the creatures that had now been turned on the defensive. The attack shocked the monster as its eye stalks sprung up in surprise when it noticed the large toad was flying towards it.
One clawed foot reached up to meet his bold flight, catching him in the chest but throwing the pair off balance and into the sticky floor below.
Despite the clear size advantage, It could do very little to fend off the harsh attacks that rained on it from all directions.
Egosum felt the muck glide off of him like water off a tanned hide. It was liberating. His feet kicked him forward with ease that reminded him of the warm waters of his vernal pool.
Small waves of the sticky substance were kicked up by the monster thrashing around him. It was laid over on its side and was kicking repeatedly to find a way out to no avail. Each second it struggled for freedom, it worked itself deeper and deeper into the trap.
Egosum’s sight pierced through the thick mud with ease, letting him watch the struggle with satisfaction. A few small kicks got him closer to the monster when he popped out of the muck and slammed the hook into the leg that flailed above the trap.
It let out a loud echoing screech from the painful wound and redoubled its efforts to escape, working itself deeper into its grave.
His Qi poured from him, feeding into the trap without a second thought. The small, makeshift formation of his dao guided him through the motions to control his body in the new media. IT was like he was born to fight in it.
Egosum pulled the hooked leg into the muck to fully seal off anyway it could fight back.
With the danger gone, he turned his attention to the remaining enemies. Only four more creatures were left, standing around entirely unsure of what to do. Their eyes moved in strange patterns scanning the puddle of death for any signs of their prey.
Egosum popped up near the emptiest part of the pit and stared them down.
The beasts were giddy for some action and looked compelled to leap into the guaranteed death. They somehow fought off the urge and watched him with unconcealed desire.
The brown toad slowly sank into the trap, his eyes disappearing with a quiet plop as the goo filled the void he left.
His powerful legs propelled him with grace toward the next set of targets.
‘If one creature would struggle its way deeper into the trap then two would certainly push each other in for a bid to get to safety.’
He looked up at the beasts that were left standing on the dead bodies of his earlier victims. They had their vision glued to the slop in intense concentration.
His spear and hook found easy holds in the dead creature's carapace. With a sudden yank of his weapons, the body they stood on was pulled deep into the tar, startling them from their deep observations.
Their feet fell into the sticky trap, sealing their fate. The thrashing and bucking over Egosum’s head were entirely futile as their own weight and movements worked them deeper and deeper inside.
He left them to their slow deaths and looked for the last two monsters.
Near the edge of the pond stood two of the monsters, unsure of their next actions now that the majority of their peers were dead or struggling to stay alive. Egosum imagined that whatever their look of fear was, it must have been what he was staring at.
The beasts glanced back the way they came and then to the way the toad had originally arrived from before bolting away from the battle.
The brown skinned toad rose from the muck to look at the devastation.
Dozens of dead bodies lay around him in various states of drowning. The two monsters he had just trapped were still struggling for a way out, leaving them the only living things nearby but himself.
He stashed his hook in the holder on his arm and slowly felt the surface of the muck. It was still soft to his touch but the more he focused on the tension in the material, the more solid the stuff felt.
The lessons from Pangu rang through his mind. The true use of the realm of touch was finally bearing its head.
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He put force into his hand and felt the force of solid ground meet him in return.
The rest of the trap was still a soupy liquid death, but the places he came into contact with gave him purchase in this hopeless trap.
He pulled himself out of the trap with his arms and stood on top. The goo slid off of him with ease and left him to watch over his handiwork.
‘If that old patch of dirt knew I could do this all along, I am gonna ignore him so hard next time we talk. This shit is amazing. I feel like I can take on the world if I keep advancing like this.’
He put power into his legs and hopped to the struggling monsters. The muck sent small ripples each time he fell onto the surface. It was like jumping on a cushion of water repeatedly.
He hopped one last time and was a short walk away from them now. Their bodies were halfway into the much and their eyes darted around for any sign of escape or help.
“You know, I don’t enjoy this very much. If you didn’t try to kill me, we could have let bygones be bygones. This is just unfortunate really.” Egosum put his hands on their backs and slowly pushed them deeper and deeper into the mud until the only thing that was left above the surface was their strange eye stalks.
‘That felt pretty badass.' He looked deeper into the cavern where the mass was brightest and shined on the tip of the stalagmite.’ I wonder what's up there?’
His musings sent him on his way as he leaped for the pillar with powerful pushes of his legs. He quickly found himself looking up the large rock pillar to try and make out the prize.
The object at the tip was far out of his vision and the moss was the only giveaway that something was on top of it at all beyond the desperate monsters from before.
The surface was covered with the scratch markers of dozens of the monsters trying to get the prize to no avail for however long they had been here.
His touch-enhanced hands gripped the stones with ease, letting him pull his light weight up higher and higher.
Halfway up the pillar, he got his first true taste of clear sight and challenge. The moss that allowed him to see the mana-void creatures also blinded him the higher he went and the stone became significantly smoother once the claw marks were gone.
He slid a few feet down before looking back up to the top. It was only a few leaps higher and he would reach it.
The hook had nowhere to grab, and his hands were not strong enough to grab a hold of the slippery surface anymore. No matter how many times he pulled himself up the side, he never succeeded in getting much higher than the first time.
With his frustrations mounting, he took a break and hopped down to the cave floor with the clay welcoming him with a loud plop.
The soft floor was a far cry away from the stone that stood behind him. He hopped over to the slowly retreating edges of his trap and looked at the random body parts sticking out of the ground. The clay encased the creatures in a permanent tomb of earth, far too heavy to escape from but soft enough to struggle in.
He ran his hand through the muck and watched it ripple with satisfaction.
A sudden thought popped into his mind and he quickly leapt to the column. The cold stone welcomed him back as he clambered his way up to the surprise. He quickly made it to the spot that stopped him the first time and began to put his dao to work.
He laced the stone with as much Qi as it would take and watched the wonder unfold. The air became increasingly humid and warm as he let his will encompass the area.
The hard stone became more and more pliable by the second. He unsheathed his hook and slammed it into the rock with as much force as he could muster, lodging it deep into the column before pulling it loose and letting his dao return to him.
He slipped his weapon back and felt the hole with his now free hand. A perfect grip was left behind
The toad continued up the rock with increasing ease as he became accustomed to the work and finally made it to the peak.
The top was not as pointed as he originally believed. The column turned out to be much larger than he originally estimated.
The sheer size of it had been some strange trick as the distance shortened significantly less than it should have with each pull. The short job had turned into hours of climbing.
His touch-enhanced fingers pulled him over the ledge and on top of the stalagmite with ease. The bright moss acted as a spotlight for the treasure that welcomed him up high.
The stone was perfectly flat and polished to a mirror shine. Egosum looked at the large toad staring back at him.
His arms had enlarged, his skin appeared taught, and his muscles appeared to ripple with even minor movements. The brown skin was smooth over much of its length, capping off with large poison glands teeming with noxious chemicals that were ready to end any life that ingested them. He swore that he had seen some toad wandering around his old home that didn't look that different than him. They just happened to stand five times his height.
He looked ahead to the pedestal before him. In the center of the platform stood a single ray of light that upheld a gleaming item.
He took a few hops forward. The cave's silence caused echoes to spread out each time he made contact with the floor.
It entranced him completely the more he stared into the light.
He finally got to the pedestal and peered up at the object held in its rays.
A bright white tunic with silver chainmail underneath fit for a large humanoid bobbed up and down before him.
His trance quickly broke.
“What the fuck is even that? I can’t wear that. I’m a toad, goddesses damn it! Did those stupid freaks down below not even know what they were coming for?”
He deflated at the discovery and reached up for the armor. As his fingers touched the metal, it dropped down from the ray of light and into his hand.
No magical refitting or dao enable morphing sucked it to his body. He held it in his hand and flipped it over several times.
"Really not too impressed by this." He shouted into the air hoping for some nebulous force to replace the poor gift to no avail.
His disappointment was obvious to any onlookers as he wrapped it into a ball and sandwiched it into the weapon holder on his wrist.
Now it was time for the trip down. Egosum looked over the edge and balked as the distance seemed to continue on and on, distorted by some unknown force.
It was suddenly a much longer trip down.