West wielded his miner's hammer and landed it directly in the center of Frosken Viks sensitive nose. The Toad was stunned, giving Sampson the opportunity to attack.
“ Hold tight West! I'll get you out of there,” Sampson charged towards the toad. He was oddly excited to make another kill. Frosken Vik reared up on his massive hind legs towering above the two men. He felt no fear. He knew the humans were no match for him. One swipe of his tongue would render the diminutive beings helpless and a feast would ensue for him and his remaining colony. The massive toad swiped at West throwing him up against the rock wall.
“ My son dead. You. Humans will join him.” Frosken Vik trilled. “ Sweetness revenge. Humans. I feed my colony. My feast.”
The toad swung his massive forearm and knocked Sampson to the ground. Sampson recovered quickly with his sword out stretched, knowing where to strike the toad. As he had done before, he lunged for the underbelly.
“ I´m not your feast, nor will I ever be.” Sampson growled, plunging his short sword into the toad's belly. The toad recoiled, and viscous fluid spilled from the wound. Sampson withdrew his sword and sliced another fresh wound several inches below the first. Frosken Vik did not give up, He lashed out at Sampson with his tongue, grazing Sampson's right calf. Sampson winced with pain feeling the numbing secretion, he lunged again at the toad this time severing a forearm. Frosken Vik Screamed and then opened his cavernous mouth and thrust himself towards the infuriating human. His jaws were powerful enough to sever the human's head if he could get close enough. Sampson retreated in the face of the toad's mouth and then summoned every ounce of his courage.
"This one is for my friend Charlie, I don't know what you have done with him, but no one messes with me or my people!" Sampson yelled at the toad with bravado.
Then he tucked his head down and charged the toad for the final time. This time with a strike where he thought its heart might be. Frosken Vik Fell forward clutching at his upper abdomen, in a failed effort to patch the wound. The toad stared into Sampson's eyes. He felt the rage and hatred the toad had for him.
"You have no place here. You will perish. There are much more of us ahead." Frosken Vik said.
And then he shrieked a high trill followed by several weak "Ko kee Ko kees." Sampson shoved his sword deeper into the thick leathery flesh, silencing the toad for good.
He pulled his sword free from the toad's skin, it dripped with hot yellow ooze, steam floated upwards from his blade in the frozen air. He wiped the toad's slime from his sword on a snow covered boulder and then slipped it into its sheath.
"West, are you Ok?" Samson asked.
" I'm fine, just a little bruised but nothing I can't handle."
"OK great, We need to find Charlie," Sampson said." That is if he is still alive."
"I'm OK. Guys, I 'm up here." Charlie stood weakly on the boulder where the toad left him. From this vantage point he watched the battle between the toads and his friends unfold.
" We have to carve his eye out, don't forget that." Charlie reminded West and Sampson.
"How are you feeling Charlie?" Sampson asked.
"I'm alright, a little numb but I will get through it." Charlie answered back " I'm Coming down now"
He threw his legs over the edge of the boulder and started down to where the icen toads lay. His legs wobbled a bit beneath him, still recovering from the toads slime. The tingling sensation he felt reminded him of when he would sit in his recliner and binge on sci-fi flicks for too long. But with each forward step the tingling lessened, and by the time he reached Sampson and West it had nearly subsided.
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West, using his shoulder dagger, carefully pried away the delicate flesh surrounding the toad's eye. He loosened the skin around the eyeball but needed one of the men to tug it free.
"Sampson or Charlie can one of you grab the outer edges of the eye and lift it so I can cut the retinal cord without causing damage?"
Charlie moved close to the toad. " I will do it," He said looking at Sampson. Sampson nodded.
Charlie placed both hands around the large eye and was surprised to find it rigid. He expected it to be soft and easily punctured.
"It's hard," He said to West.
"Yes, the result of its life force draining, it is solidifying into Goshenite." West replied.
Charlie held the orb as West sliced through the fine gray muscles that kept the eye in place.
With the eye now cut free from the toad's skull Charlie held it up to the sunllight. He marveled at its transparency. It was as clear as the crystals in the Dome of Discovery and at its center a turquoise core pulsated. Charlie moved the eye from left to right, as he did the core moved with him.
" Can this thing still see?"
" Legend says the eye of an Icen toad can see into the future and the past, even after being disembodied. The eye is said to be able to see all how weild," West snugged his dagger back into place on his shoulder.
" Is that a good thing or a bad thing," Charlie questioned.
West said nothing, instead he started off towards the granite outcropping. "We have to get to shelter before nightfall, and then find Lexi"
"Do you think she is in this level?" Sampson jogged up behind West.
" She has to be, the Game is not programmed to advance a players without completing the levels in sequence."
Charlie tucked the toad's eye into his backpack, took one last look at the carnage and strode to catch up with West and Sampson.
***
Lexi found herself clutching the bough of a tall conifer, the lemony scent of the tree's needle surrounded her. For a moment she was comforted by the trees' familiarity. That was until she looked down and realized she was more than 100 feet above the ground. Her new environment was bone chillingly cold and her fingers grew painful and stiff against the icy wind. The tree swayed back and forth and indication to Lexi the weather was beginning to change. In the distance dark clouds threatened to bring more snow to an already white landscape. She was not sure how much light remained in the day, judging from the angle of the sun she suspected it was late afternoon. That meant she had two, possibly, three hours at the most to find shelter before nightfall.
She slowly moved from the safety of the thick bough to the trunk of the tree. Lexi estimated the circumference of the tree to be somewhere between eight and twelve feet. Far too big for her to wrap her arms around and shimmy down. Instead she decided to use the rope in her explorer pack to gradually repel down its side. It took Lexi a couple of attempts before she was successful in looping the rope around the tree. She knew she would have to repeat this several times before she reached the surface. Lexi noted the last fifty feet appeared to be free of branches. From that point forward her descent would be less complicated.
She knotted the rope ensuring it would not slip on the descent and then gently pushed herself away. The rope caught on jagged bark and sticky sap, each time she repelled she loosened her grip and allowed the rope to fall away from the trunk before she quickly snugged it tight again.
Lexi struggled to grip the rope as she closed in on the final bough. The cold was unbearable now, her fingers raw and pink. Lexi took a deep breath and slowly lowered herself onto the last thick branch. Here she would rest for a few minutes before descending the last fifty feet. She looked out across the snow covered ground, in the distance she saw several objects reflecting the afternoon light. They slowly snaked down a low hillside, their gate jagged and chaotic. She strained to identify them.
"Are they human?" She whispered to herself. The vision screen appeared triggered by her thoughts.
The guide map revealed five red dots. "Opponents," she whispered. Lexi heard the female prompt identify the opponents.
"Sleet spiders are fast moving arachnids that travel in packs and are native to the Icen Fjord. This order of spider can grow to an average height of four feet with a diameter upwards of six feet. They hunt small warm blooded mammals such as hares, foxes, and flightless birds normally during the twilight hours. Sleet spiders are attracted to quick movement and heat signatures. The best course of action is to avoid them. However, if you do find yourself in the midst of a pack be certain avoid their poison laced mandibles. The sleet spider has one weakness. It is a small flesh covered patch located near its spinneret. If this location is punctured the spider will instantly atomize. Simply put they will be reduced to minute particles or into a fine spray of dust"
"Thank you," Lexi said aloud, the vision screen faded from her sight.
She secured her rope and continued the descent. Sleet spiders or not she had to find shelter for the night.