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The G-frog one trembled. His arms twitched. Sothing ancient in his swamp-born blood rembered the sensation of being hunted. Of being prey.
Kai didn’t say another word. He just smiled. Not wide. Not flashy. Just a small, terrifying curl of the lip that promised, "I’m going to feed on you."
A moist croak filled the air. G-Frog was still in shock from Kai’s eyes.
"Co on, hot stuff, I ain’t afraid of you." he declared, wiggling his webbed fingers like a drunk seductress. "Let feel your—"
He never got the chance to finish. Kai vanished from his location. No blast of aura. No flash of warning. Just... gone.
One heartbeat.
One twitch.
One flicker in the smoke and Kai was already behind him.
His obsidian armor shimred with bloodlight. His right arm had speared clean through G-Frog’s wide, jiggling chest like a hot blade through soft mud.
The frogkin jerked violently. His eyes rolled back as Kai’s gauntleted hand gripped sothing inside his chest... Sothing pulsing, glowing, twitching in panic.
"No—w-wait—!" G-Frog gurgled, blood pouring from his lips like jam from a split fruit.
Kai ripped his arm back.
In his palm was a raw, amber-red crystal throbbed with swampy aura. G-Frog’s 4★ star core.
The body dropped behind him with a hollow thump, twitching once before going still. Mucus and blood puddled around the corpse, steaming.
Kai raised the core to his lips. No hesitation. He bit into it.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Aura burst over his tongue like overripe fruit soaked in acid and tasted like swamp.
[Devourer Trait Activated. Four star rank Core Consud – Aura 420
Current Aura: 620 ]
Kai’s back straightened. His exhale ca out as steam. The glow in his crimson eyes burned brighter.
The other frogkin was frozen. So did the Frog-Man. No one had moved. None except the fat frog had seen it clearly.
One of their own was gone. Not wounded. Not weakened. Deleted from existence in a single instant.
Then chaos ca. "FORMATION!" one of the five remaining frogkin croaked. "This white boy is stronger than we imagine."
The others leapt back, forming a half moon around Kai with surprising coordination. Their webbed limbs moved with trained fluidity, each one taking a distinct stance.
One brandished dual bone cleavers. Another had a chain blade attached to his tongue.
The third one had massive arms plated with swamp iron. It stood as the shield.
Fourth had pustules along his spine, leaking explosive poison sacs.
And the fifth—thin, lean, tattooed in dark green ink—began humming, body glowing faintly with swamp enchantnts.
[Ding! System notifications- Enemy Formation: Swamp-Kin Assault Array: Five Croaks of Ruin
Warning: Coordinated group attack. Damage Risk Level: dium.]
The Frog-Man howled behind them. "KILL HIM! GRIND HIM TO ASH! I WANT HIS BONES FOR MY THRONE!"
But Kai?
He just rotated his shoulder. "Now you look like a proper al."
On the sidelines...
Akayoroi stirred, she just woke up before Kai made his move. Her breath caught in her throat. "What...?"
One of the assassin ants—Vel—rushed to her side and pulled her up carefully. "My Queen, stay down! He rescued you and he’s fighting them now."
Akayoroi’s vision focused.
Kai stood in the middle of the tunnel, steam rising from his armor, obsidian black and glowing faintly crimson. Blood still dripped from his gauntlet. The other frogs surrounded him like starving wolves but none dared to pounce, yet.
He just stood there. Calm. Like the entire battlefield was a stage... and he was already the winner.
Her mandibles twitched. "Who is he? Why do I feel like I got a connection with him?" she whispered.
"We... don’t know," said Naaro. Her antennae flicked in disbelief. "He fell from the sky like a cot."
"He killed a four-star frog in a single breath..." Vel muttered, jaw trembling. "That core was... it was real. A four star rank warrior... gone."
Akayoroi started at Kai with stunned looks. "He... he is handso," she said, breath catching.
"Queen!" one ant hissed. "You’re hurt! Focus!"
"I am focused," Akayoroi said, eyes glowing faintly. "Focused on that man’s muscles. It looks like they are forged by the star."
"QUEEN! behave yourself....." Vel said.
But Akayoroi didn’t blush. She only watched Kai with growing fascination. The steam that curled around his form... the silence he commanded... that speed...
That absolute, unwavering calm. He hadn’t even looked at them. Not yet. But she felt his presence like gravity. And for the first ti since she fled from her enemy, she felt... Safe.
Back in the field...
Kai flexed his claws saying, "One down. Five left. Who wants to die first? Raise your hand or make a move."
His aura humd again at 620, not full, but enough for active three skills. He can easily take them down. The only challenge is that bastard fat Frog Man.
From the beginning if they attacked him together, maybe they had a chance for victory. At that ti, Kai didn’t have that much aura. But now... they’d already made a mistake.
"They think they’re predators. But they’re frogs in the well. I’ve eaten bigger threats before breakfast."
The cleaver wielder stepped forward. "You think you’re fast, eh?" he snarled, raising his weapons. "Try dodging all of us!"
Kai gave a small shrug. "You’ll all fall like dominoes."
His eyes flicked up—one to each face. "And the one who was licking his lips at ?"
He tapped his chest where blood still glistened.
"He kissed my armor. Not even the Queen gets that close without permission."
He smirked at his own joke. Then vanished again.
The cleaver-wielding frogkin barely had ti to blink before Kai reappeared, not behind, not beside, but directly in front of him. No wind, no sound, just pressure. Overwhelming, crushing pressure that cracked the very stones beneath his armored boots.
Kai’s palm struck the frog’s chin with a thunderous BOOM, sending the beast soaring backward like a kicked boulder. Before the others could react, he whispered:
"Reflex Mode. Activate."
[Skill Activated: Reflex Mode — Duration is five Minutes. Speed increased. Reaction Ti Enhanced. Aura Cost: -200]
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