Chapter 144: Success
The enraged shout of the man echoed in the surroundings.
Even from afar, one could feel the fury that he had released.
His eyes were bloodshot, eyeing the summoners around him.
The Gobbling Toad has escaped his grasp, and now, the summoners around would surely think that this was an opportunity for them.
However, having sacrificed and battled for it for so long, how could he allow these mongrels to reap the benefits of what he had sowed?
"Stay where you are! Don't even try searching for my Gobbling Toad!"
He looked around, summoning another contracted beast, ready to battle.
The others upon seeing his actions merely sneered.
None of them paid attention to his outburst, and instead, turned around to begin the search for the Gobbling Toad.
Since the Gobbling Toad had just escaped, and it was already at the end of its, even the weakest of them had the hopes of capturing it.
If they have an extra grimoire page, contracting it directly was not even out of the options.
As for the man's outburst, none of them cared.
"Damn it!"
Upon seeing that he was ignored, the man could only curse loudly.
However, despite his rage, he knew that he could not be unreasonable to attack those who were searching for the Gobbling Toad.
If he attracted the ire of everyone present, won't his fate be even worse than the Gobbling Toad?
In the end, he could only grit his teeth in anger and search for the Gobbling Toad as well.
Meanwhile, in the crowd, Kane's eyes lit up the moment he saw the Gobbling Toad disappear from the man's hand.
He knew that a chance had appeared and was about to search for the Gobbling Toad as well.
However, he suddenly recalled the words that his 'bro' Lucas had whispered to him earlier.
"When a situation arises, and I disappear, don't look for me. Go back to Serene City!"
Kane hurriedly looked around.
Although there was an increase of the number of summoners in the vicinity, it was not to the point that they were too dense to single one out.
He scanned the crowd thoroughly, searching for Lucas' figure, but to no avail.
Earlier, he vaguely recalled that he made the first move to capture the weak Gobbling Toad before withdrawing away. After that, Kane was so preoccupied with capturing the Gobbling Toad like many others that he no longer paid attention to Lucas' whereabouts.
It's as if all of a sudden, he had disappeared into thin air.
"This…"
Realizing this, he immediately realized that this was the situation that Lucas had been talking about.
Seeing the frantic search for the Gobbling Toad continue, and Lucas nowhere to be found, Kane immediately knew that this was somehow related to him.
Coupled with the warning as well as Lucas' ability he saw before, Kane decided to slowly withdraw from the search.
At this moment, Kane slowly took a step back, pretending to search. No one realized his intentions, and gradually, Kane exited the range of Western Swamp, returning to Serene City with a hint of anticipation on his face.
***
Meanwhile, a few kilometers away from Western Swamp.
Lucas, filled with elation, stopped in his tracks and hid behind a towering tree.
In his hand, a plump brownish Gobbling Toad lay weakly. Though its eyes were wide awake, its breathing was faint and weak, as if it could die at the next moment.
Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire
Thinking back as to how he successfully snatched the Gobbling Toad at the hands of that man, Lucas could not help but feel a hint of exhilaration.
After manipulating the strings, and making all the summoners fight each other while he stayed and observed from afar, Lucas saw the opportunity and acted immediately.
The battle for the Gobbling Toad might not have come to a point where a person was killed or another summoner tried to kill another summoner, it was still a fierce battle that could potentially kill another being if they were not careful enough.
However, using the combined effort of him and Tony, they disappeared from the world, and quickly departed from that area of the Western Swamp after he snatched the Gobbling Toad right in the hands of that man.
Since he did not involve himself in that battle and he had not shown any sort of specialness, he did not think that anyone would suspect that it was his doing.
Of all the summoners present there, perhaps, only Kane was aware of his existence. And since Kane was an accomplice, he did not think that Kane would expose him either.
Now, a few kilometers away, the last thing that he needed to do was to contract the Gobbling Toad.
Before doing so, he decided to unsummon Tony first, and summoned Spot in return for protection.
Since it consumed more resources the more entities were pulled along the Unhindered Stealth state, Lucas had unsummoned Spot earlier and secretly summoned Tony.
Now, Tony was outrightly begging him to let him return inside the grimoire.
This worm, even though he was not that tired, pretended to be one, just so he could return inside the grimoire sooner.
Since Tony had done a good job of maintaining the stealth state all the way here, Lucas did not press on him further and allowed him to return inside the grimoire to rest.
After Spot was summoned, he immediately scanned their surroundings, and upon seeing that it was safe, relaxed a little bit.
He then observed the weak Gobbling Toad in Lucas' hand before jumping above his head to settle down.
With most of his preparations done, Lucas did not waste time any longer and immediately summoned his Iron Grade Grimoire.
With a thought, Lucas transmitted his intentions and the grimoire responded almost immediately.
A light embraced the dying Gobbling Toad.
The Gobbling Toad was only an Iron Rank and Iron Grade beast at most.
Not to mention that it was already weak and could offer little to no resistance, Lucas was more than qualified to contract this beast even if it weren't weakened.
Anticipation ran through his veins.
Contracting another beast, especially one that he had plans on, was something he had looked forward to.
With its intricate and unique abilities, Lucas knew that he would gain a lot upon contracting this beast.
The storage option was already powerful enough of an ability, not to mention the fact that the System would add yet another skill to this Gobbling Toad after using the Bloodline Detector function on it.
Even though the Gobbling Toad was not contracted yet, Lucas was already looking forward to what kind of skill the System would bestow to it.
And just like he had expected, the Gobbling Toad offered little to no resistance.
The moment it was embraced by the contracting light, it immediately knew that this was its only chance to survive, and hence, immediately accepted it.
The Gobbling Toad disappeared from his hands, but Lucas was not the least bit worried.
Aside from his subtle connection with Spot and Tony, another one had emerged inside his mind.
Without wasting any more time, Lucas flipped open his grimoire and immediately saw an additional name on the contracted beast section right after Spot and Tony.
Flipping two more pages, Lucas stared at the profile page of the Gobbling Toad for the first time.
In the illustration, its appearance did not change much. It was brownish in color with intricate patterns that resembled grains of wood.
Glancing down, Lucas inspected its skills and other details for the first time.
[Beast Name: Gobbling Toad
Grade: Iron
Rank: Iron Star 3
Skills: Quick Leap, Extra Pocket
Quick Leap: Allows the user to leap in a certain direction as quickly as possible. This burst of speed consumes a lot of energy and is not suited for long term battles.
Extra Pocket: Allows the user to have an extra space hidden under the mouth. Space inside may vary according to the strength of the user. With a thought, the user can store and pull out the things stored inside the Extra Pocket very quickly.]
The Gobbling Toad, being an Iron Grade and Iron Star beast, only has two skills at its disposal.
The Quick Leap was the skill it uses everytime it decides to flee, while the Extra Pocket was obviously the thing that almost all the summoners in Serene City desired the most.
Summoning the Gobbling Toad, Lucas wondered how large the space inside the Extra Pocket of his Gobbling Toad.
From what he could recall, Kane's Gobbling Toad was already an Iron Star 7 beast. The space inside his Gobbling Toad was already comparable to a small house.
Since his newly contracted Gobbling Toad was only an Iron Star 3 beast, Lucas did not expect much.
Just half a house of space would do.
With great anticipation, Lucas looked at the Gobbling Toad that has now materialized in his hands.
Upon taking a closer look, Lucas realized that this toad of his, seemed to be different than usual.
_____
A/N: Will upload character illustration of Tony and Gobbling Toad after some time, still a bit busy at this moment.
P.S.: If any of you want a character illustration of any of the characters, just say so in the comments and we'll make it happen.