Chapter 8: Equality for All Creatures
Gas Frogs, a type of frog that often accumulates large amounts of gas in their mouths, can have the effects of their gases judged by color—there’s sleep gas, deadly poison gas, and paralysis gas.
These gas clouds are usually released when the Gas Frog experiences an impact, helping it escape.
This gas effect is extremely potent, even affecting Large Monsters; in the game, they’re called Equality Frogs.
The Thief Dragon that was paralyzed by the Gas Frog managed to stand up after a while but still twitched as it moved, clearly not fully recovered.
Jié Jié scanned the rocky slope, hoping to find another Gas Frog to make the hunt easier.
Downwind of this rocky slope was a rather wide stream. The Thief Dragon’s vertical pupils contracted, capturing a Paralysis Gas Frog under a dead tree by the stream water.
But how could they catch this Gas Frog without letting it escape?
A one-hit kill would probably prevent it from running away, right? As for being paralyzed by the gas, Jié Jié didn’t care much. Being a monster now, sooner or later he’d get paralyzed by hunters anyway.
Jié Jié walked downhill, intending to contend with the Paralysis Gas Frog. Several Thief Dragons trying to follow were pushed back by him. Too many dragons would make too much noise, and he also worried about being paralyzed himself, only for the frog to be snatched and eaten by other Thief Dragons.
He pretended not to see the Gas Frog as he walked past it, confirming it wasn’t watching him before quietly sneaking behind it, into its blind spot.
The Gas Frog had no reaction at all, seemingly unaware of the hunter lurking behind it. Jié Jié recalled catching toads in the fields as a child—it was somewhat similar.
But toads don’t spew any kind of super-effective gas that knocks out Large Monsters. Thinking about this, Jié Jié cautiously paused his actions, pondering where else he could proceed more carefully.
After releasing gas, the Gas Frog shrinks and can quickly escape from a paralyzed predator. Therefore, the angle of the bite must be chosen carefully—not on the puffed-up cheeks, which are hollow and won’t provide a solid grip or fatal damage.
The best place to bite should be between the Gas Frog’s eyes. It feels like… biting horizontally?
Yeah.
Jié Jié carefully continued approaching the Gas Frog. If he were still human, he’d surely be sweating bullets right now?
That sensation of time standing still came again. Jié Jié stared as the Gas Frog grew closer—
Finally, the Thief Dragon’s nictitating membrane flickered for a moment.
He only felt his sharp teeth tearing through something soft, then a tingling sensation spread from his tongue throughout his body.
He felt powerless, lacking the strength and sensation to tear further. His muscles seemed to peel off his body piece by piece, making it impossible to feel or control them. He couldn’t even open his eyes, his eyelids tightly sealed as if stitched shut by lightning.
Jié Jié lay on the ground convulsing.
The gas was dispersing rapidly. Layer by layer, muscles rewrapped around his nerves, clinging to his bones, allowing him to reassess the situation.
His short snout was tightly closed. The paralysis made his muscles lose control, but the bite itself—he had put all his strength into it at the moment of impact. This wasn’t surprising. What truly delighted him was the soft, squishy thing in his mouth!
He licked it with his tongue, but unfortunately, the tongue, as the first organ to come in contact with the gas, was still twitching and couldn’t taste anything.
Out of excessive caution, Jié Jié didn’t chew but directly tilted his head back and swallowed what was in his mouth. Then he focused inward, confirming that a plump yellow frog appeared lit up on the Totem Wall.
But he wasn’t sure whether a transformed Gas Frog would naturally carry a mouthful of paralyzing gas or if wounds sustained in the current state would remain after transformation.
Unknown, but he’d definitely know eventually.
The Thief Dragon’s body contracted, transforming into a plump Gas Frog.
The Gas Frog’s eye muscles contracted as Jié Jié adapted to his new form, confirming that the paralyzing gas was produced and stored by the Gas Frog itself. Squeeze it, and you’ll always get some out.
After confirming this point, Jié Jié transformed back into a Thief Dragon from the Gas Frog, drank some water by the stream, and returned to the stone slope, walking while twitching occasionally. It felt pretty good.
But this didn’t stop him from gathering the scattered Thief Dragons with a roar. In those fifteen minutes, two more Thief Dragons had wandered off.
Leaving the rocky beach behind, Jié Jié followed the scent and trail in the forest, continuing to search for the Scratcher Bird.
They even saw a Poison Demon Bird along the way. It marked out a territory bordering the Great Thief Dragon’s land, meaning there would likely be another fight when the Great Thief Dragon patrols here.
The Thief Dragons skirted around the edge of the Poison Demon Bird’s line of sight. Fortunately, the guy just gave a warning roar and didn’t chase or attack them.
It hadn’t been long since they abandoned the pursuit of the Scratcher Bird, so it couldn’t have run far.
Finally, Jié Jié saw the Scratcher Bird he had been longing for. It was pecking at a dragon egg from somewhere, but with only one functioning arm, the egg kept rolling every time it struck.
The Thief Dragons became restless, most retreating.
In just a few hours, not all these Thief Dragons were part of the original group following Jié Jié. Even if they were, after a few hours, their courage had diminished again, lacking the audacity to cross ecological niches.
Moreover, their leader, the Thief Dragon, had disappeared at some point, leaving them to hide in corners as usual, watching the Large Monster and waiting, sometimes for an entire day, for opportunities that might never come.
For the Thief Dragons that didn’t reveal threats to themselves, the Large Monster Scratcher Bird paid them no mind, even though it had previously been chased by the Thief Dragon pack. Or perhaps, the pain from its wound was weakening it, and hunger was driving it to focus entirely on the egg in front of it.
At this moment, a round object half-bounced and half-rolled into its field of vision. Its bright yellow color resembled the egg, prompting the Scratcher Bird to instinctively peck at it.
Strong paralysis gas erupted from the Gas Frog’s mouth, instantly enveloping the Scratcher Bird.
This Gas Frog, who unknowingly got pecked by the Scratcher Bird, was none other than Jié Jié, who had secretly transformed and left the Thief Dragon group. He had intended to release the paralysis gas voluntarily but didn’t expect the Scratcher Bird to peck at him straight away, showing a kind of innocence that hadn’t experienced equality.
Guessing that the Scratcher Bird was desperate with hunger wasn’t hard, but Jié Jié currently only felt immense pain, a piercing sensation drilling down his back. The Gas Frog’s nervous reactions caused its thigh muscles to twitch, attempting to flee.
Upon confirming that it had escaped the range of the paralysis gas, the Gas Frog’s body began to swell.
Jié Jié forced himself to transform back into a Thief Dragon, attempting to overcome both the uncontrollable thigh muscles and the influence of the pain.
As the Gas Frog’s body swelled into a Thief Dragon, its narrow vertical pupils coldly stared at the Scratcher Bird convulsing in the paralysis gas.
