They ran after the toad.

Galthor and his team took after it as it took after Karathra and her team. But the chief had miscalculated one thing, the speed of the monster!

Just why is the toad that fast anyway? The toad was like a truck with no brakes, and with just a few tree-smashing jumps, it had already caught up with them.

Instead of continuing to run, Karathra and her team turned to face it, and she slashed the mass of flesh with her axe, but the monster's flesh was surprisingly tough, and her weapon bounced back.

She cursed, but before she and any of them could go for any more attacks, the monster opened its mouth, and jets of yellow vomit splashed out!

Not all of them managed to jump out of the splash in time, and the yellow liquid splashed on them. Fortunately, they were all covering themselves with essence and suffered little from the yellow liquid.

But the trees weren't so lucky, as the yellow liquid burned through them as if they were paper, eating away at them, and what touched the ground made the soil boil.

If that had touched them without the reinforcement of essence, then they would have been reduced to liquid meat. But even though they did not have to worry about the first splash, the monster was still there, and it hadn't been waiting while they avoided its attack.

One giant hand raised and slapped Hrothgar away as if the barbarian weighed nothing. The force of the slap made his bones tremble and caused him to ram into the trees with a mighty crash.

The others didn't hold back as they instantly pounced on the monster.

This time, Galthor had already reached the battle site, but he didn't join. On a whim, he gestured for the other masters to join them. Maybe it was time he saw the masters in action.

Seven masters and one cursed monster. Yes, maybe it would be right to know the combat powers of his masters before they engaged in anything major. Galthor just wanted to see how they would hold up.

The first things he took note of were their weapons. Hrothgar was already on his feet and jumped back into battle. The biggest barbarian amongst them used his fists to fight, and his punch cracked the air like a bullet and likely hit like one too, with the way the monster toad's body ripped with the shape of a fist each time he punched.

He could also do it from a distance too, as if he was projecting his punch through space. But it must be hurting the monster as well, at least stinging it to annoyance, because it ignored everyone and jumped after Hrothgar, its great mouth open to swallow him whole.

But that was when it came up short, yanked still by a force that suddenly came out of nowhere! Big yellow eyes rotated in its head as the toad looked back at what stopped it.

Zargoth, one of the seven masters, was straining against the weight of the toad as he pulled the chain encircling one of its legs. This barbarian master was bare-chested, and he wrapped chains around himself, encircling his torso and hands, wearing his weapon as if it was his own brand of clothing.

The toad monster grunted and then forcefully yanked its leg, causing Zargoth to jump forward toward the open mouth of the monster, but like a spider and a monkey, the master sent another of his chains to encircle a tree, and thus he broke his forward thrust.

Suddenly, ten strands of essence swiped at the monster's eyes like rain. The toad roared as it was forced to turn its attention again to another barbarian, Rukar, who carried no weapons just like Hrothgar.

Instead, his nails were unusually long and enhanced by essence, making them strong enough to tear through metal and stone with ease. But he was finding it hard to cut through the monster's skin.

And then there was Karathra, her great axe flashing through the air, sending beams of essence arcs through the air to cut at the monster on the same spot.

The other members only had normal swords with them.

Watching them, the only thing Galthor could do was grimace. "Why are they fighting like that? It's so wrong and disorganized! It's almost as if... wait, they're not used to fighting together against a powerful foe, right?"

Galthor was stunned, but at the same time, he didn't know how to correct them. He had no experience in things like that. Seriously, how should he? He spent his life on a bed!

The only things he could do were listen to video games and do some puzzle games on days he was strong enough to lift his limbs.

Wait... puzzle.

"But maybe I can help them a little? Something simple, perhaps? Let's see. Karathra and Hrothgar are the main heavy hitters here, while the others, well, they're doing their best to annoy the monster!"

Ok. Ok. He was the leader and their god. At least he should be able to give them a little advice, because at the rate they were going, they would tire themselves out without doing much damage to that thing!

"Brakthar, Asclaw, Drakira, and Rukar, listen to me! I want you guys to intensify your attacks in the next twenty seconds and then run out of this clearing and into those great trees!"

The first thing they needed to do was take away the creature's advantages, its size and speed, while they took advantage of it.

The masters were startled to hear Galthor's voice, but at the same time, they quickly did as he said. They increased their attacks and then ran beneath the big trees.

And as expected, the toad monster ran after them, forcing itself between the trees to get to them.

"Zargoth, I want you to chain that thing. Use as many chains as you can and tie it up to one of the trees if you can! Hrothgar and Karathra, while the others are holding its attention, kill that thing!"

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