The poisonous bog was a region in the swamp that was so toxic that the water held a mild toxin.
It was a closed-off area, and a supernatural barrier prevented it from interacting with the other regions.
Tara found it as if a new world opened up the moment she entered the region; despite its connection to the swamp, the bog didn't seem to interfere with the rest of the areas, with the toxic substances that made up the poisonous bog limited to its surroundings.
The trip here was uneventful; with Claw by her side, most magical beasts would steer clear of them, with Claw's cultivation at the sixth stage of Qi Gathering considered a peak force in this region.
Only a few foolish territorial Pikeakes attacked them and were dealt with quickly.
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 527/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
Claw dealt with the other one. It took the powerful Salamander a single swipe of its giant claws to tear the Pikeake into two, with her not knowing why the predatory Pikeakes would throw away their lives so futilely.
She also did not receive a single amount of EXP for Claw's kill, demonstrating that being within the vicinity did not seem enough for the system to acknowledge it.
Either way, when Claw said he was taking her to the most toxic area of the swamp, she did not take it well until Claw said that Iron Salamanders, in general, could survive there with no issues.
The poisonous creatures were still a threat, but the murky toxins that travelled through the waters were of no danger to them. However, their bodies constantly purge these toxins, weakening their regeneration slightly.
When they entered the bog, she instantly felt the difference. It was strange how an area could be so different from the rest of the swamp.
The world's laws seemed to operate in unlogical ways, with the environment of the poisonous bog entirely different from that of the swamp nearby.
Claw told her the humans referred to the swamp as the Labyrinth Marshes of Emerling, referring to its many denizens, assortments of magical beasts, and environmental variation, with irregular swamp regions.
Tara found it a fitting name, and the poisonous bog was a great example, as it bore no resemblance to the swamp waters she had lived in since her rebirth.
Navigating their way through the poisonous bog, she was already beginning to feel the effects of the toxic water; it was subtle, but she felt the familiar feeling of using her regeneration trait, so she knew she was being slowly poisoned.
'This place is ridiculously deadly', Tara thought, thinking of the magical beasts or other beings unknowingly poisoned the moment they entered this region; they may not realise until it was too late, letting whatever predators lived down here feast on their flesh.
Further exploring the bog, she found the water far murkier than in the region she came from, though her eyes were still well adapted to see beyond what a human could see down here.
Another was the sheer amount of vegetation, which made it feel like an underwater Greenland forest.
She saw plants entirely foreign to her and others that seemed familiar, including marigolds and flowers resembling an Iris, full of bright purple, yellow, and even more exotic-looking colours.
She thought the poisonous bog was eerily beautiful, and the amount of life on display was astounding. It was far different from the toxic, poisonous wasteland she expected.
Yet Tara soon found this beauty was an illusion, hiding the true darkness of this place.
She soon saw a large fish moving near one of the beautiful flowers where the fish was suddenly eaten whole, with a ridiculously large Venus flytrap abruptly appearing from the swamp floor.
The flytrap snapped around the fish in its entirety before abruptly disappearing, leaving the space vacant as if nothing had happened.
Tara fixed her eyes and looked at the spot from which it had disappeared. The camouflage on the thing was so good that she could not see it correctly even when she concentrated.
Feeling a shiver at the thought of such murderous large carnivorous plants hidden everywhere, she found Claw looking at her, intent on talking with her again.
'I didn't want to go up against them, but to find what you're looking for quickly, we got to find a magical beast around mine and Lady's level. As you can see from the tree we were protecting, a strong magical beast would guard most natural treasures; before we arrived, there was a magical beast around our level that we had to beat to claim the area and spiritual tree. Usually, the older and stronger the spiritual plant, the more resources it can provide to a strong magical beast like I and Lady who have a herd to raise; it is of utmost importance to give them the means to grow as a stronger herd will benefit us too, the Sphyrna Pikeake has benefited immensely from lording this region. The Pikeake provided him with many resources, bringing him to the brink of reaching Qi Gathering seven, a stage from which many of us are held back.' Claw explained to her. He seemed sombre all of a sudden as he realised something.
'Whatever we have to go up against for what I need can't be worse than the Sphyrna Pikeake, right?' Tara said almost jokingly, yet judging by Claw's deafening silence, she felt concerned.
'No, it is weaker than that brute. And stupid, too, ridiculously so. Like Lady and I told you before, not all magical beasts are intelligent; we happen to live long lives and are fortunate. Our two companions you could not meet did not converse much with us and wouldn't have minded this description, but they were relatively simple. Not all magical beasts have much aspiration outside of their base instincts, and usually, they direct their intelligence to supplement this. Like the Sphyrna Pikeake, it is very cunning as a predator but does not think much about eating outside, expanding its territory, and improving its cultivation. Let's say Lady was the more unique one of us, and she rubbed off on me over the years; I started thinking more of other things because of her. And I think I kinda like it. You are odd, though; I have never met a magical beast that talks so human, yet not in my lifetime. You are weirdly ignorant but show signs of such thought that it is strange to view you as a young one. I don't know what you may be, I don't care, just as long as you don't ever think of harming Lady'. Claw said that last thought with such murderous intent Tara knew he wanted an answer.
'I promise. Just to let you know, I haven't met you two for that long, so it may not be the most trustworthy promise, but I would never even think of hurting Lady; I know she's a kind soul.' Tara said that though she might have spoken too much rather than the simple one-word answer, she felt the need to make such a promise.
Claw seemed surprised before he chuckled in her mind and replied, 'You are right. She is. A good word to describe her. Sometimes, I wonder how she ended up like that in a place such as this, how she maintains such thoughts with the suffering she went through. It's beyond me. I hate them; I don't know how she can forgive them just because of one human…'
Claw paused after he said that, seeming to snap his mind out of it before he went into a rant. There he spoke again, though this time, he moved on to the matter, 'Forgive me, we need to focus on the magical beast. As I said previously, the magical beast is not the brightest; what we need to deal with is a large poisonous toad. Its main danger is its ridiculous poison; it's so absurdly poisonous that the Sphyrna Pikeake was wary of it, but other than that, it isn't imposing for our level. I know it guards a type of spiritual plant that produces fruits that enhance its poison; it's one of the reasons why its poison became so potent.'
After that, they moved further into the bog, with Claw instructing her to be careful of the murderous plants whenever she got too close to the beautiful plant life.
It was easy to drop your guard here; everything was so eerily beautiful, yet they soon came across a target that Claw wanted her to face.
Claw turned toward her as he pointed its large claw toward a mix of dark green shrubs at the bottom of the swamp.
She wondered what he wanted her to look towards until she noticed it.
'Is that a giant frog?' Tara thought, or should she say toad, as she utilised {Insight}.
[Species: Toxic Bog Toad
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 5]
Claw noticed her eyes lit up as she spotted it and replied, 'That's one of its kind. It would be good practice for you to fight the thing before we come up against the big dumb one.'
Tara nodded, deciding to utilise her {Metal Manipulation}.
As she formed a metal spike, she noticed Claw looked at her aptly as if observing her skill closely.
'Here it goes,' Tara thought before swiftly launching the spear at the toad; however, to her shock, the toad could react.
Despite the swift, unexpected attack, the toad could move, letting out wicked poisonous fumes that created a sickly dark green gas-like substance in the water near it.
Her metal spear didn't prove invulnerable for the first time as she saw it enter the cloud of gas and corrode into nothingness before her eyes.
'Just how toxic is that thing.' Tara thought, though her trait was only at the first level, the metal produced was still ridiculously sturdy and strong; no wonder the Sphyrna Pikeake was wary of the bigger, deadlier version of this thing.
After the spear dissolved, the toxic cloud soon seemed to vanish, and the toad looked around warily, exhausted.
'So not without vulnerabilities,' Tara thought. Though she decided not to approach the thing closely, she started to create another spear, yet the Toad seemed to spot her and shot her an angry glance filled with killing intent.
The Toxic Bog Toad soon demonstrated it did not just have a close-range means of attack, as its tongue came at her like a whip from a considerable distance, coated on the tongue was full of that sickly dark green poison, though this time it was in liquid form.
'So it has full control of its poison, whether liquid or gas form,' Tara noted. Disrupted from creating her spear, she wasted her Qi entirely as the disruption from the toad caused a disturbance in her mind, shattering the process of making the metal spike.
Hastily moving out of the way of the tongue, she tried to swipe it with her claw, finding the lack of resistance surprising as she ripped it off.
Yet her victory celebration ended up short as the vicious poison ended up on the right of her forelimbs, and it was as ridiculously toxic as it looked.
'Damn, that hurts,' Tara thought, as the poison made short work of her claws, webbed-like appendage.
Despite the damage, the Toad was similarly reeling from losing its tongue, and Tara decided to take the initiative to finish it off for good this time.
Approaching the Toad drained of Qi, she found the Toad again attempting to create a gas-like poison, yet she was well prepared, managing to get out of its way as it sprang towards her.
With the Toad leaving itself open, she gritted her teeth as she swung her other claw into the soft neck, tearing it open. She finally killed the Toad, but she smeared herself in poison again.
Feeling the agony of her flesh burning, not feeling the notification from the system could cheer her up.
[You have defeated {Toxic Bog Toad}, gaining 70 EXP. You are now 597/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
She couldn't be satisfied by the kill, as the Toad did more damage to her than anything had done for a while. Though the Sphyrna Pikeake was close to killing her, she did not experience the after-effects due to her level-up.
This time, she was in misery from the poison.
Claw took this time to approach her and said, 'You will be fine. Your regeneration is strong, which is a good lesson for you. If the big one catches you like this, let's say we would not have this conversation.'
'You have a way to make one feel confident.' Tara couldn't help but reply snarkily.
'It is one of my better qualities.' Claw said in a way that made her unable to tell if the Salamander was serious.
Either way, she knew Claw was right, and it was time to continue traversing their way through the bog; it was time for more Toad hunting.