Chapter 15: “Soft Parts, Sharp Teeth”
Luna crouched in the muck, ears flat, eyes locked forward. The swamp was quiet, thick with green breath and damp shadows. Perfect for sneaking. Perfect for stalking. Perfect for snacks.
Across the shallow pool, half-sunken in black water and slime, Muckdrip the Bog-Sweller gurgled.
It hadn’t moved in ten whole minutes. Just wheezed, pulsed, and jiggled.
She could almost hear it slosh.
So soft. So bitable. So juicy.
Luna licked her lips.
Each breath made its belly wobble like spoiled jelly. The light caught the curve of it just right, and her claws flexed without meaning to. Every instinct screamed: Jump now.
But Luna knew better.
This was a plan. A dumb-fect plan. It had steps. She would follow the steps.
She circled it slowly, paws silent in the mud. Shadows clung to her fur. Her tail didn’t wag. Not even once.
Closer. Closer.
The frog shifted just a twitch away, but it was enough.
Now.
She pushed off the bank, [Shadow Step] flickering behind her. Space blurred, vanished, returned. Her paws slapped moss just beneath the beast’s hanging gut.
Time to bite!
She launched upward, mouth wide, teeth ready.
Crunch!
No.
Splash.
She hit something, but it wasn’t flesh. It was… goo?
Her jaws clamped down on a layer of thick, squelching slime. Her momentum died. Her feet slid out from under her, and suddenly she was skidding backwards through frog sweat and swamp moss.
“Glarghblff–!”
She tumbled once, hit a root, and bounced off it with a muddy squawk.
By the time she stopped spinning, Muckdrip was still in the same spot.
Still wheezing. Still wobbling. Still jiggling.
Untouched.
Luna groaned into the dirt.
“Slime armor,” she muttered. “Foul play.”
She peeled her face off the moss and spat out a clump of something green and untrustworthy. Her ears twitched, one flopping lazily to the side. Her whole body felt like a wet sock.
She blinked up at the sky.
"...Okay. Maybe not bite first."
Plan revision: Step one... test belly first. Or maybe attack from the side. Or above. Or just bite really hard.
She picked herself up with a squelch, fur dripping, pride soggy but intact.
“Didn’t die,” she mumbled. “Still counts as progress.”
The system agreed. A soft ping blinked behind her eyes:
【Shadow Step Lv.4 → Shadow Step Lv.5】
Luna’s ears perked.
“Awoo! Progress meat!”
She shook her body out with a shiver that sent water droplets flying. A leech flopped off her leg and landed with a sad little plop.
Her tail twitched, then wagged. Slower, but proud.
That had almost worked. She just needed more speed. More damage. More everything.
But most of all?
She needed to learn how to punch through frog slime.
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Luna padded back to the edge of the swamp, still watching Muckdrip’s wobbling bulk from afar. She flopped down into a new patch of moss and stared.
The frog gurgled again.
Luna licked her teeth.
"Next time," she whispered, "your belly will crunch."
The toad bellowed.
Its throat ballooned, round and veined, pulsing with swamp-colored light. The sound rolled like thunder through a tunnel full of water. Trees shook. Birds vanished.
Luna blinked.
Then the world turned green.
Sludge hit her like a falling boulder, cold and wet and fast. It launched her across the swamp and straight into a rotting stump.
Something cracked.
【HP -9】
Luna wheezed, slid down the side of the wood, and hit the muck with a gurgling sound.
Her chest burned. Her ears rang. Her tail twitched once, pitiful.
She pushed up on shaky paws, coughing filth. It clung to her fur, thick as paste, heavier than hunger. Her eyes stung. Her breath tasted like old pond.
But she still breathed.
Still meat-capable.
Luna snarled and flickered once more into Shadow Step – only for the skill to slip mid-cast. The muck grabbed her feet as mana surged. She spun sideways, blinked crooked, and reappeared half-sunk in mud. Face-first.
A shadow of weight smashed into the ground beside her.
The frog's leg. Bigger than her. Too close.
She rolled. Just barely.
A second leg slammed down. Moss and slime exploded upward. Luna yelped and scrambled away, belly low, ribs screaming.
Another blast of muck. She saw it coming this time, if barely, and ducked under. It still grazed her tail. Burned cold.
She swiped blindly. Her claws slid off slime. Bit in a panic yet tasted nothing but goo.
No damage, nor progress. No snack.
The frog wasn’t even trying. It just sat and spit and stomped. And Luna was losing.
Her heart hammered in her chest. Her breath came sharp and loud.
This was bad.
Bad plan.
Very bad plan.
Her body screamed to flee.
But her belly growled louder.
Quitting wasn’t meat.
She snarled loudly, and forced her legs to stand. Shaking. Bent. Upright.
The toad turned toward her, its red eyes staring at her lazily, as if it hadn't noticed she was still alive.
It gurgled.
She bared her teeth.
“Mine.”
Her voice cracked, hoarse and low. Filth dripped off her chin. Her tail wagged once, stiff and stubborn.
No more bounce. No more perfect plans. No more tricks.
This was a chew-fight now.
The frog opened its mouth again, and she moved forward.
Slime or not, she would find a way.
Even if she had to bite through the whole swamp to do it!
She crouched low, muscles trembling, breath ragged. Slime oozed from her snout, sticky and hot, dripping into the muck below. Her belly growled, legs quivered, eyes burned.
She had just one chance now.
Luna stilled her tail. Lowered her ears. Let the filth coat her until she was shadow-colored. Breath shallow. Heart hammering.
The muck whispered around her, quiet as thought.
Then she vanished.
Shadowmeld wrapped her in stillness. She became a lump of darkness, an encroaching smear of black. Her body barely twitched as she waited. And watched.
Muckdrip groaned and shifted. The great toad twisted, its bulk rippling like soup set to boil. Slime slid down its sides as it lifted a limb, exposing a patch on its underside.
There.
Near the thigh, right where her claw had torn it earlier, just beneath the slime, pink skin peeked through. Torn. Soft.
Weak.
Her shadow rippled. Magic pulsed through her blood.
【Shadow Step Lv.5 → Shadow Step Lv.6】
Luna surged.
The world bent, shadows spun, and she burst into motion. Her body flickered, then blinked.
And reappeared in mid-lunge, snout-first, fangs bared, aimed like a knife.
She hit the wound.
【Shadowmeld Lv.2 → Lv.3】
【Momentum Claw Lv.4 → Lv.5】
Her teeth drove deep, ripping through slick flesh. It tasted like rot and pond water and old regret. Her jaw locked. Her claws tore at the wound.
The toad shrieked.
It thrashed like a thunderstorm, flinging swamp water in all directions. Muck flew. Roots snapped. Air turned wet and wild.
It hurt, but Luna held.
She bit harder. Dug deeper.
She would not let go.
The toad twisted, slammed itself into the ground, rolled over twice, bellowed one last time–
And then stilled.
The world paused.
The swamp held its breath.
Then came the messages.
【Enemy Defeated: Muckdrip, the Bog-Sweller】
【Level Up: 6 → 7】
【Level Up: 7 → 8】
【Strength +2 | Vitality +2 | Dexterity +1 | Intelligence +1】
【Skill proficiency increased: Bite Lv.9 → Bite Lv.10】
【Skill proficiency increased: Pain Resistance Lv.1 → Lv.2】
【Trait Progress: Gluttonous Soul → 5%】
【You bit a frog so hard it died. Consider therapy.】
Luna didn’t laugh.
She flopped onto her side, chest heaving, ears limp, side hurting, and tail twitching weakly through the swamp grass.
Mud soaked her fur. Her mouth still tasted like pond death.
And she chewed. Slow. Steady. Focused.
It wasn’t good meat. It was awful.
But it was hers now!
And her belly gurgled in approval.
[Luna Quest Start!]
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