After two consecutive rounds of sonic attacks, Qin Hao and the others had calculated the cooldown time for the toad's skill.
"Thirty seconds! Everyone, we only have thirty seconds. We have to kill it within those thirty seconds."
As Qin Hao spoke, he waited again for the toad's third wave of attacks.
Sure enough, thirty seconds later, the toad's sonic attack came at them again.
Just as before, it had no effect. All they could hear was the toad's croaking.
"All right, move!"
At Qin Hao's command, everyone pushed the sound-suppression device into the cave, then charged at the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad.
The senior sister used Entanglement to restrain the sonic toad. Captain Mang Wu underwent Beastification, transforming into a fierce tiger, his body turning metallic and the claws on his hands taking on a sharp metallic color.
Mang Wu clawed at the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad.
One senior unleashed a dense barrage of iron spikes at the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad.
Another senior attacked with stone spikes, knocking the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad down from the cave ceiling.
Another senior had the rare Light-Type Ability. He unleashed a brilliant light that shone into the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad's eyes, preventing it from opening them.
As for Qin Hao, he struck with Lightning Fist while secretly using Time Acceleration.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
In just five seconds, the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad took a great many hits from the group.
When the senior sister's Entanglement wore off, Qin Hao hurriedly used Time Slow to restrain the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad again.
Another round of attacks landed on the toad.
Time Slow lasted a full ten seconds, and the group attacked in two consecutive rounds.
By the time it wore off, the toad had been beaten beyond recognition.
The Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad was a Beast General-level monster with a gigantic body. Otherwise, it would have been dead as a doornail long ago.
Looking at the mangled toad on the ground, the group pulled out their daggers and slashed the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad over a hundred times.
Just like that, the group wore down and killed a Beast General Tenth Tier monster.
Beast General-level monsters had begun to develop intelligence, and with their formidable strength, even a Martial General would have a hard time defeating one alone.
But although this Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad was a Beast General Tenth Tier and had some intelligence, it had never encountered such a bizarre method of fighting: a sound-suppression device.
After its first two attacks, it had thought Qin Hao and the others had been blasted away, so it had let its guard down.
Then, with control skills used on it in two consecutive rounds, it had never been able to bring its strength to bear before it was killed.
"Phew, we finally killed that damned beast."
The senior sister breathed a sigh of relief as she spoke.
"This Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad probably never left after entering the cave and was trapped inside. Otherwise, if it had fought outside and had battle awareness, we might not have been able to beat it."
Mang Wu gave his analysis.
After dealing with the Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad's scales and Monster Core, the group excitedly went over to the spirit pool.
But they discovered it wasn't a spirit pool at all. It was an ordinary pond, not Spirit Liquid.
The group left the cave with their heads hanging in disappointment, then went exploring elsewhere in the otherworld.
They spent a month exploring every corner of the otherworld before finally leaving.
Time flowed differently in the otherworld and on Blue Star. A month inside was only a day on Blue Star.
After coming out and reporting the situation inside the otherworld to the defending generals, their mission was finally brought to a successful conclusion.
The only misfortune was that one of their classmates had died. But Martial Artists lived by licking blood from the edge of a blade, so such things were normal.
All in all, on this mission, they had killed large numbers of monsters, obtained many Monster Cores, and improved their strength. They hadn't obtained anything truly valuable.
But that was precisely their mission: to come in and investigate the size of the otherworld and so on.
Back home, Qin Hao took stock of what he had gained from the mission.
His strength had risen to the tenth tier of the Martial Artist realm. He was just a little short of breaking through to the Martial Master realm.
He had more than five hundred high-level monster scales and pelts. He had refined many of the Monster Cores inside the otherworld, so he had only a little over fifty left.
Among them was the Monster Core of the Beast General Tenth Tier Bloodthirsty Sonic Toad, which was with Qin Hao.
He opened the system's recharge and exchange function.
[Beep: Detected that the host possesses 150 low-level monster pelts, 20 scales, 10 Monster Cores, 200 mid-level monsters, 220 scales, 10 Monster Cores, 151 high-level monsters, 211 scales, 30 Monster Cores, and 1 Beast General Monster Core]
[Beep: All items are worth 43,449.25 Great Dao Crystals. Exchange them?]
"Yes!"
[Beep: Exchange successful. Congratulations to the host on obtaining 43,449.25 Great Dao Crystals. Current Great Dao Crystal balance: 51,175.75]
"That's great! Now I can create some D-rank cultivation techniques."
With that, Qin Hao hurriedly wrote, "Sonic attacks transform into sword qi; sonic waves bewilder, trapping the target in an illusion!"
[Beep: Detected that the host has written a cultivation formula. Generate a cultivation technique?]
"Yes!"
[Beep: This cultivation technique requires 100 million Great Dao Crystals. Current Great Dao Crystal balance: 51,175.75. Unable to generate]
With no other choice, Qin Hao changed it to: "Sonic attacks transform into sword qi!"
[Beep: Spending 10,000 Great Dao. Generating cultivation technique...]
[Beep: Congratulations to the host on obtaining "Sonic Wave Sword Qi"]
[Sonic Wave Sword Qi]
[Type: Sound-Type group attack]
[Rank: D]
[Function: Sonic attacks form sword qi, delivering a double attack. Note: Only suitable for cultivation by those with a Chaos Dao Body or an awakened Sound-Type Ability]
Qin Hao was thrilled as he read the description. On this D-rank otherworld mission, a mere sonic attack had left them in a sorry state at the start.
Next, he wrote again: "Sonic waves bewilder, trapping the target in an illusion!"
[Beep: This cultivation technique requires 10 million Great Dao Crystals. Current Great Dao Crystal balance: 41,175.75. Unable to generate]
"I didn't expect a sonic attack with a charm skill to be so expensive. But charm skills really are among the most powerful kinds of control skills."
Qin Hao remembered how he had nearly died under Charming Fox's charm skill, so he wanted to create a cultivation technique that combined sonic attacks with a charm skill.
But charm was simply too expensive.
Immediately afterward, Qin Hao wrote again: "Golden Body protects the body; steel cage!"
[Beep: This cultivation technique requires 10 trillion Great Dao Crystals. Current Great Dao Crystal balance: 41,175.75. Unable to generate]
"So it's that expensive because a heaven-defying skill like Golden Body protection is included!"
With that thought, Qin Hao removed the words "Golden Body protects the body."
[Beep: Spending 10,000 Great Dao Crystals. Generating cultivation technique...]
[Beep: Congratulations to the host on obtaining "Iron Cage Restraint"]
[Iron Cage Restraint]
[Type: Metal-Type Ability control]
[Rank: D]
[Function: Controls metal elements to quickly form a cage. Upon reaching the great accomplishment stage, it can swiftly restrain enemies. Note: Only suitable for cultivation by those with a Chaos Dao Body or an awakened Metal-Type Ability]