Little Card the Crocodile

Nine out of ten things were wrong.

The Slime became alert.

Chen Yu jiggled his gel. He knew these faith-corrupted bastards were rotten to the core.

They did nothing all day except covet his territory.

If the adventurers had not driven off the Corrupted Lizardfolk, he had no doubt these crocodile collaborators would have joined forces with them from within and without to launch a swamp coup.

It seemed they needed to be taught a lesson.

He secretly followed behind this group of Swamp Crocodiles and watched as the bully crocodiles swaggered along, flattening any Slime in their way with a single slap, eating Giant Leeches like spicy strips, and even digging Mud Swamp Worms out of the ground to pick their teeth with.

They walked with their heads high and chests out, utterly arrogant.

They had the air of swamp bullies who looked down on every other Demonic Beast.

Of course, that excluded the Little Crocodile at the front.

At the slightest disturbance, even a Slime accidentally falling from a tree, the little fellow would be frightened into scrambling in every direction, burying its head in the swamp and trembling.

The bully crocodiles following behind could no longer stand the sight of it and slapped it flying.

The Little Crocodile lay on the ground whimpering for quite a while before rolling over. Too afraid to resist, it could only lower its head and continue toward the castle.

Chen Yu followed the crocodile squad all the way to the oak forest outside the castle, where he saw the crocodiles staring fixedly into the depths of the mist.

Though they could not see the castle within the mist, they seemed to know something was there.

Several burly bully crocodiles exchanged looks, then used their toilet-seat-like mouths to nudge the Little Crocodile, which had been huddling in the darkness, out into the sunlight.

The moment the little fellow saw the sunlight, it panicked.

Its four limbs moved in different directions beyond its control. Its claws scrabbled against the ground as it staggered back into the darkness, as if something terrifying lurked in the mist ahead.

"Hiss!"

The crocodile leader slightly opened its enormous jaws, revealing rows of interlocking, bone-white fangs. From deep in its throat came a low, unbroken "gurgle gurgle" of menace.

Another simply used its massive body to block the gap through which the Little Crocodile was trying to retreat. There was no emotion in its cold gaze, only pure indifference.

The Little Crocodile shrank back, its slender tail trembling faintly. Resigned to its fate, it could only move forward and expose itself beneath the patches of sunlight.

"What are they trying to do?" Chen Yu stared curiously at the Little Crocodile.

Then he saw it raise its head toward the depths of the mist and let out a "clack clack" of warning, as though provoking whatever was inside the castle.

But rather than a threat, it looked more like it was acting cute.

Were they trying to make their enemy laugh to death and win without fighting?

"Or are they trying to lure me out, then sneak attack me?"

But I'm right behind you.

When the bully crocodiles hiding in the shadows received no response from within the mist for a long while, they finally lost their patience.

They crawled out with heads held high, shoved the Little Crocodile aside, and released threatening "huh huh" sounds from their throats. Waves of fishy stench spread through the air as they challenged the master of this territory.

Watching the show from behind them, Chen Yu immediately grinned.

Before he could even go looking for them, this pack of crocodiles had come looking for him instead.

Judging by their behavior, they had long been eyeing the position of Swamp Overlord.

Just as Chen Yu was considering whether to suddenly appear and give them a scare, his loyal Stinger Bee Guard flapped their wings and emerged from the mist amid waves of warning buzzes.

"Whoosh—!"

Stingers rained down, striking the crocodiles' heavy hide armor with a chorus of "ding ding clang" sounds, yet failing to inflict even the slightest injury.

The Stinger Bees were countered by the Swamp Crocodiles' hide armor and could not break their defenses.

This only further fueled the crocodiles' arrogance. They even swung their tails to attack the Stinger Bees flying overhead.

Only the Little Crocodile continued fleeing about in panic, hiding behind an oak tree with its rear raised and its head buried.

What they did not know was that the big boss of this castle was currently behind them, peeping at the battle.

"Not bad. You can trade blows with my guard."

The Stinger Bee Guard had other nicknames as well—"the rookie-crushing guard," "the Bronze Tier Demonic Beast strength detector"...

With their ability to fly and their swarm numbers, dealing with ground Demonic Beasts lacking armored protection was absurdly easy. Bronze Tier jackals like those in Death Swamp were practically just there to make up the numbers, chased around by the Stinger Bees.

These crocodiles were qualified enough.

"Then congratulations. You have officially entered the boss phase."

Chen Yu bounced out in a grand swagger, making "splat splat" sounds.

The sound landed on the battlefield, instantly bringing both sides to a halt.

The crocodile leader turned around, caught sight of a Slime approaching, and let out a contemptuous, cold snort. Raising a claw, it was about to smack it into Slime paste.

"Whoosh!"

A water arrow suddenly shot before its eyes and exploded with a thunderous boom!

Flesh and blood splattered. Half of the Crocodile Boss's skull vanished in an instant, and its massive body crashed to the ground. The spraying droplets became deadly weapons, punching through the hide armor of several nearby crocodiles and making them howl in pain.

Terror showed in their eyes. Where was their earlier arrogance now? They did not even care about the heavily injured Crocodile Boss. Scrabbling with all four limbs, shoving and trampling one another, they whipped their tails and fled for their lives, disappearing into the depths of the swamp in the blink of an eye.

A war for supremacy ended just like that, with effortless ease.

"Being invincible is just this lonely."

Chen Yu bounced over to loot the corpse. Finding a chunk of muscle beside the Crocodile Boss's kidney that seemed to be a Magic Organ, he swallowed it in one bite.

"Gulp, gulp..."

It tasted like chicken upon entering his mouth. The fat was rich without being greasy, while the meat within was tenderer and chewier.

One look told him this was a free-range crocodile that exercised regularly.

It was simply born for barbecue.

So tasty!

"Chew, chew, chew..."

[Proficiency +30]

[Toxin Resistance Lv.3 → Toxin Resistance Lv.4]

Chen Yu's round eyes lit up.

Well damn, one piece of meat had actually leveled up his Toxin Resistance.

These Swamp Crocodiles really were treasures from head to toe.

After ordering the Stinger Bees to clean up the battlefield, he swept his gaze around and discovered there was still one crocodile that had slipped through the net.

That Little Crocodile had not followed the larger crocodiles away. It was still hiding with its head buried beneath a tree, trembling violently. Clearly, the sight of the Crocodile Boss's head exploding had frightened it badly.

It secretly raised its head from behind the tree. Seeing that the demon-like Slime had not left but was instead walking toward it, fear filled its little eyes. It wanted to retreat, but its four limbs flailed about disobediently.

"Come to think of it, is this thing really a crocodile?"

Chen Yu had his doubts about this fellow's species and prepared to take a closer look.

The Little Crocodile was so frightened that it first let out a "ka-ka" hiss, seemingly "warning" Chen Yu not to come any closer.

Then it was completely out of options. It immediately rolled over and played dead, squeezing its eyes and mouth shut, its body stiff and motionless.

To be fair, it looked quite convincing, but Chen Yu was not buying it. He pressed down on its head with gel.

"Crocodile... tasty..."

The little fellow immediately opened its eyes in fright and shook its head again and again.

"Ka-ka... not tasty..."

"Tasty."

"...Not tasty..."

Tears welled in the Little Crocodile's eyes, half from panic and half from fear.

"If you don't want to be eaten, work for me."

"Follow me, and you'll feast on good food and drink fine liquor. From now on, only I get to bully you."

Chen Yu had been worrying about finding a mount, and this fellow was just right for the job.

"W-work?"

"It means submitting to me."

"King..."

The Little Crocodile hurriedly lowered its head, lacking even a trace of a crocodile's dominance or backbone.

It was so frightened that it did not even realize it was about to begin a life with food and lodging provided.

"What's your name?"

"Ka-ka?"

"Then from now on, you'll be called... Little Card."

"Little... Ka?"