"Let's head back first. We can ask Grandpa Shen or Uncle Jiang to help when the time comes."
"No. There's only one Earth Element Elemental Seed. If we call them over, how are we supposed to divide it?" Wang Chong objected.
"Grandpa Shen probably wouldn't be interested in it," Lu Wu said, unconcerned.
That was the safest way!
"I'm just afraid those Heavenly Horned Toad Demons won't agree," Nangong Pei said, looking ahead to the left, where a young Heavenly Horned Toad Demon was watching them from among the aquatic plants.
This Heavenly Horned Toad Demon was very small.
When it slowly stood up, it was only a little taller than the surrounding grass.
"Croak!!"
The young Heavenly Horned Toad Demon gave a cry, making everyone shudder.
To them, that sound was a demonic call demanding their lives.
Sure enough, after that cry, all the Heavenly Horned Toad Demons that had been feeding stopped eating their delicacies and looked toward the top of the hollow.
"Go!" Zu Yanzhi said decisively. "Hurry!!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the five turned and ran back the way they had come. Lu Wu pulled Mu Nujiao along, sprinting forward.
With no time to think, everyone ran with all their might.
Lu Wu sensed a total of three Heavenly Horned Toad Demons behind them.
It seemed their auras could be concealed very well in the mud.
Perhaps they naturally lived in the mud, and it also naturally covered them and concealed their auras.
"The strongest one hasn't followed us. It looks like it's pretty badly injured," Lu Wu told the others.
"Three servant-level ones?" Nangong Pei raised an eyebrow at that. "I can block their attacks. Can you deal with them?"
"There's a chance," Wang Chong replied.
His Wind Element was at the intermediate level, and its power was decent.
If he scored a direct hit on a Servant-level Demon, the others could follow up with more damage and kill it easily!
"Even if we kill these three, we can't possibly have enough mana left to deal with the stronger one," Zu Yanzhi analyzed.
Lu Wu did not stop at that. Instead, he said to the others, "Haven't you noticed? They aren't heading straight after us at all. They're trying to surround us!"
Only one remained behind them, while the other two kept advancing diagonally from either side of their rear.
"Croak!"
"Croak!"
"Croak, croak!!"
Not only that, but they kept calling to one another, seemingly communicating.
If any others of their kind ahead heard those calls, they would only find themselves in endless trouble.
Each leap carried these Heavenly Horned Toad Demons a full five or six meters. Their bodies kept soaring over the aquatic plants at tremendous speed.
The mud covering their bodies could not hide their fleshy lumps, and their bellies were likewise covered in venom sacs.
"They're much faster than us. We can't keep going like this," Nangong Pei panted.
"We need to find a way to take one out first. As long as we aren't surrounded, we'll have a chance to maneuver around them." Lu Wu had excellent stamina, but with Mu Nujiao in tow, he was not much faster than the others.
Wang Chong and Nangong Pei had not used magic to escape, instead staying with the group.
But if it truly came down to life and death, they probably would not hesitate.
"Are we fighting or not?" Zu Yanzhi asked.
None of them had much experience. Although he was already an Intermediate Mage and a student of the Imperial Capital Academy, his practical combat experience was still very limited.
It was not just her. Nangong Pei and Wang Chong were hardly any better.
Everyone's nerves were taut at that moment, and some were not thinking as clearly as before.
"Kill the one behind us. Zu Yanzhi, Wang Chong, the three of us will focus our magic on it. Don't hold back," Lu Wu shouted. "Nangong Pei, you'll be responsible for blocking the other two Heavenly Horned Toad Demons. At least buy us enough time to cast a second spell."
The Heavenly Horned Toad Demons were too fast.
They were only a few dozen meters away now. Without magic, their speeds were not remotely in the same league.
"Okay!!"
Zu Yanzhi stopped first. With the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon behind them only a few dozen meters away, she immediately began preparing her magic.
"I'll cast first, then you two follow up." Wang Chong immediately began preparing his Wind Element Intermediate Magic. When the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon was roughly twenty meters away, a magical aura surged from him. "Wind Disk: Tornado!"
A huge tornado rose from the ground, sweeping straight toward the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon.
Seeing those fragrant humans so close, the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon had mustered all its strength, ready to swallow them in a single leap.
As it sprang up, its mouth opened wide, and a long, pinkish-white tongue swept forward.
This was how Heavenly Horned Toad Demons hunted: they wrapped their prey in their long tongues and delivered it straight into their mouths.
By the time it sensed the auras of the people ahead, the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon was already airborne and had no time to react.
"Croooak!!"
While still in midair, it was swept up by the little tornado, spun several times, then slammed hard into the ground.
Before the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon could recover, before it had even retracted its tongue, two voices rang out in succession.
The fall had clearly weakened its imposing presence. It seemed to have landed very hard.
"Fire Seed - Burst!!"
"Fire Seed: Bone Burning!!!"
Two huge masses of flame flew from their hands toward the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon that had landed.
Croak!
The Heavenly Horned Toad Demon on the ground gave a miserable cry. The venom sacs and swellings on its body secreted a thick liquid that coated its entire body.
This was their means of defense.
The venom in those sacs not only gave them stronger defenses, but also poisoned any enemies that touched it.
When the tornado slammed the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon into the ground, its body had already been coated in venom.
As it rose, Lu Wu's and Zu Yanzhi's spells arrived.
Bang!!
The two masses of flame instantly engulfed the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon, and Zu Yanzhi's fireball exploded outright.
The venom sacs on the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's belly were blasted open, splitting its flesh and drawing repeated screams.
Carrying ferocious heat, Lu Wu's fireball burned relentlessly at the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's wounds.
A strong, acrid smell of scorching arose. Yet the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon secreted more and more venom, gradually diminishing the flames on its body.
"Fire Seed: Bone Burning!!"
Seeing this, Lu Wu cast his second spell, considerably faster than the others.
In fact, Lu Wu had begun preparing his second Fire Burst right after casting the first.
Upon seeing Zu Yanzhi blast open the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's flesh, Lu Wu attacked without the slightest hesitation.
The Heavenly Horned Toad Demon seemed to have learned its lesson. Not daring to be careless, it tried to dodge.
"Vine: Growth!!"
Mu Nujiao, who had long been waiting for an opening, saw the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon trying to leap away and immediately made her vines grow beneath it.
Although they did not bind it, they threw the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon off balance.
That loss of balance bought time for Lu Wu's spell, which struck the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon just as the flames on its body had diminished somewhat.
"Croak!"
Its lower jaw, already blasted open by Zu Yanzhi, was now pierced clean through by Lu Wu's magic.
Thick venom and blood dripped down, and the mud on the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's body was baked dry as well.
"You two really are in sync. Your teamwork is flawless," Zu Yanzhi said.
The Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's lower jaw had fallen off, and its long tongue dropped to the ground as it made strange noises.
As she spoke, Zu Yanzhi cast another spell.
Flames exploded directly inside the Heavenly Horned Toad Demon's mouth, blasting its brains apart and sending its long tongue flying several meters.
"There are still two more," Lu Wu said, not daring to let his guard down.
On either side, the two Heavenly Horned Toad Demons had already extended their long tongues and were attacking the group.