The trio's journey in the small jungle was unusually long, reason being their strolling pace as well as going in circles

Yes, they have been going in circles for quite a while now, it made Zero feel like the creature they've been tracking was deliberately playing a joke on them, YuJu didnt mind though since he just wanted to watch Subrina as she worked so as to instruct her when a hurdle came up

The more clearings they went through the more Zero started to lose her irritation and become vigilant, even Subrina seemed to feel slightly nervous, how could they not when the tracks got mpre and more recognizable , revealing the spade feet printing on the ground as well as two smaller such feet ahead of the bigger ones

By the time they figured what creature it belonged to its ugly head was already towering ahead

"How...how could such a creature exist...."

Subrina's voice shook, having spent all of her time in the shrouded villa and its obscure location she missed the arrival of the calamities and their terror

"It looks much like the sweepers"

Zero, having stood witness to some of those calamities, linked the creature's appearance to a group of dreadful monsters, one's that brought ruin upon earth

"You must mean the Gardelos, those fellows are far more dreadful than this little one, you could still consider it some sort of training to face them though"

Subrina was clueless what the two were talking about, one thing was for sure however, if the sweepers or Gardelos or whatever they were called made this thirty meter tall poison spewing bullfrog seem little then she was glad she'd yet to meet them, in fact it would be good if she never had to

"We're fighting this my Lord?"

Zero questioned hesitantly, not knowing whether or not the two of them could take it down even though he was supposedly a mighty vampire lord

"We? No, of course not, dont be so silly, this beast is far too weak for me to join the fray, your going at it alone"

There was no need for him to finish the sentence, the white haired vampire could already tell he was going to throw her at it alone with that teasing smile of his so by the time his words settled her figure was already lunging ahead

"Will she be alright Master?"

".....Well, we can only wait and see"

A little suprised at her bravery dispite the clear hesitation he took to the trees with Subrina in arms to get a better view of the ensuing battle

Dashing through the branches with light feet Zero arrived before this massive creature in seconds, the frog clearly sensed her approach but took its sweet time rolling those massive eyes to look at her puny figure

Not giving the big beast time to give a condensing glance however Zero leaped up at those big globes in hopes of blinding the dismissive beast

Slash sss..

Clawing at the eye with her short nailed Zero found herself gouging the eyelids only to pop one of the poisonous tumors dotting it, scalding her fingers with whatever this black ooze was

'How can I-'

Ribbii

Before she finished her thought the big bullfrog croaked, its expanding sac turning darker before whatever was inside swept out from its nostrils in the form of black mist

Zero didnt panic upon being enveloped by the mist mid fall, having dealt with many poisonous creatures during the invasion she naturally had her ways of surviving such attacks

'It doesn't sting, probably only toxic if I inhale the mist'

Quickly thinking it through she took her bat form and dashed out of the outward expanding mist into the air where it couldnt reach

'If I can attack the eyes and nail a solid hit then Il have an actuall chance at winning'

Easier said than done however, the beast kept a good watch over her ever since the first attack, it wasnt dismissive, perhpahs looking at her a bit too eagerly though?

Slurp!

Launching its tongue out like a bullet the bullfrog caught the little flyer out from the air and swallowed it in one gulp, the dull look in its eyes repeating how easy of a fight this was

"Master! We have to save her!"

Subrina beseeched only for him to shrug

"Merely a thrall, a careless one at that, nothing to worry over"

He kept a silent watch after that, analyzing the beast's body while Subrina mulled over ways to accept this uncaring part of her sometimes cold master

"The tumor on its head looks like a weak spot, if I hit it right a few times I could perhaps deliver a quick killing blow, now hold on tight, I'm going to need a free hand"

Throwing the deep thoughts away for a moment she happily swung her arms around his neck, hugging herself to him hard while he clutched a two daggers with his right hand

'I can handle two daggers at most with the remaining injury, else I'd screw my accuracy'

It was enough though, at least to face this beast, thus he aimed at the top tumor oozing with black liquid

Pup!

Came a loud popping, not from the top where he'd aimed but rather the bottom, right where the beasts sac should be

"Yaaaaa!"

Rushing out of spewing guts Zero, still alive and whole, gave a battle cry while pulling whatever remained in lithe beast's belly out in one go

Givomh out a pained sound the bullfrog sent its tongue lashing out at her only to miss as she dodged in time

With blue eyes retaining a darker hint she transformed into a bat once more, calling out into the sky in what everyone though as a battle cry, until a swarm of bats came about from every direction, coming together to form a cloud which she plunged into, lost in their large number

Sending another bullet like tongue at the cloud it put an end to many bats as they were now stuck on its sticky tongue like flies, only one of then were of the massive size Zero was in

Taking the chance of the big beast reeling its tongue back the bats plunged down, covering its face worh their usless attacks, all making mere scratches on the surface, all except the still hidden Zero who left deep marks on the eyelids

"She's very good"

Subrina excitedly watched the roller coaster of a battle with her Master frowning in the side, his brows only forming this expresoin when the bats came into view

'Thralls aren't capable of calling for bats, what's going on with her?'

Hos questions could only wait since she was still engaged with the beast in a tough battle, neither side making swift killing blows like before, with how the bats were losing large number it didnt look like it would turn out well for her though

Ribbi

The beast may have also realized this but chose to stop attacking, instead it used its tongue to gather whatever of its guts it could before swallowing it down, then crouching into a jumping stance

"Its just going to leayaa~~~"

Subrina was just about to call out the beast for the cowardly move when everything around her became a blur, the wind clashing against her body which she pulled closer to her master while several popping sounds came from down bellow

Next thing she knew her body was barely hanging onto YuJu who, with quite ease, stood on the hilt of a dagger plunged into a deep hole on the top of the already dead bullfrog

"You out did yourself Zero, I honestly expected you to die a few times already"

He spoke to the dispersing swarm as the big injured bat finally showed herself, landing to the ground and taking her human form once more, only bare this time

"Your praise honors me my Lord"

The woman gave a curt bow trying to ignore her unclothed state for the moment, uncomfortable as she may be

"Get some rest while I watch over Subrina now, and do cover yourself"

He added, taking out one of his own dresses and throwing them to the suprised vampire, after all the man before her just pulled something out of thin air, these clothes couldnt have been possibly hiding under his sleeves right?

While she cleaned the poison off her and put on the clothes the two of them got to work dissecting the important bits of this massive beast, most of which was usless tumors and excessive flesh however making the bounty not as large as one might think

'This is why I dislike fighting huge beasts, they're both hard to take down and poor in loot'

He thought in discontent, then again it was sometimes the experience that mattered and not the result, not that it was a pleasant experience if you asked the gut smeared Zero...