CHAPTER 459: 459. A TOAD ROOM

"I remember now..." Tyler muttered, swimming swiftly through a curved corridor lined with glowing moss. "The Young Master gets humiliated, then his dad shows up, and then the grandfather... Damn it! I forgot that cliché pattern."

"Classic cultivation novel escalation," Lily replied dryly.

Behind them, ripples in the water shifted and distorted the surroundings. From within a new glowing bubble, an elderly figure emerged —an old man with a long, flowing white beard and a majestic Taoist robe. His aura distorted the surroundings, creating whirlpools in every direction. The water itself seemed to shudder at his presence.

"The Grandfather..." Tyler groaned. "Let me guess, Fred Beckman?"

The old man hovered calmly, eyes sharp and ancient. "I am Fred Beckman, patriarch of the Beckman Clan. Who dares to kill my descendants in this realm?!"

The wyvern, still raging from earlier, roared as it sensed a new intruder. The sheer force of its roar split the chamber around them, stirring ancient currents that had lain dormant for centuries.

Fred narrowed his eyes at the beast. "Hmph. A mere animal dares bare its fangs at me? Insolent!"

Without waiting, he summoned a golden sword and clashed directly with the wyvern. The two forces collided like titans, their power shaking the area.

Tyler’s eyes lit up with hope. "Well, that’s good. Let them duke it out. At least now they’ll stop chasing us for a while."

But his relief was short-lived.

Suddenly, both Fred and the wyvern locked gazes— then shifted their attention toward the fleeing trio.

"Why... why are they chasing us again?" Tyler’s smile vanished.

"We may be their top priority." Lily said, already accelerating deeper into the Nest.

"Look at that!" Mana suprised and pointed at a way.

Tyler spotted a stone doorway ahead and quickly yanked it open— only to find a second wyvern waiting inside. This one had shimmering purple scales and glowing gills, clearly adapted to the deep sea. Its eyes flared, and with a roar, it charged forward.

"Oh come on!" Tyler shouted and slammed the door behind him, only to hear it burst apart a second later.

The new water wyvern roared, the sound somehow resonating through the water as if amplified by the currents. The vibration buzzed through their bones, and once again, they could "hear" it.

Fred Beckman and the other wyvern collided with the newcomer. The surprise impact made the purple wyvern lash out instinctively, releasing a wave of electric pulses in self-defense. The current zapped both Fred and the first wyvern.

The resulting chaos allowed Tyler and the girls to escape—barely.

"Stupid beasts... they’re getting in the way!" Fred growled, swimming toward the new forked passage.

He looked left and saw three figures speeding away. Without hesitation, he slashed forward with a blade of energy, instantly slicing the trio to icy shreds.

But as the ice shattered—

"An escape technique?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

On the right side of the fork, the real Tyler and company swam through, having deployed an Ice Decoy to mislead him.

Soon, they reached another chamber sealed by thick, ancient vines. The moment they entered, they tore open the vines, which made them easy to enter, then the vines sealed shut behind them.

Ribbit.

A deep, guttural croak echoed within the chamber. Even though the room is filled with water.

In the center of the room sat a massive toad-like creature with fish-like gills and a slick, purple hide. Its eyes gleamed with eerie intelligence, and its body gave off a faint, toxic aura.

"...Seriously?" Tyler sighed. "How many things are living in this so-called Wyvern Nest? Was this place secretly a zoo?"

The creature’s tongue lashed out like lightning. Tyler, Lily, and Mana barely dodged. The tongue smashed into the wall with a deafening impact, sending debris scattering—only for the debris to float back and mend itself.

"A self-repairing chamber?" Lily muttered, eyes scanning the walls. "This whole place is brimming with energy."

Tyler vanished in a blink, appearing behind the creature. He delivered a powerful punch to its side —but his fist sank into its rubbery flesh like it was made of jelly. The recoil bounced him back across the chamber.

"Ow. What the heck was that?"

"Looks like brute force won’t work," Lily analyzed, already summoning her whip.

"Mana, can you take control of it?" Tyler asked as he floated in recovery.

"Ew. That thing’s ugly," Mana replied, grimacing.

"Fair enough..." Tyler shook his head and moved again. This time, instead of punching, he placed his palm gently against the creature’s hide, trying to infuse it with ice Prana. But nothing happened.

"Still no reaction?" Tyler muttered. "This is one tough frog."

Lily struck with her whip. Lightning flared along the weapon and lashed across the Toad’s body but nothing happened again.

Her eyes turned sharp. She waited for a moment. The Toad opened its mouth and attacked her.

This time the Lightning infused Whip lashed on toad’s tongue, just as it lashed out again. The strike hit, and the creature visibly quivered. It retracted its tongue and let out another loud ribbit— but this time, its body began to pulse with a faint purple light.

Lily’s eyes narrowed. "It’s weakness is it’s tongue."

Here’s your edited and expanded version, brought up to approximately 800 words while maintaining the tone, humor, and style of your original:

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The toad suddenly opened its mouth again—but instead of attacking with its tongue this time, it exhaled a dense cloud of glowing spores that shimmered like fireflies in the deep.

"Mystic Ice Arts..." Tyler muttered, instinctively raising his hand.

A ball of condensed ice instantly formed in front of them, spinning like a small frozen storm. The spores slammed into it, but instead of freezing, they merely bounced off and drifted back—still glowing, still alive.

The toad’s long tongue shot forward, slapping the ice ball. It bounced back slightly from the impact, but the ball itself didn’t crack.

"Hmm... the Ice is good for defense, but it doesn’t hurt the thing," Lily observed, analyzing calmly mid-battle. "Its tongue is immune to cold. But remember—when I hit it with Lightning, it reacted."

"Lightning is our only real option then," she added with a spark of seriousness.

Lily’s eyes narrowed as she whipped her arm and cracked her lightning whip. "I’ll bait it. If it tries again, I’ll strike its tongue at full power and fry it."

Tyler instantly shook his head. "Nope. That’s too risky. The water pressure in this chamber is heavier than before. Your Aura will drain faster than it can regenerate."

"And the charms we carry?" Lily asked.

Tyler frowned. "After we crossed the forked passage, the spiritual pressure rose. Those charms would shatter under the strain."

She clicked her tongue in frustration, until Tyler tilted his head and smirked.

"We do have something else, though... right?"

Lily blinked.

Then her eyes lit up. "Right... the Spark Calcite Stones!"

"Even I remembered that," Mana chimed in, casually patting her chest. It bounced slightly in the water, earning a quick glance from Tyler and an unamused look from Lily.

Lily reached into her storage ring and pulled out one of the stones. It crackled softly with static energy, emitting a tiny glowing spark.

"Mana," Tyler said, keeping his eyes on the toad. "Go into my Pocket Dimension and You know what to do."

"Aye, aye~" Mana gave a two-fingered salute and swam toward Tyler’s pocket dimension.

As she touched the Spark Calcite Stone from Lily, Tyler’s ice ball suddenly shattered— shards of frozen mana fluttering in all directions.

The spores surged forward again.

"Damn!" Lily cursed and quickly used her Aura to wrap the Spark Calcite Stone, preventing it from discharging in the water. She kicked toward Tyler and pushed the stone into his hands.

Tyler, without hesitation, took out a copper pot. He tossed the stone inside, then grabbed his copper ladle and secured into the pot.

"Lily! Move!" he shouted through sound transmission.

Understanding his plan, Lily dodged to the side, circling around.

The toad’s pupils contracted as it saw Tyler approaching head-on. It flicked its tongue out again—but Tyler was already there, directly in front of its gaping mouth.

In that moment, he held the copper pot up like an offering bowl, aimed right at the toad’s mouth.

Using his Aura, Tyler forcefully sent out the Spark Calcite Stone in the copper pot while holding it with the Copper Ladle.

Multiple Spark Calcite Stones tumbled out, clinking into the toad’s throat like candy falling into a jar. Inside the creature’s body, they began glowing.

The toad froze.

Its eyes widened.

In a panic, it opened its mouth and tried to spew spores— only for several of them to touch Tyler directly. A searing pain shot through him like acid poured into his veins. His vision blurred from the sting.

But he didn’t back off.

Instead, he clenched his jaw, ignored the burning, and took the pot and ladle back.

Then, before the toad could fully react, Tyler grabbed Lily’s wrist. Mana, already sensing the timing, clung to his back. In one smooth motion, they shot away from the creature like arrows released from a bow.

"Mystic Ice Arts..." Tyler muttered. They were covered by Multiple Ice of Balls.

The toad’s throat bulged.

Its glowing eyes flashed with panic.

Then— BOOM.