Chapter Fifty-Eight: Frolomy's Knock

“Alright! Resource survey complete, everyone return to base.” After circling the area and mapping out the resources, Jia Zhengjin gave a loud command.

During the survey, he enjoyed the breathtaking scenery of mountains and forests, watching the extraordinary animals of this other world dart about, and his mood relaxed completely.

Tina was equally delighted, feeling reluctant to leave. Despite its reputation as the terrifying Beast Forest, a place even imperial troops dared not enter lightly, she felt utterly safe with Jia Zhengjin by her side.

The Triceratops turned and began to slowly head back toward the base. The kobolds followed behind, running in neat formation.

They were about 1.5 kilometers from the base, and had barely taken a few steps when the sharp alarm of the kobold patrol echoed through the woods.

With a rush, all kobold crossbowmen instantly went on alert, raising their crossbows.

Jia Zhengjin signaled for both Triceratops mounts to halt, and gathered Tina in his arms to reassure her. He turned to Wolf. “How’s your injury?”

“No problem!” Wolf raised both hands, flexing his muscles.

“Keen!” Tina nervously buried her head in his chest.

“Don’t be afraid!” Jia Zhengjin gently stroked her hair. “We’re not weak now.”

Despite his words, he scanned the surroundings with vigilance, his heart tense.

Suddenly, the kobold patrol dashed back at full speed, stumbling into the ranks of the crossbowmen, curling up and trembling.

A foul wind swept over them, and in its wake appeared a black monstrous creature with the face of a cat and the body of a serpent!

The creature’s size rivaled that of the red fire-breathing giant python they’d seen before. With a flick of its tail, it toppled trees, moving like a mass of black mist, its form blurred and indistinct. Strangely, though its body was serpentine, it sported an enormous lynx’s head—pointed ears, pointed nose, pointed mouth, and eyes like golden gems, shining with an uncanny light. The whiskers around its mouth could move freely up and down, like the antennae of a machine.

“What in the world is that?” Jia Zhengjin’s eyes widened. He’d seen many deformed beasts from other worlds, but never anything like this.

“Frolmikok!” Tina, summoning courage, glanced back at the bizarre creature, then screamed in terror.

“What’s a Frolmikok?” Jia Zhengjin summoned an iron shield with his left hand to protect Tina, and an iron spear with his right, ready for battle.

“Frolmikok…” At that moment, the strange cat-headed snake opened its mouth and uttered the exact same words as Tina, perfectly mimicking her voice. If he hadn’t seen it speak with his own eyes, and felt Tina trembling in his arms, Jia Zhengjin might have believed it was truly her. “What is this thing?”

“What is this thing?” The Frolmikok’s whiskers quivered as it imitated Jia Zhengjin’s voice, speaking fluently in his language.

Jia Zhengjin felt goosebumps all over. Never had he seen such a bizarre creature; not even the undead had unnerved him like this.

“Kamariki!” After mimicking his language, the creature spoke in a girl’s voice, uttering words from the world’s native language.

“Kamariki… means ‘help!’” Tina explained clumsily in Jia Zhengjin’s language.

“It doesn’t look like it’s asking for help!” Jia Zhengjin studied the Frolmikok, its eyes gleaming.

Wolf spoke up. “Of course it’s not asking for help. It’s using its mimicry to confuse us! I think this creature’s special ability is to imitate any language or sound it hears, then use those voices to lure and bewilder its prey. Once the prey comes closer or is sufficiently confused, it attacks at once!”

“So that’s it…” Jia Zhengjin finally understood. “I have to admit, I was a little thrown off just now!”

“I wonder how strong it is—Master, you should move back a bit!” Wolf spoke, then rode his Triceratops forward to face the Frolmikok.

“Roar!” Seeing a Triceratops nearly its own size, the Frolmikok stood upright on its front half, opened its cat mouth, and mimicked the Triceratops’ roar in warning.

“Roar!” Though ordinarily gentle herbivores, Triceratops would retaliate when provoked—especially if the opponent was an adult. The Frolmikok’s imitation provoked both Triceratops into furious bellowing.

“Quiet!” Jia Zhengjin tugged the reins, restraining his mount.

Obeying their master, the Triceratops shook their heads, ready to fight but refrained from further roaring or advancing.

“Kobolds, assist!” Looking back, Jia Zhengjin saw the kobold crossbowmen cowering together in fear, and couldn’t help being both exasperated and amused. He’d assumed kobold soldiers wouldn’t be so timid, but now realized they retained the traits of their race. Faced with overly strange or powerful creatures, they became cowards in an instant.

Jia Zhengjin guessed their fear came from hearing their master’s voice from the Frolmikok’s mouth. He shouted, “You foolish dogs! It’s just a monster pretending to be me. All you have to do is rush forward and punish it with your crossbows! Muster your courage and take down that impostor!”

Hearing his command, the kobold soldiers stood up, raised their crossbows, and hesitantly began to surround the Frolmikok.

Seeing it couldn’t intimidate the Triceratops, the Frolmikok attacked first. It opened its cat mouth and sprayed dense silver threads, attempting to ensnare the Triceratops.

Wolf leapt forward, extending sharp claws to slice through the strange threads. He whistled, and the Triceratops lowered its head and charged, its massive horn aimed at the Frolmikok.

With a hiss, the Frolmikok agilely dodged the blow and quickly coiled around the Triceratops, tripping it to the ground. Raising its head, it spat another net of silver threads at Wolf.

But such attacks meant nothing to Wolf; he easily broke through them, closing in on the Frolmikok’s head.