My Demon Pet System

Chapter 238 - First Try

*cough*cough* 

Realizing that his hands were in the mud, Yochi got up again, continuing to cough. Fortunately, he had only breathed in that noxious gas for a few seconds, but that short time was enough for him to realize the high level of toxicity of that substance.

That demon, whose name Yoichi didn't even know, used a sneaky fighting style focused on weakening its opponent. Thanks to the substance expelled from its skin, it had indeed been able to knock out the limbs of an average-sized human being. 

"Cough... Kenji? Kenji, are you okay?" Yoichi asked, stepping forward and searching his Oracle with his gaze. Kenji was still standing in the same position. Around it, there didn't seem to be any enemies other than the frog that had just been repelled by its tamer. 

I must do it now! Yoichi thought frantically, deactivating the draconic power on his right arm and grabbing the dagger that had fallen into the mud. The enemy demon was still stunned and, with its mouth open to the night sky, was making confused noises.

The young tamer bolted towards it, turned the blade of the dagger downwards, and, in the next instant, fell to his knees, stabbing the blade between his hands into the demon-frog's chest.

As the dagger stuck between the poisonous demon's ribs, its two tongues spilled out of its mouth, twitching uncontrollably and desperately trying to strike their opponent. 

"Grrr!" - As the toad's thick green blood splattered across his face and arms, Yoichi spun the dagger blade into the demon's abdomen, fracturing its tiny ribs and tearing its internal organs.

Finally, the last frog demon stopped moving, drawing its last breath. "Quick, Yoichi... come on!" the young tamer repeated to himself, leaving the dagger inside the amphibian's body and slipping his blood-stained hand inside the pouch.

During those frantic seconds, moving rather awkwardly, Yoichi managed to grab one of the two still empty Demon Teeth and pointed it at his prey.

"How the hell do I know if what I have in mind is the right spot to hit? To capture a demon I have to know where its center of gravity is!" he reasoned aloud, remembering Enatsu's words before capturing his Insoshuma.

Each species of demon had a different center of gravity, which was a single point in its body that allowed the Demon Tooth to absorb its soul and make its powers usable by the tamer.

If he missed the point by even an inch, the frog demon's body would dissolve and the Demon Tooth would likely break, becoming unusable.

Kenji positioned himself next to its master, watching the demon in front of Yoichi with attentive eyes. Under his trembling hand, the amphibian's small soft body was about to dissolve into nothingness.

"Okay, it's do or die!" Yoichi exclaimed loudly, forcefully stabbing the Demon Tooth in the spot identified by his gaze: to imagine which was the center of gravity of the demon he intended to capture, he had followed rather logical reasoning. 

When, shortly before, Kenji had killed the first enemy demon, shattering its skull between its jaws, he had noticed a seemingly irrelevant detail. 

As the little dragon's teeth tore the head from the toad's neck, a large pouch positioned on its neck leaked a considerable amount of the green, poisonous liquid. Like the giant Hebigure that attacked the village of Blackborough, that kind of demon also had a poison pouch.

Without overthinking, imagining that the center of gravity for capturing a demon could correspond to the 'main source point' of its power, Yoichi stuck the tip of the Demon Tooth into the center of the frog demon's throat. 

*zac* - with the greatest of ease, the sharp tip of the Crimson Lotus' spine pierced the flesh of that monster slightly smaller than Kenji, but nothing happened. 

Yoichi and his Oracle remained silent, never taking their eyes off their victim. The seconds of uncertainty seemed like minutes in their perception, and together they hoped that Yoichi's reasoning had been correct.

Just as he was beginning to lose hope, the ends of the amphibian's webbed legs crumbled into the air, glowing in the moonlight as tiny ethereal fragments. 

Yoichi immediately moved away, standing up and witnessing the scene from a meter away: the frog demon's whole body crumbled before his incredulous eyes and a green stream of air swirled to the flat top of the Demon Tooth. 

*swoosh* - After the capture process seemed to have failed, the product of the frog-demon's ethereal dissolution entered the magic plug and its outer surface flayed slightly, taking on a greenish hue. 

"Whowhoo!" Yoichi boomed, raising his arms to the sky. In his right hand, the young tamer still held Takamori's dagger. "I did it, Kenji! I captured a wild demon without anyone's help!" he rejoiced, clenching his fists in excitement. 

Remembering that the center of gravity was only the first stage of capturing a demon, Yoichi watched intently as the red sphere containing the single XP point floated toward Kenji and waited with trepidation for the moment when that demon's spirit would whisper its true name to him. 

"Algamok!" - a thin, raspy voice suddenly exclaimed, speaking directly inside his head, as if an arcane being was whispering something in his ear.

"Yes! I've got it! I heard it, Kenji! I heard the name of the demon I just captured!" Yoichi rejoiced, looking eagerly at his Oracle and forgetting that he was in the middle of a swamp lost in nothingness.

Kenji bent its neck and blinked, moisturizing its small red eyes, not understanding what its tamer's enthusiasm was about. "You have a new teammate, Kenji. I don't know what his level and skills are yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy," Yoichi smiled. "Enatsu would have been proud of me," he commented. 

In front of its greenish bloodstained boots, the thick layer of mud began to move for no apparent reason. Small furrows appeared under the young tamer's gaze and formed an shadowy inscription.