Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 66: Something wrong with the forest? (1)
When Theo woke up the next day, he followed his routine, ensuring all his insects were properly fed.
The mantis now required an even bigger diet, prompting Theo to provide it with large chunks of red meat when it hadn't hunted for itself. The insects had become nothing more than a snack before and after its main meals.
Theo had some new variants of the insects to feed the mantis yet it didn't like anything more than some pieces of meat now. The hunts has made it's pallet changed subsequently.
Once he finished, Theo made his way toward the forest. They had originally planned to go to the moss slime territory, but he decided to go after the Thorhide Viper again. With the increasing challenge of fighting stronger opponents, he felt this would be better than hunting slow-moving moss slimes.
While the question whether the mantis could defeat a level 4 moss slime still persisted, Theo felt like it could be achieved later on. The vipers were more important to learn and subdue first.
The proficiency of 'Metallic Strike' had improved significantly in Theo's eyes, and even Clara had commented that it seemed good enough to attempt fighting the vipers again.
The only thing left to develop was the 'Spore Lash.' However, Theo had some concerns about using the skill in his room. Since the spores were paralytic, using them in an enclosed space where he slept seemed like a foolish way to die. So, the forest was the perfect place to test it.
While when it came the regenerative moss, Theo had little ideas as how to progress it artificially through training just like the other ones.
Finally, Theo arrived at the outskirts of the forest with Clara beside him. The boar and the cub flanked him, providing their usual protection.
"Alright, young master. You remember all the protocols, right?" Clara asked in a serious tone.
Theo nodded, which made her smile in appreciation. Using signals instead of speech in a deadly forest was the first step to a safe trip.
"We'll start moving now and stop when I deem it safe."
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They moved forward and soon reached a familiar location—the same clearing they had created previously. Theo noticed that much of the grass had grown back, though it was still short, barely reaching his knees.
"We'll clean this up while the pup finds something for us. If it's higher than level 1, I will take care of it. Understood?"
"Yes, yes."
Theo quickly gave the mantis a mental command, and it hopped down from his shoulder. As it landed, Theo saw the luster on its forelegs intensify. In the blink of an eye, the mantis had already activated its skill.
Blades of grass fell neatly in a widening line, indicating that the mantis's strike had improved. Meanwhile, the boar went about its usual method of tearing up the ground, leaving only soil in its wake.
A few minutes later, Theo observed that they had cleared an even larger area than before—now spacious enough to walk around comfortably.
'The plan should work this time,' Theo thought as he watched the mantis scan its surroundings, seemingly eager to find its prey. The forest was the best place to allow it to hunt larger creatures. Bringing anything bigger or stronger than rats into his room was simply not an option.
Soon, rustling sounds came from the west.
'Get ready, mantis.' Theo muttered mentally, his eyes fixed on the rustling bushes. The boar had already positioned itself near him, reinforcing his sense of security in the middle of the clearing.
A second later, the pup emerged from the tall grass, tongue hanging out as if it had just taken a casual stroll. But before it could fully enter the clearing, another silhouette followed closely behind.
Before Theo could inspect the creature, Clara raised two fingers and made eye contact with him before shifting her gaze back to the viper, which had stopped upon seeing the group.
'Level 2, huh…' Theo muttered to himself. The mantis was already on the ground, staring at the viper as though it were a sworn enemy.
A strange emotion flickered in Theo's mind—anger. It wasn't his own, yet he felt it as if it were. The sensation disappeared as quickly as it came. His gaze shifted to the mantis, which remained locked onto the viper. On the other hand, the viper hissed, its attention split between the mantis and the boar, which eyed it with unshaken confidence.
'Mantis, ready to attack,' Theo commanded, and the mantis assumed a battle stance. It seemed to be waiting for an order at any moment.
Clara, noticing their readiness, stayed close to Theo but respected his decision with a sigh.
The mantis cautiously advanced, yet the viper remained still, seemingly hesitant to get too close to the boar.
When the mantis was within striking distance, Theo ordered it to keep moving until it was time to dodge. The viper bared its fangs with a loud hiss, but the mantis remained unfazed.
The viper had coiled its tail near its head, preparing to strike the moment the mantis got too close. Theo recognized this behavior—it was the same tactic the previous viper had used.
HISSSS!
The viper lashed its tail at the mantis. Before Theo could react, the mantis had already dodged left.
'Now, Spore Lash!' Theo commanded mentally.
The mantis leaped. With the viper's tail still in the air, it had little time to recover. The mantis used its speed to its advantage and struck. As its bladed forelegs barely grazed the viper's face, spores erupted from them.
The viper's eyes dilated in shock.
For the first time, the spores had been released at such close range.
Theo looked at it with excitement, the mantis was going to make a level 2 viper fell to the ground anytime now, for him, it was development.
The viper's body seemed to tense, its muscles locking up as the paralytic spores took effect. It moved slightly as if losing the control on it's body, its hissing growing weaker as its movements slowed.
Theo clenched his fists, watching closely. 'It's working…'
Theo wasted no time and gave a mental command, the mantis moved with a sudden burst of movement, it lunged forward, its sharper than blade forelegs shone like a lamp.
Even at that moment, the viper seem to try retaliating making Theo look at it with surprise and a frown, but its body fortunately betrayed it—the paralysis had taken hold too fast.
Within a second, the mantis's foreleg was embedded at the viper's neck and blood poured out like crazy.
The mantis's strike severed the viper's head halfway and it was all because it could not react because of paralysis.
Its body twitched once before going limp, falling to the ground with a dull thud.
[Moss Carapace Mantis killed a Thornhide Viper (level 2)]
[Grade(+) and level (-) difference detected]
[Adding 20% to the base EXP]
[EXP gained: 10 + 20%
Distribution: Theo Merrick- 4.8
Iron Mantis- 7.2]
Theo exhaled, the tension of the mantis just dying left his shoulders.
The victory left a bad taste in his mouth but it was still a victory.
He had expected the spores to not just weaken the viper but also make it so vulnerable that there was no way for it to fight back, but their effectiveness had disappointed him a bit.
'Good job,' he gave a mental command making the mantis first look at him and they back to the viper. Theo could tell that it was happy right now, it stood tall, its stance filled with pride.
The mantis went frantically toward the snake's corpse and embedded it's forelegs deeps inside the cut. It took out a big chunk of the viper's flesh out and ate with delight.
Theo felt another sense of emotion, he held his head and frowned.
"Are you okay, young master?" Clara asked after grabbing his head with concern.
"Yesh... it's just... It's been the second time since I felt emotions that I definitely know were not mine." Theo said with a frown, it was a rather strange occurrence.
"Ohh~ It's nothing much, that's the meaning that your mental connection with your tamed beast is deepening. You can now feel the emotions of your mantis but only sometimes for now." Clara clarified, her tone proud.
Theo nodded in understanding, "So that's what it was huh..."
While he was speaking, Clara picked the viper's dead body with the mantis holding it's wound with it's dear life, it looked at Clara with it's insect like face which got her weirded out but she was able to bring it to the center of the clearing.
"Your attack strategy this time was simple and good, while that spore lash didn't seem to work the way it did before, it still did it job quite good, young master. You've grown." Clara stated making Theo think about the fight again.
"What would you like to do now?" She aske with curiosity and The smirked.
"What else? We will defeat as many vipers today as we can."
