Insect Tamer's Ascension

Theo looked at the forest once and then at Clara, who looked to be near death.

'Stay alive, Mantis. That's an order. I will come find you.' He gave a mental command, but as he didn't know the difference between them, he didn't know whether it went to it or not.

Theo just gritted his teeth and climbed onto the boar's back. He helped her gently, and only then did the boar start to run back slowly.

Each bump made Clara groan. Theo still couldn't accept the situation.

He had just killed off four boars in total, and it was his first time fighting one ever. But just because of a simple stone, they were bombarded with surprise attacks.

Travel became quite fast. With the boar as a carrier, they were able to cover a distance that might have taken them ten minutes in just three minutes.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE

Theo's face flinched toward the sound, and his eyes widened. A boar was running at its full speed, trying to catch up to Theo and everyone.

'We are not moving that fast… this is trouble,' Theo thought. The boar was closing in with every second, but they couldn't do anything but move slowly. Clara was still groaning with each jerk on her body.

Theo thought of what to do, but nothing came to mind. Even Mantis was not present with them at the moment.

RUSTLE RUSTLE

Another rustling came, and he looked in the other direction, only to see another rabid boar moving toward them speedily.

Now, two boars were a few meters away from them, trying to catch up with them all.

Theo looked forward and saw that they were reaching the main outskirts of the forest finally—it was only a minute's travel from here.

Yet with each step forward, the boar had to move more to the side with even lower speed, as the trees were in a lot of abundance.

Even the boars following them had to slow down to travel further. One even smacked itself into one of the tree trunks and started moving again right away.

"We are almost there! Keep at it!" Theo shouted and patted the boar's back.

SQUEAKK

The boar started increasing its speed only by a little, and the groans that had stopped a second ago started again.

"Bear with me for a minute, Clara. Everything will be alright in a minute, I promise." Theo caressed her hair, making her open her eyes.

"Young… master…" she spoke slowly, making Theo crouch his ear down near her lips to understand.

"Leave me…" she completed her sentence, making Theo grit his teeth.

"You… just be alive, alright? We will be with Warren soon enough."

Theo saw the front with satisfaction. They were almost out now.

SQUEEAAKK

He looked back, only to see the two boars together this time, pushing each other to the side but still traveling forward toward them.

He realized a little—they really were solitary creatures who only seemed to work with themselves.

RUSTLE RUSTLE

His eyes went to yet another location where another boar was traveling toward them now. Theo slicked his teeth, yet when he looked closely, he saw many more heads bobbing up and down where the boar moved.

'Wait…' He realized it soon enough.

There were little boars, like children, moving with an adult boar toward them.

Theo took a deep breath and looked forward. Now, only Warren was the one who could do something for them.

—————

[Moss Carapace Mantis kills an Ironback Boar (Level 2)!]

[Level (-) and grade (+) difference detected]

[Adding 5% to the base EXP]

[EXP gained: 30 + 5%]

Distribution: 31.50

Theo Merrick – 12.60

Moss Carapace Mantis – 18.90]

_____________

"Heh…" He rubbed his head, seeing the notification, and became even more determined. Now, one tension was gone—that something had happened to the Mantis.

Theo could finally see a large clearing from afar, a clearing that clearly had the carriage in front of them.

He calmed himself down and looked forward in seriousness. He took a deep breath and shouted, "WAAARRREEEENNNN!!!"

The voice was so loud, Clara jerked for a second and felt even more pain, and the voice echoed all around the forest's outskirts.

Warren quickly got up from his sleep; the straw hat on his face fell down. He looked toward the forest with squinted eyes.

BURRRUU

The stag made a sound, and Warren's eyes widened; all the sleepiness vanished.

He quickly opened the buckle on the stag's body, making it come out and stretch quickly.

A few seconds later, the pup and the boar—with Clara and Theo sitting on them, came out of the forest with a panicked expression.

When Warren looked at Clara sitting horizontally on the boar, his face became serious soon.

"Get ready for a fight, Warren! Incoming beasts!" Theo spoke, making Warren nod in agreement.

They quickly came and stopped right beside the big stag, who tried sniffing Theo's face in concern.

Theo just tapped and looked at it in determination. It was all on the stag now.

Soon, the boars—who were smashing each other again and again—came out of the forest and didn't stop, no matter what.

They both stopped fighting each other and sprinted forward with their all. The stone's musk had been so attractive that they didn't even realize that they were in a different environment right now.

"They are getting close!" Theo spoke with panic. With Clara so injured right now, they couldn't take it if the boars came too close.

"Protect… young master…" Clara muttered slowly, making the pup come forward and put its guard on.

"Sleep well. Warren will take care of everything, okay?"

As Theo spoke, the boars hadn't stopped moving. They were very close now, and Theo didn't know why the stag wasn't moving out.

Was it not meant for fighting at all? Questions came to his mind, but they quickly melted away when the situation flipped completely.

ZAP

A thundering big strand of lightning came out of the big stag's antlers.

The current zapped the boar to the right, and even before anything could happen, the current came out again from the boar's body only to hit the other one too, as if it was a conductor.