Insect Tamer's Ascension

"Theo had his whole body stiff; he was holding the sword with both his hands so tight that it was almost an extension of his body.

The blade of the sword hit the viper right at the upper face, and before Theo could even think about anything, he was up in the air already.

The sword being so tightly held made it impossible for the viper to get to his body in order to puncture it with its long fangs.

But it also made all the force push Theo from one corner of the clearing to another.

"Young master!" Clara shouted with a pale expression. The boar and pup went toward the viper right away.

Within seconds, Theo fell to the forest's ground again, and his shoulder banged against the trunk of a tree.

"KUGHHH…"

Intense pain erupted in his left shoulder, and Theo grabbed it. He looked for his sword only to see it was a meter away from him.

He looked at the front only to see the viper look in all directions with frantic eyes.

Before Theo realized, the pup and the boar were coming toward it from one side, while the mantis was moving around for the best spot.

Soon, the viper looked at Theo one last time before it tried to go back to the depths of the forest from where it came.

SHWING

Alas, it was too late. Its body right below the head was cut halfway, and with only a few seconds of pain that everyone could see in its eyes, the viper fell to the ground.

PUCHII

The boar's reddish tusks also pierced the viper's dead body.

Theo saw the kill message and saw that it was only he and the mantis that killed the viper, not Clara and the boar.

"Young master..!" Clara, who was already running, crouched and grabbed Theo's head to give it support and not hit the mossy trunk of the tree.

"Are you okay?" Clara asked with pained eyes.

"Let me check," Theo stated and tried getting up, which surprisingly didn't hurt anywhere.

He jumped up and down and felt a little heavy tug on his left shoulder. With a nod, Theo grabbed it and looked at Clara with a chuckle.

"I only hurt my left shoulder. I am okay aside from that," he stated and saw almost everyone come up to him.

The pup rubbed against his leg while the boar just stood in the vicinity with vigilance.

The ape was behind Elias while Chip was at his head looking at Theo.

Theo felt concern from almost everyone, both beast and human alike, and smiled warmly. This had gone beyond just attendant and party member status; it was almost a brother- and sisterhood.

Theo thought that the mantis would already be at the viper's body eating away at it without care, as its empathy was a lot different than the norm.

But to his surprise, the mantis was already tugging on his leg and getting up while looking at Theo.

Theo closed his eyes and tried peering into its emotions, even when Clara was shouting angrily at him, which had become background noise.

When Theo felt the emotions from the mantis, he was surprised. The mantis was desperate, scared, and restless right now while it briskly climbed toward Theo.

Theo quickly grabbed the mantis and got him up near his chest to get a better look.

The mantis quickly hopped to Theo's shoulder when given a chance and inspected the shoulder that hit the tree as if it already knew where Theo was hurt.

"It seems I got carried away again," Theo spoke with an awkward smile, "What was I thinking? I am not strong enough to defeat a level 7 viper on my own," Theo stated.

"You're right about that," Clara snarked at Theo, making him scratch his head with the right hand.

"This was a lot more dangerous than the boars, young master. How about we help you for the next one if you don't mind," Elias spoke. There was an angry frown on his face too, but he wasn't as daring as Clara yet to rebuke a noble heir.

"Please let me check your injury right now, young master," Clara spoke and looked at his shoulder.

Theo made his hand reach to the mantis, who suddenly started tapping his face.

"Hm?" Theo looked at the mantis with confusion but then with astonishment.

"You want me to eat this?" Theo asked.

The mantis had a lot of the moss that was on its body a second ago in between its forelegs, which were moved toward Theo's face.

Both Elias and Clara looked at this situation with astonishment.

Theo instinctively opened his mouth in disbelief, and that was when the mantis acted quickly, and both its forelegs went inside his mouth.

"!!!"

"Y-Young master, don't move your mouth," Clara spoke with a pale expression.

Those were the same forelegs that cut through a level 7 beast just now.

But before Theo could even get scared about it, the mantis kept a lot of moss on his tongue gently without even touching it and went out again, only to look at Theo again with its big eyes.

"S-So…" Theo muttered, making Clara and Elias think something had gone wrong.

"So cute…" But when Theo completed the sentence, they only sighed in relief.

Theo closed his mouth and chewed the moss, only to have a fresh greenish flavor invade his taste buds before he gulped it down.

"Was that safe, young master?" Elias asked.

"I think so," Theo stated with a chuckle, and Elias's eyebrow twitched in frustration.

"I don't think the mantis can ever do anything to intentionally hurt me. Just look at the fact that there is a humongous body of the viper there in the middle, and it is here with me, feeding regenerative moss to help me," Theo explained, only for Clara and Elias to nod.

Getting in the middle of the clearing, Theo removed his upper leather armor to show if it was too serious or not.

"Hm… It's not serious, but we can still go back, recover, and come back again, young master. There is no need to push yourself so much," Clara spoke after applying the paste given by Elias to his shoulder.

Theo looked at her for a second, soon a confident grin crept on his face.

"Nah, I will only go back after reaching level 5."