Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 133: A wyvern

Theo kept the mantis in his hand, while he knew it had done very well. Theo had not seen the mantis so injured before.

Its whole body was a mess, and for some reason, Theo felt like it was stumped by a creature or something.

The mantis leaned on his hand and started twitching its bottom up and down in a systematic manner. It had fallen asleep just like that in its master's hand, as if it was the safest place to be in.

"… We can go now, Sir Knight." Theo stated, and the knight nodded. They left the corpses of the beasts in the forest.

Theo tried not to move his hand much while moving outside the college; the mantis was in a deep sleep.

"Your beast is the first tamed that I have been so interested in. While you were gone, I saw it moving all around finding more boars—truly a predator," the knight said.

It was the second time he had praised the mantis till now. freēnovelkiss.com

"Thank you, it went past its limit this time," Theo said while looking at the mantis sleeping peacefully. "I never thought it would go looking for things to defeat. That is a behaviour that I have never observed in it."

While they talked, there were a lot of silent gaps in between as the knight took a long time to respond and ask something. But Theo respected that.

The travel to the outside from now was a lot more silent. Theo thought of the whole situation again to know what could have been done better or if this situation could have been avoided altogether.

The biggest variable that stirred up the whole Ironback Boar's territory was the star stone—the thing Theo had not only not expected to find here, but also didn't know if it existed or not.

His thoughts went to just how many times he got in trouble till now. It made him look toward the knight.

Theo had shared some significant stuff that, while may have not amounted to anything, still were vital information.

And he was only sharing it because of how Clara had reacted before she fainted for good. Theo could feel relief on her unconscious face.

For Clara to be relieved about someone else's arrival—it told Theo more than anything else.

"Sir Knight, everything was so chaotic so I couldn't ask anything about you. Can you tell me who you are?" Theo asked with a light smile, making the knight look at him for a few seconds with a plain expression and then forward again.

There was silence for a few more moments before he finally spoke, "My name is Rhys Geller," he said, making Theo nod.

When the knight saw it on Theo's face that it was not enough, he sighed deep and muttered again, "I am the Assistant Commander of the Knight Army. I have fought countless wars on behalf of the Merrick Barony."

When Theo heard that, he finally felt some surprise. This right here was a great example of 'Don't judge a book by its cover' for him.

The knight looked anything but someone high up in the commanding chain.

"Sir Rhys Geller… you are more of an important figure than I had realized," Theo said in an apologetic way.

"Don't look into it too much, just be like you have been till now, I am still lower than you in status." the knight said right away, and they finally were able to get out of the forest.

Theo looked at the clear road with a smile. Finally, the stone was gone, and now, they were preparing to go as well.

'The day was more productive than any. Mantis got 7 boars' worth of EXP. It knows how to get rid of them now. It's nothing but improvement,' Theo realized and looked at the sleeping mantis with a proud smile.

A small being such as it was finally able to show just what it was capable of.

'You will represent every insect in the world one day, Mantis. The world will know just how good you all are…' Theo thought.

Theo thought about something for only a second. He had thought about it before too. And every time, in his mind, even if the mantis was still the Iron Mantis, it could still become as strong as it is now. It might just need a lot more than this evolution.

He wanted to see some other tamers tame an Iron Mantis just to see how much they could grow without any evolution.

After thinking about all this in a matter of seconds, Theo looked toward Geller, who was taking yet another big yawn.

There was nothing in the big clearing of the road. The carriage was already gone.

"What now?" Theo asked in curiosity. In his eyes, the only way was to just run or walk toward the castle or wait for a carriage that would come to them no matter what anyway.

"… I will do something right now that might disrupt the whole outskirt's ecosystem, will that be okay with you?" Geller asked Theo with a plain expression, making Theo confused.

"What do you mean by that?" Theo asked again, this time with both confusion and curiosity.

The knight looked at Theo again before he yawned and stretched his body again with a groan.

"Ughhh I will just do it."

He kept a hand on his forehead with a grumpy expression and soon a light came out of it.

'His beast?' Theo thought right away.

When the light fell to the ground, it surprisingly expanded so much that Theo had to step away in surprise.

When the light faded the next second, Theo completely froze in one place. Just a second had passed, and a drop of sweat already formed on his forehead.

SWOOOSHH

The gigantic wings moved, making winds aggressively move everywhere.

The wyvern's body was covered in thick, dark-scaled hide that had the illumination like a polished stone.

The wings were leathery, that were now folded tightly against its back after a big spectacle of moving them. He had already seen the impressive size of the wings.

Toward the hind, a long, spiked tail swayed lazily behind it. It felt like a single strike from it could make anything die right away.

Its eyes were sharp and golden; they locked onto Theo right away with intelligence that felt almost human.

But the most striking characteristic of the big dragon-looking creature was its front limbs—powerful, clawed arms that looked like they could crush bones.

Its hind legs remained tucked beneath it, built for launching into flight. A row of jagged spines ran down its neck, ending just above its nostrils.

When Theo stared at its face, he could see smoke coming out of the wyvern's nostrils with each breath.

___________

Fire Wyvern

Rare

Level 12

Type - Reptilian fire beast

___________

Theo couldn't even look at the status screen properly as the wyvern's gaze was stuck on him.

There was this piercing pressure from his head to his lower back that told him there was no chance of surviving if the wyvern really tried to get rid of him.

When the knight looked at Theo's face, he sighed and went toward the wyvern's long neck.

"This is my 2nd beast, the Fire Wyvern. I would have not brought it before you if not for the unique situation," the knight said and continued after keeping a hand on its long and thick neck, "It's not a threat to you, young master. But it is to this forest. A single huff of involuntary fire, and there will be a forest fire. So we have to be fast."

Theo listened to him intently, and only when the wyvern's sharp gaze moved a little lower than his eyes, he took a deep breath of fresh air. The pressure on his body was instinctual—even if he tried being confident, it did not come.

Yet when Theo realized what the wyvern had started looking at, he wanted to smack his head.

The mantis was already up from his sleep and was looking at the gigantic being with a twitching body.

What made the situation even more weird was that the mantis had moved its forelegs up in a fighting stance.

"Don't worry about him, Sir Rhys. It's just a protective stance for him." Theo lied magnificently, making the knight smile.

"I may not be able to tell if that is defence or offence, but its aura tells me that it is ready to fight, young master. Such an interesting being…"

For the first time, a grin formed on the knight's face. Theo wanted to smack his head again. The mantis had a few screws loose in its head—there was no fear in it!

He did not know whether to laugh or cry.

But under everyone's surprised gaze, the wyvern moved its left foreleg and then its neck toward Theo.

In a matter of seconds, the wyvern's face was inches away from Theo's hand where the mantis was seated.

When Theo compared that head of his with him, it was about half as big as his whole body.