Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 45 - . The encounter

Theo and Clara moved in the carriage, and it only took about 25 minutes for them to reach the outskirts of the forest where the vipers were found.

Theo stood in front of the forest's outskirts with the same formation as usual.

"Should we go?" he asked, with his mantis on his shoulder. Clara still had a perplexed expression, yet she nodded.

"Young Master, the rules will become stricter than with moss slimes here. The vipers are very good at surprise attacks, so we can't delve too deep into their territory. You will have to stay with me, ALWAYS."

Her emphasis at the last part made Theo nod profusely.

"The scales of the vipers are tough for low-level creatures, so you should focus on dealing with level 1 vipers, Young Master," she stated again. They passed the first tree and had officially entered the forest now.

Theo looked everywhere yet found nothing. His eyes were also on the mantis to ensure it did not vanish like before.

"I will send the pup to find something for us. We will not move a single step from here now. This is as much of a clearing as you can get in this territory."

They were standing in a place where there was a gap of 3-4 trees. It was a small clearing. Theo gulped and stayed there, wearing leather armor that stuck to his skin perfectly.

Some of the grass came up to his knees, which irked Theo, fearing surprise attacks on him.

Yet, the next moment after the pup left sniffing, the boar started to bite and get rid of the taller grass while meticulously throwing it to the side.

Its proficiency in this matter seemed so high that, after a minute, there was no grass tall enough to reach Theo's knees.

At the same time, it was taking care of the smaller grass too.

"This is something I trained him to do when I came fighting here for the first time, Young Master. The vipers don't attack if they can't find something to their advantage, such as tall grass and short trees."

While she was talking, the boar was still working, using its left and right tusks to clamp down into the soil, digging out roots and grass quickly.

After that, only a few kicks from its hooves were enough to clear the grass.

Just as this was happening, Theo tried giving the mantis the same command with some treats as a reward.

The mantis's head moved frantically as if it was trying to understand the command.

It hopped off Theo's shoulder, surprising him, but then grabbed onto Theo's trouser with one foreleg.

It looked down, slowly descended, and landed on a strand of grass.

Theo felt disappointed that the mantis was still so light that it could stand on the grass, but to his surprise, the mantis fell to the ground and vanished into the grass, its color blending in completely.

Theo wanted to crouch down and find it but refrained. This was training in itself too. He gave a mental command for the mantis to cut the grass from the lower end again and waited.

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If it was going to vanish, Theo had the pup to find it again, so he wasn't too worried.

A few seconds passed, and there was no movement.

Until he saw a small shine in the grassy region, as if a flashlight had flashed for a second.

"Oh damn," Theo muttered as he saw lush grass that had stood proudly moments before now fall to the side, creating a clear line.

"What is it, Young Master?" Clara asked while the boar seemed to realize what the mantis had done.

Theo checked to be sure and smiled. "I gave the mantis the command to take care of the grass too. It used its ability on its own and cut the grass in this line. Look."

Theo pointed, and Clara looked in surprise. "That means it's either getting domesticated or intelligent enough to understand your commands now, Young Master."

"Yeah," Theo watched as the cooldown vanished. He commanded the mantis to use its ability again and again. A flash of light appeared for a second in the grass, and more blades of grass fell to the ground.

While it was on a smaller scale, Theo still felt pleased that it was understanding his commands and successfully completing them at its own level.

In a few minutes, the grass beneath the group had either been stomped on or chopped and thrown to the side.

Theo felt safer now that he could see the ground without grass around him, eliminating the vipers' chance for an ambush.

Soon, they saw a silhouette moving toward them, and Theo saw the pup coming slowly while looking back again and again.

"Be ready, Young Master. It's here," Clara said, stepping in front of him. Theo watched as the small pup moved past the big grass, and that was when he saw some movement behind it.

He didn't see a physical figure, but he could make out the shifting grass.

'Come back, Mantis!' Theo gave an urgent and aggressive command. The mantis's skill was already on cooldown, so he couldn't risk it being near the viper.

Theo moved his hand near the ground and saw the mantis hop into the air from close range and land on his hand.

The pup was already in the small square of cleared land without grass. It moved near Clara and faced the opponent with a whine.

Theo was confused. The pup was not one to be scared of a viper. It had seen him kill multiple moss slimes of higher level as if they were mere ants.

Yet he soon realized—the pup was playing innocent and acting. It had been luring the viper here all this time.

Soon, Theo saw something bob its head up from the grass. Its height reached no more than Theo's knee in comparison.

"That's the Thornhide Viper, Young Master." Clara spoke.