Insect Tamer's Ascension Chapter 519. A tough decision and a team that is lacking

After that came two more traps. The first one Theo wasn’t able to detect, which made him lose a bit of aura in front of the team.

The next one was a sound they heard from the front. It felt like a ferocious beast was in a fight with another beast.

Theo’s blood boiled in excitement as he moved forward with the sword out of the scabbard.

When he got close enough, he saw a silhouette on the other side of a tree in front of him and was able to get the status to show.

That was when he almost stepped back.

The beast had a weird name that couldn’t help him know what it was, and it was level 13.

Theo immediately stepped back as he knew the case of his own beast.

The mantis looked like a mantis but had a name that never said it was a mantis. Sometimes, it was as confusing as that.

He didn’t get the beast out as it was not allowed and told the mantis to stay in no matter what.

And right at that trap, there was a small new outline of a road going forward. When they looked at the map, there was no road that way, which made Theo realize something.

This was definitely a setup.

After bickering for a few minutes while hiding behind a tree, as their main purpose was not subjugation but to protect the dummy, they tried to make a plan.

But one thing was clear, all of them except Rhevard, who had gauntlets worn to fight, were as useless as they could be without their beasts.

And it made Theo feel a little weird. How was the professor expecting them to take care of things without the beasts when there was no one other than Rhevard and Theo who knew how to use a weapon?

It was at that time that Theo had to reveal another thing that the others knew but he didn’t want to show before the Arena Records.

He moved the sword back into the scabbard and hyper-jumped above a big tree branch to look at the beast from above.

All members were shocked by what Theo did. This was not a skill they taught in an academy made for tamers no matter how many combat courses the academy had.

Some techniques could only be learned through special occasions and there was a time to learn them.

All the tamers present except for Rhevard were too feeble to use their strength to the best. Their bodies could never bring as good results as what Theo did casually.

And when he saw the silhouette of the beast that kept making those ferocious sounds in clear light, all his adrenaline went away.

Theo hopped down from one branch to another until he was down, and without saying anything, he casually walked toward the noise and saw a big bunny mimicking the sound of a ferocious beast.

When its gaze met with Theo’s, it started hopping toward the east instead, and that was when Theo saw that the bunny really was level 13.

It made a single big hop and a few hops later was already on top of a tree before vanishing completely.

The whole team, fully embarrassed by what happened except Rhevard, made their way forward toward the direction they had decided on.

No one said anything for the next minute and Theo felt like that silence itself was a punishment.

’A level 13 bunny... and I really thought it was some hidden beast lying in wait.’ Theo wanted to bury that memory somewhere deep and never look at it again.

For the kids to make this mistake was one thing, but for him to do the same was another.

Still, as they moved, his eyes did not stop scanning the surroundings.

The small side road that had appeared near the bunny still bothered him.

If they had panicked and rushed there, they would have gone off route. Or was that the right route?

The professor had not just put beasts and traps on the course, but also things that could waste their time and disturb their minds.

As they went deeper, the forest became thinner and the ground started sloping downward, which wasn’t shown on the map or written anywhere.

Theo looked at the map again and realized they were close.

"We are near the final stretch," he spoke in a low voice.

This time, Varelya did not snap at him for speaking. She only extended her hand toward the map and Theo handed it over.

Her eyes moved over it quickly and then to the path in front.

"Rhevard stays in the middle with the dummy. Theo, take the front but do not run off alone. Osric, stay to the left of the chest. Saevra, right side," she spoke.

Theo looked at her once and did not say anything. At least now she was actually arranging them like a team.

The path ahead narrowed between two clusters of old trees whose roots had come out of the ground and twisted like coiled snakes.

Theo could already tell this place was not natural, or if it was, then it was too weird.

He was just about to take another step when his pupils narrowed.

"Stop."

Everyone halted right away.

This time, there was no visible rope and no sound.

Theo crouched down and stared at the dirt.

There were slight marks there, not enough for most to care but enough for him.

’Something heavy had been dragged here and then covered up.’

"Pit?" Osric asked.

Theo slowly shook his head.

"No... too shallow for a pit. More like something meant to make us stumble," he muttered, but in his mind, he wasn’t as clear as he sounded to the others.

Rhevard stepped forward and without asking anyone, bent down and slammed his gauntleted fist into the ground.

The soil cracked and sank a little.

Immediately, a thin layer of woven branches collapsed inward and revealed a narrow ditch lined with wooden pegs.

It was not deep enough to kill anyone, but if Rhevard carrying the dummy had fallen in, both the dummy and the person carrying it would have been done for, and in extension, the team too.

Theo looked at the muscular boy and the latter only pulled his fist back as if what he had done was normal.

’So it was a pit, I was wrong,’ he thought to himself and looked at it all again to not make the same mistake again.

But his eyes quickly went to the boy’s gauntlets. Theo saw a hint of brownish energy around the equipment.

’What the hell was that???’ Theo thought in distress.

It was either the gauntlets had a power which he had never heard of, or his mind went to his aura as it looked like that, but he shook his head.

Having weapons that had powers like this was new to him and he didn’t even know if it was possible in this world.

How could his aura be brown?

His mind did go toward him having the earth affinity too, but Theo decided to look into it later to understand.

"Good catch," Osric said, but his eyes were not on Theo this time but on Rhevard.

Varelya clicked her tongue lightly and muttered, "Jump over it one by one. Quickly."

They crossed the narrow ditch with little trouble and the moment Theo landed on the other side, he heard rustling from behind the bushes to the left.

His body moved faster than his mind.

"Assistant beasts!" he shouted out to get all four ready.

The warning had barely left his mouth when two grey beasts dashed out low to the ground, their eyes fixed not on them but on the dummy.

--

Greyspine Jackals.

Common

Level 6

Type: Wind-type beast

--

One look at them and Theo knew they weren’t that strong, but the flexibility in their movements as they maneuvered around the hole in the ground made him realize they were very fast.

One came from the left and one from the right. Behind them, there was another sound too.

Theo’s sword flashed out and collided with the first jackal’s face.

The impact didn’t do anything to him and the jackal, on the other hand, was okay too.

At the same time, Rhevard turned his whole body and used his shoulder to protect the dummy while lifting one arm.

The second jackal smashed into his gauntlet and let out a sharp yelp before a pressure formed around its body and pushed it back.

Theo nodded to himself. The jackals had the shield too.

"Don’t chase them!" Theo shouted instinctively when he saw Varelya take a step ahead, and to his surprise, she stopped.

"Osric, the chest!" she shouted instead.

Theo’s eyes shifted and saw the third one.

It had circled from the back and was trying to sink its teeth into the strap of the chest in Osric’s hand.

Osric reacted at once and kicked the side of the beast with little strength, but it was enough to ruin the jackal’s angle.

Theo moved forward and used the blunt side to hit the jackal’s body, making pressure form and the beast fly back into the bush.

Theo had to dig his feet down to not be blown back by the pressure too.

Saevra, who had looked the most disinterested till now, moved behind Rhevard and tightened the cloth around the dummy so it would not slip.

"Left tree," she suddenly spoke.

Theo looked up and his face changed.

There was one more above, and by the looks of it, that one had been waiting.

The jackal leapt down straight for the dummy’s neck and Theo could not reach in time from where he was.

But it was not needed, he didn’t have to do everything on his own.

Rhevard moved his body in such a way that his gauntlet was right at the upcoming trajectory of the jackal’s mouth and hit it with no mercy.

The jackal was pushed back and the pressure took it even farther before it vanished.

"Move!" she shouted. "The endpoint should be close."

This time, nobody argued.

Theo took the front again while Osric kept the chest secure, and the whole team rushed through the path in a formation far tighter than before.

They had barely gone thirty more steps when a female voice cried out from the right.

"Help! Help me!"

Osric’s foot slowed down.

Everyone looked toward the location of the voice with halted feet.

That voice sounded real enough to make the skin crawl.

But the map said nothing about any checkpoint to the right.

And more importantly, the path beneath their feet continued forward.

"Ignore it," Saevra spoke coldly, and Theo just looked at her with a thoughtful gaze.

A decision was made, but was it going to be implemented?