Insect Tamer's Ascension Chapter 526. Apex Blood Tyrant and Theo Merrick

And Theo’s intuition wasn’t wrong.

When the mantis, now a blinding streak of light, closed in on the serpent, the massive beast moved instantly like a spring.

Its big, bulky body twisted in such a way that its tails whipped directly toward the mantis.

Theo was certain the mantis would pierce through the serpent’s skin and let pressure erupt through its defense.

But he was completely wrong.

The mantis was suddenly on the ground, stabilising itself on its legs. Theo stared in complete shock.

’Mantis... you got thrown away while using metallic strike...’ Theo thought in the bond.

The mantis sent back emotions that roughly translated to ’Yeah, no shit!’

’We might need to use spores this time. Think you can do that?’

In response, the mantis only brisked forward again, it exoskeleton gleaming while the fauna growing on its back swayed violently.

The cooldown for Metallic Strike had already ended, and this time the mantis shot upward instead of charging head-on.

But the serpent looked fully prepared.

Its thick tail came crashing down toward the mantis’s trajectory at a speed which Theo felt actually matched the mantis’ own.

’This is ridiculous,’ Theo thought in that split second and told mantis to dodge no matter what.

But the mantis was already ahead of that.

When the blinding white light faded, Theo saw the mantis clinging to the serpent’s tail instead of being smacked away by it.

As the tail hurtled toward the ground, the mantis used it as a foothold and leapt upward, reaching halfway up the serpent’s body.

Soon, the cooldown ended once more, and this time the serpent no longer had its tail in position to defend itself.

The mantis became a streak of blinding light again and rushed toward the serpent’s face, intending to attack it directly instead of releasing spores on its face.

But just as it was close to hitting it, Theo noticed something strange.

He didn’t like the shouts that were coming from the crowd.

They sounded different.

The serpent’s mouth suddenly opened wide, revealing two enormous fangs capable of puncturing a human skull with bare effort.

The mantis couldn’t alter its trajectory in time and chose to dive into the mouth as usual...

But a sudden torrent of water exploded from the serpent’s jaws.

’MANTIS!’ Theo shouted as he watched the mantis get blasted backward by the violent stream erupting from the beast’s mouth.

The Metallic Strike skill deactivated, and within seconds Theo sheathed his sword back into the scabbard and sprinted toward where the mantis had been flung.

’I am going to catch you. Don’t panic,’ Theo sent a command through the bond, as he rushed forward, arms spread wide as if preparing to catch a ball.

SPLASH

A wave of water crashed into Theo’s arm along with the mantis, soaking both of them completely. Theo immediately placed the mantis on the ground, not wanting it to panic and accidentally scratch him, which could trigger the defensive pressure again.

The moment it touched the ground, the mantis stood back up on its feet and calmly groomed its forelegs, tasting the water stuck to them.

Theo was at a loss for words.

The mantis looked perfectly fine and was casually tasting the water, while he himself felt like puking since it had all come straight from the serpent’s mouth like vomit.

Thinking that that mantis was weakened, the serpent lowered its massive body and rapidly slithered toward the theo and the mantis.

At that moment, Theo realized that despite its enormous size, the serpent was terrifyingly fast and flexible on the ground.

Just as it opened its mouth to swallow the mantis whole, the mantis opened its mouth and sprayed poison instead of spores.

The bond screamed in warning while Theo had already thrown himself to the side to avoid being caught by the serpent’s charging body.

But Theo froze for a split second.

Did the mantis just give a command to duck through the bond?

It was the first time something like this had happened.

With poison filling its mouth, the serpent jerked its head upward before immediately lowering it again.

A stream of water burst from its mouth, washing out the black liquid that directly splattered onto the ground.

Theo didn’t waste the opportunity; he knew that if the serpent regained full focus, there was no way he could ever break through its reflexes.

So Theo tapped his left chest aggressively, silently signaling the mantis that it was time.

The crowd watched as the mantis jumped onto Theo’s left arm. He caught it without recoiling from the weight of the mantis.

Theo’s knees were bent, and in the next moment, he launched himself toward the serpent with a hyper jump.

Despite the extra load of weight on his knees and back it was certainly worth the risk.

The serpent looked up and in shock saw Theo and the Mantis already upon it, but it was too late.

Midair, Theo used all his shoulder strength to hurl the mantis forward. At that exact moment, the mantis activated its ability, accelerating far beyond its normal speed as it shot toward the serpent.

Many nobles rose from their seats at Theo’s fighting style, while the leaders of several mercenary groups stared at Theo with eyes that clearly said they wanted him.

The mantis finally struck, driving both its forelegs forward in a way that it would get hooked inside the serpent’s face before using its mouth to start gobbling one of its eyes.

But the instant its forelegs touched the serpent’s scales, a flash of pressure exploded from the serpent’s body and flung the mantis high into the air.

Theo saw it happen while he himself was falling, and only one thought crossed his mind.

’ATTACK AGAIN RIGHT AWAY!’ Theo shouted in the bond.

The mantis, already tumbling through the air, activated its skill once more and shot toward the still-shocked serpent before it could come back to its senses.

A high-pressure stream of spores blasted directly onto the serpent’s body.

As if it had recognized the danger, the serpent immediately spewed out a stream of water from its mouth and started shaking its head violently to get rid of all the spores.

Still, some were able to get in it’s eyes, which started to spasm and the serpent started falling down to the ground.

After Theo was on the ground and had rolled down, he pressed his knees for a consecutive hyperjump right at the body of the serpent with the aura on.

He reached its body and made an attack, making the shield activate again and for Theo to go flying back again.

It all happened in just a mere ten second time so the referee finally came to his senses and announced.

"1st and 2nd hit made by Apex Bloom Tyrant and Theo Merrick respectively"