Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 326: Non Tamed beast guided successfully (7)

The moment the Baron left was the moment Theo braced himself.

"Since Father has left, his aura has gone too. We’re all on the same page, right?" Theo asked, prompting a nod from both Clara and Elias.

"I will bring my beasts closer to the camp, young master," Clara said, while she drew two knives, one in each hand, ready for an immediate response.

"The ape is already craving a fight," Elias added, and he too seemed all ready. The ridiculous number of arrows he had strapped to himself looked like it could last for as long as he could go on.

Theo drew his sword from the scabbard as well. The crawler moved closer, trembling with excitement, thinking that they were going for a fight again.

Seeing that, Thoe realized something.

"We need a way to mark this one so it doesn’t get mistaken for the others and get killed." Theo then looked at the two. "Any ideas?"

While Elias thought it over, Clara suddenly dashed into the hut. In the following few seconds, Theo heard the sound of some fabric being torn.

When she finally returned, Clara was holding a long strip of white cloth.

"Did you just tear your bed?" Theo asked in amusement, making Clara giggle.

"Such a small sheet of cloth won’t make much of a difference, but you can use it as a collar for this one. That way, we won’t make any mistakes." Clara’s idea immediately received Elias’s nod. She was right.

Theo quickly took the strip from her and crouched beside the crawler to tie it around its neck.

The crawler froze for a moment, clearly confused.

And since he also didn’t know how it would react with him being this close to it, Theo also sent a command to the Ant Queen, ordering it to remain still.

The crawler obeyed and did just that.

Carefully, Theo picked it up a bit and looped the cloth around what seemed to be its neck before tying a small knot to secure the cloth.

Once that was done, and the crawler was released, it went back down and wriggled its body, shifting left and right, rising and lowering itself.

Once Theo made sure that the cloth wasn’t too tight but secure enough to not fall off easily, he stood up and moved toward his two attendants. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"We might get attacked for a long time now that Father’s gone," Theo said.

"But since he left us to survive on our own," he continued. "I am sure he must believe that we’re ready..."

"My lord did specify in the end that he thought we were capable enough, young master," Elias replied.

Theo was about to speak again when a sudden feeling made him pause before he turned to them again.

Surely, Elias and Clara had the same expression on their faces.

"I am glad you can sense danger now, young master." Clara seemed proud when she realized Theo had noticed that something was wrong right away.

Their gazes instantly dropped to the ground, and soon enough, the three saw cracks spreading across the ground in many places.

"GET READY!" Theo shouted, prompting all of them to get into a formation instantly.

Theo stood at the front with the ape, boar and pup, acting as direct attackers.

Clara and Elias took position just a few steps away, covering the rear and providing support while Chip hovered nearby, ready to warn them if any larger monster approached them on foot.

’Mantis, return immediately. I don’t care what you’re doing right now,’ Theo commanded.

The mantis replied with a calm acknowledgement, ’Alright’, allowing him to take a steadying breath.

’Ant Queen, the crawlers will stray toward you. I want you to do everything to keep yourself and the colony safe. Use this opportunity to level up everyone,’ Theo commanded, and it was enough.

The ant queen was intelligent enough to handle the rest after that.

And Theo could also sense the scale of the colony now. Standing where he was, he knew that countless tunnels and chambers lay beneath their feet.

The colony had expanded so much that Theo was sure the entire camp area was likely covered by now since the Ant Queen was forced to expand horizontally for safety instead of going deep underground due to the Baron’s aura.

The moment the crawlers began erupting from the ground, Theo made his move.

They defeated every single one as if it were second nature. Having killed thousands of such creatures before, they had understood the most efficient ways to get rid of them.

Throughout it all, the crawler on their side stayed close to Theo, attacking any nearby crawler without hesitation.

It worked wonders, as the enemy crawlers were clearly confused to see one of their own attack them even when there was a bigger target ahead.

Theo helped it whenever he could by stabbing the beasts his crawler was attacking.

_____

Meanwhile, far from the camp, three men stood at the edge of a clearing.

One was clad in pristine armor that seemed to have been polished just now, and beside him stood two robed figures.

"Sire, why aren’t we moving forward?" one of the robed men asked.

No one could see beyond the darkness of his hood, but the slender outline of his body made it clear to anyone that he was a tamer.

"When you hunt a wild beast," the armored man in the front replied, touching a certain scarred spot on his face, "you must be careful to not step inside its territory."

The two robed men glanced at each other, then back at the knight.

"And I don’t know why they sent you with me," the knight continued, his tone sharp as he pointed to their west, "when you can’t even detect that massive aura coming from that direction."

Both robed men turned to the west and focused as hard as they could, but no matter how much they tried, they sensed nothing.

The knight in the front only clicked his tongue.

"If the beast you speak of really is close," one of them asked cautiously, "should we release our beasts as well, sire?"

The hierarchy within the group was clear. The armored knight held the most authority.

"You can do that," the knight said, a thin grin forming on his face as he looked back at them.

The sheer madness on his face made both robed men lower their heads, even when their faces were hidden beneath their hoods.

"But only if you’re prepared to watch them die today."