Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 331. Epic Grade

The Burial Monarch’s massive mouth split open into two beneath Theo, but no one around had the privilege of looking at it.

Their eyes were fixed onto the thing that stood close to Theo.

From his angle, Theo could see beautiful and huge feathers, red and yellow, blending together to form a vivid spectrum of colours.

He just couldn’t pull his gaze away from the creature, even though a big notification about the Burial Monarch flashed before his eyes.

Theo’s mind just wasn’t working. His eyes were locked onto the creature that had latched its claws around his shoulders, holding him up in the air.

The sheer size of the creature stopped his thoughts for a few seconds completely. And when Theo’s gaze finally met with the creature’s, a shiver ran down his spine.

That eye was far too intelligent. So much so that Theo couldn’t help but think it belonged to a human instead, if not for its unusual green color.

While everyone else remained frozen, including himself, Theo instinctively searched for the creature’s status.

The talons on his shoulders were holding him so tight that he felt like any sudden movement would allow them to pierce through him.

And that feeling came true, because for the first time, Theo could sense a prickling pain beyond his armor. Something that shouldn’t have been possible, given it was made from lesser dragon scales.

*****

Varkyren

Epic

Level 16

Type: Aevian Type beast

*****

’E-Epic...’

The sheer thought of an Epic grade creature made Theo lose all his cool.

In his entire life, he had never seen an Epic grade beast.

And the level didn’t do anything better either. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

When Theo saw that ’16’ in the level, his thoughts briefly went to his father.

The baron himself was level 16, and Theo had never once seen his beasts before.

Theo then looked down again. The rocky body of the Burial Monarch had been split clean in half, as if it were nothing.

The massive, colourful bird flapped its big wings once more, shifting itself to the side, with Theo still dangling helplessly within its claws.

The most astonishing part was the fact that not a single gust of wind stirred despite the movement. No dirt or debris had moved at all when the beast flapped its wings. The mere idea of it would usually feel ridiculous.

But not now.

Moments later, Theo realized that his feet were touching the ground again and the claws around his shoulder had loosened their grip.

"..."

Everyone in the camp could only stare at the creature in complete awe.

The beasts, however, were reacting differently.

The pup had wet itself the moment the bird approached them, evidence of the gap in strength and the level of aura the huge level 16 bird possessed.

The boar instinctively moved toward Clara, positioning itself in order to protect her if needed, no matter its broken tusks.

The ape had its face pinned to the ground, unable to even look up at the beast, as if a clear hierarchy had been established the very moment it appeared.

Meanwhile, Theo still couldn’t get his eyes off the creature.

Soon, the beast landed near him and calmly sat down.

It stared at Theo with calm eyes, yet they felt sharp enough that he didn’t dare move a single finger. Even though his legs were screaming with pain and exhaustion, he remained perfectly still.

The bird kept staring at Theo, its face slowly moving closer until his heart began beating at a pace he didn’t know was possible.

He took a single step back, but that was all. In that moment, he truly understood how vulnerable he was, standing before such a creature.

Clara stepped forward to help him, though she herself was sweating buckets. The boar clung onto her even tighter, as if doing everything it could to stop her from moving.

Suddenly, the bird’s long, powerful, yet old-looking, beak lightly touched Theo’s head.

’Weak. Grow. Strong’

Dead silence fell over the entire camp, and Theo just stared into the creature’s eyes, horror gripping his being.

’It just talked!’

His head spun like crazy. ’It just talked... It just talked... It just talked...’

Theo kept chanting in his mind, completely at a loss as to what he should do.

The bird moved back again.

After giving Theo one last glance, it flapped its wings once and turned into a blur.

Everyone stood frozen, as if trapped in a fever dream. One moment the beast was there; the next, it was gone. That made no sense, especially since it was half as big as a dragon, and everyone knew dragons usually took time to gain speed when flying.

No one moved from their spots for the next several minutes. Not a single crawler surfaced to the ground again. Utter silence stretched for a long, long time.

Until finally, Theo snapped back to his senses and looked around.

"...Did a level 16 beast... just protect us... and leave?" he asked slowly, snapping Clara and Elias out of their trance as well.

Clara nodded, while Elias tried to say ’yes’, but his voice seemed to have broken.

’Why do I get the feeling that it was one of the father’s beasts...?’ Theo muttered to himself.

Nothing else seemed to make any sense at the moment.

"...That was an Epic grade beast, young master. One whose name I have never even heard before..." Elias said at last, forming his first sane sentence. "And that says a lot, as I have read and memorized every creature above Rare grade for my attendant duties..."

He then looked up in the sky again and again, panic written all over his face.

"Me too. Varkyren... I have never heard about it either," Clara added.

"Forget that," Theo said, drawing their attention back at him.

"Tell me, what are we supposed to do after this?" He asked, his eyes darting upward.

"We didn’t sense it when it descended and grabbed me. We couldn’t sense it when it left... What are we supposed to do in a situation like this?"

His mind just couldn’t stop popping one question after another; he simply needed a sane explanation for what had just happened.

The existential crisis had hit them all at once, and not a single being in that camp could escape from this feeling.