Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 340. A weird territory to fight in

Theo didn’t move any closer and continued to observe the beast from afar first.

’This looks smaller than I imagined...’ he mused as he watched the beast doing something in the ground.

Its back was facing him, and from his vantage, it almost felt like he was watching a single oversized rat at the center of it all.

As Theo tried to assess the terrain, he noticed something intriguing.

’So it has made a pit-like environment within its territory. If I go down there... I will be at a disadvantage thanks to the slope.’

’But at the same time, I might be able to get some advantage by having a somewhat higher ground too.’

He glanced at his sword and closed his eyes, trying once again to channel the aura into it. Still nothing; he couldn’t feel anything different at all.

When he opened his eyes again, the creature was still occupied with doing something to the ground like usual. It didn’t seem to show any awareness of what was happening around it, as if it simply didn’t care whether something, or someone, was approaching it. This made Theo realize that it might just be overly confident.

He tried to gather more information about the beast by focusing his thoughts on it.

After several attempts, one finally gave a fruitful outcome.

*****

Subterrane Tyrant

Rare

Level 13

Type: Earth beast

***** 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

’Why are all the names inside this gate so weird? To have a Tyrant in its name, it isn’t that common in the kingdom.’ Theo couldn’t help but think.

After thinking about it for a while longer and noticing how the beast just kept on doing something to the ground, which almost made him think that it was digging, Theo finally began moving forward, his sword gripped tight in one hand.

When he had already taken a few steps, the beast suddenly froze, stopping all its activities; its face perked up as if it had sensed something.

But Theo didn’t stop his advance and instead kept moving down, realizing only that he was moving towards it faster than he intended.

’The ground is all loose...’ He frowned as he stumbled, the soil below his boots giving way.

The beast fully turned its body toward him, and for the first time, Theo saw it in its entirety.

Blackish fur covered its entire body; it felt unnatural and trimmed, almost like that of a rat.

It stood about 6 ft tall, only slightly taller than Theo himself, yet the tyrant’s hunched back made it look even more menacing as it stared him down.

It moved one of its forelegs forward, revealing the curved, sharp nails to Theo.

The moment he saw them, Theo understood that if those nails got hold of him anywhere that wasn’t covered with armor, he was done for.

The creature began advancing slowly, forcing Theo to stop and wait for it.

’Alright... plan time,’ he thought. ’I need to land deep strikes on its body, but for that, I first need to understand how tough its hide is... I don’t even know how fast it can move.’

He needed to stay cautious until he understood every single variable the beast had in its hand.

Yet before either of them could make a first move and start the fight, the tyrant halted too and simply stared at Theo.

There was no movement from it whatsoever, making Theo frown.

’Is it being cautious too? But why?’ Theo wondered. By the beast’s calm and unblinking eyes, Theo could tell that it saw him as a weak creature.

A full minute passed, and there was still no movement from the beast.

Theo felt like the fight had become weird the moment it started. The beast was just too cautious.

Just to test the waters, Theo took a step forward and stopped. But the massive rat beast still didn’t move an inch.

Theo took another step forward, his eyes locked with its own.

His feet slipped a little due to the slope as the loose soil gave way beneath him.

Theo managed to stabilise himself, but at that very moment... the beast finally moved.

The huge rat beast demonstrated sudden speed and dug its clawed hands directly into the ground before itself.

Theo understood what it was trying to do right away.

He tried to move from the spot but soon realized that his body was already sliding down on its own.

"SHIT!" he shouted in frustration as the soil beneath his feet began to give way completely and he plummeted deeper.

With no other choice, Theo forced himself upright and ran sideways, toward what he felt seemed like firmer ground, but to his dismay, the rat started doing the same thing to that spot as well.

Theo kept moving to the right, and it soon became painfully clear to him that the beast he was fighting had complete control over its territory.

’I am at a disadvantage,’ Theo thought, forcing himself to calm and think of a plan.

Usually, beasts only used the existing environment to their advantage. Aside from humans themselves, this was the first time Theo had encountered a beast that could manipulate its territory to such an extent.

The thought of ironclad boars quickly came to his mind, but even they had only gotten rid of the grass in their territory and not reshaped the ground itself.

Theo tried adapting, adjusting his footing with each shift in the soil. But just as he thought he was getting used to it, the beast increased its pace, deliberately triggering an even larger landslide.

It came to the point that at one place, the land slid down with such intensity and so suddenly that Theo completely lost his footing and slid halfway down the slope.

He barely managed to stop himself, forcing his right leg into the soil to act as an anchor.

But the one thing that surprised him the most all this time wasn’t the danger he was facing; rather, it was his body.

The fact that his mind kept on thinking that he couldn’t keep up, that the constant sliding and running would exhaust him, but still his body felt fine, left him amazed. He wasn’t even experiencing a hint of exhaustion.

That made him even more confused than fighting the beast alone.

’Fuck it!’

He didn’t know how strong the beast truly was, but one thing was certain: he wasn’t going to let it humiliate him like this.

Gripping his sword’s hilt tightly, Theo deliberately started sliding down the slope.

He had made up his mind to attack the beast head-on.

And the secret onlookers couldn’t have been happier.