Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 343. Dim Aura

"Am I... dying?" Theo muttered out loud, panic filling his eyes.

When the beast saw the fear in his eyes, its expression changed from feral to being eerily calm.

"Do you think it’s all over?" Theo asked hoarsely as a metallic taste filled his mouth. He could feel something warm dripping down his chin, and he knew it wasn’t his saliva.

Blood seeped from his lips and down, but he could no longer care about it. Before him stood a beast that was already convinced of its win.

It tried to twist the claw buried inside the abdomen, but Theo tugged at it with all the strength he had left.

He didn’t know how much blood he had lost already.

"UUURGGGHH!" Theo snarled, trying his best to force the claws out of his abdomen as much as he could.

As Theo was dragged closer to the beast’s face, it suddenly lunged forward for his head. Theo barely managed to shove it back.

’Wait,’ Theo thought, his eyes wide. ’I am actually dying right now.’

’I am literally dying right now! Where is Father? Where is Clara?’ His heart screamed those questions, but soon, there was no more time for him to think anymore.

The beast yanked its claws free, blood spraying out before Theo slapped his hand over the wound.

He could feel his leftover strength draining rapidly along with the blood, his heart pounding in his chest in protest.

Theo saw the beast move again, its claw flashing toward him. Instinct took over him, and he swung his sword without a second thought.

CLANG

The steel sword hit the claw hard, the impact stopping the attack cold. But Theo didn’t have the strength to hold on for long.

He pushed the beast off with the help of his feet and forced some distance between them again.

’I am confident you can do this.’

Theo’s eyes snapped to the side. The baron’s voice had echoed in his mind, pulling him out of his trance.

’I can do this...’ Theo trailed off again, though the beast only kept staring at him, unmoving from the spot, as if waiting for him to make a move or just drop dead.

’No. I need to do this.’ That familiar, crazy glint returned to Theo’s eyes.

SCREEECHHHH

The beast roared in annoyance and charged forward again, moving with such speed that Theo could barely track it.

CLANG!

He batted the claws aside using his sword with explosive strength. All the pain seemed to have faded into nothingness, and only one thought burned in his mind...

To kill the beast before him.

The beast paused, staring at Theo for a moment, before its eyes turned bloodshot for some reason. Then, with a furious snarl, it lunged forward.

Theo met the attack head-on.

The sword and the claws locked each other once more, and the beast unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.

Theo kept on deflecting them one after another, his world narrowing until he could see nothing aside from the beast.

At one point, the beast lost itself completely, attacking nonstop. But Theo wasn’t planning to back down either.

He matched its pace.

After about a minute of evenly matched fighting, Theo’s shoulders began feeling sluggish.

He unleashed one explosive slash that not only knocked aside the beast’s claws but also struck at its body before it jumped back.

Theo stared daggers at it, and the beast was doing the same, but soon its gaze dropped instead.

Theo followed its gaze instinctively.

His leather armor was drenched in his own blood, and when he glanced behind him, he saw dark, wet patches of the loose soil fully soaked in his very blood.

’... I have lost too much blood.’ 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Theo looked back at the beast, which still stood there, observing him.

’What...?’ Theo thought.

The look in the beast’s eyes made his chest tighten. They were intelligent, maybe too intelligent, and were carrying an emotion Theo had seen only from a few members of his family. An emotion he had always tried his best to make them not to look at him with.

Pity.

The beast was looking at him with pity.

Theo gritted his teeth in frustration as a vein throbbed in his temple.

Ignoring the pain completely, he moved forward and slashed at the creature again, but it simply jumped back.

Theo kept moving forward, attacking it again and again, but all his blade could cut was the air. The beast kept on dodging his attacks with minimal movement, its retreat almost effortless.

Theo started feeling sluggish all over his body, his body growing heavier with every step. His knees started to bend deeper than they should, unable to spring back into place.

The distance between him and the beast kept on increasing. With each attempt, the beast needed to move less and less to stay out of his reach.

’...’

Theo didn’t know what to think of. His mind was blank at the moment, as if a fog had started to form and swallowed everything.

’My body hurts a lot...’

Theo thought as he stumbled once, nearly falling, but forced himself back again. He couldn’t fall to the ground.

He knew the moment he did, he wouldn’t be able to move a single inch again.

’My chest feels warm...’

Theo thought as his eyes closed for a moment and his body arched backward. Using the weight of his sword, he dragged himself upright again.

Theo felt like something was wrong in his chest, somewhere near his left side.

His heart was beating very slowly, but within it was this strange, uneven rhythm he could pick apart from the rest.

His heart was beating two times fast, then three times slowly.

Again. And again.

’I have felt this feeling before... Ahhh, to die in that bunker...’

Theo lifted his head for a moment and saw nothing but darkness.

Not even the scenery around felt good at the moment.

And the worst part of it all was that the beast was just there on the ground, simply waiting.

Waiting for him to fall.

Waiting for him to die rather than ending him by itself.

Theo felt that warmth spread around his body, flowing into his shoulder, where he felt the warmest.

Then down his arms and into his hands.

Theo couldn’t understand what was happening, but one thing was clear.

He didn’t want to die today.

The next moment, a light shimmer crossed his vision, drawing his gaze to the side.

And just when his body reached the point where he could no longer take a single step, Theo’s sword began to glow, dim but unmistakable.