Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 397. A presence akin to horror

Theo woke up right away and looked around with blurry, frantic eyes.

Then he noticed something on his bed, a large, stone-like yet organic structure that looked more like a shell.

His eyes widened. He glanced toward the corner, and before he even realized it, his body was already moving on its own as he hurried forward.

"MANTIS!" He shouted in excitement after getting close to the foreleg that had emerged.

But when Theo was close, he couldn’t help but freeze in shock.

He stared at the foreleg. It was enormous, and the details on its surface were far clearer than he had ever seen before, simply because the mantis had always been so small.

Now the foreleg alone was as big as his entire arm.

While Theo was still bewildered and trying to process what was happening, another part of the cocoon burst open, making pieces of shell-like material scatter everywhere.

Yet the cocoon itself was incredibly strong. Even with two large reddish forelegs, lined with razor-sharp edges, pushing out of it, the cocoon structure still remained mostly intact.

Theo stepped back, realizing that the mantis might hurt him unintentionally. He sat down on the bed while the whole process continued.

The forelegs moved around constantly, sort of acting like a rudimentary saw that sawed against the cocoon as if they were blades, until eventually, another small chunk broke off, and through the gap, Theo saw the dark silhouette inside.

He stared into the opening, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness within.

Then suddenly...

An eye peeked through that opening, making his entire body jerk in a jumpscare.

The eye looked just like the mantis’s... but a lot larger. It stared directly at him for a moment before pulling back and continuing sawing through the shell.

As if annoyed, the creature suddenly used its skill.

A flash of white light erupted, and the shell shattered completely.

The intense brightness blinded Theo, forcing him to shut his eyes. Even then, the white light seemed to be seeping through his eyelids.

When Theo noticed that the glow had finally dimmed down, he slowly opened his eyes again...

...and found a monstrous beast face right in front of him.

The creature tilted its head from side to side as it stared at him, its eyes emotionless just like the mantis’s.

Theo froze.

Those eyes weren’t below him anymore; they were right in front of him, showing just how large the mantis had become, making him feel restless.

The mandibles that once seemed small now looked horrifyingly creepy up close. They twitched slightly, making Theo stiffen even more.

He was used to insects being small creatures whose features one would have to look closely to observe.

But this was different.

This was a gigantic insect, and he could see even the tiniest feature with ease.

But just when Theo was about to say or do anything, the beast slowly moved to the side and hopped onto the bed.

That was when Theo realized something.

It was big... but still not that big.

The mantis made a high-pitched ’Kruuckk’ sound, a strange noise that would have sounded completely alien if Theo had heard it anywhere else.

Theo glanced at it from the corner of his eye, unsure if making a sudden movement would be a good idea or not.

The beast eventually settled on the bed after finding a comfortable spot, its back twitching slightly.

Once Theo felt safe enough to move, he first picked up the lamp that the cocoon fragment had knocked aside.

He turned the light on.

With the darkness gone, he finally saw the beast clearly.

And the sight left Theo even more speechless.

It was hard to recognize it at first, but there were still features on its body that were familiar... though changed.

The back was much larger now, rising and falling in a rhythm Theo was well aware of. It was the same habit the mantis had when it slept.

Then there was the thin layer of moss growing on its back. No flowers had grown on it yet, which Theo understood. For the flowers to grow, the mantis always needed to stay under some kind of light; they didn’t appear miraculously every time.

And then there was the neon-blue stripe that ran along its back, something Theo could recognize anywhere. The mantis had gotten it near the end of the gate, and that strip of spatial colour had only grown brighter and larger since then.

When Theo focused more carefully, trying to observe something else too, he nodded internally. Spatial energy was leaking from the mantis’s body, though in a slightly weakened state. He decided he would think about that later.

For now, the best option was to check its status.

When that appeared in front of him, he finally felt a sense of relief.

*****

Name: Apex Bloom Tyrant

Grade: Rare

Level: 10

EXP: 55000/55000

Type: Tyrant Insect beast

*****

Theo only read that much, yet it felt like relief was already settling in his chest.

He looked at the now ’larger’ mantis with a warm smile.

’At least it has its habits intact,’ he thought, before checking its favorability. It was currently at ’95’.

Theo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Every time he looked at the affinity, it seemed to increase by five or ten points.

Now it had reached 95. Only five points remained before it hit 100.

But Theo also knew that records mentioned such values more than that. However, reaching that part was so difficult that he couldn’t help but not even want to try it.

Even if a beast was willing to die for you, its favorability still wouldn’t exceed 100. There was some other requirement to it, something that the usual records never explained.

Still, despite all that trust, Theo couldn’t bring himself to sleep in the same place as the killing machine. No matter how adorable it had once looked, now it looked like an alien who could slice him into multiple pieces in seconds.

Theo moved to one of the chairs and fell asleep like a log from sheer exhaustion.

But just as it felt like he had barely closed his eyes, he woke up abruptly.

"KYYAAAAA!!!"

A scream so loud it nearly shattered Theo’s eardrums resounded in the room.