Chapter 280: Chapter 280: Burrow Crawlers
The ape tried jumping off with the baron too, only to be stopped by Elias.
"I think you should go first, Clara. With your defense-focused beasts, the baron could use your help." Elias explained, making Clara nod before looking at Theo.
"Elias, is it possible for me and the young master to go together?" she asked, making Elias shake his head.
"The ape isn’t that strong yet, it could get unnecessarily dangerous for the young master this way."
Clara made up her mind and went to the edge where the ape was already standing.
The ape looked at Elias once before making some sounds, then it went and crouched toward Clara, with its back facing her.
Clara didn’t shy away and hooked the neck lightly first and then her legs.
"Its fur is surprisingly gentle," she spoke after she was fully latched on.
"Good luck, and be safe, alright?" Theo spoke, and soon, the ape started excitedly going down the wall.
The first few meters it climbed down, Theo looked at everything with focus, the ape’s grip at the wall was stable to say the least.
"I have full faith in the ape, young master." Elias muttered after coming near. "This is the one thing I don’t doubt it doing wrong, among all that I worry about normally." He spoke with a light chuckle.
"It really is a handful sometimes," Theo couldn’t help but say, making Elias smile and chuckle.
There was silence where they looked at her descend slowly until there was nothing left but a slight silhouette they couldn’t really focus on.
"Everything seems good," Elias spoke with his eyes dazed. Theo could tell he was having a conversation with the ape right now.
When a few more minutes passed in the silence, Elias looked at Theo who was still staring down.
"Thank you for getting us this far, young master." He spoke with a gentle smile, making Theo look at him with calm.
"You have been saying stuff like this for a while now. Didn’t you think we would ever reach things like this?" he spoke in skepticism. "You both are my first people, and I am adamant on growing in strength with you," Theo spoke in a grin.
When Elias heard that, he couldn’t help but feel his eyes water for a moment, but he smiled, and that was when Theo saw him fully grin. That was th frist time he ahd seen Elias so expressive with his face and it was a good feeling.
The silence lingered again, and soon they saw the ape coming back up. It only took a mere 10 minutes for it to ascend up and huff like a madman.
The ape fell to the ground with a loud ’THUD’.
"It’s exhausted..."
"I can tell."
Theo both waited for the ape to get its stamina back again.
"Clara was a lot bigger, so the ape seems to have taken a toll. I don’t think this will happen with you now," Elias spoke casually, making Theo side-eye him.
"I am glad you said this just among us, don’t you say that on Clara’s face," Theo spoke, making Elias realize and laugh out loud.
"Will it be able to carry the ant hill, though?" Theo stated after looking at it with pity. The ants were on guard as Theo kept dragging them at full speed when the land was cavitating.
"The ape can take it down easily, I will get it down right after you descend safely." Elias said, making Theo nod.
When the ape was up and roaring again, Theo latched onto it and readied himself to descend.
[Your Bloodbloom mantis has defeated a Burrow Crawler (Level 4)]
Theo got a message suddenly about EXP gain, and he got confused.
When Elias saw that face, he quickly stopped the ape from moving any further.
"Are you scared, young master?!" Elias spoke in panic, making Theo look up with shock.
"Get me down there quickly! I don’t know when that glutton got there, but it’s already fighting!" Theo shouted, making Elias take a moment to think about what he was on about before he realized and told the ape to descend.
Theo did not look down, but he sure looked at the wall up close. It had many, many holes and crevices on it, and the ape was using them to get down.
’When I was up there, the wall only looked bumpy, but now that I am looking at it straight ahead, I can see that there is a lot more stuff to it than just bumps...’ Theo thought while looking at the wall moving under his gaze while the ape descended.
It made Theo get a little epiphany that there were many ways to look at a problem. There was not one solution but countless ones, and it made Theo want to just halt and think about things a lot more to make sure he was doing the right thing the right way.
Soon enough, he could see the huge opening when he looked up and the distance it covered. Theo still got jitters when he thought of the baron’s powers.
’If I could hone my swordsmanship to that level...’ He thought again and again, and he was not wrong. His aspiration of becoming one had only increased with this demonstration.
Soon, he was down enough to see the land completely.
It was a mushy, swamp-colored area with light green moss everywhere. It did not look beautiful at all, but there was a thin, calming feeling about it that Theo felt.
There were trees of different shapes all around, and from a distance, Theo could see some glowy lights all around the branches, making him realize this was what was making the land luminous.
But when he looked beyond the light of the big hole they made, Theo only saw darkness, which creeped him out.
There was another smaller hole in the ceiling that the baron had made before.
KRRACK!
Sound started coming from close by when Theo was near. There was a small clump of trees right below, and the way everything was rustling, Theo could tell there were things there.
When the ape and Theo went down the big bush of the tree, they finally saw it. A boar and a whitish wolf standing out from the terrain, fighting off creatures.
There was Clara at the back, throwing daggers at the upcoming beasts, and then there was the baron who was just smacking anything that came near with his leg, and the beasts did not get up after the simple attack, making it an insta-kill.
There were times he squashed the beasts under the big metal boot too.
When Theo saw the beasts that were attacking them, he was surprised.
"Worms?"