Chapter 281: Chapter 281: getting rid of distractions

"Young master Theo! Stay there for now!" Clara spoke from the ground.

Theo looked at the situation from a bigger perspective.

’There are around 30–40 of these crawlers that I can see... more seem to be coming out of the ground,’ Theo thought. He looked at the baron and Clara’s location in order to know if any of these crawlers were coming out of the ground below them or not.

That was not the case for now.

’We are at the corner, so these things are attacking from almost all directions...’

’Mantis, use your metallic strike on these beasts,’ Theo commanded through the bond and looked around everywhere with sharp eyes.

He could see nothing for a few seconds, making him look everywhere with even more panic until he saw a flash of white light moving from one place to another close by in a line.

[Your Bloodbloom mantis has defeated a Burrow Crawler (Level 2)]

[Your Bloodbloom mantis has defeated a Burrow Crawler (Level 1)]

[Your Bloodbloom mantis has defeated a Burrow Crawler (Level 4)]

Theo frowned. ’What have you been doing since the first kill, mantis??’ He thought through the bond only to be sent the emotions that it had been eating while waiting for him.

A vein popped in Theo’s head, and he gave yet another command. ’Kill as many of these beasts as you can, eat later.’

After this command, Theo went back to looking at the others. Clara was collecting the daggers while using the one in her hand to puncture as many of these speedy worms’ heads as she could.

When he was doing all that, Theo’s gaze met with the baron, who was smashing the bodies of the beasts one after another, yet he was still able to make eye contact.

That eye contact made Theo remember why he had come here again. It was as if the baron just spoke, ’Why are you just standing there?’ with his eyes.

He tapped the ape’s shoulder, making it look at him with its surprisingly flexible neck.

Theo pointed at the ground, and the ape understood right away. It started climbing down, making Clara look at Theo again in distress.

But she didn’t say anything and went closer to the wall to get him.

When the ground was close, Theo patted the shoulder of the ape and showed him an appreciation hand sign, which made it make some happy sounds before Theo jumped from its body, making the ape get surprised too.

"You—!" Clara came to catch him, but Theo just landed on the ground right away and rolled to have a safe landing.

Before she knew it, he was on the ground with his sword out of the scabbard.

"Let’s kill as many as we can," he spoke with confidence, and with a single nod toward the ape, he started moving forward toward the horde of beasts.

"Be careful," Clara spoke again, which made Theo chuckle a little.

"What are you on about, Clara? These are easier to deal with than those pesky moss slimes," Theo spoke with a smile before stabbing his sword’s tip forward and puncturing a slithering crawler’s head before it could get any closer.

[You have defeated a Burrow Crawler (Level 2)]

’This is weird,’ Theo thought while he killed yet another one of the crawlers coming toward them.

’Why am I not scared?’ He thought while puncturing two other crawlers coming forward.

There was no answer to that, at least he didn’t get one right away.

The crawlers were fast movers on the ground. They looked like worms but had the speed of a snake instead.

Their mouths had big teeth that looked like those of a leech, only a lot bigger and faster.

(Image of the crawler in this paragraph comment!)

Theo could tell that they were dangerous. If not handled well and if they were to latch on or something, it could be bad news.

For the next five minutes, Theo was as if practicing his forward thrust that was tilted toward the ground.

All that training of his body was paying off as he was nowhere near the exhausted stage he got when he started out.

In front of him was a pile of dead crawlers. Theo didn’t mind that at all. All he could see were the notifications of the kills, not only for him but also for the mantis, and the crawlers coming toward him from the left, right, and front.

He only had a few seconds to look ahead, only to see the baron not there anymore. After killing three more of the crawlers that came from near a tree, Theo looked back and saw Clara killing the crawlers from his rightmost side, where the crawlers were pouring out like crazy.

He saw Clara throw the dagger and hit the crawler’s head with precision.

’That was cold,’ Theo thought before he went on to kill some more crawlers coming toward him.

He heard a whistle from the back, which made him look and see the baron looking up the wall.

He did the same, and that was when he saw the ape bringing down the big trolley while huffing.

"Focus," the baron spoke casually, making Theo look ahead again and seeing a crawler inches away from him.

Its mouth opened wide, and it was going to pounce any moment when Theo dug down the sword with his all, making it touch the ground and sprain his wrist with the force.

The others came right away, and that was when Theo picked the sword up with the crawler still attached to it and hit the next one with a horizontal slash.

That was the first time Theo messed up since he got here. It was the first kill that was not instant, and the crawler crawled halfway inside the ground before becoming limp, giving him the notification.

"You’re in for a beating if you don’t continue focusing, son," the baron spoke casually, making Theo jump and pass the small wall made with crawler corpses.

He went and started briskly moving forward until he was surrounded all around by the crawlers.

"I won’t be distracted now," Theo spoke with a grin before going on a killing spree.