Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Leading and Army! (1)- the problems of working together

Meanwhile, the baron was bored, looking at the meat getting smoked.

"Get my eyes on them," he spoke before his eyes flashed golden suddenly, and his face became dazed.

Just above Theo’s ground, in the air, there was a being looking down while flapping its small wings up and down.

Its eyes glowed the same golden while it looked down at the group, especially the boy currently fighting alongside his beast.

’Stay right behind me, we will cover each other’s back.’ Theo gave a command through the bond, and the mantis hopped down to the ground.

Theo made sure of the fact to not get too much in its zone and trample the mantis under his feet.

At that thought, the mantis poured out emotions of annoyance, making Theo chuckle.

’Yes yes, I know you won’t get trampled. But I still need to be careful,’ Theo thought through the bond.

He stepped outside the safe zone and looked at Clara for a moment. She was totally locked in; all the knives she threw in front of Theo hit directly at the crawlers. Some were headshots, while some were body shots, but all were fatal in one way or another.

Theo moved his gaze to Elias, who was standing right beside the ape that was smacking its hand all around with growls that had long become used to by all.

Yet Theo saw it grab one that was still alive and bite a chunk off it before going to kill the next one.

’All our beasts are mad...’ Theo thought with a chuckle.

The boar and the pup weren’t any different. They fought in a pair, and their synergy was something Theo wished to gain for him and the mantis too.

It was as if all the blind spots the boar had were covered by the pup, while the boar became a stationary shield for the direwolf moving all around.

’Alright, it’s time.’ Theo took a few more steps and looked at the mantis who was walking right beside him. Its length now came right at his ankle’s upper side.

It was a size that was enormous for any mantis around the world, but still a little small for a beast that was supposed to be a frontline fighter.

He made his way forward to the front, the only place that was left. The workload of the left and right only increased because Theo was gone, but now that he was here, many of the crawlers halted and started moving toward him and the mantis, or pivoted right away.

Theo’s sword shone brightly under the little light that fell on it from the ceiling.

He curved his hand in a way that would make it easier to jab forward and down.

The mantis seemed to wait patiently for them to come, and finally, the crawlers were close enough for Theo to start acting.

From his left side, he jabbed his sword forward toward the crawlers, making them die right away.

One of the crawlers jumped up in the air to get Theo’s leg, but striking things midair was Theo’s specialty.

Theo slashed right away with speed, making the crawler cut in half.

Theo glanced back for a moment and saw the mantis just dodging and running among the crawlers, making cuts here and there on their bodies.

Every single one of them was trying to get a bite off the mantis because it was the one thing there that was going to fully fit inside their mouth.

But whenever something came close, the mantis casually moved here and there and made cuts to their bodies.

Theo smiled and went back to his own thing.

Soon, double the notifications started coming as the crawlers running at the mantis bled out finally.

Theo sighed in relief. There was not one moment where the mantis was not good enough and a crawler attacked him from the back, nor a moment where he fumbled and the mantis had to take a double workload.

What worked well in this synergy was that while Theo had to face one side and get attacked from the left, right, and the front, he was big enough to stay at one side.

The mantis was small, so no matter how much it ran and moved all around the crawlers, it still remained close to Theo.

Soon, Theo saw a flashing light from the side. He didn’t have time to look back, but three notifications came simultaneously, making him nod internally.

Five minutes passed, and things kept becoming better and better. Theo’s workload was half now, as he didn’t have to take on three more directions worth of beasts.

But finally, problems started coming in during the next five minutes.

Theo saw the mantis run between his legs and use its skill to gather all the crawlers in front of Theo.

It made Theo stop himself from pushing his sword forward so that the mantis wouldn’t get hit.

’Go back,’ Theo said through the command, but the mantis was just too locked in to care.

It flashed from one place to another, its skill killing anything in the way.

Theo moved back to not jeopardize the synergy. One needed to sacrifice if the other was not willing or couldn’t.

But the moment he was going to attack the first crawler coming toward him, the mantis used its skill and flashed right under the gap of Theo’s legs, making him jump in surprise.

The attack connected, and the mantis killed four of the crawlers that were tightly packed while moving toward them.

Theo almost saw it take a light bite off a dead one and get onto attacking the others nearby.

"Sigh..." Theo went back to being surrounded by crawlers from all sides.

He killed as many as came toward him, but soon, the mantis returned again and killed everything on one side.

On one hand, Theo was pissed, as the mantis just kept killing anything around it without looking at the fact that someone else was fighting them.

And on the other, Theo was so proud that the mantis was now at a point where it was able to take on any challenge in front of it.