CHAPTER 233: ARE WE MOVING TO MANO-A-MANO?

"Pitrone Clamski," the smug boy spoke.

There was now an imaginary line between a circle in the middle of the hall and all the students.

They all were looking at the two boys and the two beasts in the big circle with different emotions.

"... Theo Merrick," Theo spoke with a sigh, making a crease form on Pitrone’s forehead.

"We will now coat your beasts in a protective barrier," the cloaked man said and snapped his fingers.

Just in front of Theo, the mantis shone for a second and became normal again. It looked around its body and scratched its forehead to know what had happened.

’Calm down, it’s normal,’ Theo spoke through the bond to make the mantis think it was normal, even though he had no idea if it really was.

"There will be another shine of light when the barrier is broken, and a pulse of force will be sent out of it. Don’t worry, that is not harmful for your beasts, and that will be the end of this bout," the cloaked instructor spoke again.

This time, there was a robotic tone to his voice as if it was the zillionth time he had said the same exact words.

’Just where is this beast that’s making all this happen...’ Theo tried looking at the ceiling for a moment, only to realize that the one place he still hadn’t checked also didn’t have any beast.

Yet these abilities were being performed by the cloaked man for the second time now.

"You may start now," he said.

"Fire shot!" Pitrone shouted with a fiery expression, making Theo cringe hard.

Even the instructors looked at the boy with judging looks.

The feline cub gave a small hiss before it moved its abdomen.

Theo saw a small orange light pass by its body and then to its mouth, only to see a ball of fire come toward him and the mantis with speed.

Theo didn’t even have to say anything to the mantis as it dodged the place where the fire was going to land.

When the fire did land, it didn’t have any aftereffects and vanished as if it was never there.

"..." Theo did not know just what confidence the kid had to challenge a level 5 beast, even if it was a small insect.

’Mantis, use some spores and scratch the skin lightly—don’t hurt the little cub too much.’ Theo gave the order with a sigh.

It was not the feline’s mistake that its human was dumb.

Just before everyone’s eyes, the mantis vanished after becoming a flash of light, making the crowd erupt in panic and shock.

There were many questions and big words being spoken aloud, but it was so mixed that nothing made sense—a total uproar.

But there were only the instructors who could see what had happened. The mantis, who was quite far, had closed the distance between the cub and itself within mere seconds.

The Metallic Strike skill had reached a level where it could make the mantis travel far if it needed to.

But Theo chuckled inwardly; he had not given the mantis the order to use that skill. It had improvised the plan like it was nothing, clearly showing its increased intelligence since the leveling and the evolutions.

Right now, everyone saw the crimson-red color of the mantis again, dangerously close to the feline now, who had flinched.

Just when the feline was going to make distance, the mantis casually smacked its forelegs together, making a bunch of spores come out.

Theo still didn’t know how to control the amount that was produced. Since the level-up, the surface area of the spore spread had become bigger, and now it felt like a big gathering of mosquitoes—if one didn’t know what it was.

The feline didn’t even get any time before it already sniffed and got the spores inside its eyes too.

It went limp on the ground and spasmed like crazy.

Theo gave the order again to not use Metallic Strike; that would be too much—almost like a killing blow, even if killing seemed impossible due to the barrier.

But just before the mantis could scrape the skin of the feline with its left foreleg, a burst of energy came off it, and the mantis went flying in the air.

"!" Theo saw the mantis midair, its body flinging around. It made him think if some of its body had broken or something.

But to everyone’s surprise—even Theo’s—the mantis used Metallic Strike to propel itself toward Theo and deactivate the skill far enough to not let Theo get hurt.

It fell on Theo’s shoulder and stabilized itself before starting to lick its forelegs, as if trying to find any damage.

The cloaked instructor and the one beside him looked at Theo and the mantis with widened eyes.

The whole prospective student body present there went silent.

It was so silent that Theo could have even heard his footsteps echo if he walked right now.

WHISTLE

Soon enough, a whistle started coming from the crowd. Theo’s eyes went to the guy, and he couldn’t help but burst into a little laugh before calming himself.

It was obviously Ron, who whistled two more times and waved at Theo with laughter.

The cloaked instructor looked at Theo with a choked expression, but he soon came back to the real world when the other instructor tapped his arm.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

"Splendid," he spoke, making Theo look toward him in bewilderment.

’What?’

The man, who had been making such disgusting faces ever since he looked at Theo, was praising him, and that too while making eye contact, with a half-happy, half-curious expression.

Theo nodded at the professor to show respect before he looked at his opponent again, who was on the ground with tears in his eyes.

Theo went forward and stopped before he finally caught his attention.

The feline was still spasming.

"This will end in a minute. Your beast will be back to normal then," Theo spoke in a calm tone.

When Pitrone saw that calm look on Theo, his teary eyes became angry, and he got up to run toward Theo and punch him in frustration.

Only to fall down with his body shaking.