Chapter 207: Venom Spore Lash and Poison spray
Theo convinced the baron one way or another, but in the end, all that mattered was that the baron agreed and accompanied him to another boar.
The mantis was sitting on Theo’s shoulder, which made the baron and Rhys walk really close to him to help if needed.
When Theo reached a boar’s territory, the mantis was made to travel close to the boar with its camouflage.
It was able to go through half the distance between them when Rhys notified him that the boar had already looked at it.
With that, Theo felt a little concerned, but in the end, while its camouflage was really good, it was sacrificed for a gland that could generate and spit out a poison.
For him, this was a win, and it showed in the next moves of the mantis.
The boar, even after observing the mantis coming forward, didn’t even flinch, and only after it saw the mantis really close did it finally see the menacing crimson red color with black stripes.
Theo made the mantis use the spray from this distance to see if it would have any effect, and surely, the mantis sprayed the poison in the air toward the boar, and it was able to reach halfway before it seemed to stay in the air but dissipated quickly.
He felt disappointed about that, but he knew it was all about the level of the skill and also the fact that the spray had too big of a surface area.
If the mantis would one day be able to decrease the surface area and spray forward at full thrust, it would definitely increase the amount of poison that reaches a beast and increase the potency too in a way.
But it was not complete—two other skills were upgraded in this evolution.
So Theo made the mantis use the new Venom Spore Lash, a skill that had upgraded from Spore Lash.
The mantis used it with the same proficiency level as before and made every single bit reach the boar’s already frustrated body.
It had no contact with the poison, yet the remnants of it in the air made it uncomfortable to breathe, as it could tell with each breath that it was inhaling poison.
But when the spores reached the boar’s eyes, nose, and open mouth, it went limp in a matter of half a second.
Theo was happy to see the effect of the attack, but it was Rhys, who had observed this same attack many times before, who noticed something was different.
Like usual, a beast when coming in contact with the spores would always be paralyzed, depending on their level and the amount they inhaled.
But this time, the boar was on the ground and its whole body was spasming when looked at closely.
Theo could remember the description of the skill with this—the muscle spasm. Even then, he didn’t know if the paralysis would still be there.
But clearly, it did, because if the spores could only cause muscle spasms, then it meant the boar would only writhe in pain but still be able to move about in panic.
In the current situation, the boar was spasming and also limp on the ground.
The mantis moved forward and became a flash before making a deep cut at the neck of the boar, making streams of blood flow down.
The boar was a big animal, so it made sense that it would have so much blood if a big vein or something had been opened.
Theo was going to call back the mantis when he got the kill message a few moments later, but the mantis only went to the wound and started drinking the blood out of it.
It made him want to get it back from the clearing, and when Theo was close enough, he finally saw it.
The crimson moss on the mantis’s back was somewhat making some hums of red glow.
Theo observed it from close, and that was when the others joined them and saw this.
While Theo was engrossed with observing it, Rhys explained to the baron and Ithira what was happening differently this time, and after the explanation, it made they became a lot more curious.
For the next minute, the mantis kept drinking the blood of the boar, and the moss kept blinking in a very calm and soothing way.
When it was already a few minutes, Theo called to the mantis again, who got back reluctantly. It was sipping the blood so leisurely that there were no signs of blood on it even after drinking so much.
They made their way back after testing the two abilities that could only be seen in the forest.
In the carriage, they all were sitting down with a clean chunk of the boar’s body in the small container that had the poison sac first.
The mantis was eating the meat and sucking on the flesh, and while it did that, there was this same glow on its body.
"While it may be fascinating to look at, if you don’t know what it is doing, then it doesn’t matter." The baron spoke to get Theo out of his thoughts.
"It’s not that I don’t know what’s happening, Father. According to the skill description, the new red moss on its back can now absorb the blood of others and become better at regeneration. But if it’s not hurt, then I can’t go on to check how good it will be in regeneration or how much blood it has to get in its system to make it worthwhile."
Theo blabbered out everything that he was thinking about, which became a lot more sensible for the others.
"If the description of the skill says the moss on its body will become better with blood consumption, then it will. There is no point in questioning that." Ithira spoke while biting her nails, only for the baron to smack her hand away.
"That is true."
"Let it drink as much blood as it wants to drink, and when it’s done, give a sample of its moss to the research department too, along with the poison. We can get this question about the potency of the moss answered in mere days this way." The baron spoke with pride.
And Theo felt like it was really the right thing to do instead of moving around blind with this ability.
With that, the evolution and the testing of the abilities were over, and all Theo now had in mind was how he could use the ants efficiently.
With the new brood coming and at the rate the ant queen was laying the eggs, it was about time the ants would reach the number of almost 50 if given a month.
Yet, Theo didn’t feel ready for it at all.