Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 410. A fight akin to a test (2)

The panther lowered its face close to the ground and moved slightly to the side, staring at Theo at an angle like a curious cat.

But Theo didn’t let himself get distracted. He was still debating when to release some aura; if he stabilized it too early, the energy would vanish within minutes.

The panther wasn’t playing around. Its paw lifted slowly, and Theo felt like it was about to do something.

Just as Theo was looking at its arms or legs, expecting rocks to materialize and trap him...

Theo felt the weight of his sword suddenly increase instead.

He looked at it with widened eyes.

The tip of the sword had been completely covered in stone, forming an oval shape that looked far better for striking something rather than piercing.

The panther moved at point-blank speed. If this had been Theo of the past, he would have already been bitten in one way or another.

The speed was just that fast.

But within his spatial awareness zone, the panther’s movements felt slow, making it easy for Theo to dodge at the perfect moment.

The panther didn’t care. It lunged at Theo again and again, forcing him to keep on dodging.

Watching from the distance, the others couldn’t help but want to step in and help him.

But Rhys stopped them.

In his eyes, this was the moment Theo would finally be able to fight freely.

Theo swung his sword forward in a downward slash...

...but missed it by a second’s delay.

The panther had moved just a little too fast.

Theo tried to sense any spatial powers coming from it, but nothing could be seen. The panther was merely relying on its raw instincts to dodge his attacks.

Still, as time passed, Theo began understanding the panther’s movements, and only one thought came to his mind.

It was fast, yes.

But its movements and attacks were very simple.

The beast was repeating the same patterns and styles again and again, trying to find an opening just to slash Theo with its claws.

Just as Theo felt like he was starting to understand the rhythm and he could fight it, he saw the panther raise its paw into the air once again.

At that moment, as if instinct was guiding him too, Theo successfully kicked the panther right behind the bone between its neck and body.

The panther felt the impact and jumped back before hissing at Theo like a grumpy cat.

At that moment, Theo tried to move and finally realized that his left foot was compromised. A thick coating of rock had formed around it, and the boot was just so heavy that he hadn’t noticed it until he tried to move.

Theo wasted no time and slashed his sword downward toward his foot.

A lot of dust scattered, and a few cracks appeared on it, but Theo quickly realized that the rock was far more solid than he had expected.

He couldn’t help but finally resort to using it. Theo sent the aura from his heart into the blade, and the moment it struck the rock, the aura didn’t seem to cover it completely.

Still, Theo noticed dust coming off of the blade and realized that the aura was helping the blade recover its edge.

The panther had already entered his spatial awareness again. This time, Theo didn’t have the ability to move back or dodge, so he swung the sword from left to right with enough strength to drive the blade at least a few inches into its body.

But the panther did something no bystander would have expected. It dodged that perfect swipe by hopping on all four paws, lifting itself just high enough to pass above the blade.

Its claws had been so dangerously close to the blade that if the panther had been even slightly lower in its jump, Theo might have chopped them off with that swing.

Theo watched its movements in slow clarity and wanted to attack again, but it wasn’t possible.

The world wasn’t actually slowed down; it only looked slow to him because of his ability. And even though he could perceive everything more slowly, it didn’t mean Theo himself had gained any extra speed to react.

All he could do was watch as the panther landed on its feet before it lunged forward in a matter of seconds.

At that moment, Theo shifted his body to the side, but his foot was still struck. He felt a sharp tug at the muscles around the knee, forcing him to stop twisting any further or risk having a serious injury.

But right now, injury was the least of his concerns.

The panther had found the weak spot in his armor, and it was going straight for Theo’s neck, the one area that was somewhat exposed, but one would need a precise curve of the claws if they wanted to cut the neck.

And judging by the panther’s movements and its reactions, Theo wasn’t willing to take any chances.

So he raised his guard to protect himself.

Thanks to his spatial awareness, he had an unfair amount of time to think, an extra few seconds that could matter a lot in a life-and-death situation like this.

The panther’s claws scraped across his armor, making a piercing screeching sound. Theo was sure a few sparks had flown from the impact, solidifying his growing realization that the beast was extremely dangerous.

But at that point, the panther used Theo’s body as a ground to push itself backward. Theo couldn’t even feel its weight with how light the movements had been.

This time, the beast didn’t even look at him. It no longer sensed any danger from Theo, but from somewhere from his side.

Theo followed its gaze and saw something that didn’t just look foreign to this forest but seemed foreign to the entire world.

Its face twitched repeatedly toward the right, as if it was trying its best to keep its distance.

But the panther, after seeing those eyes, just froze on the spot.

Theo seized that brief unfair advantage and struck the rock encasing his foot with the oval-shaped rock attached to the top of the blade.

The repeated blows and the forceful thrashing finally loosened his foot from the rock. His foot slipped free before the stone could be fully broken apart.

Without wasting another moment, Theo quickly rushed toward the panther, the remnants of aura still lingering in his blade.