Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Chapter 9 - Taming the Mantis

"No, no, no..." Ren jumped up when the metallic hiss echoed closer.

The mushrooms in his hair now pulsed with a strange yellowish glow, but he barely had time to wonder why.

The tunnel stretched before him like a black throat. No side exits, no places to hide.

Just smooth, ancient stone, and those mysterious symbols that seemed to glow faintly under his mushrooms' yellow light.

"Come on, come on," Ren urged himself.

The metallic hiss drew closer. He could hear the scythes scraping against the tunnel walls, the sickly tinkling of broken plates.

Another hiss, closer.

The Mantis moved faster now, the Excavator's flesh providing it with new energy. The jingling of its damaged exoskeleton was like a death bell approaching in the darkness.

Ren ran.

His feet struck the ancient floor as he plunged deeper into the tunnel. The air grew colder, denser. His breathing echoed in his ears, mixing with the ever-closer sound of scythes against stone.

Scriiitch. Scriiitch. Scriiitch.

The Mantis didn't even need to run. Its steady, relentless pace was enough. Sooner or later, the tunnel would end. Sooner or later, he'd run out of places to flee.

A flash of its scythes illuminated the tunnel behind him.

The beast was close enough now that the mushrooms' light revealed the sickly gleam of its eye facets, the irregular pattern of its broken plates.

It didn't matter that it was injured.

It didn't matter that it had been expelled from its territory. It was still a Bronze-rank creature, and he... he was just a child with the world's weakest beast.

The tunnel began to narrow. Or maybe his eyes were playing tricks in the darkness. The yellow light from the mushrooms cast strange shadows on the walls, making the ancient symbols seem to dance.

Scriiitch. Scriiitch. SCRIIITCH.

Closer. Ever closer.

Ren stumbled, his knee striking stone. Pain exploded in his leg, but terror kept him moving. He rose and kept running, limping, crawling forward.

The Mantis hissed, the sound now so close he could feel the vibration in his bones. Its broken plates created a nightmare spectacle on the tunnel walls, reflecting the mushrooms' yellow light in fractal, demented patterns.

And then, the tunnel ended.

A smooth, solid wall rose before him, covered in ancient symbols that seemed to mock his fate.

No way out.

The metallic hiss stopped.

In the silence that followed, Ren could hear the scythes scraping against stone as the Mantis approached slowly, savoring the moment.

It no longer needed to run. No longer needed to hurry.

Its prey was cornered, it only had to...

The mushrooms' yellow light intensified, as if responding to Ren's terror. The symbols on the wall began to glow with the same sickly hue, peeling off the walls in small clouds, creating patterns that reminded him of...

Spores?

The Mirror Mantis stopped.

The Mantis took a step back, its metallic hiss transforming into something close to panic. _{freewebnovel.cσ๓}