Chương 68: The Mantis

At first, Evan only heard a skittering, like claws scratching over stone. Then a monster burst from one of the tunnels leading into the arena. It looked like a giant praying mantis with a bright red chitin carapace that gleamed and shimmered under the dim lights of the training hall. The monster was large enough to jump over the arena wall without effort. It climbed up the ranks to where Catriona and Luca were in a few effortless strides.

Oliver and Evan ran back to help their friends, but the mantis had already swiped one stalky leg at Luca, slamming him down. Catriona staggard backward, shooting an arrow at the mantis's head. The monster swatted the arrow away midair, then attacked Catriona. Oliver shot forward, throwing himself between the monster and the defenseless archer. He struck the mantis's leg with his sword, but the blade just slipped off the smooth carapace.

Evan tried to come to his aid, but before he reached Oliver, one of the mantis's forelegs attacked him. He came to a skidding halt as the razor-sharp leg whizzed inches past his face. Catriona's fox tried her best to help. She dashed between the mantis's six legs, fast and agile, and jumped upward, biting into the monster's underside. The carapace must've been thinner there because Lys managed to sink her teeth into the creature deep enough to draw its attention.

The mantis rose on its hind legs and swayed its body around until the little fox was forced to let go. Lys dropped at least six feet, landing on the floor with a whimper. The mantis swiped her aside like an annoying fly, sending the fox flying through the air.

"Lys! No!" Catriona cried out. The momentary distraction was fatal for Catriona. The mantis turned around surprisingly quickly for a beast of that size. One forearm shot forward and pierced through Catriona's shoulder like a lance. She cried out in pain, pressing both hands to the bleeding wound. Oliver immediately ran to her, standing over her to protect her, while Evan collected mana in both palms to attack the mantis from afar.

Oliver brought down a strong overhead strike on the mantis's leg, but once again failed to crack the carapace. Evan's [Comet Shots] showed little more effectiveness. They left scorch marks on the monster's red, shimmering body, but did almost no damage. He saw Victor looking down at them with a mocking grin on his face and swallowed the frustrated curse that had almost escaped him, unwilling to give the man the satisfaction. Instead, he scanned the mantis monster's body for weaknesses.

The underside seemed to be one, since Lys had managed to sink her teeth in there, but Evan didn't think he could get directly under the monster without being sliced into pieces by one of its six legs. He lacked the fox's agility to dodge the mantis's attacks. He needed to land a hit from afar, and he needed to do it fast, because Catriona and Luca were already out, and Oliver was having a very hard time dealing with the monster, even with his [Stone Skin] skill's extra protection. An idea shot through his head.

"Aim for the joints!" Evan yelled. The mantis's legs seemed to have three very flexible joints. If the monster had a weak spot, it would be that. Oliver followed his suggestion. He aimed his sword high and sank his blade deep into one of the foreleg's joints. Red ichor sprayed from the cut he left, and the monster recoiled in pain. Evan didn't give it much time to nurse its wounds. He took a few steps forward, took aim, and sent a [Comet Shot] straight toward the upper joint of the last hind leg.

All his targeting practice finally paid off. He landed a perfect hit, cleanly severing the leg. The mantis screeched in pain. Its remaining legs buckled, and the massive body swayed to the side. Encouraged by his successful tactic, Evan collected mana for a follow-up [Comet Shot]. He was running dangerously low, but all he needed to do was kill this mantis to get to Victor himself, and he could do that, even with his nearly depleted mana reserves. Just one or two more hits like this and the mantis was done for.

Evan flung the next [Comet Shot] at the monster, but just before it hit its target, something happened that smashed his hopes of a quick victory to pieces. Victor sent another of his spells toward his crippled pet, and within a few seconds, a new leg grew out of the stump where Evan's projectile had severed the limb. The mantis quickly regained its balance, and Evan's [Comet Shot] went wide. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It was the turning point of the battle. Oliver stopped attacking the creature's vulnerable joints when he realized it was a pointless endeavor. He stumbled backward, trying to drag Catriona, who'd lost so much blood that she'd fallen unconscious, away with him, but encumbered by the archer's weight, he was too slow to react when the mantis attacked. The monster's leg lanced through his left upper thigh, and Oliver went to the ground with a pained groan. Evan was the last man standing.

He had no team backing him up, his health was dwindling, and his mana was almost depleted. Frozen to the spot, his mind raced through his options. For a moment, he thought about trying to get under the mantis, where the beast was more vulnerable, and use [Super Nova] to blast apart its body, but a quick look at his mana bar made him realize he didn't have enough mana left to use [Super Nova] again.

Evan was facing a giant mantis monster that could regrow limbs, and he didn't have a single effective skill he could still use. He gripped his sword tighter, steeling himself. Maybe if he channeled mana into the blade to activate the heat rune, he could burn through the mantis's carapace. With gritted teeth, he dashed forward, but before he could test his last-ditch attempt theory, Victor intervened.

"Don't kill him," he said to his monster, "put him in one of the cages." Evan tried to defend himself against the two long mantis arms coming down on him. He swung his sword and put some of his few precious remaining mana points into [Starlight Shield], but the monster simply overpowered him. Trapped between the two limbs, Evan struggled and fought, but the creature only clamped its arms together tighter and lifted him into the air, carrying him over to the cage Victor was pointing at.

Evan was unceremoniously dropped inside the glass cylinder, and as soon as he hit the metal bottom, the glass closed above him. He was trapped inside a very narrow cheese bell. The floor and the walls were covered in small droplets of dried blood, painting a harrowing picture of the previous occupant's demise. Panic rose in his chest. He hammered against the glass wall with as much strength as he could muster, but his attempt to break it was completely in vain, even with his magically improved strength attribute.

All it got him was a cold laugh from Victor, before he turned away to direct his mantis toward its next victim. Completely helpless, Evan was forced to watch as the mantis scooped up his defeated, injured friends and dropped them into glass chambers next to his. He pounded against the glass and screamed until his voice turned hoarse, knowing full well what fate awaited them all inside those chambers. The lump of flesh on the table in the center of the arena was a stark reminder.

With great effort, he wrangled his panic under control. He took deep breaths to slow his breathing and racing heart rate. If he wanted to save not only his own life but also his friends, he needed to be smart.

Maybe it was silly of him to believe he was destined for some greater fate, but he was just unwilling to surrender to the idea that he had been brought to a different world and gifted with extraordinary magical powers—extraordinary even for a world filled with powerful magic—just to be turned into a lump of flesh by some megalomaniacal scientist and his disgraced noble sidekick. He stopped hitting the glass walls with his fists. There was little point to it, and he needed to save his strength.

He scanned his surroundings instead. His friends were in the three chambers adjacent to his: Oliver right next to him, then Catriona, then Luca. His sword was lying on the ground about twenty feet away from him, where the mantis had picked him up. The mantis… it was waiting by Victor's side, but Evan could tell it was getting restless. Victor could tell too, because he sent it away with a quick hand gesture. The giant insect monster slowly moved back into a tunnel. Evan studied Victor for a moment.

He couldn't see his health or mana bar, but to Evan he looked exhausted—like someone who was low on mana. Unfortunately, so was he, and when they had distributed the mana potions, Evan had refused to take one. He tried to reconstruct the events of the past hour and realized Catriona had never drunk hers. But Catriona was drifting in and out of consciousness. He could see her eyelids flutter shut from where he was. And even if she did use her potion, she had no skill that could help her get out of her glass cage.

Evan's thought process was interrupted when Victor spoke again.

"How kind of you to join me again," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"In case you didn't notice, I could've used a hand." A man slowly descended the stairs. Evan recognized him instantly by his hobbling walk. It was the man he had seen when they entered the colosseum—the man who had fled before the fighting had even begun. The Professor. Just as Evan had theorized, he was indeed hunchbacked. His right leg seemed to be shorter than the left and was twisted outward at the knee, which explained his awkward gait.

His right arm was also deformed—too short and ending in a lumpy hand with only three stubby fingers. Evan almost felt sorry for the man. He was the first disabled person he had seen since arriving in this world. He wasn't sure how this society treated people with visible disabilities, but if Earth's history was any guide, it probably wasn't a very pleasant experience. Yes, Evan would've felt pity for the man—if not for his face.

He had an intelligent face, no doubt about that, but his eyes were the coldest, most calculating he had ever seen, and the expression on the Professor's face sent a shiver down his spine.

"Looks like you handled yourself just fine," the Professor said, inspecting Evan in his glass cylinder like he was an interesting bacterium in a Petri dish. He turned around and walked past Oliver's cage before stopping in front of Catriona. His lips twitched into a cruel smile.

"And you preserved the specimen in very decent condition. Well done, Victor." Victor pressed his lips together in annoyance and crossed his arms.

"I hope it was worth the effort."

"Aren't we lucky?" the Professor said, gazing at Catriona.

"Just as we were starting to run low, four new test subjects wandered right into my laboratory."

"I just wish Benedict would've done a better job. If he'd dealt with them, we could've prevented all this… chaos." The Professor made a dismissive hand gesture.

"Secondary. The damage can be fixed."

"Yes, with my money. And they killed all my Nightterror Hounds."

"You can get more. You get too attached to your creatures, anyway." The Professor gleefully rubbed his hands together.

"Now, let's power up the cages. I can't wait to see what my Blight does to the body of a mana user."