Our Dharma Masters are like this.

Chapter 142 The Fake Mantis
Marcus pushed aside the bushes and looked ahead.

In the center of the open space, five flowers of different shapes and sizes were in full bloom. They were enormous, nearly two meters tall, and their lush clusters piled up to the ground.

Zellier realized something was wrong.

This area is so quiet, you can't even hear a single insect chirping.

“It’s a monster,” Rivia hissed, already gripping the dagger at his waist.

Almost the instant he finished speaking, the flowers began to wriggle eerily!
The pure white petals suddenly opened to the sides, transforming into a pair of enormous elytra radiating a cold light!
Two ferocious heads covered with compound eyes peek out from the alluring red flower stamens.

The branch-like trunk stretched and twisted, growing segmented limbs and sharp, serrated forelegs.

In the blink of an eye, the five beautiful flowers disappeared, replaced by a mantis-shaped monster.

The malice was overwhelming.

Adventurers' Guild General Monster Encyclopedia

[Sequence 40]: Pseudo-Mantis.

Individual Threat Rating: [Difficult]

Appearance features:

A large arthropod monster, resembling a mantis in appearance, with its body covered by a special carapace made of a mixture of plant fibers and chitin.

Lifestyle habits:
They like to use ingenious camouflage to lurk beside magical plants and ambush their prey.

Moreover, they are extremely patient and can disguise themselves as plants and stay in the same place for days or even weeks.

special power:

The camouflage mantis is a master of disguise, able to camouflage itself by changing the shape, color, and even scent of its carapace to resemble various different plants.

Its forelimbs evolved into a pair of huge, sharp scythes with fine serrations on the edges, which could easily cut through leather and even thin iron armor.

Core weakness:

Although its carapace is sturdy, the joints connecting its limbs are relatively vulnerable, making them prime targets for physical attacks.

Association Notes:

Don't be fooled by the rare magical plants in certain areas; these cunning hunters love to lurk near treasures and wait for adventurers.

Don't lose your life because of greed.

"Interesting." Lena raised an eyebrow slightly, a smile of anticipation on her face.

"Approach the enemy!" Marcus roared.

Needless to say, after numerous missions, the group had already developed a tacit understanding akin to muscle memory.

As Marcus roared, the entire squad instantly went into battle mode.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense and hostile.

Bevyan and the other two wisely retreated to a safe distance to avoid slowing down the group.

Marcus roared and forcibly taunted the pseudo-mantises, preventing them from scattering and attacking immediately, thus disrupting the team's formation.

Gray drew his sword.

Instead of charging forward rashly, he stood guard beside Zellir, watching for any possible surprise attack.

Rivaia's figure had long since vanished, and he wandered along the edge of the battlefield, searching for any opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

Behind them, Vales and Zellir raised their weapons one after the other and began charging up their attacks.

The entire squad reacted very quickly, going from scouting the enemy to entering combat mode almost seamlessly.

The pseudo-mantis, held back by the Battlecry taunt, launched the first attack on Marcus.

Two of them charged from the front, their scythes flashing with a cold light, slashing down with a sharp whistling sound that tore through the air!
"Cang! Cang!"

Two piercing clangs of metal rang out, and Marcus steadily caught them with his shield.

He stood firm, and even seized the opportunity during the fake mantis's attack to ram one of them hard with the edge of his shield, causing it to stagger backward.

Then, with a swift motion, he slashed at its leg joint, sending sparks flying, completing his counterattack!

However, three other monsters attacked from the flanks.

They used their incredible speed to try to bypass Marcus's frontal defenses and defeat him from his weak flanks and rear.

These five pseudo-mantises are all rated "Hard". Although Marcus is an intermediate warrior, he was still quite overwhelmed when facing them alone.

He could only constantly adjust the angle of his shield to barely block attacks from all directions.

However, this predicament of being outnumbered only lasted for one round of attacks before it disappeared.

Vales' first Thunder Arrow struck precisely at the right moment, piercing through the gap between the two monsters' intersecting attacks.

"call out!"

He shot through the relatively soft abdomen of one of the cloaked mantises!

With a dull bang, a large amount of green juice mixed with broken internal organs exploded, and the pseudo-mantis died on the spot!
Zellir's arcane missile swept out and locked onto the most ferocious-screaming pseudo-mantis.

Without any fancy tactics to find weaknesses, the arcane missile hit its head accurately.

"boom!"

The hideous head, covered in compound eyes, exploded on the spot.

All the pseudo-mantises were attacking Marcus relentlessly, which gave Rivia an excellent opportunity to assassinate him.

No monster would be wary of a threat from the shadows.

His figure suddenly burst out from under an ancient tree, the dagger in his hand swirling with fighting spirit.

"Pfft!"

The fragile part connecting the head and body of a pseudo-mantis was directly shredded.

The enormous head rolled to the ground, while the headless body continued to swing its scythe in vain.

In the blink of an eye, three out of five are gone!

"come!"

Marcus slammed his sword against his shield, letting out a battle cry to intimidate the monsters.

The remaining two pseudo-mantises froze for a moment.

Marcus first swung his shield with his left hand, and the powerful shield slammed into the fake mantis, leaving it dizzy and disoriented.

Then he slashed horizontally with his right hand, severing the elytra that the fake mantis relied on for gliding.

Having lost its balance and unable to fly, the monster became a sitting duck.

Zellier followed up with an arcane missile to finish it off, blasting its head apart.

Thus, four of the five pseudo-mantises rated "Hard" were killed in a single counterattack. The smooth and efficient slaughter left the observing third squad stunned.

The last pseudo-mantis awoke from its killing instincts, realized something was wrong, and tried to turn and run away.

Bev and Lant didn't just stand by and watch. They unleashed wind blades and ice spikes one after another, striking the thin wings that had spread out on the back of the pseudo-mantis and hindering its movement.

Yani's Spikes technique suddenly erupted from the ground, piercing the abdomen of the fake mantis and causing considerable damage.

The final part was completed by Zellir's arcane missiles.

After the violent explosion, all five pseudo-mantises were wiped out.

"Zelier, you're too fast! Let us get some practice too!" Bev pouted.

She had already spotted the right opportunity and was planning to use her wind blades to slice off the pseudo-mantis's head.

Having honed her skills through numerous battles and with Zellier's guidance, Bev is now gradually getting the hang of things.

She is no longer that little girl who would only panic in the back.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll definitely do it next time."

Zellier turned back and smiled at her, "From now on, you'll have plenty of time to train against the monsters."

After all, this was experience from a [Difficult] rated monster, and Zellir really didn't want to give it up.

Sure enough, the experience points in the data panel increased significantly.

lv.12（113/375）-lv.13（8/400），升级！

Another upgrade brought a warm current that spread throughout my body.

Without hesitation, Zellier continued to invest his attribute points into his Spirit.

At the same time, add the extra points granted by the Magic Contract to Agility.

Strength: 91-92
Agility: 93-94-96
Physical condition: 94-95
Spirit: 103-107
Intelligence: 114
Perception: 32
Charisma: 54
Luck: 51
Talent skills:
Techniques and Evolution
Magic Contract
"That feels so good," Zellier thought to himself.

This method of using a map and then fighting your way through by referring to the monster genealogy is so satisfying.

Clearly sensing the magic power within his sea of ​​consciousness growing stronger, Zellier couldn't help but think.

If I were to test my magical power in the Chamber of Tranquility now, I wonder what level I would reach.

However, the experience points required for this upgrade are slowly increasing.
If each level increases the experience cap by 25 points, then even after leveling up a dozen or so times, killing monsters rated "Hard" wouldn't be enough to satisfy my needs.

At that point, you should turn your attention to the [Challenge] rating.

"Hiss, don't you think so?"

Lena frowned and thought for a moment, then said to Manlin somewhat uncertainly, "Zeril seems to have gotten stronger again?"

“I was thinking of saying that too,” Manlin thought seriously.

The arcane missile that Zellir just released was indeed more powerful than the one he used against the goblin horde on the first day.

Moreover, that was an arcane missile released in a hasty response to the battle; if it were fully charged, its power would undoubtedly be even greater.

Logically, the team members' energy should have been consumed by monster hunting and long-distance travel these past two days.

Does Zellir need to squeeze out another time for meditation before going to bed at night?
He's so energetic!

"Mentor Lena!"

Zellil waved to Instructor Lena from the front of the group.

"What's wrong?" Lena called out.

"These pseudo-mantises were encountered unexpectedly and weren't on the route map, so let's leave the next monster horde to us to wipe them out, shall we?"

Zellier's reasons sounded plausible.

Lena smiled rather helplessly.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say."

What an energetic young man!

The loot produced by the pseudo-mantis is very limited, consisting only of magic cores that resemble crystallized plant fibers.

Marcus separated it and handed it over to his mentor, Lena, for safekeeping.

The medicine-eating turtle that had been hiding in its shell disappeared its timid and fearful appearance after seeing the fake mantises completely wiped out.

It slowly stretched out its head and limbs, swaggered to the front of the group as if nothing had happened, and led everyone to continue deeper into the forest.

This time, they hadn't walked far when the medicine-eating turtle leading the way stopped in front of a forest clearing surrounded by giant glowing mushrooms.

A richer and purer fragrance of herbs and trees than anywhere else before wafted out, refreshing and invigorating.

Within the open space, many magical plants of various shapes and sizes grow.

They were bathed in soft fluorescence, and there were at least several dozen of them!

Zellier examined it carefully.

"Peaceful Flower, Groundroot, and Morning Dew Grass"

I have all three materials needed to craft low-level recovery potions.

Moreover, there are many other valuable magical plants that can be extracted and refined as long as the corresponding potion recipe is obtained.

"How does Zellir know so much about the types of magical plants?" Lena wondered, watching this scene.

"What do you think?" Manlin looked at her with a smile.

"He also studied potions? But that doesn't seem very useful; isn't it only enchanting mages who can do that?"

As Lena was speaking, she noticed the expression on Manlin's face, paused for a moment, and then became surprised.

"Could it be that Zellir also knows enchanting magic?"

“Yes.” Manlin nodded gently.

Lena stared in disbelief, and after a long while, she shook her head as if giving up.

"Okay, okay, I really have no complaints about his talent."

Seeing this large patch of magical plants, Gray looked on with envy.

Although he didn't understand potions, he could guess that this pile of stuff wasn't cheap and would definitely fetch a good price.

But it's just wishful thinking.

According to the employment agreement signed before departure, these escort team members are only entitled to a share of the spoils obtained from monsters during battle.

Such discoveries in the wild belong entirely to the Mage's Guild.

(End of this chapter)