This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain’s mind raced as he stared at the towering war machine, its glowing core pulsating with black and red ominous energy.

The high-level Abyssal guardian was down, thanks to Benji’s sacrifice of one of his enchanted daggers. Considering it was Benji’s only 7-star weapon that he’d splurged on in preparation for his breakthrough, to a high-level beast-tamer, Kain could only imagine how much the sacrifice had hurt. However, he could also understand the urgency he felt to finish this mission quickly and get Aura treated.

However, while they were the first group to get rid of the guardian, the machine itself was a different beast entirely.

Its surface was smooth, almost organic, with black and dark red veins filled with abyssal and other energies coursing through it like blood through arteries that led up to a glowing core.

The faint hum of its power reverberated through the ground, growing louder with each passing second as the glow of the core intensified—a constant reminder of the devastation it could unleash if they didn’t act quickly.

“We need to hit its core,” Kain said, his voice tight and urgent. “That’s where it’s drawing its power. If we can disrupt it, we might be able to disable the machine.”

Benji frowned, his eyes scanning the war machine’s structure. “Easier said than done. That thing’s built like a fortress. Even with Aegis attempting to drain its energy, it’s still too durable. Our attacks are barely scratching it.”

Mira stepped forward, “What if we combine our attacks? If we focus all our spiritual energy on one point, we might be able to create an opening.”

Benji hesitantly nodded, not having a better solution. But neither he nor Kain was convinced of the plan. After all, unlike the natives of this world, they were members of the Order who had received elite education—Benji was also a graduate of a Top 5 College.

So they better understood that combining attacks was easier said than done. More often than not the skills and attributes will just interfere with one another and lower the strength of the attack below a single powerful ability of a contract alone. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire

Benji, after explaining the difficulty of this feat, asked them to share every detail about their contracts skills—a rather invasive request that was granted due to the urgency of this mission. With the collected information, he and Kain began to work together to figure out what skills may work better together than others. In fact, considering the extensive research Kain performed to combine different elemental attributes when researching the new evolutions for the Silkworm pathway, Kain actually had more experience in this field and took the lead.

Sera, after realizing how hard they were working to come up with a plan also volunteered, “I can also reinforce your weapons and certain skills, but it’ll only last for a short time. And if we’re not precise, we’ll just waste our energy.”

Kain glanced at Aegis, who stood silently nearby, his massive form radiating a faint, abyssal-draining aura. “Aegis, can you weaken the machine’s defenses further? If you can siphon more of its energy, it might make it easier for us to break through.”

Aegis rumbled in response, his deep voice resonating through their bond. “I will try. But the machine resists. It feels almost alive.”

“Alive?” Benji muttered.

Kain’s eyes narrowed as he studied the machine. The veins of abyssal energy pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat. If the machine was alive in some way, that meant it could adapt—or worse, fight back. They couldn’t afford to waste time.

“Alright, here’s the plan…,” Kain began, sharing the current combination he calculated to have the greatest odds of success with the help of his lab assistant VERA.

Everyone nodded, their expression grim, but hopeful and the operation began.

Aegis stepped forward, his obsidian-like body shimmering as he extended his tendrils toward the war machine. The blackened tendrils latched onto the machine’s surface, and Kain could feel the faint pull of energy as Aegis began to drain its abyssal power.

The machine’s hum faltered for a moment, its glowing core flickering as if struggling to maintain its charge. But then, the veins of energy pulsed brighter, and the machine seemed to fight back. Aegis’ tendrils trembled under the strain, and Kain felt a surge of pressure through their bond.

“It’s resisting!” Kain shouted. “Mira, now!”

Mira didn’t hesitate. Her wind contracts surged forward, twin hawks creating a tornado-like vortex of razor-sharp winds that focused on a single point on the machine’s surface and seemed to draw in all the surrounding debris to that single point as well.

At the same time, over a dozen of the Vespid guards who travelled with Kain, the others remaining to help guard the city, also aimed their energy-draining stingers in the general region of that vortex. The vortex would not only correct the differences in their aim and drag all the sharp projectiles to a single point, but the swirling wind would provide a speed boost and further increase their penetrative power.

At the same time one of Sera’s contracts capable of launching ice arrows was also included in the attack, since Kain determined that its skill shouldn’t conflict with any others used.

Sera stepped forward, her hands glowing with a faint silver light as she touched a backup weapon Benji kept on hand—this one only 6-stars. She had already reinforced the stingers of the Vespids and some skills of her own contracts

The blade shimmered, as it sapped the last of her energy, its edge sharpened to an almost unnatural degree. “This will only last for a few seconds,” she warned. “Make it count.”

Benji nodded, his eyes locked on the machine. “Ready when you are.”

Kain gripped his spear, channeling as much spiritual energy as he could into the weapon. The air around him crackled with power as he took aim at the swirling gust of wind that practically served as an unmissable target. “On my mark!”

The combined force of their attacks struck the war machine with a deafening explosion. The ground shook violently, and a shockwave rippled through the air, forcing them to shield their faces from the debris. When the dust settled, they saw the result of their efforts.

The war machine’s core was cracked, its glowing energy sputtering and flickering like a dying flame. But it wasn’t enough. The machine’s veins pulsed again, and the cracks began to seal themselves, the core’s light growing brighter as it drew energy from its surroundings.

“It’s healing itself!” Mira shouted, her voice tinged with panic.

Kain’s heart sank. They had poured everything they had into that attack, and it still wasn’t enough.