This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The City-Lord’s contracts, though powerful, were struggling to make a dent in the machine’s impenetrable defenses. The best solution Kain and the others could think of was to deal with it as they did the previous machines—attacking it from the inside.

“Aegis,” Kain said, his voice steady despite the chaos around them. “Can you do it? Can you alter and control its energy?”

Aegis tilted his head, his glowing eyes meeting Kain’s. “I… can try.”

Kain nodded, his expression grim. “Do it. We’ll cover you.”

With that, Kain turned to the others. “We need to buy Aegis time. Keep the behemoth distracted while he works.”

Benji and Mira nodded, their expressions determined. Sera, though pale and visibly exhausted, stepped forward, her hands glowing with a faint silver light as she prepared to reinforce their weapons once more.

Their small group moved in the opposite direction of those fleeing, steadily approaching the machine. Around it were still two of the City Lord’s contracts, a violet-grade lion and an indigo-grade three-headed hellhound whose massive heads looked like young puppies.

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Kain’s Vespid guards, Vauleth and the other contracts of their group, launched their assault, their attacks focused on the behemoth’s massive limbs in an attempt to slow it down. Bea, due to previous attempts to affect the machines being ineffective due to them not having a mind, focused on holding off the surrounding abyssal creatures.

Their team tried their best to coordinate and not interfere with the City Lord’s spiritual creatures. In the beginning, the lion and hellhound looked at them with slight confusion and even disdain, as if questioning what they could possibly hope to contribute if the two of them were struggling so much, but after seeing that they didn’t drag them down, they thankfully didn’t shoo them away. In fact, with Kain and the others acting strategically to assist them, their pressure actually decreased—albeit slightly.

But the behemoth was relentless. Its massive limbs swung with terrifying speed, each strike sending defenders flying. The violet runes on its surface pulsed with energy, absorbing the attacks and redirecting them back at the defenders in bursts of abyssal energy.

Kain gritted his teeth as he dodged another strike, his spear crackling with spiritual energy as he launched a counterattack. The behemoth’s defences were unlike the ones they had faced before. The violet sigils on its surface seemed to be feeding off of their attacks and its core was growing stronger with each strike.

“We’re not making a dent!” Benji shouted, his voice filled with frustration. “This thing’s too strong!”

Kain didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on Aegis, who had discretely now latched onto the machine’s surface. Black chords led from Aegis and connected to the key nodes of the machine that the majority of the incoming energy needed to travel through. However, even though he hadn’t started his main task yet, his body was already trembling and fissure-like crack broke out on his surface just from the strain of infiltrating the machine. The machine seemed to notice the intrusion, and a massive opening that was originally always aimed at the city wall was now turning toward Aegis with a low, mechanical groan.

The second it was aimed steadily at Aegis, Kain could sense the all-consuming panic that flooded their connection. Even if Aegis’ survival abilities were far greater than the average golem, Aegis could sense that he would not survive this blow. Thankfully, the core didn’t seem fully charged for firing off a shot yet, but Aegis also could not move from his current location easily—after all, it had taken much of his energy to even penetrate the machine in this spot.

“We need to keep it distracted!” Kain shouted in panic, launching himself at the behemoth with everything he had. Likewise, the others also began to attack the machine frantically.

Likely realizing that they weren’t just here to be barely helpful, and actually had a plan to take down the machine, the City Lord’s contracts also became more proactive in protecting Aegis.

Annoyed, the machine struck out—directly at Kain.

Kain barely had time to react, diving out of the way just as the limb came crashing down. The ground where he had been standing exploded, the force of the impact sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, his vision swimming as he struggled to get back to his feet.

But he didn’t have to. Aegis, his tendrils still latched onto the behemoth, let out a deep, resonating roar. The abyssal energy coursing through the machine began to flicker, the violet runes dimming as Aegis wrestled for control of the abyssal energy and turned it from a gaseous free flowing energy, to one that bordered on solid and began to clog up its ‘veins’. The behemoth staggered, its movements slowing as its flow of energy was disrupted..

“It’s working!” Kain shouted, his voice filled with hope. “Keep it up, Aegis!”

But the behemoth wasn’t going down without a fight. Its massive limbs swung wildly, its movements erratic as it tried to dislodge Aegis. The golem held on, his body trembling under the strain as he continued to manipulate the energy.

Their team rallied, their attacks focused on the behemoth’s weakened limbs, and their attacks focused on destabilizing the machine.

Finally, with a deafening roar, the behemoth’s core exploded, sending a shockwave of energy rippling through the battlefield. The force of the blast knocked everyone off their feet, the ground trembling as the machine collapsed in a smouldering heap that left behind a massive crater.

Through the ringing in his ears and falling debris, Kain looked around to check on his allies.

Clara was on the floor, screaming from pain, Kain could see that the bottom half of one of her legs was missing and the ground around her was soaked with blood.

Similarly, Nadia was shivering in pain and throwing up on the floor. At first, Kain couldn’t tell what was wrong with her, but then he spotted the mangled mess of flesh, blood, and fur next to her. Clearly one of her contracts had fallen and she was suffering from the backlash of the broken contract.

The others and their contracts only seemed to suffer from mild to moderate injuries.

But after looking around for a while, Kain realized…Aegis was nowhere to be found.