This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 858: Chapter 858: Abandoned Rest Stop

When the light finally faded, Kain and Serena found themselves standing beneath a sky of soft gray-blue, surrounded by trees swaying in the breeze. The air smelled faintly of moss and dew, clean and damp. For a few moments, both simply stood still on guard and taking in the surroundings. But…

No enemies. No guards rushing at them. Just quiet.

Serena exhaled in relief, shoulders sagging. “Finally. No attacks. No nausea. Just… trees.”

But instead of relaxing, Kain stiffened.

Serena noticed the change immediately. “You look like you swallowed a nail. What now?”

Kain didn’t answer right away. His eyes flicked across the treeline, his spiritual perception spreading outward like invisible waves. His jaw tightened. “Bai Lian said that this place—the trial relic for the East—always has guards. At least two six-star beast tamers are supposed to be stationed right at the doors at all times, with a dozen more mid-level tamers watching from outposts further out. With rotations in staff occurring every three months between colleges and nations.”

He turned his head slowly toward the far distance, where a faint, tall shape broke through the greenery—a watchtower half-swallowed by the treelines.

Serena followed his gaze. “It doesn’t necessarily mean the worst-case scenario yet. When we’ve done guard missions at the college, half the time we weren’t visible or out in the open either.”

Kain shook his head. His pupils contracted slightly as spiritual energy flooded his eyes. The world sharpened into crystal clarity. He could see every leaf, every stone, every spiritual signature—and the empty, abandoned tower.

“No one,” he said grimly. “No guards. No spiritual beasts either. And if you listen—”

Serena tilted her head.

“It’s quiet,” Kain said. “Too quiet. No birds, no insects. Not even ambient spiritual resonance showing that a spiritual creature passed recently. It’s like the whole forest is holding its breath.”

Serena’s brows furrowed. “What do you think happened?”

Kain looked down at the ground, brushing away some fallen leaves. There were no scorch marks, no traces of fighting—not even lingering spiritual energy from a battle.

“It means they left,” he said finally. “Probably voluntarily. Maybe they were recalled to defend their nations from the Abyss, or left without permission to protect their families. Maybe they panicked. Or maybe their superiors fled, and they decided to follow.”

Serena grimaced. “On the plus side, we don’t have to explain our presence here to anyone. On the downside, this might mean the situation in the East is worse than we thought. Also, being completely alone we have nobody to ask about the current state of things.”

“Not completely alone,” Kain said. He reached into his coat and pulled out a folded map—a rough sketch drawn by Bai Lian. He spread it open on a flat rock nearby. The parchment was smudged and marked with notations.

“According to this, the relic sits at the crossroads between several nations and independent colleges or, as they more often call them in the East, sects,” Kain explained, pointing at various symbols. “Eight of them are elite colleges or sects—they’re not under any government, but their power rivals that of entire countries. The other six are the nations themselves.”

Serena leaned in, studying the messy scrawl of foreign names. “And which direction are we heading?”

Kain tapped a spot near the bottom of the map. “Bai Lian was from the nation of Yunhua and studied at the Wuxing Elemental Sect—one of the major schools with partial ownership of this relic. So she only has detailed information on these two locations. However, she said it would be safer to go to the sect’s territory instead of her homeland. The sect takes students from every nation, so our appearance won’t stand out as much.”

Serena gave a small nod. “Makes sense. We don’t exactly blend in.”

Physically, they both could pass for mixed bloods from a few nations or some distant northern tribes, but they looked nothing like Yunhua natives. Going there would raise too many questions.

Kain looked up, gauging the sun’s position, then turned south. “Wuxing’s lands should be that way.”

The pair began to move through the forest. It wasn’t long before they came across a small clearing, and the remnants of an outpost. The walls were intact, the small huts undamaged, and the storage crates neatly emptied. Not messily ransacked—cleared out.

Serena brushed dust from a crate’s edge. “They packed everything before leaving. No fighting, or panic can really be seen”

“A full withdrawal,” Kain said. He crouched, touching a faint print in the dirt—a boot mark, only half-filled with rainwater. It was old, maybe a week. “They left recently. Maybe when the Abyss started advancing here.”

Serena sighed. “So the Abyss has reached here, too.”

Kain straightened, scanning the treetops. The forest stretched endlessly, the horizon broken only by occasional towers or old pathways half-consumed by vines. Walking all the way to Wuxing’s territory would take days—maybe weeks.

He frowned. “We’re not walking.”

Serena arched a brow. “You planning to summon Vauleth?” Referencing the dragon who’d been their mount for majority of their time in the relic “Because I’m not sure summoning a giant red dragon in the middle of an abandoned forest is going to make us less conspicuous.”

“No,” Kain said, shaking his head. “He’d be too obvious.”

He spread his hand, summoning a flicker of green light. From the air around him came the buzzing sound of numerous wings. One by one, a swarm of large Vespid guards appeared, their carapaces gleaming like polished emerald, wings vibrating with faint luminescence.

Serena crossed her arms with a familiar sigh, watching the emerald‑carapaced swarm gather. “Going with the Vespids again?” she asked dryly. “I guess comfort isn’t on the agenda.”

Kain grinned faintly. “You’ve ridden them before—you know they’re faster than walking. Besides, they blend in. If anyone spots us, they’ll just think it’s a migrating swarm.”

Serena placed a hand on one of the insects’ smooth carapaces, feeling its faint hum of recognition. “As long as they remember I’m a passenger and not a snack,” she muttered.

“They know better,” Kain said with mock solemnity. “You’d poison them before they ever got a bite.” Kain said referencing her new abilities from the Thar’Ameth inheritance that had been exhibited while they went through the trials back at Dark Moon—that is, before they were snatched up by the inheritance relic.

She rolled her eyes but mounted with practiced ease, settling between the insect’s folded wings.

Kain climbed atop another and gave a short signal. The swarm rose as one, the forest shrinking below them as they ascended above the canopy. From up here, the land unfolded in endless shades of green, crossed by winding rivers and distant mountains.

It would have been beautiful—if not for the eerie silence that stretched in every direction.

Serena turned her head toward Kain, her hair fluttering in the wind. “Let’s hope the silence means safety and not something worse.”

The words had barely left Serena’s mouth when Kain stiffened, his gaze snapping toward the horizon. “About that—” he began.

A thin column of smoke rose in the distance, faint but unmistakable, curling like a finger of gray against the pale sky.

Both of them went still.

“Smoke,” Serena said softly. “Could be a campfire.”

Kain shook his head. “Too much for that. Looks like an entire building’s worth of wood getting burned.”

They exchanged a look—unspoken understanding—and directed the Vespids toward the source. The swarm banked and angled downward, wind rushing past their faces as the faint gray turned thicker, darker. The scent hit next: ash, scorched wood, and something faintly acrid that lingered in the air.

Below them lay the remains of what had once been a small town.

The settlement sat nestled between forest and road, likely a traveler’s rest stop for those moving between territories—or a layover town for people heading toward the Wuxing Sect or visiting the relic itself.

But now, silence ruled where there should have been laughter and trade.

Half the town still smoldered. Roofs caved in, beams blackened. Smoke trailed lazily from collapsed buildings. Some fires still burned faintly in the corners of ruined homes, their heat warping the air. The rest of the structures stood half‑intact—cracked, deserted, windows shattered, doors ajar.

Serena pressed her lips together. “This was recent.”

Kain nodded grimly. “A day, maybe two.”

They landed just beyond the outskirts. The Vespids hovered protectively above while Kain and Serena stepped onto the ashen street. Every step crunched against debris—broken pottery, singed cloth, remnants of lives that had scattered like dust.

The architecture was unlike anything they had seen on the central continent. The houses were built of layered clay bricks and lacquered wood, their roofs sweeping upward like curved blades and tiled in shimmering slate. Red lanterns—now blackened—still hung from porches. Ornate carvings of beasts, dragons, and phoenixes adorned doorframes, faded paint showing hints of jade, vermilion, and gold.

But it was all ruined.

Kain crouched near a set of footprints pressed into the soot. “Hundreds of them,” he murmured. “Heading south.”

Serena knelt beside him, touching one of the impressions lightly. “People fled. But… there are no bodies.”

Kain stood, eyes sweeping the horizon. “They moved fast. Organized. Maybe a retreat column.”

The town stretched ahead of them, rows of shops and small homes leading toward a market square. A toppled cart blocked the main road, its contents—crates of preserved fruit and grain—spilled out and charred.

Serena ran her fingers along a stone wall still radiating warmth. “Whatever happened here—it wasn’t just fire. The heat feels unnatural.”

Kain nodded faintly. “I sense some Abyssal energy in the flames. Probably why they’ve lasted so long”

They walked deeper into the town, the smell of smoke thick in the air. The silence pressed against their ears like a weight.

Suddenly—

Pain lanced through Kain’s calf—sharp, searing.

He gasped, stumbling as his balance faltered. The same instant, one of the Vespids above shrieked in agony and spiraled downward.