Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

In the stands, even more casual observers could feel a change in the dynamics. This was no longer simply Ren dominating while his opponent desperately sought ways to survive…

This was a real battle where both sides had the capacity to cause serious damage, where the outcome wasn’t predetermined by a huge difference in power but would depend on tactical execution and precise timing.

Taro observed from his position with an expression mixing residual pain from the broken bond with renewed determination. The beetle had fallen but had fallen in a way that established the possibility of an eventual Terror victory… a genuine possibility.

Those mineral fragments the beetle had created in its last act were proving to be exactly as valuable as Ren had anticipated.

The Terror crouched more deeply, its multiple legs adjusting at angles that communicated immediate preparation for launch. The five balls of enhanced mineral continued spinning around its body in patterns that made it difficult to predict exactly where they were at any given moment.

And then the Terror attacked… Its legs moved in coordinated sequence that released the projectiles toward the hydra with speed that converted the balls into dark blurs crossing the field.

Ren had no option but to use a light jump…

It was a recognition that arrived with absolute clarity when he calculated the trajectories of the first three projectiles at the front. He could stop one or maybe two, but saw the third and didn’t even worry about the fourth or fifth because he realized that conventional evasion or static defense wouldn’t be sufficient against more than two attacks that had already demonstrated the capacity to destroy his strongest barriers.

He needed the instantaneous repositioning that only teleportation could provide.

But the jump was enormously costly to move something as large as the hydra…

During the battle against the beetle he hadn’t used it when receiving the massive charge because he knew he could win the pure strength contest with the multipliers he had available, and because conserving mana for the extended phase was more important than avoiding damage the diamond scales could appropriately absorb.

The jump consumed a considerable portion of the energy reserves, particularly when applied to a beast of the hydra’s size and mass.

Ren had been able to use personal light jumps for a long time already, that had been one of the first advanced applications of the light element he’d mastered after understanding the fundamentals thanks to Larissa and his own early elemental aptitudes with the element.

But not all his beasts could do the same even after months of specific training in that technique. There were multiple factors that determined whether the beast could learn the ability and execute it effectively.

Ren himself was much smaller than any of his beasts, the mass that needed to be teleported was a fraction of what was required to move a creature of several tons.

Additionally, he had direct control over his own body in ways that were more intuitive than directing a beast through a bond. And through the seed giving more control in light and darkness before breaking or being covered, he had learned more easily before losing that influence, knowing the permanent route in his mana.

Amusingly, the mantis being his weakest beast had learned to jump first despite not having particular natural affinity with light or darkness. But that was because the new jade mantis had omni-elemental control and the mimic capability that allowed it to copy techniques from Ren. The mantis had simply copied Ren jumping many times and had replicated the process through its unique ability.

The hydra had managed to learn it as well…

It had greater affinity to the light element than any of Ren’s other beasts, it was a fundamental part of its elemental nature. That affinity reduced the difficulty of learning light-based techniques even when those techniques were as complex as teleportation. But affinity only made learning less difficult, it didn’t make it easy or cheap in terms of mana cost.

It remained difficult and expensive to move that enormous body even now that the hydra had mastered the basic mechanics of the jump. Each teleportation of a beast that size required expenditure that would make Ren think twice before using the technique casually. It was an emergency tool more than a standard tactic.

So the beast could execute the jump now, but doing so drained its reserves significantly, easily a tenth of its total mana for a single repositioning of moderate distance.

And right now, with the hydra already somewhat depleted from the extended battle against the beetle and the subsequent exchanges with the Terror, using the light jump would push its usable mana to half.

But there was no choice.

The enhanced mineral projectiles were converging on the hydra’s position from multiple angles, trajectories calculated to eliminate escape routes. Static defense had already proven insufficient. Movement speed alone wouldn’t create enough distance before the projectiles arrived.

Teleportation was the only viable option.

This was exactly the type of emergency that justified the cost. And more importantly, it was the perfect moment to generate a winning play that would end this dangerous combat before the Terror could establish a rhythm giving it more advantage. Ren didn’t just need to dodge the projectiles but also counterattack in a way that Taro couldn’t respond to effectively or even raise the stakes with fewer defenses and more attacks.

“Jump,” Ren ordered through the bond, his tone carrying the urgency of the situation.

The hydra’s form began to shimmer, light element concentrating around its massive body, all in an instant.

And then the hydra vanished.

The air around the beast rippled with spatial distortion as the technique activated.

It had disappeared at the last possible moment, when the projectiles were mere meters from impacting. The world seemed to flicker for a fraction of a second, reality adjusting around the sudden absence of considerable mass at one point in space and its simultaneous appearance at another. The mineral balls roared through the space the hydra had occupied an instant before, explosions detonating on empty ground while their intended target was no longer present to receive the impact. They created a continuous roar of force and mana that cratered the ground where the hydra had stood.

And the hydra reappeared behind the Terror, both heads already charging the double beam of intertwined light and darkness that had penetrated most of the beetle’s defenses in the previous battle.