Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Ren’s hydra fired light rays that were particularly devastating against mutants.

There was a strange inherent purification not just in the element but in how it interacted with corruption. Damage exceeding what raw power alone would explain. Like the light was somewhat countering whatever twisted the beasts from their natural forms.

When the hydra was charging and didn’t use light, it crushed the beasts between rocks. That was what cost it least thanks to the beast’s extra affinities in both light and earth. A combination that allowed it to control considerable mass without draining reserves excessively. Large stones sandwiched targets with huge acceleration. Simple but brutally effective at that level of strength…

The Wolverine continued systematically testing several different elemental attacks to determine which was cheapest and most effective against the variety of mutants emerging.

Wood seemed initially advantageous, since it could recover energy from the beasts it trapped. The same parasitic cycle that had worked so well against Min and Liora during the exam.

But mutants apparently had corrupt mana and elemental resistances that complicated exploitation. Their unnatural constitution prevented roots from acting as easily as they should. The parasitic drainage still functioned but at reduced efficiency and maintaining the vegetation required constant mana input to regenerate against multiple sources of damage.

Only light seemed to maintain consistent advantage. Effectiveness barely diminished regardless of what specific type of mutant it faced.

Again, a confirmation of the principle Ren already knew. But useful to verify under these conditions.

The wood roots functioned constricting and draining mutants that became trapped in vegetative nets. Green tendrils wrapping around purple-stained limbs and squeezing. Thorns piercing corrupt flesh and drawing out twisted mana.

But as more beasts arrived, it became more difficult to maintain vegetation regeneration against constant attacks from all directions.

The mutants had multiple, even if weak, elemental abilities. Capabilities nowhere near Ren’s beasts refinement but sufficient to cause accumulating problems. Their crude fire burned roots before they could properly establish. The elemental advantage of that weak fire that mutants generated broke the roots easily. Crude but effective… It was a limitation that made the technique way less useful here than it had been in the controlled 1 vs 1 exam battles.

Against a horde attacking without the same level of power but with overwhelming numbers, it became unsustainable.

Ren noted the weakness and adjusted tactics accordingly. Less reliance on vegetation networks and more emphasis on direct but cheap elemental attacks.

Luna used her wolf mainly with darkness.

The first natural element of her beast wasn’t a weakness for the mutants but was cheaper for the wolf too. Dense shadows supporting movements while the enormous creature’s pure physicality did most of the work. Jaws clamping on mutant necks and shaking violently, claws raking across their flesh and tearing, simple and brutal… But very effective.

The wolf would appear behind one mutant, tear it apart in seconds, then vanish into shadow and reappear behind another. A pattern of shadow-step and execution so fast that the mutants couldn’t predict or counter. They never saw it coming until huge teeth were already closing on vital areas.

The Lesser Celestial Tiger maintained itself airborne. Diving to do the same actions the wolf executed on ground. Attacks from above exploiting gravity to increase impact force of its strikes.

The tiger would build tremendous velocity falling from height. Then extend claws enhanced by light mana at the last moment and strike with the combined force of muscle and momentum. Devastating impacts that crushed skulls and shattered spines.

Application of superior force… Jaws and claws doing work that less advantageous elemental magic not at Ren’s level would unnecessarily complicate. When you had the physical power to simply kill things directly, elaborate techniques became wasteful.

Both Luna’s beasts deliberately saved energy to eliminate more targets. Efficiency mattered when facing numbers that seemed to have no immediate end. Better to kill a hundred mutants with basic attacks than fifty by shooting mana.

Perhaps also a familiar image to her subconscious… When her father had defended her from the corrupted beasts as a child, using light claws but mostly physical damage for prolonged time, perhaps because it was more sustainable. Lessons learned young about how to fight when outnumbered.

Since the mutants only had strength equivalent to Silver rank in their vast majority, Gold rank physical strength was a big advantage.

But they still had a massive advantage in numbers.

Dozens rapidly became hundreds as they continuously emerged from tunnels they’d excavated. And they kept multiplying… More tunnels opening and more creatures pouring through.

Ren’s hydra dispatched two mutants simultaneously with a light beam through their skull. The wolverine with less physicality crushed three more under the rocks. Luna’s wolf tore the throat from another while her tiger dove and broke a mutant’s spine with impact force.

But for every one they killed, ten more seemed to emerge.

The arena floor was already stained purple with corrupt blood. Already littered with twisted corpses. Already transformed from competition grounds to battlefield.

And the battle had barely started.

Yang’s Earth Behemoth, now matured by the 1000 days method and Gold rank in power, swept its massive limbs through clusters of mutants. Lin moved with inhuman speed directing attacks toward critical breaches. Her transformed physiology allowing her to cover ground impossibly fast and observe the complete battlefield from multiple angles.

Wei and the other teachers also deployed their beasts that they rarely manifested completely in academic context. Creatures of high Silver rank that had been cultivated during decades.

Even Director Ignatius together with the other school ones were burning mutants left and right already.

The other two elderly directors rarely involved themselves in direct combat anymore. Their role was administrative and political. But watching students and teachers fighting for survival had apparently triggered old instincts from when they’d been active military tamer decades ago.

Their beast were fire specialized. Powerful… Moving with the deliberate confidence of creatures that had killed hundreds of opponents during their long life.

Each Gold rank level blast incinerated multiple mutants. Left scorched earth where corrupt bodies had been.