Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 517: Chapter 517 - Taming Fragments - 6

Ren approached the nearest tamers in the tunnel, those who seemed to have the strength and stability necessary to handle power transfers.

”I need you to help me carry something,” he told them directly. ”It’s for the King. It’s critical.”

The mention of the King immediately changed the atmosphere. The tamers looked at Julius nod and straightened, recognizing this wasn’t a casual request.

”What do you need?” asked one of the soldiers.

”You’re going to feel power you’re not used to handling,” Ren warned as he began the transfer process. ”But you only need to contain it, not use it.”

The transfer worked better than he had expected.

Little by little, they advanced through the clogged tunnel, changing most of the original carriers for fresh tamers who could better handle the energy. It was like a relay chain, where each person carried their load for a stretch before passing it to the next.

Wei was one of the first to be relieved of his load.

”Thank you,” he murmured when Ren transferred his power fragment to an Ashenway double who had insisted on helping. ”I thought I was going to faint.”

Many of the original guards who had come with Ren needed to be relieved. The draconic energy was simply too intense for simple systems even if they were gold rank.

Only true doubles resisted well. Among them, Larissa, Julius, and Ren could still carry their power fragments without major problems, though even they could feel tension accumulating in their systems.

”It’s like carrying a storm in a bottle,” Larissa observed, flexing her fingers while watching how the draconic energy created small arcs of light between her phalanges.

The process of advancing through the tunnel took longer than expected even with the exchanges.

When they finally reached the front of the real battle, they found a scene that was both victorious and disturbing.

The King, Selphira, and Sirius as front line had already finished with the enemies. The sextuples lay defeated. Their grotesque forms were slowly returning to something more human-like in death... for those who hadn’t been fully pulverized by purification.

But victory had come at a price.

Selphira had minor cuts on her arms, and her breathing was heavy from exertion. Sirius leaned against a wall, clearly exhausted though not seriously injured.

They had canceled fusion midway but it had still been an enormous burden. Fighting enemies of that caliber required pushing enhancement abilities to their absolute limits.

Leonel looked the worst. He had been hit by a stray attack by staying too close to Selphira and was sitting on the ground with his back against a column, with deep cuts on his left arm that dripped blood.

Ren gave the potion to Selphira to distribute energy among the wounded.

When Selphira approached Leonel, extending her hands with clear intention to use her healing magic, Leonel reacted as if she had tried to attack him.

”We had already agreed on none of that!” he scolded her, pulling away abruptly from her extended hands. His voice carried a bitterness that surprised everyone at the front.

There was something more in his rejection than simple wounded pride or fear of pain.

Selphira immediately apologized, backing away with an expression that mixed pain and understanding.

”I’m sorry,” she murmured, her voice barely audible. ”I didn’t think... I was... Let me find someone else for you...”

One of the water tamers approached timidly at Selphira’s request to tend to Leonel’s wounds, who accepted the help without resistance. But his eyes remained fixed on Selphira.

But before anyone could ask about the obvious tension between Selphira and Leonel, the King felt something that made all other problems seem trivial.

A new pulse in the corrupt power emanating from even deeper levels of the castle. But this wasn’t like the previous ones. It was stronger.

Without saying a word, without giving orders or consulting with anyone, Dragarion headed toward the stairs leading to the deeper levels.

”Your Majesty!” Ren shouted, but Dragarion had already disappeared into the darkness of the lower levels, following the call of a corruption that continued evolving in the castle’s entrails.

♢♢♢♢

The air over Yino’s territory had become a hell of impossible forms and energies that defied common comprehension.

Victor fought desperately against what had been Ravenspire, now transformed into an abomination that seemed to be made of solidified shadow.

The giant crow that had been one of Yino’s most respected noble beasts was now nothing more than an enormous monster, its extended wings covering the sky. Each feather expanded to try to trap him, creating absorption zones that forced Victor and his Winged Qilin to constantly maneuver to avoid being caught.

”The formation is breaking!” shouted one of the squadron members, his fused flying beast struggling to stay airborne while waves of abyssal power slowly weakened it.

Victor felt the fusion with his Qilin beginning to fluctuate dangerously.

The time limit was approaching rapidly, and the enemy showed no signs of fatigue. On the contrary, it seemed to be getting stronger with each passing minute, feeding on some power source they couldn’t identify.

’I can’t be as impulsive as my father when I don’t have the same power,’

he realized with a clarity that this time didn’t come too late. ’Risk is relative to one’s capability, right?’
The lesson was bitter but necessary. He had inherited Dragarion’s determination, but not his overwhelming power. Continuing to fight head-on would only result in the death of him and his entire squadron.

”Retreat!” he ordered, his voice resonating above the chaos of battle. ”Coordinated retreat! Defensive formation!”

The decision was painful for his already wounded ego, but he realized it wasn’t so bad... perhaps it wasn’t the most honorable option, but it felt like the correct one.

Victor dropped from the sky and summoned his two beasts. The twin Qilins created a barrier of golden light that covered the retreat, while the other squadron members moved defensively similarly, one of them catching their leader in the air.

Each maneuver was designed to maximize their survival chances against superior odds.

Ravenspire, all the transformed sextuples, and the bloody mass that had been Bloodwyn pursued them, but the orderly retreat worked.

They managed to defend themselves effectively until reaching near the ground, where they could just in time be supported by the bulk of the army that hadn’t entered the castle.

The ground troops could have had to fight with the hundreds of thousands of transformed monsters on land, but...

The hole where they had been digging in a whirlpool formation was now completely empty.

All the creatures that had once been Silver Rank soldiers and above were no longer there. They had left, taken to wherever the crystal had wanted them.

The absence was more unsettling than their presence would have been. An army of corrupted beings simply vanishing suggested strategic repositioning rather than defeat.

”Where is everyone?” murmured one of the aerial squadron, his voice loaded with growing doubt.

Victor had no answer.

♢♢♢♢

Meanwhile, in the depths of Yino’s castle, Dragarion had finally reached the great door that guarded the enemy kingdom’s deepest secrets.

He brought his key, which Ren’s beast had said should work for both sides since the two parts of the ’Y’ were an exact copy of themselves.

But when he saw the door, he realized it wouldn’t be necessary.

The door was open.