Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 850 - Taming the Fifth Year - Devour Thyself, Lesser Ouroboros

A self-devouring serpent.

Theory said it was feasible for sufficiently advanced spiritual beasts to consume portions of themselves and convert that consumption into detonative power increase. Not sustainable, but devastating in the moment.

Like burning your own furniture to heat your house. Effective short-term but disastrous long-term.

But Liora didnʼt need it long-term… She just needed to win now.

The severed tail section, still spiritually connected to the main body despite physical separation, began moving. Writhing toward the serpentʼs head with unnatural purpose.

The Basheʼs permanent smile widened impossibly as its jaw opened.

And it bit down on its own tail, teeth sinking into spiritual flesh, consuming itself.

The crowd went silent.

Renʼs smile vanished, replaced by intense focus. A serpent devouring itself in an act defying normal biological logic but resonating with profound symbolism permeating spiritual cultivation.

The ouroboros. The eternal cycle. Death and rebirth contained in a single impossible moment.

Ren sighed while watching the technique in its earlier form, expression communicating acceptance more than frustration.

Heʼd known this was possible… Had even explained it to Liora in the Basheʼs potential development path. But heʼd expected this particular breakthrough to come much later, not now.

Yet he realised that Liora, like him and his other companions, had obtained an ability they were supposed to acquire later.

The elemental curse ability the Bashe had just unlocked normally required the serpent to be at Gold 3 rank.

Two full ranks ahead of where it currently was. That was the standard progression. But intense battle seemed to have pushed both Liora and the Bashe beyond normal progression limits.

It was a phenomenon Ren had seen before, even in himself, moments where extreme pressure unlocked capabilities prematurely because necessity exceeded considerations of gradual preparation. Survival didnʼt care about optimal timing.

The curse ability now activating would allow the Bashe to assimilate wood and earth elements much more easily for a considerable period, thanks to having consumed them along with its own essence in the self-devouring act.

It wasnʼt permanent mastery... More like a temporary affinity boost for those specific elements. The Bashe could drain wood and earth mana from attacks and the environment at way higher rates.

It was a significant advantage considering the field was covered with roots and wooden structures that had previously been threats but could now convert into resources.

Every root the wolverine created became potential food. Every earth construct became potential fuel. The battlefield itself had transformed from weapon to buffet.

The disadvantage was that the serpent would be in what ancient texts called ”possessed mode” during the curseʼs active duration.

It would spend considerably more energy producing large quantities of miasma, consumption that would eventually exhaust its reserves if the battle prolonged too much. The burn rate would be 2× or 3× normal spiritual energy expenditure, maybe higher depending on how aggressively the Bashe used the enhanced power.

But short-term it would provide defensive and offensive power exceeding what a Gold 1 Bashe could normally manifest. Maybe approaching Gold 2 or even Gold 3 levels of output, though without the corresponding increase in base stats.

Ren had genuinely expected Liora and the Bashe to learn this technique upon reaching Gold 2, maybe early but not as far as Gold 1. Seeing it execute now was testament both to the desperation of the situation and to the extraordinary determination Liora had consistently demonstrated.

Desperate brilliance.

The transformation began immediately.

The Bashe rapidly healed its damage, and its tail was reborn from the wound as soon as it consumed itself, though losing some mass in the process.

The regeneration was visible, flesh knitting together, scales reforming, spiritual energy weaving new matter from stolen essence.

It wasnʼt the complete Ouroboros ability Ren knew it would have when beginning its draconic process… becoming 100% spiritual by consuming itself completely and being capable of consuming any element without limit would have been a much bigger problem.

True Ouroboros meant immortality through self-consumption. Infinite regeneration. No physical weaknesses because there was no physical body to target.

That would have been a nightmare scenario requiring completely different tactics. Possibly unwinnable tactics at Silver 3 versus Gold with that ability.

At least here it still had a physical body and physical limits. Additionally, it retained its weakness to the light element, which was critical for Renʼs remaining options.

So he could still defeat it with the wolverine.

The math had changed but not broken. Victory was still achievable if he executed perfectly.

Now smaller and more compact after consuming the other half of itself in the curse ritual, the Bashe covered itself in miasma intensity much more elevated than anything it had previously manifested.

The corrupt spiritual energy was so dense it was visible as dark aura distorting air around the serpent, a presence making several spectators shudder involuntarily despite the afternoon heat.

And that intensified miasma withered the roots that had been constricting the serpent moments before.

Living wood dried and died under the assault from amplified corruption, a process taking small fractions of seconds instead of what it would normally have required. The Bashe absorbed the dead rootsʼ energy as they collapsed, recycling power Ren had invested in creating the trap and converting it into sustenance restoring some of what maintaining the curse would cost.

Ren realized that if he let the Bashe eat at its own pace or escape upward now, any future containment attempt would fail.

Heʼd have to rebuild the central tower again to reestablish the 5-point network and create double the number of launch stakes to compensate for the new miasma capacity.

That would require maybe 60% of the wolverineʼs total reserves. And he didnʼt have that much left after the tower construction and stake creation. Current reserves were probably sitting at 50-55% total mana.

The math didnʼt work. He couldnʼt afford a war of attrition anymore.

Trying to starve the Bashe now was also considerably more difficult when the serpent could literally eat earth and wood thanks to active curse.

Every strategy heʼd prepared had assumed the Bashe couldnʼt consume his constructions directly. That assumption was now invalid. The game had changed.

So Ren made a decision many observers didnʼt anticipate.

Instead of starving it, heʼd feed it.

He launched the 4 remaining towers from their tips downward. Not controlled demolition but use of massive structures from their points as spears, direct weapons, giant serpents of earth and wood thrown to strike the ground where the Bashe was positioned.

The towers fell like judgment, 200 meters of accumulated mass accelerating under gravityʼs relentless pull.

They were spears weighing hundreds of tons, momentum accumulated during descent converting them into devastating weapons despite lack of additional elemental propulsion. The kinetic energy alone was staggering, simple physics making them nearly unstoppable forces.

Any ordinary beast would have tried dodging attacks of that magnitude, blows clearly exceeding what reasonable defense could handle.

But the Bashe didnʼt dodge.