Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 915 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Final Battle - 14

But resisting wasnʼt the same as being immune.

And the beamʼs push was enormous. Constant pressure forced Julius backward even when he planted his feet and used his fusion power and his allies pushing to maintain position.

It was an energetic flow practically making advancing impossible without spending resources at a rate that would exhaust the fusion long before he could escape completely.

And when the purple energy merged too… The beam wasnʼt just blocking. It was actively pushing him back. Slowly but persistently.

The purple energy now, the mutant beasts, the timing, and there was something else strange.

The same mutant creatures that had been entering like mad had stopped suddenly shortly after they reached the final chamberʼs tunnel. Didnʼt continue the pressure just a bit before when the beam began. Instead their nearby energy signatures now waited at the tunnelʼs entrance as if awaiting the energy confrontationʼs result without directly participating.

That was when Julius realized finding the ruin just now perhaps also hadnʼt been a coincidence.

His group of seekers had finally felt it when they approached the place, the strange sensation of the ancient chamberʼs mana. But the distance had seemed odd to him.

It was very close to it.

It had been a great help in avoiding getting lost in the final parts of the purple crystal labyrinth. The crystallized roots of corruption created a maze that would have taken days to navigate without a beacon to guide them.

But theyʼd realized they werenʼt that far from it. So why hadnʼt they sensed it before? The mana signature should have been detectable from a much greater distance if the chamber was actually open.

Julius understood then that perhaps someone had unblocked the door just recently. Letting energy out... Had they done it with some crystal barrier or high-level beast ability like the biofilms of spiders able to prevent mana passage?

It didnʼt matter… If it was true then this confirmed everything.

It was a cumulus of behaviors almost absolutely confirming this was an orchestrated trap rather than an unfortunate coincidence.

The creatures were being controlled by something or someone whoʼd calculated exactly when to let them lose.

Let Julius and the others advance just far enough to commit. Block them at the final moment when they were most invested. Force them to either exhaust themselves breaking through or retreat and abandon everything theyʼd gained.

Classic tactical manipulation. And Julius had fallen for it completely.

Unfortunately, recognition that this was deliberate didnʼt provide an immediate solution to the problem they faced.

Julius was still blocked by the beam and consuming energy just by resisting. And his fusionʼs clock continued running slowly but surely towards a point where his power would exhaust and leave him vulnerable.

If he couldnʼt overcome the beam in the next minutes, heʼd literally run out of the time window necessary to escape the ruin while still having the capacity to move independently.

And then heʼd be trapped in the depths of this cave again. Except this time heʼd be in a critical state requiring others to carry him instead of being able to contribute.

It was a brutal equation of time versus resources that had no good solution.

The chaotic beam of blue and red continued ensuring Julius remained exactly where he was during the critical period. Keeping the prince and his most capable soldiers contained underground while whatever was happening on the surface developed without their intervention.

And Julius gritted his jaw with determination coming from the same earlier recognition that surrendering wasnʼt an option heʼd consider regardless of how impossible the situation seemed.

Heʼd find a way to break through. Or die trying.

Because remaining trapped while his family and kingdom faced threat without him was a fate he rejected with every fiber of his being.

His hands moved to the pouch at his belt. Fingers closing around a small crystal vial that glowed faintly even through the black leather.

Julius pulled out one of the few Diamond-rank recovery potions remaining in the kingdom.

Only Selphira carried one. And Victor might or might not still have his after whatever had happened when heʼd tried escaping.

These werenʼt just rare, they were practically irreplaceable. Product of methods lost centuries ago, each one worth a small fortune. Each one capable of restoring a tamer to near-full capacity even from the brink of death.

Using it meant burning a resource that might be desperately needed later. Meant gambling that escaping was worth the cost. Meant betting everything on the assumption that whatever was happening above was important enough to justify the expenditure.

But Julius had already made his decision, if all his energy wasnʼt enough then...

The final push was about to begin.

♢♢♢♢

Orion received a message from his brothers through a fairly large and fast bird.

He unrolled the parchment with rapid movements communicating his high expectations mixed with impatience. His eyes scanned the content quickly to extract the most critical information without needing to process each word with excessive care.

There had been some complications according to the report that Magnus and Dorian had written with a calligraphy that was deteriorating toward the messageʼs end. Likely evidence of accumulated fatigue controlling the crystals making their fine motor control more difficult.

But despite the difficulties theyʼd faced, it seemed theyʼd managed to retain Juliusʼs group until now successfully.

An entire day had passed since the attackʼs beginning.

Julius and his elite force still remained locked in the depths. Neutralization that had been the operationʼs primary objective of the secondary mission that the brothers had been executing.

More than twenty hours of constant control over crystals shooting energy and directing mutant flow. Maintaining the blocking that made escape impossible and coordinating efforts requiring intense concentration without appropriate rest.

It was a feat demonstrating considerable capability considering the taskʼs complexity theyʼd been assigned.

The energy flow didnʼt stop at any moment according to the update the brothers provided. Confirmation that the system theyʼd established continued operating as designed despite prolonged use stress