Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 936 - Taming Rationing 2

Lunaʼs wolf also had a powerful absorption skill now.

It was the ability sheʼd wanted to use for surprising Ren during the final battle that had never truly begun. A technique sheʼd been saving as a trump card. But sheʼd been using it semi-passively for awhile now during the academyʼs defense. Absorption occurring almost automatically when mutants entered contact with the darkness the wolf constantly generated.

It was giving her an efficiency flow permitting the wolf to recover energy without needing active concentration on the process. An advantage maintaining the wolf operating at high levels when other beasts were degrading under continuous stress.

The wolfʼs shadow wasnʼt just darkness… It was hungry now, drinking in energy from anything that touched it. Growing stronger as enemies fell into its embrace.

And Luna had felt the difference. The wolf was fresher than it should be, operating above baseline despite hours of sustained combat.

But at what cost?

However, Luna hadnʼt felt any of the corruption effects Liora was clearly experiencing.

Her wolf seemed to process stolen energy without contamination affecting bonds or mana channels yet. A cleansing occurring in a manner Luna didnʼt completely understand but that was undeniably beneficial.

Was her wolf different from Lioraʼs Bashe in ways going beyond simple specialization in elemental absorption?

Maybe it was the shadow element itself?

Or maybe it was something about the wolf specifically. Some property of its unique nature that made it immune to contamination that affected other absorbing creatures.

Or maybe, and this was the thought that worried her, maybe the corruption was just hiding. Operating on a deeper level… Accumulating in places she couldnʼt see yet.

She took it with appropriate caution, recognizing that absence of symptoms didnʼt guarantee the problem didnʼt exist.

Perhaps she hadnʼt felt them yet because her absorption was slower or less direct. A difference in methodology meaning contamination accumulated at a rate that hadnʼt reached a perceptible threshold yet?

For Lunaʼs limited knowledge there was no definitive answer.

So she maintained vigilance over her own condition while continuing to permit some absorption to operate. Because the tactical benefit was too valuable to sacrifice based on an hypothetical concern.

But sheʼd be watching... Ready to cut off absorption the moment she detected contamination beginning.

Better to catch it early, before it became a problem requiring outside intervention and she became a liability like Ren had been in Larissaʼs story when corruption took him.

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Luna and Liora had powerful absorption, yet even without it…

Larissa seemed to be quite effective despite her fairy being generally more defensive by nature and better for tactical positioning than direct offense.

But now that light had emerged as the default most effective element against mutants, sheʼd shifted to a more aggressive role exploiting the elemental advantage she possessed.

Pure light projectiles cut through corrupt creatures with ease other elements didnʼt match. Maybe an inherent purification in the attack causing damage exceeding what raw power alone would explain.

And against creatures that were fundamentally corrupt, that purification was more devastating than any physical damage could be. All the other allies close to Ren were sustaining formation.

Taro with his Terror and Beetle still providing solid defensive support. Their armored bulk creating a physical barrier that channeled enemy movement into kill zones.

Liu contributed area control that slowed enemy approaches. Plus the groups of students from Roranʼs team, girls like Sora and Mira, and professional guards. All found themselves in joint defensive formation operating well considering the adverse circumstances.

The coordination theyʼd perfected during training was now being applied. And despite real combatʼs stress, they performed with professionalism justifying the confidence Ren had placed in them.

Ren had empowered them and that plus the training was paying off. They werenʼt panicking and werenʼt breaking formation.

But exhaustion was still widespread and obvious.

In how movements became slower. In how reactions that should be instantaneous now required additional fraction of second to process. An accumulation of fatigue that couldnʼt be denied regardless of how strong determination was.

Even Renʼs parents, whoʼd been fighting alongside him with their Silver 3 tortoises and plants matured beyond the first maturation that the failed cultivation gives, were now beginning to run out of capacity to extract and process mana at rates sustaining continuous combat.

Not that their reserves were completely exhausted… But their conversion efficiency had fallen dramatically too.

They were older and not as resilient as some of the gold rank students. Bodies that had accumulated decades of wear now being pushed beyond safe operational limits. But they kept fighting... Because their son was here, because students he talked them about growing up were here and because retreat wasnʼt an option when family was at stake.

And Ren saw it. Saw his fatherʼs hands shaking between techniques. Saw his motherʼs breathing becoming labored.

He wanted to tell them to rest, to withdraw to safety and to let him handle this.

But he also knew they wouldnʼt listen. Knew that suggesting it would only hurt them and would make them feel useless when feeling useful was the only thing keeping them going.

So he said nothing...

Master Lin, whoʼd been operating on multiple fronts almost simultaneously and coordinating defenses while directly contributing to threat elimination, executed a kick contacting with a mutantʼs head with force that completely tore the appendage from the body.

It was demonstration of amplified physical power that few could equal. The technique was perfect. An optimal impact with devastating force. The mutantʼs head didnʼt just separate, it exploded into fragments that scattered across the battlefield.

But three more beasts immediately advanced to fill the void.

And while Lin recovered from the kickʼs extension, others began devouring the fallen mutantʼs corpse with voracity, communicating a hunger going beyond simple feeding instinct.

It was disturbing in implications about what exactly they were facing.

Were they feeding to gain strength? To absorb the corrupted energy from the fallen? Or was it just mindless hunger driving them to consume anything organic regardless of source?

Lin didnʼt know. And not knowing was itself disturbing. Because unknown enemy capabilities were the most dangerous kind.