Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 937 - Taming Rationing - 3

Lin retreated toward Renʼs groupʼs defensive circle.

Maintaining an advanced position was no longer sustainable when support had diminished.

She looked at Ren with an expression assessing his condition quickly. Professional observation identifying exhaustion signs he probably didnʼt completely recognize in himself.

And something else… A small resonance familiar from that battle where sheʼd fought him more seriously. She couldnʼt see the black marks on his chest but could already perceive them slightly. That black corruption trying to take root again. Now still barely perceptible... But present.

”Stop projecting your beasts externally,” she proposed with a tone that was directive without being authoritarian. ”Itʼs taking too much from you, better to use your beast with your body. Itʼs more efficient in terms of mana spent for results achieved.”

Ren responded with an objection having genuine tactical merit.

”That way I canʼt use larger techniques to defend more people simultaneously. The big projections permit me to cover an area that close combat doesnʼt reach.”

It was a valid argument Lin didnʼt dismiss without consideration. But she countered with logic prioritizing sustainability over maximum impact.

”Itʼs better if youʼre somewhat useful for a more prolonged time than considerably more useful but lasting much less. If you exhaust yourself completely now, you wonʼt be available when the situation deteriorates even more. And it definitely will deteriorate more before improving if nobody arrives to help us.”

Ren processed the evaluation for a few seconds before acknowledging with a small nod… understanding of the underlying wisdom even if he didnʼt completely like it.

He fused with the Hydra. Permitting the beast characteristics to integrate with his human form in a transformation feeling natural by now, years of practice not in vain.

The changes were immediate. His skin taking on faint scales, his eyes shifting to reflect serpentine qualities and his senses sharpening as the Hydraʼs perception merged with his own. Power flooding through systems designed to channel it efficiently.

But also restraint. The fusion was contained, more concentrated. Not an explosive release of mana but controlled application of sustainable force. Like switching from sprint to marathon pace. Less impressive but more relaxed.

Lin began guiding him in close-range mutant elimination with full physical or at most cheap short-range attacks maximizing efficiency.

Techniques costing a fraction of what distance projections required but equally lethal when correctly applied. Clawed strikes infused with light element, or hits channeling venomous energy that was actually compressed mana dissolving inside structures. Even sweeps or throws using small help from earth manipulation to carry and crush multiple enemies simultaneously by ramming them into each other.

It was a good strategy adjustment recognizing the reality that attrition war favored the side that could maintain pressure during extended period.

The approach proved quite effective in terms of mana spent versus mutants eliminated ratio.

Ren killed more mutants per unit of energy now. He could feel the difference immediately, the drain was slowing.

This could work… This could let him fight for some more hours if needed. Could give them chance at surviving until reinforcements arrived or the invasion exhausted itself.

But if they didnʼt...

Lin mustʼve seen his hesitation. ”Youʼre doing as much as you can.”

His teacher was right… Yet Ren was already starting to see the lack of overall impact.

The absence of his large-area skills that had been simultaneously clearing groups of mutants meant the elimination was becoming slower in aggregate pace even if more sustainable.

It was a trade-off they had to accept when the alternative was complete defensive collapse when resources were prematurely exhausted.

But seeing the consequences in real time was different from understanding the theory. Where heʼd once cleared dozen mutants with a single skill, now he killed them one at a time. Where barriers of earth had once channeled entire waves into kill zones, now he intercepted individual threats as they came.

Even if he could fight ten times longer with this approach, if he was killing mutants at one-third the rate, the net effect was probably negative because other defenders couldnʼt compensate for the lost area denial.

The mutants were recognizing the situation too... The human defenders were weakening, so they pressed harder.

And the defense line bent further. Straining toward a breaking point that was approaching whether they acknowledged it or not.

They werenʼt far from being exhausted.

The teachers were almost completely depleted too. Instructors whoʼd begun the battle with confidence in their capabilities now operated on reserves bordering on dangerous.

You could see it in their movements. The hesitation, the careful rationing of every attack. They were mostly professionals. Had fought in wars and had experience managing resources during extended conflicts. But experience didnʼt create mana from nothing.

They were running on fumes and everyone knew it. The students could see their teachers struggling and started to sense the fear beneath professional exteriors.

If the teachers fell, what hope did the students have?

Even Yang, whose Behemoth had been a defensive pillar literally crushing hundreds of mutants, was close to having to withdraw his beast before the bond broke on its own and left him exposed.

It was a decision he hated contemplating, because he knew the Behemothʼs absence would create a gap in the defensive line that would be difficult to compensate for with the few resources remaining.

The Behemoth had been an anchor, an immovable point around which the defense organized. Its massive body blocking approaches and its skills creating barriers that channeled enemy movement. Its mere presence had been deterring mutants from committing fully to attacks. Remove it and the entire tactical structure collapsed. Defenders would have to reorganize and establish new coordination all while under sustained assault from enemies who wouldnʼt give them time to adapt.

It would be chaos and chaos in a defensive battle usually meant massacre.

Yang stared at his beast. At the cracks forming in its stone skin and the way it moved slower with each passing minute. He had maybe ten minutes, maybe even less before the choice was made for him and the bond shattered from overextension.

Ten minutes to find a solution that didnʼt exist.

But heʼd keep trying anyway… Because the alternative was unacceptable.

Yet the situation escalated dramatically before that.

There was a breach in the upper defense. A perimeter section supposed to be secured failed when other combatants maintaining it finally succumbed to exhaustion and were overwhelmed by numbers exceeding their capacity to contain.

It happened fast…

One moment the line was holding, next it was gone. Sudden collapse as three defenders fell simultaneously and mutants poured through the gap.

Some mutants managed to climb to the top of the stands where non-combatant civilians had been evacuated.

Believing until now that the elevation would provide security against threats appearing primarily at ground level. That they could shelter here while stronger people handled the fighting below.

They were wrong.

The mutants broke through the rock barrier established as the final protection line. The penetration creating panic among the vulnerable population that didnʼt have effective means of defending themselves against Silver-rank creatures now directly threatening them.

Screaming and pushing each other in desperation to escape. Parents grabbing their children and elderly being knocked down in the chaos.

The civilians had beasts even if they were weak.

Iron and Bronze ranks that in normal circumstances wouldnʼt be sent to combat against serious threats. But desperation forced action.

Ordinary people fighting with everything they had available to protect their families and neighbors. It was bravery that was admirable even if effectiveness was limited. Resistance buying precious seconds until help could arrive from main defensive positions.

More capable tamers responded to the emergency as quickly as they could disengage from their own confrontations.

But it took time, and in those minutes before help arrived, people died. Were injured or traumatized in ways that would never fully heal.

The smell hit Ren before he saw the aftermath. Blood… Lots of it. Mixed with the wrongness of corruption. The acrid stench of dissolved flesh where mutant attacks had landed. The copper taste in the air that came from violence on a scale that overwhelmed his senses.

Then he saw the bodies. Civilians whoʼd been caught, partially devoured, left in pieces that would haunt dreams of everyone who witnessed them.

And among them, people he recognized. Families of students whoʼd come to watch the exams. There were casualties among those whoʼd defended the last position before reinforcements arrived.

And more disturbingly for him, among the wounded were members of Renʼs team. Specifically those whoʼd run out of mana during the previous battle phase and had been withdrawn to positions supposed to be safe.

Safe...The word felt like mockery now, like a cruel joke. There was no safe, the mutants were everywhere and they were winning.

Ron, whoʼd been one of the first entering the final exam battle before everything collapsed into the present crisis, received a large chest cut when a mutant reached him before he could appropriately evade.

It was a wound that was critical in depth. Damage to tissues and possibly internal organs requiring immediate medical attention or risk of death from internal bleeding that couldnʼt stop without intervention.

Ron was conscious. Barely. Eyes wide with shock, pain and fear. Hands pressed against the wound trying to stem bleeding that wouldnʼt stop. Breathing in shallow gasps that made the cut open wider with each inhalation.

He needed a healer urgently.

But most of those with healing capabilities were completely oversaturated. Divided among dozens of wounded all needing attention that couldnʼt simultaneously be provided to everyone.

The seed in Renʼs core began vibrating stronger.