Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 278 - Tamer’s Battle Week - 16

Luna, Mayo, and Matilda advanced with firm steps toward the center of the arena. Unlike Kleinʼs ostentation or the princessesʼ elegance, Lunaʼs team displayed a sobriety that bordered on severity, almost military in their march.

”If they managed to surpass the princesses, I doubt the tragic nobleʼs kid can beat Klein,” murmured a student near Ren. ”That Phantom Claw...”

”Donʼt underestimate Luna,” Ren replied, interrupting the analysis. ”Her team has the best coordination of all that have gone before.”

Taro nodded, remembering the demonstrations of power they had witnessed from the Starweaver heiress. ”If thereʼs anyone who can beat that time, itʼs her.”

Luna invoked her shadow wolf. Mayo brought forth her cloud bird, a creature with blue-grayish plumage that immediately began generating a faint mist around it. Matilda completed the trio with her tree turtle, a slow but resilient being whose shell carried a small dwarf tree.

The three rejected the standard arsenal; Larissa had provided them with three spears.

Ren noticed the different quality of their tips.

”Elephant Bull horn,” he identified. ”Not as powerful as Qilin ones, but sufficient to damage the Big Stone Lurker.”

When Larissa had offered them, Luna had slightly frowned, an indication that she probably would have preferred the academyʼs conventional weapons instead of her cousinʼs help.

But Larissa knew perfectly well the Starweaversʼ economic situation and the reason for it, so she had ”kindly” insisted until Luna accepted.

Matilda and Mayo had taken the other two, showing no reservations.

”Beginning in three, two, one...” Yang counted.

The auxiliariesʼ containment retracted, releasing the Big Stone Lurker.

The teamʼs signature strategy deployed quickly as in previous combats. Mayo directed her cloud bird upward, generating a denser curtain of mist that began to gradually descend over the battlefield. Matilda, meanwhile, made her tree turtle use a defensive formation, creating a barrier between the monster and the three students.

Luna didnʼt wait. She ordered her wolf to attack quickly; it instantly disappeared into her shadow as if it had never existed.

”Where is it?” asked a confused student.

”Everywhere,” replied Ren, pointing to the Big Stone Lurker.

As if responding to his words, a black flash emerged from one of the cracks in the monsterʼs carapace. The shadow wolf partially emerged, only the tip of its maw materializing outside the darkness, biting ferociously before disappearing again.

The Stone Lurker roared, a sound like grinding rocks. Another black flash, another precise bite, this time in a different crack. And then another. And another.

”Itʼs jumping between the shadows of the cracks,” Ren explained to companions from other grades and halls, genuinely impressed at never having seen such a beast in combat. ”It can only bring part of its maw out of the shadows because the spaces are too narrow, but itʼs attacking the internal tissues directly.”

Min let out a whistle of nostalgic admiration. ”Thatʼs... terrifying as always. Imagine facing something that can bite you from inside your clothes or armor. I wonder what one could do in such a case...?”

As if answering the question, the Big Stone Lurker began to shake violently, trying to dislodge the intruder inside it. The plates of its carapace rumbled against each other as they tried to crush anything trapped between them.

Luna briefly reappeared, emerging from the mist next to Mayo. ”Now,” she ordered simply.

Matilda commanded her tree turtle to advance.

The tree on the turtleʼs shell expanded, revealing its true nature by burying its roots in the ground. Hundreds of thin vegetable stakes then emerged, extending like living fences that quickly surrounded the Stone Lurker, gradually immobilizing it.

”Theyʼre trapping it!” Taro exclaimed enthusiastically. ”The turtle fixes the monster while the wolf distracts it with attacks from within.”

The stakes not only restricted the Lurkerʼs movement; each one began to glow with a greenish radiance, slowly absorbing the vitality of the stone beast. It was a slow and subtle but relentless process, like hundreds of thin stakes extracting the vital energy from the monster.

But the girls didnʼt intend to wait out the effect; they wanted to steal first place.

Luna, Mayo, and Matilda emerged from the mist, their Elephant Bull spears in hand. Taking advantage of the immobilization and distraction caused by the wolfʼs internal damage, they began to attack methodically, directing their weapons toward the points between plates.

The audience watched, hypnotized, as the mist bird formed a small vortex, a donut of mist around the monster that the girls entered and exited at different points.

It was a perfect combination of skill, tactics, and precise execution. The shadow wolf continued its fierce assault from within, emerging from increasingly numerous cracks to bite and immediately disappear, dodging the Lurkerʼs attempts to crush its snout.

But it was still a battle against time, difficult to win against the huge vitality.

Only 15 seconds remaining...

10 seconds...

5...

Finally, a different noise cut through the mist: the unmistakable sound of a dying roar. The mist gradually dissipated, revealing the Stone Lurker motionless, pierced by stakes and with countless cracks from which ”blood,” the creatureʼs vital fluid, flowed.

Luna emerged, her wolf materializing beside her with jaws stained with the same fluid. Mayo and Matilda joined her, their spears held with the precision of trained warriors.

”Victory for Team Seven of Group B,” announced Yang. There was a pause as he consulted the stopwatch.

”Time: exactly two minutes.”

The initial silence gave way to an explosion of applause and exclamations. They had matched Kleinʼs record! They hadnʼt beaten it, but neither had they fallen below it…

A perfect tie!

”Incredible,” said Min, shaking his head in amazement. ”Do you think we could do it if we tried to match on purpose? Finish in exactly two minutes?”

Ren observed Luna as she leaned on her spear, her expression as inscrutable as ever. ”No. And I think they just gave it their best. Two minutes is simply very close to the limit of what can be achieved against a Stone Lurker with their current beasts and the abilities of her team.”

”Either way,” Taro interjected with a smile, ”weʼre looking at an impressive record. Two minutes. I wonder if we can match it.”

Both their gazes automatically turned to Ren with a mischievous smile.

Renʼs mushrooms pulsed with a rhythm that his friends now recognized: it wasnʼt anxiety, nor excessive confidence, but calculating calm.

”Letʼs focus on executing our strategy first,” he finally said. ”If we donʼt mess it up...”

From the upper stands, two pairs of eyes observed with particular interest. Kassian Goldcrest, whose expression had transitioned from bewilderment to contained frustration at seeing the perfect tie. And Selphira Ashenway, whose lips curved into an enigmatic smile while her gaze briefly drifted toward the boy with the luminescent mushrooms.

The stage was set for the next confrontation, with the bar raised to heights that few could dream of reaching.