Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 439: Chapter 439 - Tamers War - Hidden Advance (2/2)

The smell emanating from the container was unlike anything they had encountered before, a combination of rotting vegetation and chemical sharpness that seemed to assault the senses from multiple directions.

”God, that’s disgusting!” Luna instinctively moved away, her wolf-enhanced nose clearly detecting something horrible. ”What is that thing?”

”The new fermented essence,” Ren responded with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ”Your ’Mooshito’ will help us eliminate it afterward. It will completely change our scent.”

The little mushroom in his hair pulsed with what seemed like agreement.

”And we have to put that on ourselves?” Liora looked at the vial with horror.

Her Will o’ Wisp flickered nervously, its pale blue flame dimming as if the smell affected even spiritual creatures.

”Just a few drops this time,” Ren began applying the liquid, trying not to grimace at the smell. ”It will confuse any beast that’s tracking our original scent.”

The application process was torture, each drop feeling like it burned his nostrils and throat. But he forced himself to continue.

”Wait,” Luna covered her nose, ”why isn’t it a less aggressive smell, like the... previous ones?”

She remembered the earlier scent disguises Ren had used, which while unpleasant, had been bearable. This new concoction seemed designed to assault.

Ren smiled with genuine cunning. ”Because like you, the trackers won’t want to follow the new fragrance...”

The kids had been sending their beasts with previous scents in different directions. They would manifest them for a few minutes, send them running in random opposite directions, and then cancel and recover them.

”That’s...” Larissa paused, processing the strategy, ”actually quite brilliant. But is it necessary? Surely they’re still following the other false scent trails.”

”It’s to be safe. I don’t want them to follow us to the place and end up getting infected and drained of energy too,” Ren finished applying the essence and passed the vial to the girls.

The logic was sound, but the execution was nauseating.

Luna was the last to apply the essence, and she was practically holding her breath while doing it. ”If this doesn’t work, I’m going to kill you.”

Her threat lacked real menace, delivered through a face scrunched in disgust that made her look more like an angry kitten than a fearsome warrior.

”It will work,” Ren assured her while touching the collars Larissa had obtained for them. ”And these will hide our mana signatures. ’Mooshito’ says they’re... intriguing.”

The small mushroom emerged slightly from Ren’s neck, examining the collar with what appeared to be genuine curiosity. Its tiny form pulsed with interest as it studied the magical construction.

”Intriguing?” Larissa asked, unconsciously touching her own collar.

”I’m not sure what it means exactly,” Ren admitted, ”but it says the construction is fascinating.” He touched his head, remembering the mental conversation he’d had with the amusingly nicknamed mushroom that was starting to adopt the silly name.

”Mother warned me they wouldn’t work perfectly against a powerful mana signature,” explained Larissa.

The limitation was important to understand. Against weaker trackers, the collars would provide perfect concealment. Against stronger opponents, they would only provide partial protection.

”How powerful?” Luna touched her collar, feeling the subtle vibration of mana working to mask her presence.

”High Silver, probably,” Ren shrugged. ”But our signatures are still in range to be almost completely hidden.”

For their current mission, the protection should be more than adequate. The guards pursuing them were capable, but not at the level where the collars would fail completely.

”Perfect,” Liora sighed with relief. ”For a moment I thought we’d have to knock out someone else if they discovered us.”

The group set off again, but Ren couldn’t stop thinking about the lie he’d had to tell his parents to escape. He had also told them to help cook for the neighbors with the supplies he had tried to buy from Liora, but the girl had given them to him as a gift, indignant that he pondered she would charge him for them.

He still didn’t understand why Liora had gotten so angry about that, but he had appreciated the gift wholeheartedly. Cooking the food supplies would be useful for keeping his parents busy and worry-free... at least for a few hours.

The memory of their trusting faces when he’d explained his ”plans” for the day made his stomach churn with guilt. They believed in him completely, and he was using that trust to deceive them.

”What are you thinking about?” Larissa asked, noticing his silence.

”My parents,” Ren admitted, his voice heavy with regret. ”I hate lying to them.”

The words came out more emotional than he’d intended, revealing the depth of his internal conflict. His parents had sacrificed everything for him, and here he was repaying them with deception.

”It’s for a good cause,” Liora said softly, her Will o’ Wisp glowing more warmly as if responding to her emotions. ”If we don’t control the spores...”

”I know,” Ren sighed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of responsibility. ”But that doesn’t make me feel better.”

They ran in silence for several more minutes, the empty streets creating strange echoes of their footsteps.

”You know,” Ren said while navigating through a particularly desolate street, ”the city doesn’t feel so big when you can run this fast and ’jump’. The curfew in this area and the packed shelters make moving around much easier.”

The evacuation protocols had cleared most of the civilian population from their path, creating clear corridors through what would normally be bustling neighborhoods.

”Except for the occasional soldier who has finished enlisting and comes out of his house to go support the bridge,” Luna observed, pointing to a solitary figure in the distance, ”all the streets are empty.”

Another lone soldier moved to join the resistance. But not many did anymore...

”Seeing the bustling city like this makes me sad,” Larissa murmured, looking at the closed windows and streets that would normally be full of merchants and citizens.

”I agree,” Liora said, her voice softer than usual. ”It’s like life has been drained from everything.”

Her Will o’ Wisp dimmed in sympathy, its pale flame reflecting the melancholy that had settled over the group.

Luna seemed more contemplative and looked down while walking. ”It reminds me of the area of my family that we lost,” she said finally. ”How few people circulate in that area too.”

The comparison brought back painful memories of territory lost, of homes abandoned and communities scattered. It was a preview of what their entire kingdom could become if they failed.

Larissa immediately put a hand on Luna’s shoulder. ”Together we’re going to change it for the better,” she said with firmness. ”This won’t be the norm.”

The conviction in her voice carried the weight of royal authority, the confidence of someone raised to believe that positive change was not just possible, but inevitable with proper effort.

Luna nodded silently, but Ren could see that Larissa’s words had had the desired effect. There was something in the way Luna straightened slightly that suggested hope wasn’t completely lost.

They advanced for another while... The air began to change, becoming heavier, more charged with the energy of the war being waged not far away.

It was then that Ren stopped abruptly, raising a hand for the others to stop as well.

”What?” Larissa whispered.

”Abyssal energy in the sky,” Ren murmured, Mooshito emerging more from his hair and orienting toward a specific direction. ”It seems the first patrols from the flanks of the Goldcrest army march are watching from here.”

All four crouched instinctively, Luna expanding the shadows around them to provide additional cover.

”Can we go around it?” Liora asked, her Will o’ Wisp pulsing nervously.

Ren studied the situation, analyzing the energy patterns Mooshito was detecting. The little mushroom’s sensitivity to abyssal corruption made it an invaluable early warning system.

”We could, but... from the air their visibility area is large... if we dig through our mana would be... No, we’ll have to attack it when it sees us and comes down to intercept.”

He prepared to explain a coordinated attack plan in case the abyssal patrol detected them, but before he could finish his assessment, something changed.

The energy signature’s behavior shifted.

”Wait,” he murmured, frowning. ”It’s moving strangely.”

Indeed, the abyssal energy signature began moving away quickly, heading toward the center of what Ren assumed was the army’s main formation.

Something was drawing the scout back to the main force with unusual urgency.

”Looks like their round is over,” Luna observed, ”or maybe they called it back.”

”Or they’re regrouping for something big,” Ren added.