This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The words rang through the chamber like a death knell.

Everyone's breath hitched. A cold, paralyzing dread gripped their hearts as the deep, amused voice echoed through their minds.

Unfortunately, since the portal was opened up facing the relic core so that it can be easily tossed in and taken away, they weren't able to see who, or what, was behind Aura.

Moreover, since whoever had spoken was behind Aura they couldn't use her perspective to see who the newcomer was either.

Last they had checked, there wasn't anybody behind Aura…she was supposed to be the only living thing in that room—aside from the suspected Demigod-level Abyssal creature in the coffin.

The sudden realization hit like a sledgehammer.

Had it woken up?

Benji's hands trembled, his focus on maintaining the spatial channel wavering for the first time. If that thing had truly awakened, their entire plan was finished before it had even begun.

Kain's entire body tensed. The sheer presence seeping through the portal was overwhelming, suffocating—enough to make even Nadia stiffen.

However, after a few agonizing seconds, he noticed something odd.

While the pressure coming through was enormous, it wasn't as suffocating as what they felt through their connection with Aura when she had first approached the coffin. It was strong—far too strong for comfort—but not enough to be that thing. Not enough to be the slumbering monstrosity they had feared.

Still, it was powerful.

Aura, paws still gripping the Relic Core, turned around slowly, her small body taut with tension.

As she rotated, the team's perspective shifted through their connection with her. The portal itself remained static, fixed on the core, but now, finally, they could see who—or what—had spoken.

And their hearts sank.

Standing there, at the entrance of the chamber, was the lead Abyssal creature from the right hallway.

The one overseeing the construction of the horrifying gate made of fresh bodies.

A being equivalent to an indigo-grade spiritual creature or 7-star beast-tamer. However, likely due to their powers to corrupt others, Abyssal creatures were far more threatening than spiritual creatures and beast-tamers of the same level.

Therefore, although it was only one level higher than Aura on paper, none of them had much hope of Aura defeating it. Especially since fighting wasn't exactly Aura's strong suit.

Kain's mind reeled. That thing had been stationed at the Gate. It wasn't supposed to leave its post.

So why was it here?

The creature loomed over the chamber, its massive frame covered in the same eerie, bone-like armour that shimmered faintly in the dim light. Its single golden eye gleamed with dark amusement as it took in the scene before it…

Aura, caught mid-theft.

The Relic Core, moments from being stolen.

And an unstable, shimmering spatial rift directly in front of her.

A low, grating chuckle reverberated from its throat. "How very interesting… I was going to merely check on the core's progress, but instead, I find a little rodent trying to steal it."

Aura froze, her fur bristling. The core pulsed in her grip, so close—so damn close—to being free. But now, she had a much bigger problem.

Through the mental link, Kain could feel Benji's panic rising.

"Aura, move," Benji hissed. "Get the core out of there. Now!"

But the Abyssal creature took a slow, deliberate step forward, but somehow this step seemed to shift the space subtly, causing it to leap forward by meters in an instant. Seeing that this thing was either ridiculously fast or was capable of manipulating space, she no longer had the confidence to get the core out.

"There's no need to run, little one," it said smoothly. "You've already done such a fine job, so why don't you hand that over before you get yourself hurt?" Despite its terrifying appearance, the words of the Abyssal creature seemed to have a slight coercive ability to prompt the listener to do as instructed. A mentally weak creature probably would have already dropped the core already.

'High-grade Abyssal creatures are nothing like those mindless lower-grade Abyssal creatures we saw in the breeding pit or the corrupted. Their threat-level was incomparable.'

After all, while the strength and corruptive abilities of creatures related to the Abyss are a huge threat, there was a huge difference between a mindless and intelligent enemy.

If anything, Kain would prefer to face a physically strong idiot, than a cunning, but weaker, genius.

With the latter, you may not even know how you died…

Aura's tiny paws clenched around the core as she tried to resist the coercion in the opponent's words.

She knew she couldn't fight this thing. Not alone.

Benji, voice tense, whispered through the link. "Aura… you have to toss it into the portal. Now."

Aura didn't need to be told twice.

With every ounce of her strength, she wrenched the core from the weakened tendrils.

The Abyssal creature's eye flickered.

It lunged.

Aura spun, hurling the core toward the waiting portal. At the same time, she also dove in between the lunging abyssal creature and the core, using her body as a shield.

For a split second, the world seemed to freeze.

The core tumbled through the air, the space rift flickering, unstable from the sudden rush of movement.

Then—

A blur of motion.

The Abyssal creature moved faster than anything Aura had ever seen.

Its clawed hand slashed toward the core—

And missed.

The core passed cleanly through the portal, vanishing into the waiting hands of the team outside.

Benji gasped as he felt the weight of the core land in his grasp. "Got it!"

But there was no time to celebrate.

The Abyssal creature's eye flared with fury. Its attack hadn't stopped when the core disappeared—

It was still coming.

Straight for Aura.

"AURA, COME TO THE PORTAL!" Benji roared.

But the spatial portal was collapsing. The large amount of energy in the core had caused the connection to begin to destabilize.

Through the flickering link, they could all see Aura, her tiny form scrambling backward, desperately trying to evade the massive, clawed hand slamming down toward her.

The portal snapped shut.

Cutting off their connection.

Silence.

The team was left standing in the ruins, the Relic Core safely in their hands, but their hearts pounding with terror.

But after a second of stunned silence, everyone, aside from Benji, let out a cheer. The mission wasn't a perfect success since Aura's split had had to be sacrificed. But Aura's strength could be recovered with enough time. What was really important was that they'd gotten the core!

Nadia approached Benji who was still in a daze and appeared to be frozen due to his distress. She patted him on the back and comforted him, "I know you must be sad since losing the split must be painful to Aura and will cause a temporary loss of strength, but the most important thing was that we stopped their plan. I will make sure to report your contributions to the order and they will definitely arrange proper compensation."

However, Benji still did not reply to Nadia's words of comfort, still staring blankly into the air. Suddenly, his body began to tremble slightly, barely perceptible, before his shaking and convulsions grew greater and greater.

Then Benji collapsed as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, convulsing violently. His body spasmed, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps, before he coughed up a thick mixture of blood and foam. His entire form trembled as if he had just suffered a catastrophic backlash.

Kain, Claudia, and Clara all stopped their celebration after hearing Nadia scream and seeing the current state of Benji.

Seeing Benji's state, they all immediately checked on Aura's main body which hadn't moved from the corner since its split was being controlled by its consciousness.

But what they saw made their blood run cold.

Aura's real body lay curled in on itself, her golden fur matted with sweat and black patches of what looked like corrosion. Her tiny frame twitched sporadically, as if locked in an invisible battle, her whiskers flicking as she gasped for air. Unlike Benji, whose backlash was severe but didn't seem to be life-threatening, Aura's condition did not look promising and the black spots were spreading by the second.

"Damn it," Kain hissed under his breath. His hands clenched into fists as he helplessly watched Aura and Benji, the person he was closest to on the team, writhe about in pain. "We need to do something—fast."

Nadia immediately knelt beside Aura, and after wearing a pair of gloves that glowed with sigils, she pressed two fingers to the soft fur on the creature's side. Her expression darkened. "Her energy flow is completely erratic. Whatever corruption this is… it's sinking deeper by the second."

"Can we purify it?" Claudia asked. At her words, Kain was already reaching for a small vial of cleansing elixir, a weaker version of the Vessel of Purification, from his space ring. "If we act fast—"

"No," Nadia cut in, shaking her head. "It's unlikely that anything we'd have on hand would be effective enough to treat this. Not to mention that this doesn't seem like ordinary corruption. Usually, when a contract gets injured or corrupted, it doesn't affect the beast-tamer like this. There should be no backlash from injury, only death. But Aura isn't dead yet…I don't know. If we use the wrong method, we could make it worse."

Any lingering joy they may have had about obtaining the core was now gone. Their plan had succeeded, but at what cost?