STRIKER: Independent Beast Tamer

Underground Tunnel

The middle-aged man recalled the snake. If he didn’t do that, he would become a cripple. The snake disappeared from the spot and returned to the mental zone.

Jeremy asked, ”What about the other two?”

The middle-aged man was scared, so he obediently answered.

Jeremy learned that the remaining two took another turn to escape. Jeremy swiftly ended the life of the middle-aged man before chasing after the last two.

Meanwhile

Melinda saved her team from the criminals. They were ambushed earlier, and the Tier-4 Beast Tamers were injured. Fortunately, she arrived in time to save them.

Then, they collected the corpses before returning to the surface. Theo and Frey were already waiting there with the officials.

They had already identified that the deceased man was part of the criminal gang when Melinda and her team came to the surface. They handed over the corpses to the officials.

The officials were two old men from the city office. There are many officials in the office; they go to help the Beast Tamers when they receive a request. This time, these two old men came.

The two old men began to check the corpses to identify them. They found tattoos on their forearms. The tattoo design matched the criminal organization.

Melinda then thought about Jeremy Night. He was not here.

”Where is he?” she asked Freya.

”Who?” Freya asked back.

”Jeremy Night. I told him to bring back the corpse,” she said.

”No one came back from the tunnel. You guys are the first,” Theo said.

Melinda’s expression changed. She looked towards the officials.

”My team members were injured. I’m going to send them back to the organization. The rest of us will continue with the mission,” she said.

The two officials agreed. They saw that the two Tier-4 Beast Tamers were injured as well and needed treatment. Melinda then told the Tier-5 Beast Tamers to continue the mission.

They could take Theo and Freya with them. She would join them later after finding Jeremy Night. The officials collected the corpses into storage before leaving.

They calculated the merits of the Red Moon Chamber Team and praised them as well.

The Red Moon Chamber was doing better than the major Beast Taming Forces. The team was relaxed; the City Governors wouldn’t target the Red Moon Chamber anymore.

Creak!

Melinda then opened the hatch before going down into the underground tunnel. She followed the underground path.

Soon, she found the body of the middle-aged man killed by Jeremy’s blade.

But there was no sign of Jeremy Night here. She looked ahead and found traces of footprints.

She communicated with her lifeline beast, which confirmed that the footprints had recently appeared. She realized they must be the footprints of Jeremy Night, so she followed them.

By following the footprints of Jeremy Night, she found more and more corpses. In one particular spot, she saw seven headless corpses on the ground. Seeing that, she was stunned.

”What was the kid up to?” she asked herself.

She then noticed their arms. It was the tattoo of the skull. It belonged to the Skull Gang. Her eyes flashed with killing intent.

She didn’t know whether the criminals found Jeremy or Jeremy found them. Then, with the help of her lifeline beast, she continued to follow the trail.

She then saw the corpses of a snake beast and its beast tamer. She once again saw the tattoo and confirmed that he was a Skull Gang member as well.

Since Jeremy Night was killing the Skull Gang members, she decided to chase after him. She didn’t plan on taking the corpses back to the surface.

If others came to know that they were hunting down the Skull Gang members, it would attract unwanted attention.

They had already handed over enough corpses. If they brought in the Skull Gang members, the Red Moon Chamber could face possible attacks from the criminal organization again.

Time goes by...

Jeremy killed the last two members. They were ready to escape through the hatch, but he was able to catch them in time. His blade was drenched in blood.

The drainage water had dirtied his clothes. Instead of using the hatch above to leave, he decided to go back and use the hatch in the park. After going there, he could use the facilities in the park to clean himself.

Swoosh!

Just as he was moving through the underground tunnel, his senses felt someone else coming. His eyes gleamed with a twinkle. He readied his katana blade.

When he was about to turn a corner, a figure flashed before his eyes. His eyes caught a glimpse of Senior Melinda. So, he didn’t use his katana to attack.

”Sister,” Jeremy uttered.

Melinda saw Jeremy Night.

”Phew!” Jeremy heaved a sigh of relief.

”What happened? I saw corpses on the way,” Melinda asked.

Hearing that, Jeremy began to explain how he found the Skull Gang members.

A few minutes later...

Melinda sighed in relief. She was worried that Jeremy Night was caught in a trap. Fortunately, he had killed each one of them.

”Let’s go back,” Melinda said.

Jeremy and Melinda started going back. Twenty minutes later, both of them came to the surface. Then, they each found a facility to change their clothes.

Shortly afterwards, both of them traveled together to meet with the rest of the team.

Jeremy was surprised that she had the same thoughts as him. Neither of them wanted to use the corpses of the Skull Gang members.

”I wanted to fight against the corrupted beasts,” Jeremy said to her.

Melinda smiled and said, ”You cut down Tier-4 Beast Tamers. You can do solo missions. But the problem is something else.”

”If you shine too bright, the other forces will target you. Before you can become a higher-tier beast tamer, they will try to kill you.”

”The criminals have one backer in the Human Alliance. Because of it, we are facing such problems. Imagine what if other forces had someone in the Human Alliance,” she said.

Jeremy’s eyes flickered with a glint.