Genetic Engineer in a Tamer's World

The void emanating from the Umbra Stalker was not merely a lack of light; it was a hungry, predatory absence that sought to unmake the environment’s molecules.

As the Ravager-rank creature descended upon Kale Ardentis, the darkness felt like a physical weight, pressing against his lungs and chilling the blood within his veins.

The ground beneath his feet, the ancient roots of the Greenroot Guild’s tree, began to shrivel and rot as the corrosive darkness element ate away at the wood’s mana. To any other Apprentice-rank Awakened, this would have been the final moment of their short life.

However, Kale Ardentis was no ordinary Apprentice.

Even as the shadow claws, shimmering with a lethal obsidian sheen, inched closer to his throat, Kale’s mind remained a steel fortress of cold calculation. He had already stood before the overwhelming majesty of a Red Dragon, a Tyrant-rank calamity that had incinerated his entire village.

He had looked into the eyes of a being that could shake the world with a single roar. To a man who had faced a Deific Beast and survived through regression, a Ravager-rank Stalker was a formidable foe, but it was not an object of hopeless worship.

Kale did not lose hope; instead, his brain operated at a higher capacity, analysing the Stalker’s mana fluctuations through his Lesser Mana Manipulation skill. In that fraction of a second where death loomed, Kale came up with an ingenious trick.

He knew he could not defeat a Ravager in a head-on clash of power, but he could exploit the creature’s own heightened senses. Kale didn’t just channel his mana; he synchronised his mana with the residue of the Dragon Bane title and the Beast Force pathways he had carved into his body.

He forced his mana to vibrate at a very specific, high frequency. It was similar to the frequency Neo used for the concentrated Rattling Roar.

Still, instead of projecting it outward, he kept the vibration contained within a one-centimetre layer around his skin. This created an artificial mana armour that hummed with the phantom presence of a much higher-rank creature.

Beside him, Neo was a portrait of draconic arrogance. The Nemesis Hydra was palm-sized, yet it held its three heads high, six eyes blazing with a golden light that defied the surrounding ink.

Neo did not care about the rank difference. It was a creature born from a million failed simulations, built upon the genes of the strongest beings in existence.

To the Hydra, the Umbra Stalker was not a superior; it was merely an obstacle that lacked the proper bloodline dignity. Neo lunged forward, not to flee, but to meet the shadow claws with its own tiny, shimmering green scales.

The Hydra’s pride was a tangible force, a lion-like spirit contained in a reptilian frame, willing to fight until the very atoms of its being were scattered.

The Umbra Stalker paused. Its yellow, reptilian eyes flickered with a visible trace of alarm and surprise. Through its deep connection to the element of darkness, it could feel the metaphysical weight emanating from the tiny three-headed creature.

It sensed the Draconic foundation, but there was something purer and more vicious than anything it had encountered even in the deeper trenches. The Hydra’s bloodline was an anomaly that sent ripples of confusion through the Stalker’s primitive but powerful mind. For a moment, the predator felt as if it were the prey.

It felt like it was staring at a nascent trace of supremacy that hadn’t grown large enough to devour it yet. But Neo’s courage and arrogance, while magnificent, were ultimately meaningless in the face of the Stalker’s raw power. The rank gap was a wall of absolute force.

The Umbra Stalker let out a soul-shaking hiss and redoubled its efforts, the shadows around it hardening into spikes of solid darkness. Kale’s mana armour began to crack under the pressure, and the rot of the darkness element began to bite into his Hexarion skin.

The daggers in his hands, though enhanced, felt like toothpicks against a tidal wave. Kale’s breath became ragged as he felt his strength siphoned away by the Stalker’s field. It felt like he and his Hydra were at the end of their rope, two sparks of light about to be extinguished by the encroaching night.

Just as the Stalker’s main claw was about to pierce Kale’s chest, a voice echoed through the area, cutting through the silence of the Stalker’s void. It was a voice Kale never thought he would hear in a place like this.

”Disciple, I leave you alone for a few weeks, and you immediately find the most troublesome way to die. Truly, you are a handful.”

The voice was cold and aloof, carrying a weight of authority that made the very air solidify.

Kale’s eyes widened as the dark creature was suddenly frozen in absolute paralysis. The Umbra Stalker did not just stop; it recoiled, its form flickering violently as if struck by an invisible hammer. The Ravager-rank creature, which had been a lord of the battlefield, was now trembling.

It sensed an incomparable power that far outclassed its own, suppressing its very nature as a darkness beast. The Umbra Stalker turned its head, its eyes witnessing a sight that filled it with primal dread. Standing on a massive root not twenty meters away was a man with pale skin and handsome features, wearing the dark grey attire of a Fleshcrafter.

Lazek Oberon looked as bored as ever, but his eyes were glowing with a violent, dark flame that seemed to consume the Stalker’s shadows just by existing.

However, the Stalker was not looking at the man. It was staring at the entity that stood behind Lazek. It was a calamitous chimaera, a creature that looked like it had been stitched together from the nightmares of the world’s most twisted Artificer.

It stood five meters tall, possessing the torso of a mountain ape, the wings of a manticore, and the skin of a Dark Octagon that shimmered with an oily light. The chimaera’s head was a mess of multiple eyes and jagged fangs, leaking out thick green mana.

The pressure from this chimaera was so heavy that nearby Feral-rank beasts exploded from the sheer weight of the aura.

”Master?” Kale managed to gasp out, his body finally collapsing onto one knee as the Stalker’s pressure vanished completely.

Lazek did not look at Kale immediately. He kept his gaze fixed on the Umbra Stalker.

”A Ravager-rank Umbra Stalker. Not a bad specimen for a mid-tier experiment. You should be honoured, little ghost. You will be the first meal for my newest creation.”

Lazek waved his hand lazily. The calamitous chimaera behind him let out a discordant screech of a thousand voices and blurred. The chimaera’s speed was so immense that it left a trail of shattered air behind it.

The Umbra Stalker tried to merge into the ground to flee back into the safety of the deep roots, but it found the space around it completely sealed by Lazek’s dark flames, a cage of absolute heat and darkness.

The chimaera reached the Stalker in a heartbeat, relying entirely on raw, biological supremacy. It grabbed the Stalker with its massive arms and began to tear the darkness apart as if it were wet paper. The Stalker wailed, a sound that made the mercenaries cover their ears in agony, but the chimaera was relentless.

It bit into the Stalker’s core, its fangs injecting a necrotic mana that broke down the Stalker’s elemental form from the inside out. Kale watched the scene with a mix of awe and curiosity.

He noticed the structural similarities between the chimaera’s construction and the foundational principles he had been studying himself. Lazek had used the same octagon trait integration that Kale had used for Neo, but on a much larger scale suitable for a Grandmaster.

The chimaera was a masterpiece of Fleshcrafting, a biological war machine that made the Ravager look like an insect. Lazek finally turned his gaze toward Kale; the violent flames in his eyes receded, returning to their usual aloof state.

He walked toward his disciple, his steps silent upon the rotting wood. He stopped in front of Kale and looked at the green hair and the enhanced physique, then his eyes landed on Neo, who was currently hissing at the chimaera as it finished devouring the Stalker.

”You’ve changed,” Lazek noted calmly. ”And you succeeded, a three-headed Hydra. To think you circumvented that curse using a primitive hatchery. You really are a monster, Kale.”

The Cursed Tamer stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth.

He felt the bond with Neo thrumming with excitement at the sight of the Grandmaster’s chimaera. ”I did what I had to. Why are you here, Master? Aren’t the Beast tides hitting the borders”

Lazek snorted. ”The borders can handle themselves for a few days. I have enough Accredit to pay for my absence. Do you really think I would let my only disciple die in a forest full of weeds and lizards? I followed your energy signature. It seems I arrived just in time.”

He glanced at the Wolfberg team and a fearful Grandmaster Echidna. ”We have much to discuss,” Lazek said. ”But let’s clear this sector first.”

Kale nodded, a dark grin returning. The shadow of the Stalker was gone. Looking at Neo, he knew that his Beast was about to have a feast.