Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 66 - Taming the Fusion

Zhao continued the pursuit but the enemies were almost reaching their destination.

Only two followers remained, too many had fallen to the Hunterʼs silver feathers.

”You,” the leader pointed to the semi-fluid being. ”Intercept Zhao. We need time.”

The slime abyssal tensed visibly, its purple eyes glowing with fear. ”Sir, against the Hunter...”

”Are you questioning a military order?!” the leaderʼs five eyes blazed with fury. ”Or would you prefer your family to experience the new... laboratory procedures?”

The slime being shuddered. He knew what that meant, he had seen the results of those ”procedures” on the families of deserters and traitors...

Without another word, he turned to face the approaching Hunter.

♢♢♢♢

The abyssal leader stopped beside the massive corpse of the Shadow Stalker male.

”You,” the leader addressed the tentacled one. ”Prepare yourself. Iʼll need your core to stabilize the process... A 50-50 chance is better than dying without achieving anything, isnʼt it?”

His three mouths twisted into a grimace as he brought his hands to his chest. The black fabric fell away revealing a torso covered in purple scars.

In the center of his stomach, a creature writhed.

With a grunt of pain, he plunged his fingers into his own stomach.

”My captain...” the tentacled one watched in horror as his leader extracted something from within, a female shadow stalker, clearly having been part of him.

The creature twisted weakly before dying.

”Partial fusion is painful,” the leader dropped the now dead beast beside the maleʼs corpse. ”But complete fusion...”

He stopped, his body trembling from the trauma of extraction. ”Thereʼs a better chance of success if you help me. But if it fails...”

”Weʼll die,” the tentacled one completed.

An unnatural opening appeared in the leaderʼs stomach, like a huge mouth revealing entrails that moved like tiny tentacles, each ending in a small pulsing mouth.

”Connect,” ordered the leader while kneeling beside the body. ”Your core must stabilize my fusion long enough. You must help me circulate the mana or Iʼll explode.”

The micro-tentacles extended, connecting with the maleʼs corpse. The abyssal groaned when chaotic energy began flowing, it was like acid running through his veins.

”AAAGH!” the leader arched when the connection completed.

Corrupt energy flowed through all three, the enormous corpse, the subordinateʼs core, and his own abyssal essence.

”Captain... we...” the tentacled one could barely speak. Each energy pulse was like a knife in his entrails. ”I donʼt know... how long I can...”

”Hold on!” the leaderʼs three mouths roared. His five eyes began glowing with a sickly purple while his body started changing. ”If we fail here, everything will have been in vain!”

The corrupt energy increased.

The bodies began to merge, their essence mixing with the leaderʼs.

The tentacled one screamed in pain when his core began resonating with the fusion.

In the distance they could hear sounds of battle, the slime being facing the Hunter. They didnʼt have much time.

”Just... a little... more...” the leader extended his arms.

His purple skin bubbled as the Shadow Stalkerʼs essence integrated with his being. It was pain beyond comprehension, but he couldnʼt stop.

Not now.

The tentacled one fell to his knees, purple blood flowing from his eyes. His tentacles pulsed erratically, desperately trying to maintain the connection.

The complete fusion was in its final stage.

♢♢♢♢

”I just have to resist!” the slime abyssal tried convincing himself while his fluid parts expanded, creating a wider defensive zone.

”Just until the leader completes the fusion!”

A whistle in the air, silver feathers approaching from his right. His body liquefied in that area, letting the projectiles pass through harmlessly.

”Interesting defense,” Zhaoʼs voice came from somewhere in the darkness. ”But too slow.”

More feathers, this time from three different directions. The abyssal transformed parts of his body into liquid shields, but some feathers found solid areas, drawing grunts of pain.

ʼI canʼt keep my entire body liquid,ʼ he thought frantically while scanning the shadows. ʼI need solid organs to function, and he knows it.ʼ

A silver flash, there! The abyssal launched a wave of liquid projectiles toward where heʼd seen movement.

But found only empty air.

”Too obvious,” Zhao appeared briefly in another direction, his feathers flying with deadly precision.

The abyssal turned, transforming part of his torso to liquid, but wasnʼt fast enough. Two feathers found his right side, which he needed to keep solid.

He barely managed to deflect enough to avoid fatal damage.

”Damn you!” he roared while counterattacking with liquid whips. ”Iʼm just buying time! When the leader completes the fusion...”

”You wonʼt live to see it.”

The abyssalʼs eyes widened. The voice had come from all directions.

Turning around he saw feathersʼ gleam everywhere and then understood, the feathers that had been grazing him, the ones heʼd dodged...

Zhao had been creating a perimeter.

A final whisper came from behind...

”Itʼs over.”

Dozens of silver feathers returned to their owner simultaneously, all piercing the space where the abyssal stood.

He desperately tried to liquefy his entire body, but it was impossible, there was always a part that had to remain solid.

The abyssalʼs scream cut off when the feathers pierced him from every possible angle. His purple blood splattered the ground while his body tried to stay together, liquid and solid parts mixing in his agony.

Zhao appeared again before the dying abyssal, but this time there was no energy in his posture. He leaned on one knee, his breathing heavier than it had been in years.

”A fatal... mistake...” the abyssal gurgled purple blood. ”The damned Hunter... is tired of hunting...”

The abyssalʼs body collapsed, its liquid parts solidifying in death.

Zhao allowed himself a moment to catch his breath.

The constant use of his abilities had drained more mana than expected.

ʼIʼve never let an abyssal escape,ʼ he thought while standing with effort. ʼAnd I wonʼt start tonight.ʼ

But the abyssal leader wasnʼt planning to run anymore.

A movement in the darkness made him tense. His feathers, stained with purple blood, gleamed faintly as he prepared for another confrontation.

The figure that emerged from the shadows made his eyes narrow.

Where before there had been an arachnid-shaped abyssal, now rose a bone-white aberration. Hundreds of tentacles emerged from its body, some thin, others thick. But what caught Zhaoʼs attention was the face... or rather, the faces.

On the creatureʼs chest, grotesquely fused, were the features of the abyssal leader and his tentacled subordinate.