Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 228 - Taming the Finals (Unit 1) - 19

About 200 meters underground, Julius advanced with the fluid certainty of someone who commands the element surrounding him.

His earth wolverine maintained a constant flow of perception through the ground, allowing him to detect movements and vibrations across a considerable radius.

Something didnʼt add up, though.

Since beginning his patrol after the worm incident, he had noticed strange patterns in the behavior of subterranean creatures. At times, they seemed to become agitated as if responding to an invisible threat, moving in waves of panic that spread across different levels.

But when he arrived at the location, inexplicably, everything calmed again.

”Itʼs as if something is frightening them,” he murmured to himself, his wolverineʼs essence merged with his skin in subtle ripples, enhancing his connection to the earth around him. ”But when I approach to investigate...”

Nothing. That was the most disconcerting part.

Each time he tracked these disturbances to their apparent origin, he found only silence and emptiness, as if the source of agitation had vanished moments before his arrival.

What he had detected, however, were weak but unmistakable traces of abyssal energy. Small pockets of that characteristic purple radiation, concentrated in cracks and recesses where it normally shouldnʼt exist.

His first instinct was to associate it with remnants of the Yino incursion four months ago, when enemy agents had attempted to infiltrate this Yano territory.

”Residue,” he theorized while examining one of these concentrations.

Julius continued his methodical inspection, his wolverineʼs senses stretched to their limits as he moved through the earth.

It was then that he felt it.

A vibration more intense than any before. His wolverine roared mentally, all its perceptions directing toward the origin of that disturbance. For the first time since beginning his patrol, Julius had a clear direction, an undeniable signal.

”This isnʼt normal,” he concluded, his voice hardening while he began moving at great speed through the earth. His body seemed to melt into the element, moving as if it were part of the ground itself.

♢♢♢♢

Hanʼs breathing accelerated while his fingers felt something through the threads. Something was entering the tunnel, something large and heavy that broke his fine but tough webs as if they didnʼt exist.

The purple glow intensified, painting the walls of the narrow tunnel with distorted shadows. The predator approached, and the light emanating from it transformed their improvised refuge into a death trap.

A viscous, glowing tentacle appeared at the entrance, moving with unnatural precision as it explored the space. It slithered forward, testing the air, sensing their presence.

”No time to dig further,” Ren whispered, his light claws manifesting as he prepared for combat.

”No!” Han grabbed his arm with desperation, his fingers digging into Renʼs flesh. ”Donʼt fight, dig! I can feel it through the threads... itʼs too big, too strong.”

Hanʼs spider fully manifested, not as the shy presence it usually was, but as a desperate creature fighting for survival. From it began flowing an impressive amount of silk, much more than Ren had ever seen Han produce before.

”Hurry!” Han insisted while his spider created layer after layer of resistant material, sealing the tunnel with a plug that grew thicker by the second. ”Keep digging!”

Ren hesitated for an instant, torn between his instinct to fight and Hanʼs desperate plea. The certainty in Hanʼs eyes convinced him. With a grunt of effort, he buried his diamond claws into the earth, tearing through the ground with renewed force.

Discretion no longer mattered. The vibrations that might attract other beasts no longer mattered. Even the comfortable size of the tunnel didnʼt matter, a small hole to crawl through would have to be enough.

All that mattered was speed.

Renʼs claws ripped away large chunks of earth and rock quickly, his muscles burning from the superhuman effort. The mushrooms in his hair pulsed with frantic intensity, illuminating his work with erratic flashes.

”Faster!” Han gasped, his body trembling from the effort of maintaining silk production. ”Itʼs coming!”

Behind them, the creature was testing the resistance of the silk as if it were a game, poking and prodding with casual malice.

Ren felt something through the earth, an irregularity in the density that could mean...

”Thereʼs a tunnel nearby!” he exclaimed, redoubling his efforts. His claws moved in a blur, earth flying behind him in dark sprays. ”I can feel it!”

Han, following and still working to reinforce the barrier, suddenly shouted:

”Quick! It seems... Itʼs stopped...” His eyes widened, hope illuminating his face for a fleeting moment. ”Maybe it got stuck in the thick layers? Or lost interest?”

The silence that followed was deceptively calm, broken only by their ragged breathing and the sound of earth yielding to Renʼs claws. For one second, it seemed they might escape.

Then, horror.

Like lances of purple light, several tentacles pierced through the silk barrier as if it were wet paper. They moved with lethal precision, wrapping around Han before he could react, securing his arms, legs, and torso in their slimy grip.

”REN!” Hanʼs heart-rending scream resonated as he was dragged toward the chamber, wrapped in his own perforated barrier, his body contorting in a desperate attempt to break free.

Ren didnʼt hesitate. He propelled himself backward, rolled, and leaped again. In an instant, he was beside Han, one hand gripping his friend. With the other hand, Ren unsheathed his dagger and began cutting the tentacles that coiled around Han.

The blade sliced with precision, but for every tentacle severed, two more seemed to replace it. Worse still, where Hanʼs skin had made contact with the appendages, pale, sunken marks appeared, as if his vitality and mana were being drained. His friendʼs face grew ashen, eyes dulling as the creature siphoned his life force.

”Theyʼre like the shadow stalkers!” Ren recognized the effect while continuing to cut frantically. ”They absorb vitality and mana!”

The pulling force suddenly increased, as if the creature had lost patience with their tactics. With a devastating jerk, the tentacles dragged both boys through the destroyed silk barrier, pulling them into the main chamber.

Ren continued cutting even as they were dragged, his dagger moving with the precision born of desperation.

The last tentacle holding Han gave way just as they emerged into the larger chamber from which they had tried to escape, both falling several meters before landing painfully on a floor covered with residue and bones.

The fall left Ren momentarily on his back against the ground, the impact stealing his breath. Beside him, Han lay motionless,eyes wide open, his skin pale where the tentacles had touched him, but still breathing.

The purple glow that Ren had seen from the tunnel now bathed them completely, allowing them to see for the first time the creature that had captured them.

What rose before them defied natural comprehension.

A colossal worm more than twenty meters long writhed in the center of the chamber, its segmented body pulsing with abyssal light that emanated from within. But what horrified Ren wasnʼt its size, but its impossible anatomy.

Dozens of long, thin legs, similar to those of a mimic insect, extended from its flanks, moving with an unnatural grace that barely disturbed the air around them and barely touched the ground, explaining the absence of vibrations that had confused Ren.

They twitched and flexed independently, giving the impression of countless separate creatures working in horrific unison.

Its body was covered by overlapping plates reminiscent of a living tunnel, interspersed with rocky protrusions typical of stone lurkers.

Each segment seemed to have been designed by a madman, fusing characteristics of different creatures into an abomination that shouldnʼt exist.

In the final section of its tail, an enormous luminescent ball pulsed with purple energy, similar to that of a shadow stalker queen, but grotesquely distorted. The orb throbbed with a sickening rhythm, like a diseased heart pumping corrupt blood.

But it was the head that provoked true horror. A nightmarish fusion of bat, insect, and worm, with multiple compound eyes that glowed with malevolent intelligence. Its mouth opened in several directions, revealing rows of triangular teeth arranged in concentric circles that rotated independently.