Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 742 - Taming the Fifth Year - Stars of the Past - 8

Siriusʼs White Tiger launched itself with everything it had, light claws slashing toward the fused spirit with force that should have torn it apart. Yet, the claws bounced off harmlessly, barely leaving a superficial mark before the spirit reformed as if nothing had happened. Defenses that made Gold-rank attacks feel like childʼs play.

On the other side, Orionʼs Tiger tried attacking from the back, its fangs finding ethereal flesh but without causing real damage either. Different approach, same result, frustration building as conventional tactics proved worthless.

Siriusʼs serpent coiled around the second spirit, applying pressure sufficient to crush rocks into powder. The spiritʼs form simply flowed between the scales like water, reforming instantly on the other side without apparent effort or concern.

”Useless,” Sirius growled as his serpent returned, having accomplished nothing beyond wasting energy they couldnʼt afford to waste.

The tigers couldnʼt contain them. Normal attacks were useless against defenses this dense, this perfectly balanced. And they didnʼt have mana left for more powerful abilities.

The fused spirit on the right struck his tiger hard enough to send it stumbling, then rotated toward Sirius with clear killing intent. It launched into direct attack, moving faster than something that size should move.

Sirius raised his arms instinctively, knowing it wouldnʼt be enough but unable to do anything else, and then…

The white heart in his pocket exploded into activity without him invoking it. A barrier of pure light manifested in the air between him and death, perfect and impenetrable, the type of defense only someone with perfect control at Gold 3 could create.

The spiritʼs attack bounced off without leaving a mark, power that should have killed him dispersed harmlessly against a protection he hadnʼt consciously summoned.

Orion saw what happened and understood immediately.

When the second fused spirit rotated toward him with clear intention of killing, Orion clutched the black heart he carried and concentrated darkness shot out like lightning. The attack pierced through the spiritʼs defenses like they were wet paper, tearing through the fused form by overloading it and breaking its synergy in ways normal attacks couldnʼt. It left an open wound that the tigers exploited immediately, finally finding vulnerability where none had existed before.

The battle continued with this level of brutal intensity, both brothers forced to use the crystallized hearts repeatedly when conventional methods failed.

When the second spirit finally fell, both brothers stood among the dissolved forms of their enemies, breathing with difficulty that went beyond simple physical exhaustion.

Sirius lowered his gaze to the white heart in his hand and went completely still, all motion ceasing as realization hit him with the force of a physical blow.

There was a line across the crystalʼs surface. Thin, almost imperceptible if you didnʼt know where to look, but definitely there. A mark that absolutely hadnʼt existed before combat started.

Sirius would know if it was about his wife…

Wear.

The word carried the weight of understanding that using the hearts came with a price they couldnʼt afford to pay indefinitely.

”Donʼt use your wife anymore,” he uttered toward Orion without looking at him, voice abrupt and tense with implications he was still processing. ”The crystals are wearing down. If we exhaust them completely, maybe we canʼt put them back in the statues when we find them.”

Orion examined his own black heart, finding with difficulty a similar line marking the dark crystal. He nodded once, gesturing short and dry, an acknowledgment that carried no emotion beyond grim acceptance.

”Then weʼre leaving,” Orion said with a tone that suggested this was an obvious conclusion rather than a suggestion open for debate. ”We already gained enough knowledge... But without soldiers, without reinforcements coming...”

”No.” Sirius cut the sentence off while looking at stairs continuing to descend into darkness that seemed deeper somehow, more final. ”Iʼm continuing.”

The declaration was absolute, brooking no argument. Not a suggestion but a statement of fact that would happen regardless of Orionʼs opinion.

”Youʼre being irrational,” Orion said, anger breaking through exhaustion because sometimes fury was easier than fear. ”Weʼre alone. Depleted…”

”Iʼm aware.” Siriusʼs voice was cold.

”Youʼre going completely insane. We barely managed with these two and...”

”IʼM GOING! Like when YOU opened the door without listening to me,” Sirius interrupted with a voice so cold it could have frozen fire. ”Now itʼs my turn to ignore you…”

He advanced toward the stairs without waiting for a response, without caring whether Orion followed or stayed or threw himself off a cliff in frustration. The parallel was deliberate, the reminder uttered to wound because if Sirius had to suffer consequences of Orionʼs recklessness, then Orion could suffer the consequences of Siriusʼs desperation.

Orion gritted his teeth with enough force that the sound was audible, fury crossing his face for a second before the expression went neutral again. Years of noble training reasserting control when emotion threatened to overwhelm.

But he couldnʼt stay behind, couldnʼt let Sirius descend alone even when staying would be smarter.

Maybe it was concern for his brother despite everything that had broken between them. Or maybe he couldnʼt allow Sirius to find whatever waited below without being present to claim it as well, to ensure the rewards of this nightmare were divided fairly rather than monopolized.

He followed, hating Sirius with each step but following anyway because some bonds couldnʼt be severed even when you desperately wanted them gone.

TENTH CHAMBER

Sirius reached the door at the stairsʼ end and pushed it open without hesitation, without taking precautions that experience should have taught him were necessary when facing ancient security systems.

A beam of combined light and darkness erupted from inside before he could react, more powerful than any attack theyʼd faced before.

The white heart reacted automatically, manifesting its protective barrier without conscious command. The black heart responded a moment later with defensive darkness from Orionʼs pocket, barely in time to reinforce the light barrier before it shattered because the power behind the attack was too concentrated, too brutal for a single defense to withstand.

They were thrown backward like rag dolls, bodies treated as insignificant obstacles by force that didnʼt care about Gold-rank durability or noble status. Sirius hit all the way back to the ninth chamberʼs wall with sufficient force to drive air from his lungs in an explosive gasp. Orion rolled across the floor leaving a trail of blood that marked his path.

Something emerged from the tunnel leading to the tenth chamber, presence announced by pressure that made the air itself feel heavier.

A spirit, but larger than the previous ones, denser in ways that went beyond simple size. Light and darkness compressed into almost-solid form that seemed to occupy too much space despite its dimensions, reality bending around it in ways that hurt to perceive directly.

Platinum rank power radiating from every movement.

The monster roared with sound that shouldnʼt be possible for something without real mouth, vibration that resonated in bones and made ears bleed from frequencies that human bodies werenʼt designed to process.

It thrust itself forward with speed that defied its mass.

Siriusʼs Celestial White Tiger interposed itself, trying to protect its master with a loyalty that transcended self-preservation. The spirit destroyed it in seconds, the tigerʼs form demanifesting in an explosion of fragmented light that scattered like dying stars.

Orionʼs Tiger attacked from the shadows, attempting to exploit the moment of distraction with tactics that had worked against lesser enemies. Five seconds later it no longer existed, darkness consumed by greater darkness until nothing remained but memory of what had been.

Siriusʼs serpent coiled around the Platinum spirit with all its strength. It was disintegrated before it could even begin to squeeze, its high Silver form dissolved by power that treated Gold-rank beasts as nuisances to be eliminated rather than threats to be respected.

All their beasts were eliminated within seconds and the spirit continued advancing toward them with inexorable momentum that suggested nothing would stop it short of their deaths.