Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 891 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Cool Defeat

The Mantis began suffering damage almost immediately after the temperature descended beyond a critical point.

The cold started penetrating its natural defenses faster than its body could compensate. Not instant damage but progressive deterioration that accumulated with each passing second.

The cold penetrated from all directions simultaneously in a manner that made defending effectively against the practically environmental assault impossible.

Externally, the frigid air attacked its exoskeleton, which could resist physical impacts and ordinary elemental attacks but didnʼt have perfect protection against extreme temperatures. Chitin was excellent armor against cutting and crushing forces. Less excellent against thermal stress. The material became brittle at low temperatures, with microscopic fractures forming as the molecular structure lost flexibility.

And worse still, the roots that had been feeding the Mantis with stolen mana from the Amphibian had now converted into channels that transmitted cold directly toward the creatureʼs internal system.

The freezing plants acted as thermal conductors that drained body heat faster than the Mantisʼs metabolism could compensate for, an effect that accumulated with each second that passed. What had been an advantage, direct connection to an energy source, became a liability when that connection turned into a highway for heat loss.

Heat flowed from warm to cold through any available pathway. The frozen plants provided excellent pathways. And the Mantis, being much warmer than its surroundings, was bleeding thermal energy at a rate that was unsustainable.

Being the smallest beast among the three that Ren had available and the least defensive by nature, the damage it accumulated was considerably greater than what the Hydra or Wolverine would have suffered under the same conditions.

Surface-to-volume ratio was higher, meaning rapid heat exchange with the environment.

The compact structure that was normally an advantage in terms of mobility converted into disadvantage. Small bodies lost heat faster than large ones, basic thermodynamics that applied to beasts as much as to physics.

And the resources the Mantis had available to respond were critically low.

It had cycled aggressively during the exchange with the plant invasion, spending and recovering mana in volume exceeding its base capacity multiple times.

But now with almost all the plants dead, the incoming flow of stolen energy had cooled and reduced abruptly, leaving it operating only with what remained in its own reserves. And those reserves were about to be completely exhausted.

It would have between 10 and 15 percent remaining.

With the cold intensifying and mana nearly depleted, it would be extremely difficult to reactivate the plant zone that had been so effective moments earlier.

Min had almost perfectly timed, if by luck, the moment when the Mantisʼs energy investment had been at its maximum possible commitment. The digestion boost had come right when the plant network was most extensive.

Then the cold had prevented regeneration. Then the Mantis found itself at critical reserves without the recovery mechanism that had been sustaining it.

Perfect timing... Perfect trap.

Seeds required some warmth, or at least less cold, to germinate appropriately, a process that sub-zero temperature inhibited almost completely. Germination required metabolic activity. Metabolic activity required enzymes. Enzymes stopped functioning below certain temperatures.

And any attempt to force growth through massive elemental energy investment would simply drain the Mantisʼs last reserves without achieving anything significant.

Worse still, the Mantis was in a position where any direct hit from the Amphibian would be literally the last it could receive.

No margin for exchange. Physical structure had been compromised by cold making the exoskeleton brittle and the energy reserves were at a level making manifestation of healing or elemental defenses to last slightly longer extremely risky.

One solid hit would shatter the weakened exoskeleton. Game over.

The complete focus of Renʼs strategy had been wearing down the Amphibianʼs mana through parasitic drainage, eventually reducing resources to the point where victory would become inevitable and the Mantis would recover a decent quantity of mana in the final absorption.

The dense field preparation that would finish the Amphibian would also affect his serpent of the same element when it entered later. Create an environmental advantage that would persist into subsequent exchanges.

It was a plan that would have worked perfectly if Min hadnʼt revealed a ridiculous capability like using cold to negate the wood elementʼs advantage almost completely.

And unfortunately, the Amphibian would almost certainly resist any strike the Mantis could launch now with the limited resources remaining, because it actually hadnʼt received much direct damage during the entire exchange.

Massive bulk and natural defense provided durability that any lower-rank strike simply couldnʼt penetrate. Maybe 50 tons of mass. Maybe 25-50 centimeters of mucus-covered hide acting as armor. Attacks weakened by exhaustion and cold couldnʼt begin to damage it effectively now. A huge Gold rank Defense backing durability that already exceeded what Silver 3 attacks could compromise.

No path to victory… Not with these resources.

It was a situation Ren recognized as mandatory loss, a moment where continuation would only result in receiving bond damage without realistic possibility of reversing momentum.

But Ren wasnʼt a person who surrendered without at least attempting something that could create advantage for subsequent battle phases even if immediate victory was unattainable.

He liked efficiency like that…

So he decided on an approach that seemed strange considering the circumstances but had logic when objectives beyond simple elimination of the current opponent were considered.

The Mantis wasnʼt particularly good at launching ranged magic, with its specialization being more in close-range combat where speed and elemental versatility could be exploited in rapid exchanges. But it wasnʼt weak in the broad sense when forced to operate in that mode.

Compared to various common Silver-rank beasts specialized in a single element, its capacity to project elemental attacks was respectable.

Especially when you consider that most Silver 3 beasts had maybe 60-70% efficiency with their primary element when compared to the Bronze 2 beast. The Mantis, even exhausted and operating in adverse conditions, still had residual advantages from the buffs and Renʼs bond structure heʼd cultivated.

So the fireballs it launched with the little mana remaining werenʼt weak according to common creature standards, especially considering it was exhausted and operating in adverse conditions.