Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 909 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Final Battle - 8

An intense war continued between defendersʼ beasts and the horde of mutants continuing to emerge.

It was chaos on a scale the academy experienced for the first time. Violence transforming the educational institution into a real battlefield where survival depended on execution under pressure that most had never faced outside simulations.

Screams of dying beasts filled the air. The wet sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bone, the roar of elemental techniques colliding and the trembling earth as massive entities moved, fought and died.

Blood stained the sand purple from corrupt beasts… But also small red dots from the few defenders whoʼd already been injured, luckily not yet killed. The arena that had been a competition ground was becoming a blood bath.

And ironically, the final examʼs war battle had declined into what was basically already a real war.

It was a more brutal lesson than any instructor could deliberately design.

And while Ren fought alongside Luna, alongside companions and family and strangers united by the need to survive a threat that didnʼt discriminate between prodigy and average student, he recognized that this was exactly the type of situation training had been preparing them to eventually face.

Only ”eventually” had arrived considerably sooner than anyone had anticipated.

The war games hadnʼt been games. Theyʼd been preparation... Now the value of that preparation was being tested. Students whoʼd taken training seriously moved with purpose and coordination. Those whoʼd treated it casually were struggling to adapt. The difference between those whoʼd internalized lessons and those whoʼd just gone through motions was becoming obvious.

And deadly.

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Julius was with Zhao and his specialized group of earth tamers in one of the wide chambers of an ancient tunnel that hadnʼt been that long originally but now seemed to have no end when trying to exit. Pushing against the flow of abyssal creatures that continued without showing signs of exhausting.

Theyʼd been fighting for hours. Constant exchange consuming resources without providing visible gain.

Theyʼd gained very little ground considering the effort invested. Perhaps fifty meters of tunnel advanced to reach the chamber against resistance that regenerated almost as fast as they eliminated it.

It was demoralizing. And it communicated that the present approach likely wasnʼt sustainable long-term.

Every meter forward had cost a tremendous time expenditure. All that effort, and for what? Fifty meters. Barely any progress at all when they needed to advance thousands of meters to reach the surface.

Julius continued arguing internally between options where none seemed good when assessed completely.

Using his complete fusion to escape was tempting. Power that would very probably provide capability to break through blockages that conventional methods couldnʼt penetrate.

The fusion state would make him and some of the team nearly unstoppable for a brief period. They could probably carve through enemies like they were paper. Reach the surface in minutes rather than hours or days.

But if they managed to escape using all their energy and then couldnʼt help upon emerging because he was completely spent, what was the point of escaping only to be incapacitated on the surface where their power might be needed?

It was a paradox keeping him paralyzed between action and caution. Uncertainty about which risk was more acceptable when both had potentially disastrous consequences.

Use the fusion now and escape but be useless afterward? Or conserve strength for surface battle but potentially never reach it in time to help?

The choice gnawed at him. Every minute of indecision was a minute of continued resource drain. Minute closer to the point where theyʼd be too weak to execute any plan effectively.

Zhao, fighting beside him, had been thinking about the same problem from different angles.

He approached while continuing to launch feathers at enemy waves to suggest an alternative Julius hadnʼt completely considered.

”Maybe only some of us need to use the fusion,” Zhao offered with a low voice so only Julius would hear over combat noise. ”If we manage to escape with half or less fusing, then the others could help without being exhausted. I volunteer.”

It was an energetic sacrifice that Zhao presented with calm, making the decision seem more rational rather than a potentially fruitless act of faith.

But Julius recognized the weight of what his best soldier and friend was proposing. Understanding that whoever used fusion would be vulnerable for days afterward. Left defenseless, unable to protect himself much less contribute to a larger battle.

Julius thought about it more deeply. Evaluating not just Zhaoʼs willingness but also tactical effectiveness of the option.

Zhao was certainly strong... Tamer of exceptional caliber rivaling the best in the kingdom. His skills were well-trained. His techniques were refined through years of military service. He was reliable in ways that most soldiers never achieved.

But in terms of total raw power, Julius probably had an edge. Advantage coming from additional refinement resources and beasts that had reached slightly higher average rank overall.

The prince had access to all the privileges that came with his position. Those advantages translated into power that exceeded what even talented soldiers like Zhao could match… At least for now since Ren was not stopping Zhaoʼs Raptor cultivation yet.

However, current Zhao was a bit weaker and had superior mobility thanks to his beastsʼ nature.

His primary beast was a bird-type creature. Fast, agile and capable of aerial reconnaissance and rapid repositioning. They could analyze the situation upon exiting considerably faster than Julius could with creatures favoring terrestrial power over speed.

Juliusʼs beasts were earth-specialized. Excellent for holding ground and crushing enemies. But not fast. Not scouts… Not suited for quick assessment of the likely fast developing situations.

Zhao was perhaps slightly less strong in total. But he could be more strategically useful in a context where rapid information was worth as much as brute force.

And that created a new dimension to the dilemma.

Julius now argued with himself between using Zhao to execute the escape attempt, sacrificing his friendʼs combat capability, versus using his own power to exit considering what might be happening on the surface.

Both options had merits and costs making the choice genuinely difficult rather than obviously correct.

He needed to decide soon. Resources continued draining with every minute they remained trapped.

The abyssal entities kept coming and time kept running out.