This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

One of them, a tall man with a sharp face, dropped to his knees, raising his hands in surrender. "Wait! Please! We can make a deal!" he cried.

Not that he truly meant it, he was merely hoping to buy time until the creature they summoned managed to kill the young man and woman in front of them.

Kain's eyes narrowed. "A deal?"

"Yes!" the man said frantically. "You think killing us will stop this? You're fools! This organization runs deeper than you can imagine. You're just scratching the surface!

"However, I can tell you everything—our contacts, our sponsors, even the location of other main research facilities. You'd never get that information otherwise. Just let me live!"

Kain just looked at him with an eerie smile on his face, "Unfortunately for you, I don't need you to live to obtain that information."

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Before Kain even finished his statement, threads of mental energy darted through the air, silent and precise, latching onto the remaining researchers. Their eyes widened in unison, their bodies freezing as Bea infiltrated their minds.

The tall man, who had just been pleading for his life, twitched violently. His sharp features contorted in panic as he realized that Kain had zero intention of negotiating with him. "No... no! Stop! You don't know what you're—" His voice cut off as Bea's control solidified, silencing him mid-sentence.

Kain's eerie smile widened. "That's the wonderful thing about Bea. You'll tell me everything you know, whether you like it or not."

Lina looked pale, her gaze flickering between Kain and the now-stiff researchers. She knew Bea was powerful, but seeing the sheer violation of people's minds left her uneasy. Especially since she currently had one of Bea's splits inside of her…

Serena remained impassive, her gaze fixed on the controlled researchers. "Focus," she said coldly to Lina, while directing the Starweaver to continue attacking the summoned abomination that still rampaged in the background, held at bay only by the combined efforts of their contracts and the controlled guards. "Kain has the researchers covered, but we only have a few more minutes to deal with that thing."

Kain nodded. His eyes flickered as Bea began extracting memories. The researchers' thoughts and knowledge flowed into him in fragmented pieces—a tangled web of locations, names, and horrifying experiments.

Unfortunately, although this man was the highest-ranked individual in this facility, he didn't know nearly as much information as he'd alluded to.

Apparently, as a security precaution, all of the laboratories affiliated with this organization function in secret, independently of one another.

Therefore, he knew nothing about other labs, the organization's future major actions, or really anything unrelated to this facility.

Instead of information about who they worked for, what Kain mostly received through Bea were glimpsed flashes of their memories—gruesome experiments, desperate children, and the cold efficiency with which they'd justified their actions.

Seeing that Lina seemed to be pitying them, Kain kindly shared the memories obtained with her and Serena through their mental connection with Bea.

"They're monsters," Lina whispered, her voice trembling.

"They're worse than monsters," Kain corrected, his tone icy. "They knew exactly what they were doing."

Kain took a step closer to the researchers, his voice low and menacing. "You've outlived your usefulness."

The tall man's face twisted in terror as Bea forced him to his feet. Kain wanted to make sue this man was conscious and felt every moment of fear and pain as he died—it's what he deserved.

"No! You can't—"

Kain's spear pierced his chest, purposely missing his heart by the width of a finger. He couldn't let this man die quickly. The researcher screamed as his body crumpled to the ground.

The others met similar fates, their final moments marked by panic and futility. The stout woman attempted to activate a hidden artifact, but Serena's Starweaver ended her with a single arrow in her spine before she could succeed, rendering her immobile. Although they didn't communicate it directly, it seemed as though neither of them wished to let them die quick and easy deaths.

Kain stood over the stout woman, her body twitching as she tried and failed to move. Serena's arrow had severed her spine with precision, leaving her alive but utterly paralyzed. Her eyes, wide with terror, darted around the room as if searching for salvation.

Kain crouched down, meeting her gaze. His expression was unreadable, but his voice was low and venomous. "I hope that there is an afterlife, and you receive back the suffering you inflicted on those innocent people a hundred times over."

He then stood and walked away, leaving her to die a slow and painful death.

The abomination let out a guttural roar, pulling their attention back to it, breaking through the protective line of controlled guards. Its grotesque form barreled toward them, its heads snapping and its claws destroying everything in its path.

Serena's Elemental Guardian shifted into its earth form and as if perfect mirrors of one another, it and Aegis, slammed their massive fists into the ground at the exact same time. The resulting quake was far stronger than what they could achieve individually, sending it sprawling backward for a moment.

Aegis and Serena's Elemental Guardian surged forward again, their massive forms coordinating as if they shared one mind. Aegis's stone fists slammed into the creature's chest, staggering it, while the Elemental Guardian, shifted into bird made of flames, unleashed a torrent of searing fire.

The abomination shrieked, its many heads snapping in all directions as it lashed out blindly, but it was still not critically injured.

Kain's Vespid guards darted in and out of the mist, their stingers striking at the creature's exposed joints. The stingers seeped into its patchwork flesh and began absorbing its energy, slowing its movements.

Lina's light-attribute butterfly hovered over the group, its golden wings casting protective barriers around their contracts. When the abomination's claws raked against Aegis, the barrier absorbed the brunt of the attack, leaving only shallow cracks in the stone.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But even with their combined efforts, the creature refused to fall.

"It's not enough!" Serena shouted, her Starweaver launching arrow after arrow into the creature's vulnerable points. Each bolt struck true, but the wounds seemed to close as quickly as they opened.

Kain clenched his fists. "Then we hit it harder. Bea, focus everything on controlling the guards still alive. Force them to attack with everything they've got!"

The controlled guards ran forward without regard for their own life or death, their spiritual creatures unleashing what each would consider to be their trump card. Fireballs, icy blasts, and piercing winds struck the abomination from all sides. The room trembled under the onslaught, but the creature held its ground, although now it at least looked visibly fatigued. But even then, it seemed to be recovering its energy at a rate greater than it was drained.

Serena's voice cut through the din. "The array! It's still active! In addition to summoning it, it may also have support effects.

Kain's eyes darted to the glowing sigils on the floor. The red light pulsed faintly, possibly feeding a limitless supply of energy into the abomination.

This time Kain and Serena directed Aegis and the Elemental Guardian to target the array on the floor, while applying every spiritual skill and boost they had available to them.

Their efforts paid off, and a small crack appeared in the array—so small it felt as though their boosted attacks were weak; however, considering the precious metal the array was composed of, it was impressive that anything below indigo-grade could damage it at all.

Moreover, that small crack was all they needed to make it stop working.

The abomination faltered as the array's glow dimmed, its movements growing sluggish

Kain's eyes narrowed, realizing that it was now or never. Based on the time they've been keeping track of, there was less than a minute left until Balens' debuff on the enemy would wear off. "No holding back. Everyone, hit it with everything you've got!"

Lina's light t-attribute butterfly pulsed with golden light, strengthening the protective barriers and granting a faint healing aura that restored some of the surrounding contracts' stamina.

The controlled guards, though dwindling in number, launched a final, desperate assault.

Aegis surged forward, slamming its stone fists into the ground once more. Jagged stone spikes erupted from beneath the abomination, piercing its legs and anchoring it in place. The creature thrashed violently, its many heads roaring in unison as it struggled to break free.

Previously, Aegis' and the other contracts' many attempts at restraining it were ineffective. However, now it could be restrained by him alone. That array did indeed play a crucial role in its overpowered abilities.

The Starweaver used a skill he'd never seen before, which caused the red flames of the Elemental Guardian to shift into a blinding white.

The Elemental Guardian unleashed a devastating wave of fire, engulfing the abomination entirely. The creature's screams pierced the air as its patchwork flesh began to disintegrate.

Kain and Serena dashed forward, their respective weapons simultaneously hitting the core of its chest. The abomination let out one final, deafening roar. Its massive form convulsed violently before collapsing into a heap of smouldering remains.

The room fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the three beast-tamers and the faint crackling of the fire as it spread from the monster to the nearby bodies of the researchers, guards, and various spiritual creatures.

However, they still had a ton of work to do.