“Is this the hidden trump card that the tiny beast has?” the professor asked himself. The unbelievable scene made this genius tamer, Lalhal, question himself. Until now, he is still unable to recognise what is the Contract Beast that Alan has, but with the ability to devour Ki, and be unflinching in facing most attacks, the turtle is as valuable as any tamed from the sanctuary.
Even though the contract beast appears not to be equipped with any form of firepower, it has already proven its value.
The turtle strutted through the arena unchallenged, looking pleased with itself. Its pace slow and imposing, and rather adorable because of how small it is, if not for its previous display of invulnerability, the other tamers would be laughing at it by now.
However, without displaying any attack power, they quickly snapped out of their surprise. Making use of the opportunity presented while the others were eyeing the turtle, one of the beast struck savagely.
It easily took down a smaller target that had been careless. It is a very human mistake that it had made, if not because the Contract Beasts were affected by their Tamers’ emotions, such an incident is impossible to find in the wild.
The others creatures joined in the battle immediately. Once chaos has begun, those inactive will be deemed as an easy target. The Contract Beasts lunged at each other, as though they were afraid of being a step behind. Their tamers quickly formed strategies in their mind to overpower each other.
Though there are no rewards offered, the Instructor is carefully observing the arena and mentally assigning points to each student.
A desperate howl from an adolescent beast caught Kairos’ attention amidst the confusion. The Frost Kirin had been thrown into the arena without guidance from Calculus. Having a contract with the Five-clawed Golden Dragon already, the Devilheart’s heir could not form another with the Frost Kirin.
He had not considered, for even a moment, to replace his current contract with the Sovereign of the Beast Taming Sanctuary. In any case, the difference between his two choices could not even be weighed on the same scale.
The young Kirin, having been protected by its mother all its life, was terrified of this place. In a desperate bid for help, it saw a soft, fluffy, kitten in the corner of its eye and scurried towards it.
“It’s another youngling! I need to get there, two of us is better than one.”
It dodged the fury of combat, using a mixture of luck and quick wit and it avoided getting in the way of more powerful adult beasts as it ran between their feet.
Despite its youth, the natural abilities of a Kirin, in fact, does not make it helpless against the others. It is its inexperience that had rendered it ineffectual.
When it safely arrived by the side of the kitten, it gently nudged the other with its snout. The kitten, perfectly white and unblemished, turned and looked at it with wide eyes.
At the same time, another beast, towering over them, noticed the pair. A five meters Stone Giant turned to face them. Grey petrified hair covered its stout shoulders like a lion’s mane, and green moss covered its upper torso. The others could tell, from its look, that this beast had the pure blood of immortal beast lineage, and was avoiding it.
At this time, it seemed to receive an instruction from its tamer and snorted its discontent. Then, with a roar that sounded like an avalanche, it charged towards the pair.
Its tamer smirked privately, knowing that taking down the rarer beasts would give him a greater score.
The Giant swung its large arm downwards at the two small beasts.
The Kirin watched with wide-eyed horror as imminent death came. It screamed both in its mind and body, giving off a wailing howl that caused everyone to turn their heads.
They realised it is the Contract Beast that Calculus has, and glared at him. A creature would normally share its mental fatigue with its tamer. It is rare to have one party facing a meltdown like this without the owner screaming at the same time, but the precious Kirin had not formed a bond and had to bear the burden by itself.
They don’t know what kind of Contract Beast he had that the crown would give him a pardon, but it is no excuse to waste a treasured bloodline like this!
Then, a different sort of cry attracted their attention.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The Kirin watched in whimpering horror as the white kitten suddenly pounced on the Stone Giant fearlessly.
The latter swatted at it, unfazed by the attack of the smaller beast, at least, at first in the beginning.
Then it roared in pain and distress as an entire arm was ripped apart by the kitten’s claws, and fell to the ground heavily.
The arena became silent once again. This time in horror.
But their silence was rudely interrupted by a bright flash that blinded everyone, leaving only those with Origin Energy to observe what happened.
It was a dazzling ball of white fire that flew at the kitten out of nowhere with remarkable speed, and it caught the feline full in its side, blasting it away.
The tiny figure was shot right into the fortified wall of the arena, broke right through, and flung out into the open ground.
By now the flash had dissipated and the rest watched with unhidden astonishment in their eyes. Except for the fearsome heat and shockwave from the impact, they couldn’t make out what transpired.
But, before anyone could check on the kitten that is now a small fluff of white lying on its side, it promptly got up and bounded back to the arena. Easily vaulting across the wall, instead of going through the hole where it came from.
The height of the structure, taller than the Stone Giant, seemed barely a challenge for the ankle-high baby cat. It was as if gravity had no hold on it.
Any damage that it might have taken did not affect its movement.
The kitten ran straight to the one that attacked it. A slightly larger green wyvern, but still obviously a youngling. Edward’s Royal Wind Wyvern.
Influenced by his bond with his Contract Beast, the archer felt the pride that his wyvern has, and a wish to become the alpha among the four brothers’ Contract Beasts.
Its powerful intention overruled Edward’s thoughts, and in the most bestial manner, the wyvern attacked to show its might.
The two little beasts fought savagely. The wyvern faces a brutal assault from the cat, but at every turn, it managed to dodge using its superior speed, and the two fought to a standstill.
Lalhal had seen a glimpse of the fire and wind bullet shot by Edward’s Royal Wind Wyvern, and were immediately confused, “That attack before doesn’t seem like something wyverns could use.”
The teacher of the taming class immediately raises doubt on the identity of the dragonkin. If the other three were unknown, then despite its looks, it might not be a Royal Wind Wyvern.
Kairos, who was thinking the same thing, had an advantage by his side. He asked the Primordial Dragon hidden in his robes, “Aisa that attack had felt as powerful as the other Celestial Beasts’, yet why is that I couldn’t feel a tinge of Divine Energy from it?”
Seeing it in detail with his Soul Perception, he could estimate power-level of the wyvern’s attack to be similar to the kitten.
There’s no doubt that the cat, the turtle, and the Zhu Que have bloodlines that should be superior to all the other beasts in this place. Even though the Mortal Realm’s foods are suppressing their strength, making them unable to grow up properly, the three shouldn’t meet a match among other younglings of the same age, that’s why he couldn’t understand how a wyvern that could be found in Gaia, could fight evenly with the cat.
However, even Aisa doesn’t seem to know. She sounds just as bewildered as Kairos when she replied.
Kairos~ that wasn’t even the draconic race’s attack. Just a simple elemental Beast Magic that belongs to the Mortal Realm’s level. But it is very powerful.
The Royal Wind Wyvern had proven an attacking strength and speed far beyond its age. And, a technique that made Kairos question if it truly is a wyvern.
While the two beasts clashed fiercely, a Winged Unicorn charged into the fray, knocking the two aside with its horn.
Von Cixton laughed, “Bah, what’s with this silent astonishment? Those attacks weren’t even that impressive. Perhaps they may be a bit stronger than the usual juvenile Contract Beasts, but that’s all they are.”
The two smaller beasts narrowly avoided being impaled but were otherwise unharmed. They tumbled to a halt; then the two promptly teamed up with retaliation in mind.
While Von appeared confident, he knows that not just any creature can rip apart the arm of a Giant or drain a Snow Mountain Leopard’s internal energy against its will.
Except for their size, the four beasts already possess frightening fighting capability comparable with most matured beasts. But, this doesn't mean that the others do not have a chance. At least, the superior bloodline of those found from this sanctuary was chosen by their forefathers and cannot be underestimated either.
His words caused an effect on the other tamers, and when they saw how the unicorn could fend off the two, an Abyssal Tiger joined in on the fight just as he hoped.
However, his plans did not work out exactly as he planned. Despite the size advantage of the Abyssal Tiger and the Winged Unicorn, the wyvern and cat survived every blow and came back for more.
As their fight turned savage, everyone become speechless when they realised how durable the pair of baby beasts were.
“Monsters, all of them… even their animals!”
The others weren’t waiting pointlessly either. Every creature that found an opportunity took action, and the arena became like a turbulent sea of chaos. When most of them were locked in battle, a great number of vines suddenly appeared from underground with an earth-shaking rumble. Those thorny creepers whipped outwards and held on to every single beast in the arena and began draining the vitality of its victims.
Above them, the Zhu Que belonging to Jim flew around lazily. It watched the land beasts struggling futilely without much interest.
The variant divine bird had even more difficulty sustaining itself than the cat, the turtle, and the wyvern. Its flaming body consumed a lot of energy even from soaring around, and Jim ordered it to continue conserving its strength.
Bound by thorns, the other creatures weakened quickly. They tried resisting, but flowers with a sickly-sweet scent blossomed on the vines and lulled them to sleep.
The tamers tried their best to fortify the minds of their Contract Beast, urging them to stay awake, while Alucard, with his hands on his waist, looked on with a smile as though assured of his victory.
Then, everyone heard a soft, but familiar sound.
*Munch munch*