Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons - Chapter 776

Chapter 776: Chapter 776 – Taming the Fifth Year – Concession – 3
Victor froze while processing the words.

“Everyone was…” the soldier coughed violently, more blood coming up. “Captured or eliminated. I only escaped because everyone else covered me so I could reach the tunnel…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Collapsed against Victor with a final effort, exhausted.

For a moment, Victor simply processed the information with a calculating mind.

Then fury hit him.

His mana exploded without conscious control. The Qilin manifested in his body through a transformation that made the atmosphere itself tremble with the power being released.

Gold 3 rank officially…

But now, after several years of intensive cultivation, with power that rivaled Platinum rank thanks to the Thousand Day Method completed… The absurdly expensive additional cultivation that only the enormous treasury discovered by Ren’s mushroom had allowed him to afford without bankrupting the kingdom.

The “Yellow Dragon” had never meant so much actual “Dragon” in Victor as it did now… This became evident in his transformed state. Golden scales gleaming with strength that distorted the air around him through its sheer density. Branched horns growing from his forehead like a crown of authority. Eyes that burned with mana intensity that was no longer entirely human, half dragon.

Victor smiled… But it wasn’t a pleasant expression.

“What kind of idiotic tactic,” he murmured, his voice resonating with power, “is deciding to attack me specifically?”

Of all the tamers they could have targeted in the kingdom…

The strongest in raw power output.

They had chosen to attack the most powerful descendant currently active.

“Stay with him,” he ordered one of the ten soldiers who’d accompanied him below. “The rest, with me. We’re going to rescue whoever’s still alive.”

He ascended with a purpose that burned hotter than a volcano’s rage.

The stairs passed in blur beneath his feet. Speed increased by fusion with his intermediate-maturity Qilin left his soldiers behind immediately despite their own enhanced capabilities.

One of them carried the wounded soldier in the back. The others followed as fast as they could manage.

But Victor didn’t wait for coordination.

He ran upward with a singular focus.

Rescue whoever remained alive from his nine captured soldiers.

And make those responsible pay for their stupidity in ways they’d regret forever.

The chambers passed in rapid succession. Tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh.

His speed was absurd beyond normal parameters. Inhuman in ways that shouldn’t be possible even for Gold 3. The enhanced Qilin manifestation gave him capabilities impossible for normal tamers of his rank… All thanks to the method developed by the kid he was planning to officially reward soon.

Sixth chamber, fifth, fourth.

Third.

Second…

Nearly reaching the exit from the first chamber. Almost achieving the initial door with two empty indentations where mana hearts had once rested.

The long straight passage leading to that first door stretched before him. Five hundred meters of depth without curves or bends. Without obstructions.

He was halfway through it when he saw it.

A beam of light and darkness intertwined.

Perfectly spiraled together in ways that defied natural element interaction. Coming toward him at speed that challenged visual tracking even with his enhanced perception.

There was nowhere to run in the confined space.

The passage was long, straight and narrow. No space for lateral maneuvering with the ancient walls so close.

And not even a Platinum-rank tamer power could change the shape of the rock walls in this ancient ruin. The walls were immutable, more solid than any material Victor knew. Attempting to break or mold them was futile… he’d even tested that limitation during descent.

Retreating was also impossible. He was slower than the beam approaching at speed that seemed to accelerate as it closed distance.

So fleeing wasn’t an option. He’d only receive the beam in his back with defenses unprepared…

All of this was processed in a fraction of a second while the attack closed.

Victor only had time for one action.

He raised his arms before himself. Mana concentrating in desperate defense. Qilin scales barely densifying on his forearms in time. Platinum-level power manifesting in a barrier he desperately hoped would be sufficient.

The beam impacted with force that shattered his expectations.

And the world exploded in light and darkness that consumed everything…

The force drove Victor backward through the passage like a projectile.

Pain erupted through his arms where the beam had struck directly. The Qilin scales that should have been impervious to most attacks cracked and shattered like glass under impossible pressure.

He hit the first chamber again with another huge explosion.

Blood sprayed from wounds that went bone-deep through enhanced flesh.

But he was alive.

Barely conscious but alive through the sheer defensive power that had absorbed the killing blow.

Victor’s body was still flying and slammed into the chamber wall behind him hard enough to crater the Qilin’s armor despite its insane durability. The impact drove the remaining air from his lungs, leaving him gasping.

His vision swam with pain and shock.

But through the haze, he could see figures approaching down the passage.

Multiple silhouettes backlit by the chamber’s ambient glow.

Gold-rank tamers based on their mana signatures.

And at their center, someone who radiated power that made Victor’s survival instincts scream warnings.

Someone who’d just fired that devastating combination attack.

Someone who’d been waiting in ambush with perfect knowledge of when Victor would ascend.

The trap had been set with precision.

And Victor Dravenholm had walked directly into it despite all his power.

The question now was whether he could fight his way out with both arms functionally destroyed and reinforcements too far behind to arrive in time.

♢♢♢♢

AFTER FOUR VICTORIES

Ren had defeated two more teams after Team Twelve through a methodical fighting that had become a predictable pattern.

There was no need to observe the details of those battles to understand their outcomes. The pattern remained consistent across all confrontations.

When the maximum that Ren could accomplish through strategic team organization wasn’t sufficient to secure clean victory without his personal intervention…

He simply entered the arena himself.

And the mantis finished remaining opponents in a manner that was extremely easy and rapid, making Silver-rank competition look inadequate for testing its capabilities.