This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain's entire body protested with every step as he made his way toward the secured facility, Mira, the guard who had gone to fetch him, walking briskly beside him.

His body ached, and his balance was unsteady. But none of that could compare to the pain deep in his soul that came from overdrafting his lifeforce. If he had suffered the usual injuries, he could have gotten Queen to heal him within moments, unfortunately, the recovery of one's lifeforce wasn't so simple.

But none of that mattered right now. He needed to see Aegis.

Kain could tell they were almost at their destination not by the scenery, but by the loud commotion he could hear from several meters away.

Voices overlapped in frantic arguments, panic thick in the air. Beast-tamers, guards, and staff crowded around the perimeter, their faces tight with anger and concern.

"What the hell is that thing?!" someone shouted.

"How do we even know our contracts are still stafe in there?" said a disgruntled owner.

"They clearly aren't! We should have kicked that thing out, not taken care of it and kept it around waiting for it to only get stronger!"

"That thing may have even been a conspiracy by the Abyssal creatures! You saw how powerful they were! What if they wanted to take us down from the inside using that mutant!"

'From what I heard, you all were getting your asses kicked without my Aegis. Did the abyssals even need to come up with some kind of elaborate plan to kill you all? What a joke…'

Kain's eyes swept across the scene, quickly spotting the source of the unrest. The containment barrier—which according to Mira was originally a translucent energy field designed to allow observation—had been completely replaced. In its place stood a dome of smooth, opaque black metal.

Mira inhaled sharply. "It wasn't like this before," she muttered. "The original barrier was meant to contain and monitor the spiritual creatures inside. This… this was made by Aegis."

The realization sent a fresh wave of unease rippling through the gathered tamers. Their ability to see their contracts had been stripped away, leaving them in the dark—both figuratively and literally.

The shouting grew louder. Tamers shoved forward, their voices laced with desperation and hostility.

"What if they're already dead in there?!"

'Then you'd feel the broken contract, idiot…'

"This is your contract's fault, isn't it?" A woman glared at Kain, stepping toward him aggressively. "You need to fix this—now."

A few others murmured in agreement, some angry, some hopeful. Kain's presence brought a measure of expectation. If Aegis was the cause of this, then surely his tamer could make him undo it.

Kain was honestly fed up with these people. If there was any danger to their contracts in there, they would feel it. He opened his mouth to give them a piece of his mind , but before he could say a word, Mira stepped forward and let out a sharp, commanding shout. "Enough!"

The crowd flinched. The raw authority in her voice cut through the chaos, forcing silence to settle over the gathering.

Mira turned in a slow circle, her gaze sharp as she addressed them. "I understand you're scared. I get it. But let me remind you all of something—you're still alive because of Aegis. The only reason the abyssals haven't torn through this camp is because his unique ability to suppress them bought us some more time. We owe it to both Aegis, and Kain, to not just throw them away like discarded trash once we've gotten what we needed. Shame on you all!"

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Some looked skeptical, others conflicted.

Mira's voice remained firm. "Right now, he might be the only reason this camp is still standing. And you think turning against him is the right move?" She folded her arms. "Instead of panicking, maybe try supporting the damn thing that's keeping us alive."

A tense silence followed.

Kain exhaled, stepping up beside her. He could still feel the weight of glares on him, but at least the immediate hostility had lessened.

He turned his attention to the dome, unease curling in his stomach.

"Aegis," he muttered under his breath. "What the hell are you doing in there?"

Under the expectant eyes of those around, Kain placed his hand on the black metal dome. However, unlike the cold metal feeling he expected, all Kain touched was air as he fell straight into the dome without meeting any resistance.

The moment Kain disappeared, another commotion arose in the surroundings, but thankfully not as big as before. Since Kain was able to enter, unlike them, that surely meant that Aegis hadn't completely lost his mind, right? He should listen to Kain…at least they hoped so.

The moment he crossed the threshold, a suffocating weight settled over him. The air inside was thick with the smell of decay. Not to mention, that Kain wasn't sure what this facility looked like originally, but he was sure that it couldn't have looked like this…

The ground, once laid with a smooth white tile was now filled with cracks—jagged veins of black rock snaked through it, pulsing faintly like living arteries.

Similarly black pulsing tendrils climbed up the walls of the facility and the dome, and would pulse rhythmically.

But the worst part—the part that sent a sharp chill down Kain's spine—was the contracts.

All around him, the at-risk spiritual creatures lay sprawled across the ground, their bodies twitching and writhing as thick, black tendrils extended from Aegis and latched onto them like grotesque vines wrapping them up and absorbing their energy.

Their eyes were flickering between red and their original colours unstably, and their spiritual energy was fluctuating wildly as if struggling against an unseen force. Some let out distorted cries—weak, pained sounds that barely resembled their usual selves.

And at the very center of it all stood Aegis—like a tall, looming harbinger of death.

For a moment, Kain could only stare and blink as he took in the scene. There was only one thought in his mind…

'Thank god those idiots outside couldn't see this scene. They definitely would have overreacted.'