This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 866: Chapter 866: ‘Repaying Kindness’

Something Kain didn’t consider was that, as omnipotent as the System seemed, he’d never really seen it complete two tasks at once. Now it was doing exactly that—analyzing the turtle’s complete domain while also helping him absorb the devastating orange energy. But this time, its assistance was crude, rushed, and far less stable than usual.

The moment the energy entered him, Kain’s body convulsed. Orange light seared through his veins, bursting outward in jagged lines across his skin. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared along his arms, chest, and face—thin but deep—like a shattered porcelain doll glued together too hastily. From every fracture, light spilled out in violent streams. His body looked as though it was about to fall apart.

He couldn’t even scream. The pain was too total, too consuming. It was as if the energy was burning through his very soul, trying to overwrite his existence with its own. His circuits flared red-hot, his spiritual power struggling desperately to contain the invading force. His jaw locked. He could hear his heartbeat pounding louder than the water around him.

Then came Serena’s muffled voice. “Kain! Stop! You’ll kill yourself!”

Her voice barely reached him, distorted through the barrier and thewater around them. He could only imagine what she was seeing—his body cracked and glowing, leaking energy like a dying star. If it looked half as bad as it felt, he must’ve seemed horrifying.

His vision blurred, and then a shadow loomed over him. Aegis moved. The metallic guardian wrapped around him like a suit of armor, its surface glowing faintly as it pressed tightly against his body. The pressure was immense but stabilizing—like being trapped in a vice that refused to let him break apart. Aegis’s inner circuits lit up, absorbing the overflow of the violent orange power. It dulled the agony, barely, but it gave Kain enough clarity to think.

“Chewy,” he rasped, his voice shredded by the pain.

Another light appeared, this time outside his body, as his most recent contract was summoned—a tiny spore that glowed faintly with traces of every element. The moment it materialized, Chewy’s expression twisted from confusion to alarm, and then to hunger. It latched onto one of the orange energy streams leaking from Kain’s arm and began to drink greedily.

Kain groaned as the pressure inside him dropped. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep him conscious. Aegis stabilized his outer shell, Chewy devoured the excess energy, and the System worked in the background—roughly refining what it could into a steady stream of Source Points. He could feel it, each point painfully carved into his circuits, one by one.

Then, suddenly, the water shuddered.

The turtle’s domain pulsed again, and the orange light dimmed as new restraints closed in. The massive creature’s power surged around them, locking the energy back in place. The violent glow along Kain’s skin flickered, then faded entirely.

His limbs went limp. The world spun.

When his vision cleared, he found himself floating backward, his body half limp and glowing faintly. Chewy hovered beside him, bloated and sluggish, its form rippling contentedly as if it had just eaten a feast. The absurd sight almost made Kain laugh.

The turtle’s immense voice rumbled through the water. “Impressive. You have aided the suppression by… perhaps one percent.”

Kain’s jaw dropped. “One percent?” he croaked, disheartened that all that torture barely had any effect.

“Indeed. It is… remarkable,” the turtle continued, sounding genuinely pleased. “It would have taken me another few hundred years to match that alone. You, small one, accomplished it in less than an hour.”

Kain blinked, torn between pride and despair. One percent. One percent. And he felt like he’d been torn apart and stitched back together in a forge.

The turtle’s voice vibrated with new life. “You should rest, human child. Then we shall continue.”

Kain froze. “Continue?”

“Yes,” the turtle replied, almost cheerfully. “You will rest for one of your hours. Then we begin anew. My shell already feels lighter.”

Kain’s heart sank. He had a creeping suspicion that, no matter how benevolent the creature sounded, now that it had tasted what he could do, it wouldn’t let him go easily.

He drifted back toward Serena, Aegis’s protective shell guiding him through the softened currents. When he reached her, she pulled him into the safety of her Elemental Guardian’s bubble. He collapsed into her arms, every nerve still burning faintly. Her eyes flashed with a mixture of fury and fear.

“You idiot,” she whispered, half a scold, half a sob. “You could’ve died.”

Kain managed a weak grin. “Didn’t, though.”

She glared at him, but the relief in her expression betrayed her. She adjusted his position so his head rested against her shoulder, brushing his previously cracked skin with glowing fingers, clearly inspecting him for any lingering sequelae. The faint cool energy of her spiritual power soothed his overly hot skin.

—————–

Time blurred after that. Kain couldn’t tell how many rounds they went through—three, ten, maybe twenty. Every time, it felt the same. The orange energy would surge, his body would crack, Aegis would hold him together, Chewy would feast, and the turtle would hum approvingly while Kain screamed through clenched teeth. Each session left him half-dead, floating in numb exhaustion, but the results spoke for themselves. The wound dimmed, the conflicting light along the ravine easing as the orange invading energy lessened.

At some point—hours, days, or weeks later—Kain wasn’t sure anymore—the turtle’s voice filled the water again, calmer than ever.

“That is enough.”

Kain, barely conscious, blinked wearily. “Enough…?”

“Yes. You have done well, human child.” The turtle’s massive eyes gleamed like stars beneath the surface. “Your efforts have cleansed what remained. I can finally expel the lingering energy myself.”

A pulse of blue-green multicolored light radiated from the turtle’s shell. The ravine-like wound glowed with fierce orange light one last time before the energy burst outward in a brilliant flare. It spread through the river in a wave, harmless and purified. The oppressive, invading energy that had hung over the turtle for millennia finally lifted.

Kain’s body slackened completely. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was Serena’s face, her mouth moving in words he couldn’t hear.

When he awoke again, everything was still. The water was calm, glowing faintly with blue-green light. The turtle loomed above them, its eyes half-closed in satisfaction.

“You have my gratitude,” it said. “I heard your earlier conversations. You seek the Wuxing Elemental Sect.” Its tone carried a hint of amusement. “Then I shall return your favour. Consider this my thanks.”

Before either of them could respond, the water beneath them churned violently. The currents twisted, forming a spiraling vortex that swallowed them whole. Kain barely had time to shout before everything went white.

An instant later, they were spat out onto solid ground.

The world spun. He gasped for air and blinked, sunlight stabbing at his eyes. Serena coughed beside him, water streaming from her hair.

They found themselves sprawled on a bustling fishing dock, surrounded by wooden boats and workers shouting in unfamiliar tongues. Nets heavy with silver-scaled fish were being hauled in, and salty spray mixed with the scent of brine and oil. The air buzzed with foreign words and the sharp cries of birds hoping to steal some fish flying overhead.

Kain exhaled shakily, eyes wide as he looked around. “…We made it.”

Serena groaned, sitting up beside him. “Yeah. But where exactly is ‘it’?”

The two locked eyes, and despite everything—the pain, exhaustion, and confusion—they both began to laugh softly, half in disbelief, half in relief.