This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 873: Chapter 873: Arachnid Ambush

They didn’t waste a moment after their discussion. Within the hour, Kain, Serena, Takeru, and Advisor Abe departed from the manor, leaving the city behind.

Abe, despite his round frame and soft demeanor, led the group with surprising energy. He claimed he’d spent weeks to months gathering intelligence while searching for survivors of the fallen Rising Sun Kingdom—and it showed in how naturally he took command of their route eastward.

The air grew clearer as they moved through the rolling hills and mist-laced forests still protected by the Wuxing Elemental Sect. Here, few spiritual beasts dared to show themselves. Those that did froze at the faint pressure radiating from the group before vanishing back into the underbrush. The weakest weren’t quick enough.

“Finally!” Takeru exclaimed, summoning his golden beetle with a flash of light. “Time to train!”

The Sunset Beetle hummed proudly beside him, its metallic wings scattering flecks of orange light. Together, they pursued terrified wildlife—fox-like creatures, glowing rabbits, and even a harmless red-grade squirrel that barely reached his knee. Each time, the beetle’s radiance flared, burning trails of heat and light through the air.

“Beautiful!” Advisor Abe cheered from nearby, taking notes with enthusiasm. “Incredible talent! Your battle sense and combination of spiritual skills is almost artistic!”

Takeru puffed his chest proudly. “Of course it is! My Sunset Beetle’s one of a kind— I call this move Solar Flare Dash!” he announced dramatically, even as the poor squirrel squeaked and bolted for the trees.

Walking behind them, Kain sighed. “I’m starting to pity the local wildlife.”

Serena gave a helpless smile. “At least he’s not drinking anymore.”

“That’s debatable,” Kain muttered. “He’s just drunk on power now.”

Abe continued analyzing every movement while Takeru shouted out his beetle’s abilities, completely engrossed in their chaotic training sessions. They alternated between short flights atop Kain’s Vespids and stops for practice fights.

All of them each rode a Vespid while a few flew around the group as scouts. Kain and Serena were accustomed to the giant insects, but it took a while for the others to get accustomed to them. Unfortunately for them, Takeru’s beetle was far too small to ride, and Abe confessed with a sheepish grin that all his own contracts had been injured while protecting Takeru during their escape from the north.

At that, Takeru’s grin faltered. He looked away, guilt flashing across his expression. “I’ll repay them,” he said quietly. “All of them.”

The journey continued for two peaceful days—too peaceful, Kain thought. Eventually, he felt it: a subtle shift in the air. The pressure of the Wuxing Elemental Sect’s territory ended as if they’d crossed an invisible veil. The forest ahead looked the same, but the colors dulled. The air hung heavier, and faint traces of corruption tainted the flow of spiritual energy.

Kain stopped, eyes narrowing. “Stay sharp. We’ve left the Sect’s protection.”

Abe immediately straightened, hand on the hilt of a blade hidden in his sleeve. Serena nocked an arrow, her instincts sharpened by countless battles.

The warning came too late.

A piercing whistle cut through the air.

A massive spider web, glimmering with black abyssal energy, shot from the treeline and exploded through the clearing. Kain barely had time to summon Aegis, who deflected most of the impact around himself and Serena. Abe rolled to the ground with surprising agility—but Takeru, mid-boast about his beetle’s skills, was caught completely off guard.

“Wha—?!”

The web slammed into him, wrapping him like a fly in silk. His muffled scream echoed through the forest as he was yanked skyward, cocooned and flailing.

“Takeru!” Abe shouted, pushing himself to his feet.

Kain’s expression flattened. “Of course we get ambushed immediately after leaving the sect’s territory…”

The cocoon swung high above them, swaying between dark branches. A low chittering echoed from the shadows—sharp, rhythmic, and too many-legged.

Serena’s eyes narrowed as she took out and raised a bow, the air around it crackling with electricity. The familiar weapon gave off a dangerous hum and Kain recognized it from the National Competition in their first year.

Advisor Abe’s face had gone pale, but he still drew his blade with surprising steadiness. “I…I’ll work to release his highness!”

Kain’s spiritual senses spread outward. Something large—several things, actually—moved among the trees, circling them.

He sighed. “So much for an easy trip.”

From the shadows, several pairs of gleaming red and golden eyes blinked open, reflecting the dim sunlight like embers.

Then came the hiss of silk being spun and the crack of branches as monstrous arachnids crawled into view. They were massive—each the size of a carriage, their chitin marked with black and gold patterns that pulsed faintly with abyssal corruption.

At their center was one larger than the rest. Its eight eyes gleamed with a sickly gold light, but without a trace of violet. Based on what Kain knew of Abyssal eye colours, this would make it the equivalent of a blue-grade spiritual creature. The others were likely weaker wild spiritual creatures that it turned.

It hissed sharply, and the others surged forward. Twisted insects—beetles, hornets, and even a mangled deer—charged alongside them, their bodies warped by corruption.

Kain raised a hand. “Aegis—full deployment.”

Aegis expanded outward, forming a barrier that shimmered like metal glass. Serena’s arrow shot through the moment a spider lunged, exploding in a burst of crackling light that left the ground scorched and twitching.

“Vauleth, intercept right flank!” Kain commanded.

From above, a vast winged shadow blotted out the light as Vauleth descended with a thunderous roar. The dragon’s impact crushed the corrupted insects like kindling, and a torrent of burning red dragon’s breath swept across the clearing, melting webs and vaporizing the swarm in a single breath.

Meanwhile, the cocooned Takeru struggled uselessly above them. His muffled cries echoed through the chaos. A massive, mosquito-like abyssal—its stinger as long as a sword—buzzed toward him, drawn by his struggling aura.

It lunged.

The stinger pierced through the cocoon, aiming at sucking him dry, and into Takeru’s chest—or rather, into the golden beetle clinging there. The Sunset Beetle shrieked, its light flickering violently as black veins of corruption spread across its shell.

“Oh no!” Abe exclaimed. He dashed forward, slicing the mosquito-beast away with a burst of spiritual energy from his sword. The creature screeched as it was flung into a tree, its wings shattering. Abe turned toward the cocoon and started cutting away the webs around Takeru’s chest to see if the prince was pierced there. But upon cutting it open he saw the pierced beetle. “The contract! It’s turning—look at the shell! Those black marks—they’re spreading!”

He raised his blade about to kill the beetle, while apologizing. “I’ll end it quickly, before it turns on and infects His Highness.”

“Don’t!” Kain’s shout cracked through the battle like thunder.

Abe froze mid-swing. Kain had already moved—his hand pressed forward, a ripple of unseen energy surging out. The air around the beetle distorted, and the connection between it and Pangea flared open—similar to when he’d opened the channel between Ferrin’s fox and Pangea to remove the abyssal contamination in the past.

The spreading black marks writhed, then began to burn away. The corruption receded, dissolving into ash before vanishing entirely.

From beside Kain a soft glow began to pulse. Queen’s soothing light flowed toward Takeru, healing the beetle’s damaged shell. The corruption finally faded completely and, along with Queen’s efforts, the beetle was as good as new. Kain exhaled slowly.

Abe stood frozen, his eyes wide. “That…that’s impossible…”

“Nothing’s impossible,” Kain said, lowering his hand and focusing back on the fight at hand. “You just haven’t seen enough yet. All creatures that are contracted in this secret way I discovered are actually resistant to Abyssal contamination.”

“Serena,” he said. “Cut Takeru down.” The Prince, although the cocoon was cut open by Abe to get at the beetle, still had his upper limbs hanging above helplessly.

She fired a precise arrow that sliced through the silk. The cocoon dropped—and Abe caught it clumsily, still staring at Kain as if seeing him for the first time.

Abe just mumbled blankly, “Great…this is so great.”

Kain and Serena’s contracts were quickly cleaning up the last of the remaining abyssal creatures.

Kain’s attention shifted toward the largest spider—the golden-eyed leader weaving a retreating web across the far trees. It was fast, despite its massive size, scuttling backward while spraying silk to block Kain or anyone else’s approach.

“Not so fast,” Kain muttered as Aegis made a move. The golem’s barrier condensed, folding inward on its own to form a massive spear of metallic energy. Aegis aimed it forward and was about to launch it, but—

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Abe’s bloodcurdling scream split the air.

Kain’s and everyone else’s focus snapped backward. The metal lance fizzled mid-formation, discharging harmlessly into the dirt. He turned sharply toward the source of the sound, pulse spiking. Serena’s head whipped around at the same moment.

Abe stood several meters away, face pale and eyes bulging. His hands were trembling, his voice cracking as he shouted again, “SOMEBODY—!”

Kain cursed under his breath. The distraction was all it took—the spider leader hissed, spinning its abdomen and slingshotting itself out of view. By the time Kain turned back, the creature had already vanished into the trees, leaving behind strands of dark silk that shimmered faintly before fading.

Serena lowered her bow with a grimace. “It got away.”

Kain’s expression hardened. “Yeah.” He took a deep breath, forcing his irritation down. There’d be time to hunt it later—right now, something else had clearly gone wrong.

He strode toward Abe, whose trembling hands were now pointing to Takeru’s side. Blood covered the prince’s side, soaking his robes. Takeru looked around in confusion, seemingly unharmed. Upon closer inspection, Kain realized the massive bloodstain wasn’t his at all—it was from the giant mosquito. The creature’s stinger must have carried a grotesque amount of blood, smearing it onto Takeru when it pierced the cocoon.

The prince blinked dazedly, still touching the red-soaked fabric as if expecting a wound that wasn’t there. Abe’s horrified expression slowly turned into a shaky laugh of relief, the scream dying in his throat.

Kain exhaled through his nose, irritation flashing in his eyes. The spider had escaped for nothing.