This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 881: Chapter 881: Interspecies Alliance

Takeru shivered violently as an invisible weight pressed down on him. It wasn’t physical—at least, not in a way he could understand—but every part of him screamed danger. His breath hitched as his vision blurred, knees locking beneath the sheer force of the pressure. He didn’t know where it came from, only that something powerful—something ancient—had just turned its gaze toward him.

It lasted only a few seconds before fading. Still, his heartbeat refused to slow. He hugged his arms to his chest, trembling as if the cold had bitten through his bones. That pressure… it wasn’t like any beast he’d ever felt before. Due to the huge difference in level, he couldn’t even tell how strong it was. Just that it was vast—impossibly vast.

Kain and Serena, however, were calm.

Serena’s eyes flicked upward, her expression unreadable. Kain merely tilted his head slightly, as if listening to a faint echo only he could hear. Then he shrugged and kept walking.

Takeru gawked. “You—You both felt that, right?”

“Of course,” Kain said simply.

Serena nodded. “Probably about violet grade. It didn’t feel as strong as a demigod.”

Takeru’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Violet-grade. That was only a step below demi-god level—far beyond anything they could hope to face. Yet the two of them were walking through its territory as if they were out for a casual stroll.

Did they have some kind of trump card? Some hidden power that could fight a creature like that?

No. They didn’t.

They were just… used to it.

Ever since beginning this trip to the Azure Serpent Kingdom, Kain and Serena had grown accustomed to the feeling of being watched by powerful beings.

The level difference with Takeru was too great that he hadn’t noticed being watched previously, except for this clearly bad-tempered one who’d purposely released some pressure their way. But Kain and Serena were completely aware of the more covert glances at their trio the past couple of days.

They had passed through regions haunted by indigo and violet-grade beasts before. Perhaps even demigods had glanced at them in the dark. And yet—none had attacked. Only the Abyssals had.

It didn’t take long for them to realize the truth.

The extraterrestrial invasion of the Abyss had forced both humans and spiritual creatures into an uneasy, unspoken alliance. High-grade beasts—who typically had intelligence comparable to humans—had come to understand that the Abyss threatened all life, not just mankind. Their kind, too, could be consumed and twisted beyond recognition.

As a result, hostility between humans and spiritual creatures had dropped sharply in recent weeks. Once, stepping into the territory of a violet-grade beast would have been suicide. Now, as long as they carried no Abyssal taint, they could pass through without incident.

So Kain and Serena didn’t bother hiding their presence. They walked openly through its territory, feeling that great power watching them—and knowing it would not strike.

The tension that had gripped Takeru’s heart slowly loosened as nothing happened. And as the night deepened, the group, closer to the Azure Serpent Kingdom territory, their trip surprisingly uneventful.

—————————————-

Soon, the wetlands of the Azure Serpent Kingdom stretched endlessly before them—rivers coiling like silver serpents beneath the mist. The air was thick and heavy, carrying the sharp scent of water lilies and the faint buzz of unseen insects. Kain could feel the humidity clinging to his skin. It wasn’t unpleasant—just constant, like walking through someone’s warm breath.

“Feels like the air’s trying to drown me,” Takeru muttered, tugging at his collar. His hair, once neat, now hung in damp strands over his forehead. As a native of the Rising Sun Empire with a less humid climate, this was unbearable to him.

Serena, meanwhile, looked completely unaffected, “It’s called humidity. You’ll live.”

The road they followed gradually widened into stone-paved streets that cut through a city built half on land, half on water. Wooden houses stood on stilts above dark green canals, their walls painted in golds and turquoises that gleamed under the morning light. Roofs curved upward like the spread fins of a fish, and long bridges arched gracefully over the waterways, connecting one district to the next.

It was beautiful in a way that felt alive. The entire city seemed to sway and breathe with the canals—houses creaking softly as they shifted on stilts with each current, walkways rising and dipping in rhythm with the tide. Boats glided lazily past, their wakes sending ripples that made the reflections of golden walls dance like liquid light. Even the air carried a gentle pulse, banners rippling and temple bells chiming in time with the motion of the water.

The people here looked different from those of the Rising Sun Kingdom or the Wuxing Sect territories. Their skin was a warm bronze-brown, glistening slightly under the sun, and many wore light, draped garments of vivid blues and greens. The women tied their hair in coiled knots pinned with silver serpents, while the men’s loose shirts revealed muscular shoulders etched with faint water-element runes. Both sexes wore garments embroidered with flowing serpent and wave motifs, their fabrics infused with sigils for waterproofing and anti-humidity to keep them comfortable in the damp climate.

Serena observed quietly. “They must have a strong water elemental affinity here. The atmosphere feels… saturated.”

Kain nodded in agreement absentmindedly, but his mind was more focused on the information being transmitted by Bea.

The invisible threads of the Pale Thought Field spread through the street like drifting fog, brushing the edges of nearby minds.

Murmurs and fragments of memory filtered back into Kain’s consciousness—ordinary thoughts, but together they painted a vivid picture of what life in the Azure Serpent Kingdom was like. He then shared some of this knowledge (only the important stuff) and the language with Serena and Takeru.

Images of scales glinting beneath temple fountains. Songs sung to the river before planting season. Festivals where men and women both wore silk crowns shaped like serpent heads. And deeper than that, the word repeated like a heartbeat across countless minds: Nāga.

It was so ever-present that for every thought about their daily lives—food, work, relationships—there’d also be a thought about Nāga.