This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The battle raged on, each strike team fighting desperately to disable the remaining war machines. Nadia's team had managed to take down their target, but not without heavy casualties. Clara and Claudia were still locked in combat with their respective guardians, their contracts struggling to hold the line against the relentless onslaught.

Kain and his team reached the next closest war machine, its guardian still engaged in combat with Claudia's group.

The high-level Abyssal was a towering figure, its body covered in jagged armor that seemed to absorb the light around it. Its golden eyes glowed with malice as it swung a massive, serrated blade, cutting through a spiritual contract with terrifying ease. One of the guards, likely its contractor, immediately collapsed in pain and emitted gutwrenching screams at the sensation of having his contract broken.

"We need to take it down fast," Benji said, his voice tight with tension. "If it gets another shot off, the city's done for."

Ishvaran was geographically situated at a location that was considered strategically advantageous.

At its side were too towering mountains with harsh conditions, difficult to scale for low-level spiritual creatures, and at its back was an extremely large and difficult to cross rushing river. Therefore, the city only had to worry about beast tides or attacks from enemy humans in one direction, due to the natural barriers provided in the other directions.
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However, the downside of these natural walls is that they can quickly become a cage should the city become penetrated. Should the city walls fall, majority of the low and mid-level beast-tamers and all of the ordinary civilians would not be able to cross the harsh mountains or river to escape. They can only sit and wait for death.

With that grim reality pressing down on them, Kain forced his mind back into the battle. They had no choice but to win.

"Same strategy as before," Kain commanded, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Aegis, begin altering the machine's energy intake. The rest of us should help Claudia take down the high-level abyssal."

Their team moved like a well-oiled machine. Having already taken down one guardian and war machine, they now understood each others strengths and abilities much better. They were easily able to integrate into the fighting arrangement of Claudia's side without disrupting their rhythm—after all, having too many combatants isn't necessarily a good thing if their skills end up interfering with one another. But thankfully Kain's teammates just supported the others and didn't try to completely take over the attack.

Mira's wind contracts provided constant interference, slowing down the Abyssal guardian's movements, while Sera reinforced their weapons to maximize their striking power. Benji and one of his speediest time-attribute contracts weaved in and out of combat, delivering swift, precise blows to exploit any openings in the Abyssal's defense while another of his contracts also focused on impeding its movements.

Bea wouldn't have a substantial effect on the enemy, so Kain had been focusing on having her control nearby mid-level abyssals to prevent their interference or getting swarmed by a group of them—after all, they were quite far from the walls now and surrounded by enemies all around. Therefore, most of the green-grade and weaker blue-grade spiritual creatures were tasked with killing any abyssals who wanted to attack them from behind.

Aegis latched onto the machine, his tendrils pulsing as they adjusted the abyssal energy flow. Once again, the war machine greedily absorbed the altered energy, oblivious to the slow poison infecting its core. The machine's structure trembled as its internal energy became unstable, the once-fluid abyssal power thickening like molten rock.

Claudia, recognizing what was happening, adjusted her team's strategy accordingly. Her contract released thick dark threads, binding the Abyssal's limbs and forcing it to stay in one place for a brief second.

Meanwhile, a light-attribute bird, likely belonging to one of her new temporary teammates swooped down and created a blinding flash of light to disorient the target.

"Now!" Kain shouted.

Claudia's team seized the opportunity, her contracts unleashing a barrage of attacks. A dark shield formed around the Abyssal, pinning it in place as sticky black threads wrapped around its limbs.

A dark-attribute bear wielding a giant metal axe, reinforced by Sera, hurled the massive weapon at the creature's core. The blade struck true, piercing through the Abyssal's armour and embedding itself deep into its chest.

The guardian let out a final, guttural roar before collapsing, its body dissolving into a pool of black sludge. With the guardian down, they turned their attention to the war machine, where Aegis was repeating the same strategy they had used before.

By now, the machine's hum had already grown louder, more erratic, its veins of abyssal energy flickering chaotically. The air around them crackled with tension as the machine's core began to destabilize.

"Get back!" Kain shouted, already knowing what to expect, pulling Claudia and her team away from the machine. Aegis remained where he was, his tendrils still latched onto the machine as its core exploded in a blinding flash of black, red and golden light. The shockwave rippled through the battlefield, sending debris flying in all directions. When the dust settled, the war machine was nothing more than a smouldering wreck.

Claudia let out a shaky breath, her face pale but determined. "One down. How many more are there?"

"Two," Kain replied, his eyes scanning the battlefield. "But we're not alone. The others are closing in on the remaining machines. It's just that these things are so hard to take down, and nobody else can use Aegis' method."

With two machines down, the battlefield was beginning to shift. The remaining defenders fought with renewed vigor, emboldened by the sudden destruction of the enemy's devastating weapons that had been aimed at them and weighing on their chests this entire time.

Kain's team didn't stop. They pressed forward, moving to support Clara's group, who had nearly finished off their own war machine's guardian. With their combined strength, the third machine was taken down even faster than the last.

But despite their progress, Kain couldn't shake the unease that gnawed at him. The Abyssals were relentless, their numbers seemingly endless. And as they closed in on the final war machine, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.

Finally, they reached Nadia's group at the fourth machine. The battlefield was littered with bodies, both human and abyssal. Nadia's team was exhausted, their contracts wounded and spiritual energy reserves running low. By far, as the machine deepest into the enemy ranks and guarded by the toughest Abyssal, they had had the hardest time.

The last war machine stood at the edge of the battlefield, its guardian a monstrous fusion of beast and metal. Its golden eyes glowed with an almost sentient malice, its movements calculated and precise. The defenders struggled to hold the line, their attacks barely scratching its surface.

"This is it," Benji said, his voice tight with tension. "We take this one down, and the city might just have a chance."

Kain nodded, but his eyes were drawn to the horizon. The sky, already darkened by the Abyssal presence, seemed to grow even darker. A chill ran down his spine as he felt a shift in the air—a pressure so heavy it made it hard to breathe.

"Something's coming," Kain muttered, his voice barely audible over the chaos of the battlefield.

Before anyone could respond, the fighting came to an abrupt halt. The Abyssal creatures froze in place, their glowing eyes fixed on the horizon. The defenders hesitated, their weapons raised but their movements faltering as an oppressive silence fell over the battlefield.

Kain's heart pounded as he turned to look. Emerging from the darkness was a figure—a humanoid Abyssal with golden eyes flecked with violet. Its presence was overwhelming, a suffocating aura of power that seemed to crush the very air around it. The ground trembled with each step it took, the battlefield falling eerily silent as both sides stared in awe and terror.

"Demigod…"