WEAKEST BEAST TAMER GETS ALL SSS DRAGONS

Meanwhile, Liora and Luna’s group…

The impacts against the containment wall intensified by the moment.

Shizu stopped, leaning against the wall of the tunnel she had been excavating for the past few minutes. Her breathing was labored, each inhalation a visible effort that made her shoulders heave.

The earth wolverine she had fully manifested was beginning to show signs of exhaustion, its earthy form crumbling slightly at the edges as her control wavered.

“Need to… keep going,” she gasped, sliding down until she was on one knee. Her face was drawn with fatigue, skin ashen beneath the dirt that smeared her features.

“We can’t stop,” Mako looked at her with concern but also urgency. “Those shadow stalkers will break through the wall soon. I felt them through the ground…”

Hikari illuminated Shizu’s face with her firefly, the light revealing the worrying pallor beneath the layer of dirt. “She’s at her limit,” she diagnosed, her voice soft but clinical. “Pushing her further could cause a mana collapse.”

The guards exchanged meaningful glances. Maria was the first to speak, her voice firm despite the tension that tightened her jaw.

“The priority is clear,” she declared. “We must protect Ladies Luna and Liora at all costs. If Shizu cannot continue the planned route, we will stay to contain the beasts while you seek another path.”

The other guards nodded silently, their beasts partially manifesting in preparation for what might be their final stand. Their faces betrayed no fear, only grim determination born from years of training.

“We won’t abandon anyone,” Luna protested, her shadow wolf briefly flaring around her silhouette. “There must be another solution.”

A tense silence fell over the group as they evaluated their options, interrupted only by another distant impact against the containment wall.

“Up,” Liora suddenly pointed toward the tunnel ceiling, her will-o’-wisp brightening with her excitement. “We could dig directly toward the surface. It’s a much faster path than continuing to tunnel all the way to the camp.”

“And it would allow us to find Zhao more quickly,” Luna added, immediately grasping the idea.

Mako shook her head, her expression somber. “Too risky. Night is very close. Besides, there’s an 80% probability of intersecting another shadow stalker tunnel between 30 and 5 meters of depth. That depth is completely infested.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Luna asked, frustration filtering into her normally controlled tone.

“The area under the camp is the only safe island,” Mako explained.

As Song had explained before Zhao repeated it to them, the ground there had a higher concentration of calcium and was drier due to the old efforts of auxiliaries and earth element masters, which naturally repelled shadow stalkers.

“Remember why they forbid us from digging deep to set traps during gathering…” Her night ambusher rippled along her skin as she spoke. “Reaching the island and emerging from beneath the tent is our only safe path.”

A new impact sent vibrations through the tunnel, stronger than before. Small stones dislodged from the ceiling, pattering around them like ominous rain.

“We don’t have time for debates,” Maria declared. “The wall won’t hold much longer.”

Luna knelt beside Shizu, studying her exhausted face. She gently brushed a strand of dirt-caked hair from the girl’s forehead. “Can you make it to the camp?” she asked directly, her voice gentle but firm.

Shizu tried to stand, only to stagger. Her wolverine flickered, almost dematerializing for a moment before stabilizing again. “No… I don’t think I can, my lady…” The admission seemed to pain her more than her physical exhaustion.

“Then it’s decided,” Luna rose, her decision made. “We’ll dig upward. It’s our best option now.”

“If we encounter a shadow stalker tunnel…” Mako began to protest.

“Then we’ll have to deal with it,” Liora completed, her will-o’-wisp manifesting to illuminate the space with renewed intensity. The ethereal flames cast dancing shadows across their determined faces.

The guards exchanged another look before Maria nodded with resignation.

“If you’re going to do it, then we’ll establish conditions,” she declared with authority. “If you find a populated tunnel, don’t fight. Run back immediately to where Lin is. We’ll stay here to ensure you have an escape route.”

“You can’t stay,” Liora protested, her normally quiet voice rising. “You’re coming with us.”

“Our mission is to protect you,” responded one of the guards, her tone leaving no room for discussion. “That means securing your escape, even at our own cost if necessary.”

Hikari intensified her firefly’s light, illuminating the tunnel ceiling. “Let’s begin then. An angle of about 45 degrees should take us to the surface quickly without compromising accessibility and mobility too much.”

With Shizu too exhausted to contribute significantly, the others combined their efforts. Mako used her night ambusher to displace earth, while Luna and the others applied their own beasts in creative ways to facilitate excavation.

The new tunnel began to take shape, ascending at a pronounced angle toward what they hoped would be safety. The earth yielded grudgingly to their efforts, each handful of soil and stone representing another step closer to the surface.

Twenty-five meters… twenty meters… fifteen meters…

Sweat soaked their clothes, but the sensation of approaching the surface kept their spirits up. Perhaps, against all odds, they had found a direct path to salvation.

It was then that Trent, who had slightly advanced ahead with his fire ant, stopped abruptly. His body went rigid, one hand raised in warning.

“Wait,” he whispered, his body tensing. “I feel something… vibration in the wall.”

Everyone froze, sharpening their senses. A barely perceptible sound filtered through the earth: the soft dragging of bodies, the brushing of tentacles against stone.

“Shadow stalkers have sensed the vibration of our advance,” Mako confirmed in a tense whisper. “On the other side of this wall.”

As if responding to their name, the earth began to give way at several points, small holes appearing as the creatures on the other side perceived the disturbance and began to investigate. Tiny streams of dirt trickled down as the first probing tentacles searched for weaknesses in the barrier.

“Fall back!” Maria ordered, her armadillo beast fully manifesting, plates of protective armor spreading across her skin. “Now!”

Luna looked toward the guards, desperation flickering in her eyes. “Come with us. We can…”

She didn’t have time to finish. A tentacle emerged through one of the holes, serpentining in the air as if seeking prey. Another followed, and then another.

“Return to Lin!” shouted one of the guards, her beast launching itself against the first shadow stalker that had managed to create an opening large enough to pass through. “We’ll hold them back!”

“We won’t leave you!” Liora protested, her will-o’-wisp intensifying as she prepared to fight. The flames flared with her emotion, bathing the tunnel in ghostly blue light.

“Our mission is your safety!” Mayo insisted, her beast already engaging another shadow stalker that was forcing its way through. “Do your part and return to Lin!”

Luna hesitated only a moment more before making a decision.

They wouldn’t leave without them.

♢♢♢♢

Zhao observed the situation with a grave expression, his mind evaluating possibilities while shadow stalkers continued flowing through the tunnels like rivers of nightmare.

“Something’s wrong,” he murmured to himself, his owl partially manifested as he sharpened his vision to penetrate the deepest shadows of the cavern. “Ren should have been able to control this situation.”

Knowing the boy as he now did, it seemed strange that he hadn’t employed some ingenious strategy to evade the shadow stalkers. After all, Ren had demonstrated surprising knowledge about these creatures’ weaknesses.

With the cores of the males they had eliminated to enter, plus all the resources they had collected, they should have had sufficient tools to create illusions or vibrations like the previous time and lead everyone in an orderly retreat.

“Unless they can’t use them,” Zhao concluded, concern accentuating on his face. “Unless they’re separated… or something worse.”

Night was approaching rapidly. Soon the entire surface would be infested with fully awakened shadow stalkers.

Zhao weighed his options, aware that each passing moment narrowed his choices.

“I’ll have to intervene directly,” he decided, the responsibility weighing on his shoulders.

Part of him regretted that this would mean reducing the group’s grade. They had collected an impressive amount of materials, possibly the largest ever recorded by first-year students. But the protocols were clear: any direct teaching intervention to rescue students from the site beasts implied a significant penalty in the final evaluation.

“Safety first,” he reminded himself as his owl fully manifested, extending almost spectral wings that merged with his arms. “Grades can wait.”

With a fluid movement, Zhao extracted several feathers from his wings.

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