The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Timber?
“According to what I found,” Ethan started “Owen’s older brother was also part of the military.”

Was… The team noted the tense in which Ethan spoke.

“He was a one-of-a-kind genius,” Ethan continued. “Not just in combat, but in strategy, tactics, you name it. His squad called him The Phantom because of how he could turn the tide of a battle before the primals even knew what hit them.”

The team exchanged glances, sensing where this was going.

“But then,” Ethan’s voice dropped slightly, “he was sent on a mission. A mission that, according to official records, shouldn’t have been high-risk. Yet, not a single member of his squad made it back alive.”

“And Owen thinks it wasn’t an accident.” Lisa asked.

Ethan nodded. “I think he believes that mission was purposely set up to get rid of his brother, hence his reaction when Reid mentioned that this was a trap set up for him.”

But why would the military get rid of him if he was such an important asset” Marcus asked the question running through everyone’s mind.

“I don’t know,” Ethan admitted, leaning back against a log. “But if I had to make a guess, then he probably found out something he wasn’t supposed to.”

Clara frowned “That doesn’t make sense. If he was valuable, wouldn’t they try to keep him quiet some other way? Forced silence, surveillance—hell, even a fake promotion to keep him under control?”

Marcus nodded in agreement. This made sense, especially when you considered that the military is trailing behind the great families in terms of power.

Ethan exhaled. “Depends on what he knew. Some secrets are too dangerous to let live, no matter how valuable the person holding them is.”

Reid who had remained silent, staring into the fire suddenly spoke up “maybe he found the identity of the cult’s mole”.

Maybe because of instincts, Reid could feel the cult’s handiwork all over this story.

Before anyone else could say anything,

Boom!

An explosion resounded in the direction Owen departed to causing the team to immediately spring to feet.

No word exchange was needed as they immediately summoned their forged beasts and headed towards the sound of the explosion.

______________

A few minutes ago.

Owen and his hound headed towards the sound of the roar, and soon enough they reached the creature responsible.

Standing in the middle of a clearing, one made by the creature itself, was a…..tree?

It’s form confused Owen as he hadn’t seen anything similar to that before. The creature stood at the size of a fully grown oak tree.

It had bark like horns coming out of its head and the spot where his eyes were supposed to be was just a hollow spot with yellow glow coming from within.

But the feature that stood out was it’s tar like bark. Owen narrowed his eyes while looking at the creature.

Yes, the eruption had forced plenty things to evolve, but he had never seen or heard of a tree that’s alive.

Roar!

The tree let out another roar before suddenly snapping its head toward Owen.

Without hesitation, it lashed out, its arms stretching unnaturally as the black tar-like substance extended toward him like grasping tendrils.

“Ah I see,” Owen nodded in understanding as he phased through the attack thanks to the hound’s [Phase shift] “you must be one of those Voidspawns the others faced.”

Seeing that its attack had failed, the tree retracted its limb—or was it a trunk?

But instead of the complete limb that lashed out, only half of it returned, the other half lay in Owen’s hand as he curiously looked at it.

The black goo detached itself from that part of the tree and started wiggling in his hand, trying to latch on to him instead.

Owen tightened his grip on the creature, trying to crush it, but its form was too rubbery so he just decided to throw it as far as possible into the forest.

The tree-like void spawn roared in anger at its missing limb. Considering its size, one would think it would move slowly but that wasn’t the case.

Owen barely had time to react before the creature was suddenly upon him, its other branch swinging at him.

The attack was almost too fast for him to dodge…. almost.

He used his forged beast’s ability phase shift to pass through the attack again but this time, before it could recover, chains rose from the ground and restrained it.

The chains coiled tightly around the tree-like Voidspawn, constricting its limbs and rooting it in place. The creature thrashed violently, trying to escape but it was all useless.

“Alright, let’s finish this so I can get back to sleep” Owen said, his sleepy expression returning.

His phantom hound opened its mouth and out came bone chilling mist. It was using [Frostbite mist], passing it through the chains and directly on to the the creature.

The Voidspawn’s thrashing slowed down as the frostbite seeped into its, causing parts of its tar-like bark to crack and harden.

Its entire body began freezing, frost spreading rapidly across its bark in multiple spots.

But then, something unexpected happened.

The Voidspawn let out a low hum, before the tar-like substance began to shift. The frost that had covered it melted away unnaturally fast, absorbed into the dark ooze like it was never even there.

“That’s right, you can adapt to attacks” Owen remembered Clara’s and Marcus’ words “well, that’s annoying.”

The creature roared as it completely escaped the ice, then yanked at the chains still binding it. This time, it pulled with greater force, until they finally snapped.

The Voidspawn, now free from its restraints, let out another roar before lunging at Owen again, its massive limbs swinging towards him again.

But Owen just stood still, watching the approaching attack with tired and sleepy eyes.

The moment the Voidspawn’s attack reached him, he phased through it effortlessly, allowing the creature to pass through him putting him behind the creature as if he’d never moved…Well, he technically didn’t.

“Alright,” Owen muttered, rubbing his temples, the creature didn’t seem to learn that its attacks were useless against him. “Let’s make this quick.”

His Phantom Hound vanished into thin air. An instant later, it reappeared above the Voidspawn, its maw wide open as it unleashed another wave of mist—this time, [Lethargy Mist].

This caused the creature to stumble, its movements growing sluggish as the hold of the black goo nearly weakened, but it quickly recovered.

But Owen was far from done. With a simple command, his Phantom Hound activated [Basic Dream Domain].

As soon as the domain activated around it, the voidspawn’s grip on the tree weakened and it slowly slid off.

It struggled to hold on, but the effects of the Owen’s domain forced it to sleep.

The moment its grip loosened, the black goo lost its cohesion, peeling away from the tree’s bark like a discarded husk, dropping to the ground.

The tree, now freed from the Voidspawn’s influence, stood motionless for a moment before its bark cracked apart, its structure collapsing like a husk that had been hollowed out from within before disintegrating to dust.

Owen yawned “there we go. No more annoying tricks.”

The now, liquid like goo lay on the forest floor, completely unmoving even though it wasn’t restrained.

It wasn’t dead yet, as it still twitched every so often. But it was clearly unconscious. If it were awake, it would’ve already tried to latch onto its next host.

Owen slowly approached the creature. He was tempted to collect it and bring it back for the military’s lab to take a look at.

But he didn’t trust them enough to let them handle this, not when they had someone among the higher ups that was clearly working with these things.

This entire mission being a trap for Reid only solidified his thoughts. Whether or not it was the same higher-up who had sent his brother to his death was still unknown.

But one thing he knew for certain, no matter how long it took, he would find his brother’s killer. Every single person responsible.

And when that day came?

They wouldn’t get the mercy of a quick death.

With a sigh, he cleared his head of those thoughts and raised his hand, signaling his Phantom Hound “freeze it.”

The hound obeyed, releasing a concentrated blast of [Frostbite Mist], encasing the remains in ice.

A moment later, Owen crushed the frozen remnants beneath his boot, ensuring that whatever was left wouldn’t be getting back up.

Better to destroy it now than let someone else make a mistake with it later.

“That took longer than expected,” he muttered, glancing at his hound. “Alright, time to—”

Boom!

Before he could complete his words, an explosion from behind him.

Owen turned quickly, only to see another tree-like Voidspawn emerging from the ground, its glowing hollows locked onto him.

Then, more glowing eyes appeared in the surrounding darkness.

“…Well, that’s just great,” Owen sighed, “looks like I’ll have to put off that nap for a bit.”