The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 138

Chapter 138: A Nest
“He’s just ahead” Ethan informed as the team moved through the forest.

The sound of fighting grew louder the closer they got, but then, without warning, it abruptly stopped, leaving everything eerily silent.

The team exchanged subtle glances before picking up the speed, their forged beasts moving faster than they previously were.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the clearing, and when they did, they all came to a sudden halt.

Owen stood in the center of the battlefield, completely unharmed, his hands tucked casually into his pockets while his Phantom Hound calmly licked its paw beside him.

Around him lay the remains of his previous battle. Dried husks of trees and numerous smaller cubes of ice, each encasing the frozen remnants of the Voidspawns, were scattered across the clearing.

Yet Owen looked as if he had just woken up from a nap, his expression as sleepy and uninterested as ever.

“You’re late,” he muttered, barely glancing at the group.

“What the hell happened here?” Clara asked, looking at the destruction around them.

“Looks like those Voidspawns don’t just use humans as hosts,” Owen replied, gesturing toward the husks. “I had to fight multiple infected trees.”

Reid frowned, her gaze sweeping over the battlefield. “Infected trees? That’s new.”

From the one he absorbed, there was nothing about it being able to use plants or nonliving as hosts, so the fact that they could now use trees as hosts meant that the cult was actively trying to perfect it.

“If they can,” Ethan said, stepping closer, “then that makes them an even bigger threat than we thought.”

Lisa crouched near one of the frozen Voidspawn remains, tapping the ice with her knuckle.

“You took all of these out by yourself?”

Owen yawned, stretching his arms lazily. “Mm.”

“You know,” Marcus said, glancing around at the frozen remains. “With how lazy he acts, it’s easy to forget just how strong he really is.”

“Alright, let’s wrap this up so I can go back to sleep,” Owen said, letting out a yawn.

“We need to figure out how they managed to use the trees as hosts first,” Reid interjected. “The one Beel absorbed had no memory or instinct of being able to bond with plants.”

With that, he summoned Beel who was still in its fairy like form.

“Hello, Papa!” Beel greeted excitedly.

It had taken the form of a small boy with jet-black hair, matching irises, and dark clothing. A pair of translucent wings fluttered lightly on its back.

Reid was only momentarily surprised, having seen this form once before. The same couldn’t be said for the others, whose reactions ranged from shock to confusion.

“Who’s that and why is he calling you papa?” Lisa, the first to recover, asked.

“This is Beel,” Reid replied with a sigh “and I have no idea why he’s calling me papa.

He had almost forgotten that the others hadn’t seen Beel in this form before, so their reactions were understandable.

“Hello,” Beel waved at her with a smile.

Lisa blinked, then cautiously waved back. “Uh… hi?”

“That’s Beel?” Clara tilted her head, studying Beel with narrowed eyes

“It is,” Reid reassured. “Don’t overthink it.”

Beel hovered closer to Reid, its translucent wings buzzing faintly. “Papa, why did you call me?”

Reid crouched beside the frozen Voidspawn remains. “I need you to check something. See if there’s any trace of how these things managed to infest trees.”

Beel’s grin widened. “Ooooh! New flavors!”

It reached out and placed a hand, which a mouth formed on, on the ice, its body pulsing slightly as its Consume ability activated.

The frozen Voidspawn husk was instantly devoured, vanishing into Beel’s hand.

The team waited in silence as Beel processed what it had absorbed.

After a few seconds, its playful demeanor faded slightly. “Hmm… strange. There’s something different about these ones.”

“They taste different,” Beel added before reaching out and placing a hand on Reid’s temple.

The memories it got from absorbing the frozen Voidspawn were transferred into Reid’s mind.

There was a brief pain, but since the Voidspawn hadn’t lived for long it didn’t have much memories to be absorbed.

Reid closed his eyes and started looking through each memory.

The memories weren’t much, just scattered flashes of movement, the sensation of spreading roots, and the primal instinct to consume.

But amid the chaos, one thing stood out: a lingering pull toward something deeper in the forest.

His closed eyes snapped opened as he got most of the information he was looking for.

“There’s a nest” Reid abruptly announced.

“A Nest?” Lisa asked.

Reid nodded and pointed towards his left “all this while, the Voidspawn was feeling a greater pull towards this direction.”

“And its memories showed exactly what’s in that direction,” Reid said, his tone grim.

He paused briefly before continuing, “A nest, with their mother Voidspawn. It duplicates itself every second, latching onto primals, captured humans, and now… even plants.”

A tense silence settled over the group. The implications of what Reid had just revealed were far worse than any of them had expected.

“If it’s duplicating every second…” Ethan trailed off, doing the math in his head. “Then by now, the nest could be overflowing.”

“And spreading even faster than before,” Lisa added grimly.

“And their prime directive is to search for and take over Papa’s body” Beel added, a frown on its cute little face.

This reminded the team of what Reid had previously said about this being a trap for him.

Another wave of silence passed through the team again.

Each had face a Voidspawn and they had seen exactly how strong those things were even while fighting alone, so a nest filled with them was a nightmare.

“We can just report this back to base” Marcus suggested “that way we’ll have reinforcement instead of facing those things alone.”

Clara shook her head. “By the time reinforcements arrive, the nest could be twice its current size, maybe even more. If we don’t act now, we might not get another chance.”

The team turned to Owen—he was their leader, and the final decision rested with him. Whether they pressed forward or retreated for reinforcements depended on his call.

Owen let out a long, exaggerated sigh, grumbling about postponing his sleep again as he stuffed his hands back into his pockets.

“Alright,” he muttered, his usual sleepy expression unchanged. “Here’s the plan.”

“We can’t afford to wait for reinforcements,” he said. “But charging in blind is suicide. So, here’s what we’re going to do.”

He raised a hand, pointing toward the treeline “First, we need recon. Clara, take both your forged beasts and scout ahead. Make sure to stay hidden and find out exactly how many Voidspawns we’re dealing with.”

Clara nodded, summoning her Shadow Ferret, which immediately melted into the darkness of the forest.

“While she’s gathering intel, Ethan, I need you to find out if they have a way of communicating and disrupt it. If they have a way to coordinate, we cut it off.”

Ethan gave him a nod before getting to work with his cyber slime, since the lizard was all that useful in this situation.

“Marcus, you’re our frontliner. Once we know what we’re up against, you’ll be the one drawing attention while we clean up the nest from the inside.”

“Got it” Marcus gave him a nod of affirmation.

Owen then turned to Lisa. “You’ll be staying just outside their nest with Marcus making sure nothing gets in or out. We can’t let even one Voidspawn spread beyond this nest.”

“As for Reid and me, we’ll enter the nest. While I handle the other Voidspawns, you’ll be in charge of taking down the Mother Voidspawn,” he addressed Reid next.

“Wait,” Lisa interjected “we don’t even know how strong the mother Voidspawn is, don’t you think it’s a bit reckless for Reid to fight it alone?.”

“I’ll be fine,” Reid assured, “besides, Rusty can just teleport me out if things go South.”

Lisa hesitated, clearly still uneasy. She knew Reid was strong, probably stronger than all of them, but that didn’t stop the nagging worry in the back of her mind.

Still, she let out a quiet sigh and reluctantly nodded.

“Just… be careful,” she muttered.

“I will,” Reid said.

They immediately went quiet, with Beel curiously watched the two before nodding, as if he just understood something.

“As a backup plan,” Owen spoke up again, summoning a radio from his inventory “we’ll call in backup, for in case things get too much to handle.”

He clicked the side of the radio and moved it close to his mouth.

“This is Senior officer Owen of Team seven reporting in,” he said, his voice calm despite the weight of the situation. “We’ve located a nest of primals known as Voidspawns. If we leave it, it’ll spread beyond containment.”

There was a moment of static before a voice responded. “Copy that, Team seven. Do you require reinforcements?”

Owen took a moment before replying, looking into the dark forest.

“Yeah, send backup. But by the time they get here, we’ll already be in the thick of it. Just be ready for cleanup.”

“Understood. Reinforcements en route. ETA: 30 minutes.”

Owen clicked the radio off, sent it back to his inventory and stretched lazily, letting out a long sigh.

“Alright, that’s done. Now let’s go deal with this mess before they get here and hopefully, we can finish this quick enough so I can finally get some sleep.”