The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 87

Chapter 87: An Abomination

It had been four hours since the team faced the last senior.

The decoy had worked against the other two seniors, and both Nyx and Marcus’ rhino had returned.

Ethan’s lizard was now summoned from his inventory, boosting their stamina and healing their wounds.

After facing two major threats in the first hour of the test, they had only encountered relatively weaker primals and a few scattered cadets since then.

They had been using the map on the tablet to avoid the seniors and they took positions where they had the advantage everytime their locations was pinged.

The green dots on the map had significantly reduced, so had the red which the team guessed that they had been eliminated.

“We’re in the final hour so this should be a breeze” Marcus said, he was currently sitting on his Rhino as they moved through the terrain.

As soon as he said that, the ground started rumbling which caused the team to stop.

“You just had to jinx it” Clara grumbled as she looked through the eyes of her forged-beast.

The rumbling intensified, shaking the very ground they stood on.

Cracks appeared on the buildings around them while some crumbled to dust.

Ethan’s tablet flickered, the map glitching for a moment before going completely dark.

“What the hell?” he muttered, tapping the screen. “The signal’s—”

That when they heard it, it came from afar but still made their skin crawl.

Even the forged beasts by their sides stiffened in fear. Whatever was coming for them was dangerous and they could feel it.

“Clara!” Reid’s shout snapped them out of their fear, although even his clenched fists were trembling “what do you see?”

She focused ahead, looking through her falcon’s eyes.

“I can’t clearly see what’s coming but it’s approaching fast” Clara answered.

“F*ck” He cursed before turning to his team “Get ready for whatever’s coming”

“We just can’t catch a break, can we?” Lisa said.

Reid didn’t answer. His instincts were screaming, warning him that whatever was coming was far beyond anything they’d faced so far.

Then, it arrived.

The buildings at the far end of the street suddenly exploded outward as something massive tore through them.

A hulking form of black chitin and muscle emerged from the dust cloud, its four crimson eyes glowing with an eerie hunger.

[Species: An Unknown Hybrid

Rank: Platinum-tier.

——-

Abilities: Titan’s Resilience, Suppression, Blink, Predatory instincts, regeneration factor, Echo Claw, void howl

] Evo scanned the abomination.

It was easily over twenty feet tall, its thick carapace covered in jagged plates. Two massive forearms, shaped like serrated scythes, twitched in anticipation. Its elongated head tilted slightly, as if studying them.

The team froze, all the primals they had seen so far looked mostly normal but this, this was completely different.

As if someone Frankensteined it together in some lab. Even the beast memoir in Reid’s head that was supposed to log every forged-beast and primal had no information about this.

Reid was even surprised that Evo could scan it which raised questions.

[After we survive this] she promised.

“What…what the hell is that?” Ethan whispered, sweat rolling down his brows.

Lisa took an unconscious step back. “This has to be a mistake. The AI wouldn’t—”

The Abomination moved.

One moment, it was at the far end of the street.

The next, it was right in front of them.

It had just used [Blink] to teleport to them.

“Scatter!” Reid yelled.

The team barely reacted in time. Marcus shoved Ethan aside as the primal’s massive scythe slammed down, carving a deep gash into the earth where he had just stood.

Clara’s falcon let out a shriek as she pulled back, climbing onto a ruined structure for a better vantage point.

Reid clenched his fists. “Lisa, Marcus, keep it distracted! Ethan, keep us from dying!”

Lisa’s lightning-coated beast darted around the Ravager, sending storms of lightning bolts at it to slow it down. Marcus’ rhino charged forward, ramming into its side with the force of a battering ram.

The Primal barely moved.

It turned its head slightly, as if acknowledging the attacks, then sent out one of its own.

A single sweep of its scythe-arm shattered the ground beneath the rhino, sending Marcus tumbling.

Lisa’s beast dodged just in time, but her attacks had no effect.

Ethan gritted his teeth, his Bio-Synth Lizard exhaling a faint mist around them. The mist soothed their injuries but did nothing against the overwhelming force in front of them.

Clara’s gun rang out a couple of times but the bullets only bounced off its plated carapace working only to annoy it more.

Another [Blink] and it was already behind Marcus, its scythe-like claws swinging down.

“Marcus, MOVE!” Reid shouted.

The momentary warning gave Marcus just enough time to roll aside, barely avoiding being bisected.

His rhino, however, took the full brunt of the attack—its armored hide cracking under the force as it was sent crashing through a nearby building.

Marcus coughed as he pushed himself up. “Shit… it’s too fast!”

Lisa’s beast zipped across the battlefield, raining lightning on the abomination. She was trying to distract the abomination, but it wasn’t even looking at her.

“Reid! It’s focused on you!” Lisa shouted.

Of course, it was.

Reid felt it. The primal’s eyes were locked onto him, it understood that Reid who had been shouting orders here and there was the biggest threat.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

He could feel Nyx’s attack slowing down and it couldn’t even nullify whatever the cause of that was.

[Suppression Active: All abilities weakened for as long as its effects remain active.]

“F*ck the test” Reid clenched his teeth. He clearly knew something was wrong with the test, since putting a platinum-tier primal in it was too much for new cadets, some of which were barely even gold-tier.

No matter how hard Commander Ajax’s training was, this didn’t seem like something he would add in their test.

He quickly summoned Rusty and Beel by his side.The moment Rusty and Beel materialized, the pressure around them shifted.

Even with the [Suppression] effect weakening their abilities, their presence gave the team a fighting chance.

Rusty and Beel looked at the abomination feeling the pressure it emitted, although leagues below Malrath, its pressure was still stifling.

The abomination casually regarded the new additions, as if their presence would make no difference.

It disappeared from their view and reappeared in front of Reid, aiming to slice him in different pieces but Rusty’s intervention prevented it.

With a [pause], the abomination froze just moments before its claws reached Reid.

Reid didn’t waste the opening.

“Beel!” he barked.

The Gluttony Fly, currently in its housefly form, lunged forward, its mandibles distorting unnaturally as it activated [Consume]. A vortex of energy formed as Beel attempted to devour part of the primal.

For a moment, it looked like it was working.

Then the abomination’s crimson eyes flickered, and its body pulsed with an eerie black aura. The effect of [Pause] shattered, and Beel recoiled, screeching in pain.

[Be careful Reid, its adapting and Resisting the abilities of your forged-beasts]

“What?!” Reid’s mind raced. It had resisted [Pause], and even Beel’s [Consume] barely scratched it.

The abomination didn’t hesitate. It twisted unnaturally, one of its scythe arms slashing toward Beel in retaliation.

Rusty [Skipped] in, dragging Beel out of the way just in time. But the moment they reappeared, the abomination [Blinked] again—already predicting their movement.

Its attack came too fast.

Beel shrieked as the edge of the scythe ripped through part of his carapace. The wound hissed, dark energy clinging to it unnaturally.

[Warning: Regeneration suppressed.]

Reid’s eyes widened. It even prevents healing?!

Clara’s rifle rang out again, this time with special rounds. They exploded on impact, but the abomination barely flinched.

Lisa darted in, her wyvern sending out wayes of lightning and landing a direct strike on its exposed joints.

For the first time since the fight started, the abomination reacted.

It turned toward her, crimson eyes flashing.

Then it howled, activating its ability [Void Howl]

The [Void Howl] tore through the battlefield like a shockwave. A ripple of black energy expanded outward, distorting the air itself.

Reid felt his stomach twist. His body felt heavier. His thoughts dulled for a second.

Ethan collapsed to a knee, gripping his head, Clara staggered as she struggled to keep her balance and Lisa dropped from the sky, the wings of her wyvern spasming.

“Shit—!” Reid realized what was happening.

[Void Howl] was an ability which disoriented anyone caught within it and it also seemed to weaken the abilities of their forged-beasts much like Nyx’s [Void Zone].

The abomination lunged again, taking advantage of their disorientation.

Reid had no choice.

“Rusty, [Rewind]!”

A pulse of silver light erupted from Rusty, reversing the battlefield by mere seconds.

The [Void Howl] never happened.

Reid took a gasping breath, already moving. “Lisa! Marcus! Now!”

Marcus, still reeling, slammed his fist against the ground. His Rhino, battered but mostly healed by Ethan, roared and charged.

Lisa’s wyvern was up again thanks to Ethan’s boost, so it took to the skies again as it coated itself with lightning.

The abomination turned, preparing to counter.

“Nyx, [Rift]!” Reid ordered.

Nyx’s tattered wings flared, space twisting around the abomination.

A black void vortex cracked open beneath it.

For a moment, the beast faltered—half of its body sinking into the unnatural abyss.

It struggled, its massive claws digging into the ground, resisting the pull.

“Beel,” Reid called out.

Beel buzzed forward, activating [Swarm]. Smaller versions of itself rushed the abomination, gnawing and weakening its hold.

It roared, its scythe-arm thrashing in desperate attempt to deal with the pests around it.

And then, finally, Marcus’ rhino reached it.

With a thunderous crash, the beast slammed into the abomination at full force.

The combined efforts finally sent the monster tumbling fully into Nyx’s [Rift].

The void snapped shut.

Silence.

The team stood there, panting, staring at the empty space where the abomination had been.

“…Did we actually—”

Lisa’s words were cut off as space suddenly cracked.

[Blink]

And the abomination reappeared.

Not weakened, not injured, but evolved.

New glowing veins pulsed along its carapace, and its crimson eyes burned brighter.

It had adapted.

And it was back for round two..

It raised its scythe, preparing for a final, decisive strike.

At this point, the team had completely run out of ideas to deal with the abomination and Reid had decided to use [Synergize].

But then, a deafening BOOM rang out.

The abomination was sent flying.

A massive force had struck it from above. No— someone had.

As the dust cleared, a lone figure stood in front of them.

Clad in dark military armor, with a massive frame even bigger than Marcus.

Red hair and eyes.

Commander Ajax .

“Hope I’m not too late,” he asked as he rolled his shoulders”you did good cadets, but step back now.”

“I’ll handle this.”