The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Damien Vs Clara
Laying in a pod each, Clara and Damien had their neural tattoo scanned by the pod.

Since they were going to be playing the game with virtual characters, the scan was done to collect information on their forged beasts in order for them to be recreated.

The pods were suddenly filled with a faint sleeping gas, just enough to knock them out. When Damien and Clara woke up, they found themselves in the same vast, featureless white room, standing across each other.

As far as they could see, There were no doors, no windows—just an endless, sterile expanse. Or perhaps there were openings, but they blended so perfectly with the environment that they were impossible to see.

A holographic screen materialized before them, listing the match parameters. The system allowed them to customize their battle settings:

Battlefield Selection

Forged-Beast Rank Limit

Number of Forged Beasts Per Player

To maintain fairness, the AI set a strict rule: the highest rank of Forged Beasts that could be used was determined by the lower-ranked player. If a Silver-ranked Tamer fought against a Gold-ranked one, both would only be allowed to use Silver-tier beasts. This ensured that skill, rather than raw power, dictated the fight’s outcome.

Damien and Clara exchanged glances. Damien shrugged. “You pick the battlefield.”

This ensured that his win won’t be blamed on the level selected, at least that’s what he thought.

Clara smirked. “Alright, then you pick the number of beasts.”

She knew his thoughts exactly but he was going to regret allowing her to choose the battlefield.

“One,” Damien decided. Keeping the battle focused on a single Forged Beast would let him test his own tactical skills without juggling multiple creatures at once, besides his fighting style focused on using just one forged beast.

With the choices locked in, the screen vanished. The space around the room twisted and the whiteness fractured as the simulation booted up. Color bled into existence, shaping the battlefield Clara had chosen: a vast, mountainous canyon.

Towering cliffs, jagged rock formations, and narrow ledges stretched out as far as the eye could see. The terrain was ideal for a ranged fighter. Clara’s Falcon, with its superior aerial vision and precision targeting, would get the most advantage from the high ground.

As the environment solidified, both Damien and Clara appeared at opposite ends of the battlefield. Their Forged Beasts materialized beside them, at least the virtual version of them—Clara’s falcon immediately took to the skies and Damien’s Flame Serpent, readied itself by his side.

They noted how real the game felt, even the occasional wind blowing against their skin was felt.

Above the was a massive holographic number, showing how much time remained before the match started.

3…2….1….Begin.

As soon as the countdown finished, Clara wasted no time. She sprinted toward the nearest cliffside, scaling the rocky formation with relative ease. Her falcon moved to scout ahead, searching for Damien’s location.

Within seconds, she reached a high vantage point, and her rifle materialized in her hands.

Damien on the other hand, scanned the environment. He knew Clara might have chosen a location that would give her the most advantage and judging by the cliffs and mountain, he guessed she was some kind of long ranger.

Bang!

His guess was proven correct when the sound of a gunshot rang. Damien was able to narrowly dodge the projectile by hiding behind a rock with his forged beast.

“She’s a sniper?” He realized. Guns were not common since the dawn of forging, so it came as a surprise to him that she was using one.

“This just got a lot harder” Damien commented.

If Clara used weapons like bows and arrows, then her location would have been closer but with a sniper, he can be sniped from a longer distance away, especially if she had a forged beast that aided her range.

While contemplating, another shot rang out, this time from a different direction of the previous one. Clara had changed her location just as long rangers normally do.

The bullet struck the rock he was hiding behind, shattering it into shards and revealing Damien. Not giving him enough time to react, Clara fired another shot and if not for the forged beast whipping him out the way with its tail, he would have been hit.

He rolled behind another boulder and peeked out a bit, scanning for where the shots were coming from. But Clara wasn’t willing to give him breathing space. She took another shot and this time, the bullet hit causing Damien to groan out in pain. Luckily, he was only hit on his arm, so he hadn’t lost yet.

But his virtual health bar took a massive dip, reducing by forty percent. Two more attacks of the same kind and he was out, without even getting the chance to attack back. That would leave him embarrassed, especially since Reid was watching the match.

“We can’t allow that Pyro” Damien said to his forged beast “give us some cover”.

With that order, the scales on the serpent glowed and with a breath, instead of flames, it covered their surrounding with smoke, making sure to hide their movements.

“Tch” Clara clicked her tongue as she looked through the scope. Neither her, nor her falcon could spot Damien and his forged beast through the thick smoke.

But she wasn’t done yet.

With a command, her falcon activated a skill. The skill caused its eyes glowed faintly, enhancing its ability to see through minor obstructions. While the smoke wasn’t completely negated, she could make out subtle heat signatures moving within.

Through her scope, she spotted the faint glow of Damien’s Flame Serpent slithering forward. It was an easy shot. She lined up her sights and—

FWOOOOSH!

A fireball erupted from the smoke, rapidly approaching her position. Clara barely rolled out of the way in time as the blast exploded against the rock she had been perched on. The shockwave knocked her off balance, forcing her to grab the ledge to avoid tumbling down.

“Damn it,” she gritted her teeth.

Damien had used the cover to reposition, forcing her to move as well. She quickly relocated, scaling to an even higher vantage point, keeping her distance.

Meanwhile, Damien took a deep breath, gripping his injured arm. “Alright… at least we know her position now,” he muttered. He needed to close the gap. At long range, Clara was nearly untouchable.

To track Clara, Damien’s forged-beast was using a skill similar to her falcon’s, with her heat signature Damien was able to track where she moved to, even while they were within the smoke.

The Flame Serpent slithered ahead, keeping low and maneuvering through the rocks, while it kept releasing smoke that acted as a cover for them.

Damien followed closely, making his way toward the base of the cliffs. The problem was, Clara still had the high ground, and even without a direct line of sight, her forged beast hovering above them provided their heat signatures to her.

Bang!

Another bullet cut through the smoke, missing Damien by mere inches. She knew exactly where he was and how he moved.

“Not good,” he muttered.

Clara smirked as she adjusted her aim. “There you are.”

She took another shot which forced Damien and Pyro to take cover behind some rocks, which the next bullet from her gun quickly destroyed.

“Come out come out wherever you are” Clara taunted. She was having a lot more fun making Damien hide than she should.

She took another shot which destroyed the next rock Damien hid behind, the bullet lodged itself in his shoulders and reducing his health by another twenty percent.

“Damn it,” Damien muttered, pressing against the rock for cover. His arm throbbed from the earlier hit, and Clara still had the high ground. If he couldn’t close the distance soon, this battle would end before he even had a chance to fight back.

He exhaled sharply, forcing himself to think. Clara was a sniper—her entire strategy revolved around staying mobile and keeping her opponents at a disadvantage.

“Pyro,” he whispered to his Flame Serpent, “change of plans, let’s go on offense.”

The serpent flicked its tongue in understanding. The smoke it had generated was already beginning to thin, and Damien gave no command to reinforce it. Instead, he focused on tracking Clara’s position.

She had relocated to a higher vantage point, believing he was still stuck in his defensive play.

‘Good’ Damien thought to himself.

Clara, still confident in her advantage, had her sights locked onto the thinning smoke. The moment Damien emerged, she’d take the shot.

But before she could pull the trigger, the ground beneath her shuddered.

An earthquake like rumble passed through the ledge she was on.

Her eyes moved downward just in time to see an intense glow spreading across the rocks below.

Then—BOOM!

A massive pillar of fire erupted from beneath her position, heat rippling through the air as the stone cracked. The ledge she was on glowed red as it got dangerously hot.

“What the—?!”

Before she could react, the entire section of the cliff she was perched on rumbled and gave way due to the heat.

“Sh*t” Clara cursed as she jumped, barely grabbing onto another ledge as the rock crumbled beneath her.

“Got you” Damien walked out of the smoke with a smirk on his face.

The tables had turned and Damien intended to take full advantage of the chance he just got.