This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 451

Chapter 451: Chapter 451: Blessed or Cursed?
She latched onto one of the struggling low-level abyssals under her control, who would be comparable to a stronger red-grade spiritual creature.

Rather than suppressing or competing with the abyssal energy, she allowed her split to study it, to sync with it, guiding it, moulding it, and redirecting its flow until it became… compliant albeit only slightly.

And then it happened.

A rush of knowledge, an instinctual understanding flooded into her being. Bea realized that the process of forming corrupted wasn’t about dominating them—the energy was assimilating them. And she would go a lot further if she could also master this more gentle approach to complete control.

The creature beneath her influence gradually stopped struggling, its resistance melting away as if it had accepted her presence entirely. Its body, still abyssal, still dark and monstrous, now moved with her will, not as a puppet forced into motion, but as something that had its own autonomy but had been rewritten to recognize her as its superior.

Excitement surged through her as she tested it again. Another abyssal, stronger and closer in strength to a yellow-grade spiritual creature, one that had been resisting her grasp, suddenly stilled as she refined her influence over it. The change was subtle, but it was there. Rather than pushing back, rather than fighting her, the abyssal’s corrupted energy had aligned with her own.

Abyssal energy, twisted as it was, no longer repelled her as strongly as before. She could shape it, twist it to her advantage, and bend it toward her will with far less strain than before.

If she had a body, she would be humming with satisfaction right now. If this was the nature of abyssal energy, then she would turn it into her weapon.

And with this power, she would devour this battlefield.

——————————-

Harris was a new recruit. Speaking of, his luck could be considered to be quite strange.

On the extremely negative end, on his first of his new job as a city guard, the abyssals launched a full-scale attack. He may not even be able to collect his first paycheque before dying!

However, in another sense, Harris could also argue that he was extremely lucky. After all, despite being probably the weakest and least experienced beast-tamer on the field, he was still alive with all of his contracts intact while many of those stronger and better than him had fallen.

In fact, when those war machines had first appeared on the field and blasted the city walls, he had thought he was certainly done for.

He was certain that the first machine to fire was aimed directly at his section of the wall, and before he could react that attack had already blasted a section of the wall and the guards on it into dust—less than a meter to the right of where he was standing.

Just when he was about to praise his good luck and his pounding heart began to slow, another blast also arrived from another machine—this one even closer but to his left.

And so, Harris became the only guard remaining on a thin section of the wall still standing—less than a meter wide—completely isolated from his allies on an island of crumbling stone.

And throughout the battle, there were several more instances of near misses. A cat-type corrupt suddenly appeared at his side, face mere inches from his neck, when it suddenly began convulsing and choking while collapsing on the floor. Harris, quickly fled the area, but when he glanced back he could see the corrupted cat spitting up what appeared to be a massive black hairball. With the massive ball dislodged from its throat, it returned to normal and began attacking everyone around it, Harris long forgotten.

And in another instance, Harris was cornered by a charging abyssal beast—some sort of grotesque, six-limbed wolf hybrid. Harris had braced himself for death, clutching his trembling sword, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a severed abyssal arm—from a far-off corner of the battlefield—came flying through the air and smacked the creature directly in the face.

It let out a garbled yelp, its many legs tangling beneath it as it tripped over the rogue appendage and tumbled straight into a crater. Before Harris could even process what had happened, an explosion from a spell gone wrong sent a chunk of rubble crashing down, sealing the beast inside its impromptu grave.

He had stared blankly at the scene for a full five seconds before deciding to just accept it and run in the opposite direction.

Even just now, Harris was currently without any armour on his upper body due to his uncanny luck happening to strike again.

When he’d been trying to find cover behind a collapsed barricade, he had barely crouched down when a corrupted bird—a horrific vulture-like creature—descended upon him. Harris had swung his sword wildly in sheer panic, missing entirely, and instead cutting the strap to his own armor.

His breastplate, unbuckled and free, somehow flung itself off his body and directly into the bird’s face, lodging over its beak like a poorly fitted muzzle. The creature flailed, smacking itself into a nearby spiked barricade temporarily constructed by an earth golem and skewering itself instantly.

Harris had stared at the scene, still gripping his sword with both hands in a battle stance, before slowly lowering it with an incredulous look. “…Huh.”

But now, standing frozen as the corrupted beast loomed over him, its massive jaw wide open and dripping with corrosive saliva, Harris finally felt like his ridiculous lucky streak had run out.

His mind blanked. His contracts—though eager and loyal—were utterly outclassed by the abyssal in front of him. This thing was likely green-grade before it turned, and Harris’ strongest contract was only orange-grade and the others all red-grade.

His fingers twitched on his sword’s hilt, though he knew swinging it would be as effective as slapping a mountain.

Time slowed, and he found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, he should have taken up his father’s offer to run the family bakery instead. Live life as an ordinary civilian. But it was so rare to have the opportunity to become a beast-tamer that he’d immediately signed up to become a guard in training—receiving training, resources, and suitable contracts in return.

The entire world slowed down to a crawl was especially torturous, extending the time and anticipation to the inevitable moment of his death.

But suddenly, the terrifying creature paused after a slight spasm. Its red eyes blinked repeatedly in confusion, before it turned around and began to strike at the nearby abyssal creatures and corrupted with feral aggression.

Harris blinked.

Then he slowly, very slowly, stepped backward, putting as much distance between himself and whatever the hell had just happened. He had no idea what had caused the abyssal to switch targets—divine intervention? A secret guardian angel? Dumb, stupid, stupid luck?—but he wasn’t going to question it.

He exhaled, shaking legs carrying him forward as he muttered under his breath, “I should’ve just baked bread.”