This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Bea's threads surged forward with renewed strength, more numerous than ever before.

They lashed out like ethereal whips, completely unavoidable, and much more resistant to the cutting of the serpent. Finally, a few managed to make contact, snaking into its mind.

The creature roared in rage, its body convulsing violently as it thrashed against the intrusion. The water churned around them, sending a shockwave rippling outward.

This time, Bea's threads didn't disintegrate upon entry into its body.

Bolstered by the massive influx of spiritual energy and the boost it provided to their strength, they wormed their way deeper into the creature's psyche, seeking to exploit its injuries and momentary disorientation.

Kain could feel the strain through their bond, Bea's consciousness pressing against a barrier far stronger than any they had encountered before.

The creature, however, was far from helpless.

It retaliated with another pulse of mental energy, the sheer force of which sent Kain reeling backward. His head pounded as disorienting whispers flooded his mind, faint glimpses of the serpent's memories bleeding into his thoughts—visions of a brutal fight, its attacker's visage obscured but its aura unmistakably violet-grade. The serpent's pain and desperation were overwhelming, but its hunger and rage burned brighter.

The memories were so vivid, that Kain almost got consumed by them, thinking of himself as this aquatic serpent.

During the period of Kain's helplessness, the serpent moved rapidly toward him with its massive, fang-filled jaw stretched open—wanting to swallow him in one bite.

Seeing Kain's plight, Bea redoubled her efforts, her threads shifting from direct control to creating a web of confusion. They tugged at the serpent's instincts, making it hesitate in its movements and misjudge Kain's position.

Coming to his senses, Kain kicked his legs and darted to the side, narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe of the serpent's serrated fins as it passed him by.

The orbs at the end of the whisker-like tendrils coming off of its face glowed ominously, releasing cyan blades that hurtled toward him. Clearly, although the mental-attribute was dominant, it had a sub water-attribute as well.

Kain twisted and turned, barely avoiding the attack as it passed dangerously close, the residual energy cutting against his armour and into his skin.

"Damn it," Kain muttered, his breaths coming in ragged gasps. Even with Bea's enhancements, this was far from a fair fight.

Kain's mind raced as he dodged a lash from the serpent's tail as it spun around to meet him again. The creature was relentless, its massive form moving with surprising agility despite its injuries. Each attack sent shockwaves through the water, letting Kain know that if his dodging were even a fraction of a second off, he'd probably be dismembered.

Thankfully, Bea gave up on controlling it and focused on shifting its senses slightly, causing it to inaccurately gauge Kain's location several times.

However, even with the massive boost to her abilities, Kain could feel the strain through their bond, a constant reminder of the massive gap between their efforts and the serpent's raw power. He needed a strategy to exploit its injuries and end the fight before both he and Bea were overwhelmed.

The serpent lunged again, its glowing cyan eyes locking onto Kain with predatory intent. He dove downward, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws as they closed with a deafening crash, sending shards of broken coral scattering through the water.

Kain noted that, despite the gap in power and it being a mental-attribute spiritual creature, it keeps trying to crush Kain physically, rather than with its skills. As a creature with the mental-attribute, that's practically giving up its greatest advantage to instead stubbornly try to kill them with its weakness.

Yes, it's physically powerful in comparison to the squishy Kain and Bea, but compared to most indigo-grade spiritual creatures, its physique is lackluster.

Kain's gaze darted to the jagged spines along its back where some of the worst of its injuries were. Each spine was pulsing faintly with spiritual energy. An idea began to form in his mind.

He also noticed that the orbs at the end of its whiskers also seemed to flicker unstably.

Perhaps this creature had a unique energy circuit, that flowed through its spines as well as those orbs, that were damaged in the previous fight? Making it difficult for it to exert any moves that consume spiritual power.

'Bea,' Kain called through their bond, his thoughts sharp and focused. 'See if there's a way to disrupt the flow of energy to its spines as you disrupted its senses. If we can destabilize it enough, I might have a shot.'

Bea did as directed, although manipulating the flow of spiritual power was a new task for her, she barely managed to accomplish it by subtly manipulating the serpent's own control over its energy, gradually having it unconsciously siphon off much of its energy elsewhere in its body.

The glow of the spine dimmed slightly, and the serpent's movements faltered, but it retaliated with a flick of its tail that sent Kain tumbling backward—its aim now more accurate now that Bea had to focus on redirecting its spiritual energy.

Kain reached for an object in his space ring which he'd purchased from the college in the event of an emergency—a specially crafted explosive orb infused with spiritual energy.

It was a single-use item capable of delivering a devastating localized blast, that he'd thought about using on the laboratories of that organization should their walls prove to be fire-proof.

He hesitated for only a moment before activating it, the orb glowing with a vibrant orange hue as it charged.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kain propelled himself upward, the Aqua-Fin Bands giving him a burst of speed as he positioned himself above the serpent's head. The creature, seemed surprised by him taking the initiative to approach for the first time. But then under its shocked eyes, with a forceful throw, he launched the glowing orb directly at its damaged back. Before taking off in the direction of the center of the lake as swiftly as possible.

The explosion was almost instantaneous. A blinding light filled the water as the orb detonated, sending a shockwave that rippled through the lake. The serpent let out a deafening roar, its body convulsing as the blast shattered several of its spines and left a gaping wound along its back.

The injured serpent that now found it difficult to activate its spiritual power to defend itself due to Bea had needed to weather the blast with its body.

Kain didn't wait to see if it would recover. He darted away from the blast zone, the Aqua-Fin Bands propelling him toward the towering wall in the distance. Behind him, the serpent's roars grew weaker, and it didn't seem to plan to chase.

And with the way clear in front of him, and the Threads of Destiny glowing brighter in his vision, Kain was sure that he would arrive at his destination soon.