This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Heavy footsteps approached. A voice clicked its tongue nearby.

“Is this the guy? The one who jumped in like a madman?”

“Yes, sir.”

Though Darius planned to ‘faint’ after being hit with a club, the flimsy club broke instead, but he still managed to feign weakness and get tied to an old metal chair inside the abandoned building.

Reginald and his accomplices, thinking he must be a pretty powerful beast-tamer to dive in so bravely, tied each of his limbs with about ten cable ties.

“Connected to the government?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Replied one henchman after handing over everything they’d found from frisking Darius to Reginald and his accomplice from the Black Vine Consortium.

“Why are you uncertain? Didn’t you check properly?”

“No government ID, just a driver’s license in his jacket pocket. From what I can sense of his energy though, he should be a 2-star tamer” Said the member of the Black Vine Consortium Reginald was meeting with—who also happened to be a 2-star beast-tamer.

“How does a guy who’s only a 2-star tamer have the guts?…He looks too clean to be a drug addict who sniffed something and crawled here.”

“He doesn’t show any signs of mutating from the drug either.”

“Well, we’ll find out by asking him.”

Reginald, who had been muttering to himself, lit a cigarette.

“Hey, wake him up. We don’t have time.”

“Yes, boss!”

There was a flurry of movement. Someone grabbed Darius’ hair roughly and pulled him up into a sitting position. Unable to see, he used his other senses and heard the sound of sloshing water. Darius twitched his closed eyes. Surely they wouldn’t do something as barbaric as pouring sewage water on him…

Splash! A cold, disturbingly thick, water hit him forcefully.

‘Dammit, they really did it!’

Judging by the salty-bitter and disgusting smell and taste, it seemed they had scooped water directly from a source nearby—it definitely wasn’t clean though. His head and upper body were completely soaked.

‘Damn it, I’m not even asleep.’ Darius gritted his teeth discreetly.

‘Maybe I should have just beaten them all up from the start…’

Someone approached Darius, who was soaking wet from the dirty water, both in body and mind. A man cracked his knuckles, making bone-cracking sounds, and barked at him.

“Hey, you bastard, I can see you rolling your eyes under your eyelids. If you’re awake, get up quickly…”

Something flew toward his face this time. Judging by the speed and the flow of the air, it seemed to be a fist. Darius remained seated, eyes closed, only wiggling his toes.

“Open your eyes!”

Thwack! A feather-light punch landed on his cheek.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

“Ahhh!”

The scream erupted from somewhere other than Darius’s mouth. Darius finally opened his eyes slightly. The henchman of Reginald who had thrown the punch was hopping in place, clutching his reddened, swollen fist. The dim lighting reflected off his closely shaved head, flickering like a chaotic strobe light.

“My, my hand!”

As he hopped around as if his feet were on fire, the other thugs surrounding him jeered.

“Hey, stop whining, you idiot!”

“What’s with the fuss after hitting his face with your fist?”

“It’s not fussing, I’m telling you!”

The henchman (Darius will call henchman number 1), clutched his fist and explained with tears in his eyes, while one of the men in the group laughed loudly.

“If it’s fussing, you’re dead. Let’s see.”

“I’m serious! Ah…”

“…Huh?”

The face of henchman number 2 who was checking the fist of henchman 1, stiffened a bit. He scratched his head in disbelief as he turned the hand back and forth.

“This guy’s hand really seems broken.”

“What?”

“No, did he coat his face in metal? Why is his fist shattered after hitting his face?”

“Now that you mention it, I did hit that guy’s head with a wooden plank earlier, and the plank broke.”

“What the hell? Is he a stone head? Is that his gift?”

The thugs around him gathered and murmured in confusion. This situation was troubling. Darius had been hoping to use the guise of being at their mercy to instead extract information from them. After all, even just the questions they choose to ask will be telling…

Unfortunately, the kidnappers were much weaker than Darius had expected, making it difficult for him to even feign weakness. Admittedly, although he knew the skills of his contract that he was relying on were quite strong, he had still underestimated its strength. His contract wasn’t only the most beautiful (in his opinion), resembling an iridescent glowing cross between a jellyfish and squid. The description of his contract and its skills provided to him by Kain had been quite impressive. According to Kain, his contract was called the Reflescera Jelly:

Supposedly it is a rare, exclusively non-combative support-type spiritual creature, prized for its unparalleled ability to bond with and protect physically powerful partners. Therefore, in nature, it will be taken as an underling by the most powerful spiritual creatures in a region. It lacks traditional means of offence, having no muscles, bones, or long-range attacks. However, its symbiotic barrier system makes it one of the best defensive and support partners.

This support-like nature was also reflected in its skills:

A- Jelly Recoil Membrane: While bonded to a partner, any physical attacks equal to or weaker than the Jelly’s strength are reflected at 100% power back to the attacker. When struck by an enemy one grade higher, reflection power is reduced to 50% effectiveness, and the partner sustains half the amount of damage.

A-Jelly Absorption Veil: Can absorb any incoming magical or elemental attack of an equal or lesser grade than itself. A portion of the absorbed energy is converted into spiritual energy to restore the Jelly’s reserves. Over time, repeated absorption of a specific element may allow the Jelly to become more efficient at nullifying it.

A-Jelly Symbiotic Armour: The Jelly can completely wrap itself around its partner, merging seamlessly with their body. While merged, it is undetectable to normal senses and detection skills of those equal to it in strength. All its defensive properties are applied automatically to the wrapped partner. This symbiosis does not hinder the host’s movements and even greatly enhances flexibility and reaction times.

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