This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 740: Chapter 740: Looking Death in the Eye

Sublevel 3 – Utility Access Corridor, a Few Minutes Earlier

The janitor’s hand slid to his collar.

He pressed a hidden button near the embroidered ID badge and tilted his head slightly as the mic buzzed in his ear.

“Target is no longer in sublevel three,” he murmured. “Repeat, visual on Pheneos lost. May have exited through auxiliary stairwell or activated a means of avoiding detection. No trail on surveillance. Floor motion sensors show anomaly—subject might have used an object with stealth sigils.”

“Continue search?” came the reply, filtered and mechanical.

The janitor hesitated.

“No. Not without backup. Too many eyes down here, including some from competing assets. Risk of exposure.”

“Copy. Report acknowledged. Standby for reassignment.”

He tapped the comms again to end the transmission and resumed whistling softly as he pushed his cart, his mop handle now retracted into what suspiciously resembled a collapsible staff.

The janitor—whose real name no real employee at the arena actually knew—didn’t bother glancing back.

————————–

Arena, Maintenance Wing Hall

The three ’recruiters’ circled again.

Each pretending they weren’t following the others.

Each doubling back through different stairwells and auxiliary vents.

Each glancing suspiciously at anyone who looked too clean, too calm, or too underdressed for a combat zone.

The private mercenary stepped into a closet, pretended to check his tablet, and quietly messaged his employer about the lack of success.

The cultist ducked into a storage room and calmly considered committing suicide. He knew that failure was not accepted in his organization…better to leave his life in his own hands than getting experimented on to death like many others who failed…

Then again, he could still find the technician. All he needed was one clean opportunity. One moment of isolation. He pumped himself up and decided not to give up hope just yet!

A soldier sat on a bench and flipped open a ration pack, chewing slowly, eyes scanning every corridor for a trace of their elusive prize.

The groups circled and waited.

But they didn’t know—

That the role of partner that Pheneos’ teacher had been looking for had already been tentatively pre-empted…

By a mere college student.

————————–

Celestial Hotel —Floor 17

Kain took a deep breath and knocked once on Serena’s hotel room door.

He expected her to crack it open, maybe gesture for them to talk elsewhere.

Instead, the door swung wide.

And Serena, in an oversized sleep shirt and shorts, blinked once, then grabbed his wrist.

He stumbled forward. “Wh—”

The door clicked shut behind him.

Kain could only glance at the closed door in befuddlement. That was completely unlike the normally ’cool’ Serena that he knew. Was she really that comfortable with him now? After all they’d gone on so many missions together. Or did she just not think of him as a man and so wasn’t nervous inviting him in…?

He hated feeling like he was being seen as harmless. Like he was furniture. Or worse—’like a brother.’

Kain decided not to dwell on why that was as a pang of irritation lanced through his heart.

“I was going to ask if we could talk somewhere neutral,” Kain mumbled, already regretting it.

“Why?” Serena asked, turning back toward the bed to grab a tablet. “We’re not negotiating a treaty. You said you wanted to talk.”

“Yeah, but—” Kain paused.

He was in a girl’s room.

Not her usual bedroom, but still. A girl’s room.

And it smelled like her. That soft, crisp yet sweet floral scent and something distinctly Serena.

There was a hair tie on the lamp. A tiny plush creature under the pillow. And one of her signature rings resting in a shallow dish by the sink.

Kain, unsettled, made a beeline for the furthest available chair and perched on it ramrod straight, as if his spine had fused with a spear.

Serena looked at him curiously. “You okay?”

“Fine,” he said too fast.

She shrugged and flopped into a lotus position on the bed, completely unbothered.

“So,” she said. “Talk.”

Kain told her everything.

Pheneos. The cube. Dorian Anvil. The unexpected invitation. The change in the boy who once was like a normal anxious teenager.

Serena listened without interrupting, nodding occasionally.

When he finished, he leaned back and exhaled. “So yeah. I’m going to meet them during the break. But something about all of this feels… off. I just—don’t want to go alone.”

Serena tapped her chin thoughtfully. “And you want me to come?”

“I thought about asking you. But honestly…” Kain hesitated. “I’m not sure either of us are strong enough if something goes wrong.”

“True,” she said without offense. Then perked up. “Want me to ask my father?”

“Wait—really?”

She smiled. “I mean, he is an 8-star tamer. And he’s got the kind of authority that’d make anyone hesitate to try something. After all, his father is a demi-god as well.”

Kain nodded. “That’d be—yeah. That’d be good. Thanks.”

He stood, brushing imaginary dust from his pants. “Let me know what he says later.”

“Okay,” Serena said cheerfully—and then, without any warning, tapped the screen of her tablet to start a call.

Kain froze.

“No. No no no no no—” he muttered, eyes widening as the screen flashed connecting.

He spun, heading for the door in a panic.

“Why would you start it now—”

Too late.

A window popped up.

Her father’s face appeared—dressed casually but sharply, pale hair slicked back, voice calm.

“Serena,” he greeted warmly, “what is—”

Then stopped.

His gaze sharpened instantly.

“…Is someone in your room?”

Kain froze mid-step, literally inches from the door.

He tried to disappear into the air.

’Say no, say no, say no—’

“Yes,” Serena replied more brightly than usual, happy to see her father. “It’s Kain. He’s actually why I’m calling.”

Kain’s soul left his body.

’She’s trying to get me killed.’

Slowly, Kain turned and offered a helpless, pained smile to the screen.

“Hello, sir.”

Her father’s expression shifted instantly from confused to cold, blue eyes narrowing.

The pressure from the gaze alone was enough to remind him that the man on the other end of the screen could level a small city if he wanted to. Or kill him as easily as swatting a fly…

Kain whispered under his breath. “I’m dead.”

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