Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution
Chapter 46: Something in the Air III

Chapter 46: Something in the Air III

Something in the Air III

"What is happening?!"

"Energy signatures are spiking! A possible Elite rank beast has appeared! Multiple expert ranks have been identified!"

"The number of beasts congregating has reached two thousand and climbing! All of them are heading in this direction. It is a beast tide. I repeat, it is a beast tide!"

"Send the alerts and sound the alarms, contact every apprentice level beast tamer and above, ready the defenses, and contact the high-ranking beast tamers!" Within the observation, orders were being shouted, and new information was being filtered with every second that passed.

It hadn’t taken them long to detect the beast tide, and understandably, the reactions to it weren’t pleasant.

Beast tides were rare but not uncommon. For their Citadel, they dealt with an average of three every few years. They were grueling, but usually nothing too difficult. Most of the time, they would be led by a beast that had broken through to the next rank and believed itself capable of taking over the entire Citadel, the result being its death a few hours after its attempt and its underlines being turned into resources.

They were dangerous, sure, but always within the scope of doable.

This beast tide had only been detected a few minutes ago and was already worse than several of the past beast tides combined.

Even then, dealing with a beast tide of that caliber, based on the rank of that Citadel, should have still been doable. Difficult, but doable. After all, the only time the Blossom Citadel was forced to make use of 100% of its might was when it was first created. Back then, there were many powerful beasts in the surrounding area and they weren’t happy about humans suddenly appearing and encroaching on their territory, so it had suffered a long, and grueling battle for days against the creatures and their underlings until finally coming out on top.

There hadn’t been a battle of such a scale following that, until now that is.

"I need all the information on the leading creature. Its characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, possible origins, everything. I refuse to believe that something of that caliber was able to develop right under our noses. Especially in somewhere that is constantly monitored." In the middle of the room, a man spoke firmly. He looked like a drizzled war veteran with several scars running across his face. His name was Major Thompson.

"Sir! I have live imagery of the creature from one of our drones!" Someone called out.

"Put it on the main screen." Major Thompson ordered, and a few seconds later, the large screen in the room flickered to life as something was displayed on it, and everyone gasped when they saw the creature.

"... What is that?" One of them said.

There were all sorts of beasts in the world, some that still adhered to reason, but many that simply didn’t make any sense when looked at. This, however, just looked wrong.

Like it shouldn’t be there.

Every flap of its wings spread a dark dust that descended to the ground where the army of beasts followed it.

Everyone observed with shock as every beast that inhaled this dust had its eyes to bloodshot and purple lines that looked like veins started to appear across their bodies. The result of this being their Auras suddenly climbing and them becoming more aggressive.

It wasn’t just the ground either. Everywhere it passed, the skies suddenly darkened and flashed with purple lightning. The air currents around it surged dangerously, condemning around its body to form what seemed like a passive barrier.

Even the ambient Mana seemed to change, its usual neutral nature turning darker, sickly almost. It was like a blight in the world itself, one that was heading straight for their Citadel.

"Man the defenses and activate the barrier." Major Thompson said slowly, his voice grim.

"Our main priority is to eliminate that thing. It will be designated the Skyblight Harbinger. Is that understood?" There was a chorus of ’Understood’s’.

Then suddenly.

"Sir! The Jordan Outpost is directly in the path of the beast tide. What’s more, I’ve just learned that students from the Bright Spark Academy went on an excursion a few miles outside the Outpost! Among whom are two Students that have the Possible Asset designation with Lady Jane among them!" Hearing this, Major Thompson’s expression darkened.

"How fast can we send an evacuation squad to retrieve them compared to how fast the tide will reach them?" He asked, and another handler spoke.

"If we act now, it’ll take 45 minutes. But the beast tide will reach them in 30." Major Thompson cursed.

"Send a message to Lady Jane. Tell her to head back as quickly as possible, and that backup is coming, but also inform her that a battle is likely and she’ll need to protect her students! Now!" Once the order was given, the handlers acted.

___

’I fucking knew it!’ Osho cursed inwardly as the students rushed into the buses. It was a miracle they didn’t trample over one another. Well, it’s more because of Mrs Jane’s presence.

Even then, the panic was palpable and many of the students were pale, and more than a few were crying as they got on the buses.

"Of all the times for a beast tide to happen. What sort of luck is this???" Ellie said with a growl to her voice. She wasn’t happy, as were the rest of them.

When their watches blared and they saw the alert of a beast tide, almost everyone felt their hearts drop. Of all the possible scenarios that could have happened, this had to be the worst.

A bunch of students caught between a beast tide, that certainly wasn’t how Osho thought this outing would go.

"B-But we aren’t too far away from the Citadel... I’m sure we can get there in time, and if not, then I’m sure someone will come to get us." Kurt said, trying to sound optimistic, but the faint tears in the corners of his eyes spoke volumes about how he actually felt.

"Kurt is correct, help is on the way." Mrs Jane’s voice somehow sounded in all the buses despite standing on top the one that housed Osho and his team.

Her words caused the eyes of the students to light up, but her next words doused them with cold water.

"However, there is a high chance we will encounter the beast tide before then. So we will have to fight for a time." Everyone shivered.

They had just barely started learning how to fight against beasts. Going from calculated battles to confronting an entire beast tide felt like a massive jump if they had to say so themselves.

"However, don’t worry. I and the teachers will protect each and every one of you. You will get back home safely. I promise you that." Her voice was calm but filled with a fiery determination that made the students calm down subconsciously.

Osho detected faint t aces of Mana settling on his head, so he guessed the calming effect was both from her voice and the Mana she imbued into it.

’Can she though?’ Grabted, Osho had never seen Mrs Jane go all out. Heck, most of the videos he’d seen of her in action were her bullying lower ranked beasts, so he hadnever seen the upper limit of her power. Still, he’d gotten a glimpse of what she could do in person from her Salamander.

Not to mention, she wasn’t alone. All their teachers had at least one Adept rank beast and had trained with them for extended periods. So unlike normal beasts that acted based purely on instinct, they could create effective strategies that could buy enough time for whoever wanted to rescue them to come.

’Then again, how long do we have to wait?’ That was another question. Osho guessed that as it was, their goal was to get as close as possible to the Citadel before engaging with the beast tide. He ran some calculations in his mind and guessed that they would have to defend themselves from somewhere between 10-25 minutes. It didn’t sound like a lot, but when one was in a tense situation, time seemed to crawl forward.

As he pondered, he noticed that they had arrived at the Jordan Outpost. The sight of the heavily armed fort served to ease some of the worries of the students. But even then, it wasn’t by a lot.

The gate opened as soon as they arrived and they saw how everyone was moving about with obvious urgency. They had obviously been informed of the beast tide as well.

The buses quickly drove by and went to the private area they had reserved for themselves. The staff that had been waiting behind, being the cooks, laundry people, and other miscellaneous occupationists, were waiting for their convoy.

No time was wasted as they entered some vehicles and quickly joined the convoy of cars.

A few minutes later, they were out of there.

Osho turned, and his eyes widened when he looked back.

Behind them, massive dark clouds were forming, occasionally flashing with purplse lightning, and they were rapidly moving in their direction.

On his shoulder, Gale also looked back, and his beady eyes narrowed sharply.

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