This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 864: The River’s Wrath
Chapter 864: Chapter 864: The River’s Wrath
The world had gone still again.
Kain and Serena remained within Aegis’s dim cocoon, the faint hum of the domain pressing around them. The light of the massive turtle’s eyes bathed the water in pale green luminescence, and for a brief moment, the only sounds were their own slow breaths and the crashing waves of the current.
Then the light shifted.
The turtle settled back down, the enormous bulk of its shell easing into the soft riverbed with a soundless grace. Around it, life quickly returned to normal. Small fish darted through the softened currents, weaving through the coral-like ridges of its back. Tiny crustaceans scuttled over glistening stones, and strands of luminous algae waved lazily in the steady flow. It was as if the entire ecosystem had instantly forgotten the chaos that had just taken place. As Kain observed the scene, something caught his eye. What he had initially thought was a deep groove or shadow along the center of its back was, in fact, a massive wound—a deep cut running the full length of the shell like a ravine. The edges pulsed faintly with light, a sign of slow healing. The sight sent a shiver through him. No wonder the creature had sounded weary, though the battle itself hadn’t been strenuous for it. Whatever had done that must have been powerful beyond imagination. To scar a being so defensively supreme—a Demigod at the peak of endurance—it had to be something monstrous. Kain could only wonder what kind of enemy had carved such a wound, and how long it had been recovering here. He suspected it had been since the creation of this river itself, the wound one that might take centuries—or even millennia—to fully heal.
The turtle’s eyes turned slightly upward, and the river seemed to tense with it. The current that had been gentle and rhythmic began to slow… then reverse. Even Aegis’s barrier trembled from the change.
Serena frowned. “Something’s wrong.”
Before Kain could respond, the water above them darkened. Shadows—multiple, massive ones—moved across the surface, blotting out the faint glow of the flames above.
He extended his senses, letting his awareness sweep outward through the turtle’s domain. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be hostile to him, otherwise, Kain could sense, that his spiritual awareness could have been easily crushed by the other party, causing a mental backlash as a result.
Instantly, his expression hardened. “Abyssals. A lot of them.”
“How many?”
“Not too many, but they are all powerful. On par, or close in strength with the first high-grade snake we defeated.”
He could feel them—several dozen, each radiating a different flavor of corruption. Some were hot and molten like magma; others cold and acidic, their auras sharp enough to sting his spiritual perception through the domain.
A few burned with the oily shimmer of toxic mist, while others pulsed faintly with storm-like energy that warped the current around them. Smaller abyssals—but not weak. They had been hiding in the forest, never recalled by the larger serpent, their boss, before.
And now, they were converging.
The peaceful hum of the domain deepened. The turtle’s eyes narrowed. For a heartbeat, the river itself seemed to inhale.
Then it moved and the entire river responded as if it were an extra limb.
Currents exploded outward like tidal waves, pillars of water spiraling upward to breach the surface in towering arcs. The calm ripples transformed into whirlpools, and the abyssal miasma spilling from above was instantly shredded into harmless mist.
A roar tore through the air above, deep and echoing even through the water. Kain and Serena could see the silhouettes of the invading serpents thrashing across the surface, black shapes clashing against the river itself.
The turtle’s domain flexed. Each pulse of its power turned water into a weapon.
A surge of condensed pressure blasted upward. The closest abyssal serpent was crushed mid-strike, its body folding in on itself as if an aquatic fist had clenched around it. The creature burst into vapor, its remains dissolved into the flow. Yet even as the tainted residue of its death began to spread, the river responded—the surrounding water shimmered faintly, purifying the space, washing away every trace of the black corruption until the flow ran clear again.
Another dove toward the surface, releasing gouts of molten black flame—but the fire never touched the water. It spread, sputtered, and then dimmed to nothing, the river swallowing it whole, the remaining abyssal corruption in the flame looked like ashes and dispersed harmlessly into the clean current.
Kain watched in silence, heart pounding. “Insane… the entire river is its to control.”
Serena could barely speak as the water jostled them around, fortunately Aegis and some water around them (provided by the turtle) seemed to act as a buffer. “That’s… not control. Its more like it is the river. Perhaps the river was even artificially created by it, but due to the long lives of turtles normally, much less a demigod one, Bai Lian was unaware of its true nature.”
Above them, chaos continued. The Noble Abyssal, the one that had chased them through the forest, let out a guttural roar that shook the entire valley. Its violet-gold eyes burned with fury, its enormous body coiled as it hurled another wave of flame at the surface. The water exploded outward from the impact, geysers blasting skyward, but no damage reached below. Each jet of fire was caught by an unseen force and twisted apart.
The turtle’s glow intensified.
Its shell shimmered with five colors—blue, green, gold, red, and white—faint at first, then vivid, spreading through the surrounding current. The energy mixed together smoothly, pulsing in a steady, even rhythm. The water didn’t just block the abyssal—it absorbed the heat and corruption, broke it apart, and spread the purified energy through the river that seemed to have additional damage properties to the abyssals above.
The river settled into perfect balance.
The serpent above screamed in defiance, its tail thrashing hard enough to fell nearby trees. A plume of black fire and molten debris erupted skyward as it struck the water again and again, trying to force its power through sheer violence. The turtle’s response was almost casual—a pulse, soft but absolute.
The next instant, three of the abyssals, equivalent to indigo-grade, attempting to dive beneath the surface, were crushed by pressure alone, their bodies imploding in silence. The Noble Abyssal froze mid-motion, its roar faltering.
Its violet eyes flickered with fear, again.
The turtle finally moved. Its head rose higher, long whiskers of glowing tendrils rippling through the water. From the depths beneath its shell came a low sound—a rumble that felt like the ocean itself growling. It opened its massive jaws slightly, releasing a pulse of light that rippled upward.
The abyssals screamed as the wave passed through them. Corrupted energy shattered like glass. Their flames sputtered out. One after another, the creatures began to retreat—some diving back toward the forest, others dissolving into smoke.
The Noble lingered, glaring back at the river as if torn between rage and terror. Its body bore deep melting marks where the turtle’s energy had seared through its corruption. With one last hiss, it whipped its tail and disappeared into the burning horizon, vanishing with the rest.
And just like that, the battle was over.
The currents calmed. The surface above shimmered again with faint gold light—the reflection of a now-peaceful sky returning. The massive turtle lowered its head slowly, its enormous eyes dimming to a tranquil green.
“It protected us,” Serena said, surprise and gratefulness filling her gaze.
“Or it simply couldn’t be bothered to target it us along with the Abyssals.” Kain replied.
The turtle’s massive eyes turned toward them again. “Both are true.”
The words weren’t heard so much as felt—each syllable thrummed through their bones. The water vibrated, forming concentric ripples even within Aegis’s barrier.
The turtle’s eyes turned toward them again. “Since you intrude upon my current with neither malice nor greed. You are tolerated. Although the guest you brought has disturbed my sleep.”
It settled back into place, sinking slightly until its shell brushed the silt below. Small fish darted through the gentle currents, weaving between coral-like ridges on its shell, blissfully unaware of the battle that had just occurred. The surface of its back teemed with life—tiny crustaceans crawling along its grooves, strands of algae waving softly in the flow. The water felt peaceful again, as if the battle had never happened. Only faint traces of the purified light drifted upward, marking where corruption had been burned away.
Kain’s gaze lingered on the turtle’s shell. At first, he thought the dark line running down its center was a shadow. Then he realized it wasn’t—it was a wound. A deep ravine-like cut carved through the shell’s middle, wide enough to resemble the Grand Canyon of his former planet. The edges glowed faintly with different energies. One that seemed to be hostile and the other seemingly fighting with it to expel the invading energy.
He shivered. Whatever had struck this creature had been powerful enough to wound a demigod being that may have on of the strongest defenses on the planet. And considering that it didn’t look recent (judging by the vast ecosystem that seems to have developed around the wound) and yet it was still recovering, meant that it could have taken centuries… perhaps millennia… to heal.
Serena followed his gaze, her expression somber. “What could’ve done that?”
Kain didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
But then Kain’s expression flickered. Perhaps he had a way to repay this ’life-saving debt’.
