Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 1166 - Taming the Old World - Safeguarding Home

Two elemental rings pulsed in harmony in his hand.

Ren stared at the ancient artifacts of power, a strange, quiet emotion swelling in his chest, a sensation he couldn't quite label.

Back when he was just a frail child bonded to the weakest spored beast in the world, a poor cook's son living in a small shack facing the plains, he had never dreamed he would one day stand in the shadow of ancient legends like King Dragarion.

Yet here he was.

An elemental guardian slain by his hand alone, backed by the terrifying realization that he had achieved it without relying on a single ally.

He drew a sharp breath, shaking the sentimentality from his mind. He closed his fingers and moved his hand away.

There was no time to waste on nostalgia. He needed to return to the city immediately.

Ren knew the energy signature of his fight had been loud. A beacon in the dark.

If there were any corrupted beasts lingering near the Fire ring, they definitely felt the clash. And even if the battle itself hadn't triggered Selthia's alarm network, his brief fusion at the Wood ruin hours ago could also have done it.

She knew… At this point, it was but a tactical certainty. Ren had to assume the worst: the moment he engaged the Fire Dragon, the Witch had likely pivoted to a contingency plan, trap or counter.

But it had only been a few hours.

Even if she decided to throw her entire mutant army at the city right this second, hoping to capitalize on his absence, the Vanguard could hold the line until he returned. He listed the defenders in his head to calm his racing thoughts.

Selphira.

The Qilin princes.

Sirius.

Lin.

The girls.

The guys.

The teachers.

The overlapping defensive grids of double tamers they had spent tons of crystals all these years to build.

The sister cities were not the same fragile targets Selthia had probed with her decoys years ago.

The Vanguard had teeth now. They had strong answers.

They would hold.

Ren burst from the crater of the Fire Mountain and shot into the sky. He clung to that single word, 'would', like a lifeline. He tucked the elemental crystals away in the cold void of his shadow space and banked east.

The landscape blurred beneath him. Ring after ring of ancient territory flashed by as he raced back toward the heart of his world. He was flying toward a city he had left peaceful and confident just a handful of hours prior.

But that peace was already gone.

The siege had already begun.

♢♢♢♢

To better understand the situation currently crashing against the defenders, the clock needs to rewind one day...

Ren's parents were drowning in paperwork.

Arturo had dispatched a small army of administrative aides to help them manage the sprawling Patinder territory, but the sheer volume of parchment remained suffocating. Reed and Fern had spent their entire lives as cooks. Slicing vegetables and managing a tavern kitchen was their world.

Now, they found themselves staring at ledgers and signing decrees.

The aides handled the heavy lifting, yet the endless stream of final approvals landing on their desk was overwhelming. Their fingers were permanently stained with mana ink.

So, when a knock echoed at the door, both parents looked up. They didn't even try to hide their relief. Any excuse to step away from the desk was a blessing.

Old Chen poked his head inside, announcing they had visitors.

Li, Chen's own grandson, walked in alongside Garret. Officially, they were there to deliver the routine monthly security report covering their part of the Wall and the surrounding zones under their jurisdiction. It was a standard bureaucratic requirement to add more boring data to the pile.

In reality for them, it was a perfect excuse.

The true purpose of these monthly visits was much simpler for them. They came to talk about Ren… They brought firsthand stories from the barracks, offering a glimpse of a son Reed and Fern rarely got to see these days.

Ren's parents liked Garret. The scarred veteran always spoke of their boy with genuine respect and admiration. They shared a generational overlap, communicating with the easy understanding of people who had lived long enough to recognize good character.

The military report itself was stale. It was a summary of last month's skirmishes.

It contained no hint of the apocalypse scheduled for the very next day... Without anyone in the room realizing it, the parchment was a photograph of the calm before the storm, taken just a little too early to capture the dark clouds gathering on the horizon.

The numbers were boring, mutant attacks were light, the autonomous towers functioned better than ever.

Once the formal paperwork was stamped, Reed and Fern seized the opportunity to abandon the office entirely. They ushered their guests into a private sitting room where the stifling atmosphere of politics finally faded.

Tea was poured and postures relaxed. Garret and Li began sharing stories, laughing as they painted a picture of General Ren's daily life on the perimeter.

Garret took the lead… He exaggerated with the fierce pride of a man who had practically adopted the kid as his own. He described how the frontline troops were fanatically loyal to their section and talked about the constant influx of fresh Gold-rank graduates pouring out of the academies, actively fighting for a spot in Ren's vanguard just to follow him.

He explained the running joke. How the grunts insisted on saluting him as "Glorious General", a title that sounded less like a joke every single day. And how Ren physically shrank into his uniform, blushing furiously every time someone shouted "Yes my Glorious General!" across the parapet after any order.

Reed and Fern listened quietly. They wore the soft smiles of parents being told their child is loved by the world.

For a brief hour in that sunlit room, miles away from the dragons and the horrors creeping through the dark, there was only warmth.

♢♢♢♢

The visit wrapped up…

Li and Garret stepped out of the sprawling Patinder mansion and back into the bustling streets.

Li turned to his grandfather, waving goodbye, and mentioned he needed to catch a transport back to the Southern perimeter.

Garret shook his head.

"You aren't going south with me," the veteran corrected him. "You are heading to Yino on the other side. Go get a carriage… You have three days to get there and back."