Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 1277 - Taming the Old World - Shadow Dragons - Last Front - 2

Sirius greeted the young man with a heavy sigh of relief.

"Right on time," the commander called out over the din of combat, maintaining his Tiger's glowing assault against the dragon's flank. "We could use a fresh pair of hands down here. And not just any hands; having one of the strongest dual tamers in the kingdom tips the scales nicely."

Liu offered a curt nod. His sharp ears were already sweeping the chaotic terrain, registering the subtle shifts in the battlefield through the faintest noises.

Sirius quickly briefed him on the logistics, outlining the remaining enemy headcount and their current defensive posture. However, Liu had not flown all this way just to offer his services, he had brought an ominous update too.

"Sirius sir, there is something you need to know." Liu kept his voice low, cutting through the roar of the fire and the shrieks of the mutants. "The remaining beasts from the city siege are heading this way… All of them. Selthia knows Ren is not here, she also knows there is no one left capable of wiping out her army in a single strike for the foreseeable future hours. Liora bled her core almost dry too. The capital is safe behind her firewall, but she cannot leave, and Selthia is likely fully aware of that by now."

Liu paused, letting the strategic reality settle.

"She has to be furious after losing two fronts. So she is pushing all her remaining chips into the center of the table right here."

Sirius commanded his Tiger to halt its advance for a split second.

"How many?"

"If we include the forces currently engaging the dragon here... you are looking at roughly four hundred high-tier Platinum units. And less important but still, with them are about thirty thousand, so sixty thousand beasts of Gold rank or lower. That is the combined total we will face once the march arrives. The numbers on this front are about to double."

The sheer weight of that figure settled heavily onto Sirius's shoulders.

Four hundred high level mutants. On a front where the defenders were already gasping for breath, where their spiritual fire was failing to neutralize the cannibalistic recovery already, and where the target dragon simply refused to die.

It was the exact kind of overwhelming numerical disadvantage that buried hope.

"That is catastrophic," Sirius murmured, his jaw tight.

"Perhaps not so much."

Sirius moved his gaze back toward the younger man, his eyes narrowing in surprise.

"Think about the logistics," Liu explained. "You said it yourself just a moment ago. We do not possess the necessary firepower to finish this dragon on our own. Its regeneration outpaces our damage output. But if Selthia wagers four hundred Platinums, she definitely has the output to kill it."

He let the silence hang for a beat before delivering the punchline.

"So, why should we do the heavy lifting? Let Selthia tear the dragon down for us. We pull back... We wait until the absolute last second, and the moment the guardian finally collapses under the sheer weight of her army, we step in. We sweep the survivors closer to the entrance and claim the mountain."

Sirius chewed on the proposal.

It mirrored the exact logic Ren had utilized in the north. Let the corruption break its teeth against the guardian's armor before sweeping in to steal the ultimate prize. But there was a glaring, crucial difference, and Sirius was quick to point it out.

"Up north, Ren could afford to wait because Selthia had no idea where he was. If we suddenly stop our assault and pull back right now, won't she hesitate? Won't she halt her advance the second she sees us offering her the dragon, suspecting we laid a trap?"

"No," Liu replied with unshakeable certainty. "Arturo ran her behavioral profile for us... She is not going to stop anymore, Selthia is entirely invested in the south now. She dragged every last asset she owns to this specific coordinate. She is bitter, angry, and operating without that higher entity to tether her decisions. She is far too committed to retreat."

He gestured toward the distant horizon. "If we stop attacking, she still will not hesitate; she will instead seize the opening. She is going to hurl all four hundred of her beasts at that dragon without a second thought because she genuinely believes this is her final opportunity to salvage a victory from a disastrous day."

Sirius looked at the massive Shadow Dragon. The creature was bleeding, panting, yet visibly knitting its scales back together. Then he looked toward the northern horizon, where the massive tide of rotting flesh would soon spill over the hills.

He gave a slow, deliberate nod.

"Then we fall back," Sirius commanded softly. "We do it gradually so it looks like we are buckling under the pressure rather than setting a trap. We let her believe she has successfully routed us. We let her use all four hundred of those beasts just to chew through the dragon's regeneration."

"And the second they are about to claim the victory," Liu finished, his eyes cold, "we step in."

"This buys the teachers time to recover a decent chunk of their ether too," Sirius added, glancing up at the avian beast where his comrades meditated. "The longer Selthia grinds her forces against that armor, the more prepared our veterans will be for the final push."

It was a good plan. It was patient, deeply cynical, and perfectly aligned with the harsh lessons they had learned throughout this war.

You did not win by swinging the heaviest sword; you won by letting your enemy exhaust themselves before taking the spoils.

♢♢♢♢

Sirius relayed the subtle order across the Vanguard ranks. The human tamers in the south began to carefully cede their ground. They eased the pressure on the guardian, executing a retreat that convincingly mimicked the sluggish movements of a broken, exhausted battalion.

Liu remained by his side, his sharp gaze fixed on the horizon.

In the distance, the vanguard of the tide finally crested the ridge. Two hundred Platinum beasts, accompanied by tens of thousands of lesser mutants. It was everything Selthia had left. The fractured remnants of two bleeding, lost fronts were now converging on the south with the blind desperation of a warlord betting her final coin.

She had no idea that the humans had just decided, with chilling calm, to let her work the very dragon she was trying to steal.

"Let her come," Sirius muttered under his breath, taking another slow step backward. "Let her tear it down. And let her walk away with nothing but regret."