I am Just an Average Tamer-Chapter 146: recent update

Blades clashed and sparks scattered.

The tunnel became a storm of movement—twisting shadows, flickering steel, and bloodstained rock. The attackers were precise. Trained. Each of them moved with disciplined rhythm, like pieces of a well-oiled machine.

Not ordinary mercenaries.

Kai flipped backward, barely dodging a sweeping arc from a curved blade. The tip sliced through a strand of his hair. He retaliated with a volley of poisoned senbon, two of which struck the masked enemy in the thigh. The man stumbled but didn’t fall.

Poison resistance? No—controlled breathing. Suppressing the toxin.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. Whoever these people were, they weren’t amateurs.

Corrin fought like a caged beast beside him—raw, relentless, slashing wide arcs with his crescent blade, forcing their opponents to keep distance. Blood slicked his cheek, but he didn’t back down.

One attacker ducked low and surged toward Kai with dual daggers. Kai shifted into Ghost Steps, vanishing mid-motion. The assassin blinked—too slow—and Kai reappeared behind him.

One dagger slid across the man’s throat.

Another buried itself between his ribs.

The attacker crumpled with a gurgle.

"Three down," Kai muttered.

"Too many left!" Corrin snarled, knocking aside a spear-wielding opponent with a shoulder bash. "We need space!"

Kai’s thoughts raced. The Warding Veil was weakening—runes cracking under pressure. If they didn’t shift terrain soon, they’d be overwhelmed.

"Vael!" he called.

The Windsight Falcon screeched overhead, wings glowing. A sharp pulse of air slammed down into the tunnel like a wave—Sonic Dive.

The shockwave threw two enemies off their feet, giving Kai and Corrin a moment of breathing room.

"Tunnel split," Kai said, nodding toward a narrow fork to their left. "We take it. Stromeon, with me. Vex, tail them—stealth mode."

The Phantom Lynx melted into the shadows with a low growl. Stromeon growled louder and followed as Kai and Corrin ducked into the side passage.

Just as they turned the corner, a throwing knife whistled past Corrin’s ear, embedding itself in the stone with a sharp thunk.

They ran deeper.

The air grew colder, more humid.

This side tunnel wasn’t natural. The walls were smoother. Carved. Runes were etched into the floor in a circular pattern, long faded.

"A ruin?" Corrin asked, panting.

Kai nodded once. "We’re under something ancient. Possibly a temple."

"That’s either good or very, very bad."

A sudden roar echoed behind them—one not belonging to a man or beast.

Kai spun as a figure stepped into the mouth of the tunnel.

He was taller than the others. Armor sleeker, black with silver veins. No helmet. His face was pale, angular, with a jagged scar running across his cheek.

His eyes glowed faintly crimson.

And he was smiling.

"You’re the Beast Tamer, aren’t you?" the man said.

His voice was smooth, like oil sliding over a blade.

Kai didn’t answer.

"Your beasts are strong. Precise. And that move just now—Ghost Steps? From the Nightweaver school, yes?"

Kai’s grip tightened on his daggers.

"Who are you?" Corrin demanded.

The man tilted his head. "You can call me Garron. Captain of the Thirteenth Shadow Cell. We were tasked with retrieving something from this cave. You interfered."

He looked past them.

"At first I thought you were common scavengers. Then I saw you fight."

He extended a hand slowly—and shadow-like tendrils curled around his fingers.

"I’d like to make an offer."

Corrin scoffed. "We’re not for sale."

Garron smirked. "Oh, this isn’t recruitment. It’s surrender."

Then, without warning, he lunged.

Kai barely got his blade up in time. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Garron’s shadow-enhanced strike knocked him back a full step. It felt like being hit with a battering ram. Corrin jumped in to intercept, meeting the second strike with a full-body pivot, using the crescent blade to redirect the blow.

But Garron was too fast.

Too strong.

He weaved around Corrin and slammed an elbow into his ribs, sending him crashing into the wall.

Kai activated Beast Merging.

A pulse of dark and stormy light surged through him.

Vael’s senses fused with his own—vision sharpened, reaction time doubled.

He ducked under Garron’s sweeping kick, countered with a low slash aimed at the knees, then pivoted and threw a senbon directly at the man’s eye.

Garron tilted his head slightly.

The senbon grazed his cheek.

The skin healed instantly.

Regeneration? No, something deeper. A core technique.

"Interesting," Garron said calmly. "You’re better than expected."

He raised a hand.

From behind him, four new figures emerged.

Two carried halberds. One wielded a spiked chain. The last had a staff tipped with a glowing orb.

Reinforcements.

Kai’s pulse quickened.

Corrin struggled to his feet, wiping blood from his lips.

"We’re outmatched," he said under his breath.

Kai didn’t disagree.

Then—a deep rumble.

The floor vibrated.

Garron paused, sensing it too. "What—?"

CRACK.

A massive fissure opened beneath their feet.

The runes on the ground reactivated, lighting up with ancient gold light.

Garron’s expression twisted. "You triggered the seal—!"

Gravity shifted.

The floor caved in.

The entire chamber collapsed downward, like the earth itself swallowed them.

Kai felt weightlessness.

Then—impact.

His body hit a slope of jagged rock and skidded down into darkness.

His vision swam. His head rang.

Voices were muffled, distant.

When his sight cleared, he was lying in a much older chamber. Moss-covered pillars surrounded him. The walls pulsed with buried magic.

Corrin was nearby, coughing, blade still clutched in his hand.

No sign of Garron. No reinforcements.

They’d fallen into a deeper layer.

Kai sat up slowly.

Above them, the ceiling sealed shut with a stone grind.

Trapping them in.

Corrin groaned. "Please tell me we didn’t just fall into a boss room."

Kai stared ahead.

In the distance, past broken statues and bone piles, a dim green light pulsed.

Something was waiting.

The green glow pulsed, faint at first, then stronger with each second—like a heartbeat stirring after centuries of silence.

Kai stood slowly, twin daggers still in hand. His joints ached from the fall, but adrenaline burned hotter. His eyes adjusted quickly, aided by Vael’s enhanced sight through Beast Merging. The space ahead was massive—an ancient chamber, circular in design, pillars cracked and worn, ceiling domed with faded murals of beast-gods and forgotten rituals.

Corrin groaned behind him. "That... is not the kind of cave dive I signed up for."

He stood, brushing stone dust from his cloak, crescent blade held loose but ready. "Tell me you’ve got some beast left to summon."

Kai didn’t answer—his eyes were locked on the far end of the chamber.

A shape moved.

Lumbering. Heavy. Each step thudded like a drumbeat.

From behind a broken pillar, it emerged—at least ten feet tall, muscles coiled like steel cables beneath obsidian-black fur. Its body was hunched, knuckles dragging across the floor, but its golden eyes gleamed with wicked intelligence.

And its fangs—

Two jagged, saber-like teeth, each longer than Kai’s forearm, jutted from its upper jaw. They weren’t just for show—each one looked capable of piercing through a boulder.

Its aura was suffocating. Peak-Great Core rank, without a doubt.

But it wasn’t just its strength.

This thing was ancient. Cursed.

Etched into its fur were deep rune-scars—binding seals long since decayed. Magic clung to it like smoke. Whatever purpose it once served... it had long since been consumed by rage and madness.

Corrin whistled low. "Saber-tooth... gorilla?"

Kai nodded once. "And pissed."

The beast slammed its fists into the floor, and the shockwave cracked the stone in all directions. Dust exploded upward. Kai activated Ghost Steps, vanishing as the beast charged.

Corrin split left, rolling just as the creature leapt—not ran, leapt—and slammed into the spot where he’d been standing. A boulder-sized fist crushed the ground like paper.

Kai reappeared in mid-air above it, daggers descending in a deadly cross-slash aimed at its back. His poisoned blades sank in—barely an inch. The creature’s skin was dense, like layered hide.

It roared and spun, its massive arm catching Kai mid-air.

He flew backward, slammed against a pillar with a grunt. Pain flashed through his ribs.

"Stromeon!" he called.

Lightning split the chamber—Thunder Roar.

The Thunder Drakelet shot forward from the shadows, releasing a deafening bellow. Arcs of electricity lit up the cave, cracking against the gorilla’s frame.

The creature grunted but didn’t fall.

Then—Groundbreaker Slam.

Stromeon dove, slamming his body into the floor near the gorilla’s feet. The quake staggered it—but only for a second.

The beast caught Stromeon mid-pounce and threw him across the chamber. The drakelet rolled, stunned but alive.

"Kai—tag team this!" Corrin shouted, already closing in. He feinted right, then slid under the beast’s swing, leaving a bloody gash across its leg.

Kai used the opening.

Phantom Slash.

He blinked forward, dragging both daggers along the creature’s side, slicing deep. Blood finally spilled—black, tar-like ichor.

Corrin followed up, blade spinning in a crescent arc. Together, they moved like gears in motion—Kai’s swift, precise strikes setting up Corrin’s heavier, brutal swings.

But the beast was learning.

It slammed the floor again—but this time, purposefully. The impact shattered nearby pillars, causing debris to fall and break line of sight.