I am Just an Average Tamer

"Vex! It's me!" Kai shouted, hoping—praying—his voice would break through.

But the lynx didn't slow. Her eyes were wild, unfocused. No flicker of recognition.

No bond.

Just raw aggression.

[<It won't work. One of them is a Funari.>]

She lunged again.

'What should I do then? How can I stop her?'

Kai twisted sideways, barely dodging the swipe aimed at his throat. Her claws tore through the air, inches from his skin.

[<Just put her back in your soul space.>]

'Ah!'

[<Soul Space activated!>]

A magic circle formed under the Phantom Lynx and—

Whoosh!

She disappeared into the vast, soul space in his mind.

But.

Before he could even catch his breath—

One of the cloaked figures raised his head.

And smiled.

Kai felt it first—like a weight crushing down on his chest. A cold pull at the edges of his mind.

Then—

Whooomph.

Darkness exploded outward like a storm. Thick. Heavy. Consuming.

Kai's eyes widened. "No—!"

FWUMP.

The world twisted.

The air turned cold.

He blinked.

The sky above was a swirling mist of reds and purples.

An endless field of shadows, lit only by eerie blue runes floating in the void beneath his feet.

He was trapped.

A pocket dimension.

"Where are we—" Kai muttered, heart pounding. His connection to the outside… gone.

The runes on the ground ignited—one by one. Pulses of light spiraled outward in concentric circles.

Then they came—

The beasts.

First a shadow hound, its form flickering and unstable. Then a spined serpent, hissing with black mist pouring from its fangs. Then another. And another.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Kai's heart slammed against his ribs.

He wasn't afraid of beasts.

But this—

Kai's breath hitched.

His fingers curled unconsciously into fists.

His instincts screamed one thing:

This wasn't a fight. It was an execution.

One of the cloaked men finally spoke again, voice hollow and booming across the dimension.

"You were warned."

And the beasts lunged.

The hooded figure's voice echoed, dripping with finality.

"You have no choice but to obey. And if you won't… we'll make you."

The words barely settled when it began.

The beasts roared as one, a guttural symphony of death. Claws raked the air. Fangs snapped. Shadows blurred.

Kai exhaled sharply and shifted into stance—shoulders low, stance grounded, eyes locked.

The first hound came in fast.

He sidestepped, just in time, and drove his elbow into its snout, deflecting the bite.

The second followed instantly.

He twisted, catching it mid-air and—

Thud!

slamming it into the rune-carved ground.

But the third—

A long-bodied shadow beast with twin horns and a venom-dripping maw—pounced from behind.

He spun, barely parrying with his dagger.

Clang!

Sparks flew. The impact numbed his wrist.

'Too many'

But before he could reposition—

Whump!

The fourth and fifth slammed into him like battering rams.

One clawed at his ribs, the other bit into his thigh.

He grunted with pain. Blood splattered across the glowing runes.

A scaled beast slammed into his side.

Another clamped onto his leg.

He grunted as his body hit the ground with a sickening crunch, blood spraying across the shadowy ground.

Crack!

Pain exploded across his ribs. His ribs cracked.

He tried to breathe, to move.

But—

More shadows pounced.

Fangs tore at him, claws scraped through essence-imbued skin.

He fought back—barely. Slashing, dodging, gasping.

But it was too much.

A brutal claw bashed into his face and sent him sprawling.

Thud!

He lay there—battered, broken, breathing in shallow rasps.

Blood ran down his temple. His fingers twitched, trying to rise.

But everything was fading.

And his vision blurred.

Above him, the beasts slowly circled again, snarling lowly like wolves around dying prey.

And the cloaked figure stepped forward, boots crunching on cracked stone.

"You should've joined us."

His eyelids were becoming heavy, by each passing second.

'Haha... so that's it huh? This is how my life will end?'

Just when he thought his end was near—

A familiar blue panel hovered in front of his fading vision.

[<Switch with me, boy.>]

But—

His half-lidded eyes barely moved. His body was a mess. Mind, a blur.

He didn't answer.

The text shifted.

[Burn your essence. Remove all restrictions. Stop resisting.]

His mind sparked.

That wording—he understood.

"Burn it all, huh…?"

A weak smirk tugged at his lips as he poured his remaining will into the command.

"Fine... take it."

A thin thread of essence flickered from his core. Then another. Then it ignited.

Meanwhile the beasts lunged—teeth bared, eyes wild, sure of their kill.

But—

Kai's hand moved.

Just a hand rising from the ground—

And he caught the lead beast by the throat.

Time almost froze.

The creature's momentum jerked to a halt.

Crack!

Then a crack.

He twisted its neck, one-handed.

Thud!

Dropped the limp body.

Kai rose—slowly.

And.

BOOM!

From his battered form, a violent burst of radiant blue and silver energy exploded outward in a circular shockwave.

The floor trembled.

The charging beasts were thrown back, snarling in confusion.

The very air vibrated as the pressure of raw, untethered power pushed everything several steps back.

The cloaked figures recoiled slightly.

Dust and light flooded the sealed dimension.

Then silence.

Kai—or rather—Zer stood.

Straight.

His wounds still visible, but no longer bleeding. His eyes glowed with a deep hue, his aura roaring like a storm.

The panel hovered behind him now, faintly shimmering.

Kai's figure stood tall.

His grin stretched wider than it should have.

Two slightly elongated canines poked past his lips.

Around his arms, blue aura condensed into sharp, ethereal claws, flickering like flame.

The very air warped around him.

"Hahaha.....HAHAHAHA!"

He threw his head back and let out a low, amused laugh—that turned into a sharp, maniacal cackle.

"Ahhh... it's been ages since I last felt air this stale!" he said with a giddy shake of his head.

Then he turned those glowing eyes toward the cloaked figures, and his tone dipped into playful cruelty.

"So... who dies first?"

The figures froze. The pressure coming off him was wrong. Even the ground seemed to pulse in dread.

Realizing the threat, they quickly reacted.

The center figure yelled, "NOW!"

Dozens of magic circles glowed. Beasts emerged—flame lions, venomous wyverns, earth boars, spectral wolves, and more.

And artifacts—runes, relics, talismans—lit up with blinding light.

Zer's grin widened. "Aw, how cute. You brought toys."

He vanished.

BOOM!

One figure barely lifted his staff before Zer was in front of him, claws dragging a deep gash across his robe and skin.

Blood splattered.

"Aaargh!"

The man screamed and staggered back.

Clang!

Zer spun around, parried a flame lion with his claw, and flicked his finger.

Thud!

A shockwave blew it into a nearby wyvern, smashing both into the rock wall.

"You're throwing your pets at me? Adorable."

He turned slowly, cracking his knuckles. "C'mon, impress me."

But then, the air grew heavier.

But the tide didn't halt.

The magical beasts surged all at once, their roars overlapping like a violent choir.

Ten. Fifteen. Maybe more.

Zer didn't move immediately. He watched them, a slow smirk spreading.

"Alright... let's dance."

The beasts surged.

The battle turned chaotic.

Zer didn't steamroll them—but every movement he made was precise, elegant, deadly.

He parried. Countered. Laughed. Toyed with them.

He caught a horned bear beast by the snout and punched it into the dirt.

Slash!

Slashed through a winged serpent.

Flipped midair and kicked a charging gorilla-like creature into another.

One of the cloaked figures tried to flank him—Zer twisted around and launched a spinning strike, claws flashing—

Slash!

"AARGH!"

The man cried out as his shoulder was torn open.

"Two down," Zer said with a wink.

But before he could finish the taunt, the horde rallied.

Dozens of beasts, powered by artifacts and enhanced with desperation, surrounded him from all sides.

Ser's feet slid back slightly.

"...Heh."

His glowing claws flickered.

"This might actually get interesting."

And the ground began to rumble again.

The figures exchanged wary glances, retreat evident in their steps.

"This isn't over," one of them hissed, before space itself cracked like glass behind them.

One by one, they vanished through the rift, leaving behind only scorched ground and the lingering scent of smoke and blood.

Kai stood, swaying on his feet, his head spinning. His breath was ragged, each exhale feeling like a lifetime.

The battle aura around him flickered like a dying flame.

Every muscle screamed for rest, every inch of his skin burned from the battle's toll.

The world around him grew silent, save for the echo of his labored breathing, as the last remnants of his strength began to slip away.

His knees gave in.

Thud!

He collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, panting, arms trembling as they barely supported his weight.

The raw, glowing claws around his hands dissolved into harmless wisps.

His mind raced, but the exhaustion was too much. His vision blurred, and the world around him spun.

His core was nearly dry.

Then—everything faded to black, his body unable to fight any longer.