Just like the Cursed Tamer had said, as the eight mercenaries initiated the bonding ritual, the Beasts indeed did not reject them despite their immense unwillingness.
Kale smiled; he was naturally not doing all of this just for the sake of repaying the goodwill Fabio had shown him when he was helpless.
He was doing all of this because he would need all the help possible to find a way back to the Base of the Greenroot guild, crossing the tide of endless Beasts, which were probably attacking the place from multiple directions by now.
If Kale and the mercenaries did not manage to reach inside in time, they would all be dead, because every inch of the Tigerwood forest would be flooded by powerful Alpha- and Ravager-rank creatures soon enough.
Kale looked at the mercenary group members intently, now that they were all Apprentice-rank Tamers with Feral-rank powerful Beast species. They were not entirely helpless.
The Cursed Tamer said while addressing them all, "Okay, now we go towards Greenroot HQ, and somehow find a way back; unless they are now being besieged from all sides at once by Beast Hordes, it should not be impossible for us."
Everyone nodded with a grim look, as all of them following behind Kale ran in the direction of the Base.
On the path, they needed to be very careful not to attract the attention of various Beast Nests, something that was very easy due to Kale's new and sharpened senses, which he gained from the trait All Affinity of his Nemesis Hydra, something that allows him to sense any forms of energy belonging to each path.
And every living being, no matter how minuscule, would always give off some fluctuations of power in one form of energy or another.
Suddenly, the mercenaries' team leader, Fabio, spoke up, huffing loudly, gasping for breath, "Please stop, Kale; you're running too fast. We can't keep up. We need a moment of rest to recover our stamina."
Kale frowned internally, but in the end he nodded, looking at their current state. He said, "Then stay here for 5 minutes. Let me train my newborn Beast for hunting a bit."
Fabio and Paula wanted to object, but in the end did not, and Kale dashed out of their sight.
His green eyes shimmered as his light green hair fluttered in the wind; at that moment, he was not holding back, and he was surprised by his own agility.
Kale just ran at almost 13 meters per second, powered purely by physical strength, for more than a few minutes, and he did not feel tired in the slightest.
The Tamer mumbled in wonder, "What if I use mana to coat my entire body?"
Feeling curious, using his mana manipulation, he did exactly that and started to sprint at full speed once more.
With a constant wave of mana empowering him, Kale felt his strength, speed and stamina had likely doubled, and he could barely feel the air resistance due to the mana.
Running at nearly 30 meters per second of speed, he suddenly crashed onto a large tree, unable to properly manoeuvre the direction of his body.
BANG!!!!
"Ouch, the hell." he groaned in pain. Though he was not really hurt much.
Neo had tactfully jumped off his head, right before Kale crashed onto the tree trunk.
Gurrru, Guuurrr, Guuuuhhhuu
Neo seemed to laugh at its master mockingly, and Kale scowled in response, "You stupid thing, why are you laughing? I will race you, and we will see who is faster."
All three heads of the Hydra gave him mocking looks, not taking him seriously, and a thought crossed Kale's mind: 'The Beast Force?'
That was a special attribute of power that only Tamers could use; it was specifically used to empower the tamed Beasts.
But what if Kale could actually use that power on himself? What if he could?
After all, he was different from anyone else, possessing affinity with all paths. Curiosity took over his mind, and he closed his eyes for a moment to attempt exactly that.
Yet, for some reason, he could only move that power resting deep within in one direction, towards the ethereal link that existed between him and Neo.
And not able to channel it through his mana pathways.
An idea flashed in his mind; he said to the Hydra, "Neo, I will channel the Beast Force into you, and I want you to feed me one drop of your essence blood, okay?"
The Nemesis Hydra nodded confusedly, not understanding what his master was trying to do.
Kale channelled all of his Beast Force into Neo, empowering it, as the Hydra seemed to glow in a strange greenish hue ever so slightly.
Neo did as Kale had ordered, biting into one of its legs, and from that spot, one drop of green, shimmering blood oozed out from the wound, and Neo dropped that blood directly onto Kale's mouth.
Instantly, it spread throughout Kale's whole body.
Kale screamed in agonising pain.
[Warning!!! Warning!!! Warning!!!]
[The Chimeric blood of the Nemesis Hydra is extremely poisonous to the human body]
[Host must spit it out]
[Warning!! There is a possibility of Death for the Host]
Kale growled as the blood of the Nemesis Hydra, which contained Beast Force, was now ravaging through his body. He coughed up blood, feeling weak and dizzy; however, this pain was nothing compared to the pain he experienced when his very race evolved to be Hexarion Human.
Through gritted teeth and unflinching willpower, he regulated that rampaging Beast Force through his massive reservoir and control of mana, as well as some of his killing intent.
Under his forceful control, the Beast Force and the blood of the Nemesis Hydra had stopped rampaging and were moving through the specific paths within his body, creating trails similar to his mana pathways.
And these new pathways carved into his internals would be used for channelling the Beast Force from now on.
The instant he was done carving out this new path, notifications followed.
[Congratulations! Host has artificially created Beast Force pathways]
[Host has gained 200 extra reserves of Beast Force]
[Host is now capable of using the Beast Force on himself]
[Host has gained immunity against Beast blood's mutation]
Kale grinned as he instantly started to use the Beast Force through the newly created pathways inside his body.
The act was causing him a lot of pain, but he endured it. He waited, letting the energy flow, but nothing major happened.
No burst of power, or anything.
He prompted the system, confused, "Hey system, is anything happening? Or does it just not work on me?"
[Scanning Host's physical state….]
[Pulling comparisons with previous state.]
[Difference has been detected.]
[Host's all bodily functions are operating at 150% capacity; your internal injuries caused by the rampaging Beast Force have healed]
Though the system did not state it clearly, he understood its implications and asked again to confirm: "So, basically I won't run out of stamina as long as I keep powering myself with the Beast Force, is that right?"
[Host stamina and efficiency in any tasks will not falter with the continuous channelling of the Beast Force.]
The eyes of the Cursed Tamer shone in understanding. Due to the difference in biological state, the Beast Force boosts all aspects of a Beast, but Humans were not meant to use this particular energy, so its effects were much narrower on a human.
Suddenly, the trees and leaves rustled violently; a creaking sound closed in, and Kale instantly became alert.
And so did his Hydra, both looking in the direction of the incoming creature.
Through small arcs of light peeking through the leaves of the endless expanse of large trees, Kale could see a 3-meter-wide massive spider, now sitting atop a large branch right above their heads.
Its monstrous conglomeration of eyes stared at Kale as if it were looking at a tasty prey; Kale sighed, "Shit, that's a Greater Alpha-rank Black Thorn spider."
One of the deadliest creatures within the Alpha rank.
Kale turned to Neo, and unlike him, the Hydra had a vicious, threatening look in its eyes.
Facing this thing would not really be a good choice for Kale; it was unlikely that his Lesser Feral-rank Hydra would be this steely, monstrous spider's match.
Even if it could win, Neo could get seriously injured, which would be very detrimental for the grave hurdle ahead.
So, the obvious and smartest choice would be to run, and if they did, the spider definitely would not catch up with him. While the Beast was incredibly strong, its heavy weight made its agility somewhat lacking.
But in the end, due to Neo's overwhelming desire to fight, Kale chose his gut feeling over cold logic, and whispered, "Alright buddy, you win, you will fight, but not alone.
"Because I can't have you get badly injured at this time. So, we will fight together," added the Cursed Tamer and started to channel the 400 points of Beast force both through Neo and himself at the same time.
As a result, the Black Thorn Spider instantly growled madly and lunged at Kale for the kill.
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