I am Just an Average Tamer-Chapter 162: imcorry

The cave narrowed ahead, twisting like the throat of some slumbering beast. Walls pulsed faintly with bioluminescent fungi, casting eerie green glows that danced along the uneven stone.

They moved silently through the next corridor, the air thinning as they neared what looked like a massive sinkhole inside the cave—a place where dozens of tunnels converged.

Kai paused, placing a hand against the wall.

"The map artifact said there’s a Token Vault below this."

Corrin frowned. "You think others have reached here yet?"

Kai shook his head. "Maybe. But we’re ahead of most."

Then, a tremor passed through the stone.

Far below... something ancient stirred.

Kai’s eyes sharpened.

"Next fight’s not going to be against a beast or a cursed thing.""It’s going to be worse."

He drew his blades again, silently.

And together, they descended.

Kai’s boots made no sound as he walked, each step placed with the precision of a trained predator. Corrin followed a few paces behind, his crescent blade angled low but ready.

"Something’s wrong," Kai thought, eyes narrowing.

The air had changed. Not just colder—but heavier. Tighter. Like they were being watched by the cave itself.

The path spiraled downward—wide enough for three people abreast, but hemmed in by jagged walls. Crystals embedded in the stone gave off dim pulses, reacting faintly to Kai’s presence.

Corrin glanced up. "You notice that?"

Kai nodded. "They’re not reacting to you."

The crystals hummed again—quieter this time, like a heartbeat slowing down.

They’re resonating with my poison affinity... or maybe the darkness.

He didn’t like the thought, but he couldn’t deny it. Something down here was alive... and waiting.

Veal circled overhead, wings spread wide to scout deeper. Every so often, it let out a soft whistle, bouncing echolocation off the walls to map their path.

Then suddenly, the sound vanished.

Kai froze.

"Veal?" he whispered.

The falcon didn’t respond.

Corrin tightened his grip on his weapon, eyes sweeping the walls. "I don’t like this."

A gust of warm air hit them from below.

That was wrong.

They were deep underground—no airflow should exist. Yet here it was... carrying the faint scent of blood and metal.

A forge... or a battlefield.

❖ Scene: Vault Chamber

They reached the end of the path. The chamber opened up into an enormous underground dome, filled with floating platforms, jagged pillars, and broken archways inscribed with runes long lost to time.

At the center stood a massive stone altar.

And impaled in the ground before it—half buried—was a hulking figure.

A construct-beast, easily four meters tall. Humanoid in shape, but with four arms and a head shaped like a horned helmet. Its body was covered in rusted plates and organic moss, veins of dormant mana running along its frame.

At its chest, a glowing symbol pulsed. A circle with twin slashes—Dark-Poison affinity.

Corrin whistled. "You seeing what I’m seeing?"

Kai stepped forward slowly, instincts screaming.

"That thing isn’t dead."

The altar behind it shimmered. A glyph appeared on the stone—shaped like a Token—but blackened, unlike the others.

This must be a Vault Guardian.

He took another step forward.

And the moment his foot touched the inner ring of the chamber floor...

The construct’s eyes lit up.

❖ Scene: Awakening the Guardian

Stone groaned. Metal creaked. Dust poured off the construct’s frame as it rose, pulling its body free of the ground like it had merely been sleeping.

Kai’s stance shifted, blades in hand, aura coiling around his body like smoke.

Corrin backed up instinctively. "You sure we can even kill that thing?!"

"I don’t think we’re meant to."

The construct turned toward Kai.

And it knelt.

Corrin blinked. "...What?"

Kai lowered one dagger cautiously.

The construct slowly pounded one massive fist to its chest—like a salute.

Then, in a guttural, echoing voice, it spoke in an old tongue neither of them understood.

A second later, it raised one hand and pointed a long, rusted blade at the altar.

It’s giving me the Token without a fight?

No. It couldn’t be that simple.

The falcon appeared from above, diving straight for the Guardian’s core.

It struck—but instead of flinching, the Guardian twisted and caught Veal with one hand, slamming it into the stone wall. A burst of light exploded from the impact, and Veal dropped with a cry.

Kai stepped forward... and the moment he crossed the next circle of runes, the construct stood again—faster this time—and roared.

Its body pulsed with corrupted mana, and a second set of eyes flared open along its shoulders.

It was testing him.

Only those worthy of the dark-poison affinity could claim the Vault Token.

And to prove that worth... they had to survive.

Veal stirred inside his beast ring. A brief flutter of its mind touched Kai’s senses—an alert, not a threat, but a warning. A sound only beast tamers knew.

"Movement behind," Kai whispered.

Corrin paused, squinting back. "Didn’t hear anything."

"You wouldn’t." Kai’s voice dropped. "It’s crawling along the ceiling." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Corrin’s grip on his blade tightened. "More of those damn gorillas?"

Kai shook his head.

"No. This one’s different."

❖ Scene: Ambush — The Veiled One

From above them, something dropped.

No roar. No screech. Just silence—and speed.

Kai’s reaction was instant.

"Veal—Echo Ball!"

A high-pitched sonic pulse erupted from thin air as Veal manifested mid-flight above them, wings blurring as the skill reverberated through the chamber. The pulse shattered the illusion cloaking their stalker.

A creature emerged in a blur—black skin, gaunt and stretched, limbs elongated like those of a twisted spider. Two glowing violet eyes flashed from its face, which was more mask than flesh.

It hit the ground in a crouch, clawed fingers scraping stone, and launched at Corrin with inhuman speed.

CLANG!

Corrin’s crescent blade caught it mid-leap, sparks flying as steel met bone-like claws.

"What the hell is that?!" Corrin growled, pushing the creature back.

Kai’s pupils narrowed, his assassin instincts flaring. "It’s not a beast."

"It’s a cursed entity. Half-spectral, part-construct... mana-forged.""It was watching us."

The creature hissed. Its limbs split and reformed, warping like liquid shadow before darting again.

"Vex—Phantom Slash!"

The lynx burst from Kai’s shadow, a blur of black and silver. It collided with the entity mid-motion, claws slashing in an arc of ghostly energy. The specter shrieked, body staggering as the attack dispersed part of its form.

Kai didn’t hesitate.

Ghost Steps.

He vanished from view, reappearing behind the creature with twin daggers drawn. One blade sank into its spine, the other into its left shoulder. With a twist and a pulse of poison-laced aura, he sent toxins flooding into its writhing body.

"Stromeon—Thunder Clap!"

From high above, the Drakelet crashed down, lightning sparking across its scales. Its claws struck the ground, sending a shockwave of static force that sent the creature skidding back, twitching violently.

❖ Scene: The Kill

The creature stood again, barely holding form. Its body flickered in and out of visibility, patches of it still melting from Vex’s shadow strike and Kai’s venom.

Kai dashed in again—daggers flashing with Phantom energy—and Corrin followed suit, weapon held in reverse grip.

Together, they flanked it.

CLANG—SLASH—SCREEEE—

Corrin’s blade tore through the upper arm. Kai stabbed through its throat.

The creature let out a final psychic screech before its body disintegrated into black mist, unraveling like smoke torn apart by wind.

Only a faint, twisted core remained—no larger than a pebble, but pulsing with unstable energy.

❖ Scene: Post-Fight

The two stood still for a long second, breathing hard.

"That thing... wasn’t natural," Corrin said finally, eyes scanning the ceiling. "Not like the gorilla. It didn’t fight to win. It fought to observe."

Kai crouched near the pebble-core, eyeing it without touching it. "It wasn’t sent to kill us. It was watching. Testing."

He pulled out a glass vial, dropped the core inside, and sealed it.

"Someone... or something... is tracking strong participants in this trial."

Corrin clenched his jaw. "We’ve got to be more careful."

Kai nodded. "Veal noticed it early. But next time..."

He trailed off.

Vex padded silently to his side, its form flickering as it phased back into his shadow. Stromeon let out a low growl, then returned to the beast ring.

❖ Scene: The Mist Retreats

Unseen to them, far behind in the tunnel, the original black mist twitched—and stilled.

It had not interfered. It had only watched... and now?

It drifted upward and vanished into the ceiling, as though drawn by a silent call.

❖ Scene: Elsewhere...

High above the Hollow Grounds, somewhere deep within the mountain that held the Azurean Academy, a man stood in a dark chamber—his hand pressed to a stone basin filled with silvery water.

He wore a cloak woven with runes, and on his chest glimmered a single sigil: a serpent devouring a moon.

Behind him, dozens of cores floated in glass, suspended in glowing tubes.

His lips curled into a smile.

"So... that’s the one Selene mentioned."

He tilted his head as the image of Kai stabbing the masked entity played again in the reflection.

"Dark and poison... with three beasts already nearing evolution. And the assassin build... fascinating."

He turned away.

"Time to increase the pressure."