Chapter 66: Colossal Golden Beam
Terrence thought he already knew a great deal about beasts—their complex mutations, their varied species, and their distinct races. However, it seemed he was still surprisingly ignorant on that front.
What he had assumed was an impossibly unique trait granted exclusively by his system turned out to be common knowledge that other tamers already understood.
Well, he had certainly tried his best to study beast anatomy in the past. He had even gotten completely hooked on learning about their specific physical weaknesses. But in reality, he struggled to apply what he learned in real combat, let alone retain every single detail.
Yet day by day, he seemed to be growing sharper and smarter. Could it truly be because of the system’s influence?
Er... no. Terrence realized he was probably just giving the system far too much credit.
"Answer me, where did you get it?!" Lucas snapped aggressively as he took a slow, deliberate step forward, causing Terrence’s observant eyes to track his movement carefully.
’What is he trying to do?’ Terrence pondered silently.
"What’s it to you anyway? Shouldn’t you be thinking more about your own beast rather than mine?" Terrence pointed casually off to the side, where their two beasts had already resumed a fierce clash.
An explosive amount of raw energy erupted through the trees. Lucas’s tiger had grown visibly impatient, blasting less-concentrated energy beams in rapid succession—creating a dense volley of short projectiles like a heavy rifle.
Terrence tilted his head with mild amusement. It was such a massive beast, yet it possessed such a terrifying ranged barrage.
"Tsk..."
Lucas clicked his tongue in deep annoyance as he called out to his beast.
The Golden-Striped Black Tiger rushed directly back to its tamer’s side, standing with absolute confidence despite the lack of direct hits from its recent light barrage.
Nothing had worked on Lucas’s end so far, while Terrence appeared completely unmoved and unbothered by the assault.
’It’s just his beast, but the way it moves completely reflects the tamer’s thoughts and mental state,’ Lucas analyzed bitterly. ’It’s a vice-versa benefit where the tamer’s own traits heavily affect the beast.’
Lucas hated the absolute fact that he had to give any credit to Terrence’s wise tactical decisions.
Terrence hadn’t blindly attempted to attack him directly; instead, he had calmly focused on reading his beast’s exact movement patterns. And worse, it was actually working.
Terrence was slowly gnawing away at Lucas’s remaining confidence.
"I have no other choice but to end this fight right now," Lucas declared, his jaw tightening. "The more you exhaust my beast, the more of a disadvantage this becomes for me."
Terrence merely shrugged.
"I don’t know about that. You’re actually learning to read the situation for once, huh?" Terrence said flatly, a subtle touch of smugness lacing his tone.
’I still don’t know his beast’s true nature,’ Lucas gritted his teeth in frustration. ’It could easily be an A-Rank too. What a stroke of terrible luck that I can’t use an Inspecting Frame when it actually matters. But no matter what happens, I have to put him down for good today. Even if I have to completely humiliate him in front of the entire family.’
Lucas laid his palm flat against his beast’s broad back, sending an inaudible mental command straight to its mind.
The tiger understood the tactical assignment instantly and rushed away from the immediate scene, bounding into the thickets. Terrence’s eyes tracked the movement with a hint of confusion.
"Are you really sure about doing that?" Terrence asked, his voice dripping with arrogance as he deliberately tried to damage Lucas’s massive ego. "You are leaving yourself completely unprotected. I could easily just attack you directly with my beast right now."
’Look at that,’ Terrence thought, watching Lucas’s shifting posture. ’My proud brother is actually worried now. What is he even trying to pull?’
Terrence still didn’t fully grasp what his brother’s ultimate plan was, but he certainly had no intention of letting him execute it smoothly.
The Shadow Hound suddenly reappeared directly at Terrence’s side, letting out low, continuous growls to warn its master of an approaching danger.
’What is the Shadow Hound trying to tell me?’
"I finally understand your beast’s true nature," Lucas spoke up, a confident grin returning to his face. "It’s a hound with a rare shadow mutation—a mutation that has evolved to become the core of its species. Furthermore, it carries an iron mutation as well. Its dust particles are heavily iron-infused, which means it likely possesses a massive physical defensive aspect as well."
Terrence didn’t want to look surprised, but he couldn’t completely stop his brows from twitching. He had to give Lucas a shred of genuine praise for somehow piecing together his beast’s nature in the middle of combat.
"You’re wrong," Terrence muttered with a fake smirk, but his subtle reaction only solidified Lucas’s confidence in his deduction.
"Terrence, I truly hate your guts," Lucas spat, stepping slightly closer. "You were supposed to feel completely powerless day by day after being cast out, but somehow you became a tamer and acquired such a powerful beast. If you still want to be part of the Lee Family, I can actually suggest that idea to the patriarch. Just surrender right now and hand your beast over to me."
Terrence’s brows furrowed in pure disgust.
"Even you?" Terrence shook his head. "Menard told me the exact same thing earlier. It really seems like everyone in the Lee Family shares a single, pathetic brain."
"You were once part of the Lee Family too!" Lucas snapped.
Terrence tilted his head, his expression growing completely cold.
"Was I? I honestly can’t seem to remember that."
Lucas’s grin broadened with every passing second as his secret trap reached its final, critical stage. The concentrated energy building in the background was far stronger and denser than anything his beast had unleashed earlier.
Feeling the looming, fatal threat positioning itself directly behind Terrence, Lucas let out a long sigh as he met his brother’s eyes one last time.
"I see... So you refuse to swallow your useless pride. I guess this officially ends here."
The Shadow Hound growled fiercely, dropping into a rigid defensive stance right in front of Terrence.
Terrence observed the sudden shift with a confused look, but his own instincts were now ringing wildly, matching the precise danger his beast was warning him about.
Directly in front of him, Lucas stood completely calm for a fraction of a second—before suddenly crouching low and dropping flat onto the wet ground.
At that exact moment, a colossal beam of pure golden light—with a diameter wider than Lucas’s entire shoulder frame—came rushing violently before Terrence, blasting straight facing him.
The Shadow Hound threw its physical body into the path of the beam, activating its Iron Skin skill to protect Terrence at all costs. But the defensive activation suffered a critical, split-second delay against the light-speed attack.
Deep cracks instantly formed across the Shadow Hound’s iron-infused fur. The overwhelming kinetic and thermal energy directly engulfed both the hound and Terrence, pushing backward with a violent, terrifying pressure that shattered surrounding trees to splinters as they endured the absolute maximum force of the blast.
"Be gone... Terrence!" Lucas shouted from the mud, his face twisted in ruthless triumph.
The minute-long, fully concentrated golden laser beam eventually flickered out, leaving behind a scorched path through the fake jungle. Yet despite the absolute devastation, the sound of Terrence’s steady breathing did not disappear from the arena.
Lucas could still hear it clearly.
A sudden wave of ice-cold anticipation enveloped Lucas, sending violent chills down his nerves. A thick cloud of pulverized wood, pulverized earth, and floating charred particles hovered over the impact zone where the beam had struck.
"How... How is that even possible?!" Lucas stammered, his eyes bulging as he scrambled to his feet.
The small mushroom cloud of mixed dust and debris gradually dissipated as the fake breeze blew the particles away from the center of the crater.
And there stood Terrence—completely upright, steady, and utterly unharmed.