Chapter 13

 "My beast taming level is Tier 1 Elite. What about yours?" Bryan asked Lucy as they walked through the forest on alert for anything.

 "Tier 4 Elite." Lucy replied and Bryan nodded.

 'She's just at that level yet her mastery over ether can rival someone of a higher level.' The dense earthen ether around her had reduced significantly compared to when he first saw her but he could tell it was intentional.

 "I wonder if I can beat her in a fight." Bryan muttered and attracted Lucy's attention to which he just shook his head.

 "What level should we go for?" Lucy asked him and Bryan started thinking.

 "You're good at defense?"

 "En."

 "Okay, so I guess we should leave controls and tanking to you. Which means Carl and I would be in charge of offense. How's your speed?"

 "Decent."

 "Okay. I'll time my attacks to your movements so go all out."

 "Understood."

 'Amazing! That boy is managing to hold a conversation with her!' This thought was from Ragna who was watching the its reaction with mild shock in his eyes.

 "Hey Carl, is your partner this amazing all the time? Girls are gonna flock to him." Ragna said to Carl. Of course, that was just his imagination going wild.

 "Nope. He's quite uncool and is terrible at communicating." Carl shook his head and said to the tortoise.

 "What a coincidence! Mine too is terrible at talking but here there are having a conversation. Perhaps it's fate." Ragna grinned and Carl rolled his eyes.

 'This old man... Well, not that I can't deny that there's nothing, especially considering the fact he's a bit too interested in her as a person.'

 Carl may not have known Bryan for his entire life but there was one thing he knew. It was Bryan's tendency to place humans on a lower scale than animals in his preference list.

 'Of course, it isn't to an extreme level but it does affect his communication a little.' It may not be obvious but people get that feeling when you're more interested in their pet than themselves.

 "Should we give them a bit more of a push?" Carl wondered around and Ragna nodded his head. Immediately after, they felt the ground trembling and immediately entered combat mode.

 "Something's coming!" Bryan shouted the obvious because no one else would and fire wrapped around his entire body, turning him into an incarnation of a fire god.

 "Gaea's Blessings." Lucy muttered and the earthen ether she normally kept concealed burst from her body in full force and formed an energy armor around her entire body.

 "That's a cool technique. How envious." Bryan muttered as his eyes glittered and it took a grunt from Carl to get his head back in the game.

 Five meters in front of them, the ground burst open as an earthworm like creature burst out of it.

 At the top of its head lay an enormous mouth with several rows of teeth sharp enough to rip metal with ease.

 At an estimate, its body was more than a dozen meters long. And to make matters worse.

 "A Tier 7 Elite Earth Wyrm." Bryan grimaced and looked at his partners and smiled.

 "Can we take it?" Both Carl and Lucy replied and Bryan nodded and took a deep breath.

 "Beast Call - Maximum Output."

....

 Beast Call was a special function with lots of features. It allowed one to access their beast powers, call it forth from a beast bag, and even amplify the connection between tamer and beast.

 Of course, such a function was not without the price and usually required years of usage before mastery. For normal people of which, Bryan was not.

 'An Earth Wyrm. This could be a bit dangerous.' Asides from its large body, the other features were its ability to spit poison, control the earth and high regenerative abilities.

 'If it was only me, then it would have been impossible. Now, it all depends on how strong Lucy's defense is.' Bryan thought and signaled Carl and the two of them leaped backwards as Lucy and Ragna took the stage.

 "Carl, the two of us will be in charge of offence. Find a hole that they would create for us and attack!" Bryan yelled and Carl nodded and increased to half a meter in size and dashed forward.

 'I'll cover from a distance.' Among all the humans and beast present, Bryan was aware that he possessed the weakest physical body of them all and resigned himself to rear support.

 "Since I can concentrate on firing, I should probably go with a bow." Bryan murmured and formed a bow made of fire in the air and held it upright.

 Bryan, once in his past life, once took up Japanese archery. He never went pro but his skills were well beyond the average kyuudoka.

 "Ashibumi through kai, complete." In a split second, he went through the first six steps as a solid arrow of fire rested on the bow.

 In the distance, the three- sorry, two beasts and one female were fighting at incredible speeds, throwing attacks at each other with wantonness.

 "Hanare." Bryan saw an opening Lucy created for him and he let loose the arrow of flames and it pierced the air with a swift cry and sank into the mouth of the wrym before exploding.

 "Grrrriiiiieeeekkkk!" An unholy sound escaped from the mouth of the wrym and everyone winced at the intensity but nobody was a rookie fighter and they didn't let it stop their movements.

 "O Gaea, grant me power." Lucy chanted as Earth-type ether flowed through her body and covered her body in thin scales made of dirt.

 "Ragna!" She yelled and the tortoise roared as countless trees ripped apart and a nine-foot-long spike burst from the earth and shot towards the wrym.

 The wrym finally decided to showcase its earth manipylation and the earthen spike stopped in the air, mildly shocking its opponents.

 'Well, it was nothing more than a distraction.' Lucy thought as she looked at the lizard that had snuck behind the wrym and opened its mouth as fire gathered in it.

 "Skill – Fire Breath." Carl thought with a calm tone as he lit the area with a white light, born from flames.