Supreme BeastTamer: I Can Copy and Upgrade Skills 10x!

After dealing with the Scourge Commander, the group flew away from the blast site as quickly as they could before the Scourge reinforcements arrived.

Just as they had predicted, two Scourge Champions appeared, and after seeing the fragments of the fallen commanders lying around, they disappeared and flew back to the castle.

Back on the ground, everyone had returned to their human forms. They had formed a small circle surrounding Nox.

Because of how uncomfortable it made the others feel, Nox sent the Scourge Champion back to his taming space.

Suddenly, Drake spoke in an urgent tone, "I know we all want answers, but I don't think now is the time for that."

"I agree with him," Nyxirith nodded her head.

"We left Voron and Ashren behind. If we hurry, maybe we could at least rescue them," said Drake.

Nox stared at him with a blank expression, not knowing who the two were.

"Are they part of the team?" he asked. After all, he didn't know everyone's name, only the key members.

"No, they're our allies," Drake paused, then corrected himself. "But I'll call them friends."

He then proceeded to explain their encounters since they entered this corrupted realm. Nox listened with a calm expression; his face didn't change much, but those who had been close to him for some time could feel the anger radiating from his body—especially when Drake mentioned Garren and his plans.

"So these people were the ones that helped you," he murmured under his breath, his eyes flashing strangely.

"When I was coming here, I felt the intense radiation from that direction. I doubt if those two survived as you claim, but there's never any harm in checking it out."

"Lead the way."

Drake nodded his head, and the group soon took to the sky once more, flying toward the direction of the battlefield.

They flew for about 20 minutes before the ruined base of the Broken Claw faction came into view.

From up here, all Nox could see was crater upon crater and dead bodies strewn across the landscape. It was the first time in a while that he was seeing such a gruesome sight—one not caused by him.

Since he wasn't familiar with the people they were looking for, he decided to sit back and let the others search through the corpses.

Meanwhile, Nox activated his Spirit Tamer subclass.

As soon as he did, he saw the hundreds of spirits belonging to the brave warriors who had perished here just moments ago.

Among them, he saw three Scourge Commanders. This made him realize that the other side wasn't a joke. For them to take down three Scourge Commanders only meant that they were powerful.

If only he knew that Ashren had single-handedly brought two to the afterlife, he would have been even more shocked.

Suddenly, his eyes caught two spirits wandering around the battlefield, watching with regret in their eyes.

One of them was old but muscular, and the other was on the lean side and fairly handsome.

Even in death, these two radiated powerful auras. Nox easily put two and two together to know who they were. He calmly approached them.

"Found him!" someone shouted at the same time. Drake quickly rushed over, dug out the rubble, and after turning the person over, he took in a sharp breath.

It was Ashren—and he wasn't breathing.

Moments later, Valkor and Raziel dug out Voron's body as well from the rubble.

"T-They didn't make it," Drake clenched his fist, feeling a wave of emotions. Although he had only met these people for a short amount of time, he came to realize that they were good people, and all they wanted was for their kingdom to return to the way it was.

Despite the sins of the Eight, they didn't harbor any shred of hatred. People like this only existed in fiction—it was the first time Drake was seeing people as pure-hearted as them.

The Frost Prince couldn't help but ask himself: What would he have done if he were in their shoes?

The answer was pretty simple. He would have joined forces with Garren and taken revenge.

Sob! Sob!

The sound of sobbing echoed from the back, and everyone subconsciously glanced behind, their gazes settling on the little girl in green who was slowly walking forward with unsteady steps.

When she eventually arrived at the corpse, she collapsed and buried her chest against Ashren's face, tears slowly welling from her eyes like a broken dam.

Yuki.

That was her name.

Her parents had originally been members of the Scavengers who eventually fell in battle when she was just a child. Ever since then, Ashren had taken care of her like she was his own daughter.

Seeing the little girl cry profusely like this, everyone shifted uncomfortably. Though they tried to maintain a stoic exterior, a tinge of sadness tugged at their chests.

Slowly, someone stepped forward and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Yuki raised her head slowly. Her eyes settled on the beautiful Light Princess. Lumi hugged the little girl as tightly as she could.

Yuki hesitated at first, but then she returned the hug. The tears didn't stop—they continued to flow out uncontrollably.

Sigh Nox exhaled as he forced himself to look away and continued with the task.

He wondered what would happen if something terrible happened to any of his loved ones.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he finally arrived before the two spirits.

Ashren and Voron.

"I might've not known you guys when you were alive, but I'd like to say thank you," Nox said. "Thank you for helping my friends. And in return, I promise to protect the little girl till my dying breath."

When Nox had said this, Ashren paused mid-air and slowly looked him in the eyes.

Though the spirit didn't have consciousness or free will, Nox thought he saw Ashren's eyes reflect gratitude.

Afterward, Nox added both Ashren and Voron to his ever-growing spirit army. He also included the slain corrupted commanders—plus the three he killed back there and the three here.

Nox now had six Supreme Scourge Commanders in his spirit army and dozens of fused Scourge dragons. But he still had space for more.

[Spirit Slot: 89/100]

After taking care of that, he returned to the rest of the group. Nox cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention.

'I've delayed this for so long already. It's time I finally do it,' he thought inwardly, eyes burning with resolve.