For the next few days, Maya watched over Rudra to see how he was utilizing his variant beast-taming ability. She was surprised to see how simple his routine was, no training or hard work was required. Rudra simply meditated and accumulated energy before infusing it into his tamed beasts.
Currently, the target of Rudra's infusion was the Mutated Caterpillar. It was a worm-like tamed beast that was mainly green in color with a tan underside. Just below its head were four, tiny legs that are used only for movement.
On top of its head was a pair of strong red-colored antennae, which could be used to produce an odor used in self-defense using the Repulsive Stench Skill, in case something tries to hurt it.
Currently, Rudra was rewarding it with energy infusion as it had worked hard to spit out a large pile of silk for Rudra.
"What are you going to do with that silk?" Maya asked as she crouched before that pile and gently poked it with her index finger.
"Well, I was planning to sell it for some credits. After all, my Mutated Caterpillar is much better than the ones they have out there. So obviously its silk will also be of a higher quality." Rudra said.
"You know, you should just join my squad..." Maya began pitching her idea but Rudra interrupted her midway.
"Really? We just talked about this a few days ago, right? Just let me get a little bit stronger so that I can match the status your team has, or else you will be accused of giving preference to your brother over others who have more potential, at least as far as they know." Rudra said in an exasperated tone.
"All right. Well, at least let me help you out in selling this silk for a good price. Beast Tamer teams like mine generally prepare their customized uniform to signify unity and status. I can get you a good price for this through 'legitimate' ways. That should be fine according to your self-imposed rules." Maya said with a bossy tone as she glared at Rudra, leaning towards him with her hand on her hips.
Rudra thought for a while before nodding lightly, "Yeah, I guess that should be okay."
Maya's lips rose from the corners as she enjoyed her little win over her stubborn brother. Right at that moment, a ringing sound came from her pocket. She took out her mobile phone and listened to the speaker on the other side silently, her expression turning from her happy look to a frown.
As she put down the phone, Rudra asked curiously, "What is the matter, Maya?"
"It's a piece of bad news! Somebody found a new portal opening that was missed by our sensors in the base. It's only a few dozen kilometers away from the southeast entrance to our Delhi base. There's a high possibility of a monster invasion if there is no team to combat it on time."
"The ones who are usually in charge of that area are hesitant to go there as this portal was not measured beforehand so we don't know what kind of Monstrous Beasts might appear there."
"Delhi Base's administrative department was therefore forced to ask all Beast Tamer teams to send a portion of their forces to come and combat this situation. This was done to ensure that no team would protest that they were being singled out."
"It is not all bad, however, as the Delhi Base's administrative department declared that the teams participating in this hunt will have full ownership of whatever treasures, resources, beast eggs, etc. that they pick up during this hunt. Now the only question is whether we take the risk or not?" Maya said while biting her lip as she thought hard.
Finally, she looked up, having decided firmly what she was going to do.
"Rudra, this will be your first exposure to the war between humans and monstrous beasts. I will be taking you along with me and a few elites of my team."
"During this battle, you have to just take care of yourself. You are going there to learn, not to be a hero. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Trust in the instincts of your tamed beasts when faced with any of the monstrous beasts coming out of the portal. They are much better at judging threats than us." Maya instructed him.
Rudra listened to her attentively while growing excited. A battle between tamers and monstrous beasts. Was this not the goal that every beast tamer trained for?
-x-x-x-
An hour later, Rudra was sitting in a large off-road vehicle along with Maya and a few from her team along with their tamed beasts. All of them looked relaxed due to their experience and preparation.
First was Aman, a typical gym freak with a chiseled body. He had short dark hair, trimmed in an army hairstyle. He wore camouflage-style pants and a jacket with a sleeveless vest underneath. His beast was sitting beside him, a large monkey-type beast with a muscular body, four arms, two legs, and three long flexible tails. The monkey had customized metal-plated leather gloves on each of its hands.
The second was a girl called Ananya. She was an emo hottie with an hourglass figure. Her milky skin stood out in an eye-catching manner against her silky black hair and all-black figure-hugging leather outfit. She wore a short sleeveless leather top with tight leather pants, fingerless leather gloves, tall leather boots, and a leather choker. Her bared midriff displayed her tiny waist and pierced navel.
Her tamed beasts were two raven-like beasts that had the size of large dogs from before the new age. Their glowing red eyes gave off a freakishly intelligent look like they observed everyone and everything silently. They had customized claw-type weapons affixed to their talons, made in such a way that it didn't hinder the movement of their talons at all.
The final member was Shreya, a petite girl with glasses and a ponytail, which made her look nerdy. She was the most casually dressed among all the people in the vehicle, excluding Rudra. She wore a plain top and skirt, along with a jacket made of durable material.
Her tamed beast was a large three-headed dog, which made the observer think of Cerberus of legends. With thick black fur, a large muscular body, dangerously sharp claws, and teeth, the beast was an embodiment of the mythological creature.
Maya's Tamed beast on the other hand was flying above them. It was a giant winged tiger that also had wind elemental powers. It was a peak Royal-Grade tamed the beast and was third on the ranking of Maya's strongest tamed beasts.
These people along with Maya were the strongest tamers in Maya's team. Rudra was currently accompanying them as they went to fight against the unknown portal's invaders.
To ignore his nervousness, Rudra meditated and generated mental energy in his mental space. He planned to infuse into the cardholder every scrap of energy he could gather in this short while. He didn't want to waste even a single moment to gather more mental energy, as that might be the moment that makes the difference.
Soon they reached the site where the portal opening was taking place. Most other teams had already arrived there, assembled in groups behind wooden stockade walls reinforced with soil and rocks. They were all staring at a spot a hundred meters away from where a crack seemed to form in the sky.
"That is the spot," Maya pointed out the crack in the sky to Rudra, "That is where the portal will manifest."
"Hey Maya, you have seen other portals and fought the invading beasts, right? How does it work?" Rudra asked.
"Well, it is pretty much a chaotic battle with your survival depending on your efforts. When the portals open, monsters are going to rush out like bees when you harm their hive. You don't need to worry about the rest of us, just make sure to keep yourself alive." Maya cautioned him.
Just then, the portal they were waiting for an opening. When looking at the portal, Rudra felt as if the entire sky was a gigantic prehistoric beast and that it had just opened its eye. He felt so because the portal looked like a semi-transparent giant pupil that protruded toward the ground from the sky.
This semi-transparent giant pupil-like portal rippled like the surface of the lake as beasts of various sizes, shapes, and species started to slowly push through it. It felt like watching an insect trying to push through the resin it was trapped in and emerge outside.
"Maya, why don't people attack while those beasts are still pushing through?" Rudra asked.
"Because currently, they are not fully into our dimension, therefore the dimension fluctuations will negate any type of long-ranged attacks such as elemental attacks. Close-ranged physical attacks by tamed beasts can work, but that will leave our tamed beasts injured due to the same dimensional fluctuations." Maya explained.
Rudra understood the explanation and they waited patiently for the first wave of invading monstrous beasts to completely emerge from the portal. As soon as they stepped out of the portal, the beasts rushed towards the wooden stockade walls. The tamers prepared their tamed beasts to resist the beast wave, looking at the incoming beasts with determined expressions.
The battle to resist the unknown portal invaders had officially begun.