This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain didn't believe that this cheat-like ability was without flaws.

Deciding to allow a few of the Vespid guards and Aegis, who has the hardiest defense, to show flaws intentionally, he finally figured something out.

Indeed, the illusions are just illusions 90% of the time. However, it appears as though right before launching the attack, they are able to solidify their bodies—which also explains why these illusions are only resorting to physical attacks for now, while the original Starweaver usually chose to fight from afar.
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Therefore, while the attacks of the illusions are major disruption to his strategy and can turn the tides of the battle, the moments they approach to launch an attack are also when they are at their weakest and can be destroyed.

With that in mind, Bea increased the number of threads she had present on the field.

Kain would have preferred to just use the enchanted spear that he'd used throughout the first half of his first year as a student to create a mist full of Bea's splits. That way, whenever an illusion solidified to launch an attack, a split would make contact and Kain would be notified.

Unfortunately, as long as Serena's Elemental Guardian was on the field, it would be impossible for Kain to grapple for control of the mist using only a 2-star weapon. Speaking of which, although the custom 3-star spear and armour set provided to Kain by the System were much stronger than the average 4-star weapon, and complemented his current combat style perfectly, he should consider upgrading his gear soon.

Unfortunately since he'd advanced to 4-stars another opportunity to customize gear had not appeared in the System Shop, however… 'Perhaps living in poverty for years has limited my imagination. With the business taking off, I should be able to purchase equipment not much inferior to what I'd be able to obtain from the System'

Anyways, shaking his head to refocus back to the battle and less on future major purchases, Kain looked at the current situation on the field.

While Bea worked hard to counter the Prismarin's illusions by making hundreds of threads, Aegis engaged the Elemental Guardian, now in its fire phoenix form.

The phoenix dove toward him, its fiery wings leaving trails of embers in the air.

Aegis braced himself, raising a reinforced stone shield to absorb the impact. The phoenix collided with the barrier, flames erupting around them, but Aegis held firm.

"Push it back!" Kain commanded.

Aegis countered with a powerful strike from his stone fist, sending a shockwave rippling through the air. The phoenix staggered mid-flight, its flames momentarily dimming, and capitalizing on that opportunity, almost as if they'd been waiting was a relentless barrage of Vespid stingers.

This was a strategy Kain had prepared beforehand. Kain had noticed during the simulated training sessions with the system, that the Elemental Guardian, since it was composed of elemental energy, was very resistant to most physical attacks and elemental attacks from attributes it contains.

Therefore, while its body scattering and reshaping when receiving Aegis' heavy fist looked quite scary from an audience's perspective, it was actually largely unharmed.

Moreover, since Serena's gift seemed to provide her contracts with a limitless amount of spiritual power, and she could use that constant injection to fight against Bea's control of her contracts, Bea also wasn't the best opponent to counter the Elemental Guardian.

However, then Kain realized that his strongest weapon against elemental bodies was the energy siphoning properties of the Vespid Guards' stingers.

The physical damage caused by the stingers to the Elemental Guardian was miniscule; However, even a slight brush of a stinger that would siphon off its energy had a several times more devastating effect than it would for creatures made of flesh-and-blood. After all, their very bodies are made up of elemental energy, so for that to be absorbed they wouldn't have the strong physical body of most spiritual creatures to fall back on.

The elemental guardian managed to dodge or quickly dislodge the stinger, so the effects were subtle at first—a faint dimming of the flames that composed the phoenix's wings, a slight sluggishness in its previously fluid movements. But as the stingers continued to make contact, the impact became undeniable. It momentarily shifted to its slightly more speedy wind-attribute sprite form, but the energy drained had already slowed it down, making it unable to fully exert its advantage in speed. Not to mention although this form was the fastest, it was lower in defense and attack power than its fire-attribute phoenix form, and so it quickly changed back.

Eventually, the Elemental Guardian's fiery form began to flicker after being constantly bombarded, the vibrant orange and red hues of its flames fading into a translucent, pale glow. It let out a sharp, piercing cry, its movements becoming more erratic as its energy was slowly drained away.

Then, before the audience's stunned eyes, the once-mighty fire phoenix began to dissolve. Its body turned almost entirely transparent, the fiery intensity that once radiated from it reduced to faint embers that looked as though they could be blown out easily.

On the edge of the arena, Serena's expression remained unchanged to the general viewer; however, Kain noticed the slight scrunching of her eyebrows.

With a wave of her hand, she recalled the Elemental Guardian into her star space. The phoenix's form shimmered one last time before vanishing completely.

With the Elemental Guardian recalled, a noticeable shift in the battlefield's energy occurred. The once-overbearing presence of Serena's most versatile contract had vanished, leaving a void that Kain sought to exploit immediately.

"One down, two to go! Just like we practiced!" Kain commanded through his bond, his sharp gaze fixed on the remaining threats.

However, Kain didn't get arrogant, especially with an unknown spiritual creature present on the field.

"I can't afford to let this slip now," Kain muttered under his breath.

Despite their hard-won advantage, the battle's conclusion remained far from certain.

No matter what it would cost, he wanted to finally win!