Bear School Astartes

Chapter 58: 58. The Necklace Trembles

”...This is truly awkward.”

Lann flicked the slippery blood off his gloves, muttering with a frown.

”I don’t know how to make a person die quickly and silently, nor do I know how to ensure they don’t bleed too much upon death... If not for the sea’s fishy smell, this blood would have betrayed my presence.”

”Skill analysis: [Assassination], current proficiency 1%

Skill analysis: [Stealth], current proficiency 4%”

”Sir, the logic within these skills is far more complex than imagined. Without guidance, the learning cost will be high, but now’s not the time for doubt.”

”You’re right, Mentos.”

Lann fixed the torch onto the camp’s fence, so that with the current light conditions, the body would remain unseen from a distance.

”Don’t get tangled in what you lack, let’s continue.”

Lann continued deeper into the camp, preparing to take out some of the active patrol personnel, in line with Mentos’s clearance advice.

Ten minutes later.

In the dim moonlight and firelight, Lann crouched behind an empty tent, hearing the approach of footsteps.

After a silent calculation, the moment the patrol personnel passed the tent, Lann rose, reaching out.

Once again, he covered the person’s mouth and nose, this time using a method that wouldn’t cause bleeding.

With a ”crack,” their face turned backward.

Their cervical spine was directly snapped.

Lann fixed the torch onto the camp’s buildings as before.

This prevented the torch from moving, but it’s better than the sudden loss of light sources alarming people in the camp.

The dying struggle this time was much less, because with the cervical spine broken, the body no longer responded to brain commands.

Yet, the residual nerve signals caused the body to twitch for quite a while before stopping.

Lann softly exhaled a breath, his deep black eye sockets furrowing.

The [Assassination] technique still wasn’t ideal.

After abandoning his dagger, he had used this method to deal with seven enemies.

Yet he still didn’t know how to efficiently snap a human neck, merely using brute force.

But this led to him engaging in successive direct confrontations with seven robust adult males with adequate meat intake.

There was no technique involved, nor any swift kill as in a sword duel, essentially just a test of stamina.

Though he could win, as a Demon Hunter, he was already starting to breathe heavily.

”...Hah- once I kill these scumbags, I’ll definitely find an expert to learn from!”

”Mentos, jot this down in the memo.”

Lann slightly calmed his breathing, commanding the intelligent brain in his head.

His tone revealed a rare hint of ease over the past two days.

Intense exercise sped up brain blood flow, making one feel their thoughts leaping.

And Lann now not only felt his thoughts leaping, but after consecutively eliminating seven patrol personnel, he was drawing closer to the shadowy detention area.

White should be there!

Not far now!

The young Demon Hunter suppressed the impatience and excitement surging as he neared his target, slipping into a tent occupied by people.

The pitch-black tent housed three sleeping men.

Straw lining covered with animal skins served as beds, and the poor-quality longswords, wooden sticks, and spears lay within arm’s reach.

Trust within a criminal syndicate is a fairy tale; everyone is a shameless scoundrel, who would trust one another?

The first one, directly snapped the neck.

The slight twitching and gasping startled the adjacent man, but inside the tent, Lann didn’t think heavy bleeding would be discovered.

So the dagger slid across the man’s throat, leaving a bone-deep cut.

To ensure he couldn’t make a sound, Lann exerted greater force than usual, aiming to sever both the windpipe and vocal cords.

The blood sprayed directly to the top of the tent!

Lann, weighing over 150 kilograms, pressed horizontally onto the three men, to suppress their dying struggles.

During the pounce, the third man had his throat slit with the dagger.

In the blurry darkness, the tent’s fabric rustled for over ten seconds before returning to peace.

Lann wiped the blood off his head as he exited the tent.

That’s what happens when your technique fails.

Embarrassment was inevitable, but at least the target was completed.

He had eliminated ten armed personnel, even under the worst-case scenario—calculating that there were fifty people in the camp.

He was close to achieving the goal of ”clearing one-third.”

Soon... soon he’ll retreat safely with White, then notify Philip, and turn around to slaughter this group of human traffickers and cannibals!

Lann’s teeth clenched involuntarily.

For this group that engages in cannibalism and trafficking, inflicted harm on Bernie, and abducted White, his killing intent was so vast it obscured even his own sight.

Half of the crescent-shaped camp had been nearly cleared in secrecy.

To gain more ground, he’d inevitably approach the large tent at the camp’s center.

”Head Eater,” he knew little about this person; if he could slip away unnoticed, it would be ideal.

Perhaps in this Magical World, this guy started something significant by consuming human heads?

Bosses on TV usually have a trick or two, right?

Lann certainly didn’t want to court disaster at this critical moment.

So the young man decided to stick close to the detention area and make his way to the other side of the crescent-shaped camp, heading south from the north.

The lighting conditions here gave him this confidence.

Slowly nearing the wooden cages forming the detention area, Lann’s low-light vision allowed him to see inside the cages.

Large cages combined with small ones, the large cages mostly housed a group of children.

These children maintained Velen’s typical standard of living—sallow and emaciated, posing little threat even when confined en masse.

The children were already scared witless.

While the smaller cages used as compartments mostly contained adults tortured beyond recognition.

Some had parts of their limbs chopped off; others were mere corpses piled up.

Resembling butchered meat chunks displayed for buyers at the butcher shop.

Lann walked past the rows of wooden cages with a furrowed brow.

The darkness here was profoundly deep, yet Lann kept his footsteps quiet.

Though the people inside the cages were close, they should not be able to see him.

This was to prevent the captives from becoming too excited and shouting out loud.

Lann dared not imagine what these people had been through—a likely majority already mentally shattered.

Revealing himself now would yield chaotic cries and screams, among a myriad of conjectures, that’s not among the worst.

Before he could save them, it was better that they remained unaware.

But as Lann silently passed by a small compartment cage...

”Demon Hunter?”

A frail voice emerged from the cage, seemingly clogged with sputum or blood, vague enough to obscure gender.

Lann’s cat-like pupils contracted sharply as he spun to scrutinize the figure inside the cage.

With the current light, a Demon Hunter without meds wouldn’t see a thing... Who or what is this?!

Instinctively, Lann thought of a monster.

Some monsters could speak, and capturing one alive was highly valuable. Human traffickers might dabble in such trades.

The young Demon Hunter only hoped this already tense rescue operation wouldn’t be disrupted by a monster at this critical juncture.

But fortunately, under [Cat] vision, Lann confirmed it was indeed a human.

”It’s really a Demon Hunter? Ha! How lucky!”

As he approached slightly, Lann suddenly sensed his Roaring Bear Head Necklace around his neck clattering.