Bear School Astartes

”Ha, Mogaia.”

With a hood over her head, Cassandra let out a sigh as she entered the city walls.

”It’s been days since I left Cephalonia, and this is the first time I’ve entered a proper city.”

”That’s just because you’ve been too busy.” Lann said casually as he handed over the City Entry Tax. ”When the goals on your journey are clear, it’s like this: you head straight to the destination, with no time for sightseeing along the way.”

Upon entering the city, the first thing Cassandra noticed was the small hill within the city.

”Is that the militarized temple you were talking about?”

The Divine Hall itself was built at the top of the hill, and from below you could only see the red-tile roof.

And militarization means blockade and restriction of entry, generally preventing those at the foot of the hill from knowing how the temple on the hill has been transformed, and what’s going on inside.

”Is the information accurate? You shouldn’t be able to see construction from here, should you?”

Cassandra glanced around first, then walked towards the Apollo Temple at the foot of the hill, asking as she walked.

Lann shrugged, following behind her.

”It’s not information I found; it’s from Phoebe.”

Cassandra turned around, surprised.

”Oh right, Phoebe! Isn’t she with you now?”

”No, well...” Lann scratched his cheek under Cassandra’s gaze. ”That girl is a bit jumpy lately, but don’t worry, I gave her some small self-defense gadgets, they’re enough.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes at Lann: ”It better be enough.”

They reached the side of the Apollo Temple while speaking.

This was a side with few passersby, and the marble column one-person wide could easily hide Cassandra.

With just a small run-up, she leapt onto the marble column like a leopard.

This entire marble, which served as a pillar of the temple, was actually stacked from several small cylindrical marbles.

And Cassandra, with the force of just a fingertip, gripped the tiny gaps between these small cylinders and scaled upwards effortlessly.

Lann watched from below, clicking his tongue; if he were to take off his armor, he reckoned he would also have to use the Light Body Skill to let a few finger joints pull the weight of his entire body.

Seeing Cassandra climb with such ease, Lann thought she could probably scale a cliff by tens of meters using this method.

Normal human muscle and bone mass are not nearly so exaggerated.

Cassandra climbed the four-story temple with ease, and there was an angel sculpture with wings spread and hands raised to the sky on top of it.

Of course, in today’s era, such sculptures might actually depict long-winged Nymphs serving the gods.

Cassandra squatted on one foot on the hand the Nymph raised, and the entire Mogaia was laid out before her eyes at this moment.

A distant eagle cry rang out, with Icarus using Cassandra as its center, creating a large circle in the sky.

Just by lifting his head slightly, Lann knew Cassandra had already surveyed the whole city, including the situation on the small hill.

The militarized temple could certainly block ordinary people’s observations, but it was useless against Cassandra, who could link her vision with a hawk in the sky.

As the Demon Hunter reached the flower heap at the Apollo Temple’s main entrance, a black shadow swooped down like an eagle diving for prey.

Then came a dull thud as it landed into the pile of flowers, scattering petals that startled Lann into stepping aside.

”Phew~ the fragrance is quite nice.”

Speaking easily, Cassandra stepped lightly out from the petal heap.

Meanwhile, Lann twitched the corner of his eye.

”Over ten meters high... petals for cushioning, landing on her back... are you serious?”

”It’s not as hard as you think, Lann.”

Cassandra laughed, patting the Demon Hunter’s arm and winking at him.

Lann shook his head and continued walking forward.

”Forget it, I don’t want to try that at all.”

-----------------

Cassandra used reconnaissance with Icarus to observe the militarized Athena Temple clearly.

”There’s indeed an impressive person there, wearing a full-cover helmet, Icarus, it should be him.”

The two naturally approached the temple on the hill, with Cassandra describing the situation inside to Lann.

”An impressive person? How could you tell? As far as I know, he bears no major physical difference from regular soldiers.”

”Uh?” Cassandra was briefly stunned, as if she herself didn’t know why she perceived him as impressive.

But she was never one to be stuck on a question, so she waved it off lightly.

”I don’t know, but I can feel it. I’ve been able to since I was a child, and I’ve never been wrong so far.”

”Then I can only choose to trust you on this.”

With two soft ’zips’, the two lightly conversing people each took down a broken spear from their back and drew a Dragonbone Dagger from their lower back.

The advantage of assassination is the ability to control the scale of battle, without drawing the entire city’s attention.

This was still an area under Athenian control; they did not want a decapitation strike to become overly complicated.

After a simple glance at each other, they parted ways in sync. From both sides, they began to clear out the enemies in the militarized temple.

Once Cassandra relayed the layout to Lann, his own Demon Hunter senses were not inferior to the Hawk Trainer’s magical abilities.

He could see traces left by bodies in space and hear the breath of living creatures behind walls.

Though unlike Cassandra, who could ’see’ through walls and comprehend the posture and movement of the people inside, his senses were far superior to those of ordinary humans.

”I heard those cat faction guys who do assassin work are pretty famous for it?”

He whispered sarcastically against the exterior wall’s door frame, then suddenly darted, reaching into the door frame.

An Athenian soldier walking past the door suddenly felt like he was being pulled like a bull, utterly helpless as he was dragged outside the door.

This unexpected situation panicked the Athenian soldier, who was instinctively going to open his mouth to shout and punch and kick.

But by then, Lann had already lifted the hem of his blue linen clothes single-handedly, covering his mouth so no sound could escape.

And not just that...”Rip”

The Dragonbone Dagger in his other hand sliced cleanly across the adversary’s neck. Its skin and the arteries beneath were both opened.

The pressure in the side artery was high, spraying out with a ”psst”, but the lifted clothes completely absorbed it.

No conspicuous bloodstains were left, nor were there cries; just a body dying on the ground.

After many memories of the Son of the Emperor and lots of practice, Lann was now a world apart from the novice who couldn’t even silence a target while assassinating.

As he looked up, he saw Cassandra on the other side emerging from the shrubs. She punched an Athenian soldier down amid the bushes, lunging with her broken spear, resulting in a silent slice followed by silence.