Bear School Astartes

The moment the sound rang out, the delight in their eyes immediately faded.

Without needing any signal, the three with ample outdoor experience came to a mutual understanding right away—Run!

Although they hadn’t seen its shadow yet, Lann was certain that this creature must be terrifyingly huge.

The plants in the dense forest were crushed and torn apart, and the breathing of a large creature was getting closer. They even felt an illusion that a moist, warm breath was puffing out of the giant beast’s nostrils, blowing over their heads!

And soon, this illusion became real.

”Roar!!!”

A deafening roar echoed around, frightening a flock of hateful black-winged birds to take flight from the forest.

A creature with bare shoulders nearly five or six meters high, with its mouth wide open, charged out from the dense forest like a plow!

Its overall appearance was similar to the Jurassic Tyrannosaurus, except its skin was mostly pink, and on the back extending to the tip of the tail, there grew coarse black fur.

This form had a shoulder height of five meters and a total length of about fifteen or sixteen meters!

Converted into mass, it must weigh tens of tons!

...Damn it, it truly is a dinosaur!

For the first time, Lann felt the oppressive presence of these prehistoric behemoths.

Unlike the other large creatures he had encountered, it was different from the clergy of Yan’an, beast hunters, or even the healing church agent Nymelia.

Its body lacked any wicked, sacred, or redundant aura, possessing only the purest wildness of nature!

Savage, ferocious, yet utterly natural wildness!

”This is... the Barbaric Jaws Dragon!”

Aibo exclaimed, her mouth wide open. Although panicked, her professional instincts allowed her to identify the attacker immediately.

”You guys go quickly!”

Lann gave a push from behind, and Wende and Aibo were instantly propelled far away by his strength.

Just passing through the gap between the giant beast’s legs that was charging sideways.

Being swung like this, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon seemed to understand its difficulty in turning, so it simply ignored the two ’strips of meat’ drilling through its legs and focused on the ’chunk of meat’ that was Lann in front of it.

It lowered the center of gravity of its forebody, bringing its menacing jaws down, its most advantageous weapon for attack.

Seeing the posture in front of him, Lann knew the Barbaric Jaws Dragon considered him a meal on its plate.

A warm breath with a peculiar smell blew over.

”Faint sparks are coming from its nasal cavity; the smell is not just body odor... sir, it probably doesn’t rely solely on physical capabilities for hunting.”

Mentos captured the critical detail and reported to the main body.

”Yes, I see it too.”

Without warning, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon made a motion as if unconsciously extending its neck.

But during this highly deceptive action, its horizontally tucked jaws tightened, ready to clamp down swiftly as the prey entered its mouth!

Truly adept predator skills.

Yet, Lann had already noticed its subtle movements.

This was a ferocious but entirely natural creature.

Its movements adhered to biological and kinetic principles.

To execute powerfully damaging and wide-attack movements, it required obvious preparatory motions involving most of its muscle mass.

And such covert, rapid small movements had naturally limited damage and attack range.

Thus, as the Barbaric Jaws Dragon extended its neck, Lann immediately retreated.

A stepping-back distance, perfectly exceeding the limit of its neck’s stretch in this attack.

And just before the jaws snapped shut... ’Swish!’

The sharp sound of a blade slicing through the air resounded.

At the moment before the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s mouth closed, the upward slashing blade and arm almost grazed past the teeth ready to close!

”Grrr!”

A large spurt of blood flowed from the corner of the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s mouth!

It was blood from its tongue, which had been slashed open by the Lady of the Lake’s Sword.

The pain made the creature retract its extended neck as if cramping.

But soon, its innate ferocity had it pounce again at the small ’chunk of meat’ before it with even more aggression!

Lann’s expression wasn’t relaxed.

Because he felt from the sensation, the cut opened by the Lady of the Lake’s Sword on this creature wasn’t deep.

Its muscle strength was very high!

The sharpness of the Lady of the Lake’s Sword was undeniable, a divine-made armament Lann had yet to see armor that could genuinely withstand.

Even Valerian steel plates wouldn’t suffice, only taking dozens of hits before being cut through.

But the problem was, when dealing with such large monsters, a weapon needs more than just sharpness.

After slicing into the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s tongue, Lann immediately felt the beast’s muscular force pressing against the blade.

Just like when a human seizes a bare blade with hands, clamping the blade to prevent it from cutting down.

Human flesh couldn’t withstand steel blade sharpness, but the pressure adequately halts the blade.

This also explains why the Lady of the Lake’s Sword could be sheathed in ordinary scabbards.

These scabbards are compression sheaths, not blocking the blade with materials, but clamping the Lady of the Lake’s Sword within them.

And this dragon, its muscle strength was indeed formidable!

However...

”If muscle strength alone sufficed, the battle would be too simple.”

Lann narrowed his eyes, the demon hunter’s cat eyes meeting the vertical pupils of the Barbaric Jaws Dragon towering over him.

”Roar!!!”

The violent roar also spewed a large mass of sparks from its nasal cavity.

The Barbaric Jaws Dragon, focusing on the ’small’ Lann, deliberately kept its most formidable weapon, its jaws, low.

Thus, Lann could see that when the sparks spread across the lush grass below, the land instantly charred black, even sprouting flames!

If caught in this scenario, even if Valerian steel could withstand the dragon’s bite, the high heat would likely sear a person to medium-well.

But facing the menacing, massive weight-laden pounce of the Barbaric Jaws Dragon, Lann instead charged forward!

In the alchemy pouch at his lower back, the Old Hunter’s Leg Bone was already bloodstained!

The Acceleration Spell activated, and a spiral-like airflow wrapped around Lann’s legs.

The rapid increase in movement speed exceeded the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s expectation.

Its lunge only caught the trailing weeds stirred by Lann’s rush!

While Lann had already reached beneath the giant beast’s legs!

As anticipated, this Barbaric Jaws Dragon had basic combat intelligence.

With the small foe under itself gone, it immediately kicked its robust legs diagonally to the side!

The sound of stamping ground roared.

Tons-heavy body leaped gracefully to the side, exposing the small foe that was hiding beneath.

At the same time, its neck bent to an optimal angle, ready to strike the moment it could spot the enemy clearly.

But Lann... was actually waiting for this opportunity!