Bear School Astartes

Everything happened very quickly.

From Lann’s perspective, Little Jack made a decision that couldn’t be considered wrong.

Faced with a bipedal, at least several dozen tons heavy creature, targeting the legs responsible for support and movement, the goal was spot on.

And based on his past experience of fighting and winning against the Barbaric Jaws Dragon species, Little Jack had gotten himself into the blind spot under the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s feet to buy time for his ”Charged Slash” release, which was also prudent.

The only problem was...until now, Little Jack still didn’t have a concept of how ’unusual’ this particular Barbaric Jaws Dragon really was.

So everything happened in an instant.

Bipedal creatures have always had a structural weakness—the ankle, which takes on too much pressure.

Even humans, with relatively small bodies, risk ankle injury if their weight is unhealthy.

Ordinary people who twist an ankle need at least ten days to half a month of rest.

Yet for the Barbaric Jaws Dragon, monsters with recurved legs, their ankles, while gaining stronger mobility, also become more prone to injury, with lower stress thresholds.

This is why Lann could severely wound the Barbaric Jaws Dragon upon first encounter last time.

But today...

The eyes of the reptilian creature meeting Lann’s gaze revealed the calm characteristic of cold-blooded creatures.

Next, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon stealthily tightened its muscles.

Instinctively, Lann activated ”Spirit Vision,” entering deeper layers of visual perception to observe the muscle movements and energy flows of the monster.

Subsequently, Mentos used this as the basis to create a motion model.

The high temperatures generated inside the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s body by sufficient movement began flowing systematically and strategically.

...towards that peculiar leg!

After being severely injured by Lann, the leg was instead even stronger, with its claws suddenly deeply embedding into the ground!

The entire leg’s muscles tightened to an optimal degree in a very short time.

That unusual leg claw allowed the Barbaric Jaws Dragon to perform some actions which could be considered ’inconceivable’.

A normal Barbaric Jaws Dragon, when facing small enemies invading its visual blind spot beneath itself, might raise one claw, making quick yet not heavily weighted scratch actions, and then immediately return to a bipedal stance.

This action, combined with its several hundred kilograms of claws, is enough to disrupt enemy movements and buy time to adjust its position. Meanwhile, the brief single-foot stance doesn’t put excessive pressure on the ankle.

But for this Barbaric Jaws Dragon, that unusual leg seemed entirely capable of supporting the entire weight of its body!

Using the exceptionally thickened leg as the center, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon lowered its body and extended its other normal leg outward.

Like a compass, it swiftly drew a circle around its surroundings!

The Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s claws gouged the ground like cutting through tofu, leaving terrifying, deep ruts.

And at a higher position, its spiky tail end obeyed centrifugal force, swinging out in mid-air!

The tail end even stirred up a mist!

Lann never expected that a creature of this size and mass could actually use a sweeping kick motion!

The Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s seventeen to eighteen meters of body length made the range of this move extraordinarily vast.

Even Lann, slightly further away, was enveloped by the range of the tail’s attack.

However, the Demon Hunter anticipated the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s action first.

Thus, with the mindset of ’though unbelievable, trusting the result of calculations,’ Lann jumped immediately.

His three-hundred-kilogram frame completed a perfect backflip in mid-air.

Amidst the air, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s black-furred and spiky tail nearly grazed Lann’s face as it swung past!

While Little Jack, at an extremely close distance, had no time to react.

The Barbaric Jaws Dragon’s sweeping leg hit him directly from the side!

The single-foot-rotating Barbaric Jaws Dragon wasn’t struck down by the large sword; instead, it kicked the defenseless Little Jack’s ”Charged Slash” off course!

The robust Hunter, along with his armor and terrifying large sword, was kicked away in one strike!

The Hunter flew sideways, even skidding several times before, amidst a ’crashing’ sound, being kicked off the road and into the dense forest.

Finally, within the lush and thriving woods, a tree crown shook, shedding many leaves after a ’bam’ sound.

Then, there was no further movement.

Dozens of tons of weight stabilized within that one leg.

After delivering the sweeping leg kick, during its retrieval and stabilization phase, countering rotational inertia, Lann could even feel the ground vibrate.

The Demon Hunter, dodging the tail with a backflip and landing, narrowed his eyes slightly at the Barbaric Jaws Dragon.

Iits one supporting leg had crushed the ground during the spin, sinking deep.

And its dense muscles pulsated, effortlessly pulling its unusually powerful leg claw out of the ground as though pulling fingers out of tofu.

Grasping a pile of soil stones that had been kneaded into fragments, the Barbaric Jaws Dragon raised that leg in mid-air, slowly releasing its grip in front of Lann.

The stone fragments inside fell with a ’rattling’ sound.

Lann is gazing into the reptilian eyes, standing up from a half-kneeling position after landing, slightly rotating his neck and shoulders.

The ”Turbid Current” hilt wrapped in linen strips loosened and tightened again in his hand.

”Is Little Jack still alive?”

The Demon Hunter asked Mentos in his mind.

The biological intellect analyzed and responded.

”77% probability is just unconsciousness plus moderate injuries, sir. Based on the footage we captured earlier, there were no signs of fatal injury when Little Jack was sent flying.”

That was indeed good news.

Lann felt slightly relieved.

Though according to the temperament of the investigation team members, even if Little Jack died alongside him during the hunt, his grandfather, the Commander-in-Chief, would only feel sorrow and not anger.

But Lann’s concern for Little Jack was untainted by other factors; he had already regarded him as a friend.

”If you monsters can change so much after one failure... tsk, though it must be an exception, I somewhat understand why Hunters possess such exaggerated physical prowess.”

Lann muttered to himself while flexing his wrists, also seeming to engage in dialogue with the Barbaric Jaws Dragon.

The physical prowess of humans in this world is not just due to ample nutrition but also because of natural selection between monsters and humans.

The stronger creatures survive longer, and those who survive longer must be stronger.

Generations of optimization and incremental breakthroughs beyond limits.

In this world where evolutionary speed in nature is even faster than societal development.

Humans as a society are likely already on the path where they undergo natural selection with the natural world as a whole.