Bear School Astartes

The black spines not only completely outclass the original white spines in hardness and sharpness.

They also seem to possess an explosive launching capability similar to shrapnel.

In the last battle, Lann remembered vividly how the Extinct Dragon used the muscles to squeeze and launch the bones and spines from its body.

After all, a piece of bone fragment almost slit his throat.

And now, the wing membrane, which advances like a steamroller, is also covered with shiny black spines.

This made the entire Extinct Dragon look like a giant porcupine.

Lann didn’t think that these black spines lacked explosive abilities just because they grew on the wing membrane.

Logically, the muscle tissue on the wing membrane is thin and sparse, so it shouldn’t be able to generate enough force to squeeze and launch the bone spines.

But Lann has experienced enough of the extraordinary traits of ancient creatures.

Sure enough, as the Extinct Dragon’s wing membrane pushed close to Lann, his Spirit Sight keenly detected the subtle vibrations of those spines.

Then there was a continuous ”whoosh-whish” sound!

The black spines, which could easily pierce through the rock layers, fanned out explosively from the Extinct Dragon’s wing membrane!

If these spines attacked the Molten Mountain Dragon at a vertical angle, they could penetrate its carapace deeper than human artillery.

If these spines flew out in straight paths without obstruction, they could probably travel several kilometers!

And all of this just from the muscle compression produced by the Extinct Dragon.

The oddity of such ancient life forms is evident.

And on the scene, faced with this barrage of spines that could pierce through rock without wearing down a point... Lann’s hand reached toward his left waist.

”Clang clang clang!”

A series of metal collision sounds rang out multiple times.

This dense sound was like a rain of iron!

Simultaneously, sparks in equal numbers flickered on the Molten Mountain Dragon’s back.

This wasn’t merely the noise that would arise from blocking with a greatsword in front of oneself!

At this moment, Lann had already drawn Aron Dite with his left hand.

This elegantly curved, elf long blade, a divine-made armament, displayed exquisite technique in his left hand.

The light texture contrasted sharply with the Turbid Stream·Annihilation resting on his right shoulder.

Especially when both armaments were held in someone’s two hands.

Lann, who deflected all the spines with the Iwami Style: Climbing Carp, did not pause for a moment and charged towards the Extinct Dragon!

The spines that had been launched from the wing membrane hadn’t regenerated in the short term.

Therefore, Lann was able to reach the wing membrane of the Extinct Dragon with the relatively short Lady of the Lake’s Sword without worrying about those spines.

Iwami Style·One-Character Slash!

With a proper stance, the greatsword on his right shoulder did not seem to affect the execution of this move.

The Lady of the Lake’s Sword in Lann’s left hand slashed fiercely down.

The blade of the divine-made armament cut a large gash the size of a regular person in the expansive wing membrane of the Extinct Dragon!

Lann didn’t hesitate at all, directly charging through the opening!

The skin and muscles of ancient dragons are very firm, but still inherently elastic.

With an opening already there, Lann forced his way in shouldering the greatsword!

The Extinct Dragon had never considered this situation while performing this move.

It realized something was wrong as soon as its wing membrane was sliced open and cried out in pain.

But Lann, who had already burrowed into the wing membrane, had already prepared his next move.

A typical great sword user, in such circumstances, would definitely maintain defense or withdraw the sword to dodge.

But both these options equate to passively receiving attacks.

By the time the great sword user extricates themselves from trouble, the Extinct Dragon would have prepared its next move.

However, Lann, with a skill reserve far richer than that of the hunters, never plans to confine himself within any specific technical system.

His right hand hefts the greatsword longer than himself, while his left hand skillfully wields regular swords.

This stance with a massive disparity is specially crafted by Lann to face the spine launches of the Extinct Dragon.

Unlike the hunters’ spiritual energy blaze, highly compressed air currents began winding around the blade of Turbid Stream·Annihilation.

The flaw in this stance is, even with Lann’s enhanced muscles and bones, he currently can’t wield this greatsword single-handedly to use the hunters’ high-power techniques.

But as the saying goes: as long as the depth of technique reserves is substantial, choices will always flow endlessly.

Heartless Stream·Great Severing!

With his right hand holding the hilt of Turbid Stream·Annihilation, the Extinct Dragon Hide wrapped around it provided excellent grip and friction.

Lann swung up the weight of half his body, just to single-handedly maneuver this oversized greatsword!

Rather than saying his right hand was ’holding’ the hilt, it was more ’pulling’ the hilt during the spin!

Inside the Extinct Dragon’s wing membrane, the three-meter-long greatsword, swirling with high-density Qi Flow Blade, slashed into the wing, leaving an arc-shaped afterimage that struck where the wing was already opened!

”Clang! Whoosh!”

The supporting bones within the ancient dragon’s wing membrane collided with the greatsword, emitting a solemn sound akin to a church bell.

But these supporting bones were obviously no match for the sword blade of Turbid Stream·Annihilation, which shattered and snapped them one after another amidst crackling sounds.

The rapidly whirling Qi Flow Blade continued micro-cutting the flesh already ruptured after the blade sliced open the blood and tissue.

The wing membrane is inherently rich in blood vessels, and under the Great Severing, the ancient dragon’s blood should have been splattering profusely.

But because as soon as this blood touched the blackened sword blade, it seemed to seep into it, disappearing in large quantities, it ultimately failed to produce the characteristic blood rain associated with the Qi Flow Blade technique.

The intense pain made the Extinct Dragon flail its hind legs wildly.

Amidst this reckless thrashing, Lann was kicked out from under the wing membrane by the Extinct Dragon.

If he hadn’t quickly pulled the greatsword in front of himself to block, he would’ve probably been kicked to the foot of the Molten Mountain Dragon by now.

With a light ’clang,’ Lann pulled the greatsword supporting in front of him from the ground, stopping his retreat and rested it on his right shoulder once again.

He looked at the distressed and furious Extinct Dragon, and its wing membrane, beyond the wing root, almost detached from its body.

What a pity, he intended to dislodge half its wing earlier. The resultant mass loss would’ve surely been enough to bother it.

Nonetheless, the bone strength of ancient dragons...tsk, even the fine wing membrane support bones really are tough.

Lann gritted his molars, his right shoulder subtly moved to alleviate the muscle strain from swinging the greatsword in an arc earlier.

”Not yet?”

The Demon Hunter’s peripheral vision glanced towards the head of the Molten Mountain Dragon.

From this angle, he could see the peaks at the end of the valley nearby, already wrapped in explosives and bombs.

Blasting the cliffs to let tens of thousands of tons of rock crash down is the critical attack that they were confident would cause the Molten Mountain Dragon pain, forcing it to change its path.

And this evidently requires the Molten Mountain Dragon to walk to the designated location itself.

And the end point for this battle, as Lann had mentally set, was based on reaching this position.

As for killing the ancient dragon?

He’s now somewhat of an insider among the hunters of this world; he sees that idea as neither practical nor necessary at the moment.

So from the beginning, Lann had intended to delay or repel.