Bear School Astartes

”Alright, impressive!”

In mid-air, Lann twisted his body, just in time to see a massive black stinger about to pierce through him.

A sense of crisis, akin to having a blade pressed against one’s eyeball, spread across his whole body.

The majority of people in this world would be so panicked under such a sense of crisis that they would forget to move.

But there are still that rare few for whom this sense of crisis becomes a source of extraordinary action!

The Aron Dite in his left hand was instantly gripped tight!

It then danced into a curtain of silver light in front of Lann!

”Clang clang clang!”

According to the threat level previously marked by Mentos, he resisted the incoming black stingers one after another, and Lann didn’t even need to use his brain; focusing on his technique was sufficient.

A series of sparks flew from the clashes in mid-air.

And Lann, who should have fallen due to gravity, instead soared higher with each deflected stinger shot towards him.

These bone spikes were even more powerful than cannonballs.

If Lann hadn’t employed the skillful technique of [Iwami Style: Climbing Carp], focusing on deflecting the black stinger sideways like flowing water, and instead faced them head-on, a single stinger could have blasted him a hundred meters into the sky.

The fundamental quality of ancient dragons is so crushingly superior to humans.

But the existence of technique serves precisely to bridge this chasm!

Successfully, he deflected no less than seventeen or eighteen black stingers, and due to his smooth redirection of force, Lann ascended merely over four meters in the air.

On his retina, Mentos’s mark of ’threatening target’ was down to a single stinger...

”Swish!”

”Clang!”

The Lady of the Lake’s Sword in Lann’s left hand turned into a streak of gold as it was swung downward!

The golden long blade collided precisely with the ascending black stinger like a shooting star.

Sparks flew from their clash, and both rebounded away.

With his left hand now free, Lann finally gripped the hilt of [Murky Stream: Annihilation] with both hands again.

”Boom!”

Accompanied by a sound akin to flames bursting forth, a pale red fighting spirit aurora erupted from his armor and weapon!

His entire body was pulled back in mid-air into a tension-filled shape, with the massive sword raised high above his head!

Meanwhile, the Extinct Dragon, which had just rammed a rock wall into a pool of lava, shook itself and emerged from the molten rock.

But before this ancient dragon could even look up to see its handiwork...

”Bang!!!”

A thunderous sound like a church bell being struck rang out!

The Extinct Dragon’s head, which hadn’t fully raised, was forcibly pushed back down by an immense force from above!

Pain, disbelief, terror, anger...

A cascade of emotions surged from the Extinct Dragon’s mind.

Its pride and dominance as the apex of the natural food chain made it refuse to bow its head; instead, it gritted its teeth, baring them to forcefully raise its head.

However, the damage to its physical form would not improve due to a change in mentality.

The ”crackling” of a small noise was heard.

This sound came from the bone on its head, so even though the environment wasn’t particularly quiet, these small sounds still transmitted through solid mediums into the Extinct Dragon’s mind.

Lann, gripping his sword, also received these faint sounds.

The Extinct Dragon’s left horn had been notched in the first round of battle by Lann.

And now, although the Extinct Dragon had evolved to be covered fully in black spikes, these large and thick horns were an exception, with only the tip being hardened black.

Lann’s [Aerial Charging Slash], executed with his steady swordsmanship, landed precisely in that previous notch.

The horn, thicker than a person could wrap their arms around, transmitted extraordinary pain via the skull to the Extinct Dragon under this strike.

Those subtle ’cracking’ sounds had now completely ceased, as the entire horn had become riddled with cracks at the cross-section.

Then came a ”crack boom”!

With large pieces of bone shrapnel flying, the Extinct Dragon’s left horn was entirely severed by the [Murky Stream: Annihilation] from above!

Immense pressure, tremendous pain in the skull, unbalanced mass distribution of the head...

A series of impacts erupted collectively at the moment the horn was broken!

The Extinct Dragon let out an ”awoo” as it uncontrollably tipped to the side and fell.

Its limbs and tail continued to thrash about, in panic and rage.

Due to the great recoil from the strike, Lann was able to change his falling position in mid-air, diverging from the scalding orange-red lava.

As soon as his feet landed and steadied, the massive sword was once again lifted above his head by Lann, the pale red fighting spirit explosively roaring with a ”boom” once more.

Even though on the ground the Extinct Dragon couldn’t control its thrashing for the moment, it gazed at Lann with unwavering eyes.

Lann had already raised his sword, aiming directly at the Extinct Dragon’s head, and there wasn’t a shred of hesitation in his cat-like eyes.

Man and dragon, the resolve and toughness shown by both in this battle, seemed to be in rare harmony.

However... ”Bang!!! Crash!”

A burst of explosive sounds from above caused Lann’s pale red fighting spirit to dwindled suddenly.

He didn’t even keep his gaze fixed on the Extinct Dragon; instead, he looked up behind him.

”...Damn it!”

Even with his composure, Lann couldn’t help but let out a curse through gritted teeth at the sight before him.

It was the explosive charges originally planned to go off after the Molten Mountain Dragon was in place.

These charges would sever the fragile structure of the rocky peaks, causing them to fall and terrify the Molten Mountain Dragon, coercing it to change direction.

But right now, even though the Molten Mountain Dragon was less than three hundred meters away, not in position means not in position!

For a gargantuan creature like the Molten Mountain Dragon, a direct hit on its back from a falling mountain is a heavy strike.

But if the mountain hits the ground in front of it, the debris kicked up is negligible, akin to dust at its feet!

”What’s going on? Who detonated it prematurely?!”

”No idea! None of us moved!”

On the cliffs on both sides, the remaining members of the survey team scurried anxiously like ants on a hot pan, loudly exchanging information.

But Lann could see clearly, no one had prematurely detonated those explosives.

It was the barrage from the Extinct Dragon just now, with black stingers flying hundreds of meters upwards, striking the rocky structure where a bunch of explosives was wound!

Maybe it wasn’t a direct hit, but explosives have a chain-reaction property, where a single spark can set off the whole pile of explosives.

Lann gazed gravely at the distant high rocky peak.

Due to the survey team’s limited supply of explosives, and because not all the peaks in the canyon were suitable targets.

From the outset, only three peaks, marked with red ribbons to indicate they had explosives, were selected.

And now, one of the rocky peaks had already been prematurely detonated by stray stingers from the Extinct Dragon.