Bear School Astartes

As the Golden Lion clutched its chest with one hand and climbed away on the piled coral reef walls with the other.

The oppressive air around them gradually began to dissipate.

The ferocious and destructive aura, when the Golden Lion was active, felt like a massive hammer covered with bone and brain matter pressing against your head.

It brought an extraordinary sense of oppression to all living creatures.

Under such circumstances, only a Hunter who could overcome instinct with willpower, or a dragon who feared nothing, could move freely under its pressure.

Still, when that black-gold figure of the Golden Lion left their sight, Lann, the Grand Commander, and even the young Kirin all involuntarily sighed in relief and shook their manes.

”Whew~ That was close! Surviving an encounter with the enraged Golden Lion is truly lucky.”

The Grand Commander expressed both relief and an undiminished boldness as he smiled and approached Lann and the Kirin.

”Honestly, that last move was amazing!”

The Grand Commander gave a thumbs up to Lann.

This gesture made Lann’s eyebrow twitch... This guy is increasingly similar to the Golden Lion!

”Just a move still being perfected, but compared to that...”

Lann waved his hand, bringing up a matter that concerned him more.

”Earlier, even after the Golden Lion’s tail was injured, its golden fur didn’t disappear? I feel like it’s more... how to put it? More like it realized its heart was in trouble and retreated. Otherwise, with its nature, it wouldn’t blink even if it fought to the death, right?”

”Huh? What are you saying?”

The Grand Commander was puzzled until Lann picked up the tail with a tuft of beautiful golden fur at the end and handed it to him.

The Grand Commander initially accepted it without a clue, then his eyes opened wide uncontrollably.

”This is... Did you cut off the Golden Lion’s tail while it was in its fierce state?!”

He stumbled over his words.

Due to distance and angle, he only saw Lann descend like a spinning top, striking the Golden Lion’s tail from the sky.

He didn’t see precisely what injuries were inflicted on the Golden Lion.

”Yep, cut it right off.” Lann looked at the Grand Commander’s expression, slightly puzzled, ”Is there something wrong?”

The Grand Commander’s gaze shifted between the severed tail in his hand and Lann, his lips trembling.

The Golden Lion’s tail is an organ that controls fighting spirit and electric energy. If it is merely injured, it can’t control the internal energy and will basically be knocked out of its fierce state.

But if the tail, the ’controller’, is cut off during the Golden Lion’s fierce state... it might result in a rare creature within the Golden Lion tribe.

A Fierce Golden Lion, as the name suggests, is one whose fierce golden fur state becomes permanent, unable to withdraw from it.

Though its lifespan would drastically reduce due to the uncontrolled burst of energy, its body would autonomously enhance during its lifetime to match the ongoing energy explosion.

Especially its heart, the body’s core, is rumored to possess ultra-rare material even more precious than ordinary elder dragon gems—Golden Lion Heart.

People say it must be the strongest heart in the world, also the strongest muscle.

Listening to this knowledge made Lann’s mind go numb.

The tail has such an effect... Is this really like a Saiyan?!

Moreover, the Golden Lion’s gaze in the end was obviously vengeful!

”No need to worry too much.” The Grand Commander comfortingly patted Lann’s arm. ”The birth of a special individual is also a low probability event; perhaps that Golden Lion’s heart won’t endure adapting to its fierce state and will die?”

”What am I worried about?” Lann stubbornly forced a laugh, ”Ha, haha, I’m someone from another world who’s about to leave, what do I have to worry about?”

The Grand Commander shrugged, ignoring Lann’s tough talk, instead cautiously glancing at the noble steed pacing beside Lann.

”The Golden Lion is far off, but this Kirin... My gosh! You actually rode it earlier, right?! You rode a dragon, buddy!”

The Grand Commander’s tone was full of excited wonder.

Lann nodded: ”I used some tricks to communicate one-way with it. It seemed like it wanted to fight the Golden Lion for a show too, so we formed a temporary alliance.”

This beautiful and noble dragon was not only smart but also seemed polite, as it gently sniffed Lann’s hair after the conversation.

Then the hoof ’clop clop’ stepped back a few paces, tilted its head, observing Lann with its ruby-like eyes, its thoughts unclear.

The Demon Hunter couldn’t understand what that meant.

And as if having finished its greeting, the Kirin turned. Its body, a mix of light blue and white, displayed agile muscle tones, jumping towards the distant coral reef mountains with an agility unattainable by hoofed creatures.

It could easily climb up and down even vertical rock walls.

The Grand Commander stood by Lann, watching the beautiful and noble steed disappear into the colorful corals of the Land Coral Plateau.

”Just as gentle as in legends, there’s even a tale of Kirin raising abandoned human infants.”

”Hmm? Isn’t that just like a fairy tale?”

”It is, and it’s similar to fairy tale outcomes too, children raised by Kirin later accomplished great things, blah blah... Anyway, unlike ordinary people.”

The Grand Commander gave an indifferent shrug, patted Lann’s shoulder, and turned to leave.

Most fairy tale plots might not be as exciting as his own adventures, so he didn’t buy into them much.

”Let’s go, we’re here to do business.”

”Oh, you know we have ’business’, huh?” Lann followed the Grand Commander, expressionlessly retorting, ”You didn’t say that when rushing down to battle the Golden Lion earlier.”

The Grand Commander scratched his spiky golden hair and laughed heartily.

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

During the subsequent journey, because of the clearing by the Golden Lion and Kirin, they didn’t encounter any further surprises.

Under the Grand Commander’s guidance, the two arrived at a hidden base built with a fallen hot air balloon ship.

It was the ship belonging to the majority of scholars, part of the third expedition group that previously crashed here.

They pursued the new world’s unique knowledge, choosing to stay and research in the partially unexplored Land Coral Plateau. Even their desire to return to the Starhold has faded.

If the territory of the Deerhead Spirit truly encircled the Land Coral Plateau, these scholars might know of some anomalies, serving as a clue for Lann.