Bear School Astartes

”Pure and vibrant... life force.”

The Demon Hunter murmured, while Elu Cat looked on bewildered, as he reached out to take back his Alchemy Pouch, starting to rummage through it.

The faces of the three Dwarves on the ground were pale, their pupils dilated uncontrollably, rendering them expressionless, their mouths moving but too weak to make any sound.

Lann watched them and finally took out a square object from the Alchemy Pouch.

It was an item wrapped in large emerald-green leaves.

After visiting Tom Bombadil’s home, Old Tom gave it to them, handmade by his wife, Jin Mei... cookies.

This is... pure and vibrant life force!

”’Destiny won’t fulfill itself’... haha!”

The vision of the sturdy little man with a red beard under a blue hat flashed before the Demon Hunter’s eyes.

He chuckled lightly, then immediately opened the wrapped large leaves, revealing the cookie inside.

Sunlight poured down from above, perhaps due to reflection, there was a layer of golden light on the cookie.

The sweet fragrance of the cookie, even today, still seemed as if it were freshly baked.

The cookies made by Lady Jin Mei, somewhat resembled compressed rations, thick and large as a whole piece.

Lann carefully broke it apart into three pieces, placing them into the mouths of Sorlin, Qi Li, and Philipp.

Almost the instant they entered their mouths, Lann’s wide-open eyes, through [Spiritual Vision], clearly saw a surge of pure and vibrant life force beginning to spread within their bodies.

The lacking body fluids and various other substances, and the physiological failure caused by the absence of these substances...

The merely listing them could fill several large sheets of parchment with various substances, yet under this vibrant life force, none were an issue.

Originally in a critical state, Sorlin, Philipp, Qi Li, all at nearly the same time, suddenly took a deep breath.

”Inhale~” *3

It was as if their souls returned to their bodies, needing a breath to activate.

”Well done, Lann!”

Philipp’s re-gathered pupils first gazed vacantly at the sky, then with effort, turned to lift a thumb towards the Demon Hunter.

”Yeah, well done. But... ah! Could you give me a drink before you sew up my chest?”

Qi Li twisted his body in lingering pain, grimacing, yet wisely not daring to touch his newly stitched chest cavity, forming an exceptionally peculiar sight.

Half-kneeling on the ground observing them, Lann sighed in relief, finally collapsing backwards, sitting on the icy ground, smiling with his head lowered.

Rong Buqiu jumped up joyfully, meowing.

Even Qilin was no longer blocking others, everyone gathered around with expressions of delight.

Dwalin instantly threw himself on the still-dazed Sorlin, crying.

The Elves watched with smiles, able to empathize with the scene, offering their blessings.

Gandalf, meanwhile, relaxed the tension that had been present since the battle began, even puffing on his pipe once more.

He approached Lann’s side: ”That was truly a marvelous technique, especially for saving lives.”

After two puffs of his pipe, he exhaled a mouthful of white smoke, forming smoke rings that drifted skyward.

”Nothing is more wonderful than saving goodly lives, don’t you agree?”

”Yeah, great and wise Gandalf.” Lann, seated on the ice, glanced sideways at him, ”By the way, do you have any idea how I got involved in all of this?”

The Old Wizard’s expression didn’t change a bit, indeed in this aspect earning Lann’s admiration.

He spoke calmly and assuredly: ”It must be an ordained destiny.”

For this Old Wizard, who reverts to mysterious talk the moment things aren’t dire, Lann was at a loss.

Meanwhile, among the Dwarves, Sorlin, gradually regaining his senses, showed resilience far beyond his two nephews.

He, aided by Dwalin, struggled to stand and walked towards Lann.

The King Under the Mountain stopped before the Demon Hunter, his face now caked in blood, lips pale. Yet there was no gloom in his eyes, instead, a vast sense of liberation.

The two silently exchanged looks, until eventually, Lann shook his head with a smile.

He pulled from his breast pocket a Gemstone, one so brilliant even the Elves were captivated by it.

Then with a twist of his wrist, he tossed it to Sorlin without a second thought.

”Aken Gemstone!”

Dwalin muttered the name of the Gemstone in awe.

Yet Sorlin, who was being supported by him, this King of the Lonely Mountain who was frenzied over the Gemstone just a day ago, simply reached out calmly, catching this Dwarven treasure and symbol of power, the King’s Gemstone.

”I’m delivering ahead of schedule, but you won’t renege now, will you, King Under the Mountain?”

The Demon Hunter spoke with a playful smile.

Sorlin didn’t reply, merely handed the Gemstone casually to Dwalin for safekeeping.

”If there weren’t any gold in this world, we would have been heroes long ago.”

Saying this, he gave a weak yet relieved smile to Lann and Gandalf beside him.

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

The victory of the war was no longer in doubt since the great eagles and Skin-Changer Bion arrived.

Skin-Changer Bion was the one who jumped off the great eagle and transformed into a giant bear mid-air.

This guy looked fierce, but upon contact, he turned out to be quite gentle. If Lann had to describe him, he’d say he was like a bear focused on licking honey and fattening up.

The war lasted the entire day, although the decisive battles ended in the morning. After the Beastmen’s defeat, these cruel and vicious killers scattered and fled.

Elves, Dwarves, and Humans all pursued the Beastmen.

While a victory in battle is certainly delightful, compared to that, the biggest and most important gain is clearing out the enemy’s surviving forces through victory.

”They will escape into the Dark Forest or other corners of the wasteland. But no matter, the Dwarves and Elves will give them a proper welcome. This victory will bring peace to the North for decades, even a hundred years.”

Gandalf said to Lann as night approached, smoking his pipe.

”Nothing is more precious than peace. Isn’t that what we bravely fought for?”

By that time they had already entered the Lonely Mountain, since the entire plain outside the mountain was nearly devastated during the day.

The Earth-Swallowing Giant Worm had churned the terrain into chaos, and the Beastmen’s filthy blood and corpses covered the entire land.

To avoid deaths in the cold night, the Lonely Mountain Dwarves welcomed both humans and elves into the mountain.

Without any defenses, and without any vigilance, they let everyone rest here and held a celebration banquet.

Gandalf and Lann took some time off, hiding in an opening on the Elbor Mountain to relax.

The dragon’s fires from inside the Lonely Mountain used to illuminate out from these giant openings, even visible afar in Long Lake Town.

According to Gandalf, under Sorun’s authorization, Azog had almost organized two-thirds of the Beastmen in the North into an army, heading towards the Lonely Mountain.

But now they’ve been completely scattered, with a third of their forces dead on the spot, not to mention Azog losing his own life.

This is self-explanatory regarding the shift in the Northern situation.

The great eagles left the battlefield swiftly, just as they had arrived.

Sorlin, in an attempt to keep them, managed to give the great eagles’ leader—Wind King Guan He—a magnificent crown.

And declared that the Lonely Mountain Dwarves would forever be allies of the great eagles.

But in fact, part of the reason the great eagles came to the Lonely Mountain battlefield this time was due to animosity with the evil enemies; the other part was because of Gandalf’s personal relationship.

As Lann saw several great eagles, including Wind King Guan He, specifically reminiscing with Gandalf before flying away.

Bilbo also mentioned to him that Gandalf had previously summoned a group of great eagles, allowing their expedition squad to escape one wave of Beastmen pursuit at the cliffside.

”I saw Guan He glance over here while speaking to you before leaving.”

The Demon Hunter, with hands supporting on the sturdy and rough city wall railing of the dwarves, asked Gandalf beside him with interest.

”Was it saying something related to me?”

At this time, Gandalf had one hand bandaged, indicating he wasn’t at ease during the day either. Nevertheless, the Old Wizard, having relaxed, couldn’t stop smoking his pipe, using it to unwind.

The Old Wizard, who was just puffing smoke rings, now refilled the pipe bowl with a clump of tobacco, igniting it with a pea-sized flame from a ring-bearing fingertip, reaching into the pipe bowl.

”Oh, you mean this?”

Gandalf’s mouth emitted curling smoke, quickly stretched out and blown away by the refreshing cold wind from the snow mountain.

The Old Wizard looked at the Demon Hunter, smiling at the corners of his lips.

”The great eagles are the messengers of the King of Ardan, the great Villa—Manwe. Guan He mentioned to me that your swordsmanship was greatly appreciated by a certain lord, especially when you slew Smaug over Long Lake.”

”A certain lord?” Lann was puzzled.

”Master of Waters, Uma,” the Old Wizard casually mentioned a notably significant name, leaving Lann stunned.

Based on the borrowing Lann did in Rivendell earlier, this name represents one of the Villa, dominator of waters in the world of Ardan.

But soon after, Gandalf casually continued.

”But you don’t need to mind it, the great Uma is generous and resolute, merely expressing appreciation for you, and that’s all. Actually, when Guan He mentioned it to me, it couldn’t ascertain whether it was Uma’s musing or a message requiring a messenger. Just for caution, it told me anyway.”

Lann shrugged, deciding to skip this topic.

However, his swordsmanship, derived from the Iwami flow like water, being acknowledged by a master of waters, this satisfied some of Lann’s tiny self-pride.

In the starry night, gentle moonlight and starlight together illuminated down, spilling over the wasteland and far-off Long Lake water system.

The scattered ice floes on the ice surface made the light reflection even more dreamlike.

The moonlight carved outlines out of the clouds in the sky, the world and wasteland thus appeared vast and boundless.

”What a beautiful world.”

Lann relaxed, sinking his shoulders, placing his elbows on the Dwarves’ railing, the sighing heat drifting afar in the cold wind.