Bear School Astartes

The bright moonlight reflected by two swords was cast upon the filthy blood pool.

Even this mad and frenzied scene seemed to gain a touch of tranquility.

In the distance, the fires of Yan’an were growing larger, the flames below illuminating half the sky.

The ashes of the burned wooden buildings now scattered down like warm snowflakes.

Ludwig seemed to sense that his time was running out.

After twirling a sword flower with his deformed beastly claw, he ensured that Lann refocused his attention, and his Moonlight Greatsword instantly executed a swift thrust.

From a low position, it stabbed straight at Lann’s body.

At this moment, the sword in Ludwig’s hand matched his physique; the sword’s width was almost as tall as a normal person.

With a probing mindset, Lann didn’t dodge this sword directly.

Instead, he raised his Moonlight Greatsword and, while turning sideways, angled it to block beside him.

”Buzz~”

The bodies of two swords, shimmering with bright moonlight, crossed and rubbed against each other, yet didn’t produce the sharp piercing sound of steel colliding.

Instead, even the collision sound carried a dreamy and surreal feeling.

A burst of magical blue specks exploded between the ice-blue and cyan-blue blades.

The blades clashed, but now Ludwig, standing as tall as a Barbaric Jaws Dragon, synchronized almost perfectly with Lann’s reaction to withstand the impact.

The Demon Hunter’s already firm footsteps suddenly sank slightly, resulting in a cracking rock sound under his feet in the blood pool.

Meanwhile, Ludwig’s arm that thrusted forward skewed sideways due to Lann’s side-force block.

The Demon Hunter almost immediately sensed something when the swords clashed, and his amber cat-like eyes lifted, gazing at his opponent.

Regarding size and weight, undoubtedly Ludwig, already twisted by the beastly plague, should have the advantage.

But his force-bearing exhibited nearly the same as Lann’s.

The sole human-like left eye calmly gazed at the Demon Hunter in the moonlight.

At that moment, Lann merely squinted slightly, his expression growing serious.

Even in a distorted form, does he still wish to fight his last battle as a human knight, with human swordsmanship?

Without words, both understood each other’s intentions.

Next, they would converse through their swords!

Utilizing the inertia from being blocked, Ludwig rotated the wrists of his beastly claws.

Following it was a backhand diagonal swing!

The cyan-blue sword left a dazzling afterimage in mid-air, accompanied by light specks like floating lifeforms.

But even in such rapid and fluid backhand attacks and subsequent moves, Ludwig never caused Lann’s gaze to waver.

Ludwig was celebrated as a hero in Yan’an, praised for his noble character and exquisite swordsmanship.

However, this acclaim was limited to ”one Yan’an”.

Lann’s swordsmanship... had spanned multiple worlds!

”Clang!”

His gaze didn’t waver, tranquil as if doing nothing. Yet, Lann had already controlled the greatsword in his hand, positioning it at a subtle angle at an opportune moment.

[Water-shaped Sword: Climbing Carp]!

Unlike steel clashing, this unique sword technique unleashed dazzling sparks that spread in a circular pattern.

Between the two disproportionately sized Moonlight Greatswords, a blend of ice-blue and cyan-blue dazzling specks erupted upon collision!

Derived from the [Iwami Style] swordsmanship like Iwami water, yet Lann’s skills had transcended beyond, surpassing barriers.

This swordsmanship even received praise from [Master of Waters] Uma in the Ardan World.

Using the term [Iwami Style] was not only unfitting but also disregarded Iwami Yixin who taught him swordsmanship, as well as himself.

Thus, Lann tentatively named his swordsmanship [Water-shaped Sword].

The move like [Climbing Carp], was originally a more basic technique in [Iwami Style], allowing swordsmen to elegantly bounce back the enemy’s blade like carp leaping out of the water.

Moreover, during this process, he infiltrated his power into the enemy’s movement process, accumulating until the last moment, causing the enemy’s stance to collapse like sand continuously mixed into machinery operation.

This technique was primarily showcased among mortals, using the genuine steel blade collisions to fully exhibit its characteristics as swordsmanship.

But now, even with two extraordinary and magical weapons, Lann could easily manipulate their interplay to achieve his desired effect.

With a ”Whoosh”, Ludwig stood upright on several horse legs, involuntarily retreating a few steps to stabilize.

An opponent as tall as a Barbaric Jaws Dragon, swinging a gigantic longsword as wide as a person’s height, was actually repelled backward by Lann!

Ludwig’s left eye, even amidst beastly agony and exhaustion, couldn’t help but widen slightly!

He was a sword master, but precisely because of being an expert, he sensed the body’s discord at this moment.

The already beast-plague-deformed flesh and bones... now, like sand being mixed into the movement process, produced an exquisite dissonance.

And that was not all!

Inserting dominant techniques into the opponent’s attack rhythm, blocking Ludwig’s swinging strike, Lann.

At this moment, he also withdrew the Moonlight Greatsword that had been blocking his head to his side.

And under his feet, a burst of blood blossoms was stirred up, making the Demon Hunter’s body disappear like wind mixed in the blood flowers.

[Acceleration Technique]!

With a swift ’swish’, he closed in rapidly!

And that ice-blue glowing greatsword mercilessly slashed out!

[Water Form Sword: Great Severing]!

First, the ice-blue blade echoed with a ’buzz’ as it struck against the blade that Ludwig hurriedly blocked in front of himself.

The immense and violent force seemed almost incongruous with the serene and silent blade!

Ludwig’s palm, backing his blade, along with his supporting elbow, shook with a muffled sound in the air due to this fierce sudden impact.

And the white blast of air followed.

The honorable Yan’an Swordsman thought that although this sword was powerful, it had passed.

But immediately... ”Whoosh whoosh whoosh”!

The violent air pressure stirred up turbulent airflow, these invisible blades propelled by the technique of [Qi Flow Blade], struck like a cascading waterfall, impacting Ludwig’s barely relaxed defensive sword surface.

The air moved by this sword was massive, and the Qi Flow Blades were so ceaseless that phosphorescent light points like creatures on the blue-green Moonlight Greatsword’s surface kept bursting due to the impact.

The originally gentle and calm moonlight now became somewhat glaring due to the aggregation of light points!

Ludwig’s beastly claws were shrouded in a field of brightness.

Lann maintained his control over the subsequent airflow, aiming to continue suppressing Ludwig.

Yet the frenzied airflow blew his hair like melting silver, and his amber cat-like eyes suddenly narrowed among the dancing strands!

Because Ludwig, originally suppressed by the subsequent Qi Flow Blade, suddenly pushed fiercely.

Briefly opening the continuous Qi Flow Blade, then the Moonlight Greatsword was held pointed down, seemingly carelessly exposing his entire chest and abdomen!

Indeed, he would do this. Because it was his final battle as a church member, as an honorable swordsman.

Though both held a Moonlight Greatsword, considering just the mastery over the sword, it wasn’t on the same level.

Lann had only handled his Moonlight Greatsword during maintenance.

While in Ludwig’s earlier reflections, this sword should have been in his possession since the early days of his hunter career, constantly in use.

In terms of mastery of the Moonlight Greatsword’s power, Lann fell far behind him.

Now presented before the Demon Hunter is precisely this disparity in control.

The ceaseless Qi Flow Blades formed out of thin air and slashed into Ludwig’s chest and abdomen, instantly turning them into shredded meat.

The foul blood of the Yan’an Beast flowed out thickly.

Yet Ludwig’s twisted face due to skull deformity held only solemnity.

He reversed his Moonlight Greatsword, its tip pointing down, the sword’s crystalline body resembling a reversed snow globe.

Deep within the sword, starlight-like dust light points fell toward the sword tip.

The massive light points, having burst from the sword body due to resisting the Qi Flow Blade, also converged toward the downward sword tip.

The gathering blue-green light increasingly overflowed the sword body! Light cascaded down like water!

”Crack!”

”Ha!”

Finally, Ludwig shouted with effort using a human voice, forcefully plunging the greatsword into the ground!

Everything happened in an instant.

From the place where Ludwig drove the sword into the ground, blue-green moonlight formed a ten-meter radius, erupting fiercely from beneath!

”Whoosh!”

The moonlight energy surged upward, and the blood within the blood pool in the area first moved upward as if blown by wind.

Then it was evaporated into invisibility, revealing even the rocky ground! Only when the light dimmed did the blood in the pool flow back to fill the area.

If anyone had been standing in that range just now...

But as soon as Ludwig ceased resisting the subsequent Qi Flow Blade, Lann cautiously retreated.

So this sudden area attack didn’t touch Lann at all.

Only stopping him from controlling the subsequent Qi Flow Blade.

Yet his attack was interrupted, and as a Sword Master himself, Ludwig began his attack anew.

The tight transition between attack and defense is fundamental in sword duels.

Previously, due to uncertainty over what power Ludwig would unleash, Lann had swiftly retreated a great distance.

But after Ludwig plunged the greatsword into the ground, even across this vast distance, he switched from reverse grip to forward grip with his sword tip still in the ground.

His stance seemed poised for a Dragging Blade Slash.

At such a distance, it was...

Just having halted quickly in the distance, Lann reacted almost instantaneously, without thought, and swiftly dodged sideways!