Bear School Astartes

”I must clarify one thing first, you are not fictional characters conjured from a nightmare.”

Lann heard Maria’s inquiry, but he continued to identify directions without turning back, walking on the rugged and gloomy road of Yan’an.

”That indeed was a nightmare, but it was spawned from the murder of the Divine Child, a cursed nightmare.”

”Curses and nightmares of this level possess a certain degree of reality.”

”So, philosophical doubts about self-existence can be set aside for now.”

”And this dagger... snap.”

While speaking, Lann patted the Demon Wolf’s Fang strapped to his weapon belt.

”It can cut through space, and my eyes can see the veins of space, so when I slice through the veins, we can escape.”

Holding the knife allows one to see, thus enabling the cut.

This statement was rather methodical.

But without a doubt, Maria wasn’t so easily deceived.

”A dagger that can cut through space...” The Female Hunter first nodded, repeating Lann’s statement, but then continued.

”But if you have this dagger, why did you ride a carriage? And why wait until old... until Gremman left before moving?”

Mid-speech, the Blood Nobility stumbled over the words.

Lann, walking ahead, glanced back at her, not immediately answering her question but instead said.

”If you’re not used to it, just call him teacher.”

Maria frowned, bit her lip, but eventually said in a low voice, ”No, after what has happened... he can no longer be considered my teacher.”

”As you wish.” Lann wasn’t hung up on this point.

”The Demon Wolf’s Fang indeed can slice space, but I cannot cut recklessly.”

”That beach, the beach where Kos’s Orphan was murdered, is the center and key to the nightmare, so I must be there to achieve the best effect, because my vision is still too shallow, too immature in understanding space.”

”After realizing it was a nightmare, I’ve been tracing the threads of the entire matter to find this pivotal and central location. Otherwise, I couldn’t free myself either.”

”And I must say,” Lann glanced at Maria behind him, ”the traces Gremman left as he departed made it easier for me to observe with these eyes.”

”Ahead is a friend’s house, where we can rest for a while. I understand accepting sudden changes is difficult.”

Lann spoke while walking to a wide, unguarded dried waterway.

The coffins and tombstones placed against the wall didn’t bother Maria and Adeline. This waterway, where one wrong step could cause a five or six meter drop, didn’t concern them either.

One could only say the chaotic architectural style is a legacy of both Old and New Yan’an.

And this road leads to the back path of the Gascoigne family’s residence.

The iron-barred gate, which Lann closed by activating a mechanism last time, remained shut, occasionally emitting creaks in the slow wind that blew cold mist across the ground.

Beyond the gate, those beasts, blood stains, even the stylish hunter’s corpse from which Lann took the Hunter’s Firearm and Threaded Cane, lay untouched.

As if these events had happened only yesterday.

But when Lann led Adeline and Maria to the still open doorway of the Gascoigne house, the many removed notes inside, and signs of searched living supplies, indicated that time indeed had passed to some extent.

During this prolonged, yet not reversed night, after Lann slew Rom, the Foolish Spider that trapped time.

The manifestation of time has approached an almost absurd level.

Lann stepped on the floor entering the Gascoigne home, the wooden floor groaning under his transformed weight.

The Demon Hunter softly patted the armchairs with thick cushions in the living room.

But even cushions that can easily gather dust within a day and release clouds of dust in the sunlight wouldn’t do so under his hand.

Adeline and Maria followed Lann into the house.

It was clear that after experiencing so much in a short time, although mentally exhausted, they remained highly cautious.

Not daring to move too much within the house.

”This is someone else’s home, we shouldn’t...”

Adeline said somewhat shyly.

But Lann waved his hand, asserting himself as though he had the authority.

”The Gascoigne family are good people, they took care of me when I first met them.” With that, the Demon Hunter pointed to the ominous Yan’an streets. ”Besides, with how things are outside now...”

”Please, sit down.” Lann invited them to sit at the table where he had shared meals with the Gascoigne family, ”How are you feeling now?”

The Demon Hunter earnestly approached them, intending to check their health.

Crossing from a dream realm to the current Yan’an may not sound special. Awake hunters like Simon have probably done such things many times.

But Maria and Adeline’s situation was different... in Yan’an’s proper timeline, they should both have died already.

Which is why Lann also didn’t know what bringing them out of that nightmare would entail.

But upon returning to Yan’an, within just a few steps, he faintly heard the two people behind him start to pant.

Even Adeline shouldn’t have such poor stamina.

Maria’s hat was taken off by her after she sat on the chair and placed on the nearby table.

Lann approached her, reached out to touch her eyelids, wanting to check her eyes.

Maria did not resist the cold armor’s touch, but her mouth said languidly.

”Don’t worry about me, go check on Adeline.”

”I’ll check on both of you,” Lann said as he felt Maria’s pulse again.

But during the examination, his expression became solemn.

”Have you been poisoned? When did this happen?”

”What are you talking about?” Maria seemed more bewildered than Lann, who was asking.

”Your pupils are beginning to change uncontrollably, your heart rate is becoming unstable...” Lann got serious, squatting before Maria, listing his findings one by one. ”You’re almost experiencing internal bleeding.”

”What are you saying?” Maria frowned and shook her head. She had basically been with Lann all day, and didn’t he know if she was poisoned?

But just as Maria finished speaking.

She felt the corner of her mouth getting wet, a cold sensation sliding from the corner of her mouth down to her chin, leaving a glaring mark on her fair and delicate skin.

Maria dazedly touched the corner of her mouth, looking at her palm, seeing a piece of glaring red... it was blood spewing up from her throat!

She truly was poisoned!

And the toxin seemed to slowly originate from within her body, nothing like having been ingested from outside, so she barely noticed any symptoms.

”Do you still have blood vials on you?”

Lann calmly asked her at this moment.

The solution for poisoning is surely antidotes, but in Yan’an, there’s another method.

Inject blood vials to forcefully withstand.

The potency of the poison will eventually run out, but the life force brought by [Blood Healing] is endless!

Using the body’s restoring ability to force against the poison, without the means for super-fast recovery, this matter should not be considered.

”Still have... ugh, one vial!” Blood was still uncontrollably flowing from Maria’s mouth, the blood staining the white silk scarf exposed at the neckline under her leather jacket ahead of her.

”But, Adeline!”

Maria, with blood still flowing, insisted.

Yes, Adeline.

This Blood Saintess now sat on another chair, but her body which initially showed some fatigue, had by now become completely limp on the chair.

Her body slid down the chair back, but her back and leg muscles were too weak to support her body.

Lann immediately turned to Adeline’s side after checking Maria’s condition; with his level of medical and biological knowledge, it was easy to assess the symptoms.

Anemia.

Acute, severe anemia!

Looking at Adeline becoming increasingly pale, initially a bit bewildered, but soon her consciousness struggled to maintain as she sank into a vacant expression.

The [Holy Blood] tempered by the Healing Church in her body was ceaselessly vanishing!

Maria’s poisoning, Adeline’s acute anemia... this should be the aftermath of their escape from that godchild’s nightmare.

The specific mechanisms and principles involved, Lann did not understand. Involving spatial transfer, transition from illusion to reality, causal links... these were topics too complex and profound.

The Demon Hunter was only thinking now about how to resolve these issues.

Lann and Maria exchanged a glance, then this Blood Nobility unhesitatingly tossed her last blood vial to the Demon Hunter crouched in front of Adeline.

Out of rational consideration, Maria was at least a Yan Nan Hunter, she could still endure the poison for a while longer.

But if Adeline’s acute anemia dragged on any further, it was feared she might imminently die.

Lann’s hand caught the blood vial accurately in mid-air, and without the slightest pause, he injected it into Adeline’s thigh under her skirt.

After the blood vial was injected, the face of the Blood Saintess abruptly improved.

However, because of the dizziness from acute anemia, she still fainted.

And as Maria watched Adeline’s complexion improve, she let out a long sigh, with a considerable amount of blood from her mouth, and also fainted.

The two brought from the nightmare were now both unconscious.

But Lann, after busying himself for a moment, suddenly stopped, turned to look outside the door.

He listened for a moment with his head tilted, then breathed a sigh of relief.

”Since you’re here, lend a hand! I’ve got some trouble here, Henrik!”