Bear School Astartes

’Sipping’ the blood of the Moon God.

No, it doesn’t even require ’sipping’.

In Yan’an, hunters always preferred weapons that could cause severe bleeding in their prey, and although their battles were silent, they were always drenched in blood and chaos.

Because hunters who were addicted to blood naturally felt an addictive pleasure and life force from the blood that flowed out and splattered on them.

The blood of Yan’an is different from blood elsewhere.

Even just splashing on the skin, the blood seeps into the body and exerts its inherent power.

Although not as effective as direct injection, it is indeed real and effective.

So it’s called ’sipping’, but in fact, the Moon God’s current stance is more of an ’invitation for Lann to come closer and dismember’!

Given the terror of the Ancient God, the moment He realized He was ’locked’ in the material world by Lann, He already recognized the difference between Himself and Lann.

—Demon Hunters advance faster than His material form!

Anyway, He’s basically doomed.

And upon realizing this, ordinary creatures might struggle desperately, panic, or collapse.

But the Ancient God wouldn’t.

The vision of such high-dimensional beings is completely different from that of humans and ordinary creatures, and to them, even time, thoughts, and dreams seem transparent.

Different vision leads to different thinking naturally.

Toward His own death, the Moon God shows no psychological fluctuations.

At least during the battle with Lann, the Demon Hunter felt no trace of fluctuation from His attacks and moves.

The Ancient God didn’t care about His life and death, but there’s only one aspect...

Lann didn’t understand why the Ancient God was so persistent in wanting His divine offspring; after all, the difference in view and life form made it normal to not comprehend or even speculate.

But since ’getting the divine offspring’ is so crucial to the Ancient God, it’s clear what decision the Moon God would make, even in the face of death.

Life can be lost, but the divine offspring must be born!

The Ancient God ’locked’ on the material plane endured passively for long periods, only to gather all His strength to pry open His high-dimensional life-force for a moment!

Only a moment is enough!

And this moment certainly isn’t for killing enemies or escaping.

He knows He can’t escape under the burn of the [Light of the Dual Holy Trees].

And let alone being trapped on the material plane, even in His complete form, He doesn’t have the capacity to break through Lann’s three gentle lights and instantly eliminate the Demon Hunter.

In reality, even if He could, He wouldn’t eliminate the Demon Hunter; instead, His goal has always been clear.

The chosen goal for the divine incarnation has been set.

Even if this goal must kill Him personally, it doesn’t matter to Him.

Lann wants to kill Him, but He... wants Lann to become His child.

Become an Ancient God!

So, at the moment of prying open His power, the Moon God gently adjusted some ’insignificant’ indicators on Lann, and didn’t do anything further.

He rendered the blood in Lann’s body useless.

Now, His actions clearly indicate to Lann: to restore the blood to its original state, just mix in some equally ’insignificant’ substances.

—His blood!

During the ritual of divine incarnation, drink the mother’s blood.

Just like a fledgling sucking mother’s milk.

This is the Ancient God’s... ’love’ for the unborn divine offspring.

And if the young Demon Hunter wishes to survive, he must accept this ’love’ and conform to the identity chosen as the Son of the Ancient God.

Lann weakly collapsed, barely supporting himself with the Lady of the Lake’s Sword, kneeling amidst the sea of flowers.

Unlike before, when standing still, his strong and healthy hearts would emit a muffled, ambiguous pumping sound like a top-tier engine.

Now, he’s so weak it’s almost deathly silent.

Due to sudden blood depletion, Lann’s eyes appeared distracted, dazed.

Those vertical pupils could barely focus anymore.

Lann’s forehead had to rest on the hilt of the Lady of the Lake’s Sword stuck in the ground, his beautiful face contorted comically due to forceful reliance.

But even though his vision was blurry from lack of focus, Lann’s sluggish mind painfully clarified the situation.

His blood became unusable, and all it took was slashing the Moon God, even if like a wild dog, rolling in the spilled blood from the Moon God.

The blood in his body, which had been ’slightly’ altered, would once again serve his consciousness.

Even... help him become an Ancient God!

But, can Lann accept that?

This question didn’t even need Lann to answer; Mentos, from his understanding of the subject, instantly knew the answer.

Back when this guy was just an ordinary Demon Hunter, he dared to ’cheer himself up’. Do you think he would bow to his enemy, even if it was an Ancient God?!

Indeed.

As the Moon God, with half of its body shattered, extended the beast claw that Lann had severed, like feeding a child.

Lann’s powerless hand also began to move with difficulty.

The ’clack, clack’ sound was Lann’s hand fumbling compulsively on his armor.

Without blood, neither his brain’s thinking nor his control over his muscles was any better than a newborn baby.

Under the excellent design of Belengar and the New Continent Expedition Team’s second-phase leader, the armor which normally took just a few moves, now completely relied on his sense because his mind couldn’t recall the positions on the armor.

His hand couldn’t find the right spot.

The sluggish and feeble movements were like a recovering patient after a stroke.

Even the bio-smart brain seemed stunned by Lann’s sudden resolve during this short time.

It understood what Lann wanted to do, but was silent for a moment before guiding Lann’s cloudy retina with a vivid hint color for his hand’s direction.

Even the usual UI indicators were gone, knowing that Lann’s brain wouldn’t understand their meaning.

Under the guidance of the simplest and most conspicuous color indicators, Lann’s stumbling hand finally touched the clasp of [Smaug].

The crisp sound of multiple clicks.

The armor, aligned with the dragon scale arrangement of the Lonely Mountain Evil Dragon and woven with the mixed dragon skins of the Evil Dragon and the Fog Nest Master Terror Dragon, fell from Lann’s upper body.

It fell with a dull thud onto the floral ground.

Lann, with a cloudy mind, couldn’t even tell where his strength came from.

The Lady of the Lake’s Sword, originally stuck into the ground as a body support, was laboriously pulled out by him.

Next, the sacred blade, always emitting a faint glow, did not point towards the distant fallen Moon God, but instead... his own chest!

Mentos remained silent while Lann acted without hesitation!

”Szz!”

The blade of the Divine-made Armor was thrust straight into the already weak and tensionless body!

Even while unconscious, Lann was familiar with his own body.

The long blade’s edge cut along the texture of the [Tendon Coil], with most of the resistance from the semi-biological steel cable eliminated by cooperation.

Next were the tough enhanced muscles, and the ribcage plates that grew and meshed like blinds!

All were pierced directly by Aron Dite’s blade!

The final resting point of the divine blade landed amidst a slippery and tight sensation from the organs... stabbing into Lann’s heart!

Though drowsy, Lann still left a blood-drainage channel when he made the move.

This caused his strong heart to pump blood that spurted nearly seven or eight meters out from the cut almost instantly!

The massive bleeding and a damaged heart.

Yet, under these circumstances, Lann’s condition slightly improved.

He could finally hold the hilt somewhat firmly, which had been barely graspable before.

Because the blood initially ’slightly modified’ was expelled, and the heart damage, considered a severe but not urgent injury even among Interstellar Warriors, immediately triggered the super recovery of the [Belisarius Furnace].

The glands storing restorative material started to release their reserves, with hormonal regulation and organ cooperation, Lann’s hematopoietic system accelerated work to compensate for the sudden blood loss.

And the newly produced blood, not ’tweaked’, could be utilized by Lann’s consciousness.

The Moon God’s modifications to reality only affected the blood already present in Lann’s body.

It didn’t attempt to directly ’tweak’ Lann’s hematopoietic system.

It couldn’t ’tweak’ it.

After all, under the light, modifying already produced blood and modifying the body’s hematopoietic organs... are entirely different levels.

So, when fresh blood was produced in Lann’s body, it was fine.

The problematic blood was largely expelled, and the newly generated blood began participating in physiological activities, allowing Lann to finally take a slightly forceful breath.

Previously, he almost couldn’t feel the muscle groups for breathing.

However, witnessing Lann’s lack of any thought of submission or hesitation, his direct heart-piercing act.

The Moon God, still lying in the pool of its own blood not far away... with its strange face, still watched Lann without emotion.

As if its plan hadn’t been hindered in the slightest.