Bear School Astartes

The blade of Aron Dite was thrust right into the center of the Moon God’s face, which was as strange as a deformed mask.

The pure and gentle, even somewhat illusory glimmer, emitted a continuous sizzling sound inside His body.

The ’sizzle sizzle’ seemed determined to roast this higher being’s corpse into charcoal.

Lann indeed wanted to roast Him into charcoal.

The young Demon Hunter was still enveloped in the light flame of fighting spirit bursting out from the [Power Liberation·Extreme Intent].

The essence of the Fog Nest Master Terror Dragon in the [Smaug] armor incited his body, just like the monster’s voracious appetite when it was alive.

It caused all his muscles to tense, showing tight, cord-like bands and lines under his skin.

Additionally, a layer of gold-colored Chaos Magic Shield clung tightly to Lann in its most basic form.

On one hand, the [Quen Rune] could indeed serve as a safety net under tremendous impact.

On the other hand, with this Chaos Magic Shield, neither dirt nor blood or flesh splattered from the Ancient God’s remnants could truly touch Lann’s body.

The final confrontation, although abrupt, was indeed the utmost exertion for both Lann and the Moon God.

However, the young Demon Hunter had already been fully prepared before taking action.

The location on a solitary peak with vast fields of flowers, not aligned with Yan’an’s objective terrain, was mostly shattered under the Moon God’s final lunge.

Fortunately, Lann positioned himself clearly to one side at the end.

Whether it was luring or bluffing, as long as the Moon God wanted to make a move, it would inevitably not waste strength on the other side of the flower field.

This meant the Alchemy Pouch Lann had thrown to the ground, which he had no energy to care for, and the [Muddy Stream·Destruction], with its hilt and over a meter-long blade protruding from the pouch, remained unscathed.

But perhaps because the Moon God was already dead, the flower field in this Dream Realm, unlike a few minutes ago, was no longer inexplicably restoring itself to its original state.

Lann walked over, placing the chest armor on the Alchemy Pouch.

The Alchemy Pouch was slung back onto his waist, and the burning, monstrous greatsword was held by its hilt, its blade dragging on the ground as he approached the Moon God’s corpse.

In his current state, even activating the [Power Liberation·Extreme Intent] on the [Smaug] armor, Lann struggled to lift the greatsword as easily as he could in normal condition.

Like steel shattering, exposing glowing lava in the cracks, the blade dragged on the ground, burning a line across the flower field as Lann walked.

Standing beside the motionless body of the Moon God.

Lann’s chest heaved violently.

Yet he still bore a cold expression, gritting his teeth, muscles and veins bulging in his arms! Raising the [Muddy Stream·Destruction] high over his head!

The dark sword body, the gleaming white blade, the whole greatsword covered in ferocious cracks... under the renewed bright moonlight over the ruined flower field, it resembled a large, broken headstone.

And then... ”Clang!!!”

The distinct sound of a slash, or rather an impact, burst forth from the [Muddy Stream·Destruction]!

This time Lann did not hammer its blade, but instead, the cold blade truly slashed into the side of the Moon God’s neck!

A thick spurt of blood erupted from the Moon God’s neck, resembling a skeletal frame, yet it never touched Lann’s body.

The Demon Hunter staggered back two steps, exhausted, as the heavy blade stuck in the bone, while the gray-white Extinct Dragon skin wrapped around the sword hilt fluttered in mid-air, incomplete.

Floating with the white petals stirred up by the greatsword’s pressure.

The flames quietly burned, spreading over the Moon God’s body.

Perhaps due to some connection, as the Moon God’s body started to burn, the entire flower field and the Dream Realm’s buildings beyond it suddenly began to emit inexplicable flames.

Only after the Moon God’s whole body was engulfed by the [Residual Fire], did Lann put away the greatsword.

He walked heavily to the unconscious Maria, his enervated legs suddenly giving way, kneeling down. The effect of [Power Liberation·Extreme Intent] had passed.

A stronger sense of fatigue was invading from deep within Lann’s muscles.

After adjusting his breathing and regaining strength, Lann’s broad arms lifted the Yan’an Female Hunter into his embrace, standing up.

Maria’s slender and fit figure, crouched from unconsciousness, now appeared weak and small against Lann’s broad chest.

The earlier battle did not affect this area.

Gremman’s wheelchair remained quietly nearby.

There was another set of light footsteps, treading over unburned flowers, drawing closer.

Lann didn’t turn around, for he knew whose footsteps those were.

A doll modeled after Maria, amidst the burning flower field, walked as if she were merely strolling through an ordinary garden.

Her two handball jointed hands crossed over her abdomen, she walked past Lann from behind, quietly pushing Gremman’s abandoned wheelchair.

She seemed to intend to push the wheelchair from the flower field to the little courtyard where the Hunter Workshop was located.

The wheelchair and footsteps treaded over flowers, the sound of the steps as calm as if the burning flower field and buildings weren’t there, more akin to an ordinary walk.

”You’re not going to run?” Lann asked, slightly turning his head while holding Maria. ”These flames... they might consume everything. Even the dream.”

The doll halted, her inorganic face and eyes turning towards the young Demon Hunter.

”I’m merely a doll,” she said calmly, looking down at the empty wheelchair. ”A doll within this Dream Realm. This Dream Realm is my place of dwelling. From beginning to end.”

”I’m sorry, but I have to do this,” Lann whispered.

Just as his words suggested, his tone carried an apology, but it was more resolute.

”Are you apologizing to me?” The doll Maria tilted her head; her sculpted face remained expressionless, ”It’s the first time a hunter has apologized to me.”

Speaking, the doll suddenly looked at the unconscious Maria in Lann’s arms.

”She is my prototype,” the doll said calmly, ”but I have no memory of her.”

”Did you two meet?”

Lann asked, recalling what Maria had said to Gremman before joining the battle.

Undoubtedly, when crossing the spatial tear she left behind, Maria saw the doll modeled after herself.

”She didn’t say anything, just...” The doll said, her gaze lowered, ”looked at me with eyes that seemed a bit pitiful.”

”...” Lann opened his mouth, but in the end, could only sigh and say again, ”Sorry.”

”You don’t need to apologize to me.”

The doll gently lifted her face, and from her angle, she could just see the burning spire of the small chapel in the Hunter Workshop’s yard.

”This is enough. Good enough. I think I can have a long, long rest.”

The creaking sound of the wheelchair and the soft footsteps on the flowers once again resounded.

The doll’s voice was as light as a dream murmur.

”Time to wake up, kind hunter.”

”May you find your worth in the waking world.”

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

In the deep, dark alley, a piece of azure dagger blade suddenly stabbed through mid-air, as if piercing through from another side of the world to this side.

The blade pulled downward, tearing a gap in the space wide enough for a person to pass through.

Immediately after, a tall young man holding a female hunter stumbled out of the opening.

With a ”bang,” Lann couldn’t stop his momentum, or rather, he had no strength left to control his inertia.

After stepping out, he staggered a few more steps until his shoulder bumped into the alley wall with a dull thud, finally bringing him to a stop.

The female hunter in his arms wasn’t hit, but she frowned from the impact, her eyelids twitching as if about to wake up.

The eyelids, tightly shut like a nightmare, first twitched, then suddenly flew open, revealing blood-red pupils within.

With a ’swish’, the skilled female hunter immediately jumped down, her elegant single-shoulder cape making a sound as it fluttered.

The ”clack” sound accompanied the spark when the transformable weapon’s mechanism activated.

The reassembled [Falling Leaves] long blade headed straight for Lann’s neck.

But at the last moment, the blade holder’s arm suddenly pulled back significantly, causing the dark blade to clang against the alley wall in front of Lann’s neck.

”Is it you? What is this... you again...?”

Maria’s bewildered yet forcedly calm voice tentatively sounded.

Though the alley was dim and unlit, Yanan’s hunters were long accustomed to fighting in such places.

Maria seemed to just regain her senses. She touched the neck where Lann had hit her, and saw the demonic hunter, weary and without the chest armor on his upper body.

Turning her head to look around, she found no doll identical to herself, no small chapel at the Hunter Workshop, no tranquil white flower sea... it seemed as though the deadly duel with the mentor she had ceased to acknowledge was just a dream.

No...

Thinking of this, Maria’s triangular hat wavered from side to side.

Gremman finally told her to ”run fast,” but what exactly did that mean?

Upon pondering this, the memories of being knocked unconscious became clear to Maria.

Maria easily realized that at the time, the only one who could knock her out from behind was Lann.

She wasn’t as furious or unreceptive as a regular person would be after being knocked out and then finding the assailant.

In Yan’an, there are some things best not looked at at all.

Though she once trusted her mentor and the Healing Church, after her trust crumbled, having experienced so much, she was aware of the circumstances.

Therefore, for Lann, she was merely waiting for a simple, even somewhat vague explanation.

But unfortunately, before she could even utter such an explanation, Maria saw Lann directly slide down the wall to sit on the ground, nearly unconscious.

She stepped forward wanting to ask carefully, but Lann merely hung his head, laughing as if he had lost consciousness.

Maria was left helpless.

She could only hope that in this place, she could find similarities from ’distant’ memories and then go to Oton Chapel to call for help.

But right as this noble of blood from the deep, lightless alley took the first step beyond the alley’s mouth... she suddenly froze.

Because, a sliver of cool yet genuine dawn sunlight was casting a shadow off the brim of her triangular hat!