Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1314 1286. Fear of Fire
Just like the difference between church hunters and ordinary hunters.

The church hunters founded by Ludwig often use heavy weapons such as the [Church Stone Hammer] and the [Ludwig Holy Sword].

Because they are directly under the jurisdiction of the Healing Church, they have to hunt more terrifying and bizarre beasts according to the church's orders.

So the musket in Ludwig's hand was much heavier than the hunter's musket, but it only fired single mercury bullets.

Range and power are increased at the expense of portability and physical exertion.

Henrik felt as if every tiny movement of his was seen through. Facing Ludwig's gun, he felt suffocated as if all his routes of action were blocked.

"."

The hand that had been tightly gripping the meat saw slowly loosened, and Henrik's tense muscles also lost strength.

At the right time, Ludwig also put down his gun.

Henrik's hand reached under his trench coat, but Ludwig didn't move this time.

As Henrik took out a blood collection bottle and threw it to Mark, Mark raised it with an equally grim expression and gestured to the hunters.

He repeated the packaging number written in tiny letters on the bottle.

The fact that he could decipher the information in this package number was proof that he was an insider of the church.

This is an accurate, church-produced blood collection bottle.

Finally, behind Ludwig, under the eager gazes of the hunters, Mark grabbed Henrik's hand, lifted it up, and inserted the needle into his arm.

The usual icy pleasure invaded the body through the blood vessels and spread to the deepest part of the body.

But this time, for the first time, Henrik kept a stern face and showed no expression of intoxication or enjoyment while drawing blood from the bottle.

Somehow, the young hunter even felt a little disgusted with this thing.

"The remaining people, those who don't have the regular blood collection bottles, those who came here after the time limit has passed"

Henrik's body was enjoying the abundant vitality brought by the blood bottle and was simply addicted to it.

But he felt sick in his heart.

This conflict between body and mind caused him to stumble when speaking.

"They're all gonna die, aren't they?"

Henrik stared at Ludwig. "How many people in Yharnam have already gone to the church town? One thousand? Two thousand? And you're going to block the road and let the rest of them burn to death?!"

Ludwig did not avoid Henrik's gaze, on the contrary, he kept his gaze fixed with tired and painful eyes.

On the one hand he was observing the reaction of the injected blood bottle, but on the other hand Henrik felt that he was punishing himself in this way.

"Moral dilemma. Yes. It has been repeated countless times throughout history."

"Can life be measured simply by quantity? Whose life is more noble and important than whose life?"

Ludwig pursed his lips tightly and spoke in a low voice.

"But what can we do in the face of lycanthropy, young man?"

“The reason why humans have survived to this day is that in the long past, there were always people in each generation who made their decisions at a time similar to this moment.”

"Today, it was the Healing Church that made the decision for Yharnam, and I was the one who executed it. I will feel uneasy about this, and even want to die in pain, but I will still do it."

"So yes, young man."

"Everyone who comes after you will die. We are the executioners."

In addition to fatigue and pain, there was also an extremely deep regret in Ludwig's eyes.

"The Church has already developed [blood therapy], and in the foreseeable future, we will surely make more and greater achievements, and even allow humanity as a whole to reach a higher level."

"But the people of Yharnam have not caught up. Blood therapy was developed only a few decades ago. The technology has not yet developed to the point where it can save everyone."

"But it is precisely to ensure the vision and possibilities of the future that we must make a decision and survive!"

"But fortunately, you caught up."

As he spoke, Ludwig had already made way.

He stood sideways, but his eyes were still fixed on Henryk's.

There was great anger in the young hunter's eyes, as well as disgust from the bottom of his heart.

Ludwig looked at the look and accepted it calmly.

"You don't agree with the decision of me and the church, that's good. But it's even better that you can enter the church town and continue to live in a pure environment."

"You seem very talented. Perhaps you can become a skilled hunter in the future."

Neither Mark nor Henrik said anything. They just threw the empty blood bottles on the ground and walked behind Ludwig.

"You believe in the teachings of the Church, Ludwig."

Henrik said this coldly as he passed by the hunter who was as glorious as a hero in Yharnam.

"You believe that [Blood Healing] can only bring joy and relief to people, but we have seen its terrible side down there."

"You believe in the so-called 'greater vision' of the Healing Church, but I only feel horror." Ludwig did not respond to the young hunter's words. He just shook his head wearily.

"Whatever you think, young man. But who else, other than the church, has given the people of Yharnam the ability to fight against lycanthropy?"

Young people passed by Ludwig.

But it was completely different from their first meeting just a few minutes ago. Mark felt cold in his heart, and even his fingertips were cold.

He and Henrik walked into the passage behind the hunters led by Ludwig.

The passage went up all the way to the church town. There were torches every few steps in the dark passage.

Mark looked at the flames flickering in the darkness. His wooden face suddenly twitched, and then he quickly tilted his head to get his sight away from the flames.

"what happened to you?"

"No, nothing, I just..."

Mark was trying to evade the question, but as he spoke, the city in flames, the bodies in flames, and Ludwig standing outside the flames all came to his mind.
Those scenes were like the afterimages left after the eyeballs looked directly at a strong light spot. Even if one closed one's eyes and shook one's head vigorously, a chaotic colorful halo would still be left in the darkness.

There was no getting rid of it.

It was not until the sound of the mechanism closing began to be heard in the passage that Henrik quickly pulled Mark and rushed towards the closing mechanism.

Mark suddenly found that he was a little afraid of fire.
-
Ludwig stared blankly at the pocket watch in his hand. The exquisite hands ticked away until they crossed a limit. He took a deep breath and then closed the watch cover.

As if taking this action as a sign, the hunters who were originally standing behind Ludwig all began to move forward at the same time.

They twitched their noses excitedly, as if they were never satisfied, and greedily breathed in the smell of blood in the air.

He muttered something about hunting to himself.

How to bleed and cut prey into pieces
'But they are normal.'

Ludwig was so sure in his heart.

He did not have trust and confidence in them today because he knew every hunter here and was familiar with their personalities and pasts.

He was just certain: these hunters had been injected with many regular blood bottles produced by the Healing Church, and [Blood Therapy] would cure all their problems.

Physically, mentally, everything is not a problem in front of [Blood Therapy].

But thinking this, Ludwig pressed down his shaking head with a "snap".

"Woo!"

The muscles on his cheeks were shaking and twitching uncontrollably.

This beast disaster came at a really bad time.

He had just participated in the hunt for a strange beast and had delivered the last blow.

Perhaps the beast did something to him at the end of its life, causing him to feel so uncomfortable and even unable to control himself.

With a "pop", another blood collection bottle was stabbed into Ludwig's neck, which made him feel a little relieved.

"This is such a coincidence."

Ludwig panted and murmured softly.

If he is given a few more days, no matter how stubborn the disease is, [Blood Therapy] will definitely be able to cure it.

And now, Lawrence and the others must still be studying the monster's corpse, right?

If their research is fruitful, my own situation will surely be solved directly.

But, it happened right now, right now when he had just returned from hunting!
The hunters are gradually going away, and they will intercept anyone who wants to enter the Upper Church Town from here on the road.

Although the church has closed the road, once more people come, who knows if the damage caused will reopen the road?

As these hunters began to leave Ludwig's control and were given permission to kill at will, strong smells of blood and gasoline began to waft from afar.

The old hunters not only like to make their prey bleed, but they are also very old-fashioned and believe that "fire should be used to deal with wild beasts."

In the raging flames that almost set the entire city on fire, the air was heated to the point of being noisy and restless.

The crazy, hysterical laughter and shouting of the old hunters during the hunt, as well as the screams and wails of humans, were all faintly heard in the trembling flames.

Ludwig only felt that the right side of his face began to twitch uncontrollably, and the twitching became more and more frequent.

But because he didn't feel much discomfort, he didn't continue to inject himself with blood.

The smell of blood grew stronger, but the sounds of killing became increasingly distant in Ludwig's ears.

until
There was a 'crash' sound.

With a regular and steady pace, stepping on the blood that was already gathering deeper and deeper, he walked to a place not far from Ludwig.

"Before asking me if I can still go this way, I need to confirm it first to be on the safe side."

Lan En tilted his head, looked at the 'thing' not far away from him, and spoke.

"Do you still know what you look like now, Ludwig?"

(End of this chapter)