Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1496 1468. Spirit Stone Monster Material

In Japanese folklore, powerful monsters with horns on their heads are called "oni".

This is different from the West, where China classifies "ghosts" as evil spirits, souls, and other intangible things.

In Japan, whenever someone is called a "ghost", the first impression they give people is something like "strong" or "brave".

Therefore, after this kind of monkey becomes a monster, it should be called "Ape Demon".

As Lan En was leading the way through the mountains, he immediately spotted the ape ghost when he saw it quietly swinging from a branch and jumping down to attack.

Although there seems to be deathly silence in [Eternal Darkness], this deathly silence is more due to its proximity to the underworld.

There was no way Lan En couldn't have failed to hear such a big thing knocking over branches and leaves and crashing down.

So when the ape ghost fell down with the spear in his hand, Lan En had already taken action!
With a "swoosh" sound, he slid back a step quickly.

Only the huge ape was left smashing down in front of him. The spear was held by it, but the unskilled force and twisted spear head did not penetrate the ground.
Instead, it directly smashed the rock on the ground that was almost half the size of a person!
The ape ghost was furious after his sneak attack failed, but he still retained many of his biological characteristics as a monkey. He was so anxious that he jumped on the spot and growled.

But then, seeing Lan En right in front of it, its anger immediately aroused its ferocity again!
The fan-like hand used brute force to pull the twisted gun head out of the rock like pulling out a toothpick.

The other hand was already open, bringing with it a gust of evil wind, and it pounced towards Lan En Lan En!

The demon hunter calmly watched a demonic ape about his own size lunge toward him.

Observe and record a moment.

His own martial arts training, eyesight, and the instant calculation of Mentos made him unable to even see this kind of monster and this kind of action for the first time.

It is almost clear what will happen next with this action.

'The core muscles are exerting force, combined with the behavior of the monkey. Are you planning to grab the target directly and then roll over it?'

The technique of this action is close to the fighting skills in the field of wrestling.

It is normal to be pressed down by a heavyweight opponent and rolled around, or to have your neck broken by the force of his back.

The physical habits of monkeys are even more natural.

Who knows, after it crushes someone, it might even jump up and stomp on the person's body a few times.

As expected of him, he is called [Ape Ghost]. This kind of madness can’t be seen in other monkeys!
But since it has been seen through, it doesn’t matter.

With a dull "bang" sound, the monkey's big hand that was opened like a palm-leaf fan and pounced on him was blocked by another big hand halfway!
The ape-ki's face, which was wrinkled, screaming and roaring with anger, was suddenly stunned by the unexpected interception.

But then, a sharp pain came from its hand, making it scream again!

In the demon hunter's hands, the strengthened muscles began to bulge, and the [tendon coils] under the skin tightened like a hydraulic press!
The ape was jumping up and down, but this time it was not out of anger, but out of pain.

“Roar, ahhhh!”

The scream was accompanied by the sound of bones breaking. Lan En almost crushed the hand into a ball!

The opponent had already transformed into a ghost and his ferocity broke out. He pulled the twisted spear and swung it towards Lan En's head!

But still, the demon hunter's insight is one step faster than its own!
"Ding! Sizzle!"

Two sounds merged into one!
There was a clear silver light in Lan's hand, and the back of Arondite's knife first blocked the swung spear, and after sparks flew, the force of the ape ghost swinging the spear actually accelerated the blade!
The silver light formed a fan and cut straight into the base of the ape ghost's thick arm!

The entire thick and gnarled arm was cut off cleanly and neatly. Even the cross-section appeared smooth and intact because the sword of the Lady of the Lake was too sharp.

But what surprised Lan En a little was that even though he suddenly lost an entire arm, the ape ghost in front of him still looked ferocious, violent and unconcerned.

Judging from the body proportions of the ape-ki, this arm is almost one-tenth of its body mass!
Is it so insignificant to be cut off?

Immediately, Lan En suddenly kicked the ape ghost's hind knee with his toes.

One side of his body lost one-tenth of its total body mass, and his knee pit was kicked at a tricky angle. The ape ghost's only three remaining limbs were supported on the ground, which prevented him from digging his head into the ground.

But it’s actually not that bad.

Lan En pressed the back of the ape ghost's thick neck with his hand that was not holding the knife, and shouted at Bai Ze who was floating around doing nothing without raising his head.

"What's going on? Does it have a weakness or a weakness?"

The ape-ghost's sudden attack was harmless to Lan En, as his extraordinary senses could detect it in advance. He was now ready to start understanding the new monster.

After all, for a demon hunter, the difference in difficulty between hunting a known monster and hunting an unfamiliar monster is self-evident.

Lan En was not opposed to being able to fight with ample space.

"Sauroki, well, it's a pretty common youkai."

It’s really called ape ghost.

Lan En raised his eyebrows after hearing Bai Ze's words.

The guardian spirit who was familiar with demons and monsters continued speaking.

"There are many reasons for their formation. Some monkeys, who harbored resentment for being abused by humans, used the power of spirit stones to increase their size and intelligence, becoming demons. Others, monkeys who lived too long in the forest became demons."

"There are even some humans who have killed too many apes and become obsessed with hatred and turned into monsters."

"But since they are called "ghosts", their weakness is of course the horns on their heads. For most "ghosts", their strength lies in their horns, which also become their weakness."

【Spirit Stone】

Lan En frowned slightly. This was the second time he heard this after hearing it from Hanbei.

What on earth is this thing used for?
Although he was thinking, Lan En's hands did not stop for a moment.

With a "crack", a burst of fine luminous dust exploded when the crystal broke, and the golden horn on the ape ghost's head that was shining with a dreamy luster was broken straight off! This seemed to cause more damage than directly cutting off its entire arm!

The huge ape, whose ferocity had not diminished at all just now, was now no different from an ordinary monkey that had been slapped in the face. It reached for its head with its remaining hand while wailing.

It was as if the pain of a broken horn on his head had suppressed all other attention.

But then, the witcher turned his hand, and the horn emitting a hazy golden light was nailed through the palm of the ape ghost who was touching his head, and also nailed into his skull.

I don't know if the damage to the ghost horn is really so immediate, or if the damage Lan En inflicted on the ape ghost was already heavy enough and only one last blow was needed.

In short, the ape ghost, who was so aggressive just now and didn't care at all about having an arm broken, collapsed completely after this blow.

After a moment, it turned into black smoke and dissipated.

All that was left was the broken piece of golden crystal ghost horn in Lan En's hand and a piece of irregular monkey fur.

"Hey, this is the spirit stone."

Bai Ze floated to Lan En's side, and the body of the guardian spirit illuminated a small area in [Eternal Darkness]. The old goat pointed at the golden crystal in the demon hunter's hand and said.

"I'm lucky. This spirit stone is pretty pure."

"Is this the [Spirit Stone]?"

Lan En fiddled with the ape ghost horn he had just broken off.

Sure enough, the [Spirit Stone] in this world was not the same as his stereotype.

Isn't [Spirit Stone] the product of some special mineral vein, but more like a biological crystal?
It can give birth to monsters, and according to Hanbei, it can also "transform" life. It doesn't sound like a decent power.

It seemed that the guardian spirit was old and wise. Bai Ze looked at Lan En who was looking up and down at the spirit stone through his small round-framed glasses and spoke casually.

"It's hard to say whether this spiritual stone is good or bad. It's just too powerful, so it seems too tempting."

"It is naturally generated during the death of living beings. It can be used to strengthen the Japanese souls, such as guardian spirits like us. But it can also strengthen the wild souls, such as turning a monkey whose resentment is not that deep into an ape ghost."

“Power always touches people’s hearts.”

Lan En raised his eyebrows and put the spirit stone into the alchemical leather bag: "Thank you for the reminder, Bai Ze."

He planned to go back and study the spirit stone.

"You're welcome."

With the vibrato of a goat, Bai Ze disappeared again.

Not far away, Wuming suddenly expanded the naginata sickle from a large folding knife into a giant sickle, and chopped off the three evil ghosts' howling heads from their necks.

With regular and skillful breathing, her physical energy consumption was controlled within a reasonable range and recovered quickly.

Hungry ghosts will be summoned by [filth] to come to the human world, and [eternal darkness] is no exception.

These things can appear anywhere in [Eternal Darkness].

"Is this the fur of the ape-ghost?"

Wuming walked to Lan En, looked at the animal skin on the ground and asked.

"Do you need it?" Lan En stood up while picking up the fur and handed it to Wuming, "You can use the monster's fur? Aren't you afraid of getting entangled?"

"The materials from the monsters are good stuff." Wuming was not polite and rolled up the fur and put it away. "The filth and monster power on it are not a problem. Find a knife maker who knows the business. He can purify and forge it."

"I know someone in Ta'er Mountain. If you still have monster materials, you can go there to process them through my route. I can give you a lot cheaper."

"Thank you very much." Lan En turned his head and thought for a while. "I will definitely go and see how the powerful blacksmiths here work. I'll trouble you to be the middleman then."

"no problem."

Wu Ming nodded decisively. It seemed that their action of breaking into the gate of Changzai Temple together with Lan En, as well as the ape ghost fur, had made their relationship into that of friends.

At this moment, a white shadow with lightning and thunder left a trace in the dim [Eternal Darkness] and rushed straight up the mountain!

Wherever they passed, their solid hooves and exploding lightning easily caused depressions in the rocks.

The Qilin suddenly stopped near the crowd, and the draped rune cloth on its body began to sway as it stopped.

"Huchi~"

"I've seen it! After running around this mountain, I found that [Eternal Darkness] only covers this area, and there is no risk of it expanding outwards."

Others felt more uncomfortable in [Eternal Darkness] than in the temple barrier, but for Qilin, who had just withstood most of the barrier's counterattacks by himself, it was actually easy now.

Lan En had previously asked it to go down the mountain at high speed and report back after determining the range of [Chang'an].

After all, they were all in the mountains, and Lan En could only see a small area in the rugged mountains, so he couldn't see the whole picture.

If this patch of [Eternal Darkness] continued to expand outward, then Lan En would be ready to rush straight to the top of the mountain, seeking an aggressive and rapid end.

But if the range of [Always Dark] is limited, then he doesn't have to be so anxious and can be more prudent and safe in tactics.

Qilin's investigation brought certainty to Lan En.

Not long after, after bypassing some monsters and advancing quickly, they quickly dismantled the other two lotus stone pillars.

According to Lan En's observation, the last pillar is located in the main hall of Changzai Temple.

(End of this chapter)