Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1853, page 1825: Obstruction
The skin on the heads of the Platinum Sons—it's utterly useless to the Cuckoo Knights.

The Platinum Children, who resemble humanoid frogs, have skin that appears metallic, but in terms of toughness and other properties, it is not much different from the skin of ordinary creatures.

Hoping to gain protection by peeling off their scalps and faces and covering them with their own skin is less useful than wearing a hooded chainmail.

Therefore, the Cuckoo Knights' act of skinning the heads of these Platinum Sons was utterly pointless.

This was just an act that felt like malicious mockery.

In other words, it was mockery and insult, not hunting.

At the very least, this is not a hunt that Velvet Ball would approve of!

"You cat have quite a temper. Can't you understand when I speak properly?"

The Cuckoo Knight Commander spoke in a muffled voice from under his helmet.

At the same time, as he was speaking, he suddenly pulled out a palm-sized ceramic pot from under his cloak and threw it at the velvet ball!

The force with which the pot was thrown was so great that the round pot emitted a shrill whistling sound in the air!

Even with the sudden and powerful attack, the fluffy little face of the velvet ball remained focused, capturing the trajectory and shape of the pottery pot in mid-air.

It was a round, double-eared pot, and something that looked like liquid metal was spilling out from the tightly sealed lid.

It looks like an oil can that wasn't properly cleaned after use and was just haphazardly stuffed in, leaving the outer wall covered in years of grime.

'They collect the blood of the Son of Platinum just to make this, meow?'

Its appearance is so distinctive that I could guess what it was at first glance.

'I don't know what it is, but I can't get hit!'

The calico Palico's fur is all puffed up! Its back is arched!

He used his lightness technique, which he had mastered to its peak, as if it were an instinct, and his whole body was suddenly covered in light red battle aura!

"bass!"

Like a sharp afterimage! The velvet ball that had pulled out two small swords from behind suddenly darted sideways a great distance!

The thick, sticky mud was almost liquid-like as it moved, creating waves!
"Stuck!"

The pottery jar insidiously exploded mid-air, releasing a large cloud of white-gold mist. Unfortunately, the speed at which this mist spread was far slower than the velvet ball's darting movement.

"boom!"

Battle aura exploded! With his twin swords at his sides, the velvet ball that had just dodged only paused for a barely perceptible moment before spinning like a rapidly rotating bladed top!
It swept towards the approaching Cuckoo Knights!

Thanks to her agile body and fighting style, the first battle aura technique that Velvet Ball learned after being trained by Lan En was the [Dual Swords] from the New World Survey Team!
So at this moment, the light red whirlwind of blades suddenly appeared, it was [Dual Swords - Spinning Slash]!
"What kind of [War Ash] is this?"

"I don't know, block the way!"

Even the usually taciturn Cuckoo Knight was surprised at this moment.

Another Cuckoo Knight, who had already cast the [Magic Shield] spell on his shield, immediately stepped in!

In that instant, the spinning top collided with his shield, which shimmered with a bluish-green light!

"Clang clang clang!"

A series of impacts and flashes of sparks erupted in an instant!
The plush ball's [Whirlwind Slash] caused the Thunder Cat Sword and Silver Cat Sword to collide with the shield three times in an instant.

The power of the burst of battle aura instantly sent the Cuckoo Knight, who had been charging forward and was unsteady on her feet, flying with a loud 'clang'! The shield that should have been in front of her was directly knocked away by the multiple impacts!
Her chest was wide open!

However, given such a favorable situation, the velvet ball cannot simply take this opportunity to finish off the opponent.

Because in the short time it was in colliding with the cuckoo rider in front of it, two more cuckoo riders surrounded it from the side.

And in their hands, one held a shield and the other a staff.

On the luminous stone at the tip of the staff, the emblem of the Realucaria flashed with a bluish-green light. As the staff brushed against the shield, the shield was enchanted.

This time, the plush ball finally got a clear look at the entire casting process of the [Magic Shield].

But it had no desire to be surrounded and immobilized by three heavily armored, powerful knights with their shields.

So the velvet ball that was spinning and slashing in mid-air suddenly turned around in mid-air!

With its two little hind paws, the kitten stepped onto the wide-open breastplate of the knight, and then with a light kick, it leaped into the air and fell diagonally into the distance.

What remained among the three knights who were closing in was a cluster of alchemical bombs that had been clustered together and were still lit!

"grass!"

Of the three, the knight whose shield was knocked away and whose chest was stepped on by a velvet ball as he jumped away let out a curse from under his helmet.

Then, "Bang!!!"

The alchemical bomb exploded with a deafening roar! The two knights, who were holding their magical shields and maintaining their defensive stances, were forced back by the force of the explosion! However, he managed to hold his own and didn't lose his balance.

But the knight whose shield was knocked away could only withstand the explosion with his body and armor.

His body was thrown like a rag doll, crashing into the yellow, poisonous mud, rolling a considerable distance before finally stopping.

The shields that the knights surrounded were essentially a directional treatment for the alchemical bomb, turning it into a targeted explosion.

This actually makes the power more concentrated.

But the velvet ball paid no attention to the cuckoo knight who had been blown away by the bomb, and none of the cuckoo knights present gave their companions a second glance.

"Whoosh!"

The fluffy ball in mid-air suddenly twisted and turned, with two small swords blocking its way!
A javelin, as phantom as it was, struck the short sword on the velvet ball-shaped railing with a whooshing sound!
On the ground, a cuckoo knight wielding a spear and shield had a new javelin phantom materializing on his spear.

Under the control of the velvet ball, the force of the phantom javelin carried it upwards a distance like a dandelion seed.

This allowed it to land just in time to retract its legs and dodge a knight's sword slashing horizontally.

Originally, the moment the enemy misses their target is the perfect opportunity to launch a counterattack.

However, the plush ball's big eyes simply glanced around and then gave up on fighting back.

Instead, after landing on his feet, he didn't pause at all. Immediately, his entire body burst with fighting spirit and flames, and he moved to the side to create distance!

"boom!"

The next moment, the lower edge of a Cuckoo Knight's shield slammed into the spot where the velvet ball had originally landed!
The entire shield moved with a white, supernatural afterimage, and the yellow, poisonous mud was shaken out, creating a huge cone-shaped depression that spread forward!
After dodging, the velvet ball didn't rush towards the cuckoo knights again. Instead, it flashed and headed back.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Platinum Son Archer named Letina, who had been relying on the great wolf's mobility but was constantly guarded by a cuckoo knight, also let out a hysterical scream along with her wolf.

"Get away! You filthy cuckoo!"

The white-haired, almost lifeless archer shot an arrow at the direction behind the velvet ball.

But after a series of clanging sounds, she was still stopped by the shield of the Cuckoo Knight who was specifically watching her.

The situation is not optimistic for the plush ball either.

A two-handed greatsword, in the hands of the Cuckoo Knight Commander, was practically just a one-handed sword that could be paired with a shield.

Tall, fluffy bird feathers fluttered on his helmet.

"You're really agile, cat."

The velvet ball tried several times to rush towards the direction behind it, but each time it was stopped by the Cuckoo Knight Commander.

It was indeed agile and swift enough, but the opponents outnumbered it. Once their positions were arranged, if the velvet ball dared to linger for even a little while, the surrounding people would be enough to surround it.

And that's also because of the number of people on the other side.

"Crash!"

The sound of the Platinum Son's body tumbling and collapsing in the yellow toxic mud rang out once more.

The only ones present who could protect them were Velvet Ball and Letina. And as long as they could keep those two occupied, they wouldn't even need to defeat them.

The remaining Platinum Sons are no different from those who were hunted down before.

One cuckoo knight kept a close eye on Letina's magic bow, while the knight captain and two other cuckoo knights worked together to entangle and surround the velvet ball, preventing it from escaping.

The remaining Cuckoo Knights, however, did not care about any of this.

They walked past the two battlefields, some taking out [Azalea Radiance Stones] from their pockets, while others switched directly to knight's crossbows, aiming and firing slowly and deliberately amidst the mechanical whirring of the drawn strings.

Even the Cuckoo Knight, who was caught off guard and blown away by the bomb left by the velvet ball, has now crawled out of the yellow poisonous mud.

His movements as he got up were shaky, and he appeared to have injuries to his muscles and bones.

But even in this state, he took off his helmet, revealing his eyes, which had been shredded by shrapnel from the alchemical bomb through the observation slit, and half of his forehead.

He calmly took a small crystal bottle decorated with gold from his belt, took a sip of the red liquid inside, and his eyeball and half of his forehead began to heal at a visible speed.

After shaking the mud off his helmet with a 'splashing' sound, the Cuckoo Knight put his helmet back on and silently joined the hunt.

He was several steps behind, so all he did was pull the bodies of the Platinum Sons out of the mud, then hold them up to bleed and collect the blood.

The Cuckoo Knights were adept at grasping the key points of their actions.

As they said from the beginning: this is just a hunt to gather materials. Except the materials are the blood of the Son of Platinum.

They will do what they set out to do as long as no one interferes.

"Despicable and shameless!" Fluffy Ball ducked to dodge a sword, baring its fangs and shouting, "Come and fight me, meow!"

(End of this chapter)