Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1855, Section 1827: [Radiant Stone Magic Gravel]

"Another troublemaker has arrived."

"That's what someone in the Cuckoo Knights said. It seems they just felt that Lann's appearance caused some trouble, but not much trouble."

Two more Cuckoo Knights emerged from the group and cautiously approached Lann. The rest seemed intent on continuing their extermination of the Platinum Sons.

Lan En tilted his head and walked over as well, getting closer and closer to the two knights who came to greet him.

Even when they were still quite a distance apart, the knight with a sword and shield raised his longsword as if to slash downwards.

The other spear-shield knight held his spear in a throwing stance, with a phantom spear rapidly forming on it.

But at that moment, the anxious words suddenly uttered beneath the helmet of the Cuckoo Knight Commander had not yet been finished.

"Watch out! That guy killed everyone behind him..."

In that split second, the Cuckoo Knight, who had been raising his sword to strike from afar, had his footsteps smash through the mud beneath his feet. And in a mere instant, he leaped across the ground to stand before Lan En!
Thanks to his long lifespan and the opportunity to be reincarnated, the phantom javelin in the hands of the gun-shield knight behind him flew at almost the same speed as him.

Under normal circumstances, the two attacks will arrive at the enemy simultaneously.

This will effectively disrupt the enemy's response and cause greater casualties.

But at this moment.

The sword and shield cuckoo knight strode forward and brought down a downward slash.

Lann's hand, which had been lightly tapping Arondette's sword hilt at his waist a moment ago, now flowed out like mercury from his waist.

There was only a blur in sight, making it impossible to tell exactly when he drew his sword!
The Lake Maiden's sword, however, seemed to have been positioned in the path of the enemy's attack all along.

"when!"

A violent clang of metal clashing rang out! Accompanied by a fleeting burst of brilliant sparks!

The Cuckoo Knight, who was swinging his sword down, suddenly widened his eyes beneath his helmet!
"Ugh?!"

The arm that was originally poised to strike down with the sword with great force was raised high out of control amidst the flashes of sparks, and the Cuckoo Knight's entire upper body was brazenly facing Lan En!
【Water-shaped Sword - Riding Carp】!
Not only that, his right hand, which was forced back and stiffened, was holding the sword and, under precise control, it collided with the flying phantom javelin!
The Phantom Spear is a type of [Battle Ash], and its power is generally greater than that of normal weapons.

Furthermore, the sword and shield knight in front of him was at his most vulnerable moment, his entire body stiff and unable to react!

There was a sharp 'sizzle' sound immediately!
The phantom javelin shot towards him and pierced the middle of the sword-wielding Cuckoo Knight's upper arm! The ferocious force tore his entire arm off at the point of impact!
The severed arm was carried far away in the sky!

Blood from the cut was sprayed out like a showerhead by the blood pressure!
But this was just an accidental injury caused by his companions behind him.

Lan En hasn't even made a move yet.

With a soft 'click', the hilt of the Lake Maiden's Sword was suddenly gripped tightly in Lann's gauntlet!

The silvery blade flowed naturally like autumn water.

"Pfft!"

A greater flow of blood was observed, accompanied by a deeper, more muffled sound from within the armor.

A long, gracefully curved blade pierced through the man's collarbone from above, the tip of the blade passing straight through his chest and abdomen, slicing through his viscous internal organs, severing the bones that lay across his body, and emerging from his waist on the other side of his body!
It wasn't until Lann pushed him away and drew the Lake Maiden's Sword that the man's body, which had been stiffened by the [Water-Shaped Sword] technique, finally recovered.

He seemed to have been suddenly electrocuted, curling up in the muddy ground, crimson liquid gushing from the holes in his armor, spreading and staining the muddy ground.

"That's..." The Cuckoo Knights present all froze for a moment. "What?"

They were all proper Cuckoo Knights, not soldiers or sergeants in the Knights Order.

In other words, they are elites.

Otherwise, no matter how much the Kalia royal family had declined over the past two hundred years, they would never have dared to hunt the Son of Platinum in their hostile territory across the lake.

But now, a Cuckoo Knight who had been with them day and night and whose skill level was roughly the same... was gone in a single encounter?

"His move just now was... [Parry] War Ash?" a Cuckoo Knight whispered, but even he himself seemed a little incredulous after saying it. "But how could anyone attach [Parry] War Ash to a sword?! Isn't it only for use on a shield?"

"I don't know, but he came!"

The urgent sounds rang out one after another, growing increasingly frantic!
"Too fast! Is that [Lightning Strike]? Is he one of Prince Godwin's men?!"

"Think before you speak! It wasn't [Lightning Strike]! His footwork didn't involve lightning! Ah!!!"

A series of screams and cries of alarm came from the group of Cuckoo Knights who were hunting the Son of Platinum.

In terms of frequency, they are losing at a rate similar to that of the Platinum Sons they were previously hunting.

But is this loss comparable?

On one side is the son of platinum, an outsider whose best role is as a patrolling militiaman; on the other is an elite member of the Cuckoo Knights. Under the golden tree, who can say these two are on the same level?
As a result, the group that had been surrounding the velvet ball scattered, and the Cuckoo Knight Commander abandoned the group and rushed towards Lan En's direction!

Even the Cuckoo Knight, who was marking Lettina one-on-one, made a series of mistakes and errors at this time.

The Cuckoo Knights' hunting party is quite large.

They were in the crevice and depression below the cliff, one of them defending Letina alone, while the other two worked together with the Knight Commander to surround the Velvet Ball.

That makes four people.

Meanwhile, there were still twelve or thirteen people continuing their mission to hunt down the Son of Platinum.

And everyone here is a knight who can use magic and is skilled and powerful in combat.

The long lifespan and reincarnations under the Golden Tree allowed powerful individuals to accumulate vast amounts of wealth.

The problem is that during their hunt for the Son of Platinum, the number of people they deployed in the surrounding areas to prepare for a pincer movement was actually about the same as those on the main battlefield.

But now, as can be predicted... they will likely meet their demise silently and without warning in front of this person!
This is no ordinary knight-errant; with this level of combat prowess, he's at least a renowned hero!

But how could such a heroic figure appear here?

Knight Commander Cuckoo's mind was in complete chaos, but in the blink of an eye, this person had just appeared and taken away three of the twelve or thirteen knights who were hunting the Son of Platinum! If he didn't intervene, no one would survive!
In fact, by the time the Cuckoo Knight Commander had rushed to the scene, leaving a crater in the muddy ground, Lan En had just pierced the heart of the sixth Cuckoo Knight.

Lan En pulled the sword from the other's body without even turning his head, yet he seemed to sense everything and immediately turned to the side.

A beam of light with a bluish-green glow streaked across the space he had just cleared, leaving a conspicuous trail.

The Witcher glanced at him sideways.

Then they saw the Cuckoo Knight Commander, who was still rushing over from a distance, with the blue-green insignia of the Realucaria on his greatsword just fading.

It can be seen that the [Radiant Stone Shard] that was just fired came from that sword.

Lan En pushed aside the corpse of the Cuckoo Knight that was slowly falling to the ground beside him.

His eyes were deep and calm, as if he had seen the trajectory of the [Radiant Stone Shard] and the emblem of the magic academy.

He had indeed seen everything, and through [Spiritual Vision], he saw the operating logic of this [Radiant Stone Shard], as well as the movement pattern of the Cuckoo Knight Commander's body inside his armor.

Observe, analyze, and then draw conclusions.

"Whoosh!"

The Witcher's legs were wreathed in spiraling wind, and his high-speed movement made him appear to disappear almost instantly.

However, unlike the previous times when he used the [Acceleration] spell, this time Lan En used the [Acceleration] spell... to retreat rapidly.

The [Haste] spell from Yharnam maintained the quiet and ruthless style of the hunters there, making very little noise.

However, another figure moving at lightning speed following closely behind Lan En brought with it a sharp sound of air being torn apart!
"Stab!"

After the Cuckoo Knight Commander fired the [Radiant Stone Shard] from her sword, the azure magical light on the greatsword did not dissipate. On the contrary, the shards condensed on the blade, especially at the tip!

In an instant, the light reached its peak brightness, and the Cuckoo Knight Commander's body immediately activated!

The greatsword, glowing with magical energy, shot and thrust towards Lan En!
The calm air was whipped into arrow-shaped gusts of air by the rapidly moving Cuckoo Knight Commander!
The second stage of the Battle Ash [Radiant Stone Magic Gravel] is activated!

This is a charging attack imbued with magical power!
In the yellow toxic mud field, almost in an instant, the second stage of battle ash activated by the Cuckoo Knight Commander left a long and sharp sword mark!

The muddy land took a long time to heal.

But... he missed.

Lan En had never actually seen the second stage of the [Radiant Stone Magic Gravel]'s battle ash, but by observing it, he was able to start dodging backwards even earlier than Lan En.

[Acceleration] was activated even earlier than the opposing Cuckoo Knight Commander!

So when Lan En stood still, the tip of the greatsword that had been thrusting towards him, glowing with a bluish-green magical light, stopped right in front of him.

The sword tip was less than a fist's distance from his neck! But the momentum and force of the thrust had been exhausted! It couldn't go any further!

It looked as if the Cuckoo Knight Commander had automatically delivered the opening and vulnerability he had created after his attack to Lan En's immediate reach!
And that's exactly what happened.

"Varied……?!"

Today, his condition fluctuated repeatedly. Even the Cuckoo Knight Commander himself was unsure how far he could thrust when he launched the second attack of War Ash.

How could anyone possibly calculate the distance to the tip of a sword and stop it exactly in front of them?!

(End of this chapter)