Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1892 (1864) [Death]

That Knight Rodel was so strong that just by looking at him, one could sense his exceptional talent.

At the same time, the Rodel Knights on duty at the top of the stairs treated him with great respect.

It's clear that the Knight Rodel who came out to make contact after receiving the message is no ordinary person.

The knight sent from the Round Table Hall to deliver the message appeared stiff in his presence, a fact that could be observed even by the velvet ball and the unicorn inside the church at the main gate.

After a brief exchange, the exceptional Knight Rodel glanced at the velvet ball and the unicorn in the church below the stairs. When he saw that they were also looking in his direction, he nodded slightly in greeting and then simply led his men up the stairs.

Concealed by the architecture and limited by the angle, it disappeared from the sight of the Palico and the Ancient Dragon of the New World.

Seeing that the person was no longer visible, the velvet ball stood on the back of a bench in the cathedral, tilting its head and speaking quietly to the Qilin with a serious expression.

Communicating with guardian spirits doesn't actually require speaking, but the plush ball is always a little uncomfortable with it.

"Do you still feel that way, Qilin?"

Fortunately, as the final destination for pilgrims, the Golden Tree Cathedral is never short of sermons and prayers.

Although the forty or fifty believers and additional clergy were all highly qualified, their grumbling was quite loud.

When the kitten spoke, it deliberately distanced itself from an old nobleman at the other end of the bench.

"Huff?"

Two streams of hot air shot out from the Qilin's moist nostrils.

Its ruby-like eyes lingered for a moment, then it shook its head.

'No, I don't feel anything anymore.' It seemed a little unsure of itself. 'Did I make a mistake, you little ball of fluff?'

"Really?" The Palico sat down, raised its hind leg, and scratched its chin. "It doesn't matter, meow. Anyway, we don't have anything to do here. Even if..."

The velvet ball hadn't finished speaking.

In fact, at that moment, everyone inside the Golden Tree Cathedral stopped talking halfway through their sentences.

The Palico froze, its hind legs scratching its chin as it sat down. The Ancient Dragon of the New World suddenly spread its four hooves apart and lowered its center of gravity.

The clergyman paused in his gestures, which were making the golden tree emblem in front of him.

Pilgrims, nobles, and out-of-town lords bowed their heads in prayer, maintaining the posture of clasping their hands in front of their chests, but at the same instant, the hairs on the back of their necks stood up!
Just a moment ago, the entire Golden Tree Cathedral was filled with a continuous stream of murmurs, all of which were devout chants.

Below, in the magnificent Rodel, nobles and out-of-town lords continued their social activities in an endless stream.

Soldiers patrol, craftsmen repair damaged city walls, perfumers process herbs, and servants cook and sneak bites by the fire...

But at this moment, there seemed to be a feeling that terrified people from the bottom of their hearts, chilled them to the bone, and made their blood almost freeze... like a tender sprout breaking through the soil in people's hearts.

It was inconspicuous, yet it truly broke through certain barriers and appeared.

In what seemed like an instant, the entire Rodel fell into a world of silence.

On the sacred tree in the north, the two demigods, Michaela the Pure Gold and Marlenia the Valkyrie, suddenly looked up at each other at their desks.

In the remote Galid Plains, there stood a tall and majestic demigod, clad in heavy golden armor, with red hair that shot skyward like a lion's mane.

[General Shattered Star] Rataen stood atop the Red Lion City walls, arms crossed. Just standing there, he was already as tall as the city walls.

Beneath the shadow of the red hair and the lion helmet, golden, blessed eyes calmly gaze at the distant golden tree.

He seemed to have anticipated this moment, and without saying much, he simply turned to look at the Red Lion Knights in Red Lion City, whose bodies were stiff, yet who, with a 'whoosh,' knelt down in unison on one knee to pledge their loyalty.

Inside the volcanic mansion on the Altan Plateau, the "Grand Justice" Lakad is indulging in sensual pleasures with his concubine.

He felt the stiffness of the woman's body in his hands. The demigod, who had also anticipated this moment and even looked forward to it, only felt his own emotions, his own desires, and his own pleasure.

All of it erupted like leaping lava in that instant!

"Together we will!"

He embraced his concubine tightly and released himself in the fire of lust mixed with greed and ecstasy!

The relatively petite concubine in his hand was crushed into a snake-like soft body by the power of the demigod.

But it doesn't matter. Tanis is already used to Raccard, and she knows that she will soon drink a mouthful of the Red Dewdrop Chalice.

The demigods reacted differently.

In the lush forest, Lann's muscles tensed suddenly, and his Smaug armor was instantly filled with engorged blood! The clasps of the armor clicked open!

But the Witcher immediately turned his head after that instant.

Beside him, Dolores, a Faded One, stared wide-eyed, but was still relatively calm.

As for Torisha, the perfumer… she was now like a frog being stalked by a venomous snake. Her muscles were instinctively stiff, and the commands came from her subconscious mind; the conscious mind's commands were completely ineffective, rendering her utterly immobile! Even her eyeballs were trembling! “This is…?!”

Lann instinctively pressed his hand to his pocket, where the box he had taken from the strange corpse of Servis was.

The Moon Princess said it was a gift for her brother, the 'Volcano Official Residence'.

Immediately afterwards, Lan En's wide eyes turned from the two people beside him to the towering and magnificent golden tree!
"die?!"

"Meow!!!"

The velvet ball let out a scream, the first sound heard in the entire Golden Tree Cathedral, and perhaps even in the royal city of Rodelly, after that instant!
"Hiss?!" The Qilin then let out a second sound.

'What the hell is this?!'

The roars of the ancient dragons in the New World revealed panic and impatience.

But in any case, it and the Velvet Ball are performing far better than the entire population of the Golden Tree in Rodelly right now!

It wasn't for any other reason than the feeling they had just experienced—they had all felt it before and had a basic understanding of it—it was the feeling of death!

It was as if the thin blade was already positioned close to the blood vessels in the neck, just waiting to be pulled horizontally.

It felt as if the cervical vertebrae had been twisted to their limit, just a little more force was needed.

Both Rongbuqiu and Qilin experienced this near-death experience. In that new continent with its wild nature, and in the many other worlds they explored with Lan En.

So, for a fleeting moment, the sudden experience of death that overwhelmed their minds froze them both.

But then they overcame the fear of being face-to-face with death and turned that pressure into a catalyst for activating their physical state.

But clearly, the people of the Golden Tree lack this ability.

Since the Golden Law descended upon the world through the Elden Ring, the people of the Golden Trees have not faced the true feeling of death for far too long.

Even if you still get hurt, your head gets chopped off, your heart gets pierced, your body gets drained of blood... but what does all of this have to do with death?
That's just returning to the tree.

After queuing up and completing the sculpting of the soul and preparation of the body within the golden tree, a new journey of life begins.

What's there to care about?
Even the most dangerous and casualty-ridden soldiers, under the Golden Law, did not take combat and death any more seriously than a gamer.

With this mindset, what does it matter if they die several times? They simply don't have a real sense of death.

It's fair to say that in the border region, very few people still remember the concept of "death."

If we had to put it into words... then those who have been deprived of their blessings and faded are perhaps the group most familiar with this.

"Oh!"

Following the velvet ball's instinctive scream and the unicorn's roar, a loud bang suddenly echoed through the silent city of Rodel!
That was the sound of the door to the round table hall being suddenly smashed open from the inside!
"This is the power of [Death Rune]!"

[Dragonlance] Vic's once warm and cheerful voice was now replaced by unbelievable rage! It echoed through the silent city of Rodel.

"What happened?! Find out!"

Sir Hundred Wisdom's hoarse voice, no longer carrying the rational somber tone, roared along with him.

In the silence, their voices carried all the way up to the Golden Tree Cathedral above.

And then came a series of muffled thuds of buildings breaking apart, indicating that the Faded Ones were rushing toward Rodel in a near-frenzied manner.

The velvet ball and the unicorn didn't understand what "Death Rune" meant.

But they knew something big must have happened!
In fact, even though they had only been in the border region for a short time, they both felt that it was incredible that the people of the Golden Tree could experience death in this place.

"Zizzizi~"

Under the sensation of death, the Qilin instinctively unleashed its full power as an ancient dragon!

A black thundercloud was gathering over Rodel almost in the blink of an eye!
The surrounding electrical environment also began to change drastically, with static sparks appearing out of nowhere on the stones.

At the same time, the Qilin seemed to suddenly sense something!
"Oh!"

It immediately kicked out to its side and back as a conditioned reflex.

However, the muffled thud was not caused by the qilin's hoof kicking anything.

The velvet ball's gaze had already shifted to the back of the Qilin's body, following its movements.

Just as the Qilin kicked the empty air, a believer's bench that was placed next to it, which was not even touching it, was knocked askew!
In just a moment, the Palico made a judgment based on its combat experience!

"Someone's invisible here, meow!"

That bench wasn't kicked askew by the Qilin! It was the person it originally intended to kick who bumped into it while dodging halfway!

(End of this chapter)