Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1971 1943. A single strike as swift as flowing water.
This demigod's speed is outrageously fast!

In fact, it wasn't until Marlenia's long, scarlet hair fluttered in the air in front of him, so striking and captivating, that Lan En realized there was suddenly a figure in front of him.

Marlene was over three meters tall, which was typical for demigods, so she could look down at Lann from such a close distance.

Her body proportions are slender, making her look more like a sharp, aggressive nine-headed supermodel.

She's not quite the same as the [Moon Princess] who once froze Lan En.

Although Lani's figure was concealed under the wide robes of the Kalia royal family, as a female demigod, Lann's eyesight and experience suggested that the "Moon Princess" was probably wider at the hips than at the shoulders.

Like Queen Marika, she possesses a full and healthy beauty that belongs to women.

I wonder if Marlenia's tall and slender figure is due to the putrefactive disease she has had since childhood.

Marlenia was incredibly fast, and she exuded a chilling aura throughout.

I don't know if it's because they know that coming to the Asian Plateau means getting involved in the current chaos, so they are on high alert and wary.

Normally, it would be unusual for such a terrifying demigod, with an aura as sharp as a blade and a barely concealed hostility, to suddenly appear before someone.

An ordinary person might be paralyzed with fear. A skilled warrior, however, might become like a ball of fluff, his fur standing on end, and instinctively grip the weapon he relies on for survival.

But Lan En's skill as a warrior was even enough to allow him to overcome his instincts for fighting and survival.

The Witcher, faced with Marlenia suddenly appearing before him, acted as if he hadn't seen anything at all, showing no unusual reaction whatsoever.

But in that instant, those eyes scanned the other person's entire body from head to toe.

Gather information and make inferences and assessments based on it.

Apart from her prosthetic limbs made of pure gold and her winged helmet, Marlenia had no other protective gear.

That simple dress couldn't hide any trace of equipment in Lan En's eyes.

But at the same time, Lann also discovered that the demigod's disability seemed to be more severe than he had realized.

She not only lost her entire right hand and left leg, but it seems she also lost her right leg below the calf. She also had to wear a prosthetic leg.

At this moment, both of her legs, and the soles of her feet that were touching the ground, were prosthetics shaped like feet.

Lann couldn't see the connection between the prosthetic limb and the demigod's body with his naked eye, but he could see it from below through the shadow of the winged helmet.

Beyond that delicate jawline and lips, one could vaguely see the profile beneath the helmet.

Marlenia's skin was very white and so smooth and clean it resembled porcelain. However, at the corners of her eyes, there were patches of skin connecting to her temples that appeared to be diseased.

The skin looked like it had been scorched, but also like it was infected with a fungus. In short, it was cracked and grayish.

The crimson, decaying color was faintly visible through the tiny cracks.

If even the skin on her face is showing these symptoms, Lan En estimates that the connection between her prosthetic limb and her body will likely be even more severe.

Even with such a physique, Marlenia stood before Lann, her upright posture still resembling a peerless, sharp blade.

It was brutal, yet they persevered.

The demigod standing before us, just by being alive, exudes an atmosphere of tragic yet unwavering resilience.

No wonder……

A sudden realization flashed through Lan En's mind.

No wonder.

A tragic fate and a miserable life are things that people try to avoid at all costs.

But if there is someone who perseveres and refuses to give in to a tragic fate, then such a person naturally inspires respect and draws people's hearts and souls to them.

Persistence is inherently infectious.

Not to mention the pain and hardship of persevering.

“It seems you have lost control of your castle, Mare Mare.”

Marlenia's voice was clear and crisp, her thin, delicate lips moving slightly.

But at the same time!

"Ting!"

A crisp metallic click suddenly rang out!

A fleeting burst of sparks erupted from Marlenia's prosthetic right wrist!

That's not a malfunction of the prosthetic arm! It's that a mechanism on the prosthetic arm has been activated!

The long blade that was originally mounted backwards behind the prosthetic arm instantly flipped forward like a switchblade, becoming a normal knife-holding posture with the blade facing forward!
It was a long, thin golden sword, with beautiful golden patterns covering its narrow blade.

The length of the longsword was almost the same as Marlenia's own height!
It was already perched behind Marlene's elbow before it even popped out.

However, the presence and aura of this demigod were so captivating that for the instant she appeared, no one could take their attention away from her for even a moment.

The knife looked like a single blade, without a handle or handguard, let alone a counterweight at the butt. But when the knife was flipped over, Malenia's prosthetic arm naturally gripped the base of the blade.

This knife is clearly a special weapon designed to be paired with a prosthetic arm. Since Marlenia's entire arm is a prosthetic, she doesn't need a longsword with a guard and handle at all.

The sparks on the prosthetic arm appeared only for a moment!

The Witcher's vertical pupils suddenly shrank to slits!

"Clang! Clang!"

The sound, like shattering glass, was suppressed by the explosion of metal clashing!

Beneath Lann's feet, the city of Sunshade had been paved with tiles for countless years, and below them lay rocks and soil.

These things, which were as hard as a single piece, suddenly became as soft as fluid!
The sudden burst of pressure caused these things to rise and fall, roll like waves.

The golden longsword came from Lan En's left, but the bricks and rubble under Lan En's right feet exploded to the right first!

The effect of impact is immediate.

But immediately afterward, a shockwave of air pressure caused by the collision erupted between the Witcher and the demigod!
The spherically expanding shockwave immediately flattened the newly surging waves of bricks and soil; those that weren't suppressed due to incorrect angles were sent flying straight away to who knows where.

In an instant! The ground to Lan En's right foot was plowed out like an alluvial fan!

At least fifty square meters of floor tiles were blown away for no reason! And this large amount of soil and rocks were scattered far away, crashing into the city walls or the outer walls of buildings in Sunshade City.

"Meow!"

The small, lightweight velvet ball standing nearby, and constantly maintaining a light breathing technique, was almost blown away by a sudden scream!
Fortunately, the kitten reacted quickly and immediately adjusted its breathing and posture affected by the blast wave, thus avoiding being blown away.

However, the others, except for Marley Marley who had just knelt down before Marlenia, were less affected by the shockwave because of their posture.

It's as simple as just shrinking your body.

The rest of the people were blown about, their armor disheveled.

After the sudden shockwave subsided, these people finally realized what had happened in that brief moment.

At the very center of the shockwave, Malenia, who had deployed her prosthetic sword, had, of course, slashed out.

And what about Lan En?

"Clatter clatter~"

Steel interlocks with each other, and forces collide with each other.

The Witcher's sword, the Lake Maiden's sword, and Marlene's prosthetic knife were locked together, their blades still making a sharp, grinding sound as they clashed.

Lan En didn't even have a chance to fully draw the Lake Maiden's Sword from his waist.

It was simply an instinctive reaction of my left hand; I held the handle upside down and used it to block the side of my neck.

Aaron Deit's blade is still in its sheath at his waist. Only about half of the clear, mercury-like blade protrudes.

At the point where the two longswords clashed, some golden fragments of chaotic magic, resembling crystalline membranes, drifted down and gradually dissolved in mid-air, turning into scattered chaotic magic.

In the instant the blades clashed, the Demon Hunter, with lightning speed, first used his right hand to cast a [Quen Sign] over his body, while simultaneously drawing his sword with his left hand.

As for the [Quen Sign], this kind of magic used by medieval witchers in fantasy is actually similar to the tricks of sorcerers.

It's simply simple and quick, and its effectiveness is practical, making it very suitable for matching the combat rhythm of warriors.

Under the blade of a demigod, such a simple spell would have absolutely no effect.

However, while the technique is simple, its effectiveness depends on who is using it.

As a demon hunter of the Bear School, Lann's most proficient sign is the Quen Sign.

The reason he hasn't given up yet is that when this protective magic seal reaches its limit and explodes, the force of the magic breaking apart can knock his own body several body lengths away out of thin air.

The light rush can be considered a trigger-based dodge skill.

In that instant, Marlenia's prosthetic blade almost immediately broke through the protective seal's limit the moment it touched the layer of [Quen Sign] that was constantly flowing on the surface of the Witcher's body!

However, the impact of the broken seal was controlled by Lan En, and instead, it collided with the slashing blade at an extremely precise angle.

The judgment and feeling in the instant that Quen's seal was shattered allowed Lan En to immediately gain a somewhat incomplete understanding of Marlenia's attack, based on his martial arts skills, cultivation, knowledge, and the support of Mentos's extreme computing power.

—This demigod's swordsmanship...is very similar to my own style?
The force on the knife is like flowing water, gathering and dispersing at will, ever-changing.

However, to those ordinary people, all they could see was Marlenia's blade, which was invincible and sharp.

Beneath this outward appearance, the core of this demigod's swordsmanship is actually 'like flowing water'.

It appears sharp, but that's because Malenia's personality and fighting style are more inclined towards such a clean cut.

And if she felt the need, her swordsmanship could be as gentle as silk, binding a person tightly and making it impossible for them to escape.

(End of this chapter)