Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 199.030. Out of Control
The old colleague spoke haltingly, as if he was holding back something, and overall his words were completely incoherent.

However, after hearing these words amidst the whirlwind they created, Oreg's previously heavy yet fluid swordplay abruptly paused.

"Stab!"

This was the first time since the two began their confrontation, after sending countless knights flying in the blast, that their weapons had truly emitted a screeching sound of squeezing and grinding.

Oreg's two knight swords pressed down on the opponent's horizontal spear shaft, and his entire upper body also pressed down on it.

The sound coming from the helmet's vents suddenly sounded serious and dangerous.

"Malka, you didn't stop the Dragon Feast?!"

Oreg questioned what had become an old comrade-in-arms of the enemy.

But Malka's voice was no longer just dangerous, it was downright tyrannical!

"I said: Don't, don't block the way!"

Roaring, the red hood fluttered in the storm, and instantly! An abstract dragon-head emblem appeared on the front of Malca's helmet!
Immediately afterwards, his entire head suddenly transformed into a giant dragon head, its mouth full of sharp teeth facing his old comrade-in-arms who was right next to him.

Flames surged within the throat!

"Roar!!!"

【Dragon Offering Prayer - Dragon Flame】!
Even before the spell badge appeared, Oreg had already taken a step forward, bringing his already forward-leaning body even closer to his opponent.

A roaring jet of flame shot over his back, and even though he was wearing armor and an inner lining, he felt for a moment that his back was probably burned.

"You're losing control, Malca! You know the consequences of letting yourself go!"

Just moments ago, Oreg hadn't hesitated at all when fighting his old comrades, but now he roared angrily.

The two swords that were pressing against the opponent's gun shaft slid to the sides with a screeching metallic scraping sound.

He seized the opportunity when the other man was in a state of relaxation due to his prayer, intending to take the opportunity to cut off the man's fingers that were gripping the gun!
However, Malca was also very familiar with Oreg's swordsmanship and fighting style. The Dragon Prayer flashed by, the huge dragon head disappeared, and he returned to his convenient human body.

There was no time to argue about the finer points of the gun barrel; Marka immediately stomped his foot on the ground!

"Oh!"

A storm, less intense than the previous [Summoning Storm], but still sudden and fast, suddenly swept up around him!

【Battle Ashes - Storm Leg】!
The sudden expansion of the storm's radius forced Oreg to take a step back to steady himself.

Immediately afterwards, a cold light, accompanied by a white afterimage, pierced through!

Previously, all the Storm-type War Ash was a technique mastered and executed by the Lost Knights themselves. But this thrust was the War Ash engraved on the spear that Malca had casually picked up.

The advantages of the War Ash system are now clearly evident.

Even though Makar had only picked up the gun a few minutes earlier, and his usual Lost Knight's standard axe-gun had just been broken.

But when he activated the War Ash, it was as if the gun had been in his hands for decades, and he had perfect control over its center of gravity, resilience, length, and everything else.

A single [Penetrating] blast of ash shot straight toward Oreg's chest and heart!
However, while the cold glint of the gun tip was chilling, the look in Oregon's eyes, peeking through the slit in his helmet's observation port, was even more terrifying!

Oreg's anger wasn't because his former comrade-in-arms was actually trying to kill him.

The two of them were already fighting at this intensity right from the start.

Knights in border regions have always been decisive and straightforward once they've chosen a side or faction; there's nothing more to say.

At this moment, Oreg wasn't angry... but rather filled with murderous intent!
Because at this moment he was certain that Makar could no longer be pulled back from the brink of chaos.

All of this was because of the symbolism of the bright red hood covering his helmet—the Dragon Offering Ceremony.

The Dragon Feast is a feast made by consuming the heart of a dragon during a specific ritual. It is believed that consuming the heart during this feast will allow one to steal the power within the dragon's heart.

However, one thing is certain: all those who perform the dragon feast will gradually become non-human. Their yearning for dragons will not disappear, but will gradually accumulate, and accumulate...

Those who carry out the Dragon Feast will become fascinated and addicted to dragons. Dragons are powerful and superior beings; their power is both immense and beautiful, yet extremely dangerous. They are irresistibly alluring.

Finally, the desire for dragons will fill the whole body and mind, constantly tormenting the executor of the dragon feast.

Therefore, although the Dragon Feast can grant people the power of dragons, it is also a path of no return.

The warriors were not afraid, because dying in battle against powerful enemies or in the pursuit of power were normal occurrences in the eyes of the border warriors.

There is only one reason why those dedicated warriors did not all rush to pursue the Dragon Offering Ritual.

If one dies while pursuing the power of the Dragon Offering, that's one thing. But if one is strong enough, has performed enough Dragon Offering rituals, yet hasn't yet suffered a glorious defeat, then the warrior will face the dishonorable situation of 'losing control'.

The soldiers at the border region were indifferent to death, but they could not accept such dishonorable humiliation.

Oreg never hesitated to fight his old comrade, even though their mutual goal was to cut off each other's heads. He simply didn't want to see his old comrade become dishonorable on the path of the Dragon's Blessing!
So from that moment on, he was determined to cut off Makar's head before he lost control!
【Battle Ashes - Storm Leg】!
"Oh!"

The sudden storm, just like it had shaken Oreg away earlier, also forced the charging Makar back a step.

The two knight swords began to clash with the spear opposite them at a power far exceeding that of before!

Even in the midst of their actions, the weapons of the two lost knights were now accompanied by a storm, and the sounds of their clashes became sharp and resounding.

That was the sound of weapons pressing down on the storm, a true clash of steel in every attack!
"Don't block the way!" Makar stopped stammering this time.

However, his tone no longer carried the feeling of desperately suppressing something from before. Instead, the ferocity that seemed to be mixed with blood and flesh, and the inhumanity that was even more intense than that of a cold-blooded animal, grew stronger.

Even without looking, Oreg knew that Makar's eyes had now turned into vertical pupils like a reptile's, and his teeth and nails had become sharp and hard, with scales appearing on his skin...

"There's a dragon on this battlefield! A ferocious and powerful dragon! Can't you feel it, Oreg?! But I can! I can feel it!"

Makar parried Oreg's relentless, howling slashes, and hot white smoke billowed from the breathing vent of his helmet, rising high into the air.

"From this wound! From this blood!...No one can stop me from finding it! From obtaining it!"

As Oreg swung his sword, he glanced at Makar's breastplate.

Previously, his oppressive blade had squeezed blood out of this wound, but he hadn't examined it closely then.

But now, upon closer inspection, Oreg realized just how gruesome the wound was.

The wound was peculiar, as if the flesh had been crushed and then torn apart... no, not torn apart.

It looked more like it had been torn apart by some kind of ferocious beast!

Furthermore, the beast's teeth possessed a corrosive power.

Through the gap in the Knight of the Lost Home's breastplate, Oreg could see that around the wound, Makar's skin, which should have been intact, looked as if it had been exposed to acid mist.

The skin was eroded to the point of becoming inactive and white, and it ulcerated and broke open, revealing the bright red, writhing muscles underneath!

Oreg is one of the Knights of the Lost Land who does not intend to perform the Dragon Offering Ritual; all his power comes from hard training and battle.

He had never had any close interaction with the dragon, let alone the incredibly intimate contact of 'swallowing its heart'.

Therefore, he wasn't very familiar with dragons.

But for some reason, after seeing the wound, Oreg thought to himself: This terrible wound must indeed be a scar left by a dragon.

Even if he immediately realized the errors—that the wound was too small compared to the enormous dragon, and that there were no traces of dragons on the battlefield—he was still mistaken.

But undeniably, that was what he was thinking for a brief moment.

As the two continued their grappling and slashing, a clanging and banging sound came from inside Makar's helmet, and the sound grew louder and louder.

It's as if the head inside the helmet is gradually losing its original shape, making the helmet, which is designed to fit human heads, no longer compatible.

Immediately, amidst Oreg's furious and continuous slashing, countless vengeful skulls rained down from the sky, instantly turning the entire world in the night sky a blazing orange-red!
As the ground was scorched into lava, Oreg realized that he could not give his former comrade a glorious defeat.

"Roar!!!"

Amidst the continuous bombing and explosions, Makar lay prone in the lava... This was the last time Oreg saw his former comrade-in-arms, still in human form.
-
"You sinner, how dare you appear before me!"

The scorching lava burned their faces from below, making their vision blurry. But on this battlefield, even the lava couldn't stop the powerful warriors from fighting!

Lan En held the Lake Maiden's Sword horizontally in front of him, and with a 'clang', he slid backward across the semi-solid lava, following the force of the swing of Griffia's giant axe.

His two legs caused the lava to surge, and the intense heat made Smaug's boots hiss, but ultimately he couldn't transfer the heat inside.

Lan En frowned as he looked at the tall, twisted demigod opposite him. The way his limbs twisted and danced on his back, illuminated by the upward light from the lava, made him look like a demon!
The clear silver light in Lan En's hand was habitually flicked out in a series of flashes.

The current extreme environment and extreme light are nothing to Lan En's enhanced organs.

The pigment control organs on his skin began to work, blocking heat, while the visual control organs in his eyes were constantly adjusting the expansion and contraction of his vertical pupils in accordance with his steps.

The hot air is processed by the lungs before entering the bloodstream.

Therefore, this body, which showed no abnormalities even when stepping on lava, allowed Lan En to find this key demigod with almost no effort after separating from Qilin.

“We shouldn’t have met before, but you recognized me at a glance as the one who captured your son,” the Witcher said with interest. “It seems you have connections in Rodel City.”

Ge Fuya didn't say anything more.

He himself was well aware of his importance in this war, and now that the Faded One had come looking for him, there was no way he would let him go.

Another version says... he suffered heavy losses at the walls of Rodel! And he was burning with rage!
(End of this chapter)