Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2012, 1984. Human Relationships and Water Reflections
From the direction from which the [Storm Blade] was launched, a knight, gleaming silver in the orange-red light of the lava on the ground, wielding two swords and rushing towards them with a fierce wind.

However, his battle ash could penetrate the solid, thick rock scales of the lava earth dragon, causing real damage to it.

However, its ability to refuse is not very strong.

Therefore, although the Lava Dragon roared loudly and its flesh and blood flew everywhere, it did not stop charging towards Lan En.

Its flat, wide mouth spewed lava outwards while simultaneously tilting its head back to spit out chunks of lava towards Lann's location.

The Witcher vanished in a flash like a wisp of smoke, chasing after Griffia as he dodged.

Lann's [Acceleration] spell was swift yet silent, but suddenly a gust of wind swirled around him, and the Lost Knight, wielding two swords, leaped from a distance to his side, swept up in the storm.

This uses the fodder from [Storm Strike] for movement.

"Oreg, is this your old friend?"

As Lann suddenly shifted sideways, sending a truck-sized chunk of lava crashing to the ground and sending up a spray of intensely hot lava, he shouted to the Lost Knight, who was also moving tirelessly.

Oreg arrived at the Yatan Plateau alone, so he was quite early. Lan En had already met and spoken with him some time ago when he was resting in Rodel City.

We haven't known each other for very long, so we're not exactly familiar, but we can at least talk to each other.

And at this moment, Lan En thought about it and realized that the Dragon Feast Ritual was commonly found in the Ningmgford and Galid regions.

The lava dragon that was relentlessly pursuing him for some unknown reason must first and foremost be one of Gofia's men.

Among those under Gough's command, the Knights of Lost Home were the most prominent in terms of the custom and history of performing the Dragon Offering ceremony.

The Storm King, to whom the Knights of the Lost Lands originally served, had close ties with the ancient dragons. The finials on the Knights of the Lost Lands' helmets are all small statues of ancient dragons.

The Elder Dragon campaign during the War of the Titans was initiated because the First King led his army to Stonville, the city of Nymgford, prompting the Elder Dragons to launch a surprise attack on Rodel, whose forces were depleted.

If they had a good relationship with the ancient dragons, then the Knights of Lost Home would certainly have been among the first to respond to the encouragement that the ancient dragons were giving large-scale permission to hunt dragons by spreading the Dragon Offering Ritual.

Hunting dragons allows you to plunder their power through Dragon Feast to improve yourself, and it also fosters better relations with Elder Dragons. Why not?
Other warriors perform dragon sacrifices mostly out of their personal desire and obsession with the power of dragons. But the Lost Knights perform dragon sacrifices on a large scale, which can even be described as a custom of the knightly order.

Ultimately, the solution evolved so that, although the Knights of the Lost Lands knew that the Dragon Feast would eventually go out of control, they simply added a fiery red hood to the helmets of these knights to distinguish them.

So this lava dragon probably knows Oreg.

The lost knight, wielding two swords, remained silent in the face of Lann's question. His helmet also concealed his expression.

However, his slightly shrugged shoulders, instead of making his cervical spine appear retracted and he look fearful, actually made his shoulders appear wider, and his whole demeanor, through this slight shrug, seemed even more menacing!

His hands, gripping the two knight's swords, made a metallic deforming sound as they squeezed against the hilts.

Compared to the knight who had exchanged a few words with Lann in Rodel City, Oreg was now many times more imposing!
The Witcher raised an eyebrow, needless to say, he understood that Oreg and this lava earth dragon did indeed know each other.

“This is your personal feud. Since that’s the case, then it can be handed over to you.” Lan En didn’t waste any words and said simply, “You have to hold it off for at least ten minutes.”

In fact, Lan En's original target was only Griffia, but saying this made it sound like Oreg owed him a favor.

However, Oreg really had to admit it, because he had just arrived and didn't know who Lann's main target was or how important that target was.

Now that the Lava Earth Dragon is actively causing trouble for Lan En, the correct tactic would be for the two of them to work together to take down the Lava Earth Dragon first.

By leaving him to handle the situation alone, Lan En was undoubtedly making a tactical concession, which was a way of showing consideration for him.

Without a word, Oreg stopped abruptly with a slightly raised shoulder and a commanding posture. He turned around from beside Lan En and stood facing the lava earth dragon behind him, simultaneously raising the knight's sword in both hands.

Lan En ignored the commotion behind him caused by the 'giant salamander' that was at least twenty or thirty meters long from head to toe. The spiraling airflow beneath his feet disappeared silently and swiftly.

A short while later, a more turbulent and violent howling wind suddenly exploded, compared to the [Acceleration] spell from the hunters of Yharnam!
A large area of ​​lava was swirling and churning like waves.

"Stab!"

"Roar!!!"

The Storm-type Battle Ash, which the Lost Knight excels at, doesn't have a very good ability to deter the Lava Earth Dragon.

Faced with the behemoth single-mindedly chasing after Lan En, Oreg simply activated [Storm Strike], swinging his twin swords in a wide arc and slashing at the lava earth dragon's forepaw wrist!
The blade and the fierce wind tore through the stone spikes and scales of the lava earth dragon, and scalding dragon blood spurted out.

The lava dragon remained unconcerned about its injuries, relying on its weight and strength to continue chasing Lan En, even having already filled its mouth with a large chunk of lava, ready to spew it out.

But then, its front paws, which were pawing forward, suddenly veered off course.

Oreg's twin swords cut into more than half of one of its front claws like a circular saw, destroying its body structure. The lava earth dragon fell uncontrollably to the ground, stirring up a huge wave of lava that made people's eyes burn.

The rumbling sound was right behind him, but the Witcher only diverted a limited amount of his attention to what was behind him.

All remaining attention was focused on what was ahead.

"Karara!"

The lava balls spewed out by the lava dragon are sticky and scorching hot. If they stick to an ordinary person, the lava would probably be more torturous than being burned alive.

The intense heat of the magma will first burn through the skin, then the muscles, and finally the bones and chest cavity.

Lava is stone heated to a molten state, a process far more painful than inserting a stone directly into a human body. However, Gavya is a golden demigod.

Even without the demigod title bestowed by the Golden Dynasty, he was still Gofulei's brother, possessing bloodline power that, while far inferior to that of the Primordial King, was by no means ordinary.

So at this moment, Gevya, who was surrounded and stuck inside the magma mass, let out a loud roar!
"what!!!"

Substantial sound waves emanated from his mouth, instantly blasting away the blood accumulated in his throat and the lava on his body!
It's unclear whether this was war ash from one of the weapons on his dozen or so arms, or war ash he controlled himself.

The shockwave from the roaring battle ash not only shattered the magma on Gefya's body, but also compressed the lava ground around his landing point into an arc-shaped depression.

But after shouting, Ge Fuya quickly straightened and lowered his head, and the relief in his eyes disappeared, replaced by caution and apprehension as he re-entered battle mode.

Because in the distorted and rising air, baked by the lava, amidst a reddish-orange glow, a figure clad in ferocious, bone-white armor was walking towards him.

As he walked, a ball of pure blood-red sparks ignited on the man's left hand.

Then, the man's left hand, still burning with fire, slowly and steadily traced a graceful and simple arc from the base of the long sword in his right hand all the way to the tip.

The entire blade was instantly stained with a layer of vibrant, pure blood flame.

Melina said that, in terms of magic, she seemed to remember that this effect should be called "Bloodflame Blade".

However, what Lan En held was not magic.

He simply understood this strange flame, and then incorporated that understanding into the spellfire, allowing it to manifest.

To have flames envelop the blade is pure swordsmanship.

— He simply used swordsmanship to control the airflow and steadily swirl the flames.

Therefore, this move is still called [Water-shaped Sword - Flowing Fire Blade - Blood Flame].

When dealing with flesh and blood, Blood Inflame has a significant advantage in affecting biological fluids.

Needless to say, in Gefia, they saw that Lan En had actually chased after them.

In the distance behind him, one could vaguely see giant waves of lava churning up by the behemoth through the distorted air, along with the roar of the lava dragon.

From that moment on, their battle began anew.

"呲呲!"

Two sharp sounds suddenly rang out, tearing through the air.

That was the standard longsword from one of Ge Fuya's arms. The arm swiftly slashed twice in mid-air, and two X-shaped blades of energy slashed towards Lan En.

Before the air blade could actually hit Lan En, Griffia had already quickly activated the second stage of Battle Ash. His entire twisted body followed closely behind the air blade on the lava, leaving a white afterimage as he pounced towards Lan En!

The Witcher moved like a wisp of smoke, shifting to the side where the air blades couldn't reach.

But immediately, a whistling wind came from the top of Lan En's head!

Looking up, I saw a heavy, imposing golden double-edged axe coming crashing down on me!
Although Gevya is not considered a strong demigod, he has a solid foundation in the basics of a warrior.

When he uses an axe, he must be able to control the distance and aim the most lethal axe blade at the enemy.

However, for those who have gone further in the way of the warrior, this solid foundation is not so useful.

The axe blade was located at the very edge of the axe head, so the Witcher's expression didn't change at all when he saw the axe coming down on him.

He simply took a step back.

He slightly deflected the falling axe blade with the Arondette in his hand!
"Choke!"

Without any risk, the golden axe not only didn't reach Lan En's body in length, but it was also positioned away from Lan En's location.

Gevya's body was pulled to one side by the axe.

【Water-shaped Sword - Water Shadow】

A look of astonishment flashed in the demigod's eyes.

Behind him, some golden halos, like mist, seemed to have been expelled from his body by his stumble and disappeared.

Ge Fuya felt as if his body had suddenly become weak and awkward because of the slight misstep.

He had never seen such technology before.

Therefore, one can't help but wonder: Is this one's own problem? Or is it the problem that the faded one just stabbed himself in the back with his axe?

But before he could figure it out, Ge Fuya's eyes quickly turned to Lan En and suddenly widened.

Because he saw that the Witcher was also looking at him thoughtfully!
—He was supposed to be in the left-hand position!

(End of this chapter)