Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2014, 1986: Burns
In combat and tactics, most of the time it's about taking things by surprise.

When your attention is drawn to a future moment, and you are on guard and concerned about it, strike ahead of time! This is also a way to catch people off guard!

Griffa had charged up his dragon fire in his left hand for two seconds beforehand, which was why he was able to blast the Witcher away instantly.

Thinking of this, Ge Fuya subconsciously patted his chest with one arm.

Having endured the dragon flames that had been accumulated and then released, Ge Fuya believed that the faded one should now be crippled or dead.

The dragon head on the left hand looks like a living thing.

The dragon naturally had a long neck, and when its head was cut off, a section of its neck remained attached, which then reconnected to Gavya's left hand. Therefore, when it moved, it resembled a serpent.

Gavya himself held the golden double-bladed axe in his right hand, a tribute to his brother, the First King.

With the heavy axe blade pointing downwards, each step stirred up orange-red lava, but the liquid stone could not cling to the fine golden axe and dripped down like glue.

The lava floor was littered with the charred, twisted and tangled corpses of soldiers... well, they couldn't really be called corpses, since they were still 'alive'.

Metal equipment charred and deformed, carriages, battle flags hanging on gun barrels... once imposing military artifacts are now charred remains protruding from the lava.

These things, in their miserable and eerie state, twisted and swayed in the air heated by the lava.

Griffith was preparing to cut off the head of that arrogant, fading man.

Incidentally, there are also his two hands. They might be good material for limb reattachment.

After briefly considering how to deal with Lann's limbs, Goughia's main concern was how to return to Nymgford and, once back, how to realize the war potential of that territory and make a comeback.

After his failed attempt to pressure Rodel, there were bound to be many who wanted to kick him while he was down. Even the journey back to Nymgford from Lienia could be dangerous.

After all, let's not forget that Lienia is the home of that viper, Lacad.

He also has a reclusive younger sister who hasn't shown her face yet. That's a dangerous 'trump card' too.

Gefia certainly didn't want to be captured by this "Moon Princess" halfway there.

'I have to accept defeat. And when you retreat, you have to do it quietly and shamefully.' Griffia thought to himself as he walked on the scorching lava. 'I have some connections with the Rhea-Lucalia Academy; at least I can ask the Cuckoo Knights for a hidden path back to Nymgford.'

'I must preserve my strength and life. I can't save Greck this time, but my son, I will place the head of this faded one before the gates of Rodel.'

A series of plans flashed through Griffith's mind, some of which had already been flown to Nymgford, his own city of Stoneville.

The earth continued to tremble, and the temperature of the lava did not drop significantly. Clearly, on this battlefield, which had already become like a purgatory, numerous high-level battles were still tearing the earth apart and causing destruction.

However, the demigod's steady steps suddenly stopped in the lava.

His eyes widened, and his face showed intense astonishment for a moment.

Because Lann wasn't in the impact crater he had predicted, lying half-dead as he had expected!

How can it be? !
The faded one took a direct hit of dragon fire right before his eyes, without dodging or blocking!
They had already accumulated their strength!
How could an attack unleashed with all one's accumulated power not have left him either dead or crippled?
This was especially incredible for Gough.

But then, in the next instant!
"what!"

The enormous, twisted demigod glared and roared, swinging his golden axe with all his might to the side!
But just as he swung the axe with all his might, Gefya's eyes immediately turned in horror to his other side.

He realized he had done something wrong.

But by then, it was too late, the axe had already been swung.

In the direction he swung his axe, the projectile grappling hook, still clinging to the lava, was rapidly retracting.

And in the direction his eyes were looking.

There used to be only one military flag there, stuck in the pile of wrecked weapons, hanging from the gun barrel with only tattered strips of cloth remaining.

Even the hot air generated by the lava couldn't lift the tattered military flag.

But now, the military flag seemed to move on its own without wind, suddenly being stretched towards Gefia, thus revealing the figure behind the flag.

Lan En, who was half-crouched in a horse stance, was slowly putting the blood-flaming Arondette back into the scabbard at his waist.

【Water-shaped Sword - One Heart】

"呲呲呲!"

A series of sharp blades whistling through the air suddenly rang out!

Ge Fuya had no time to react! Thin, sharp air blades suddenly appeared around him, surrounding him from all directions!

Immediately afterwards, along the extended lines of the air blades that surrounded the demigod, the corresponding cuts appeared on Gevya's body!

The torn flesh still had traces of burning blood flames clinging to it.

"Pfft!"

"Uh ah ah!"

The second time, a large amount of blood, affected by the power of the Blood Flame, gushed out from all parts of Gefia's body!
With his throat constricted by blood, Ge Fuya's shocked and painful screams were muffled. At the same time, a large burst of golden light erupted from his body, as if it had been blasted out of his body by the attack.

The light mist seemed to be the golden power within Gefia's body. After it was unleashed, his legs went weak, and he uncontrollably knelt on the lava ground.

Even so, at the last moment he raised his left arm, the dragon head, and aimed it at the Witcher.

Lan En's eyes narrowed, and he immediately dodged away from the dragon's head.

"Hissssss~"

The demigod's blood sprayed onto the lava, and it still made the sound of blood being roasted and vaporized.

The amount of vaporized blood was so large that Gefya's entire body was instantly covered in blood.

'How...is that possible?'

With his golden axe swinging in vain, Ge Fuya dared not lower his left arm, the dragon head on it never lowering. Only this one thought kept echoing in his mind.

He stared blankly at the Witcher in the distance, his body weak.

Lan En was also not in good condition. Ge Fuya's charged dragon flame was indeed extraordinary in power.

No, it was completely unexpected!
"Our analysis of him has reached 88%," Lann calmly asked Mentos, "but that attack just now... it completely exceeded our maximum estimate of his power!"

'The reason is unknown, sir.'

The data stream that the biochemical AI was displaying on the main retina was like a waterfall! But even though Mentos had replayed and studied that moment thousands of times in those few seconds, it still couldn't find the reason.

'What is this? The foundation of a demigod from the Golden Clan?'

Mentos is now complaining about it.

The Witcher now has half his face and a large part of his neck burned, his skin gone and melted, and the remaining waste plastered on his blood-red muscles.

The outer layer of that muscle was also wrapped with steel cables.

But when he spat out of his mouth, a small glass bottle was expelled from the corner of his mouth into the lava and sank in.

The effects of the [High-Grade Pure White Raphael] are immediate; its toxic life force begins to repair the damage to the Witcher's body.

With the [Belissau Furnace] within his body starting to work, Lann's skin began to recover at a visible speed.

The beautiful face gradually covered the grotesque burns, revealing a cold, alien, and inhuman inner self due to the steel cables.

The process of this face gradually concealing its inner texture appeared both eerie and beautiful in the warm light.

In theory, even after a Space Marine heals from an injury, their scars should remain intact. This is because, due to the enhancements in their organs, these scars serve as a form of protection against external damage.

It's considered a buff, and the Space Marines actually quite welcome it.

After all, given the toughness of the scars on a Space Marine's body, an ordinary weapon would probably not even leave a white mark.

However, perhaps due to the genetic seed of the emperor's son, Lan En rarely has scars after being injured, and his skin texture remains delicate and full.

Just now, when Ge Fuya unleashed a charged dragon flame, Lan En made several preparations in that instant.

He always wore a layer of [Kun'en Seal] on his body. The recoil when the seal broke allowed him to escape quickly, preventing him from being exposed to the dragon flames for any longer.

In that brief moment, he simply couldn't use his magical fire to induce profuse sweating and ward off the flames.

Having no other choice, I quickly brought my left hand's two fingers together.

He made a sword-finger gesture and performed the "Fire Subduing Technique".

This was knowledge he acquired while studying Yin-Yang techniques with Abe no Seimei.

Originally, this should have been an Onmyoji. After learning the fire-attribute Onmyojutsu to a certain level, the power in his body naturally developed a higher and higher resistance to the fire attribute.

It is a passive ability that grows automatically as one's practice of Yin-Yang techniques deepens.

Lan En is inhabited by the Earth Element Qilin and the Water Element Xuanwu, but has no Fire Element Guardian Spirit.

Therefore, his mastery of fire-attribute Yin-Yang techniques was still shallow, and the [Subduing Fire Technique] was naturally not very effective.

However, by using it at this critical moment, the power of the dragon flame was somewhat weakened.

But in the end, it's just dragon flame.

Judging from the size of the dragon head on Ge Fuya's left hand, it might just be a young dragon that is no more than eight or nine meters long.

How hot can a young dragon's flames get?
Lann made so many preparations in an instant, and he also had the high-heat defense provided by Smaug. There's no way he should have burned off so much of his skin.

The Witcher has already formed his own opinion on this.

"Damn it!" Lan En cursed under his breath, "Ge Fuya... how did he manage to burn through my [Body Aura]?!"

(End of this chapter)