Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2057 2029. Difficulties
“If we have time,” Torina suddenly said to Lann in a clear voice midway through the ride, “how about we go to the Azure Coast?”

"Once you get there, you'll understand many things."

Lan En did not respond immediately after hearing this.

Instead, he first turned his head to look at Toret, who was walking alongside the Qilin, and the soul girl above him.

"Melina, is there a place called Azure Coast in the Shadowlands?"

The girl, who had been riding her bicycle with her light red hair swaying in the breeze, turned to look at the witcher after hearing his question and frowned.

"Did Torina tell you? What's there?"

Before Lan En could respond, Melina shook her head to herself, as if she had suddenly stopped caring about these issues.

“There is a great river in the Shadowlands called the Airak. Follow the river downstream, and its final mouth is the Azure Coast.”

"If you go, remember to be careful and prepare items with the power of gold. The Shadowlands are a gathering place of death, and the death is especially intense on the Azure Coast."

Lan En nodded to Melina, thanking her for her intelligence support.

Although the soul girl's face remained calm, as if she truly didn't care whether Lan En had been persuaded by Torina to interfere in Michaela's plan to become a god.

However, Lan En would not so easily ignore the possible dissatisfaction in the girl's heart.

"What if we want to leave the Shadowlands?"

As Lan En uttered his question, Melina glanced in his direction again.

The Witcher remained unmoved, still frowning as he analyzed the current situation: "Shadowlands was a place that was separated and sealed away by Queen Marika. Trying to return to the Borderlands from here is like escaping from prison, isn't it?"

Escaping from a prison belonging to a true god is by no means easy.

As soon as Lan En brought up the topic, Melina became much more lively than before.

She actively followed Lan En's line of thought: "Perhaps we can use the cursed blood in reverse? Just like when we came in?"

Inside the Shadowlands, the Blood Monsters still maintain their faith in the Mother of Truth, and thus possess cursed blood.

Using the cursed blood between the Shadowlands and the outside world, a teleportation connection is established, which is how Michaela and Lann were able to enter the Shadowlands.

If you want to leave, returning the way you came is certainly an option.

However, returning via the same route presents its own difficulties.

Melina's right eye looked at Margarita first.

The sorceress raised her hand and rubbed her forehead, causing the exquisite and expensive jewelry on her gold and silver wrists to jingle.

Margarita gave a wry smile: "Teleportation...tsk, I never thought I'd be having a headache over the magic of a teleportation spell."

On her wrist were many gold bracelets that were originally well-arranged and stylish, without looking like those of a nouveau riche, but most of the gemstones on them had lost their luster.

Those were the reactions after Margarita drained the chaotic magic power stored in the magical jewelry.

As soon as she arrived at the border yesterday, she immediately began analyzing the teleportation trajectory and opened two teleportation portals.

One of them even broke through Queen Marika's seal on the Shadowlands, although it mainly went through the path built by cursed blood. Without this path, Margarita didn't even dare to imagine that she could possibly pass through the seal of a god.

But even if you find a way, it's still incredibly difficult.

However, this is not a big deal.

"Pat pat," Margarita patted the witcher's armor without any politeness, her smile alluring. "Last night, thinking about how dangerous this place is, I was a little hesitant to directly extract magic from your body. But look, my reserves are almost depleted now."

Margarita was curious about what it would feel like to have Lann's magic drawn directly into her body during sex.

In any case, judging from the explicit conversations she had with Tisaya and Triss, their opinions on this matter were quite consistent.

"Oh, I wished I could die on him back then."

Margarita remembered that when Triss said those words, her cheeks suddenly flushed red, and her eyes became watery and alluring.

Triss was holding a wine glass at the time, but Margarita was certain that her blushing wasn't due to drinking alcohol.

Whose face turns red when they're in the middle of drinking?
Triss brought the glass to her lips as she chatted and laughed.

But only a naive little girl would probably think she really wanted to drink.

Margarita was sitting right across from Triss at the time, and she could clearly see that Triss was trying to use the gesture of raising her wine glass to cover up the unconscious, seductive swaying of her body in her chair as she talked about the topic.

And there was the sound of fabric rubbing together between those two full, overlapping thighs.

The sorceress of lust had long awaited this feeling they described. Melina sighed silently on Torret's back.

Although she didn't quite understand what Margarita meant, after spending the day with her, she roughly knew that the sorceress was telling dirty jokes.

It's quite obvious that the aloof nature of the Soul Girl seems ill-suited to dealing with someone like Margarita.

...Is this considered the dominance of a mature woman over a little girl?

But in Marika's memory, she had never seen the Eternal Queen so frequently desire such things.

However, Lan En was already used to this kind of thing.

"You're really overthinking things," the Witcher teased Margarita without turning his head. "The chaotic magic in my body recovers pretty quickly. Even if you really wanted to do that last night, it shouldn't have affected me much."

“Really?” Margarita was pleasantly surprised. “Then I’ll give it a try.”

“Chaotic magic isn’t the problem,” Lann said, no longer engaging in flirtatious banter with Margarita on the subject, but instead adopting a serious tone, “but where we land back is the problem.”

“Margarita merely ‘analyzed and borrowed’ the teleportation channel built by the cursed blood. She actually had little control over the teleportation. The most likely way for us to teleport out of the Shadowlands is to come out directly from the pool of cursed blood we came in from.”

"And don't forget that place..."

Lan En didn't finish his sentence, but it was enough for the others to understand.

They first teleported to the Blood Dynasty located underground in the Borderlands, found Michaela's Cocoon, and then teleported into the Shadowlands.

If they were to return the way they came, the mysterious and unidentified Child of Omen that Lan En had met earlier would most likely be waiting outside, burning with rage.

Lann wasn't entirely sure of the Omen Child's identity, but guessed that he was probably related to the Blessed King, who was also an Omen Child.

Furthermore, he can claim to be the king and high priest of the Blood Dynasty, and he even kidnapped Michaela from the Sacred Tree. Just thinking about it makes you realize that this person must be very powerful.

The kind of strength that's at the demigod level.

They had just broken through the Blood Dynasty with the help of Malenia's power, and then they were teleported back to the enemy's face, and Malenia was gone... This was truly like walking straight into a powder keg.

After hearing about the two difficulties of leaving the Shadowlands using teleportation magic, Melina calmed down again: "It seems that no matter what, whether it's to replenish Margarita's special magic or to lower the guard of the Child of Omens on the other side of the teleportation point, we should wait."

Melina's sense of time is inherited from Queen Marika, which is even more exaggerated than that of the ordinary people of the Golden Tree.

In her eyes, this so-called "wait a while" probably means hundreds of years, or even thousands of years.

She previously disapproved of Lann's involvement in Michaela's godhood plan because she feared the Witcher would abandon their original plan to burn the golden tree.

Now that it's confirmed that Lan En also intends to leave, the only difference is the length of time; at least he's not quitting.

However, Melina wasn't in a hurry, but Lan En and the others weren't.

Whether the people of the Golden Tree are hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years old, as long as the Dharma Ring has not been repaired, they cannot die and be freed.

But those who haven't received the blessing of the Golden Tree don't have that ability. Moreover, the day the celestial conjunction rift opens is drawing ever closer.

Now the positions have been reversed.

"Just waiting around in the Shadowlands?" Lann's tone revealed his disapproval. "How many monsters and demons have we seen in this place already? I think we should hurry. By the way, Melina."

As they were talking, Lann turned to the soul girl and asked, "Do you think that Messermo, who has been in the Shadowlands for so long, might have a way to solve this?"

“Messermo?” Melina was slightly surprised. “No… my memories of Shadowlands are vague, but I think that since Queen Marika sent him here before sealing Shadowlands, it should be considered an exile, right? Would an exile have a way to return? That doesn’t sound reasonable.”

The fact that something could elicit a slight surprise from the naturally aloof Melina would likely have made most people's hearts skip a beat.

Lan En could tell that if Melina viewed his words with a normal mindset, she shouldn't have said anything more, given her personality.

She seems to be completely... averse to communicating with Messermo right now?

Is the little sister, who has only recently grown up, afraid of her brother, whom she has never met and who has a notorious reputation?
"We can't just sit here and wait in this Shadowlands environment."

Lan En emphasized and repeated what he had just said.

The gloomy sky, the endless withered grass and the illusory spirit tombs—these scenes, which can make people feel depressed just by looking at them for a while, are his most powerful supporting evidence.

In the border region, although war rages on and the rules continue to crumble, at least there is still sunshine and moonlight.

The sky above the Shadowlands was filled with dark clouds and the illusory curtain that represented the seal.

Few normal people could live peacefully in such an environment.

(End of this chapter)