Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2078 2050. Spell Cutting
Seeing that Lann could force his eyes open even in such a deep sleep, Torina was surprised, but also revealed a hint of delight.

She was happy to see Lan En in this final meeting.

However, this happiness was only expressed in his expression.

Her power had waned to an unimaginable degree, making every word she uttered and every breath she took incredibly precious.

So even when Lann opened his eyes and looked at her, she just smiled, cupped the Witcher's face in her hands, and continued to talk to him.

“For Michaela… becoming a god… is a prison. A god who is imprisoned cannot save anyone.”

"Please……"

Torina cupped Lann's cheeks and brought them close, finally gently touching her forehead to his.

Lan En sensed incredibly complex emotions in Torina's eyes.

Surprise, relief, sadness, determination...

He could roughly guess why Torina had attracted him here.

Sure enough, in the next moment.

“Kill Michaela…let him…be free…”

After receiving the answer he had already guessed, Lan closed his eyes.

Torina seemed particularly at ease after conveying her final words and expectations to Lann.

She gently removed her fragrant forehead and hands from the Witcher's cheek.

Her delicate, jade-like face showed both reluctance and trust.

She has entrusted everything she can do, for Michaela and for everyone in the world, to someone she can trust.

At this point, Torina had fulfilled what she considered her mission and responsibility.

She will continue to fall.

The sleeping saintess smiled as she looked at the witcher with his eyes closed.

And he will wake up again...

"Snapped!"

But suddenly! A large hand grabbed Torina's hand as she was pulling away, abruptly pulling her back as she continued to fall!

Before Torina could even be shocked, she met Lann's amber cat eyes again.

"What will you do after you kill Michaela?"

When Lan En spoke, it was also very difficult for him, because he was constantly fighting against the incredibly comfortable and reassuring sleepiness in his body.

But he still spoke clearly, so clearly that it sounded cold and hard.

"You are his other half. Just by abandoning you, you've become a broken body, clinging only to a flower! Your blood nourishes a garden! And if he dies... what will happen to you?"

Torina's face was mostly hidden by her thick, upward-swaying purple hair, but the corners of her mouth that were faintly visible still held a faint smile.

Her words now are so light and airy, almost like the babbling of a dying person.

But she still managed to utter only two words.

"I'm sorry... thank you..."

The Witcher's grip on that small hand tightened suddenly.

Because he understood it.

Torina apologized because the answer was already self-evident.

Michaela's death will simultaneously bring about Torina's complete demise.

She and Lan En were already friends, just last night.

And now, she has placed the burden of killing her friend into Lan En's hands.

At this moment, Torina only felt sorry for putting Lann in this situation.

And 'thank you'... she believed the Witcher could fulfill her final request.

Although Lann is just a faded one, Michaela is a god-man, a demigod, who is about to enter the Gate of God.

Torina only said those two words in the end, but the sincerity, apology, and reluctance contained in those two words were completely felt by Lan En.

Just like the fragrance of flowers lingering around his nose at this moment, sweet and real.

and so……

With a 'whoosh', the Witcher didn't let go of Torina's hand; instead, he suddenly pulled her into his arms!
Her thick, long purple hair swayed and moved as if she were in the water.

“We can talk about this later,” Torina said, her eyes wide as she listened to Lan’s calm statement from within his arms. “We need to ‘wake up’ first!”

The two were sinking endlessly in the boundless darkness when a powerful force stopped them abruptly and they began to rise in the opposite direction!

In Lan En's line of sight, the data displayed by Mentos in the corner was flickering and becoming increasingly clear! It was as if the signal had been reconnected.

Within that data frame, amidst the waterfall-like updates of his physiological state, the location of the [nerve cluster] in his brain was being highlighted in red! Glowing!

The enhanced organs were forcibly activated by Lan En's will. Within his body, the [Gene Seed] and [Holy Hymn Gland] seemed to receive some kind of stimulating signal at that instant, suddenly initiating a synergistic effect. Their regulatory role in maintaining the body's internal environment homeostasis increased dramatically!

Subsequently, the neural tubes were also forcibly activated! The sleep rhythm began to be forcibly interfered with!
The various brain regions that had entered a deep sleep after consuming Torina's nectar are now awakening at an astonishing rate!
"Suck~!"

The Witcher suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath, as if he had been swimming underwater for a long time.

Before Lan En, who was kneeling, Torina, who had been nestled in his arms with her eyes closed, also opened her eyes at the same time.

"Get out of my way! Don't get in my way!"

Margarita's angry shouts echoed throughout the cave.

Lan En instinctively followed the sorceress's command and took a step back. The roaring bear head pendant around his neck now bounced as if it were about to snap the silver chain.

The sorceress now exuded an imposing aura, and the source of this chaotic magic was the cone-shaped crystal floating in front of her.

Meanwhile, the cave, which was originally filled only with the sweet fragrance of flowers, now also had a strong fishy and putrid stench, as well as the smoke from burning vegetation.

These scents come from the ring of buckthorn plant placed around Torina.

This herb has a strong odor, almost making you feel like there's a water ghost standing right next to you!
Witchers often use this stench to lure out monsters that are fascinated by the smell, making it easier to hunt them.

However, at the same time, the smoke from burning buckthorn is believed to have the effect of 'warding off evil spirits'.

On certain festive days, ordinary families would pick some buckthorn and burn it in front of their houses. While burning it, they would wave it around the house to demarcate an area and ward off evil spirits.

Over time, the smoke from burning buckthorn has also been believed to hinder the movement of souls.

In an instant, chaotic magic, the smoke from burning buckthorn, and Margarita's powerful incantations filled the entire cave.

Although both Messermo and Melina are legitimate members of the Golden Clan, and Melina in particular has inherited many of Queen Marika's memories, they were still completely baffled by Margarita's demeanor.

All I could do was blink and watch helplessly from the sidelines.

Most magic in this world isn't this mystical.

Margarita was a powerful mage and genius who ranked among the best in the history of Aretusa Academy, so she could recite spells with ease, her voice like a war horn and her words like those of a master orator.

She could recite complex and difficult incantations with ease, and even had the energy to interject a few sarcastic remarks and low curses while chanting them.

"I only used this spell once, when I was exorcising a banker's daughter in Maripo! Just once! In this situation... don't blame me if it didn't work!"

At the time, the banker's daughter in Maripo claimed she was "possessed" and therefore paid a large sum of money to Margarita to come and help.

However, based on Lan En's opinion after hearing what had happened, the banker's daughter seemed more like someone with schizophrenia.

However, Margarita's spells and measures worked nonetheless.

The spell she unearthed from Aretusa's old papers successfully separated one of the banker's daughter's personalities from her body and isolated it in a yellow sapphire pendant with bubbles.

Later, the banker's daughter wore the pendant close to her body, and she and her alter ego became best friends who could talk about anything.

Legends about the 'talking pendant' have also circulated around Maripo.

Of course, the difference between the second personality in a mortal and the half-body of a god will be very large.

But now that things have come to this, and this is the only method they can find in such a short time, what else can Lan En hope for?

"It's not your fault!" Lan En said, drawing the Lake Maiden's Sword with a pleasant metallic scraping sound. "No matter what happens, it's not your fault! We can only do our best!"

As he spoke, he walked with his sword to the golden cross left behind by Michaela.

The Witcher rubbed his face hard with his other hand, trying to dispel the last bit of stubborn drowsiness from his mind.

He is now very clear-headed and resolute!

Facing the golden cross, Lan En's eyes suddenly became extremely deep!

The pendant around his neck was bouncing wildly, but Lan En's body, spirit, and the Lake Maiden's Sword in his hand remained as calm as still waters.

This tranquility in spirit and skill, along with his now 'unparalleled' vision, awakened a hidden power within the Lake Maiden's sword.

It was a very faint, almost ethereal white light, like a phantom fluorescence.

【The Light of Eyarendil】!
Or, you could call it the Light of the Two Sacred Trees!
This is the purest, cleanest, noblest, and most benevolent light from the world of Alda!
Right behind her, Margarita's incantation reached its climax, and the chaotic magic surged at its most intense.

The Witcher casually swung his sword forward.

The cut was so light it was as if he were casually dispelling the smoke from burning buckthorn.

But it was this one strike! After it passed, the strange cross made of pure golden light appeared.

The images that no one could even touch before were abruptly cut off in that instant!
The traces left by Michaela, along with the words that remained within the golden cross, all suddenly dissipated along with the golden cross itself!

Despite being the abandoned half-body, he still dies with Michaela after Michaela dies.

That means the connection between the two wasn't severed completely enough!
But thanks to Lan En's strike—it was all over!

The golden light shattered and dissipated, and the booming incantation and chaotic magic also ceased.

Meanwhile, Torina, who had been at a loss about what to do with the flowers, now tentatively opened her arms in the still-lingering blue smoke, looking bewildered.

Then, an incredulous look of surprise appeared in her eyes!

(End of this chapter)