Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2089, Section 2061: Back-and-forth Restraint
The hard armor plates stripped from Smaug the Lonely Mountain Dragon are certainly an advantage against the slender, long blade of the prosthetic sword.

However, at the joints of the armor plates and in the lining, the entire suit of armor mainly uses the thick black hide of the [Mist Nest Lord] Deviljho.

The materials obtained from Deviljho are considered high-end in the New World, but they are still essentially supple leather, which doesn't perform well against longswords.

Clean, sharp cuts appeared all over Lan En's body.

The wounds inflicted by the long sword opened up, writhing like a baby's lips, and bleeding out.

The good news is that Marlenia failed to sever any of the tendons in Lann's subcutaneous muscles.

"Stab!"

Amidst a series of flashes of light, dozens of tiny sparks suddenly appeared.

Beneath the winged helmet, Marlenia's eyes narrowed.

With her swordsmanship and strength, the tactile sensation from the longsword was enough to tell her a lot.

The dozens of cuts she made on Lan En's body did not achieve their intended purpose at all!

When it cut in, it didn't seem like it was slicing through the hard skin or cutting into the flesh. Or rather, that's how it initially appeared.

But when she tried to cut further with her prosthetic knife, she suddenly cut into a hard object between the other person's muscles.

Marlenia's swordsmanship follows the same style as Lann's, precise and fluid.

Therefore, this unexpected obstacle was not part of her preparations before she took action.

In the swift, one-touch attack, Marlenia failed to completely sever those hard objects inside Lann's body... those hard objects that should have been in the location of tendons.

The golden prosthetic knife cut and resisted the tendon coils inside the Witcher's body.

The friction between the metals produced sparks and instantaneous high temperatures.

The skin and fat around Lan En's wound emitted a burning smell.

However, because the tendon coil was not severed, Lann was still able to maintain his muscle movement through the contraction and relaxation of the tendons.

Sparks flashed one after another, and as Marlenia wielded her sword, a large number of sparks suddenly emerged from the flashes, like gasoline being ignited.

That was because Lan En still managed to block the next dozen or so slashes from Marlenia.

But this is already the limit.

The Valkyrie was still far faster than him! In the next instant, another wave of blades aimed at the joints and lining of the armor came crashing down!

This time, Marlenia had already calculated the information she had gained from the feel of cutting.

Regarding the hardness and toughness of the tendon coil... while it certainly isn't as precise as Mentos's calculations, it's perfectly adequate based on Marlene's feel and experience.

The tendon coil was able to block Marlenia's previous slashing attack only because it had an advantage that the opponent had never seen before and therefore had not anticipated.

However, this advantage is only effective the first time against a powerful figure like Marlenia.

In the next slash, she will sever all the important joints and kinetic chains within Lan En's limbs beneath his armor, turning him into a helpless pile of rotten flesh!
"...?"

But just as Marlenia's power was about to be unleashed and the next flash of blades was about to be launched, her eyes beneath the winged helmet suddenly saw the eyes of the witcher in front of her looking behind her.

Marlenia's thin lips, which were exposed outside her helmet, clenched tightly.

She had fought Lan En twice and spent some time with him, so Marlenia had no doubt about Lan En's qualities as a warrior.

He was among the very best. Even compared to demigods like himself, he was only inferior in terms of pure power.

But now, how could a warrior who is an exemplary figure be distracted from his own focused concentration, where he dares not make the slightest mistake, and look behind him?

There's only one explanation: something more important is happening behind him than the blade he's about to unleash!
Thinking of this, Marlenia's attack, which she was about to unleash freely, was instantly and naturally withdrawn, just like a mountain stream flowing through water.

Without stopping, her body, which had an absolute advantage in speed, suddenly flashed behind her in an instant!

Only then did the Valkyrie see what was happening behind her—Messermo was rapidly approaching the Gate of God from the route at the other end of the top plaza!
He and Lann were positioned almost to the sides of the entire square, so much so that Marlenia, who was all alone, had to run back and forth across this square, which was almost half the size of Tower Town, to stop them from getting close to the Gate of God!
At her peak, Malenia possessed unparalleled speed, but there was no doubt that when she needed to balance both sides, her enemies chose to weaken her speed advantage by maximizing the distance between them!

Her speed is indeed unmatched, but the distance she needs to run is also objectively real, so just run.

This style of weakening powerful enemies with sophisticated and ingenious plans and logic... Marlene had only heard of Messermo's name in the Shadowlands and didn't really know much about her brother, so she couldn't say for sure.

However, she knew very well that the other person present was indeed very good at using this style of planning!
As they sped along, Marlenia glanced back in an instant.

Through the peephole of her winged helmet, Lann, whose tendons she had nearly severed earlier, was calmly pulling a bunch of small bottles from the alchemical pouch at his back. He swallowed [Higher Swallow], mixed with [Higher Blizzard], [Higher Tawny Owl], and other witcher potions.

The swallow, symbolizing revival, along with Lann's injuries, activated the Belisarius Furnace within his chest.

The ultra-fast repair substance began to be secreted from the enhanced organs and acted on the body with an efficiency far exceeding that of a normal Space Marine.

It was almost like a video being played in reverse; the wound, deep enough to expose the tendon coils, was spontaneously closing up.

On Lan En's face, the knife scar on the side of his face, along with the horizontal cut on the left side of his earlobe, were all rapidly healing.

At the same time, the potion's toxicity began to show on his appearance.

The skin turned deathly pale, and the pupils turned black and spread to occupy the entire eyeball.

Because before undergoing the Space Marine modification surgery, Lann's body was still that of a Witcher.

Therefore, although the Space Marine's "Pebble Kidney" greatly enhanced his body's resistance to poison, the ingredients in the potion still caused him corresponding stimulation and allowed him to improve.

Marleneia sped toward Messermo.

Her fight with Lan En lasted less than a second, but in that short time, the sand dune where Lan En had just stood was already covered with a large area of ​​messy knife marks from the dense, sharp blades.

The small sand dune almost instantly exploded and dented out like it had been chopped into minced meat!
Without pausing for a second, Lan En activated his body, which, stimulated by the potion, became even more active and charged towards the Gate of God!
Even with Marlene's strong personality, she couldn't help but grit her teeth when she saw this scene.

It's obvious that although he currently has an absolute advantage in speed, he has to work tirelessly for the Gate of God!
Marlene could see it, but she was forced to continue doing it.

"drink!"

The frustration in his heart transformed into a more powerful attack.

Marlenia's speed instantly stirred up a sandstorm in the top plaza.

The golden prosthetic blade swung towards Messermo.

The weakened Messermo was indeed no match for Malenia at present, but he had already formed his own ideas as he rushed toward the Gate of God.

The long, golden prosthetic blade gleamed with the cold, majestic sunlight that surrounded the Gate of God.

But faced with this blade, Messermo, who was originally rushing toward the Gate of God, immediately stopped, as if he were about to deliver himself to the tip of the blade.

He didn't even raise the piercing spear in his hand, but instead stuck it on the sand.

...Standing on the sand?

Marlenia immediately realized something was wrong in that split second.

Messermo couldn't possibly be the kind of person who would just give up and wait to die because the enemy was too strong; otherwise, Queen Marika wouldn't have sent him alone to conquer the Shadowlands.

There are plenty of ruthless people on this continent of Shadowlands, and even within the Golden Clan, very few can show off their power here.

Coming here clearly means we're going to fight a tough battle, or even a battle where we're at a disadvantage.

But the only one sent here was still Messermo.

"...!"

In that instant, Marlenia saw the crimson winged snake that was wrapped around the piercer's shoulder.

The cold-blooded animal's face showed no expression or fluctuation; it simply stared at her, just as it had at the beginning.

Along with the winged serpent's gaze, also staring at her were the golden pupils that were faintly visible beneath the black iron winged serpent helmet.

Cold and calm, like gold, and like... a snake's pupils!

"呲呲呲!"

In an instant, the originally grayish-white sand was covered by pitch black!

—That's the black smoke that naturally accompanies the fire of Messermo!
Almost simultaneously with the spreading of black smoke, piercing spears, crooked and twisted but all pointing upwards, emerged from the black smoke!
In an instant, most of the top plaza was filled with a forest of black guns! Their cold glint flashed!
"Do you think this will work?"

Clang, clang!

The golden blade flashed through the dark forest of guns, leaving white streaks as it tore through the air!
Even if Marlenia was outmaneuvered, her exceptional speed and reflexes still allowed her to handle the situation.

A large section of the forest of spears formed by Messermo's fire was suddenly sheared off in the area around her.

(End of this chapter)