Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2090, Section 2062: The Flowing Water Sword
In an instant, Marlene's flaxen skirt billowed as she nimbly and decisively carved out a safe zone for herself.

But she was not unscathed. As she cut off the spears that emerged from beneath her, Messermo, who was trying to keep up with his normal speed, was not relying on just one surprise attack.

The spear that had been secretly unleashing the fire of Mesmer, planted in the sand, was pulled out the moment it was activated.

And almost at the same time as Gunfire, he stabbed at Marlenia.

Before Messermo consumed half of the essential flame in his body, he was a powerhouse of the same level as Marlenia, and they had the same fighting style.

Therefore, although he has now switched sides and become the weaker party in the battle, he has a good understanding of how to deal with such fast-moving enemies.

He was still far slower than Marlene, but he compressed the intervals between his attacks to a very small degree.

No matter how fast Marlenia is, she only has one knife.

So, the instant the Valkyrie sliced ​​through a forest of spears, the real Piercer's Spear was also in Messermo's hand, stabbing straight into Malenia's chest and abdomen in mid-air!

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered between Marlenia and Messermo, contrasting sharply with their red hair peeking out from under their helmets.

However, Messermo's cold gaze showed no sign of relaxation or emotion.

Because the tip of his black iron spear did not, as expected, shred the sister's heart or other vital organs.

Marlenia's expression beneath her winged helmet was indifferent and calm, but her only intact limb was her left hand, which was not holding a knife.

But it had already blocked the piercer's spear.

Messermo's spear nearly severed the Valkyrie's left forearm, but it was still held in place by her arm bones, forcibly deflecting the direction of the thrust.

Ultimately, the spear only passed through Marlenia's left forearm, stabbing and slicing her left shoulder, leaving a deep wound that exposed the bone.

Messermo's face was grave.

Because he himself was a warrior of the same type, he knew very well that when facing an enemy with a speed advantage, the one with a speed disadvantage could only hope that the first wave of damage from a successful surprise attack could completely eliminate the opponent.

At the very least, we should neutralize the opponent's speed advantage.

Otherwise, it would be too unrealistic to expect a second chance to succeed in a surprise attack.

And now, there is no doubt that it is his defeat.

The consequences of the failed raid became apparent in an instant.

"Stab!"

Messermo only felt a chill on his stomach, and before he could even feel the pain from Marlenia's superb swordsmanship, his stomach had been completely ripped open!
Ten times more blood than Marleneia had just gushed out spurted from Messermo's stomach, flowing along the horizontal incision!
Messermo barely managed to react at the last moment, arching his back to avoid having his lumbar spine severed and being cut in half at the waist.

But before he could even fully appreciate the pain of his injury, Marlenia swung her knife again, and the cold, golden blade was already slicing across his skin from the side!

Messermo could only raise the gun barrel to his side to avoid being cut into three pieces.

"Choke!"

The moment Messermo blocked the blade with his gun barrel, the Piercer immediately realized something was wrong.

This was not a clean and decisive slash; on the contrary, the force transmitted from the shaft of the spear was more like a 'side push'!
Despite realizing it, Messermo didn't make any targeted adjustments at all.

So, after another clash of swords and spears, the piercer once again became a black and red shadow that flew backwards across the sand dunes, skipping across the water.

Blood gushed from the gaping wound in his abdomen as he flew toward the other end of the plaza at the top, toward the Gate of God!

Less than two seconds had passed since Marlenia had urgently retreated from Lann's side.

The Witcher's expression was serious, but he had no choice but to carefully catch the mangled body of Messermo that was hurtling towards him.

Faced with Malenia's overwhelming speed advantage, Lann and Messermo devised a sound and highly feasible tactical plan without much discussion.

They will split up from both sides of the square and rush towards the Gate of God.

Malenia was a demigod with very simple methods. She was not good at magic or prayer, and was only known to the world for her swordsmanship and the putrid disease that afflicted her.

For a demigod like this, lacking both large-scale and long-range capabilities, to simultaneously prevent two people from advancing towards the Gate of God, the only option is to repeatedly intervene and save the day.

They were completely confused and bewildered.

Each time, you have to cross the entire plaza, which is roughly half the straight-line distance of Tower Town, to stop enemies from one direction, while at that time, there is no one to deal with enemies from the other direction.

With Lann and Messermo's own insight, experience, and judgment in battle.

They can use this to easily adjust the other person's state.

When Messermo couldn't hold on for the first time, Lann suddenly activated his body and rushed towards the Gate of God, forcing Marlenia to give up her chance to finish him off and come to stop him.

When Messermo was splattering blood all over Lann, he used the same strategy.

However, Malenia was also a skilled and experienced veteran of the battlefield. She had already figured out Lann and his team's tactics after only one round trip, and then she even came up with a complete solution.

The two people are separated on either side of the top plaza, and to stop them, one must cross over them.

But once you get them all together, tidying them up isn't too difficult!
In fact, this tactic should have been prepared by Malenia as soon as she saw the two of them come up. Unfortunately, upon first glance, the Valkyrie didn't anticipate that Lann and his companion would use this tactic, thus missing the opportunity for the two to enter through a door.

However, with an absolute advantage in speed, Marlenia has plenty of opportunities to adjust.

Like now!

Marlene has already decided to get rid of Lann and Messermo, and has successfully reunited the two.

Although she had sent Messermo flying from the other end of the square, she didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and immediately followed.

Instead, he jumped slightly in place, raising the prosthetic knife in his right hand high behind him, his right wrist wrapping around his left shoulder.

In mid-air, Marlenia's body, her red hair, and her flaxen dress all presented a beauty reminiscent of a dance prelude under this movement.

However, as the enemy, Lan En... in that instant, he suddenly felt a chilling killing intent, as if thousands of steel needles were suspended and pressed against his skin!
The Witcher, who had just been forced to catch the crashing Messermo, now had his silver hair slightly sticking up!

Without a second thought, he immediately threw Messermo onto the sand nearby.

In the next instant, Marlenia, who was originally on the sand dunes at the other end of the square, suddenly appeared in front of Lann and Messermo as if she had disappeared in a frame drop!
Then... Lan En saw 'Flowing Water'.

That was truly flowing swordsmanship.

Marlenia's movements combined the lightness and elegance of a waterbird, and the sword she wielded in this posture was continuous and, like water, all-pervasive.

There was no longer the sound of blades cutting through the air, or rather, the sound of Marlenia's prosthetic knife moving through the air was more like the sound of flowing water.

It wasn't that the power of her sword strikes had weakened... it was just that she was incredibly fast!

So much so that when the knife is swung, there is no time for even the air or sound to react.

Even human thought has no time to react.

Just like when he faced Marlenia's sudden attack, Lan En reacted passively based entirely on his instinct for danger.

"Dang Dang Dang!"

A series of sparks exploded in an instant!

Its density and brightness even made Marlenia and Lann's surroundings briefly shine like a small sun!

The sand dunes that were 'slightly affected' by Marlenia's sword energy were suddenly hacked apart by a dense barrage of slashes, instead of being smashed into a dent!
Marlenia's sword technique, imbued with the essence of 'flowing water,' was continuous and unbroken.

The wounds on Lan En's body that had just healed suddenly burst forth with blood several times more violently than before!

Even the spurting blood was not spared, as it was shredded to pieces in mid-air by Marlenia's unimaginable blade.

It shattered, then was enveloped in the light of the blade, as if it had violently swept away obstacles and then been enveloped by the flowing water.

In an instant, deep knife marks appeared on Lan En's armor joints, exposed inner lining, and face!
His beautiful face now looked as if it had just been slashed by a net!
At that very moment, his completely black pupils seemed not to have even realized what kind of attack he had suffered.

Malenia's terrifying swordsmanship and overwhelming speed prove why she is revered as the "Valkyrie".

However, just as this relentless barrage of attacks, like a storm of blades, was compressed into a mere instant, and still showed no sign of stopping...

The Witcher's previously blank eyes suddenly shifted slightly.

The subtle changes were barely noticeable in eyes that had turned completely black due to the effects of the potion.

Marlene was no exception at this time.

She had just swung her sword once, and was about to unleash a series of rapid strikes at a speed that most demigods couldn't even react to.

But at that moment, the demon hunter, covered in blood, suddenly gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands amidst the flashing blades!
Marlenia saw it, but didn't care. Because Lann wouldn't be qualified to keep up with her speed just because he changed his grip on the sword.

However, immediately afterward...

"drink!"

A powerful and imposing roar erupted from the Witcher's mouth!

The sound couldn't outpace Marlenia's, but this time, what came out of Lan En's mouth was not just sound, but more fundamentally some kind of vibration wave.

[Water-shaped Sword - Sword Qi]!
Centered on Lann, ripples spreading out in a spherical shape swept directly across Marlenia's body.

In that instant, some golden mist, as if forced out of the Valkyrie, sprayed out from behind her and vanished without a trace.

Marlenia herself was stunned. She clearly felt that a portion of her strength had been inexplicably depleted, and she had never seen such martial arts before.

Moreover, the sword dance, which was originally as flowing as water and as elegant as waterbirds, was now inevitably disrupted and stagnant due to its abrupt disharmony.

(End of this chapter)