Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2096, Chapter 2068: Light Rain Ineffective
Marlenia had never experienced such a strange feeling in battle before.

She had no experience with this and just instinctively felt uncomfortable.

Is it because of my own actions?

She was just ambushed by Messermo, Lann, and Melina, and both of her prosthetic legs were damaged, so she can only fight while kneeling on the ground.

This was an unprecedented experience for her entire tactical system, so it's normal that she couldn't perform at her full potential under these circumstances.

'Or did he use some method to enhance himself?'

Lan En is currently in the state he is in after drinking the magic potion; his skin is deathly pale and his eyes are completely black.

His eerie appearance was a stark contrast to his usual self, making it immediately clear that something must have changed about him.

'Or perhaps... his swordsmanship is similar in philosophy to the Waterfowl Swordsmanship, and through this understanding, he can pose an obstacle to me?'

Normally, Marlenia would crush most of her enemies in the world with her powerful Golden Clan bloodline and formidable swordsmanship.

Having very little experience with getting into a stalemate, I'm somewhat unable to judge what's going on and can only guess.

However, while being entangled by Lan En, he was suppressed and was cut down by the opponent for five seconds, and all his energy was spent on defense and parrying.

Even with both of her prosthetic legs gone, Marlene is clearly unable to accept this passive situation.

Her face was cold, and Michaela still had one arm raised high on her back, her eyes downcast.

Their long, radiant golden hair hung behind them like a heavy cloak.

Marlene appeared dazzling even as she moved about.

However, in the eyes of Michaela, Marlenia who is connected by divine power, and Lann himself, who cannot see it from others, it is a different story.

Behind the Witcher, there was also a thick purple 'cloak' draped over his back.

Torina does not have a third hand, nor has her soul ascended to the realm of the gods like Michaela, who returned from the Gate of God.

She couldn't offer any particular help to Lann in the battle.

She's here... simply because she wants to stand with the Witcher and confront the half of herself that abandoned her.

Suddenly!

The frequency of the series of loud "clang clang clang!" explosions suddenly increased!

Marlenia's indifferent face showed a slight bulge in her jaw muscles!
Clearly, this 'king' had had enough of being passive for the past five seconds and forcibly increased his speed temporarily in an attempt to suppress and kill the demon hunter!

And she did succeed.

When Marlenia increased her attack speed even further, the gap between her and Lan En's speed, which was already somewhat different, widened even further! She suddenly felt a sense of freedom and ease when wielding her sword!

That was the feeling of release after being suppressed and returning to normal.

In the sixth second, Lan En finally couldn't maintain his entanglement with Malenia any longer.

Amidst the swirling winds and flashes of light, a slender blade of a golden prosthetic knife suddenly came into view!
The blade broke free from the rest of the entanglement and slashed down with the speed of lightning!

The Witcher had no choice but to stop the ongoing entanglement and retreat.

Marlenia's prosthetic knife is almost two or three meters long, which is almost the same as her height.

A knife of this length would normally be considered very long, but in a stalemate of this level, powerful individuals could easily traverse that distance with a single step.

The attack area of ​​the straight slash is not large, but Lan En's offensive and defensive movements in the previous instant have made him need half a beat slower to adjust his body now, whether he turns to the side or raises his sword.

On the contrary, retreating directly is a beat faster than any other action.

Therefore, the tip of the golden prosthetic knife grazed the Witcher's nose as it fell.

The blade wind it generated sliced ​​all the way to the other side of the God's Gate Plaza!

And that's not all; a cloud layer high in the sky outside the square was also sliced ​​apart along the extension line of this cut.

However, the wind generated by the rapid swing of the blade, without any skill, could not possibly harm Lan En, even if the tip of the blade almost touched his nose.

It's just that her silver hair was blown around.

However, the way Marlenia looked at Lann was as if she were looking at a dead man.

She naturally knew that although the Waterbird Sword Technique was powerful, it did not have any special techniques for injuring people from a distance. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been constantly pulled back and forth across the entire square by Lan En and Messermo at the very beginning of the battle.

But now... it's not just her own power anymore!
"呲呲呲!"

The same sound as when Messermo's spear was knocked away six seconds ago!
A series of pure white light rains appeared out of thin air, following the trajectory of Marlenia's sword swing, and bombarded down!
This is a rain of light that even the bodies of the orthodox Golden Clan and the foundation of the God's Gate Plaza cannot withstand!

While the previous Messermo might have had a chance to survive being bombarded, a mere Faded One simply couldn't!
The first few rays of light were still within the range of Marlenia's longsword, so they fell directly to the ground without any obstruction.

As before, the foundation of the plaza in front of the Gate of God, the pinnacle of the Horned People's technology, simply could not withstand this force.

As if melted through, the pure white rain of light pierced through the plaza, still falling vertically. With a deafening roar, it landed in the town of Tower, blasting a bowl-shaped depression into the ground and triggering a series of earthquakes.

Fortunately, this was just the aftermath, and the Spiral Tower of the Horned People should also be a technological achievement of the same level as the Rodel Wall.

Even if Tombstone Plain is destroyed, this tower will probably still stand here safely.

This was only following the light from Marlenia's sword; there were only two or three streaks of light in front of it.

As usual, the rain of light that followed slammed down on Lan En, who had retreated to avoid the blade itself!

In that very instant when the rain of light was about to fall.

Torina, seemingly instinctively, wrapped her arms tightly around the Witcher's neck, her petite body and thick, long hair covering him.

It was as if it were afraid, or as if it were using its last bit of strength to resist the light from the sky.

However, at this moment, Lan En's pure black eyes revealed no emotion.

He didn't panic. Instead, he retreated to avoid the physical form of the prosthetic knife, and then charged straight forward after the blade swung past!
Marlenia's icy gaze also showed surprise and doubt at this moment.

The light from the sky fell as usual, but when it hit Lan En, the light seemed to suddenly become... like a gentle spring breeze and a light rain?
Even the cold, sacred feeling within the light became much warmer and gentler.

In the end, only the impact force that could still create a large crater was hit on the Witcher.

However, the immense divine power within seemed to have no effect on Lan En.

Only a single strand of golden braid, neatly tied into a bracelet shape, was shaken out from between the plates of Lan En's right arm armor.

—Queen Marika's golden braided hair.

This level of pure physical force is practically nonexistent for Lan En.

"Pfft!"

Despite the Witcher charging forward despite the cold rain of light, he managed to land a perfectly accurate strike in that tiny gap!

This was also the first real injury they suffered after Michaela stepped out of the Gate of God and became 'one with God and King' with Malenia!
Arondette's blade was originally intended to cleave straight down the middle of the skull, just as Marlene had done to Messermo.

But the Valkyrie was still too fast. Even though she was stunned by the surprise, she was still too fast.

She turned her head away at the last moment, and Lann's downward slash only cut her right shoulder vertically.

It must have been at the depth where the front collarbone and half of the back scapula were severed.

Then, in the process of Marlene's sudden awakening, the prosthetic knife suddenly made a 'snap' sound at the connection point of her prosthetic arm.

The long prosthetic blade, which had originally extended fully forward, suddenly retracted by half its length due to the mechanism.

The long sword with a large attack area has been transformed into a flexible and fast short sword!

Taking advantage of the situation, Marlenia quickly slashed left and right, forcing back Lan En, who was already very close.

Not content with that, after Lan En was forced back a little, the short sword immediately extended back to its original position as the mechanism was activated. Once it regained its length, it swung horizontally, forcing Lan En even further away.

During this time, white light rain followed closely, each ray bringing with it a sliver of cold light as it fell.

And it penetrated the foundation of the plaza, in the town of Tower beneath the Spiral Tower... no, perhaps Tower Town no longer exists, it should be in Tombstone Plain, causing a series of huge roars and earthquakes.

However, Marlenia's expression did not improve at all.

Because of the three hasty strikes just now, the very first strike produced a metallic clanging sound.

Shortening the long sword is often a trick Marlenia uses to increase her attack speed.

She herself is still more skilled at using the original length of the long sword.

However, although her swordsmanship is not as well-suited to short swords, her attack speed is at least half again as fast!
However, just now, this short sword slash, which was half again as fast as usual... only touched Lan En's first strike and was blocked!
Did Lan En's speed and reaction time suddenly increase dramatically?
No.

Marlenia knew in her heart that she had injured her right collarbone and scapula, which made her right hand, which was wielding the knife, slower and weaker.

But this is not a big deal. Before Michaela entered the Gate of God, he was the demigod with the greatest talent and understanding of the Golden Law and its fundamental principles.

His naturally flowing blood alone is enough to heal all things. Not to mention the spells he specially crafts...

Suddenly, Marlenia, who had been slowing down as if waiting for her brother to heal her, turned her cold and delicate face in shock to look at her brother on her shoulder.

It was as if she had received some kind of surprising information.

Then her movements became more intense, as if she had given up hope of receiving a timely cure.

And almost at the same time that Marlene's actions intensified again.

A crisp sound of crystals shattering echoed throughout the entire Spiral Tower area from top to bottom!
At the same time, a burning malice suddenly appeared in the God's Gate Plaza!

(End of this chapter)