Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2103, page 2075: Horror!

Marlenia's [Light Speed ​​Slash] struck five times in a row, and all five landed on Lan En's neck.

Although the speed of light is uncontrollable, the enemy is also unable to defend against it, and Malenia's swordsmanship and pre-aiming are more than enough.

But with Valkyrie's strength, speed, and skill, plus the sharpness of her prosthetic sword, how could she still fail to sever Lann's neck with five strikes?
No, let alone the fact that the Witcher has only placed a set of [tendon coils] under his skin.

With the general power of the golden demigods, even the sophisticated and fearless mechs of the human empire in the star sea, and most heavy war units, would be no match for them.

After all, they were all enfeoffed in a divine dynasty, and their bloodlines and the power they learned were all from powerful figures with profound origins.

Faced with such a blade of light, if it were to strike, there would be no chance that Lan En's neck would remain connected to his body and head.

But now, he is indeed safe and sound.

Where Marlenia had struck five times in quick succession on the side of his neck, a wisp of yellowish-brown flame had not yet completely subsided.

[Guardian Spirit - Kirin - Ninety-Nine Weapons]!
Now that it was confirmed that Malenia would start attacking again and maintain the high-speed pace of the battle, Lann, who was left alone, naturally had to use all his skills to deal with the brother and sister who were 'one god and one king' in front of him.

Beside the demon hunter, the [Guardian Spirit - Qilin] lowered its head slightly, looking at the enemy with a serious and dangerous gaze for the first time, looking at the radiant golden-haired beauty.

The power of the guardian spirit is controlled by extraordinary martial arts, and it is liberated from the 'inner' realm of the host's occult, such as cause and effect, existence, soul, and body, and is brought into the 'outer world'.

A yellowish-brown sheen covered the Lake Maiden's sword, but this was merely the surface of what made this technique known as the "Ninety-Nine Weapons."

In fact, Lan En's entire body was enveloped in a thick layer of pure earth energy derived from the power of the guardian spirit.

He will not be harmed by the outside world until his guardian spirit's power is exhausted.

It was precisely because of this thick layer of pure earth energy that the earth elemental power, which possessed the ability to purify, suddenly emitted a 'sizzling' sound, like strong acid meeting strong alkali, when Lan En's palm pressed on Marlenia's corrupt wings!

After Marleneia freed her from her crimson corruption, even though he knew that fire could burn away corruption, Lann did not encase his weapons in fire, precisely because he had a better option.

The pure, fertile soil's ability to restrain crimson corruption is perhaps even more decisive and direct than that of flames.

At the same time, this also brought Marlene a pain that was even more intense than being burned by flames!
"Ugh!"

The Valkyrie's spirit, which had been shaken by the release of Crimson Corruption, was temporarily refocused by the warrior's instincts and the stimulation of pain.

"when!"

Between Lann and Marlenia, beside Michaela, a burst of sparks suddenly exploded with a crisp metallic clang!

The sparks came from the collision of metal, but then, a moment later, an invisible wave of air spread out as well.

That was the pure, harmless power that had been purified by the cleansing energy of the thick earth.

Marlenia wasn't too surprised that her first attempt to counterattack was blocked.

Because although Lan En was only a faded one, his speed was already at an overwhelming disadvantage.

Even though she is physically disabled, she is still much faster and stronger than him.

However, Lan En had already entangled with her for quite some time before. Apart from the previous time when Lan En inexplicably managed to suppress her for five seconds, this was not the first time he had blocked her knife head-on.

After Marlenia's attack was blocked, she immediately spun around.

Lan En felt his clenched hand suddenly go empty.

On the large wing that he was pressing his palm against, a piece of the surrounding area suddenly disintegrated into a flurry of decaying butterflies, breaking free from his grasp.

In his hands, the 'sizzling' reaction of strong acid to strong alkali suddenly reached a new level.

That was the sound of the corrupt butterfly that hadn't escaped from his palm being directly purified by the thick earth's pure energy, without the support of the scarlet corrupting power.

Lan En, who had loosened his grip, didn't even glance at the direction of his hand again.

He immediately took a half-step back, lowered his center of gravity, and naturally lowered his legs to sit in a horse stance, as if he was trying to stabilize himself even though nothing had happened yet.

And in the next instant, "Whoosh!"

Despite her disability, Marlenia's still-powerful body suddenly twisted, and she used her shortened prosthetic leg to perform a spinning back kick!
Sword masters are usually not weak in physical combat either. Now, no one can help them or cause trouble except for Lan En.

Thus, Malenia was able to use various techniques on this enemy.

The Valkyrie's spinning kick is powerful and decisive, and its sudden transition into the swordplay is incredibly abrupt.

Even disregarding the power involved, her technique was impeccable. Furthermore, Malenia had perfectly calculated the missing length of her prosthetic leg, and even in high-speed combat, she did not allow irrational habits to dominate her consciousness.

But she still missed.

Even after the rotation angle had exceeded a certain limit, the Valkyrie still felt no impact, causing her to frown abruptly.

Marlenia's speed, even when she was just swinging her sword without using any techniques to extend the air blade, was enough to create an airflow that extended from the God's Gate Plaza and cut through the clouds in the distant sky.

That was still a thin, sharp blade with little wind resistance.

Now, when she unleashed a spinning kick, it was like a hurricane was blowing!
The square, which already had little dust accumulation, was whipped up by a gust of wind that spread outwards in the direction of her kick.

Behind Lan En was the direction of the Gate of God. The wind generated by his kick passed through the gap in the middle of the magnificent Gate of God, and a sharp screech rang out.

Then it spread further and wider, and the sound became dulled into a roar as large gusts of air were forced to move.

As for Lann, he tilted his head back slightly, his silver hair fluttering behind him. But his eyes remained calm and unwavering as he looked at Marlene.

It's just a little bit of distance away.

If Marlenia had just tilted her head back a little further, her roundhouse kick would have landed squarely on Lann's head!
But now, if you miss, you miss.

His advance preparations allowed him to remain steadfast even when facing strong winds, let alone be pulled further away as a result.

Yes, to avoid being pushed further away.

During the earlier battle, he and Messermo tried every means to increase the distance between them, so that Malenia would waste her speed advantage.

But now, he is instead trying to prevent Marlene from using her speed to get away from him.

The cold, holy rain of light continued to fall from the sky, following the trajectory of Marlenia's attack.

However, since Lan En was able to withstand the light rain attack with Queen Marika's [Golden Braided Hair] before, now that he has even activated [Ninety-Nine Weapons], he is even less likely to care.

However, the rain of light that did not hit him still penetrated the foundation of the God's Gate Plaza.

Subtle yet bright rays of light fell vertically from the hollow structure of the spiral tower, crashing onto the ground and raising huge, cold, destructive orbs of light.

The people fighting each other in the plaza at the top had no energy left to pay attention to such things.

Marlenia hadn't sensed anything was wrong when Lann blocked her backhand strike.

But then, a sudden spinning back kick didn't even touch the hem of his clothes, and that's when the Valkyrie began to realize something was wrong.

But at this point, Marlenia's speed and strength still held an overwhelming advantage, so she didn't think too much about it. Immediately afterward, the golden prosthetic blade left a trail of afterimages in mid-air and slashed horizontally at the Witcher's side!
This strike was perfectly timed following the previous spinning kick; even to Marlene's sense of speed, it was a tightly connected move.

Lan En, who should theoretically be completely unable to keep up with her fading form, shouldn't have been able to react in time.

But then, a spark flew between the two of them!
"when!"

The Lake Maiden's Sword, which had been set up in advance and was positioned vertically to the side, completely blocked the trajectory of the prosthetic sword's swing!
Marlenia is now absolutely certain—Lan En is the problem!

Her eyes had already rotted, but she still frowned and subconsciously looked at Lan En's face.

At the same time, the prosthetic knife that failed to land a proper strike was already being swung back by her, preparing for another relentless attack.

Although Marlene no longer has eyes, she still has her sight.

This might be due to the visual sharing caused by her 'oneness with the God-King' with Michaela, or it might be that as the 'Goddess of Corruption,' she naturally possesses this ability after unleashing her power.

But in any case, Marlenia has now witnessed something unbelievable.

After she swung her sword and was blocked, she swung it back to prepare for her next attack. Her speed didn't decrease at all during this sequence.

But Lan En, who took the blow with an abnormal reaction... his movements were far more fluid than Marlenia's!

It's not about being 'fast', it's about being 'coherent'!
It didn't feel like a fight; it felt more like a routine performance. Regardless of whether the previous attack hit or was blocked, the next move was already in preparation, ready to be executed immediately after the previous one.

Lan En's next move was as if he was about to place the long sword in a strange position.

But as Marlene looked at the Witcher's strange blade trajectory, she suddenly felt unwell all over!
It's even bordering on terrifying!
Lann's movements were much slower than Marlene's, so to the Valkyrie, Lann's movements also seemed to be in slow motion.

But in this process, which resembled watching a slow-motion video, Marlenia, whose speed was completely 'normal,' discovered that the person in the 'slow-motion video' had his eyes focused on the same spot as the blade... the very direction of his movement was aimed at the position where she was about to complete the action faster!

(End of this chapter)