Bear School Astartes

Chapter 391: 391. Dense Fragments

Facing an enemy that resembled a shadow, it was hard for Lann not to get nervous.

After all, the ’shadow’ itself possessed too many difficult traits to deal with.

The flickering, ethereal body... this point had already been proven nonexistent by Henrik’s shot.

But what about other possibilities?

Could their speed of movement be like shadows? Would they be swift like smoke, or simply travel within shadows and achieve teleportation?

If it was the former, it was manageable; if it was the latter... the other two shadows could emit flames and create shadows themselves.

Various developments and strategies flashed through Lann’s mind in an instant, and Mentos logically vetoed most of them, then refined a portion.

In an instant, Lann’s narrowed cat-like pupils steadied.

”Hold them off first, Henrik!”

While calmly shouting, the Demon Hunter’s left palm faced the ground.

”[Yarden]!”

A circle of magic runes glowing with a faint purple light, supported by the chaotic magic power within the Demon Hunter’s body, formed on the ground.

The shadow holding a katana was directly enclosed within the rune circle of Yarden.

Its actions instantly slowed down significantly, the pressure created by chaotic magic spreading through every inch of the rune circle’s space.

A sufficiently skilled Yarden magic seal could even disrupt warlocks’ carefully executed portals.

Lann didn’t need to disrupt a portal, he simply hoped to keep the shadow wielding the katana from leaving.

As for Henrik, the Old Hunter swiftly and skillfully injected a third of a blood vial into his own thigh.

On his upper arm, having just been ambushed, the shadow katana had nearly pierced the arm bone and then slid sideways out of the flesh.

This kind of injury wasn’t serious, but if untreated would affect combat capability.

The two distant shadows seemed more inclined towards ranged attacks, so they weren’t advancing on Henrik with tight steps.

This situation seemed more like a set program rather than intelligence.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lann pulled out a Dancing Star from the alchemy pouch at his back.

He threw it into the rune circle of Yarden.

Facing shadow-like enemies, Lann decided to first test with a flashbang to see if he could weaken or even eliminate them.

However, amid the not-too-loud explosion of an alchemy bomb, the shadow of the katana seemed unchanged.

This situation made Lann relax a bit... it seemed like this time the enemy didn’t possess many ’shadow’ traits aside from appearance.

— Easy to handle!

With a ”click,” the thumb of his left hand pushed the blade out slightly from the sheath at his waist.

The bright blade flowed like a streak of silver light, ’pouring’ from the sheath.

The [Iwami Cross Slash] carved a standard cross in the body of the shadow with the katana.

Where Aron Dite passed through the body, even temporarily dispersed the shadow along the slash path, revealing clear marks behind the shadow.

After the strike, Lann lightly jumped back, letting the katana in the shadow’s hand swipe through the air just grazing his armor.

Within the rune circle of Yarden magic seal, the enemy’s movements had slowed considerably; slow made it easier to dodge.

’When you cut, there’s a feeling, meaning there’s substance... they don’t have super movement speed, but they don’t have vital points either, do you have to accumulate injuries to a certain extent before defeating them?’

Lann rationally analyzed the enemy’s behavior, thus gathering intelligence.

If it wasn’t an opponent capable of hitting vital points for a one-hit KO, he wouldn’t resort to high-power tactics.

Less potent but sufficiently frequent moves would be more effective against such enemies.

’If I could learn the [Secret Technique: Yixin], the rapid sword strikes should instantly burst through its endurance capacity.’

Unfortunately, he hadn’t mastered it, and couldn’t burst it.

Lann pouted, then grabbed two bombs from his alchemy pouch at his back in a single go.

[Beehive], alchemy bombs that dealt fragmentation damage.

The fragments from a single bomb could number at least fifty pieces, two bombs meant over a hundred pieces!

Heh, how many cuts did Iwami Yixin himself manage with the [Yixin]?

Let me show you what the Demon Hunter style is all about!

The katana shadow thrust the blade from the waist at Lann.

But in its ’slow’ movement, Lann easily stomped the thrust of the shadowy blade under his thick leather boot sole.

With a reverse grip, he thrust the Lady of the Lake’s Sword downward, creating a large gash between the shadow’s collarbone and neck.

With his other hand, without hesitation, he took advantage of this opening and stuffed two [Beehive] directly into the gash.

He then smoothly shifted and stepped away.

The series of actions lasted less than five seconds.

The shadow of the katana was barely backing to the edge of the Yarden rune circle, just short of exiting.

Then, two almost simultaneous muffled explosions sounded within the body of the katana shadow.

Its shadow-like body suddenly expanded, then countless openings appeared, making its body thoroughly transparent.

The damage from over a hundred fragments undoubtedly crashed its endurance limit in an instant.

The shadow holding the katana staggered to its knees like a severely injured person, then crawled, shivered, and turned into a wisp of gray-white smoke, vanishing.

After confirming the enemy was truly eliminated, Lann immediately prepared to turn around to assist the Old Hunter, who was held up by the other two shadows.

As he turned his head, he saw Henrik skillfully sidestepping to dodge a fireball from one of the shadows.

The three fireballs launched in a row, their scorching heat even singing the grass below to a yellow hue in mid-air flight!

With a slight tracking ability, but not strong, they could slightly change flight trajectory if far enough from Henrik.

But when the Old Hunter became aware of this, he chose to dodge when the fireball was about to hit, making the fireball’s course adjustments completely unable to keep up.

Among the remaining two shadows, one emitted fireballs from its hands and wielded a single-handed hammer with a rounded head in its right hand.

The other held a katana in one hand and a candlestick in the other; it seemed the candlestick was also a kind of magical artifact.

It seemed because Lann had prematurely eliminated one shadow, the other two shadows originally entangled with Henrik seemed to have been stimulated by something.

From their mouths erupted a sudden screeching howl.

And on their intangible, non-physical chests, large patches of blood exploded!

The blood sprayed to a height that looked like their major arteries had been severed directly.

After a surge of blood spray, several thick poisonous snakes slithered from their chests, clustering together as they emerged.

Lann and Henrik didn’t know what was happening, but guessed the enemy’s active change during combat should only make them stronger rather than weaker than before.