Bear School Astartes

The operation went smoothly. This militarized Athena Temple had deployed nearly twenty soldiers for defense and patrol.

However, among these twenty soldiers, there was no one ’recognized by the gods’ or ’holding a Divine Artifact.’

They were just a group of ordinary people trained in the military tactics of this era.

Moreover, there was no opportunity for them to form a battle formation for a frontal confrontation; instead, they patrolled around a complexly structured building in a scattered manner.

For Lann and Cassandra, who were already accustomed to the extraordinary combat pace and battlefield environment, their flaws and gaps were indeed too many and too large.

In less than thirty minutes, except for the last inner hall, there was no living soul left in the entire temple.

Standing in front of the inner hall’s entrance, Cassandra subconsciously twirled her broken spear into a flourish, then sheathed it onto her back strap.

”Only this place is left.”

The Hawk Trainer tilted her head towards the clean and neatly dressed Lann and spoke.

The Demon Hunter said nothing more, just nodded at her and then gently opened the door.

The two walked in silently.

And at the same time, movements from inside the inner hall resonated out.

”Speak, you little bastard!”

”Tell us, who sent you snooping around for information in Mogala City? Who sent you sneaking up the mountain to enter the temple?”

Fierce curses echoed from inside.

Judging by the voices, there were two people interrogating a ’little bastard’ inside.

Cassandra listened and immediately had a bad premonition.

She turned to look at Lann and just by seeing his expression, she knew they both had the same thought.

What slightly surprised Cassandra was that Lann’s expression, compared to ’worry,’ was more like... ’that little rascal overdid it again’!

No time to ponder more, Cassandra decisively and swiftly raised her leg and kicked hard. With a loud ’bang’, the small door inside the inner hall flew open!

”Let her go...”

Cassandra shouted anxiously and furiously, her battle cry full of oppression.

But before she could finish shouting ’let go,’ a small shadow darted out from inside with a ’whoosh’!

If Cassandra hadn’t controlled herself well, her broken spear would’ve almost gone through!

The shadow that jumped out from the door was also startled.

But the shadow’s emotions quickly turned into surprise, and she happily exclaimed, ”Cassandra!”

Then, as if remembering something, her emotions plummeted and became terrified.

”Don’t look inside! Cover your...”

Cover what?

Cassandra was already a bit bewildered when Phoebe came darting out on her own, and now she couldn’t react at all.

Phoebe’s expression grew increasingly anxious, and from inside the inner hall, the sounds of Athenian soldiers pursuing could also be heard.

Suddenly, a tall and robust body directly enveloped Cassandra and Phoebe in its embrace, then turned its back to face the opened inner hall door.

Almost at the same moment—”Boom!”

A blinding light and intense noise suddenly exploded from the inner hall!

The excessive brightness was enough to damage one’s vision, causing temporary blindness. Meanwhile, the reverberating, trapped-in sound within the sealed structure could easily damage a normal person’s cochlea!

It could lead not only to deafness but also disrupt the body’s balance center, resulting in vomiting, seizures, and muscle failure.

These were all bloody experiences learned by Demon Hunters’ predecessors after igniting the [Dancing Star] in enclosed caves!

Cassandra had never experienced such an attack before and shrank mindlessly in Lann’s embrace. Phoebe, however, appeared to handle it a bit more adeptly than her.

Yet Cassandra could sense that her unique ’sense’ wasn’t too affected by this kind of attack.

”Phoebe, look what you’ve done!!!”

Lann yelled as if scolding a mischievous child, his voice sounding a bit distorted to her rattled eardrums.

And the little girl surprisingly retorted immediately even amid the explosion.

”You never told me it would be so loud indoors!”

For some reason, Cassandra actually found it a bit funny at this moment.

She deftly slipped out of Lann’s embrace and charged into the inner hall.

Just as she suspected, there was only a burly barbarian and a figure wearing a full-cover metal helmet.

Icarus.

Cassandra immediately identified him as her target.

Without thinking, she instinctively took the broken spear hanging on her back and with a ’whoosh’ threw it!

Icarus, originally clutching his helmet, was undoubtedly also a ’god-chosen one’, possessing some extraordinary perception.

Cassandra’s spear throw was blocked by his raising hand, and a layer of illusory golden light erupted from the contact point between the spear and his arm.

The sharp spear blade didn’t pierce the flesh, while Icarus’s arm’s illusory golden light dimmed significantly.

When Cassandra saw her broken spear fail to penetrate the enemy’s body, she realized something was amiss.

But her ability to teleport to the spear had already started to activate.

Her agile and graceful body transformed into golden particles of light, and upon gathering beside Icarus, Cassandra reached out to grab the recoiled broken spear in her palm.

Then she unhesitatingly threw it again without daring to linger, the flying spear piercing the throat of the large barbarian five paces away, and Cassandra subsequently appeared beside the barbarian.

And at her previous position, two daggers even shorter than the typical Greek short sword, with edges as sharp as a mirror, tore through the air in a crisscross.

Very tricky.

Cassandra immediately recognized how difficult this guy was to deal with.

Even if excluding the Divine Artifact on him, this mercenary named Icarus’s reaction speed was only slightly slower than hers.

But fortunately... today she wasn’t alone.

[Alder’s Rune]!

”Clang!”

The sound of air being squeezed by the force generated out of nowhere followed by the clashing against a metal helmet echoed.

Lann, who had just let go of Phoebe from his embrace, was turning to raise his hand, retracting the poised gesture he had readied.

The Demon Hunter, seeing Cassandra’s broken spear unable to pierce the enemy’s arm skin, wasn’t convinced that the ammunition in his gauntlet was more potent than Cassandra’s spear.

So he deliberately expanded the striking area of the [Alder’s Rune].

Icarus’s entire helmet took a severe blow, which sent him flipping half a somersault in the air, crashing his leather-armored back onto the ground.

Inside the helmet, a man who hadn’t shown his face yet uttered a string of muddled murmurs.

It was like getting slammed against the wall with a helmet, an impact strong enough to give an ordinary person a severe concussion. But for people like them, it merely left them dazed for a while.

Cassandra had no intention of letting her opponent recover. The broken spear in her hand, the blade already emitting a golden light, seemed to be gathering some force.

Then, like an eagle diving for prey, she slid to a kneeling position beside Icarus, and thrust the gleaming golden spear into his throat!

With a ”thud,” a layer of golden light shattered on Icarus’s body surface, and the arterial blood sprayed long traces on the temple floor from the neck.

A not particularly challenging assassination.

The dust settled.

Meanwhile, on Lann’s end, he flicked Phoebe a ’pop’ on her head.

Staring sternly at the little girl.

”Alright, missy. Now we can discuss your issues.”