Bear School Astartes

To be honest, now is not a good time to confront the Deer-headed Spirit directly.

Typically, a Demon Hunter’s battle against a Deer-headed Spirit is divided into three stages.

In the first stage, confirm whether the Deer-headed Spirit is bound to someone’s life in the area, prioritize handling the curse to prevent the Deer-headed Spirit from being reborn, and making all efforts in vain.

The second stage is to eliminate the Deer-headed Spirit’s Magic Totems within the territory, significantly reducing the Deer-headed Spirit’s absorption and utilization of natural forces.

The third stage is the direct confrontation.

This is also why Lann previously said: once you send the cursed person out of the Deer-headed Spirit’s territory, the task is already one-third done.

But plans can’t keep up with changes.

Lann never thought before coming here that the cursed cat would encounter the Deer-headed Spirit again.

It seems that the Deer-headed Spirit actively appeared to save its ’precious asset.’

This situation is extraordinary; at least in Lann’s talks with Geralt and Vesemir, he’s never heard of it.

As for talks with Belengar, they are meaningless. This guy was afraid to even take a griffon commission in his younger days, let alone a mythological monster like the Deer-headed Spirit.

In the mouths of the two Demon Hunter Masters of the Wolf School, they even talked face-to-face with the cursed individuals during several commissions, advising them to stay away from the Deer-headed Spirit’s territory and never return for the rest of their lives.

Of course, there are those who ignored the Demon Hunters’ advice and, in agitation, attacked the Demon Hunters verbally or even drew their swords against them.

After all, leaving one’s homeland to make a living elsewhere means rebuilding all social relationships, and it’s uncertain whether they can even support themselves.

In the eyes of most villagers, the Demon Hunters’ request is akin to saying, ’leave your land and house and go beg in another place.’

The villagers naturally resist, and the Demon Hunters, of course, subdue or kill the villagers before getting injured themselves.

In subsequent battles, the Deer-headed Spirit seemed completely unaware of this.

This indicates that the Deer-headed Spirit’s monitoring and connection with its cursed targets are negligible.

Vesemir speculated that the Deer-headed Spirit’s curse only has the effect of ’drawing life force from the cursed upon its own death to be reborn.’

But now, standing before Lann, this Deer-headed Spirit clearly has a very special curse.

Special enough to sense the danger to its cursed target and emerge from the shadows.

Lann slowly activated the joints and muscles in his body, adjusting his physical state to one suitable for conflict.

This Deer-headed Spirit is quite unusual.

The thought lingered in the Demon Hunter’s mind.

Whether it gained unprecedented progress in this ecologically prosperous world, or because the Ancient Deer-headed Spirit mastered even older, more bizarre Magic than ordinary Deer-headed Spirits...

This is a monster beyond his hunting experience.

A sharp sound pierced the air.

A bright silver light appeared at Lann’s left waist, finally drawing a circle behind him, cutting off a root stealthily protruding from the ground.

”It seems you have a lot of experience dealing with Demon Hunters, clearly.”

Lann began to sidestep and hunch toward the Deer-headed Spirit, minimizing his exposure to the enemy.

Most importantly... to keep his Alchemy Pouch behind him.

That root that emerged from the ground earlier was targeting Lann’s Alchemy Pouch.

The Demon Hunter’s cat-like eyes stared intently into the empty eyesockets of the pale deer skull.

”You think the most troublesome part of a Demon Hunter is that little bag, with its endless specialized tools? Let me guess... Did the Demon Hunters who died by your hand carry a roaring wolf-head pendant?”

The Deer-headed Spirit showed no reaction, only emitting a ’woooo’ sound from beneath the skull, like cold wind blowing through an empty space.

Amidst the creaking of entangled branches, the Deer-headed Spirit raised that withered arm horizontally.

Then two necklaces jingled down from its arm, their pendants swaying on their own.

Those were indeed two wolf-head pendants, but unlike the ones Lann had seen before.

They were not three-dimensional wolf-head carvings but bas-relief wolf-head silhouettes on a Silver Coin.

This should be a very ancient form of Demon Hunter pendant.

Its intelligence is not low, it’s trying to use this to provoke me.

Lann calmly analyzed.

Not low intelligence... This information, for Lann, isn’t actually ’bad.’

”But there are many styles of Demon Hunters, and I’m different from those you killed.”

Lann chuckled softly, casually allowing his own necklace to slip out from his neck. At the same time, the stance that originally protected the Alchemy Pouch on his lower back seemed to relax its guard naturally during a shift in weight.

A continuous, rustling sound suddenly came from the shadows around, in the darkness.

The Grand Commander, hugging the fluffy ball, looked around in confusion, while the Demon Hunter’s keen senses had already detected that it was the sound of tree root networks suddenly expanding rapidly underground.

”Get ready for battle, it’s not planning to let us retreat.”

Lann shouted.

”What about the kitten? It hasn’t made it out yet! At least send it up to the Land Coral Plateau! Otherwise, this fight is pointless!”

”Sending it up is useless, the territory of this Deer-headed Spirit vertically encompasses the Valley of Miasma and the Land Coral Plateau, even riding a winged dragon, it would take two days to fly out.”

Lann’s eyes were grave.

”It’s already blocking us head-on, we can only take one step at a time now!”

The Grand Commander clenched his teeth and thought for a moment, but even his muscle-filled brain couldn’t come up with a solution.

He could only put down the tabby cat in his arms: ”You hide quickly, it’s about to...”

But before the Grand Commander could finish speaking, the kitten raised its helmet, looked up solemnly, and called out.

”Going to fight? Count me in, meow!”

”From what you were saying just now, this clearly concerns me, right? Although I was very scared earlier, and still feel a bit confused now, I can’t accept burying my head and running on a battlefield that involves me!”

”The warriors of the Plunder Race will never accept it, meow!”

The tabby cat tried hard to raise its plundering knife high towards the Grand Commander, hoping to prove that it is a warrior.

The Grand Commander sighed, rubbing his forehead, but before he could say anything, Lann’s voice came over.

”Then let it stay and help, even if ultimately... we will have a chance to manage.”

’Ultimately’ what, Lann did not finish.

But the Grand Commander had already made some unpleasant guesses in his mind.

Even in this world where conflicts between intelligent creatures have greatly eased, they still struggle against nature’s disasters and ecological mutations.

And struggle involves sacrifices, trade-offs, abandonment... The Grand Commander is also a person who understands these truths.

Facing the plush ball that had prepared itself, the Grand Commander had nothing more to say.

”...Then let’s fight!”

Pale red fighting spirit burst forth like an explosion, even making his spiky blond hair seem sharper.

Simultaneously, as if to demonstrate its power, the Deer-headed Spirit spread its arms wide.

Beneath the pale deer skull, it emitted an eerie sound like wind passing through a hollow space.