Bear School Astartes

The Kirin standing on the high platform looked down indifferently at the stag spirit below with its blood-red eyes.

The chaos magic power below was too dense, making it feel uncomfortable.

However, the Kirin’s ability to control thunder made it easy to manage from this distance.

Although it wasn’t too concerned with ecological balance, since it was already here and the invasive species had appeared right under its nose, summoning some thunder to strike a few times wouldn’t be any trouble.

The proud and elegant Kirin tilted its head up to catch the remains of a giant bee blasted upwards by the thunder, and began to gnaw on it.

The insect’s shell was crispy from the lightning strike.

The paralyzing venom inside was as stimulating to the Kirin as a carbonated drink.

To be honest, if it weren’t for the Kirin’s dislike of the Valley of Miasma, the taste of the giant bee alone might have brought it here more often.

After all, the Kirin had eaten since childhood and never once had been paralyzed by the wrong food, only ever falling asleep from it.

Like a brush, the Kirin’s thunder swept away the hordes summoned by the stag spirit.

The giant bees, disoriented by the chaotic ion environment, even if not struck dead directly, lost control of their biological systems, their wings unable to flap, convulsing on the ground.

And the paralyzing thief dragons rushing from the shadows, Lann and the others never even saw them as the movement in the outer darkness ceased.

Honestly, the Kirin only got bested by special attack species like the golden lion. These low-end ecological species didn’t even merit a glance in front of an ancient dragon.

The stag spirit apparently didn’t have basic knowledge of the ancient dragon ecology of this world like Lann did.

It didn’t know how strong the Kirin was or what abilities it had.

But it knew how to wield its own abilities.

Still not directly targeting this demon hunter that didn’t quite fit its past experiences.

The stag spirit crossed its arms in front of it, and a black smoke appeared out of thin air, spreading from behind it to envelop it.

When the smoke dissipated, its figure disappeared with it.

This was the stag spirit’s ”Instant Movement”!

And when the black smoke reappeared, it was already behind the Grand Commander and Puffball!

”Its claws are weird! Don’t touch it directly, meow!”

Puffball’s hair almost instantly bristled, and it jumped away in a streak.

And it gave the Grand Commander a brief warning.

But the well-experienced Grand Commander, already a Legendary Hunter before coming to the new continent, was much stronger than this little cat thought.

With a mind already turned malicious due to sacrifices and reckoning, the Grand Commander clenched his teeth, his expression fierce like that golden lion that day!

With that expression, Lann couldn’t even imagine him making any evasive or defensive moves.

And indeed, he didn’t.

As soon as the stag spirit appeared, its skinny yet powerful claws, which had stabbed a shell dragon to death with two jabs, were raised high, slamming directly toward the Grand Commander!

If hit, the Grand Commander’s height would be halved instantly.

But the title of Legendary Hunter doesn’t come from nothing.

Going it alone with bare hands in the new world for decades isn’t fake either.

Invisible magic smoke, instant movement needed no further explanation.

However, the chaotic wind pressure caused by the stag spirit’s strike was instantly detected by the Grand Commander.

Not only did he detect it, but the furious man instinctively bent to the side, instantly repositioning himself behind the stag spirit!

With a ”boom,” fighting qi flared up explosively!

In a moment’s clash, behind the stag spirit, the Grand Commander wrapped his two powerful, muscular arms tightly around the stag spirit’s skinny waist!

With a ’creak,’ his hands reached from behind to clasp tight over the stag spirit’s front abdomen, sounding like leather rubbing!

”You think you can mess with me?!”

The Grand Commander roared fiercely, his voice indistinguishable from a monster to the little cat leaping and not yet landed.

With force from his waist and core muscles swelling taut to the point of stretching his clothes.

His sturdy uniform was forced to outline muscle contours!

The Grand Commander leaned back, tightly holding the stag spirit.

The stag spirit clearly never expected such a day.

Its voice, like cold wind through hollow spaces, turned frantic and helpless.

”Haa!!!”

Under the Grand Commander’s explosive shout, the stag spirit’s body traced a graceful arc in midair, then crashed ’bang’ onto the rocky ground!

The sound of breaking branches continuously emanated from the stag spirit.

If this happened in a wrestling arena, it would undoubtedly earn a roar of applause.

And at this moment, the three-color cat just landing beside gripped its plunder knife.

With small, sharp tiger teeth exposed, it exuded a fierce cuteness.

The mixed-blood kitten from the Valley Raider Race was raised to use these weapons from childhood.

In their harsh living conditions, even in combat, the plunder race emphasized quickly stripping the most precious materials from enemies for later use.

Thus, the places to strike were centers of valuable material.

Puffball was originally planning to seize the moment the stag spirit was knocked down to stab into its eye socket.

However, its instinct honed by the plunder race caused its dagger to swipe across the stag spirit’s large antlers.

The antlers, covered with moss, branches, and leaves, had two or three shiny stones fall from within when nicked by the plunder knife!

The kitten was stunned itself, not understanding why these things appeared on the eerie monster’s horns.

”Dragon’s Jewels?!”

Just the three fallen Dragon’s Jewels, it recognized one as a ”Fire Dragon’s Ruby” and another as a ”Great Dragon’s Jewel.”

These special Dragon’s Jewels, stronger and more distinctive than ordinary ones, are produced by powerful creatures.

Looking at the stag spirit’s antlers... how many monsters had it attacked?

Puffball’s action provoked an intense roar from the once emotionless, plant-like stag spirit.

”Whoooo~”

Clearly, the jewels on its antlers were of great importance to it.

At least far more precious than its wrist, hacked off by Lann and regrown in a blink.

The mysterious, shady atmosphere on the field lightened with the fall of a few jewels from the stag spirit’s antlers.

”Ha! So this is your use for the ’Dragon’s Jewels’? An enhancement ceremony for absorbing nature’s energy?”

The stag spirit roared to rise, but Lann shouted with joy as he approached.

And with his steps, ”Bang, bang, bang!”

Three normal rounds fired from his ”Flame Assault Crossbow.”

Each shot precisely hit the stag spirit’s rising support points.

Having gauged the stag spirit’s rough body structure through a brief blade clash, Lann used Iwami School techniques to figure out through recoil.

This technique was originally for Iwami Swordsmen to assess enemy stances at the outset of duals.

In Lann’s hands, coupled with Mentos’ computational prowess, he could, though fighting, roughly discern enemy body structures through weapon collisions over time.

Unlike the essence-piercing ”Insight,” this skill was more about analyzing enemy mechanical structures.

The stag spirit was suppressed by the rebounding ammunition on Lann’s heavy crossbow, unable to rise.

Gunflame flickered constantly, Lann’s calm and precise bullets consistently pressing the rising stag spirit.

”Don’t just stand there, kitten.”

In the gunfire, Lann’s voice didn’t even shake as he spoke.

”Go ’trim’ its antlers properly!”

Puffball watched as the stag spirit, capable of stabbing a shell dragon to death with two jabs, was suppressed like this, leaving the cat stupefied.

Then it hurriedly responded.

”Y-yes! I understand, meow!”