Bear School Astartes

Chapter 953: Chapter 935: Moon Worms Rampaging

Just like when Lann first arrived in this world, heading towards the Profound Church or Losric.

Something has happened in this New Divine Capital Ilyushil.

This inevitably makes Lann feel emotional: the chaotic era with the fire about to extinguish is the perfect stage for all conspiracies and ambitions.

But unlike the previous places, Lann seems to have come just in time.

At this moment, it is clearly the most critical and climax of the changes.

In the town, buildings with tightly closed doors are deathly silent.

Even with the senses of a Demon Hunter, no signs of human activity can be heard within the buildings.

Otherwise, everyone in the town might be at a meeting, or a feast, a celebration, anyway, everyone gathered in one place.

Or... the people in this town might already be wiped out.

Snowflakes gently scatter onto the stone-brick ground, pile up silently.

This quietness sends chills down the spine.

Lann stands before a door, glancing around. Rong Buqiu stands by his leg, paws gripping the hilt of the sword behind him, vigilantly looking around as well.

”Sss~ Boom!”

The knife light, clear as lake water, first slices through the gap in the door, then the palm pushes forcefully, breaking the lock inside.

After opening the door, Lann slips inside the house.

What hits him first is a pungent stench.

This is an ordinary house on the streets of Ilyushil, Lann didn’t deliberately choose anything.

Upon entering, the exquisite utensils, furniture, even the intricate carvings on the walls and handrails, display the wealth and artistic taste of the Divine Capital residents.

But the whole house is dim and lightless, only the moonlight faintly casts through the frosty window.

Several shriveled corpses lie among furniture that should have been exquisite and clean, now in disarray.

Under the corpses, there should have been dirty liquid, but now only the stench remains, the marks left after the liquid dried.

”A mix of feces and vomit... died from illness?”

Lann’s experience allows him to almost immediately comprehend the scene before him.

The Demon Hunter’s career makes him not shy away from examining these dirty corpses.

In the vomit and feces of these deceased, there are some small blue worms.

On a piece of paper that seems to be a record, the homeowner despairingly wrote a line: Moon Worms are rampant in the Cold Valley.

”Gastrointestinal disease caused by intestinal parasites?”

The Demon Hunter made a guess.

And at this time when the fire is about to extinguish, the Cold Valley is suffering from an outbreak of infectious intestinal parasites... Lann doesn’t think this is a coincidence.

Lann walks out of the room, nodding solemnly to Rong Buqiu and Qilin guarding the door.

It can be confirmed, there really are no living people in this city.

After that, they no longer try to sneak ahead, for there really is nobody in the houses on either side of the road.

Abandoning the stealth, the pace instantly quickened.

Under Lann’s steady running, it wasn’t long before they reached the area they had previously seen, where fire columns shot from the ground to the sky.

The sounds of slaughter grew louder.

The clash of steel upon steel, the whistling of combat techniques being unleashed, and the sound of magic and fireballs slicing through the air.

Just like in Losric, where Lann has personally witnessed coups and rebellions.

Silent yet fierce slaughter is unfolding between two parties.

One party is already emaciated beyond recognition, with even the muscles on their cheeks withered to expose bone. Yet they wear exquisite but lightweight silver armor, presenting an elegance mismatched with their physique.

The other party seemed familiar to Lann, almost like the armor of Black Knights had been thoroughly cleaned, turned silver-white.

These silver-white armored knights, resembling the Black Knights, should be the legendary Silver Knights.

Having followed Gwyn in the Ancient Dragon War, opened the Fire Age, the Divine Era Knight Order, guardians of the Divine Race.

The strength of these knights was evidently superior to the other party, but for various reasons, their movements seemed practically hamstrung to Lann.

Through millennia of accumulation, almost every Silver Knight’s Power of Soul is terrifyingly strong.

They guard the Divine Race and have personally witnessed countless stories in the ”miracles” truly occurring.

These knights don’t need to pray; they can wrap their weapons in golden thunder at will.

That thunder is the famed dragon hunting technique from the Dragon Hunter era.

The Dragon Race, even the Immortal Ancient Dragons, have been slain by Silver Knights.

Such knights are almost all comparable to the Elite Knight Captain of Losric.

Opposing them, those skeleton-like Undead Knights can’t withstand the thunder for long; their Power of Soul would be completely shattered, then slaughtered.

Yet even in such circumstances, the Silver Knights remain the defending side.

They guard the lavish mansion by the church in the town center tightly under enemy assault.

”Bang!”

Simo’s enormous golden hammer only had to raise slightly, and the massive hammerhead could cover most of his body. A fireball hit the hammerhead, leaving not even a scorch mark.

”Traitor! Bastard!”

Underneath that bulging armor was once the executioner of Great King Gwen, a close friend of the Four Knights of the King; now he could only curse indignantly.

The enemies outside the manor wanted to break in. Normally, a hero renowned since the time of King Gwen wouldn’t be overwhelmed by such a battle scene.

But now, Simo only felt helpless.

”Get out!”

His towering body shouted, and the massive hammerhead seemed like a drowning water barrel!

As it smashed down, half the square in front of the manor quivered in response!

The Undead Knights brandishing curved sabers, extending with magic power blades in front of him, couldn’t hold out for even a moment before becoming something that could be described as ’a puddle’.

A huge gap appeared in the enemy’s formation; concentrating the forces now, leading strong Silver Knights straight in, could easily pierce through the entire formation with superior individual prowess!

However... Simo could only watch as these ’weak’ Undead Knights reformed their array once more.

While the Silver Knights beside him, only two or three bit into the formation during this process, leaving behind five or six enemies.

After dealing with the enemies around them, the rest stood back as if they lost their target.

Simo couldn’t command most of the Silver Knights.

Because these Silver Knights had long received orders of higher ’priority’ than his own.

Orders from the current Sect Leader of the Divine Race, ”Shadow Sun,” before the illness progressed to make them unable to lead.

——Silver Knights are guardians of the Divine Race, and the knight orders are dwindling; they need only guard the Divine Race. Now the flame wanes; Pope Shalivan may act freely.

The Silver Knights seem to face the same problem as the Black Knights Lann had seen.

They lived too long, dulling their spirits.

They’re still loyal but almost devoid of independent consciousness; they just follow orders simply.

This command shouldn’t have been a problem; after all, Pope Shalivan had served as the Dark Moon Pope for hundreds of years.

His loyalty and wisdom were well known, even if Losric failed to rekindle the flame; people believed the Dark Moon Pope could restore balance and reignite it.

But everyone seemed to overlook one issue—what if that renowned, loyal, and wise Dark Moon Pope... never intended to rekindle the flame... what then?

Simo hadn’t considered this issue before; he was the executioner of the Royal Family, the loyal hound of the Divine Race. He didn’t need to think about such complex matters.

But things have reached a point where no one has a choice anymore.

Since ”Shadow Sun” Gwendolin suddenly fell ill, progressing rapidly to incapacity, the situation in Cold Valley deteriorated sharply.

Pope Shalivan used the excuse of ’suitable for recuperation’ to move Gwendolin to the ruins of the Old Divine Capital after arriving at Ilyushil, to the abandoned church in the ruins.

Up to this point, Simo already felt something was wrong.

The ruins of the Old Divine Capital Yanorlund were relocated only out of nostalgia, without practical use.

Even Gwendolin himself lived in Ilyushil for convenience in preaching and governance, returning to the ruins only occasionally.

How could a church abandoned for tens of thousands of years be suitable for recuperation?

Especially for an unknown illness that even the Divine Race hadn’t heard of?

But following closely, the outbreak of the Moon Worm in Cold Valley drew everyone’s attention.

And when the Moon Worm became incurable, Pope Shalivan showed his cards.

He claimed to have controlled the Shadow Sun and demanded Princess You’Er Xia, the most noble in status, bloodline, and legal rights in Ilyushil at this moment, to make a compromise for her brother’s safety.

Thanks to Princess You’Er Xia temporarily leading the Dark Moon Knight Order before Shadow Sun became incapacitated, she had command over the Dark Moon Sword.

Otherwise, Simo didn’t dare to imagine the situation.

Yet even so, Pope Shalivan made demands today, more demands tomorrow.

He’s already threatened the safety of Shadow Sun multiple times, extorting from Princess You’Er Xia many treasures and knowledge of the Divine Race.

Even personal maids of the Divine Race!

Yet at this stage, he was still not satisfied.

Like such a siege, there’s a new round of attack with each demand.

If not for the few Silver Knights who retained their thinking after prolonged existence and the support of the soul bodies of the Dark Moon Sword summoned urgently by Princess You’Er Xia.

Simo didn’t believe he could hold with only a group of Silver Knights who could merely execute orders rigidly.

”You’ve fought enough.”

Simo leaned on his hammer, speaking coldly to the witch behind a large group of Undead Knights.

”What more do you want!”

These tall witches dressed in silver skirts and helmets were also Shalivan’s core force.

Shalivan granted them control over the slightly sinful flames, and this flame, as the joint research of Ilyushil and Losric showed, twisted the user’s minds into a cruel and pathological state.

Beneath the fully enclosed helmets, the twisted and low voice of the Pope Witch emerged.

She presented another demand on behalf of her master.

And this demand was met with Simo’s gritted, low growl after a brief silence.

”Sinners... outrageous!!!”