Bear School Astartes

Bones lightly bumped against the rusted armor, letting out a soft ”kala” clink.

Three transparent yet sharply outlined humanoid phantoms were slowly rising up from beneath the pile of bones!

The three illusory figures all wore ancient armor, and the armor, like their bodies, was a translucent phantom.

Moreover, on their armor, Lann kept feeling that the style was very similar to that old castle in Dorguldu.

It was covered in horrifying Spines and edges, as if it wanted people to feel hurt and pain just by touching it.

As the three figures floated upward, they seemed completely unaffected by any physical obstruction.

They simply rose straight up from the lowest layer of the rock wall.

But when they passed through the pile of bones from the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom, they still nudged a few jagged bone shards, knocking them against the rusted armor.

This state of not being fully voided out, seemingly still retaining a phenomenon where they could be interfered with by matter, at first glance looked a lot like a flaw in their phased form.

But in reality, Lann had already learned when he encountered that evil spirit in Dorguldu that this wasn’t a flaw... this was instead the telltale sign of a far more terrifying, deeper power!

—They were in the Netherworld!

The Demon Hunter’s cat-like pupils in his twin eyes suddenly shrank into slits!

With a sharp ”swish,” he crouched and jumped down out of the cramped, narrow passage!

”Rong Buqiu! Up!”

”Meow!”

The Elu Cat cried out, its voice shifting from soft and sticky to sharp and vicious. Rong Buqiu also entered battle mode.

At this moment, Radagast was still immersed in the shock and terror of seeing three Ring Spirits rise out of the rock wall.

And those three Ring Spirits, once their bodies’ outlines fully left the rock wall, instantly reacted as if they’d been activated!

Phantom bodies raised phantom weapons and lunged at the Elu Cat standing on the pile of bones!

The three Ring Spirits—one held a Longsword, one wielded a Page Hammer, and the last carried a flail.

Within their decayed yet still ostentatious armor, dried corpse-like faces howled!

Dark power surged, formless and shapeless, yet a nameless aura of terror spread out!

Just staying here made one’s hands and feet tremble and breathing become difficult!

The fur on the Three-Floral Kitten’s tail bristled up!

But in the next instant...

”Pa!”

Above the pit, a strong hand clamped onto the edge of the third level’s coffin doorway.

Right after, his free left hand aimed downward, mechanisms biting together with a ”kalala” clack.

”Whoosh!”

The modified New Continent Projector fired a tough hook-lock downward!

Lann had just jumped down three levels; the remaining distance was exactly the maximum length of the Projector’s hook-lock!

The rope, tanned from the mane of a massive Fierce Jackal Dragon, shot down at high speed.

In the instant before the Ring Spirits surrounded it, the Elu Cat, in perfect sync with its boss, instantly understood what to do!

”Don’t even think about catching me, meow!”

Rong Buqiu twisted its body to the side, and the vertically dropping hooked claw shot past, just brushing the tip of its tail!

Then the little cat’s paw swiped back without even looking, already snatching the rope behind the hook-claw.

With a sharp ”swish,” the mechanisms in the Projector recoiled with incredible speed.

This Projector could haul a Hunter weighing several hundred kilos with ease; yanking up one Elu Cat was nothing.

The retracting rope, driven by inertia, snapped all the way back into Lann’s arm-guard, even forcing him to slightly lift his left hand to cancel the pull.

Rong Buqiu, carried by the same inertia, not only shot clear of the Ring Spirits’ encirclement during the rapid ascent, it even soared past Lann’s height and ended up above Radagast’s head!

The Ring Spirits, who had originally lunged toward the center of the bone pile, suddenly halted the instant they missed, as if they had no inertia at all—stopping abruptly and unnaturally.

Then the three differently shaped rotten helmets, along with the mummified faces beneath them, all tilted up.

”Aaaaa!!!”*3

Piercing, eerie screams burst out, carrying invasive terror and darkness!

The three phantoms moved, leaving smoke-like trails behind them as they sprang upward!

Their bodies were light as smoke, scrambling up the rock walls of the pit with hands and feet.

Above, even the glow cast down by Radagast’s light became less gentle under the aura they brought, taking on a shade of gloom.

And Lann, gripping the rock wall with one hand, narrowed his eyes slightly and tilted his head, rolling the muscles in his neck.

Then he released his grip and dropped straight toward the Ring Spirits below!

During the fall, his right hand had already wrapped around the hilt of the blade at his left hip.

The falling Demon Hunter and the Ring Spirits surging upward were about to clash at close quarters!

”Hoo~”

A sound like canvas catching wind suddenly rang out.

The Longsword Ring Spirit in the lead suddenly lost all momentum and inertia in midair, its lunging body hanging there with an abnormally extended airtime, like a wisp of smoke.

The Ring Spirits, like Elves, could freely control whether they possessed inertia, and whether they had weight at all.

It’s just that for the Elf, this kind of ability is innate; they use it with natural grace.

Whereas the Ring Spirit makes use of its nature of being in the Netherworld, wielding it in a strange yet ferocious way.

The crisscross in midair only allows for a split-second opportunity; if your judgment is off in that instant, then failure is only to be expected.

However... this isn’t Lann’s first time coming face to face with a Ring Spirit!

Originally, the vertically falling Lann and the Ring Spirit lingering aloft far longer than normal had already passed each other; the Ring Spirit held the high ground, while the Demon Hunter exposed the back of his neck and his back to the enemy.

But just as the Longsword Ring Spirit was about to seize this chance to lop off the Demon Hunter’s head from above!

”Screech!”

A Long Blade shimmering with dazzling silver light flashed out from Lann’s waist, cascading down as smoothly as a waterfall!

Muscles tensed! The strengthened muscles and the steel wires fixed along every tendon all tightened like wound-up clockwork springs! Power loaded!

With his strong core in his waist and abdomen, and thanks to careful planning, Lann forcibly completed a midair spin where there was nowhere to brace himself!

Along with that, ”Clang!!!” *2

Pale red Fighting Spirit Light Flame coiled around the blade—Tachi Technique·Aerial Qi Blade Slash!

A huge looping slash, the upper half of the arc, hacked the Ring Spirit that had lightened its own mass straight upward! It was sent crashing into the ceiling of the pit!

And the lower half of the arc smashed the Hammer Ring Spirit below, which had been trying to attack from both sides, back down hard to the bottom.

Radagast’s eyes were sharp and his hands quick; he simply twisted the Magic Staff that had been used for illumination, and jabbed it into the Ring Spirit that had been knocked up in front of him.

A shrill, miserable scream rang out; Radagast’s light spell wasn’t just for brightness, it came with its own holy power.

As the Ring Spirit’s power clashed against the holy force on the Magic Staff, the light began to flicker between bright and dim.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; Rong Buqiu had only just landed beside Radagast when a Ring Spirit was knocked up by Lann, reaching the height it had just been at.

The Old Wizard’s Magic Staff flickered, and the Old Wizard’s face twisted as he clenched his teeth and pressed his lips together.

”N–no good! There’s something wrong with my Magic Staff! Rong Buqiu! You get in there too!”

Ever since last time, when Radagast used the crystal on his Magic Staff to absorb the black Magic that almost killed the Great Hedgehog, this crystal had been acting up—sometimes working, sometimes not.

Now it meant that even suppressing a Ring Spirit floating in his face took everything he had.

The Ring Spirit was pinned in midair by Radagast’s Magic Staff; its spectral form twitched in agony, even creating afterimages like a video losing frames.

”Eh? Meow what?”

Rong Buqiu was so anxious that both triangular ears stood upright, his voice turning shrill.

”But I can’t hurt him, meow!”

Rong Buqiu had the Silver Cat Sword for dealing with Demon Spirit Monsters, but the Ring Spirits of this world had depths of power far beyond ordinary Demon Spirits.

The Lady of the Lake’s Sword, before being readjusted, was already only able to exert a fraction of its strength; this regular Silver Sword of his didn’t even bear thinking about.

”Put your sword in front of my Magic Staff! Quickly! I have a little spell!”

”Then why didn’t you use this spell back in the old castle, meow?”

”I, I, I forgot!” Radagast was clenching so hard his teeth were about to shatter. ”Stop yapping! Move!”

”On my way, meow!”

Rong Buqiu darted lightly and nimbly along Radagast’s arm, scampering all the way up the horizontally held Magic Staff.

The Silver Cat Sword on his back slid from its scabbard; the friction between blade and fish-skin sheath produced a pleasing sound.

Rong Buqiu vaulted off along the outstretched Magic Staff; as he leapt, the hanging blade brushed across the tip of the staff.

The Silver Sword was stained with a faint, illusory glow.

Next, like a Ninja, the little cat swept through the air; as he passed, the conveniently sized blade plunged into the Ring Spirit’s neck!

With a wet ”splurt,” it sank in solidly!

Then, using the embedded blade as a pivot, Rong Buqiu twisted his waist, using the swinging momentum to hurl himself away, while yanking the sword out from the Ring Spirit’s neck.

Originally, this move should have been done with a foothold on the enemy; you’d use the step for leverage and then move. But Rong Buqiu didn’t believe he could plant a solid step on a Ring Spirit, nor did he dare let his flesh-and-blood body overlap with the phantom body of a Ring Spirit.

The little cat landed nimbly back on the opposite passageway.

The Ring Spirit that had been pinned midair by Radagast, in the midst of a series of wretched screams, convulsed even harder, and finally exploded entirely!

”Boom!”

The humanoid phantom swelled, then its outline and color faded, until no trace remained.

Only the pieces of its armor were left, seemingly regaining weight for a brief moment, clattering against the rock wall with a ’clang-clang’ noise, before vanishing without a trace as well.

Three Ring Spirits—one was now gone.

And after dealing with this one that had flown in his face, Radagast’s Magic Staff once again shone with a steady, enduring light, illuminating the floor at the bottom of the pit below.

But the Old Wizard and the Elu Cat had barely poked their heads down.

With a ”boom,” like an old-fashioned camera’s flashbulb going off, a loud popping sound and a simultaneous burst of intense light blasted right into their faces!

”I...!”

Radagast was dazzled to the point of seeing stars by the sudden flash, but he actually knew in his heart what had happened; it was just... how was it possible that after only a few weeks apart, this young man Lann had already come up with a way to deal with Ring Spirits?

The flash just now came from a clash between Aron Dite and the Ring Spirit wielding the Page Hammer!

The Ring Spirit that had originally been nothing but intangible illusion, leaving only afterimages of smoke and shadow, seemed to be forcibly dragged out of the Netherworld by Aron Dite in that collision!

Then the power of Light and the power of Darkness had a solid head-on collision, and from that impact burst a dazzling yet fleeting flare.

In this deep, shadowy pit, it was practically like someone down there was holding an old camera and firing the flash over and over!