Bear School Astartes

The silver light of Aron Dite flickered once more.

But during the process of using armor to lock the enemy’s weapon and thus restrict their movement, the strike from Lann still made him furrow his brow.

’Has the aberration intensified?’

The Demon Hunter locked the greatsword with his left armpit and elbow, while the long blade in his right hand angled upwards.

According to Lann’s original plan, this strike should have slashed diagonally upward from the enemy’s right armpit holding the sword, all the way to the left collarbone, bursting out of the body.

He should have slashed down the entire right shoulder, taking the neck along with it.

But the oral appendage growing from Ludwig’s neck, covered in countless swiftly revolving eyeballs, crazily rotated as they gazed at Lann’s blade!

The slippery sound of the eyeballs turning and rubbing almost made one’s hair stand on end!

Through the friction and struggle between his heavy armor and the enemy’s greatsword, Lann keenly felt that the opponent’s body had suddenly transformed more thoroughly!

At the moment he swung the sword, the sounds of breaking and reconnecting bones, tearing and healing muscles suddenly erupted.

Compressed into an almost teeth-grinding sound of bone and flesh commingling in an extremely short time frame.

”Clink. Crack.”

From Ludwig’s sword-wielding right shoulder, his limb was cleanly cut off by the Lake Lady’s Sword. Blood and the greatsword both fell into the blood pool.

The swirling Qi Flow Blade encircling the elegantly curved blade even swept out a massive amount of blood from his body, spreading across the horizontal surface cut by the blade to unveil a blood-red, foul-smelling curtain.

However, this strike ultimately did not decapitate him.

Because Ludwig’s already emaciated body, suddenly elongated its neck by nearly double!

The entire neck resembled more like a horse!

And... having turned into this, can cutting the head really kill him now?

As Lann released the greatsword he had pinned down using the advantage of heavy armor, he immediately retreated!

A blood rain suddenly erupted from Ludwig’s body, enveloping an area of ten meters around him.

This was the flesh and blood bursting forth from his body in rapid and intense transformation!

”Aaaaah!!!”

A loud, ear-piercing sound like the braying of donkeys and neighing of horses erupted from within that blood rain.

Mixed with the pain of aberration and Ludwig’s own mental breakdown.

The sound came from Ludwig’s mouth, but the control of the body no longer belonged to that head.

As his head was controlled to make sounds, he must be feeling extremely frightened inside.

Lann’s amber vertical pupils quickly scanned the surroundings.

Within the range covered by the blood rain, Ludwig’s two severed arms and the expertly crafted armed gear from the Healing Church Workshop were rapidly dissolving.

Behind him came the sound of rushing through the blood pool, ’swoosh swoosh’.

”What’s happening here?”

Maria pressed her hat, stopping beside Lann, and spoke softly while watching the violent blood rain.

”Adeline.” Lann asked without turning his head, ”Is she settled safely?”

”She’s in a safe place, almost scared out of her wits here.” Maria’s tone was much steadier compared to before, no longer sounding like forced calmness after a breakdown.

Thanks to Lann accompanying her on a walk through the research hall.

”I heard strong gunfire here, so after settling Adeline, I hurried over.”

Her blood-red eyes glanced at the Demon Hunter beside her.

”This isn’t at all like our previously agreed ’swift and quiet’ strategy.”

In reality, although Lann and the others went to the research hall, allowing Maria and Adeline to face the reality,

they were not much slower than Henrik and his crew.

But those Old Hunters were already lost in the blaze and blood; if avoiding too much entanglement with them was possible, Lann and Maria would be more than happy.

Thus, Lann took the lead to find a relatively safe path ahead and quickly slaughtered the Old Hunters blocking the way.

While Maria led Adeline slowly, dealing with any deranged Old Hunters that wandered over after Lann passed.

”Plans never catch up with changes.” Lann cautiously said to Maria, while gesturing toward the dissipating blood rain, ”This isn’t something you can deceive by just ’sneaking around’.”

”What do you mean?”

Maria puzzledly looked at the gradually dissipating blood rain, but ultimately, upon seeing what it actually was, shock and pain filled the Blood Nobility’s eyes.

”...Ludwig?!”

Finally, after the blood rain dissipated, the staggering ’thing’ standing over the blood pool was revealed.

The clothes on Ludwig had already been torn into tattered strips hanging on his body by the rapidly growing black fur, a clearer sign of the beast transformation disease.

But that was not the worst.

”Hiss~ Aaaah!!!”

Ludwig’s face had elongated to such an inhuman extent that it resembled more a horse or donkey. The asymmetry was especially pronounced on the right side, with even the eye and eyebrow locations not matching those on the left side.

At the same time, uncontrollable inhaling and neighing sounds reminiscent of a mad horse or donkey also came from his mouth.

At the place where Lann had cut off his arms, twisted, beast-like, slender black-furred arms had emerged.

His legs were gone as well.

Seven or eight horse legs grew out from his body in such a disorderly manner that it was impossible to tell their purpose.

Some grew from his belly, others drooped from his back, and judging by the joint directions, some even grew backward.

The seven or eight extra horse legs twitched grotesquely in the air.

The entire figure was like a monstrous and absurd conglomeration!

Beast-transformed and mutated, its limbs became slender, and this supernatural disease, or rather curse, endowed its body with considerable extra weight and size.

Its body reached a length of seven to eight meters, likely as tall as the Barbaric Jaws Dragon of the New Continent if it stood upright!

The transformation from human size to such an extent manifested the distortion and irrationality of the beast transformation disease unmistakably.

A grotesque maw laden with eyeballs on the neck forced his head to one side, dominating the space.

Although Maria had previously interacted with Ludwig and could vaguely recognize his twisted, elongated profile, even she could barely trust her own eyes.

A beast twisted to this degree... was unheard of even among the group of beast transformation disease patients!

And now, this beastly figure was the ”Church’s First Hunter”... the honored Ludwig.

But now, regardless of this person’s former resilient, noble spirit, or strong body, upon catching the beast transformation disease, he was just a beast.

In Yan’an, this is the unspoken, longstanding rule.

The deformed, grotesque beast let out a hysterical roar from Ludwig’s mouth, as if expelling its lungs.

It propped its forepaws on the ground, while numerous surplus horse hooves twitched neurotically on the hind part.

It was only now that Lann noticed on the opponent’s back that Ludwig also seemed to be a hunter wielding two swords.

One of them, a transformable weapon intricately crafted by the Healing Church Workshop, had already dissolved in the bloody rain just now.

But now, another longsword entangled with tattered cloth remained on Ludwig’s back; it’s unclear how this ”Church’s First Hunter” would use it when he was still human.

However, now, albeit gritting her teeth, the edge of Maria’s ”Falling Leaves” glimmered with a menacing chill.

At her side, Lann gripped the hilt of the Lady of the Lake’s Sword, continually opening and closing his palm to adjust his grip.

Undoubtedly, what stood before them was... merely a beast!

”Mm! Mm!!”

Having completely turned into a beast, Ludwig emitted eerie cries resembling those of a diseased horse.

Such intense deformity in such a short time was enough to drive a person mad.

Yet, the manifestation of the beast transformation disease in Ludwig... was particularly malicious.

His head, which still bore traces of human features, withstood the pain, while the true controlling entity, the eyeball-clad maw, acted freely.

A sound like phlegm being cleared from the throat emanated from the round, eyeball-covered maw.

Simultaneously, a foul-smelling gust carrying visceral stench began to waft out from the maw directly connected to the chest cavity.

”Dodge, it’s about to spew something!”

Having seen this attack before, Lann promptly warned Maria and immediately sidestepped.

This unique Blood Noble was a renowned hunter in Yan’an, needing no further concern after being warned.

Lann’s ”Acceleration Technique” was explosive and direct, while Maria’s ”Acceleration Technique” was swift and skillful.

The two, one to the left and one to the right, vanished into a puff of smoke the instant after Lann alerted, disappearing from their original spots.

And at that moment, the sound of ”sssssh” erupting!

Once again, it spat liquid from the eyeball maw.

But this time, the spouted substance was not the filthy poison Lann had seen before.

It was a liquid emitting a hazy white glow, almost giving the Demon Hunter the illusion of facing a Daytime Demon Spirit.

Undoubtedly, Ludwig now, increasingly immersed in the beast transformation disease, delivered attacks imbued with a form of spiritual power.