Bear School Astartes

Chapter 456. Body part drawings

"Uwaaa!"

Amidst the greatly weakened screams, the Lady of the Lake’s Sword sliced across the Blood Demon’s neck.

The blade cut through the monster’s tough skin, and the high-speed Air Blade following the edge caused the overflowing blood to scatter across the sky.

The blood the Blood Demon had just licked into its stomach now spewed out in multiples.

The poisonous blood hissed as it corroded the snow.

The previously smooth snow became pocked and uneven due to the toxic black blood.

Steam from the hot breath emanated from the Blood Demon’s wide-open mouth and the gash in its neck.

Then, the mountain wind blew it away, stretching it into a drifting thread.

The battle ended as expected.

The Blood Demon, having eaten poisonous food, was already in a weakened state, followed by Lann’s silver bullet shattering its left shoulder joint, rendering its entire left hand’s attack as threatening as a chicken.

Its short-distance teleportation could only bluff inexperienced outsiders, whereas both Ged and Lann were experts in dealing with monsters.

This skill sounded grandiose, but a silver sword coated with sword oil could still slay it.

"Phew~ Your sword is really steady... Without you, I might have taken a hit."

Ged, feeling apprehensive, waved his right hand while walking toward Lann.

"The Blood Demon’s claws can rip through Mahakan’s steel armor; my bracers can’t withstand it."

"It’s not that exaggerated. I disabled its left hand immediately, so the imbalance in its body diminished its claw’s power."

Lann swished his long sword, and the black blood on the Lake Lady’s Sword left a black line on the snow.

"At most, it would break the bracers."

Lann pulled out the Dragonbone Dagger from his waist, crouched down, and began to harvest the spoils.

There are quite a few good things on vampire creatures.

He carefully scraped the creature’s corpse with a small knife, asking without looking back.

"Did you notice?"

"What?"

"Its state. It’s very hungry, malnourished."

Lann spoke as he extracted something resembling an enlarged cell from the Blood Demon’s chest cavity.

A red mutation inducer.

After placing this find into a bottle, he stood up.

"We’ve already killed a Bat-winged Brain Demon, a Katakan, and another close relative—an even more voracious Nekulat. This place can’t sustain so many vampire creatures, yet they’re clearly hungry and won’t leave... It defies their nature, Ged."

"Are you saying... they’re controlled?"

Ged widened his eyes in surprise.

"But who can control so many fierce monsters? A Great Mage? I’d bet not even many Great Mages have such ability."

"Indeed, Mages likely don’t have that capability. But there’s another possibility."

"You’re saying..." Ged’s mouth formed a silent ’O’ in shock. "A High Vampire?!"

Lann grabbed a handful of snow from the ground, wiped the blood from his hands, and shrugged.

"I discussed with Regis the other day, and unfortunately, he didn’t offer me an alternative. So, I’m left with this guess."

"Oh, that’s truly terrible. Even the old ice cubes in Hainkawei, when teaching me, would say: never provoke a High Vampire."

Lann widened his innocent eyes and scratched his cheek, agreeing, "Yeah, who wouldn’t say so?"

-----------------

Early the next morning, the three left the dwarves’ Hein Castle.

The two Demon Hunters previously hunted four vampire creatures nearby, taking about a week.

Lence Ziva’s urging became increasingly intense during this time.

Yet he didn’t progressively cut back on their meals and lodging in Hein Castle, instead sending Lann a revised blueprint.

The blueprint depicted body parts of Grandmaster equipment.

Compared to the high-level equipment Lann currently wore, the application of plate armor was more extensive, and the original cotton armor outer cover adopted more intricately crafted chainmail.

The neck area, as Shilton Giancardi had speculated, used Hein Castle’s most familiar leather craft, appearing as a very sturdy fur.

Just one blueprint of the armor’s body part made Lann feel the level difference of school armors, not to mention the synergistic enchantment effects once the armor set was complete.

Lence Ziva thereby successfully motivated Lann’s enthusiasm.

According to managerial stratifications, this Dwarf Elder likely belonged to the ’motivational faction.’

Now that nearby threats had been weakened, the three also agreed it was time to see the imprisonment measures Anahad had set up.

Calculating from their pace, they set off before dawn to arrive by noon.

Though vampire creatures are not largely afraid of sunlight, contrary to popular belief, sunlight can still cause them discomfort.

Being cautious, Lann believed any advantage should not be forfeited.

Since Ged knew this trip’s destination well, he led the way.

"Hey, Regis. You weren’t around during the past few hunts of vampire creatures. Why are you coming along now?"

Amid leading, Ged raised a topic.

Previously, Regis had given Ged the reason: he could use magic but was physically normal, which would be troublesome if swiftly attacked by vampire creatures.

This aligned well with Ged’s perception of Warlocks, as they are known for letting magic fizzle because of unexpected injuries.

The noble Warlocks focus on casting spells, only to find themselves pinned by a mundane crossbow arrow through the throat—it’s not uncommon.

They cannot, like Demon Hunters, have a chance to down a life-saving Magic Potion after injury; dead means dead.

Therefore, even Great Mages getting killed by soldiers often occurred.

A classic example—the esteemed Dean Airetusa, Margaret.

"Uh..." Regis faltered briefly, then cleared his throat awkwardly.

"The previous risks weren’t high, but this time we’re dealing with... such things. Perhaps you might need help."

"Then let’s hope your magic is effective enough, Regis."

Ged continued walking ahead, not looking back.

Lann and Regis exchanged a helpless glance behind him.

Were circumstances not so dire, neither of them would want to face a High Vampire.

In their best-case scenario, the imprisonment measures would contain an object capable of attracting vampire creatures.

They only needed to refurbish Anahad’s design.

In the worst case, Hein Castle and Anahad might actually have imprisoned a High Vampire in the Amel Mountains.