Bear School Astartes

Chapter 919 - 901: Deadly Poison and Stones

"Tsk, this is troublesome."

The sheet-like ash that has caused heavy casualties among the residents of Losric City has accumulated too thickly in this courtyard.

Originally, this elevator had a room; being indoors, it shouldn’t have been affected by these sheet-like ashes.

But because it’s piled up too much, too thickly, the ash has overflowed from the outside in.

Lann lightly tried stepping on it, and the thickness of the white ash easily covered his soles.

And shortly after stepping on it, black vein patterns started appearing on Lann’s neck and face.

And they seemed to be converging around his eye sockets.

This is the reaction of a Demon Hunter’s body being invaded by toxins.

Lann quickly withdrew his foot, clicking his tongue at the sight of the white ash.

Apparently, the excessive accumulation of sheet-like ash has led to a special change, where stepping on it releases a toxin that enters the body of the contact.

Lann made a rough estimate, and this toxin is quite potent.

A regular person would probably be doomed with just one breath.

But at this point, Lann had no intention of backing down.

"Get on my shoulder and hold your breath."

The Demon Hunter said to the Three-Floral Kitten.

Rong Buqiu immediately climbed up to Lann’s shoulder by grabbing onto the skirt armor of the Grandmaster Bear School Armor, crouching on it.

"If only we had an antidote or traditional Chinese medicine, meow."

Rong Buqiu whispered.

These two substances are medicines made from plants found in the peculiar ecosystem of the New Continent.

Thanks to the abundant natural forces there, these two medicines are not only detoxifying but also completely non-toxic, usable by regular people or Elu Cats.

Lann planned to stock up next time he went to the New Continent.

After taking a deep breath, the Demon Hunter quickly stepped out of the elevator room and officially entered the King’s Courtyard.

The situation was a lot better than he had expected inside the elevator room.

The terrain in the courtyard has slight ups and downs, so the higher areas weren’t covered by piles of ash, remaining the natural black of the soil rather than that lifeless gray-white.

Lann quickly and quietly ran toward the black soil.

Once standing on the black soil clear of ash heaps, Lann took a small breath.

It was just a fifty-meter distance in total, but Lann’s face already looked like he had drunk several bottles of Demon Hunter’s Potion.

The toxins gathered through the veins around his eye sockets, turning the whites of his eyes pitch black.

If not for the Genetic Seed and Holy Chant Gland regulating Lann’s endocrine system, this heap of toxins might have surpassed the limits of a regular Demon Hunter’s endurance.

The toxins would have begun corroding the tissues.

Rong Buqiu looked on worriedly from Lann’s shoulder, but the Demon Hunter nonchalantly waved it off, then pulled out a bottle of High-Grade White Honey from his Alchemy Pouch.

After taking a sip, the black patterns on his face vanished in the blink of an eye.

For Lann, who was never short of money and consistently maximized his alchemical talents, after obtaining the advanced potion formulas from Ker Morhan, he had already started upgrading his potion stockpile.

The potency of high-grade potions is much more intense compared to low-grade ones.

If he used the old White Honey formula, he’d probably have to down a whole bottle to clear the toxin dosage at the limit of the Demon Hunter’s body.

"There’s more room to maneuver than I thought."

Lann softly spoke to Rong Buqiu, while his eyes scanned the entire courtyard.

Although the King’s Courtyard was now covered with a thick layer of ash piles.

It still faintly showed the past elegance and delicacy.

There were withered plant remains in the courtyard and traces of water channels that had dried up, with the remaining architecture looking grand and orderly.

But in the current environment, these things appeared grim and ominous.

The black soil interwoven with gray-white ash, the withered and yellowed plants, and beneath those traces of water channels there was a faint ’squelch’ sound, suggesting something was moving beneath.

The originally grand Gothic stone buildings now only seemed chilling.

And in this eerie courtyard were a few familiar figures to Lann—the Black Mud Snake Group.

Or, as Priestess Emma’s investigation had termed them, Human Pus.

The Priestess said they were like ’the swelling of the pus of humanity.’

The small courtyard had as many as three or four such Human Pus roaming about.

Their emaciated human legs supported an upper body of a large, asphalt-like coiling and writhing snake, occasionally emitting a chilling hiss.

This reinforced a certain suspicion in Lann’s mind.

The density of Human Pus here was too high.

On the high walls of Losric, even though the populace had been turned into something plant-like by these sheet-like ashes, a Human Pus was something that appeared in only one out of several hundred people.

So when they had charged back to the church last time, they had only encountered three Human Pus along the way. Not much of a hindrance.

But here...

Lann frowned.

"Mentos, chart the route. Let’s stick to the black soil; there’s no need to tangle with these creatures, it’s not our objective."

The biological brain processed the task requirements.

And soon projected route markers onto Lann’s retina.

"Stay quiet, Rong Buqiu. We’ll make a quick passage."

"Got it, meow!"

The Elu Cat responded in a low voice while covering its mouth with its paw.

The perception range of these pus-like creatures isn’t large; Mentos collected this data when it last fought them.

Now, it’s time to provide this data for the main reference.

Lann’s stealth capabilities are quite competent, given that he once trained with the Iwami Ninja.

Although his own weight prevents him from achieving their level of nimble movement, in terms of ’silent movement,’ he’s virtually on par with the ninjas.

Utilizing the silent footwork described in the Lonely Shadow Ninja Technique Manual, Lann swiftly navigated outside the perception range of the three pus-like creatures.

Occasionally stepping onto black ground, at other times onto ash-white ground.

Passing by the waterway traces, he saw the source of those sticky ’slap’ sounds.

It was a group of black slugs, the size of ordinary humans, seemingly feasting on several human corpses.

Beside the waterway, Lann casually picked up something.

It was a stone, sizable enough that it couldn’t be held with a single hand.

He currently held a Blessing Gemstone, which Klimte described as a product of quality change over Wedgestone.

This stone appeared somewhat similar to the texture of Wedgestone.

Given the larger the Wedgestone, the greater the power it contained, Lann decided to take it along.

The depth of the courtyard wasn’t vast; after exiting the elevator, a mere two hundred meters led straight to the main building ahead.

This should be the King’s residence within the courtyard.

Upon stepping onto the stone building’s surface, Lann took a sip of High-Grade White Honey to cleanse the toxins from his body.

Rong Buqiu could finally leap off his shoulder and walk independently.

Ahead lay a grand door, guarded by two Church Knights wielding greatswords.

Church Knights were bestowed with the private emblem of King Ausloes, the Heaven-Gazing Giant Bird Pattern, a symbol of trust.

No doubt, an emblem of profound trust.

Considering the King’s Divine Race status and prestige, in this era where religious and secular power consolidate under one hand, King Ausloes’s trust in the Church Knights might surpass that of the Losric Knights.

At least in this courtyard, he hasn’t deployed the Losric Knight Order to meddle in the guarding duties.

As Lann and Rong Buqiu approached, a Church Knight noticed them.

He descended from his position of alert, carrying the greatsword, advancing towards the man and the cat.

The armored boots thudded heavily on the ground, imposing and menacing.

The other Church Knight seemed unaware of anything, continuing his watch.

This behavior made Lann believe there might be no need to fight.

"I’m a Messenger sent by Priestess Emma and the Knight Captain of Losric. Outside, many changes have occurred that need reporting to His Majesty. Could you pass the message along?"

As he spoke, Lann pulled out a small flag from his bosom.

It was the credential Priestess Emma had given him before departure.

It was said to sufficiently prove his ’stance’ before King Ausloes.

But Lann quickly realized he was mistaken.

Perhaps the Church Knight approaching them already lacked human thought and logic under that iron helmet.

Or perhaps the Church Knight felt he could handle the man and the cat alone, without assistance.

In any case... his refusal to call for help didn’t mean he could engage Lann in rational dialogue.

"Whoosh!"

With a thrust from his shoulder, the greatsword cut horizontally with nimble precision!

The heavy, wide blade left a heavy howl in the air.

Lann, as if perfectly timed, retreated a step. The wide blade slicing through the air only brushed a few strands of his hair, accomplishing nothing more.

Lann’s eyes narrowed slightly, examining the Church Knight before him.

The hostility was clear at this moment.

"Thinking I’d find a sane person in this ash heap was too optimistic. But since you struck first..."

"Zing!"

The projector on his left arm, equipped with a hook lock, activated as Lann stumbled backward, firing at his diagonal rear simultaneously with his movement.

"Then fighting won’t be psychologically taxing."

The hook rasped sharply, grasping onto a figure standing on the stairway’s edge of the building’s upper level.

That figure was originally sprawled, seemingly dying, but rose when the Church Knight attempted to engage Lann.

Shaking a sacred bell catalyst in hand, appeared ready to cast some ’miracle.’

A faint golden light emitted from the figure and the Church Knight.

But before the golden light could fully form, Lann pulled sharply with his left hand.

"Rip!"

The figure forcibly dragged down from the upper level slammed directly into Lann!

The Church Knight’s greatsword cleanly cleaved the frail figure and thin holy robe in half.

Blood should have spurted backward toward Lann, but under the diminished power of Alder’s Rune, the flesh, shattered bones, and blood all splattered onto the Church Knight’s face.

"Meow!"

Rong Buqiu simultaneously lunged, claws grasping the iron helmet, slightly prying upward. The helmet’s sight slit shifted to the knight’s forehead, misaligning from the eyes.