Bear School Astartes

Chapter 927 - 909: Crystal and Secrets

The blood-red shadow behind Lann moved silently.

No heartbeat, no breath, not even footsteps.

It moved like air, merely shaped like a human.

With such complete silence, even a Demon Hunter, despite their keen senses, should not sense anything.

Yet, as the blood-red figure approached step by step, Lann crouched on the ground, inspecting the corpse’s clues.

The sharp dagger in the blood shadow’s left hand slowly lifted, seemingly poised to stab down into the Demon Hunter’s neck...

"!?"

The Demon Hunter, who had been examining the cuts on the corpse with his fingers, reacted suddenly like a startled feline.

His crouched body abruptly lunged forward, then with a push of his palm on the ground, performed an exceedingly fluid low flip—now the Hunter and blood shadow faced each other.

The dagger in the blood shadow’s hand sliced through the air, leaving only a subtle ’swish’ as it cut through.

The Hunter’s movements, resembling those of a big cat, were actually more acute and swift than a tiger.

In the blink of an eye, the attacker and the attacked had caught sight of each other’s eyes.

The woman, resembling a blood shadow, hadn’t expected such a reaction from the Demon Hunter. But it wasn’t only the blood shadow—Lann himself was a bit stunned.

He hadn’t sensed anything unusual before, yet on the right side of his brain, the implanted [Holy Chant Gland] suddenly seemed out of control!

The previously steady hormone secretion and biological activity surged abruptly!

Running the function of biological activity monitoring, Mentos immediately marked a vivid red warning on Lann’s retina.

Lann himself felt a sudden and inexplicable sense of danger even before his bio-intelligence could react.

With his hairs standing on end, driven by instinct, Lann acted without thought, performing a standard evasive action.

Then, the next moment, he saw the silent and stealthy attacker behind him.

"..."

At first, Lann said nothing; he merely sized up the blood shadow who nearly succeeded in ambushing him.

He began to consciously adjust his breathing and mindset, calming the life activities stirred up by the Holy Chant Gland.

"Soul Body?"

As Lann eyed the blood shadow, rising slowly, he murmured in inquiry.

But the female blood shadow remained silent, cautiously moving away to keep an appropriate distance.

Though unresponsive, Lann had already formed his own speculation.

In this world, life’s soul differs from other worlds.

In the Magic Middle Ages, some mages manage to travel in soul form, yet typically augment their soul bodies with various protections.

In this world, due to the souls’ unique qualities, soul bodies neither require protection nor can be directly used in combat?

The Holy Chant Gland appeared sensitive to these mystical forces, thus autonomously adjusting Lann’s physiological state amidst unnoticeable disruptions, triggering a warning of danger.

The female blood shadow’s silent refusal to reply implied: there was no need for words between enemies.

She was solely there to kill.

"Buzz~" a gentle humming sounded.

A dazzling blue light ignited at the crystal orb head of the magic staff she held.

The blue light was hardly surprising to Lann; after all, magic in this world typically bore such color.

What truly astonished him was...

"Jingle~"

The sound of crystals colliding lightly emanated from the female blood shadow’s magic blue glow.

This was no ordinary, commonplace magic; this was Crystal Magic!

[Crystal Daughter] Krinshid.

Lann instantly pinpointed the identity of the female blood shadow within his mind.

Crystal Magic is an authentic, advanced magical system.

In a world where basic magic is Soul Magic, during the Mythical Era, a renowned Great Mage, [Big Hat] Logan prevailed.

Rumor speaks of him peering into the essence of magic through certain means, thereafter leaving his knowledge behind, forming the most refined, advanced Crystal Magic.

Previously, Lann encountered the Crystal Elder, a pair of twins—proclaiming themselves as Logan’s academic successors, one stationed at the Losric Great Library, while the other was dispatched to assist the Falan Undead Team.

[Crystal Daughter] Krinshid studied magic under the tutelage of the Crystal Elder at Losric City and made notable strides.

Priestess Emma had introduced Krinshid to Lann, given her strategic position and relationship significance.

Of course, mages countless sought connections to figures like [Big Hat] Logan to elevate their stature.

Yet, apparent traits of power cannot deceive; even if Crystal Elders’ magic lacks pure origin, it unmistakably bears crystal characteristics, thus deemed precious.

In a fleeting moment, various clues and images raced through Lann’s mind.

Krinshid blocked his path, the Great Library divided amongst Sages by the King, Princes educated by the Initial Sage, the King transformed into the Scaleless White Dragon, and that final breath filled with crystals...

"Was it you, the sages, who disrupted the order of the Fire Transmission Ceremony?"

Lann suddenly spoke.

His tone was more of an affirmation than a question.

"The Crystal Elder in the Great Library spread the knowledge of the [Crystals] among the sages. And when the Prince refused the Fire Transmission Ceremony, leaving the King at a loss, you had the King ’find’ that knowledge in the Great Library."

"Consequently, Ausloes got inspired by the dragon transformation experiment, but he went mad. I recall that [Big Hat] Logan also went mad because he delved too deep into magic, right?"

"Although I still don’t understand why the knowledge of [Crystals] is linked to the Scaleless White Dragon, there’s no doubt that even the discoverer, Logan himself, couldn’t withstand that knowledge!"

Lann’s words were clear, yet his speech was quick and intense, creating an impact... especially when unveiling secrets like this.

The crystal daughter lifting the magic staff froze. She evidently had no idea how much information Lann had gathered and connected to form a logical chain.

But as for the conclusion, there was no doubt it was correct!

Yet she immediately adopted an even more resolute stance, releasing the crystal magic she had prepared.

Unlike conventional magic, these soul arrows glowed blue, densely covered in clusters of crystals.

But these spells couldn’t hit anyone.

"Swish!"

[Acceleration Technique] activated, Lann sharply caught that moment of stiffness when her secret was revealed.

These crystal spells, though Lann hadn’t been hit by them and didn’t quite understand their power, sailed past the Demon Hunter.

Yet none could touch him.

No matter how powerful these spells were, they couldn’t reach him anyway.

Under Mentos’ computational power, Lann could even predict the landing points of these crystal beams earlier than Krinshid, who was casting the spells.

And his efficiency in movement far surpassed the expectations of the crystal daughter before him.

With a swift leap like smoke, Lann’s towering figure had already pierced through the veil of crystal magic, reaching Krinshid.

Simultaneously, the Lady of the Lake’s Sword in his hand swung over with that burst of speed!

The blade sliced through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

However, Krinshid remained composed. In the face of a strike that could practically kill her immediately, she slightly lifted the left hand holding the dagger.

She seemed intent on using the dagger to parry Lann’s incoming long blade.

A mage daring to parry a long blade with such a small knife was certainly odd.

Oddness implied danger.

But Lann had already recognized the starting stance as her hand began to lift.

He once faced a Knight Captain from the Prince School on the Losric high wall, where the opponent showcased an extraordinary technique using a shield.

With a precise parry, the enemy’s stance crumbled after making a move.

The force of the enemy’s move got precisely twisted, becoming an obstacle to controlling their own body.

Although the mage used a dagger, Lann’s swordsmanship allowed him to see through the core idea of the move beyond the different weapon.

And a move that’s been seen through can’t be called a ’threat.’

"Swish," the knife sliced cleanly through the air.

The gracefully curved long blade, though fully swung, unexpectedly changed its trajectory under Lann’s nimble hand muscles.

The blade acted as lively and unpredictable as a carp leaping out of water.

The blade, originally coming from the side, turned and became an upward slashing move amid high-speed motion.

As Krinshid swung her dagger, her arm parted from her body along with the gleaming blade light.

Krinshid clearly did not anticipate Lann’s speed—it was much faster despite his heavy appearance.

Yet in reality, Lann’s body was not only heavy but also agile and swift.

And when Krinshid’s arm got severed, she only paused for a moment. Then blue light quickly emerged again from the magic staff in her other hand.

This seemed to be some kind of rapidly activatable spell.

But Lann didn’t intend to give her the chance.

The dagger fell from the severed hand in mid-air, and without looking back, Lann caught it with his empty hand.

Decisively he thrust horizontally.

"Psh!"

The tip of the dagger pierced Krinshid’s elegant neck from one side and protruded from the other.

The blood-red soul body seemed to bleed, splashing a burst of soul liquid like water in the direction of the stabbing force.

The blue light on the opponent’s magic staff instantly disappeared.

And Lann’s expression remained calm. He’d never dealt with a soul body before, so he decided to be a bit precautious with his actions.

"Rip," a sound accompanied the horizontal withdrawal of the dagger from her neck once more.

If the scene had been flesh and blood, one could have seen the cervical vertebrae from the front by now.