Bear School Astartes

In less than a minute of confrontation, he took down one of the seventeen adopted sons of the Lonely Shadow Group—[Yafu Zheng Jiu].

Lann didn't feel proud, nor did he underestimate these ninjas.

First of all, a ninja's battle is meant to end in the instant when blades cross. Fast is the norm.

Moreover, Zheng Jiu indeed became careless when facing Lann.

In battle, if the opponent's power is significantly greater than one's own, the primary concern is not to be caught.

Even when executing striking techniques, the first choice should be those of the hit-and-run type.

But Zheng Jiu was too confident in his assassination technique, only thinking that since Lann didn't notice him initially, the outcome was already decided.

It's because of this that he stepped on Lann's shoulder to perform an aerial assassination.

Then, his ankle was grabbed, and his skills weren't even fully utilized before being taken away in a few rounds.

The confrontation with Zheng Jiu, on the contrary, made Lann more attentive.

The extraordinary senses of a Demon Hunter seem to be heavily suppressed when facing these ninjas who have made a name for themselves.

Moving forward, Lann once again arrived at the gates of the Hirate family's inner residence.

But unlike the time he came with Wolf, the place was already ablaze.

The majestic inner residence courtyard was entirely on fire, and Lann looked around, finding that only this path was available to him.

Hirata's inner residence relied on the varying terrains of the Iwami Country, actually built on the edge of a cliff, making it appear easy to defend and difficult to attack.

But when an internal betrayal occurs, this becomes a challenging rescue.

Lann pursed his lips in annoyance.

If he had mastered the Light Body Skill, he could have prepared a hook like Wolf and swung across the cliff.

But now, he was already weighing close to 250 kilograms, so he sensibly abandoned the idea.

Inside the courtyard, there was an already decayed tree root, and Lann crouched beside it, as the Demon Hunter's senses began to operate efficiently.

"Someone leaned against this tree root, exceptionally tall. Is it Owl? Looks heavily injured. But later... they stood up on their own?"

"The color of the blood is arterial and internal organ blood... With such injuries, they healed on their own afterward?!"

A flash of astonishment passed through Lann's cat-like eyes.

He was a tough individual who had performed cardiovascular dissecation surgery on himself, but even that was under fully prepared circumstances.

The duration of cardiovascular dissecation, under his control, never exceeded five seconds.

But the traces showed that this injured person, at least two and a half meters tall, indeed got up forcefully on their own and stood steadily afterward.

So was the injury pretended?

Lann didn't know the exact method, but in this world, ninjas and warriors were already outrageous. Another method that could deceive even Demon Hunter senses was nothing.

But the injury was to deceive whom?

Invading enemies? He was already on their side!

Owl wants to deceive the Hirate family's reinforcements, and there are few who are worth employing such deceptive tricks...

In a flash, a short yet fierce ninja appeared in Lann's mind.

Wolf.

This protector ninja of the royal heir had rather a weak presence tonight.

But Lann never doubted his skills as a ninja.

Today he returned to rest due to injuries, already in bad condition. In such a state, sneaking into the inner residence to rescue his master seemed very fitting for a ninja.

Lann stood up from the tree root, frowning as he looked toward the fiercely burning courtyard.

At this point, he had to go inside for a round.

"Mentos, give me a route."

"Task received, fire situation analysis complete... building structure analysis complete... route marked."

A glowing path was marked on his retina.

Lann first put on a [Quen Rune], then waited for his magic power to refill before rushing into the burning building.

Following Mentos' route map, Lann moved low and crouched.

When encountering burned and stacked obstacles, his [Alder's Rune] not only could clear them away but also slightly suppress the burning flame.

Using four runes along the way, Lann finally rushed out from the burning building.

Even with the endurance of a Demon Hunter, he couldn't help but take deep breaths of fresh, normally-tempered air.

And after catching a few breaths, his physical state quickly returned to normal, thanks to the coordination of the genetic seed and the extraordinary vitality of the [Second Heart].

Lann moved along the wall toward the core of the inner residence, avoiding the roaring sound of the burning fire behind him.

The bandits who were looting and slaughtering in the inner residence, their carefree and unrestrained words were caught by him in the wind.

"The Hirata family is indeed wealthy! Can't take it all!"

"Indeed, these samurai lords are truly rich!"

Lann could even vividly hear the bandits scrambling for money.

But among the bandits, there were those who remained clear-headed and weren't overwhelmed by riches.

"But it seems a ninja has infiltrated the inner residence! They've already killed over ten people!"

This voice trembled slightly with fear, although trying to suppress it, it was still noticeable.

"What are you worried about? Commander Chongzang just chopped down a veteran samurai, and another ninja will be the same! … At worst, we'll move quickly, take everything, and run!"

Initially, this bandit was full of confidence, but as he spoke, his own logic returned a bit.

Realizing they were storming around Hirata Manor without any attention to their retreat, his tone also became less assured.

Lann redirected his focus, having no time to deal with a few lowly bandits.

Since louder clashes of metal began on the edge of the artificial lake in the inner residence.

Thanks to the high-quality iron mines in Iwami Country, the clash of blades here sounded like forging.

"Chongzang, without me, you would have let this rat slip in!"

This voice was calm and confident, the responding voice sounded slurred as if in a drunken stupor.

"No problem, no problem... Brother Zheng, you blocked him, didn't you? We'll kill this ninja together, and there won't be any trouble!"

"That's true."

The two attackers spoke with ease, but the person being attacked didn't make a single sound even when the blade struck.

This silent and tough attitude made Lann instantly identify the person.

It was the protective [Wolf].

[Captain of the Gunfoot], commander of this Lonely Shadow Group operation.

He leaped lightly, his long legs like steel spears!

When crashing down, hitting Wolf's defending blade, it sparked!

Then, with unchanged momentum, even deflected by the block, the descending tip still punched a half-palm-deep dent in the cobbled path in the courtyard.

Zheng's eyes above the face screen were calm.

The rural ninja across had his sword stance entirely break down. And his kicking technique still had a follow-up second stage.

—He was doomed.

But just when those legs like spear tips were about to initiate the second consecutive strike, Zheng's eyes suddenly quivered.

Without a thought, he placed his ninja sword horizontally by his side.

The next moment.

"Dang!!!"

A huge impact condensed into a bullet, the Lonely Shadow Group's high-quality ninja sword bore the impact, but Zheng's weight using the Light Body Skill couldn't withstand it.

The style was directly broken, and he flew sideways, crashing into the huge belly of Snake Heavy Chongzang behind him.