Bear School Astartes

"Split up!"

Lann shouted fiercely, and Iwami Yixin naturally swung his sword forward.

"Bang!" The sound of two loud clashes, sparks flying everywhere.

The two blades flicked away two giant centipedes coming their way, each from left to right.

"Hmm?"

Iwami Yixin's eyes widened slightly, the force on his arm overpowered him, pressing him back-to-back against Lann.

"This old guy's bugs... such strength!"

[Sword Saint], at seventy or eighty years old, hadn't had a chance to call someone else an 'old guy' in a long time.

Iwami Yixin had seen what other bug-infested beings could produce, and he had a sense of the strength of these centipedes.

So this time, in order to precisely control his stamina expenditure, he didn't specifically channel higher-level force to resist, which is why he was suddenly overpowered.

When martial arts reach the level he had, pure strength is merely a question of whether one is willing to exert it or not.

As long as it doesn't exceed a certain limit, Iwami Yixin could even engage in an exhilarating fight with Lann by overdrawing his life force.

The four people present were all skilled combat veterans.

Lann and Iwami Yixin needed no introduction, Old Robert was a warrior from Europe who had crossed the sea to East Japan, and Black Conical Hat Li was the leader of the Ninja Group that had served the Immortal Peak Temple for decades.

When the Demon Hunter shouted "split up," the two quickly found their roles.

The Immortal Peak Master was an unknown depth but certainly the hardest to deal with.

Iwami Yixin and Lann, the two strongest, would go up to hold him off.

Meanwhile, the two of them would take the opportunity to swiftly clear the remaining Living Buddhas inside the 33 Hall.

They're slow moving, but once the bugs inside them break out, within the centipede's body span, their attack power and speed are no small beans.

Black Conical Hat Li held a short sword, agilely maneuvering between mid-air and the ground.

A centipede attached to a Living Buddha was fooled by his feint and lunged at nothing;

The short sword then stabbed right into the chitinous shell with a "crack" from the side.

The fluid inside the shell burst out, and the oil sheen on the blade seeped in.

Old Robert's method was even wilder and rougher; his agility didn't allow him to dodge the centipede's lunge.

He neither dodged nor evaded, instead directly clamping the bug's body with his arm when it lunged to bite, then smashed down with his giant sword!

The centipede's countless sharp appendages scraped across his full-cover armor with a spine-chilling screech.

The twisted, struggling, and fierce combat between bug and human was vividly displayed in his battle.

"Robert, don't be reckless! Your armor can't fully block it!"

Lann employed the core knowledge of [Bear School Swordsmanship], executing a no-inertia shift of center to dodge a centipede coiled by the Immortal Peak Master's body, shouting toward Old Robert's direction.

Beside him, Iwami Yixin, on the other side of the Immortal Peak Master, lightly flicked his sword with apparent ease, sending the previous overbearing centipede flying.

Against multi-limbed enemies, Lann and Iwami Yixin didn't even need to communicate; they instinctively distanced themselves based on experience, preventing the multi-limbs from acting in the same direction.

The correct tactics alleviated Lann's pressure; his ear could still catch the unusual sound of Old Robert's armor.

The solid armor from Europe was indeed formidable, but that was against humans.

Facing a giant centipede with dozens of sharp limbs wriggling, climbing, and tearing, they could easily slide into the armor's weak spots.

If Lann didn't hear wrong, Old Robert's armor's inner elbow should have been breached, and it started bleeding.

But with the Demon Hunter's warning, the old warrior from Europe seemed completely unconcerned.

He continuously roared like a wild beast, driving his body with an even more aggressive attitude.

The more he tread the path of vengeance to the end, the more he didn't care for life.

"Be careful... benefactor."

A withered, harsh voice sounded. Lann leapt up, creating almost a meter of space between his legs and the ground, his blade blocking to the right.

As he completed these actions, a centipede crashed right onto his blade while another lunged and missed under his feet.

Three centipedes in the Immortal Peak Master's body, the one Iwami Yixin faced earlier, hadn't run away.

The one originally supporting the Immortal Peak Master below, moving like a spring, used the downward gap to attempt to ruin Lann's leg after its leaping force.

Yet even without the Immortal Peak Master's warning, Lann wouldn't have succumbed to such trickery.

"Crack!"

His boot, armored with plated layers, stomped down before the undying insect could retract, onto the chitinous shell!

The fluid burst, faintly screaming.

However, the strength showed no signs of diminishing, and there was no sluggishness from severe damage.

The Demon Hunter retracted after the stomp, avoiding being overpowered by the undying insect.

The chitin shell softly 'clicked,' auto-repairing, extending to completion... the undying insect's vitality had nearly become a curse!

A few Chaos Wave Group standard kunai flashed with an oily sheen mid-air, piercing into the Immortal Peak Master's body.

The sharp steel pierced through the decayed flesh of the Living Buddha as if slicing rot soil!

Three enormous centipedes sprung from the green monk robes suddenly tensed after the surprise attack, seeming greatly injured.

Lann and Iwami Yixin seized the opportunity precisely; their long swords sparked intensely and densely over the centipede's body.

The clatter of steel colliding merged into one. The massive centipede was nearly split in two by the combined long blades!

Having efficiently eliminated the other Living Buddhas, Black Conical Hat Li descended, executing [Light Body Skill], thrusting a blade from above, piercing through the Immortal Peak Master's skull!

The short sword, coated with [Remnant Oil], penetrated the already decayed cranium, its tip protruding from the jaw.

One could still see Black Conical Hat Li's blade through the Immortal Peak Master's mouth.

The situation seemingly settled.

But Iwami Yixin stopped Old Robert, who was trying to rush over to tear apart the Immortal Peak Master.

Lann shouted at Black Conical Hat Li who squatted on the Immortal Peak Master's shoulder: "Quick! Leave!"

Black Conical Hat Li was initially puzzled, but his trust in Lann made him execute [Light Body Skill] without thinking further, leaping away without even retrieving his sword.

And the next moment... "Slash!"

Where Black Conical Hat Li once stood, a massive centipede body sliced through the air, biting at nothing!

While airborne, Black Conical Hat Li's shocked and surprised gaze met with Lann's narrowed eyes.

The undying insects within the Immortal Peak Master were not only numerous and powerful but also...

[Remnant Oil] couldn't kill them!

The sword wedged in his mouth, making it even harder for the Immortal Peak Master to speak.

Yet he sighed nonetheless.

"Benefactors... the old monk was the earliest to accept the worms... even before the principal... the worms inside... the poison doesn't work."

"Please hurry... quicker... it's already... almost too late."

Too late?

Lann furrowed his brow.

What did he mean? Is there another unexpected situation within this nearly annihilated Immortal Peak Temple?