Bear School Astartes

The elusive and exceptionally ruthless assassin took Lann two and a half seconds to deal with.

Among ordinary people, this is considered an impressive feat.

Unfortunately, he himself had no chance to hear compliments directly from Lann.

Although the armor of the remaining soldiers provided much better protection compared to the assassin who pursued agility and silence, confronting the blade of Aron Dite head-on was clearly not a wise decision.

As the golden glow upon the blade grew brighter, each strike from this elf-style longsword became more powerful than the last.

After dispatching the assassin, when facing the first sword and shield soldier, Lann still needed to use his overwhelming speed to maneuver the sword around the tightly guarded shield.

And then draw a gaping wound across the enemy's neck.

However, by the time Aron Dite cut through the fifth person, Lann could easily slice through a wooden shield along with the arm of the shield-bearer!

The effect of phase-enhanced slashing power sounds simple, but for a swordsman, it's already the most practical function.

The swordsmanship from ancient East Japan was exceptionally ruthless and, under Lann's crushing speed and strength, the local swordsmanship's tactical philosophy simply didn't stand a chance.

The time ordinary people needed to complete a round of action was enough for Lann to strike four or five times!

In the eyes of others, Lann was like a piece of fabric flying in the winter's cold winds.

Except, whenever this 'fabric' flew past an armored soldier, it would carry away vast amounts of blood.

There were eight soldiers surrounding the carriage wreckage. After the first assassin encountered Lann and fell two and a half seconds later, the remaining seven couldn't hold out more than twelve seconds before Lann.

Four of those seconds were spent on maneuvering.

This kind of efficiency is extraordinary even in a frenetic-paced fight without armor, let alone the current scene where a group of soldiers is outfitted with standard military gear!

"Boom!"

The final soldier around the carriage wreckage, Lann directly charged at him with a shoulder plate!

This burly man clad in chainmail, roughly one meter seventy tall, seemed like a light and slow wooden doll before Lann.

The shoulder plate charge directly threw him off balance, and just as he was about to fall backward, Lann grabbed the collar of his chainmail.

Before the man could even feel a hint of relief, the tip of Aron Dite was already aimed perfectly at his throat, wielded by Lann.

"Splat!"

The finishing technique learned from Iwami's ninjas ensured that both upon penetration and withdrawal, blood flowed like rainfall.

Such massive blood loss produced by special techniques could even cause brain ischemia-induced unconsciousness before death, reducing pain.

Perhaps this was the compassion of ninjas.

With a 'swish', the blade drew a straight line of blood on the ground.

Lann's cat-like eyes scanned his surroundings, casually lifting his left arm to deflect a crossbow bolt flying towards his head using his arm armor.

Vesemir had already seized the opening Lann created to guide Ciri into the cover formed by the carriage wreckage.

In the distance, the crossbowmen began to tremble in their limbs, fumbling with their bows and shakily stringing them.

They were all terrified by Lann's slaughter efficiency.

An entire area of armored soldiers, cleared in fifteen seconds under the cover of arrows!

Such intense killing efficiency acted as a morale crusher on the battlefield. Even though the crossbowmen were far away, when Lann's emotionless cat-eye casually swept across their positions, a few people trembled so much they almost couldn't hold onto their weapons.

"Sir, the crossbowmen are only a step away from a morale collapse; shall we set the combat target to 'annihilate' or...?"

Mentos calmly analyzed the situation and provided suggestions.

"No need to aim for annihilation. Those stray bolts are too troublesome, and accidents can happen if we're not careful. Just make their morale collapse quickly."

The main body issued the orders, and the biological intellect complied, completing combat plans instantly.

Among the distant crossbowmen, two individuals were highlighted by Mentos.

"Command layer detected; please precisely eliminate using ranged means. Once even the final hint of safety from 'distance' is erased, they're predicted to completely abandon their will to resist within ten seconds."

The Lady of the Lake's Sword lightly spun a circle in Lann's hand, deflecting a randomly shot arrow.

Raising his left arm, his fingers moved, and a 'clicking' sound of mechanisms operating came from within the specially designed arm armor.

"[Alder]!" *2

Two projectiles confined within metal tubes received concentrated pushing power from Magic Seals.

The two highlighted figures in the field of view suddenly dimmed and fell to the ground.

In the faint distance, Lann heard the crossbowmen's startled cries.

"This is magic!" "He knows witchcraft!" and such.

These words, scary enough for the inexperienced, were sufficient reasons to convince themselves to leave the battlefield.

So, the crossbowmen could finally flee with a clear conscience.

"You impulsive bear cub!"

A voice filled with mockery and reprimand came from the cover within the carriage wreckage, where the Old Demon Hunter was.

"I almost managed to get Ciri moved before the fight started! Couldn't you wait for me to get into position before acting?! Did you have to make me take a volley of crossbow bolts head-on?!"

"Vesemir, it's my trust in you."

"Could you instead trust the likes of water ghosts and vicious spirits? Under your trust, their populations might significantly decrease!"

Lann shrugged wordlessly.

He could even imagine the Old Demon Hunter holding Ciri tightly within the disordered cover, berating with his head down.

The situation was no longer urgent; in reality, once Lann scattered the crossbowmen at the forest's edge, the situation had already become clear.

As Lann turned with his sword to find Geralt, he was almost finished on his side too.

Geralt's swordsmanship was agile and smooth, even from a Demon Hunter's perspective, his swordsmanship differed significantly from the [Bear School Swordsmanship].

Unlike the Bear School's heavy strike swordsmanship, which emphasized balance adjustment and, during the process, multi-joint, multi-threaded power accumulation.

The Wolf School's swordsmanship focused greatly on fluidity, and Geralt wielded his sword like a ballet dancer spinning.

It was both elegant and fast, yet practical and precise.

He could insert a Magic Seal release at any point in a series of fluid sword movements, then reintegrate the original sword movements seamlessly without affecting fluidity.

Lann believed that if this Magic Seal release time was used for throwing an alchemy bomb, or following Vesemir's teachings to quickly coat the sword with loose sword oil, it would still not be an inconvenience.

The characteristic of [Wolf School Swordsmanship] seemed to be the fluidity that allowed various movements to be pieced together and coordinated at will.

Though Geralt's basic qualities didn't match Lann's, allowing him to effortlessly kill sword and shield soldiers one-on-one with a longsword.

Yet he was still much faster than ordinary people.

Lann could place his blade behind the shield under the sword and shield soldier's nose with extraordinary speed and reaction.

Geralt, meanwhile, could move his blade further than the shield's protective area when the sword and shield soldiers dedicatedly defended, focusing only on defense.

Several sword and shield soldiers raised their shields before him, guarding their necks. Then their thigh or abdomen arteries were pierced, bleeding out and dying.

This level of swordspeed also warranted being called a 'monster' when facing ordinary people.

And if Geralt consumed a magic potion, or the decoction unknown by Lann yet, he would probably achieve a further leap forward.

The combat power of a prepared Demon Hunter versus a hastily arriving one was of two different levels.