Bear School Astartes

Kneeling on the canvas, Lann methodically opened his eyes slowly, but kept his eyelids lowered, ensuring that his eyes, which would glow in the dim light, were not too conspicuous.

Lann glanced toward the corner of his retina.

Where Mentos’ timer system was projected.

He had only been in the [Meditation] state for an hour and a half.

The night was still long.

But it was no longer peaceful.

A foul stench wafted indistinctly from outside the alley.

In comparison, even the sewage covered by this disposable canvas seemed to possess a rare natural scent.

The stench was a thick, viscous smell of blood.

From a Demon Hunter’s experience, it was human blood.

However, the pungency and viscosity of the smell almost made Lann doubt his judgment.

After the custom incense, it was a familiar scent to the Demon Hunter again—

The smell of blood from a Beastly Transformed patient!

Apart from the instinctive deep breath he took when emerging from the [Meditation] state, the Demon Hunter’s breathing had completely returned to normal.

Calm and quiet.

But outside the alley, a heavy, erratic breathing grew louder.

Heavy, indicating powerful lung capacity and physical prowess.

Erratic, indicating that this thing was either unintelligent or purely inexperienced.

It was both.

A clattering noise suddenly erupted at the mouth of the alley, startling the crows resting on the silent Gothic spires.

The creature that barged into the alley shattered the disorderly arrangement of wooden crates and empty barrels.

Naturally thick wood planks at least two centimeters thick shattered like candy coatings under its hands.

Stacks of crates were smashed into pieces as it charged further into the alley.

Amidst the dense shadows, the creature’s all-black body became the perfect camouflage.

Looking from outside the alley, one mostly saw a darker shadow darting amid lighter ones.

Not an ideal battleground.

The patient, highly beastly transformed, continued charging inward.

It resembled the first Beastly Transformed patient Lann encountered when he first arrived in Yan’an.

The disease grotesquely stretched and elongated its body, resulting in an emaciated, sickly frame, with patches of skin unable to cover it, exposing bones through torn flesh.

Those profuse and sickly black hairs grew rampant over its body, covering even the bare bones not covered by flesh.

Its sharpened claws, backward-bending legs resembled a transformed Werewolf.

Yet, its skull maintained a roughly human shape rather than becoming canine, making it appear all the more grotesque.

It was fleeing.

Those sharp claws just grazed the wall, leaving deep, cruel claw marks behind.

Yet, there were only two claws left on its left hand.

Its possibly nonexistent throat emitted a wounded whimper mixed with human and beastly tones, disturbing to hear.

The beastly patient, covered in black hair, charged into the alley, shattering obstructions.

Meanwhile, outside the alley, a Hunter stepped on thin mist, standing at the boundary between shadow and moonlight.

Silently yet swiftly, he trailed the beastly patient to the mouth of the alley, raising his Hunter’s Firearm with his left hand without hesitation.

"Bang!"

After the brief gunshot, he was unable to see through the darkness to determine if his shot, aimed along the beastly patient’s last trajectory, had hit its mark.

Beneath the gap between his tricorn hat and mask, the Hunter’s eyes and brows furrowed.

But the Yan Nan Hunters valued silent, swift, and decisive combat, rarely venting emotions in battle, more like cold, relentless executioners.

So the Hunter’s dissatisfaction with the previous shot was just that.

He made no sound throughout.

A tear had opened in the leather trench coat on his shoulder, blood flowing from the gash down his entire arm.

The leather coat, slick with a coat of blood, gleamed with a greasy shine. Dripping with blood, soaking wet.

At the boundary between shadow and moonlight, the Hunter’s leather-gloved hand tightened slightly on the Saw Cleaver, then relaxed.

Using grip feedback to confirm if his combat ability was affected by the wound.

He felt the blood loss and injury were not severe, at least not enough to warrant a [Blood Vial] injection.

His chest heaved as if using deep breaths to mentally prepare himself.

Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward, crossing the boundary between shadow and moonlight.

Once he crossed that line, it seemed the light dimmed abruptly.

All around was dim and dark, the Hunter’s leather boots striking the wet cobblestones with a ’patter,’ but at least his breathing remained steady beneath the mask.

Yet in this alley, it wasn’t just the Hunter’s sounds echoing.

"Clack clack," was the brief sound of claws contacting the bricks.

Also, the heavy breathing of the beast, accompanied by the fetid stench of blood wafting from its innards.

The Hunter had only advanced three or four meters before hesitating.

He truly wanted to hunt down this beast-like patient.

Their transformation had progressed deeply and severely. If the Hunter, as the discoverer, ignored it, how many more would they kill tonight?

Moreover, the hunters’ actions were to be concealed from the citizens to prevent panic. It should be done away from crowds, in secrecy.

This place was just right.

However, he was a bit too confident in himself. He had overestimated his eyes’ adaptability to the dark.

I should have brought a torch.

The Hunter thought to himself.

Though holding a torch would mean he couldn’t carry a gun in his left hand. But losing a ranged weapon was better than being completely blind as he was now.

Realizing this, the Hunter had already stopped in his tracks.

He began preparing to cautiously retreat.

Hunting an incurable beast-like patient was important, but his own life was equally important.

He could retreat out of the alley and make a makeshift torch out of broken wood fragments. The alley was a dead end, the beast-like patient couldn’t escape.

But currently, while the Hunter wanted to leave, his prey wasn’t about to let him withdraw easily.

The blood flowing from the Hunter’s wound was like a beautiful melody singing to the beast-like patient’s senses!

Thus, right as the Hunter’s forward steps slowed, he started to move cautiously backward.

"Tap tap tap~"

A rapid succession of claws striking the stone ground sounded out.

The beast-like patient instinctively opened its mouth, drool dripping from its emaciated face.

Its breath reeked with the stench of a beast.

"Owwooo!"

Its cry carried an impatient thirst and a hoarse urgency.

With stiff, reed-like long arms, equipped with sharp claws, it lunged straight at the Hunter!

Its one hand had three fingers cut off by this Hunter, yet even with just seven fingers, it had no problem tearing a person apart!

But from the Hunter’s perspective, he could only feel a foul, fishy wind rushing toward him.

His eyesight, however, couldn’t fully capture the beast-like patient’s movements.

Their coarse, resilient black fur melded with the shadows.

The Hunter could vaguely perceive the main body approaching, but couldn’t discern the attack method of those reed-like thin arms.

In the sharp wind, the Hunter’s somewhat frantic eyes suddenly focused.

"Whoosh," the leather coat billowed with air due to the vigorous movement of the wearer.

It’s the core technique of the Yan Nan Hunter combat system — that crisp and swift super-fast sidestep!

No matter the weapon used, no matter the faction they’re in.

Be it the Sawtooth Gang or the Gunpowder Barrel Gang, every hunter adhered to this core tactic from the original Yan An Hunter, never abandoning the method.

The Hunter moved quickly and decisively.

But under adverse conditions of losing the element of surprise and visual clarity, he was still injured by the beast-like patient’s claws.

A large gash opened on the gun-holding left hand, blood splattering in a wide fan as the claws tore through.

Yet he wasn’t just taking hits.

The injury instead gave him a rough idea of the beast-like patient’s location and movements.

After dodging backward with a super-fast sidestep, he immediately charged forward again with the same swift movement!

Closing the distance, in the lightless dark, accompanied by the sound of mechanisms, a burst of sparks flared!

"Ka-ching!"

[Meat Cleaver: Transformation Slash]!

Originally folded like a large pocketknife, with a toothed back used to damage flesh, the meat cleaver suddenly unfolded mid-swing!

As it increased its attack range, the mechanical trigger force combined with the weapon-swinging force for more lethality.

If this slash landed, the extraordinary physical prowess of the Yan Nan Hunter complemented by the mechanical force could likely send the beast-like patient flying!

But reality had no "if."

With the forward momentum and accounting for the alley’s narrow space, the Hunter unleashed a downward chopping strike with the unfolded meat cleaver.

The cleaver didn’t generate a tangible sensation of striking flesh in mid-air, instead, after a slight obstruction, it swung all the way to the end with a metallic clink, emanating sparks from metal colliding with stone.

The Hunter’s eyes, peering between the mask and the tricorn hat brim, widened in terror.

The beast-like patient let out a pained howl of injury, but with it, there remained a frenzied thirst for blood.

The previous [Transformation Slash] only severed the hand that was lunging forward.

The hand which the Hunter had previously cut three fingers from!

The patient’s intact other claw, post-injury, became even more desperate and relentless, aiming directly for the Hunter’s head and face!