Bear School Astartes

"That’s awesome, meow!" Rong Buqiu and the black-and-white Elu Cat jumped up meowing together, even hugging each other in celebration. "They’re out!"

Lann and Aiden jogged out from the burning base, carrying that researcher from the Ecological Research Institute.

Once they handed the roasted‑senseless researcher over to the Elu Cats and Belengar as usual, everyone finally let out a long breath.

At least this time, in this accident caused by an Ancient Dragon, there were no casualties—that already counted as a very ideal outcome in the records of contact between humans and Ancient Dragons.

"Rescue is complete. As for loss of supplies, that’s already unavoidable."

Aiden’s team Compiler, a short‑haired female scholar with a hairpin, was both relaxing in relief and calmly offering her advice.

"I think we should pull out. I heard a few minor explosions just now. Even if the Supply Squad keeps their powder kegs sealed up tight, as long as the Flame King Dragon is still active here, those things blowing up is just a matter of time."

"Totally agree!"

Aiden was being cooked alive in this set of armor that had absolutely zero synergy with high‑temperature environments. The Elite Hunter braced one hand on his knee, panting to cool down, while raising his other hand to agree with his partner.

Tishaya and Belengar were newcomers here, so of course they had no objections. The Elu Cats’ biggest mission was actually just to get people out.

Keeping the base intact while the Flame King Dragon saunters around outside... Unless that ace recommended unit from the Fifth Period Team comes over after fully preparing for it, otherwise, isn’t it basically hopeless?

Nobody had even considered that option.

But while the Compiler poured water over Aiden’s head to cool him down, and the rescued researcher was being cared for by the Elu Cats—

Lann was tilting his head, staring into the base that kept erupting into little explosions, flames everywhere.

"Gerry." Lann first called Aiden’s partner by name.

Back during that big operation where he acted together with Aiden to intercept the Molten Mountain Dragon, they hadn’t talked much, but they at least knew each other.

"Does the Ecological Research Institute have any new progress on the Flame King Dragon right now?"

The Compiler in the sharp green hunter’s outfit looked up at Lann in confusion; the Aiden being cooled down by her did the same.

But as a scholar who could head out with Hunters to perform close‑range ecological analysis of monsters, she still answered according to her excellent professional standards.

"No, there’s been no new breakthroughs in research on the Flame King Dragon; it’s about the same as before... Why are you asking?"

And Lann, who’d been watching across the wavering sea of fire as the Flame King Dragon strolled around inside the base, lazily absorbing gunpowder dust and gunpowder flames, tilted his head thoughtfully.

"So, in other words, the hypothesis ’Flame King Dragon is very interested in processed gunpowder’ still hasn’t been confirmed?"

Gerry blankly nodded.

"Then today we can confirm it." The Demon Hunter declared.

"I just saw it totally blissed out while sucking up gunpowder. Maybe it was drawn here by the gunpowder stockpiles being shipped through this base."

According to established ecological research, Flame King Dragons eat certain ores out in the wild that possess burning and explosive properties.

But whether it’s interested in man‑made gunpowder explosives had always been an unknown.

After all, in terms of purity, man‑made stuff is obviously more refined than natural.

"Huh?"

Aiden, with a bottle of water just dumped over his head, looked up, puzzled.

But right after that, when he saw the eager and confident look in Lann’s eyes—

"Oh! I’m fired up too now!"

The trust from their previous collaboration and his big heart made his momentum spike in an instant!

He didn’t know exactly what they were going to do, but it sure sounded badass!

That was Aiden’s impression.

Meanwhile, the Compiler, who clearly hadn’t caught up with the Hunters’ pace, and Tishaya, who hadn’t caught up with this world’s pace at all—

Both stared dumbfounded at Aiden and Lann, who had suddenly gotten fired up out of nowhere.

Only Belengar, sweating buckets as he tended to the rescued researcher, vaguely understood... This felt like the atmosphere that appears among men once an "Idea King" shows up.

-----------------

Aiden simply stripped off his armor set whose fire resistance was deep in the negatives, leaving only his weapon on his back.

This time, he was out hunting a Jyuratodus, and the weapon he was using was a Light Crossbow.

That loadout made Lann give him a big thumbs‑up, and boosted his confidence in his own plan quite a bit.

"I’ll rush in and set everything up. Then the stuff you have to do is all good too, right?"

The Demon Hunter spoke to the Hunter.

Both of them had eager, itching‑for‑action grins on their faces.

With no moral pressure of rescuing people anymore and everyone else relocated far away, the two of them were completely relaxed now.

"Got it, got it." Aiden’s undershirt under the armor stuck to his body with sweat, then immediately got baked dry by the heat, but he still gave a thumbs‑up in reply.

A normal person in these conditions would be lucky just to stay alive, but for Hunters of the New Continent, even without a Cold Drink, lasting tens of minutes or half an hour in a volcanic lava area is no big deal.

Lann chuckled, then raised his left palm.

With a soft "poof," a tiny flame flared up in his hand.

[Curse Technique · Intense Sweating]!

He drew the Curse Fire into his body through a unique Magic technique, transforming his own sweat into a fire‑resistant mist layer that covered his whole body.

"Whoaaa!" Aiden blinked, marveling. "What’s that? The fire you sprayed from your hand last time wasn’t like this!"

"Something new I just picked up." Lann shook the flickering Curse Fire in his hand, speaking with no small amount of pride. "Seems an old dog can still learn new tricks!"

But he didn’t show off to Aiden for long; the effect of the [Profuse Sweating] Magic wasn’t exactly lengthy.

After they nodded to each other, Lann ran straight toward the deeper part of the base.

Aiden, meanwhile, licked his lips that were already dried and cracked from the heat, then gave the bolt of his Light Crossbow a sharp ’click’ pull, readying himself.

Wrapped in a layer of fireproof mist, Lann sprinted past the Flame King Dragon from behind while it was still lost in its ecstasy.

The blazing ’big red cat’ was using its claws to pop open the sealed explosive barrels one by one, then snorting up the gunpowder inside, or the flames of gunpowder ignited by the extreme heat.

The Demon Hunter ran past, brushing by the tuft of fur at the tip of its tail that danced like a flickering flame.

The tip of that tail was swaying lazily from the Flame King Dragon’s intoxication, whipping up a ’whoosh whoosh’ in the air, and whenever it idly brushed the rocky ground, it left scorched black marks with ease.

Lann’s [Profuse Sweating] had suddenly boosted his resistance to high temperatures. His destination was the deeper part of the base.

That naturally cylindrical rock formation the Second Period Team captain had converted into an arena.

As soon as he ran over, Lann saw the arena’s main gate.

It was a sizable steel portcullis, forged from ores of the New Continent, likely Sparrow Stone or something similar, meant to keep the monsters inside the arena from breaking out.

And the gate’s dimensions were more than enough to move large monsters in and out.

The entire gate was set into a rock layer over four meters thick, looking rough-hewn, durable, and solid.

"Begin structural force analysis, Mentos."

In his mind, the Demon Hunter issued a new computational task to the bio-cerebral processor; the bio-cerebral processor immediately began its work.

"Task accepted, scene recorded."

The brief glance Lann had just cast at the arena gate was captured in real time by Mentos and filed away, then used as the basis for a force analysis as computing power was allocated.

Meanwhile, Lann himself never slowed for a step and ran straight inside.

Once he entered the arena, the whole layout spread out before his eyes.

The place seemed to be naturally terraced. Within the cylindrical rock walls was first a ring of relatively high rock platforms, then from that ring another tier broke off and recessed, forming a large flat pit.

The Investigation Team’s construction crew had made good use of this terrain.

The surrounding platforms had been fitted with cannons and Bed Crossbows, serving as support tools for Hunters when they fought in the arena.

And in the air over the recessed center of the field, a huge pile of rubble had been bundled together and slung in a rope net, looking heavy enough to make one’s heart skip.

"Ha! Just as I thought! No new tricks from you, old dog!"

With a quick sweep of his gaze, Lann immediately spotted his target.

He joked aloud, with the butt of his humor aimed squarely at the Second Period Team captain who’d built the arena.

What he was really looking for was the stockpile of gunpowder that fed the cannons and the Dragon-slaying Spear’s ignition devices.

He hurried over to the explosive barrels, hefted two of them onto his shoulders, and walked them back toward the arena gate.

By the time he reached the thick, heavy gate, Mentos’ calculations were complete.

Under Mentos’ operation, a clear and concise force analysis diagram of the arena gate formed on Lann’s retina.

"Blast... blast..."

With his eyes following the data provided by Mentos, Lann’s mind was simultaneously guided by the experience of the Sons of the Emperor toying with explosive weapons back in the Interstellar Era.

He was confident he could create the exact explosion he had in mind.

With a sharp ’shing’, he drew the Lady of the Lake’s Sword.

The razor-sharp Divine-made Armor, adjusted in the Ardan World by Lady Galadriel herself under proper tutelage from the God of Craftsmanship, had a keenness beyond question.

The rock split apart like butter under a hot knife.

Following the force diagram, Lann chipped and carved bit by bit, cutting several seemingly unrelated grooves and recesses into the originally rough but flat rock gate.

The two explosive barrels he’d brought over were set into the recesses, their tops sticking out just a little.

Once that was done, the Demon Hunter spread his arms wide toward the outside of the arena and waved.

This was the signal he’d arranged with Aiden beforehand. Even though the heat brought on by the Flame King Dragon’s fire was distorting the light in the air across the whole area and thick smoke from burning structures was billowing up,

as an Elite Hunter, Aiden was more than capable of marking the position of the two explosive barrels off that signal.

Next, Lann turned back into the arena proper, rolling seven or eight of those gunpowder barrels down into the recessed center of the field.

Then he blasted them in rapid succession with [Alder’s Rune].

The surging Magic Seal blew apart the wooden shells and scattered the gunpowder inside, bursting it out into powdery clouds.

Half a minute later, the Demon Hunter had already refreshed [Profuse Sweating] on himself again and slipped out along the side of the arena gate.

Outside, the fire-red big cat, intoxicated by the gunpowder smoke, lifted its head and raised its muzzle, sniffing along the trail of scent.

"Hoo~"

Just turning its head was enough for the Flame King Dragon’s flames to whip up a roar of deflagration in the air.

The Flame King Dragon’s blue eyes immediately pivoted toward the arena deeper inside the base.

Its tongue stretched out by reflex, licking its lips and trailing a spray of sparks.

Then, without troubling the water that passed by the well, it and Lann brushed past each other as they crossed paths, and the dragon headed straight for the arena.