Bear School Astartes

Even though Maria had not witnessed the previous battle between Lann and Ludwig, she was a renowned Old Hunter in Yharnam.

The beasts of Yharnam are bizarre and dangerous.

Any hunter should understand why they maintain a rapid and swift combat style, even today.

Faced with beasts that have transformed into various grotesque forms, being hit by any attack carries an unknown risk.

After all, no one knows what these calamity beasts hold inside their bodies and what powers they possess.

Regarding Ludwig, who has succumbed to beast transformation, no one dares to take a gamble.

Maria reappeared like mist at Ludwig’s front flank.

The Church’s First Hunter, now a grotesque beast, has a round mouth on its neck that can spew for a sustained period.

As it shakes its head, the liquid it sprays can cover a fan-shaped area in front of it.

Under the triangular hat adorned with swan feathers, Maria’s blood-red eyes were calm and cautious.

The trajectory of the spray was targeting Lann... It seems that in the brief confrontation earlier, this outsider indeed gave Ludwig a hard time.

Or rather, gave Ludwig’s beastly form a hard time.

Even though Maria was now in the battlefield, she still refused to believe that the glorious hunter had turned into this state.

In Maria’s eyes, Ludwig’s glorious spirit had vanished, leaving only the residue of the beastly transformation disease.

"Crack!"

The Long Blade of the Leaf, amidst a burst of mechanized sparks, split into two blades of different lengths.

Maria’s fluid and swift movements made her single-shoulder cloak flutter amidst the splattering blood and wind sounds.

The blood-red lining of the single-shoulder cloak and the blood intertwined, creating a stunning yet sorrowful beauty.

"Swoosh!"

Maria’s Acceleration Technique appeared more light and ethereal compared to Lann.

The Leaf, a pair of long and short knives, danced precisely in her hands.

The expertly crafted firearm of Cainhurst had been put away by Maria. Facing Ludwig’s body, even someone like her from the Blood Nobility did not think they had much advantage in terms of blood quality.

Without the advantage in blood quality, the firearm’s effectiveness against Yharnam’s beasts seemed too weak.

"Slash!"

The long, darkened blade and the sharp, tough short blade simultaneously sliced against the fur-clad, grotesque body.

Maria’s quite strong bodily power, combined with her speed, should allow this blade to cut open even rocks!

But faced with Ludwig’s beastly form...

She indeed managed to cut open a part, but the result was not as ideal.

"Augh!!!"

From the head still retaining human face contours, Ludwig let out a painful, hoarse cry similar to that of a wounded horse.

But the eyes controlling the body... remained unmoved.

The Leaf’s blade, in Maria’s hands, carved out a super-long incision straight from Ludwig’s grotesque horse-like body’s abdomen all the way to the outer side of the thigh!

Although Ludwig’s body appeared emaciated and grotesque due to the beastly disease, it was actually much tougher and sturdier than when he was human.

Maria, capable of cutting through rocks with her long blade, left a wound on him merely half a meter deep.

A half-meter-deep incision... on a normal person’s body could easily cut them in two at the stoutest part of the torso.

But on Ludwig’s body at this moment, it hadn’t even exposed any organs!

Even someone as seasoned as Maria found her blood-red eyes narrowing when she saw the gash she inflicted.

The large opening from upper to lower abdomen, where intestines and organs would usually be.

The gap she cut open indeed exuded the sticky stench typical of organs.

But apart from the smell, there were no organs in that wound!

"Slurp~"

A dense, slimy sliding sound came from the incision Maria just made.

The Blood Nobility’s face tightened, and the spiral wind entwining her legs immediately whisked her to a safer distance.

—For within the terrifyingly long incision, beneath the muscles sliced open by the blade, were countless densely packed eyeballs!

Just like the inner wall of Ludwig’s mouth on his neck!

They appeared as if buried deep within the muscle, finally seeing the light of day due to Maria’s blade, all staring at her.

But simultaneously, from the opened gash, the viscous, foul-smelling blood pulled into strands along the wound’s sides.

As if stitching together, the wound rapidly sealed, emitting a sound of muscles squeezing out juices.

Even until the last moment when the wound sealed, Maria could see inside the wound, densely packed eyeballs rotating, looking at her through the gradually closing shadow.

Very eerie, very disgusting.

But still incapable of frightening an Old Hunter from Yharnam.

"Boom!"

Maria’s strike diverted Ludwig’s attention from Lann.

The hind part of Ludwig’s horse-like body, with its wildly growing seven or eight horse legs, began kicking frantically.

Each horse hoof, originally appearing limp and merely hanging from Ludwig’s body like fleshy lumps resembling hooves.

But once they started kicking, each hoof’s power rattled the air, and even in mid-air without hitting a solid target, caused a series of dull yet intense ’boom boom’ sounds.

And there was also a visible white air wave created by the movement and compression of air.

Maria’s tall leather boots deftly danced in the blood pool, her blood-red eyes under the triangular hat calmly watching the horse hooves ravage the spot where she had just stood.

Meanwhile, as Ludwig swung his horse-transformed hindquarters to recklessly kick and injure Maria,

the female hunter, descended from Blood Nobility, dodged methodically and suddenly heard an even more piercing scream from Ludwig’s mouth.

"Aanghh!!!"

In the frenzied neigh of the injured horse, Maria saw Ludwig’s beast claws that propped up his front half suddenly buckle as his hind legs kicked wildly.

It was like his supporting front paw had suddenly been chopped short, losing balance.

Under the influence of beast transformation, the body’s sudden heaviness rendered it unknown how many times heavier, and even made a dull thud when it collapsed into the blood pool!

This was likely the effect Lann caused in the brief moment when he had attracted attention.

Maria carefully and logically contemplated.

Although they hadn’t been cooperating for long, both held recognition and affirmation of the other’s combat prowess.

They both believed that as long as they created an opening, the other would seize the opportunity.

The current situation indeed proved their mutual understanding was correct.

After Ludwig collapsed, half of his beast claw dropped from midair with a "snap" into the blood pool.

Yet when half of Ludwig’s paw hit the blood pool, it only raised a modest splash.

However, when his entire body, so heavy, crashed into the blood pool, unusually, it didn’t send a high splash of blood.

It’s as if the blood, supposed to spray up and fly away, was suppressed by some invisible force.

Maria, who had planned to use speed to close in for an attack during Ludwig’s fall,

felt her breath hitch and instinctively halted her actions, retreating swiftly instead!

Beneath the fluttering of her one-shoulder cloak, her blood-red eyes looked warily at the area.

’This pressure...it’s too heavy! Is it some kind of [Arcane]?’

Maria speculated from Yan’an’s local perspective and experience.

But this perspective and experience were too limited.

This wasn’t [Arcane], but [Swordsmanship]!

The Demon Hunter, positioned right in front of Ludwig, half-crouched in a low stance.

The hand gauntlet with Dragon Scales was sheathing the last inch of Aron Dite’s blade.

Amidst the heavy pressure, the spring in the scabbard emitted a crisp "click".

The light sound seemed exceptionally abrupt in this moment, like a switch being flicked.

Following this minor, crisp sound...

"Tssllaa!"*N

A dense sound of blades cutting suddenly burst forth! And it ricocheted in a confined area!

Sharp white lines composed of dense air currents crisscrossed, slicing through the entire space!

[Secret Technique: Yixin]!

These numerous high-pressure Qi Flow Blades caused a sudden imbalance of atmospheric pressure throughout the entire area; the air refracted light unevenly as if it was glass or a water surface.

"Aanghh!!!"

Ludwig, with half of his face pressed in the pool, let out a sharp, piercing screech.

On his deformed body, a dense spray of blood mist burst forth in patches!

It looked as if he was drowning in blood erupting from inside out.

Maria watched solemnly from nearby at the area carved out by [Swordsmanship].

She marveled at the Demon Hunter’s skillful swordplay, akin to [Arcane Art], but she also knew from her recent attack experience...this strike might not have much effect.

Indeed.

In the next moment, Ludwig, who had originally fallen to the ground, without getting up, swung his claw while still on the ground.

His wave-like claw-swipe scraped against the ground, lifting a rain of blood like a tide.

With a muffled "thud".

The claw, roughly the size of Lann himself, swatted him away!

Heading directly toward Maria.

The blood noble had been about to assist but immediately saw that this foreigner, though blown away, seemed to have prepared for the impact at the very moment he was hit.

The heavy armor combined with a logical posture of force acceptance made it look as if Lann was "pushed over" rather than "knocked over".

With the ’clatter’ of armor plates in motion, Lann stepped down on the bottom of the blood pool near Maria, stopping with a splash of blood.

His left hand, used to block Ludwig’s claw, had been shielding the side of his head.

Now lowering it slowly, he relaxed his grip with the click of the gauntlet and, as if nothing had happened, carried on unaffected.

Yet Maria found something odd about him.

Being sent flying from such a distance without injury, she could understand it as an advantage of heavy armor.

But Lann’s gaze and expression right now...held neither the frustration and anxiety of ineffective attacks, nor urgency against a dangerous enemy, not even casting a glance at Ludwig as he stood up.

He merely watched his own elegantly curved long blade with a pensive look.

"Can’t use [Light of the Dual Holy Trees]?"

Maria overheard the Demon Hunter mumbling, only to immediately refute himself.

"No...is it that I’m subconsciously not using it?"

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