Bear School Astartes

"Because you couldn’t stand the nostalgic yet lavish demeanor of the Cainhurst people, who think they are superior, you left your hometown and came here."

Gremman spoke to Maria, whose chest was heaving violently.

"This is indeed something you would do—shoot at me."

As a Yan Nan Hunter, Maria’s emotional display reaching this level was rare.

However, Gremman’s expression and tone were even more peculiar.

He looked at Maria not as if he was looking at a person, but rather like an old man reminiscing about the past, telling stories, and expressing emotions to a photo from the past.

This kind of behavior isn’t inexplicable.

It’s like the cliché often seen in stories.

A young person resembling someone from the previous generation is seen by a friend of the older generation. When the older person expresses emotion, even though they look at the young person, it’s actually the elder to whom the emotions and memories are directed.

But now it’s different.

What Gremman spoke of was precisely Maria’s own past and character, without deviating in the slightest.

And Maria stood right in front of him, having just raised a hand to shoot at him in a fit of intense emotion.

This so-called ’nostalgia and reminiscence’ carries the profound and lingering flavor of a truly aged wine collected over the years... but where does this come from?

Lann remained silent.

But Maria and Adeline’s behavior seemed quite normal, as if they completely couldn’t understand Gremman’s emotions.

Internally, Maria was mentally shattered, yet she hid her turmoil behind the characteristic coldness of a Yan Nan Hunter.

The Fine Worked Firearm was smoothly put away, and with a ’zing’! The [Long Blade] was unsheathed!

[Acceleration Technique] activated, and Maria’s flowing single-shoulder cape made her vanish like a wisp of black smoke.

When she reappeared, it was beside Gremman’s wheelchair.

But the cold, dark, and slender blade passed through the space where Gremman’s body was, leaving Maria in disbelief.

It was no different from the earlier silver bullet.

The blade lay across Gremman’s body, where it should have pierced directly from the side into his heart and lungs! But now it felt like plunging into fog, insubstantial and without force.

Gremman himself showed no intention of raising his eyes, as if completely unfazed.

Alarmed, Maria quickly withdrew.

Yet, seeing the female hunter’s cold, fierce gaze and her knife-wielding stance, it seemed she intended to use the Blood Nobility’s technique.

The technique of coating the blade with blood.

"The blood blade of Cainhurst is indeed formidable." But before Maria could strike, Gremman calmly spoke. "But you are ultimately just echoes of the old days, lingering illusions."

"Illusions? You mean us?" Maria paused her hand and asked coldly. "You seem more like an illusion."

"Is this a new technique from those scum of the Healing Church? Your real self isn’t here?"

But Gremman didn’t respond to Maria, only gave a weary smile to Lann, who had been silent all along.

"Those within a nightmare, yet think those who enter the nightmare are illusions, isn’t that ironic?"

"You..." Maria frowned, "What exactly are you talking about?!"

"Enough." Gremman ignored Maria’s question, now speaking slowly and age-weary to Lann. "Old people want to recall the past, that’s normal. I have the time and opportunity, but what about you, the unwelcome guest in this garden?"

"Thanks to your keen actions, this nightmare cursed by the unjust death of the divine child is about to collapse."

"People like me come and go freely, but what about you? An outsider with not a drop of Yanyan’s blood in you? How will you leave?"

Gremman’s voice carried a calmness after witnessing many storms, yet beneath this calm, Lann faintly sensed persuasion.

Finally, after a long silence, Lann’s boots stepped onto the sandy beach, treading on a thin layer of ripples.

"Actually, you’re the one who killed the Cos Orphan, right?"

He didn’t answer Gremman’s previous question but instead asked back.

"The mortal wound on that body wasn’t a sword wound."

"No, it wasn’t." Gremman admitted readily, as if the question wasn’t worth hiding or avoiding.

The old man’s mouth chuckled under the brim’s shadow.

"The one who lands the final blow will bear the heaviest, most direct sin and curse."

"At the time, I landed the last blow, killing the Cos Orphan. But unfortunately, even if I later gave the final blow’s opportunity to Ludwig every time here, the curse wouldn’t leave me."

As he spoke, Gremman’s hand, resting on the wheelchair’s armrest, waved aside.

Instantly, from Cos’s corpse lying on the beach, a twisting yet vaguely humanoid black smoke rose.

The smoke twisted and slendered, the human face blurred and unclear.

But the sharp Lann and the familiar Maria could immediately tell that the smoke was Gremman.

Or rather, a part of Gremman’s soul.

Because he directly slew the divine child, a part of his soul was firmly trapped beside this corpse, without redemption.

Gremman stood beside a part of his soul that was cursed, twisted, even howling up to the sky amidst black smoke, yet his face appeared indifferent as if he cared about nothing.

It sent a chill down one’s spine.

"Ludwig’s final strike in the nightmare somewhat shared my burden, but that’s all. Didn’t you see the wound?"

Only when saying this did a fleeting sorrow flash across Gremman’s face.

"Heh, that orphan... it refuses to spare me no matter what."

"You don’t exactly look like someone who needs to be ’spared’ by it."

Lann chuckled coldly, speaking to Gremman.

"Heh, say what you will, but time’s almost up." Completely disregarding Lann’s sarcasm, Gremman only turned to glance behind him, speaking casually.

However, within Gremman’s lighthearted tone, both Lann and Maria, Adeline’s expressions turned serious.

Because a surge of drowsiness suddenly and inexplicably appeared in their minds.

The nightmare was about to end.

Lann immediately realized this.

But Maria and Adeline, who still didn’t understand what was happening, were desperately pressing their heads, refusing to succumb to the sudden drowsiness.

Because along with the drowsiness came a deep-seated panic in their hearts.

This panic, like the drowsiness, was unfounded but inexplicably intense.

As if just by closing their eyes in compliance with the drowsiness... their safety, lives, even the entire world... would all disappear!

If Maria and Adeline were living along their normal trajectory in the nightmare, they wouldn’t feel anything now.

Because how could one in a nightmare perceive the nightmare itself?

If they were clear-headed hunters like Simon, they wouldn’t feel anything either.

Because a clear-headed hunter knows they’ll eventually awaken in the next dream.

But now, the two of them had been drawn to the center of the Dream Realm by Lann’s actions.

In a state of about to awaken yet not fully awake.

They felt a great change was coming, yet had no way to escape, hence the eruption of great fear.

In this abrupt and intense drowsiness, Lann shook his head, struggling to hold up his eyelids, refusing to let them close.

Meanwhile, Mentos projected stimulating, dazzling graphics onto his retinas, activating his nerves.

Behind the light and shadow cast by the bio-intelligence brain, Gremman extended an arm resting on his wheelchair’s armrest towards Lann.

"The last chance, outsider."

Under the shadow of the high top hat’s brim, a hint of an amused smile appeared on the old man’s lips.

Silently, Gremman used his thumbnail to slit the tip of his index finger, blood hanging from the tip, about to drip.

"Just accept one drop of Yanyan’s Blood, just this one drop, and you become a true Yan Nan Person."

"It can take you away from this collapsing nightmare."

"What do you think?"

Gremman’s tone was like that of a merchant who had cornered the market.

Yet amidst the sleepiness that battled his eyelids, Lann still smiled back at him coldly and mockingly.

"You want me to kneel before you and suck on your finger, Gremman?"

"Injection would be best, but if you want to swallow it, that’s fine too." The old hunter laughed softly, unconcerned by the mockery. "If you don’t want my old and ugly blood, theirs will do."

"In those two snow-white, delicate necks flows nothing but high-quality blood. Yanyan’s Blood."

As he spoke, Gremman’s top hat tilted towards Maria and Adeline, who were already too drowsy to stand steadily.

Lann didn’t respond, and silence enveloped the scene.

Only the sound of waves echoed around.

"Listen to what you’re saying..." The cold and mocking smile on Lann’s face gradually faded, now he just looked at the old man in the wheelchair with a blank expression. "Do you truly, really care for your students?"

Maria, almost succumbing to the drowsiness, struggled to lift her head and look at her mentor.

But Lann saw that the old man seated in the wheelchair merely had a brief twitch at the corner of his mouth beneath the shadow of the hat brim.

Then, a calmness.

The old suit jacket and wooden armrest of the wheelchair creaked as Gremman withdrew his outstretched hand.

"It seems you don’t want this last grace and opportunity, outsider... that’s fine too."

As if he hadn’t heard Lann’s question at all, Gremman spoke calmly.

"Then drown in this collapsing nightmare. Don’t intrude into my garden again."

The wheelchair and the old man’s figure slowly faded and disappeared before the three of them, like a remnant in a dream.

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