Bear School Astartes

Chapter 1052 - 1034: Misunderstanding

"Go, go, go! Let’s move quickly!"

Gandalf led the way, his posture with the magic staff resembling an old man, but his strides were so brisk that the Dwarves had to jog to keep up.

Among the fourteen Dwarves, the roundest and fattest, Bombo, could barely keep pace.

At the moment, they were incredibly tense, being stirred up by the numerous Warg Riders, their minds muddled, with only one thought left: "Leave quickly."

To the extent that they didn’t notice that under Gandalf’s leadership, despite having run for nearly ten minutes, the Warg Riders were still less than two hundred meters away.

Only the calmest leader, Sorlin Oak Shield, after nearly stepping out from the shadow of a rock and being seen by the Warg Riders, raised his head to question Gandalf.

"This route... where exactly are you taking us?"

But Gandalf did not speak.

Seeing the Warg Riders brush past them, Sorlin had no time to pursue the question and could only continue following.

"Wow!"

Holding the dwarven strong bow, Qi Li, youthful and vigorous, was Sorlin’s nephew. He still had the energy to observe the situation not far away while fleeing headlong.

He ran while twisting his head and patted the arm of the Dwarf beside him.

It was Philipp, his older brother.

"Did you see that? That big guy who blocked my arrow, and that beast-like horse! Oh, by Durin!"

From a distance, Lann and the Qilin were hard to say to be ’diverting the Warg Riders away from the Dwarves’... They seemed more like they were driving the Warg Riders away!

The white silk rune cloth fluttered in the air, accentuating the Qilin’s graceful silhouette with more nobility and sanctity.

Although the Wargs had exceptional foot strength, far beyond typical creatures, they were still far behind compared to an Ancient Dragon.

The Qilin darted across the open meadow like a white and blue streak of lightning.

The rune cloth whipped with a ’whoosh’ of wind, and accompanied by this sound, silver light flashed, and the Warg and the ugly beastman on its back together turned into smoothly cut halves.

Those divided bodies, even while running, spread apart due to inertia, with the farthest upper and lower halves being twenty meters apart.

The black filthy blood and beast blood, along with the innards, were flung from the body cavity by force and splattered on the grassland.

"Focus, Qi Li, Philipp! Run quickly!"

Leading from the front, Sorlin grabbed his excited nephews and pulled them forward. Beastmen are mortal enemies of Dwarves, blood feuds that are eternally remembered in this stubborn and hard-headed race.

Even young dwarves like Qi Li and Philipp, who are only a few decades old, were pleased to see the gruesome death of beastmen.

Especially such a powerful scene.

Lann’s combat often spontaneously appeared full of impactful force, even a certain degree of artistic impression. Even though he never intended it.

But Sorlin is ultimately the leader of the Dwarves, his focus and seriousness honed in bloody battlefields.

"That big guy is formidable, he’s helping us, we should be thankful. But we’re on a battlefield now! Don’t waste the time someone else has bought for you!"

"The Wargs aren’t as fast as his Divine Steed, but once the Wargs and Beastmen find us and start attacking us dispersedly, he won’t be able to take care of each one of us!"

As he spoke, Sorlin pushed his nephews forward.

"Hurry, hurry, go, go!"

Indeed, Sorlin’s judgment was spot-on.

The Beastmen quickly realized that engaging head-on with that tall human riding a majestic horse didn’t seem worthwhile.

Thus the wolves quickly scattered; the Wargs’ speed and stamina couldn’t match the Qilin’s, but scattering then seeking opportunities for harassment—under this strategy, the Qilin couldn’t easily keep up.

Lann didn’t deem it necessary to eliminate all these Beastmen here; he could break away anytime he wished.

Thus he merely tried to drive the Beastmen Warg Riders in different directions.

The vast meadow hills were alive with the sounds of wolves’ claws and horses’ hooves hitting the ground, Radagast’s rabbit sled also whirling around frantically.

Yet despite Lann’s efforts, the group of Dwarves resembling blind flies still hadn’t distanced themselves from the Warg Riders.

In fact, due to a careless moment, a lone Warg strayed and sniffed at the Dwarves’ scents from their travels!

"Howl, howl, howl-ooh!"

The vocal cords and windpipe of the Warg produced a highly recognizable sound.

Thus, around Lann and Radagast, the scampering Beastman Warg Riders all looked toward the sound’s direction in unison.

The Dwarves had been discovered!

Dwarves are sworn enemies of Beastmen, so these fourteen Dwarves evidently held higher priority than Lann and Radagast, mere newcomers.

Thus the Warg Riders, without hesitation, each changed direction and pursued the Dwarves.

Lann’s brow furrowed slightly as he sat lightly on the Qilin’s back, the previous tussle hardly counting as exercise.

Neither to his body, equipped with [Tendon Coil] and [Bellisario’s Furnace], nor to the Qilin’s Ancient Dragon physique.

Having not completed the full surgery, he couldn’t form complete coordination with his super organs.

Sustaining power and survival compared to a normal Interstellar Warrior is weaker, but this ’weaker’ pertains to high-intensity combat.

Earlier, it was mainly relying on the Qilin for movement; he merely swung his blade.

"Swish!"

Aron Dite swung a silver arc by Lann’s side, flinging the contaminated blood onto the meadow.

"Caught by the Warg Riders again!"

Radagast, standing on the rabbit sled, paused beside Lann, muttering as he looked into the distance.

"What exactly is Gandalf planning?" Lann turned his head to ask. "Leading those Dwarves further away, I see him circling back near us?"

"Is that so?" Radagast paused; he hadn’t split his attention like Lann did earlier. "Gandalf must have his own plans. He always does."

"Alright, plan..." Lann smirked. "But right now, I see them about to be torn apart by the Warg Riders—is that part of the plan?"

"Ah?!" Radagast jumped in shock on the sled, hoping for a better view. Unfortunately, it was futile.

"So let’s go help them!"

The Demon Hunter tugged at the Qilin’s mane, the Ancient Dragon understandingly blocking the path for the large rabbits.

The rabbit cohort turned personifyingly helpless, glancing back at Radagast.

"You better stay put."

Lann said helplessly.

"Your stick is only good for swatting bats with osteoporosis."

Actually, it can also hit beastmen, but only those without armor.

But these Warg Riders all have armor. Although crude, twisted, and as dull as pig iron, it’s still steel.

Beastmen may be vicious and cruel, but they still possess the technology to smelt and forge steel.

And the wargs, let’s not even mention.

They’re like huge muscle clubs. A regular slingshot could crack a wild wolf’s skull, but hitting a warg’s muscle is like flicking away dust.

Lann squeezed his legs, and the Qilin rushed toward the direction of the dwarves.

Aron Dite hung loosely at his side, the blade’s back making a pleasant sound in the wind.

On the other side, the dwarves were surrounded by wolf cavalry that had come from all directions in a cluster of jagged rocks.

Dwarves’ short legs are not good for mobility. If it were a battlefield formation, they might stand a chance against the wolf cavalry.

But now, it’s an open plain with enemies everywhere and only fourteen of them, including a hobbit who doesn’t even know how to swing a sword.

Moreover, they didn’t have dwarven armor to withstand a hard fight, just light gear suitable for long travel.

Such conditions were perfect for the wolf cavalry to capitalize on.

"Steady! Steady!"

Sorlin Oak Shield was the leader of the dwarves; he was competent and outstanding, even now encouraging his companions beside him.

But there were still panic-stricken shouts within the team.

"Gandalf! Where’s Gandalf? Where is he?"

"He must have abandoned us!"

Sorlin promptly stopped this line of thinking.

"Dwalin, stop babbling! Prepare for battle!"

Every dwarf felt they were likely going to meet their end here today, but just then, from the heap of jagged rocks behind them, a pointed hat emerged.

Next came the Old Wizard’s wise face and long beard.

"Over here! You bunch of fools! Get over here!"

Gandalf cursed out of anger while also beckoning them.

Sorlin let out a sigh of relief, but just for a moment before he gathered himself again.

"Everyone! Over there! Retreat quickly! Dwalin, you’re with me at the back!"

The pile of rocks seemed to have a crevice below, just the right size for the dwarves to squeeze through and enter underground.

The dwarves scrambled down recklessly.

The warg riders grew anxious, urging on their mounts and roaring as they charged, seemingly desperate to tear the dwarves apart.

And at this moment...

"Slash!"

The elegantly arced long blade hung naturally, the back of the blade forward. But as the blade turned, facing forward, that previously pleasant sound turned into a sharp whistle!

The blade, driven by the speed of the mount and the strength of the wielder’s arm.

The razor-sharp blade sliced through the warg’s hind leg fur like a hot knife through butter, followed by muscle, bone, and organs...

The cut extended all the way to the warg’s thick neck, slicing off a beastman rider’s leg in passing.

"Awooooo!"

The mournful screams echoed, a white spark-driven figure charged into the middle of the warg riders.

Lann gracefully leaped off the horse, habitually twirling the blade in his hand.

The Qilin carried Rong Buqiu and dashed away, roaming along the perimeter.

The enemies were all rushing toward the crevice where the dwarves went down, so he didn’t need to strain chasing them anymore.

Lann stretched his shoulders, loosening and gripping his hand on the hilt.

With an opportunity like this, he thought: there’s no reason not to slay all these beastmen.

However, unlike the now earnest Lann, the dwarves who had just squeezed into the crevice seemed to have misunderstood something.

"Wait! His Divine Steed ran away! What about him?"

Bilbo, who jumped last with Sorlin and Dwalin, stood up quickly, gazing anxiously at the slope and crevice above his head.

"Ran away?"

Qi Li exclaimed, having descended before Bilbo and missed what happened above.

"There are at least twenty wargs up there! Plus beastman riders! He charged into the midst to save us; even the bravest horse would flee!"

Bofur chimed in, and the dwarves looked at each other. The initial excitement of escaping death vanished instantly.

Gandalf turned back from the front of the tunnel.

"Alright, this tunnel connects to a passage. Let’s move inside, away from the beastmen scouts. Let’s go."

Having said that, Gandalf was about to lead the way but didn’t hear footsteps behind him and looked back.

To his surprise, he saw... no dwarves had moved.

"Up there, a brave man is in dire straits for our sake! We can’t just run away!"

Young Qi Li spoke first.

Once started, the other dwarves joined in.

"Yeah! If his Divine Steed were still there, he could withdraw. Then we could leave."

"But now we can’t! We mustn’t leave!"

The already noisy dwarves, now more loud and lively with everyone speaking, fervently exclaimed.

Until Sorlin spoke, his deep voice resonating through the tunnel.

"Quiet!"