[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-bear-school-astartes":3,"chapter-bear-school-astartes-bear-school-astartes-chapter-478":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Bear School Astartes",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1620158,2087,"Chapter 478 - 479. Blasphemous Thieves","bear-school-astartes-chapter-478",478,"\u003Cp>After entering the cave, Lann didn’t feel as if he’d ’set foot on sacred ground’.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just like every other cave he had entered before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strangely shaped rocks sculpted by geological activity, green moss growing on the stones, fungi in the dark crevices...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a long cave with an overall downward direction, and along the way, long pole torches were placed at intervals to provide light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann followed the torches all the way down and eventually reached a culvert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above the culvert at an angle, there was an opening leading directly to the outside, through which sunlight streamed in, shining right onto the only statue in the culvert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a nearly five-meter-tall, fully copper statue of Hermes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the sunlight, it shone with a golden brilliance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann had no words left to express his feelings about this use of material and carving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a normal historical timeline, this could be the annual revenue of several provinces of a feudal dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this world’s Greece before the Common Era, it was merely a statue in a cave of a poor little island.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Spiritual Vision in his mind, just as Lann anticipated, was mildly stimulated, making Lann feel his progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A woman in a rough hemp long dress was bowing in prayer in front of the statue, looking focused and devout, completely unaware of Lann’s arrival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann didn’t disturb her; his cat-like eyes, glowing faintly in the dim light, began to constrict and focus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the boon of Spiritual Vision, the tiny traces in this culvert were all laid bare before Lann’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Demon Hunter Vision could observe traces of the material world, while Spiritual Vision allowed Lann to glimpse the profound truth of the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The statue of Hermes stood on a stone platform, and around the circular stone platform was where people placed their offerings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were burlap sacks of various sizes filled with flower petals or barley and wheat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, there were some earthenware and bronze double-handled jars, judging by the smell, likely containing olive oil and wine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were some wealthier, more straightforward offerings, consisting of coins and jewelry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann wasn’t concerned with these things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No traces of energy flow... uh, at least not with my current Spiritual Vision, no traces of energy are visible.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following his professional habit, the Demon Hunter muttered to himself about the clues he found.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But on the material level, hey, drag marks?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann controlled himself well, crouching without making a sound from the collision of armor plates on his Grandmaster Bear School Armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With his upgraded steel-reinforced gauntlet, he touched the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Someone dragged offerings behind the statue?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Demon Hunter followed the traces behind the golden Hermes statue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cold air is flowing in... there’s a crack here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a few moves, he pulled apart the vines that had been growing for who knows how long in this single ray of sunlight, revealing a large crack in the rock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Demon Hunter Vision, vivid red drag marks on the ground extended inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann’s mouth curved slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It seems the one taking the offerings is not a god... found you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He squeezed through the rocky crevice, behind which lay a deeper natural tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voices of several people talking and laughing loudly echoed within the tunnel, barely audible from the entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But within the senses of a Demon Hunter, these things were very clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann followed the voices inside, and this deeper tunnel had been well managed by the offering thieves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’d lit braziers here and even set up wooden racks and ladders, with a weapon rack holding several weapons also set up to one side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Lann appeared before them, the young man initially just wanted to intimidate them a bit and compel them to return the offerings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, he clearly underestimated the temperament of offering thieves of this era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who dared to steal offerings in front of the statue; their crime was generally considered worse than murder across various city-states!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was sacrilege!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it was no surprise that their first reaction upon seeing Lann was to draw their knives directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann only realized when the first thief approached with a drawn sword and sulky face what ’sacrilege’ meant in this era and how severe the crime was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simply put: those who had committed a capital offense didn’t mind adding a few more lives to their hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Greek short sword aimed for Lann’s waist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leading thief had clearly killed before, knowing the challenges faced when stabbing someone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So when he stabbed, he braced the hilt of the short sword with his palm, pressing it against his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Trying to prevent his hand from slipping while adding his body weight as part of the force of the thrust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus the thrust was fast and vicious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a thrust wouldn’t be a problem even to kill a wild wolf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But before Lann...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"His hand was too short.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s your arm span that’s too long, sir.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The exchange between biotic brain and consciousness occurred in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately after, the steel-reinforced gauntlet rubbed against the sword’s edge, gripping the leading thief’s sword-wielding hand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a ’clang’, the force of the other’s charge was utterly negligible, as Lann’s hand forcefully twisted the direction of their held sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Twisting their hand, he placed the Greek short sword against the unguarded neck of its owner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Slash~’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sweating skin was neatly slit open by the blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blood that sprayed from the neck even splattered all the way to the opposite wall of the tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sword-holding hand, already deformed from Lann’s grip, went completely limp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the Demon Hunter easily plucked the short sword from the dead man’s hand and casually threw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a ’thwack’, the sound of breaking through the air and a scream rang out simultaneously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another thief was knocked into the air as if hit squarely by a bull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he hit the ground, the short sword was lodged straight through his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gaze vacant, he hadn’t even realized what had happened; his body only responded with instinctive spasms, writhing on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A flash of white light passed through the dim cave as Lann’s arm lifted before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a ’ding’, sparks flew from metal contact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An arrow was deflected off the steel-reinforced gauntlet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the arrow’s deflection, the hand that had just blocked it caught it, then with a flick creating a whoosh through the air...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thwip!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The archer standing on the wooden rack now had his own arrow sticking out of his unprotected throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes bulged like a dying sea fish, trying to clutch his throat with hands that no longer had the strength to reach it, grasping at the air and then dropping to his sides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the cave transitioned from noise to silence, it all took barely the time for one complexion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lann gathered the offerings the thieves had stolen, at least the part they hadn’t spent, and took them out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as he was about to step out of the stone crevice, he happened to hear the woman outside, still praying devoutly to the statue of Hermes.\u003C\u002Fp>",1192,"2026-06-06T10:40:07.943Z",1,"novelbin.me","ba27678a0dac9a2c057b66be15c4ca6c512352fe2ce93a99cfb7fa749989d0e0","bear-school-astartes-chapter-479","bear-school-astartes-chapter-477",1043,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbear-school-astartes-cover.jpg"]