Chapter 9: The Bear of Dawn

Li Nanke leapt up the steps before the church in a single bound, twisting his body sharply to squeeze through the iron gate.

A harpoon shot through the air with a thud, only to be blocked by the church’s iron door, clattering to the ground with a metallic ring.

The person stationed behind the door, silent and expressionless, wordlessly pushed the iron gate shut, sealing the church from the madness and slaughter outside.

The native monsters, a heartbeat too late, attacked the church doors with ferocity, unleashing thunderous booms that could not shake the iron barrier.

“We should be safe for now… cough, cough!” Li Nanke doubled over, bracing his knees, wracked by violent coughs as if to hack up his lungs.

Once again, an emotionless mechanical voice broadcast its message, blood-red text flashing before his eyes.

[Current dreamers remaining: 1/5]

[Dreamer, you have completed Key Node One!]

[Node Reward: Trait ‘Breath of the Lake’ (awaiting claim)]

[Key Node Two: Kill a ‘High-ranking Sea Devotee’!]

He heard the synchronization program’s chime and the specifics of Key Node Two.

A “High-ranking Sea Devotee”… that must be the leader of the native monsters in the town square, the ones whose scales flash into view.

Those “High-ranking Sea Devotees,” able to disguise themselves as ordinary natives, were formidable indeed. Without warning, even powerful martial adepts could be ambushed and gravely wounded.

Madam Liliana, the “Bloody Rose,” had not fallen because of the horde of monsters; rather, it was because she sought to cover the apprentices’ retreat, and was caught off guard by a High-ranking Sea Devotee hidden among the natives.

Li Nanke had no time to consider what the reward might be or how to claim it, for a heavy, bloodstained chainsaw axe was already pressed against his neck.

The person behind the door looked down at him without a trace of emotion, forcing cold words through clenched teeth.

“William, you have betrayed your companions—and your faith!”

Li Nanke wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at the imposing figure.

A pair of tall black boots capped with steel plates, a black trench coat falling to the knees, belts and buckles strapped tight across chest and waist, a bloodstained leather mantle, and beneath the brim of a tricorn hat, a bearded face tense with suppressed rage.

A true martial adept of the Church, a figure famed as the Dawn Bear, the Mad Slayer—Reinhold!

This burly man, vast and bear-like, held the chainsaw axe in one hand and leaned on his cane for support. One of his legs was severed at the knee, the stump tightly bound with bandages.

Li Nanke noticed Reinhold’s arc-flame gun discarded at his feet, the weapon’s exposed electrodes and magnetic coils sparking and crackling with the stench of burning, clearly ruined.

His mind raced, countless thoughts flashing by before resolving into a faint smile. “Betrayed my companions? Betrayed my faith? What a joke, truly laughable!”

“What’s so funny?” The grip on the axe tightened, the sawteeth grinding slowly and slicing a bloody line across his neck.

Li Nanke, unafraid of the axe that could sever his head in an instant, locked eyes with the man, a fire of restrained fury blazing in his gaze as well.

“If you witnessed what just happened, you should understand why Beatrice didn’t flee early—why she waited for me to create an opening and draw the natives’ attention before making her move!”

“Companions? To them, I was nothing more than a scapegoat. Can such people truly be called companions?”

“And you ask what I’m laughing at? The teacher, cowering by the church door as the apprentices ran for shelter, too frightened to help!”

“I laugh that when Madam Liliana was butchered, you, her companion, hid in the shadows, trembling, too afraid to stand forth!”

“Betrayed my companions? Betrayed my faith? Then tell me, sir, where is your vaunted loyalty? Where is your steadfast devotion?!”

“You ask, what am I laughing at?!”

Bang! Li Nanke’s vision went black as a heavy blow landed on his face, sending him reeling to the ground, the world spinning.

His nose and mouth filled with the taste of blood, and the spinning sawteeth of the axe hovered before his eyes.

Even with his acute senses and reflexes, he could not evade the martial adept’s punch—he hadn’t even seen the blow land.

Yet he raised his swollen face again, spat out blood, and stared back at that furious, reddened face without retreat.

Li Nanke’s unyielding defiance made those lofty eyes waver for the first time.

The sawteeth stilled, the axe head lowering gently to the ground.

Reinhold’s lips twitched, his eyelids drooped, and his once-straight back sagged at last. “Liliana… she… Liliana…”

“That’s right! You heard me—she’s dead!” Li Nanke sneered. “Run through by the heretics’ weapons, doused in kerosene from head to toe, and burned alive!”

Reinhold released his grip on the axe and slumped to the floor. “It’s all my fault. I never should have taken this investigation, never should have brought Liliana along.”

“If I hadn’t dragged her here, she’d still be alive—it’s all my fault…”

Even with a shattered leg, Reinhold still had enough strength to rescue at least one apprentice from the chaos before the church.

But he had not stepped outside. For a handful of apprentices… it was not worth the risk.

Li Nanke’s inner sneer deepened. “You weren’t there, I see. Would you like to know what our teacher said before she died?”

“What did she say?”

“Madam Liliana, even as the flames consumed her flesh, called out your name till her last breath!”

The bear-like man clutched his head in agony, fingers digging into his hair, burying his face in his knees, his body trembling with grief.

“Our teacher thought of you until the end, called for you, hoped in vain for your appearance…”

“Enough! Stop it!” Reinhold looked up, his eyes bloodshot, roaring again and again, “I told you to stop! Shut your filthy mouth…”

Li Nanke cut him off, one sentence rendering the man motionless with shock. “Will you let her body be defiled by heretics, without even giving her a proper burial?”

A flicker of confusion crossed the man’s eyes. After a long, heavy silence, he finally growled, “Where… is she?”

Even after Li Nanke gave his answer, Reinhold remained on the floor, head bowed, unmoving.

Li Nanke saw the struggle beneath that massive frame—a battle between fear and reason, hatred and bloodlust.

If Li Nanke wished to complete Key Node Two and kill a so-called High-ranking Sea Devotee, he could not hope to succeed alone. He would have to borrow Reinhold’s strength.

But would a mighty martial adept like the Dawn Bear heed a mere apprentice? Of course not.

The best way was to make Reinhold want to complete Key Node Two himself—and to bring along the “dead weight” apprentice.

There are only two things that drive human beings: emotion and profit. When emotion is not enough to move a man forward, profit must be added to the scales.