Bear School Astartes-Chapter 830 - 813: Urban Stray Dogs

"Is this... ’vacation’ meow?"

Rong Buqiu cautiously retracted its head and asked Lann once again.

It now felt that what Lann said before coming might have been irony... Perhaps its rhetorical skills weren’t quite up to par, didn’t catch it?

Yet, when Rong Buqiu looked at the expression highlighted on Lann’s side face again, it immediately understood: Lann also didn’t expect to encounter this sort of situation just upon arrival.

"Unclear situation." Rong Buqiu watched as Lann’s face changed from relaxed to furrowed with concern. "Stay alert first."

Understanding the shift in action style, Rong Buqiu also hopped down from the back of the Qilin, flapping its two little short legs, and its small paws cautiously rested on the hilt of the small cat’s Steel Sword at its back.

The Qilin raised its head, scanning around.

The sky over Athens was filled with smoke, resulting in thick layers of ash drifting through the air because too many things had burned. These impurities refracted sunlight into a dim, yellowish hue.

Making it hard to distinguish between dusk and dawn.

In this great city, the bustling shouting and debates between Athenians educated in logic and debate could no longer be heard.

Only intermittent, barely discernible deep moans from the sick, delirious dreams, and wails remained.

The ’crackling’ sound of some fuel burning was also scattered throughout the city.

Occasionally, a few pedestrians hurried through the once bustling streets, only to keep their heads down while walking, as if even making eye contact with others was to be avoided.

As if even a glance could spread disease.

The Athenians were already shocked numb.

Lann poked his head out from a small alley in the Fisherman District next to Piraeus Harbor, where the sanitary conditions were already poor due to the terrain.

Now, it was even quieter.

The Fisherman District had a layer of overflowing seawater, which was already foul-smelling, and now floated with vomit, excrement, and corpses so decomposed they were unrecognizable.

Various rancid odors mixed together, making it hard to bear.

Fortunately, both Lann and Rong Buqiu were seasoned Hunters capable of hunting in the wild, able to maintain their composure even in such a smell.

"What’s happened here, meow?"

Rong Buqiu followed closely behind Lann, asking softly.

"Plague, you’ve never seen such a sight, have you?" Lann said under his breath, his eyes darting around, hoping to gather more information.

Rong Buqiu was born in the New Continent, where the total population, including Elu Cats, didn’t exceed a few thousand, and they were generally strong and healthy.

The concept of a plague, a health crisis caused by densely populated areas, was unfamiliar to it.

"We need to find someone who understands the situation to figure out what’s going on now."

Lann murmured, indicating their course of action to Rong Buqiu while helping to clarify his own thoughts.

Upon realizing it was a plague, Lann quickly shifted his mindset to that of a biologist.

Though terrifying, even in the early civilization era like Ancient Greece, there were procedures to handle such cases.

However, Lann was uncertain about how far the plague strategy in Athens had developed now.

"Luckily, I still have quite a few acquaintances here."

Lann walked the winding, rugged cobblestone paths of the Fisherman District, his brow furrowed.

He glanced around, but, regretfully, yet realistically, found that there seemed to hardly be any healthy people left around.

Lann patted the side of the Qilin, sending it off to the sea outside Piraeus Harbor.

The plague, driven by public panic, and considering the situation, has likely tormented Athens for quite some time now.

If the Qilin’s appearance on the street sparked mass religious frenzy... things would only get messier.

Besides, the Qilin could quickly be summoned back when needed.

Soon, with a flash of lightning, the Qilin disappeared over the waves of the Aegean Sea.

Rong Buqiu followed Lann toward the main road of Athens, hoping to encounter more people on the busier road to gather information.

However, this remained unpromising.

They did see some people, but many were leaning against the corners of walls, seemingly unable to take a single step forward, only panting or vomiting and diarrhea on the spot.

And most of them frantically tore at their already scant clothes.

Their linen short skirts were ripped into bare torsos, yet they still seemed very hot.

These symptoms seemed familiar to Lann.

"Ooowwooo!"

Several abrupt dog barks echoed down the desolate streets.

The sound was coming from a small alley beside the street, seemingly having bounced back and forth several corners, appearing somewhat distant.

But soon, the ’thud’ sound of paws hitting the ground followed.

Three dogs the size of medium-sized dogs, with disheveled fur and drool, came charging out of the alley, heading straight for pedestrians on the avenue.

These were once domestic dogs that had turned into city wild dogs.

Athenians kept quite a few dogs, but under the current plague. Their owners died, or were thrown out by their owners as ’filth,’ leaving no one to take care of them.

Usually, a few dogs alone, and even leftovers from the Athens Market would be sufficient to calm them.

But now, as the plague had nearly driven Athens into a quagmire, these animals, initially relying on society to survive, quickly regained their wild nature as they starved to madness.

They found food more easily in the city than in the wild—the humans who were sick but had to venture out.

After all, even unwell, they still needed to figure out how to make a living. And their weak bodies couldn’t even fend off a wild dog.

Lann didn’t even glance in that direction, behaving as if the three wild dogs, with blood-red remnants hanging from their fur on their mouths, didn’t exist.

And indeed, that’s how it was.

No need for Lann to intervene. Standing at his feet, Rong Buqiu was already eager to try out its new gear.

Belengar had crafted it a steel and silver pair of swords, each equipped with pommel balls engraved with little cat paw designs.

One was named Thunder Cat Sword by Rong Buqiu, and the other, Silver Cat Sword.

Now, Rong Buqiu smoothly drew the Steel Sword from its Dual Swords.

Its paw had always been resting on the sword’s hilt.

"Meow!"

Rong Buqiu flipped and leaped.

With the implementation of the Light Body Breathing Technique, its standing height was barely equivalent to the wild dogs on all fours.

But this leap, combined with the Light Body Skill, directly propelled it into the air above the wild dogs.

The Thunder Cat Sword slashed downward, just in time.

The blade, made with Valerian steel mixed with Qilin material, sliced effortlessly into the back of the wild dog’s neck.