Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1033 - 148 The Purpose of Harassment

Chapter 1033: Chapter 148 The Purpose of Harassment

"What else could there be?" The Thunder Element crackled, puzzled, and responded, "It’s just us still living normally in our homeland, just as we have for countless years, chasing thunder and lightning every day, spending the rest of the time playing and sleeping, without any worries. Besides such a life, what could be different?"

"It seems you’re unaware of what has transpired in your homeland." Pannis exchanged a glance with Flare, nodding to each other before Pannis asked, "How long have you left your homeland, or rather, how long ago did you encounter the Undead there? Certainly not recently, right?"

"How long... Let me think." The Thunder Element lowered its head and calculated for a moment before saying, "About a cycle and a half of the Core decay cycle ago, no, even a bit more than a cycle and a half, I don’t remember the exact time, but it was less than two cycles."

"What does that mean?" Pannis, seeking help, looked at Flare and said, "Can you translate that? I don’t understand this unit of measurement."

"Well, their Crystal Cores contain intrinsic energy, which changes over time, from full to decayed and back to full, marking a Core decay cycle." Being the only one among them who understood the Thunder Element better, the queen patiently explained, "A complete cycle lasts about six of our years, so a cycle and a half would be around nine years, not exceeding ten years. Two cycles would be twelve to thirteen years, so in terms of time, there isn’t much difference."

"Ten years, or maybe eleven years, that’s interesting." Pannis stroked his chin, thoughtfully saying, "If your guess is correct, it seems everything started even earlier than we had imagined. Did it start ten years ago?"

"What does time have to do with all this?" The Thunder Element, still confused, pressed on, "What exactly happened in our homeland, and what impact does time have on these events? You should finish your explanation. Is there any problem?"

"No no no, the issue of time is just to refine her guess, it’s not directly linked to the Undead," Pannis pointed towards Flare, who sat elegantly, and said, "Ever since you were driven out by the Undead, you haven’t gone back, have you?"

"Of course not, those few Undead are everywhere, and they are so annoying." Unsurprisingly, the Thunder Element firmly said, "Not only haven’t we returned, but we also haven’t even been near our homeland. Everyone doesn’t want to see those bones ever again, so we never went back."

"That’s right, no wonder you don’t know what has happened." Pannis frowned, pensively saying, "One last question, have you suffered any losses since being harassed by the Undead?"

"One of our comrades entered into a deep sleep." The Thunder Element answered, "It was exactly because of this comrade’s slumber that we decided to move. However, his sleep was mostly an accident; he had lived through many Core decay cycles, and after his last encounter with the Undead, he may have been frightened and thus entered into involuntary slumber."

"Indeed, which means your comrade didn’t die directly from the Undead; it’s more like natural causes then," Pannis nodded, but his expression grew grimmer, "If you had recently returned to your homeland, you would have discovered that the Muddy Land, where you have lived for years, might have already been overshadowed by Danacus’s power, oh, the Grimreaper’s force. I estimate the whole region has turned into a place similar to a burial ground—a forbidden zone for the living."

"Burial ground? Forbidden zone?" The Thunder Element’s body twisted, though not deliberately, but because the sparks electric created a continuously twisting visual effect, whose frequency increased, displaying his inner turmoil and confusion, "What are those? Place names?"

"That’s the area to the north of your homeland," Flare replied, "I remember you mentioned that there are many monsters there, and you’re too afraid to enter, even too scared to fly over that area."

"Ah, is it that place? The one that goes ’crackle and pop’?" Unlike other Elemental Creatures that the girls had encountered, the Thunder Element seemed not very bright, and whether the others understood or not, he said a few words in his own language, then shouted in panic, "’Crackle and pop’? My homeland has turned into that? This can’t be, the range of ’crackle and pop’ hasn’t changed for hundreds of years."

"I’m sorry, but it’s true," Flare sighed and said, "Yuktiraxil personally confirmed it and delivered the Oracle to us."

"Yuktiraxil? The one with hair like tree branches... Ah, no, I didn’t say anything." The Thunder Element stopped mid-sentence and suddenly became alert, twisting its head around as if it was very concerned that the forest goddess herself might suddenly appear beside him. After a while, seeing that everything around was normal, it relaxed and sighed, "She said that? Could it be true? That’s terrifying, such an environment is a nightmare, once we enter we would be twisted, and many of our race who accidentally ventured there turned into monsters and never returned, this, this, how can we return home?"

"So you see, in a way, you should be thankful to those six Undead," Pannis shrugged and said, "If it wasn’t for their continuous attacks, preventing you from living peacefully, you wouldn’t have decided to leave your homeland. Now think, what would have happened if you were still living there when the forbidden zone expanded?"

"Then we all would have been twisted?" The Thunder Element’s voice, though not human, conveyed pure terror. These long-lived Elemental Creatures, which were very hard to truly kill, had a particular fear of the forbidden zones, believing them to be places that could directly destroy their souls—a rare real danger in the world, "That’s too horrifying, ’crackle and pop’, should we really be thankful to those Undead?"

"Yes, and yet you attacked the Undead without any reason as soon as you saw them." Pannis took the two little creatures hanging around him—one on each side—and held them in his embrace. When the small Undead were in Pannis’s arms, their fear of the Thunder Element disappeared. Watching the Thunder Element’s peculiar body emit a suppressed yet distinctly clear laugh, only when it turned its back did the little ones show a bit of residual fear and bury their heads into Pannis’s neck, too scared to look at it, Pannis shrugged and said, "See, how adorable these two little dummies are, and you almost hurt them for no reason at all. Is this how you Thunder Elements treat races that have kindly helped you?"