Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1053 - 168: The Changes in Leyline Energy

Chapter 1053: Chapter 168: The Changes in Leyline Energy

"Woof, woof, woof," the cry of the Illusion Fox interrupted Flare’s explanation. It was curious how the little fox learned to make such sounds, as it was clearly a fox, yet its cries resembled those of a dog, causing quite the headache for the girls along their journey. Drawn by the noise, everyone turned to look at the little fox and saw it dragging a centipede nearly a meter long and as thick as an adult’s wrist, pulling it tenaciously to the girls’ side before stopping, as if seeking praise, and barked joyfully at Catherine. The centipede, glossy black and shining, sported a pair of fiery red maxillipeds on either side of its head. Though it was dead, its dozens of legs were still firmly attached to its torso, twitching occasionally as if the centipede were still alive.

"Hey, you silly fox, where did you get that centipede from?" Lina, startled by the fox’s action, couldn’t help but laugh and cry as she clapped her hands at the little creature, "Throw that ghastly thing away, you’re definitely not allowed to eat it. If you dare, you’ll never be allowed to lick me again. Also, come here and let me check your feet for injuries. Stop running around with all these bugs."

The little fox, realizing the girls were not fond of its gift, whimpered in distress and lightly leaped into Lina’s arms. It nestled comfortably against the girl’s chest and lay down, its large fluffy tail still swishing from time to time.

"Sister, sister, we’ve got some too." The two little Undead didn’t seem to be afraid of the corpses of insects on the ground at all. Each dragged over a spider corpse, the size of a human head, with a black carapace patterned in red and green. The spider’s body was covered with short, rigid, spine-like hairs. Its eight eyes were no longer moving, yet they seemed to stare fixedly at the girls as if still alive. The little ones placed the spider in front of the girls, their voices filled with glee, "Look, look, we found even more than the little fox did."

"Boom," the sound of the Crystal Energy gun echoed throughout the camp, lucky for them, Vivian had already activated the perimeter Array around the camp, preventing the noise from being detected outside. Otherwise, the sudden sound in the silent night could have attracted who knows how many magical beasts’ attention. Watching the two little Undead place such a huge spider before her, Freya felt something finally snap in her head. She fired two consecutive shots, blasting the spider’s body into pieces and shouted, "Don’t let these things come within five meters of me again, or I’ll beat you up. Remember this, there won’t be a next time!"

"Woo, Freya sister has become so scary." The two little creatures, shaken by the princess’s frantic behavior, clung together trembling, making Freya feel somewhat guilty. However, if Freya had seen them secretly poking each other and giving a covert high-five while trembling, all her guilt would have vanished.

"Even insects this big are dying." Catherine, too lazy to stop her rambunctious teammates, sighed helplessly and kicked the massive centipede, "Your Majesty, you just mentioned that the insect rampage might be related to the changes in the Leyline Energy. So, could changes in the energy at the surface affect the insects and cause an insect rampage?"

"Do you suspect that the expansion of the range of the Forbidden Area for Living Beings is causing the insect rampage to occur?" Flare paused, then smiled and shook her head, "Don’t worry, that’s impossible. This is just a rare biological phenomenon, unrelated to the Grimreaper’s power."

"Can you be so sure?" Catherine was still skeptical; her experiences over the years had taught her not to believe in coincidences. She persisted in her questioning, "After the range of the Grimreaper’s power expanded, the insect rampage quickly followed. This suggests..."

"Big sister," Lina interrupted Catherine’s questioning with a gentle shake of her head, "There’s no need to ask. There won’t be any connection. You don’t understand the nature of deities. This entire forest is under the control of Lord Yuktiraxil; if there is a tiny area controlled by a different divine power, it would indeed be difficult for the Forest Goddess to cleanse, because the smaller the area, the more concentrated the divine power is. However, if Danacus’s power could influence this place continuously, it would mean at least half of the Forest of Death is under his control unless the Forest Goddess is extremely weakened or even slumbering, which is otherwise impossible."

"Ah, I am truly sorry." Catherine’s eyes widened as she covered her mouth and bowed deeply to Flare, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, for my rudeness."

For a clergy member who serves a deity, especially a High Priest who is closest to the divine, questioning the weakening and slumbering of their deity in person is almost akin to directly desecrating the deity. If it were still at the end of the Third Epoch, such a question could even spark a small-scale war. However, Flare knew that Catherine was not one of the clergy and thus could understand her ignorance of certain priestly taboos. Even if they were enemies, the gentle queen would not hold it against her, merely smiling softly and saying, "It’s nothing. The Goddess’s heart is as broad as the forest; she won’t mind a bit of unintended offense. Lina is right. Unless the lady has fallen into slumber, Danacus’s power is not enough to contest the control of the forest with her, so you can rest assured."

"Right, Catherine, don’t worry too much about the reason," Pannis added, "Insect plagues are rare, but there have been many instances before. Almost every few decades, a large-scale plague occurs in the Forest of Death."

"The last plague was... thirty-seven years ago," Flare recalled for a moment before confirming, "Yes, that’s right. Thirty-seven years ago, a demigod from Sea Country and two Legendary Rank professionals went missing in the Forest of Death. Although it can’t be confirmed, we have always suspected that they perished in the plague..."

"Wait, I just thought of a problem," Pannis suddenly put up a hand, halting everyone’s conversation. He paced back and forth atop the corpses of the insects, frowning and saying, "Assuming that the insect plague is the result of fluctuations in leyline energy, then our encounter with the plague indicates a change in leyline energy."

"Yes, that’s one way to think about it," Flare nodded, "although we elves haven’t observed any concrete data."

"Alright, if we continue to pursue this line of thought, why would the leyline energy suddenly change?" Pannis pressed on, "Judging by the scale of this insect plague, it’s definitely a super-large one, not something that a slight fluctuation in leyline energy could trigger. Of course, if we attribute the change in energy to natural factors, that’s acceptable, but what if it’s not naturally occurring but man-made?"

"Someone is extracting leyline energy on a large scale?" The campsite fell silent at once, with everyone’s face turning somber as they pondered the significance of Pannis’s conjecture.