Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1056 - 171: Brown Python’s Hunt

Chapter 1056: Chapter 171: Brown Python’s Hunt

At the end of the girls’ line of sight, seven or eight tall trees had unknowingly broken, revealing an open space between the dense forest, where over twenty shadow deer were gathered. Shadow deer are huge creatures, with bodies that can reach two and a half to three meters in height and usually weigh between eight hundred to a thousand kilograms.

Despite their large and heavy size, their bodies were not bulky. They moved agilely through the dense forest, making them very difficult to hunt; even the most experienced elf hunters could not easily keep up with their pace, not to mention that they were not like ordinary deer that lacked the power to fight back when hunted and could only run away. The shadow deer had extremely powerful attacks as well.

Regardless of gender, each had a pair of beautiful, forked antlers growing on their heads. The edges of the antlers were sharp and pointed, concentrating dark energy that could tear through most magical beasts’ tough hides with just a light jab. When faced with danger, the shadow deer could band together to deploy a simplified version of the dark curtain, engulfing a large area in absolute darkness, while they themselves were unaffected by this darkness and could attack their enemies without restraint, using their antlers to shred their opponents into pieces. If they encountered an enemy they absolutely could not defeat, the shadow deer had one last resort; they would dive into the shadows, concealing their forms perfectly - sound, sight, and scent - as if no creature existed there at all. Faced with shadow deer that had vanished into the shadows, most predators would reluctantly withdraw.

Unfortunately, their opponent was not other predators, but giant brown pythons which, from a certain perspective, could be considered the natural enemies of the shadow deer and had a significant advantage over them. Under the girls’ watchful eyes, twelve giant brown pythons surrounded the group of shadow deer in the center and slowly tightened the enclosure. The large group of deer and the mass of giant pythons stood off, meters apart—the sheer size and presence of both groups providing a visual impact that was unavoidable.

The brown pythons’ group hunting was quite unique; unlike ordinary snakes and pythons that liked to coil their bodies before striking, these pythons stretched their bodies straight in a line. Using most of their bodies, the twelve fifty-meter-long giant pythons formed a circle, and depending on the height of their prey, their heads rose to just above the prey’s level. The moment their prey approached, they would strike from above. If the prey tried to leap over their bodies, it inadvertently walked into a trap set by the giant pythons. It was hard to believe such massive bodies could be exceedingly agile; they could coil their bodies in a second, and very few terrestrial creatures could leap over them without getting entangled.

The team’s proposed route was only over ten meters away from the stunning hunting scene of the brown pythons, and even if they deliberately detoured a bit, it was no more than twenty meters at most, so they could clearly see everything happening within the hunting ground.

As the circle closed to a certain degree, the shadow deer could no longer withstand the increasing pressure and took the initiative to attack the enclosure. Driven by instinct, the shadow deer did not choose to jump out and flee. The males on the outer edge, with the thickest antlers, glared with blood-red eyes, all facing the same direction and charged head-down.

The targeted python did not react at all, as if unaware of the deer charging at it, facing the dozen pairs of terrifying antlers without moving an inch. The distance of several meters was closed in a flash; the sharp antlers hit the python, which was almost as tall as a person and resembled a wall. The impact even sounded like a clash of metals, but after the collision, there was not a single scratch on the python’s scales, merely some white marks. Conversely, the charging stags were rebounded by the force of the impact, retreating several meters to regain their footing, with a few almost stumbling down.

Seizing this opportunity, the brown pythons advanced again, squeezing the living space of the shadow deer even smaller, yet still withholding from attacking. Now, the front ends of their bodies were stretched tight, ready to dive from above at any moment. Most pythons on the Yarran Continent were non-venomous, with a few exceptions, including the brown pythons of the Forest of Death, which could not only inject a deadly venom into their prey through their fangs but could also convert the venom into a mist, spraying it from air sacs deep within their mouths. Whether injected into the bloodstream causing death or inhaled as a toxic mist causing paralysis, the prey’s reactions and movements would become slower.

Therefore, experienced adventurers, when facing brown pythons, upon noticing the pythons’ bodies erecting, would quickly retreat while holding their breath, as no one could predict the pythons’ next mode of attack.

But shadow deer were not those experienced adventurers; they didn’t understand what the movements of the brown pythons meant. As they sensed the tide turning against them, the deer instinctively gathered together, unleashing a darkness curtain that obscured their vision, hoping to use the darkness to shield themselves and help the entire group escape the enemy’s encirclement.

"Good, now’s the time, move forward at full speed," Pannis suddenly raised his voice, as the darkness burst between the shadow deer’s antlers, "Brown pythons are now focused on countering the shadow deer’s retaliation and preventing their escape. They don’t have time to bother with us. Let’s quickly leave their hunting ground."

Pannis’s decision was spot on. The arrival of the dark curtain not only impeded visibility but also signified that the deer were going to make a series of moves in the darkness. In order not to let larger and more numerous prey escape, the pythons naturally overlooked the normally sized adventurers. Now was the best chance to withdraw from the brown python feeding ground.

"I’ve already seen the end." While running, Dillie, who was bringing up the rear with his wings folded, muttered, "It’s such a shame about those shadow deer, running into the brown pythons. Such delicious meat, yet now it’s the pythons’ treat."

"Greedy fool." "Thinking about food at a time like this." "Still thinking about that deer meat, huh?" "Be careful, or you’ll end up being eaten by a python yourself." "Perhaps the python even finds it a shame." "Exactly, oh dear, such delicious lion meat, yet it got away." "I can almost hear the pythons crying about it."

"You two stupid birds," Dillie growled in a lowered voice. "If we weren’t pressed for time right now, I’d swallow you whole. Are you scared, huh? Are you?"

"So, the shadow deer don’t stand a chance at all?" Catherine still had the energy to look back. The encirclement was still shrouded in darkness, constant deer calls and loud impacts kept ringing out, occasionally accompanied by the dying screams of shadow deer. By then, the little fox in Catherine’s arms was already cuddling its tail and curling up into a ball in her arms. Though an Illusion Fox was a Legendary Rank magical beast, having lived in the Lost Forest for years, it struggled to comprehend the life-and-death battles among powerful beasts in the Forest of Death, shaking uncontrollably with fear, not daring to open its eyes. The knight girl soothingly petted the little one’s head and asked in confusion, "I remember the shadow deer are quite strong as well—at least not weaker than the brown pythons. And with their numbers, even if they truly couldn’t win, they could use the dark curtain to escape, couldn’t they?"

"The dark curtain isn’t that useful." Pannis looked at her with a strange look, "Haven’t you forgotten something? No matter how gigantic it is, a brown python is still a snake. When have you ever seen a snake use its vision to track its prey?"

"Huh? Huh?" The knight girl’s face instantly flushed red, her steps faltering nearly causing her to stumble. Pannis’s reminder made Catherine realize how foolish her question had been. Indeed, snakes have very poor vision and primarily track their prey through sensing vibrations in the ground and temperature changes in the air. Both the shadow deer’s dark curtain and another ability like shadow hiding were meaningless against snakes, no wonder Dillie had said he’d seen the end. Catherine felt her face burning as she stammered, "I—it’s mainly because when we were near their lair, I—I—I saw their big eyes watching us, and the impression was just too deep, so I overlooked their vision issue."

"That just means their eyes are big, that’s all." Pannis shrugged, watching the girl’s increasingly embarrassed expression and couldn’t bear to tease further. He changed the subject, "Looks like we’re in luck for not wasting too much time. At this rate, within the scheduled time... Ava, be careful, Flare!"

Before Pannis could even finish shouting for help, Flare had already sprung into action. Ava was not far from her side. Her Majesty simply reached out and pulled the doll-like Ava away from her intended path. The next instant, a dark shadow descended from the sky, crashing heavily onto the path where Ava had been a moment before.

The creature that fell looked like a rucksack. Its entire body seemed to be made of a rubbery jelly-like substance, and hitting the ground caused the beast’s body to deform severely as if it was flattened, but the flattened beast immediately swelled back to its original form. The girls hadn’t had a chance to get a closer look when Pannis, still on the move, had already reached the magical beast, kicking it as if kicking a soccer ball, making a ’thump’ sound, and the rucksack-like beast flew far away. Faintly visible, a wisp of light smoke escaped from what looked like the mouth of the rucksack beast, and soon the air began to fill with a faint stench.

"That was close," Pannis wiped away a bead of sweat and said with lingering fear, "Almost didn’t notice it."

"Yes, it was terrifying," echoed some of the Demigods with experience adventuring in the Forest of Death. "That kick was just in time."