Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1061 - 176: The Awakening of Arrow Mouse

Chapter 1061: Chapter 176: The Awakening of Arrow Mouse

A dozen gazes converged uniformly on the person who let out the low cry, and everyone recognized that it was the voice of Annie, who was floating in the air. However, nobody panicked, because it was easy to tell that the little one’s cry wasn’t one of terror, but merely surprise and confusion.

"Shush," Catherine gestured for the little banshee to float into her arms and asked in a very low voice, "Didn’t I tell you not to make any noise? What did you see that surprised you like this?"

Annie clamped her hand over her mouth, showing a determined and adorable expression not to make any more noise, and pointed towards the stream in front of the right side. Because the little one had always been floating above, her field of vision was much wider than that of the girls; she could see clearly the areas the team could not.

Just as the girls were about to look in the direction Annie pointed, they heard Pannis clear his throat and say in a low voice, "If I were you, I wouldn’t look, unless you don’t plan on eating lunch later."

The girls hesitated for a moment and then stopped peering that way, except for Lina, whose curiosity was the strongest. She couldn’t restrain the impulse in her heart and took a few steps toward the direction Annie pointed with Ava, who wore an expressionless face, and saw what had made Annie let out the involuntary cry.

There were three corpses, three Arrow Mouse corpses, lying on the bank of the stream. If it wasn’t for their distinctive features, it would have been very difficult to identify what creatures they once were. The bodies appeared to have died only two days prior, with no complete decomposition on the surface and their white spikes still softly curled on their bodies without falling off. Lina often encountered similar animal carcasses in the wild, and there was nothing strange about them. However, a closer inspection of the bodies revealed their differences.

Although the bodies had not decayed completely, they were covered in dense, thumb-thick blisters. The blisters were round and full, with a viscous fluid seeping out from their surface. Some of the blisters had already burst and festered, creating deep pits on the bodies. Inside each pit, dozens of thin flesh sprouts grew densely, chilling to the bone. Along with the sprouts, a constant seep of purplish-black pus oozed from the pits. With the wind blowing, wafts of fishy stench spread around.

"Pop," a blister burst right as Lina looked on, splattering like an exploding berry, with its liquid spraying all around, spotting the ground with its contents. A mass of jelly, coated in black liquid, was expelled with the force of the bursting blister and collapsed limply beside the stream, struggling to inch toward the water. Whether it was because of the distance from the bodies or the timing of the ejection, the jelly stopped less than thirty centimeters from the water, unable to move any further. Seconds later, under the sun’s baking, the gelatinous fluid rapidly dehydrated and dried up, ultimately leaving a thin, withered film by the streamside.

"Ew..." The sight of the dense holes alone was enough to make Lina’s bare scalp tingle, and the burst blister destroyed the last of her emotional defenses. She couldn’t help but retch and, grabbing Ava—who seemed to have no understanding of why the priest girl was reacting this way—quickly returned to the group with an even paler face than before.

"You see, I told you, if you want to eat lunch later, don’t look," Pannis said with a shrug and a mischievous smile, "After seeing a scene like that, I doubt anyone would want to look a second time."

"Bastard," Lina bit her teeth and glared at Pannis fiercely, but she couldn’t fault him for not warning them, so instead she mentally shredded Pannis into tiny pieces until her complexion eased slightly.

However, it had to be admitted that thanks to Lina’s misadventure, the atmosphere within the group became much more relaxed. The oppressive weight that had previously hung like a stone over the girls’ hearts was inadvertently released, and they realized that the Arrow Mice’s senses were not as sharp as they had imagined, not alarmed at the slightest heavier breath as they had feared.

After crossing the stream and walking briskly for a few minutes, the girls noticed the environment around them gradually changing. For a long stretch of road before, there had been no trees around, just a green grassland as far as the eye could see. But after crossing the stream, trees began to appear, albeit only a few meters tall shrubs, which added some variety to the plain grasslands. Under the shrubs, groups of animals lay leisurely in the shade, looking content and showing no sign that they were living in the Forest of Death. Further away, there seemed to be a small disturbance under the trees; from a distance, it appeared two short-tail Kulan sheep were locking horns over a dispute for a mate, with their robust antlers pressed against each other as they wrestled. The rest of their kind seemed accustomed to such scenes, not even sparing them a glance as they calmly continued to graze on the tender green grass.

All seemed so peaceful, significantly more inviting than the Shining Forest or the Magical Beast Forest, making it seem like the perfect tourist spot with no perceivable threats. But the Forest of Death was special in its own right; while the dangers of the Shining Forest and Magical Beast Forest were immediately obvious, putting intruders on constant alert, the true terror of the Forest of Death lay in the cold killing intent that always hid beneath its tranquil façade. Intruders saw only calm and peace, but the moment their guardedness was lowered, they often never got the opportunity to become vigilant again.

"Buzz," just as the girls’ clenched hearts began to relax and were no longer as tense as before, a deep vibration sounded beside them. Turning their heads, they saw the feathered arrow that had been resting on the Elf Queen’s hunting bow had disappeared. No one saw the process of drawing the bow or firing the arrow. Everyone only saw the feathered arrow suddenly vanish, then suddenly reappear.

The reappeared arrow was now deeply embedded in the dirt of the distant grassland, skewering a large, snow-white mouse with curly coarse fur on its back. The Arrow Mouse had just crawled out of its cave, only revealing its head, and before the rest of its body could emerge from the nest, it had been mercilessly pinned to the ground by Her Majesty’s arrow. The arrow entered through its eye socket at an angle, piercing half of its brain, and exited through the neck. The direct damage to its brain left the Arrow Mouse with no chance to struggle, and it had forever lost consciousness.

"It must have just come out," Pannis, seemingly accustomed to the Queen’s archery skills, showed no surprise, and calmly asked, "How long had it been since it emerged from the hole?"

"Less than three seconds," Flare replied as she nocked another feathered arrow onto the string, confidently answering, "I sensed it before it came out of its hole, so I can be certain, it was not more than three seconds."

"Then that’s not too bad," Pannis nodded and said, "From the angle of its den looking this way, it’s just blocked by a bush, so in theory, it couldn’t have seen us before your arrow hit, that’s a stroke of luck amidst misfortune."

"But its appearance represents an omen." This was a conversation between two masters of jungle survival who considered the jungle their home, and the others didn’t have a say, not even Alcmene, who was also a hunter, could chime in due to the difference in the environment. Flare spoke earnestly, "I’m almost sure that it was not disturbed by any external interference, but wanted to come out on its own."

"So, you think their active time has begun earlier?" Pannis frowned and said, "Theoretically, this goes against their nature. But accidents are always unpredictable, hmm, it’s almost nine-thirty now, let’s pick up the pace, start running."

"Won’t running alert more Arrow Mice?" Catherine asked, "What if it stirs up even more?"

"We’re close to the end of the prairie now. It’s only a ten-minute sprint," Pannis paused for a moment, shaking his head, "Even if we encounter Arrow Mice, there won’t be many. We can handle one or two easily, just shooting them down. If there are more than ten, we throw up the Shield and charge through. If there are even more, Vivian, you keep throwing your bottles ahead, creating a path with fire. Don’t worry, though Arrow Mice aren’t afraid of fire, they are bothered by smoke, or rather, they are not suited to smoky conditions. That’s when we can take advantage of the thick smoke to quickly pass through. Don’t worry, as long as they don’t hold us back, they can’t pose a significant threat."

"Got it, which means we don’t need to worry about noise and vibrations anymore, right?" Catherine nodded, unzipping a separate backpack and pulling out her cherished Falcon Shield. Although it had only been a few hours, Catherine felt a rush of joy at the reunion. She carefully strapped the large shield to her left arm. She was just about to tap it twice with her one-handed sword when she caught herself, realizing the current situation, and sheepishly lowered her right hand.

"Just as I thought." Flare’s gentle expression became serious, and her quickened speech made the Elves’ naturally rapid accent even faster, sounding like the rushing of swift water, "The number of dens showing signs of activity is increasing. It looks like they really planned to be active earlier today. Could this actually have something to do with the changes in Leyline Energy?"

"Whatever it’s related to, it isn’t something we need to worry about right now," Pannis drew his one-handed sword, swinging it toward the prairie ahead, and was the first to dash out, shouting, "It’s this way, just hang in there for ten more minutes until we leave their territory, then we’ll be temporarily safe. Everyone, maintain formation and start charging, Flare, lead the way, Doris and Alcmene, you two support Flare by clearing the obstacles ahead. Conaida and Catherine, you two with high defense, cover the rear, and remember to watch the flanks. Now, let’s move!"