Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1077 - 192: The Deceiver

Chapter 1077: Chapter 192: The Deceiver

The battle with the spotted wolves lasted for fifteen minutes. During these fifteen minutes, nearly a hundred spotted wolves were reduced to less than ten corpses—combat efficiency could be considered extremely low. As for the price the expedition team paid, Conaida’s tower shield’s lower edge now had four rows of pierced tooth marks, Catherine’s one-handed sword was scrapped, and the part of the sword that had broken off was currently sticking in the mouth of a spotted wolf, lying silently on the ground with its corpse.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the roar of a tiger sounded, the wolf pack that had been circling the perimeter of the team looking for opportunities to attack leaped back lightly, gathering in twos and threes before disappearing into the shadows of the jungle. This was a common behavior of predators. Once discovered poaching within a lord’s territory, they would never directly confront the lord, but would quickly scatter and flee. Even if the lord of the territory chose to pursue, at most only one or two small squads would be attacked, posing no major threat to the entire pack.

In fact, in most cases, the lords would not pursue these poaching magical beasts. For the lords, the fact that poachers fled upon their arrival was sufficient to uphold their authority over the territory. As long as it could be confirmed that they were not invaders competing for the territory, there was no need to exhaust efforts in a deadly chase. Moreover, the hunting grounds of the poachers often already had a lot of prey gathered, and for the lords, enjoying these offerings was far more critical than the strenuous pursuit of invaders.

However, while the wolf pack could flee, the members of the adventure team could not. The dense forest was the wolves’ home where they could agilely weave through low-hanging branches and vines, evading any dangers from the forest and moving swiftly. However, as outsiders, the adventurers lacked both familiarity with the environment and the physical traits that would allow them to flee as rapidly as the wolves. So, they instead chose another approach—to stop and confront the threat head-on.

The expedition had not proceeded smoothly all along. Twice they had disturbed the masters of the territories they were in. One time was close to the border between two territories, and the team managed to sneak into another territory before the magic beast lord arrived, preventing a direct conflict. The lords in the Forest of Death took their territories very seriously, sometimes even more so than outside intelligent beings. If a lord rashly intruded into another’s territory, it would be considered a direct declaration of war with severe consequences, so unless they wanted to fight for territory, they would never set foot in another’s territory.

The other time was not as fortunate, being a considerable distance from the border, which left the team no choice but to confront the situation head-on. It was that experience that sharpened the girls’ understanding of demi-god magical beasts, as previously described by Pannis in the swamp.

The lord they faced were several jungle behemoths over ten meters long, with steel-like skin that was tough to damage even when attacked with enhanced aggression. They had a vivid memory of the power contained in the beasts’ claws and fearsome maws. But what was even more terrifying were their abilities to blend in with the jungle and secretly spray corrosive acid. A single drop of it could corrode a large hole in flesh, and even the Falcon Shield made of the most stable Magicsteel would be pitted just from surface contact, which deeply pained Catherine.

Yet the presence of the jungle behemoths paled in comparison to what the girls were feeling now. The local lord had not yet appeared; just the roar of the tiger had already frightened the wolf pack away. The roar of the tiger echoed through the woods, and in the face of the lord’s majesty, no animal dared to offend, even the birds, omnipresent as they were, consciously silenced themselves and shivered in submission to the lord of the jungle.

The sound seemed to be still two or three kilometers away, but the roar felt as though it was right next to their ears. The booming roar seemingly carried a strange power, not only causing a painful sensation in the eardrums but also resonating with the heartbeat, involuntarily accelerating the heartbeat of anyone who heard it.

"No, this isn’t just due to being nervous," said Doris, the high priest of the merfolk, who, as a demigod who used singing as a form of attack, had a sensitivity to sound unmatched by others. Just after the tiger roared three times, and shortly after the wolf pack had retreated, Doris shouted during the pause between the roars, "This is some kind of targeted soundwave attack, and it’s attacking the inside of the body. External defenses are completely ineffective against it."

"So it’s that kind of creature." Pannis started, exchanged a glance with Flare, and both shook their heads with a wry smile, "Didn’t expect that it’s become their territory after such a short time away. Really intriguing, we were almost fooled by them again."

"The tigers this time?" Flare chuckled and tossed her green hair, continuing in resignation, "Sometimes I find these creatures quite interesting too."

"The magical beasts that have been killed by them for no apparent reason wouldn’t think the same." It was clear that the scorpion-tailed lion Dillie also knew about these creatures, as it snorted heavily and added, "These guys are really too cunning, a disgrace to magical beasts."

"What exactly are these creatures?" The girls, who completed their combat preparations with extreme speed and faced the enemy with calm and composure as if they had become different people, also sensed the change in the situation. Catherine took a deep breath, suppressing the anxiety brought by the strange tiger’s roar, and pressed on, "They aren’t tiger-type magical beasts?"

"No, they’re deceivers, also known as soundwave beasts." Pannis shook his head, "A kind of magical beast not recorded in the Magical Beast Handbook because they are too rare. Plus, very few who have encountered them have lived to tell the tale, so they aren’t included in the handbook that’s made for the public."

"Sounds like magical beasts that use sound as their weapon." Catherine glanced subconsciously at Doris, "Are they very powerful?"

"In a certain sense, they’re the weakest among demigod magical beasts." Pannis sighed, "It’s said that their physical prowess is not even on par with the average Legendary Rank magical beast, and aside from having thicker skin, there is nothing remarkable about them. However, their attacks are extremely bizarre, bizarre to the point of being completely unguardable."

"It’s said?" Catherine was taken aback, "So, you haven’t encountered them before?"

"No, we have encountered them, or, well, sort of." Pannis said with a bitter smile, shaking his head, "Just like now, we’ve encountered them, haven’t we?"