Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1081 - 196 Knowledge of Hometown

Chapter 1081: Chapter 196 Knowledge of Hometown

Pannis now looked quite odd, or rather, everyone on the team looked quite odd, which was amusing to behold. On each person’s head was a helmet carved from the wood of the Dancing Tree, the yellow-green wooden helmet resembling half a melon perched atop the head. Not just helmets, everyone was also wearing a piece of tree bark armor made from the Dancing Tree bark, and the craftsmanship was undoubtedly rough, merely a few pieces of bark roughly tied around the body; as long as it wrapped tightly around the torso, it was good enough, and aesthetic concerns were completely out of the question.

Ten minutes ago, after a brief rest in the dense forest, Conaida had chopped down a Dancing Tree with his hand axe. This time, Flare said nothing, after all, it was a necessary sacrifice and she wasn’t the one doing it, which was within the tolerance of an Elf. Although the Dancing Tree was only a dozen meters tall, it was enough to make temporary armor for the entire expedition team. After the tree was felled, everyone cooperated and within minutes, they’d fashioned their gear. It was awkward to wear, but it did feel significantly safer.

"Is this sense of safety really not an illusion?" Catherine asked worriedly, "I just feel like these makeshift armors would fall apart upon the slightest touch and couldn’t possibly offer any defense."

"Don’t worry, this set of armor, well, let’s just barely call it armor, although its appearance really has some... unique features, its effectiveness is not in question at all." Pannis looked at Catherine, who always carried herself with seriousness, but who was now wearing something resembling a tattered melon peel on her head. His face, which seemed grave, was twitching continuously, clearly struggling to suppress his laughter, and his voice sounded a bit strange from the effort, "The first time we encountered the Deceivers, although we also saw the Dancing Trees, we didn’t take advantage of their properties because we didn’t understand them. Later, when we returned to the human world, I heard about the properties of the Dancing Trees by chance. To verify my guess, I—and... she, returned there to conduct an experiment. We can now be certain that this kind of armor is very effective against Deceivers, probably because the Dancing Trees can absorb a certain degree of sound. In any case, as long as you protect your vital parts with this armor, it’s fine if the limbs like arms and legs are exposed, but the internal organs and the head must be protected, and the ears must be covered, then the Deceivers won’t be able to harm us. Um, of course, the shape of the armor that time was a bit... different from now, hahaha, just a little bit different."

"I feel like you did this on purpose to make them look so ugly." Although Catherine muttered this, she knew well that the ugliness of the armor was mainly due to the rush for time and ultimately to protect all the Legendary Rank young women, herself included. After all, the high-intensity journey through hell had lasted for five days, and even if these days had brought out the girls’ potential, there were limits to human endurance. By now, Pannis could tell that the girls were truly nearing their limits. They hoped to reach their intended destination as soon as possible and couldn’t afford to spend half a day making a dozen sets of one-use-only armor. Catherine, adept at understanding people’s hearts, naturally grasped Pannis’s inner thoughts, so her complaints were not genuine but rather teasing murmurs as she raised her two wooden shields more squarely.

The entire team was arranged in an odd formation, with everyone spaced three to four meters apart, and the inclination of the shields varied. This formation meant that from any direction other than straight ahead, one would see only a couple of wooden shields rather than the people behind them, because no one was aligned on a single plane. As for the front of the team, Pannis was at the very forefront, the most suitable position for him as he could sense enemy attacks in time to block them with his wooden shield.

"But," Lina interjected from her position, "you said it can absorb a certain sound, but in fact, their attacks didn’t make any sound at all." She asked curiously, "Can it absorb things other than sound too?"

"He can’t explain it, so the answer he gives you can only be a guess," said Dillie the scorpion-tailed lion, the only expedition member not carrying a shield. His body was covered with a layer of bark, which even shielded his head, allowing him to see directly ahead. At that moment, his voice came muffled from beneath the bark, sounding extremely frustrated, "You could understand it this way. The sound they just emitted is a kind of high-frequency vibration wave that’s beyond the perception range of most creatures. Even if you can’t hear it, it is still a form of sound, or more precisely, a type of acoustic wave. The wood doesn’t absorb sound per se, but these high-frequency sound waves. It doesn’t reduce the amplitude of the sound waves but directly absorbs them. So you can rest easy. With this kind of wood that absorbs high-frequency sound waves, a deceiver’s attack won’t be able to penetrate your defenses. Of course, if any part of the body is exposed outside of the armor, there will still be some effect, though the impact will be greatly diminished."

"Is... that so?" Lina scratched her head in half-understanding, smiling wryly as she spoke, "Sorry, I don’t really get it."

"Of course you don’t, this is the way we talk about it back in my hometown. Don’t ask me why; this is all I know about this subject." The bark made Dillie’s body uncomfortable. The scorpion-tailed lion shook its body and grunted displeasedly a few times before muttering to himself, "Luckily, it’s the same in this aspect, otherwise, it would be even more embarrassing. So annoying."

"The situation you’re describing sounds a lot like what bats do," Pannis, who was used to stroking his chin thoughtfully, almost got hit in the face by the huge shield but managed to give an awkward laugh instead, "I remember scholars saying that bats navigate in the dark by emitting sounds that are inaudible and then perceiving the echoes. Later, thieves learned this method, and it became one of their skills, although the sound they emit using this skill is audible."

"Right, what bats emit is a type of ultrasound," Dillie nodded, but then realized that nobody could see him nodding beneath the bark and said despondently, "As for what ultrasound is, don’t ask me. I wouldn’t know even if you did ask."

"Wait a minute," Pannis suddenly stopped in his tracks, his muscles going rigid as he slowly turned his neck to look at Flare, then at Catherine. The two ladies seemed to have realized something as well, and with a strained voice, said, "Bats?"

"Raise your shields!" Pannis roared loudly, simultaneously rolling on the spot to clear his original position.