Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1083 - 198 Pursuit

Chapter 1083: Chapter 198 Pursuit

"Squeak~~~," the giant bat let out a piercing screech as its wings flapped attempting to hastily change direction once again, but its large size meant it presented a broad target to attack. Although it managed to evade its vital parts at the last moment, it still received a deep wound on its back from the Throwing Spear, a wound gaping open like a large mouth from which deep red blood gushed, turning the sky into a semblance of Blood Rain in an instant.

The wound on the giant bat’s right back was not pierced directly by the Throwing Spear; even though it was just a slash across the muscle, the pain was excruciating. The bat screeched and tumbled wildly in the air, taking a few seconds to calm down before flying away at an even higher speed.

"Sorry about this," Flare said in a voice that was calm and indifferent. In the perception of the young girls, the Elf Queen had always been a gentle and mature figure, exuding kindness and warmth both in expression and speech, and even her seriousness contained a touch of gentleness. But now, the girls saw another side of the Queen, one that was savage and fierce.

Flare had discarded those silly-looking protective gears. For a demigod, taking a head-on sonic wave attack once or twice was not difficult. Of course, feeling unwell was inevitable and after too many times, one would sustain injuries and could die. Flare was now wearing a tight leather armor she had donned at the start of the five-day hellish journey. Her hunting bow was stowed on her back, and each of her hands tightly gripped a twenty-centimeter blade long dagger, the edge of the daggers pressed against the inner edge of her forearms, her arms hanging relaxed at her sides. The Queen’s torso bent slightly forward, shaping her body like a bow, her face stern, while her eyes blazed with a wild and zealous light.

"Sorry about this, but are you ready?" Flare apologized to the giant bat once more in a soft voice, but the ferocity of a hunter watching its prey trapped could not be hidden no matter what, turning even her usually gentle smile into something hideous and maniacal, "Whether you’re ready or not, be careful, I’m coming for you."

As she spoke, the Queen pursued the giant bat at a speed almost beyond what the naked eye could track, leaving near after-images behind her. The fleeing giant bat appeared to differ slightly from ordinary smaller bats, possessing keen eyesight with a large visual field, allowing it to almost observe its surroundings without any blind spots by turning its head, and naturally, it could also judge its environment by sound. Combining both methods, it reacted even more acutely.

Therefore, the giant bat quickly noticed the pursuer behind it. Wounded heavily on its back, it had no intention of further entanglement and desperately sped up to escape as far as possible. The cunning creature no longer wished to tangle with these bipedal beings. For now, all it wanted was to return home for a proper rest, considering revenge only after recovering from its injury, for the pain in its back was just too great.

Indeed, the wound was more than a mere tear. The Throwing Spear hurled by High Priestess Alcmene carried the powerful energy unique to demigods. The sharp weapon not only tore through the giant bat’s body, but the lingering energy continued to ravage the muscles near the wound. With such an injury, even if it managed to escape and rest, it would take at least a month for a preliminary healing, and to regain its previous health would require no less than two months of recuperation. Thus, each flap of its wings brought agony to the bat, leaving it with no desire to fight.

The giant bat was escaping quickly, and Flare was in hot pursuit. The girls blinked, and the chase had already spanned a distance of thirty meters. Flare’s body leaned forward, like a hunting pantheress in the jungle, the only sound was that of the grass and bushes rustling as they parted continuously, while it was hard to keep up with the speed of the Queen with the eyes alone.

The fleeing bat, realizing it couldn’t shake off its enemy, suddenly launched a bizarre sonic wave attack. The giant bat’s sonic attack was odd, not coming from its mouth nor directed straight ahead, but seeming to be emitted from a large growth on its chest, controllably aiming the attack while launching it. Thus, without turning around in its flight, the sonic wave was already sent towards Flare.

Unfortunately, before the attack could reach Flare, it lost its effect. Conaida, as the shield bearer, certainly did not merely stand in place for a defense. The moment the tumor on the giant bat’s chest vibrated, Conaida had already predicted its intent. Although he was too slow to follow the chase, his heavy wooden shield was not. Anticipating the bat’s move, Conaida threw the shield forward with force. The huge shield spun through the air like a frisbee, forming an arc that coincided exactly with the sonic wave’s path only moments after it was emitted from the giant bat, absorbing the attack completely.

The bat’s soundwave attack wasn’t continuous, nor was it easy to chain attacks together. Even without needing to adjust its facing, releasing the attack still affected its own flight speed. After attacking, there was a noticeable deceleration even though it soon recovered to its original velocity. However, in a high-speed chase, this was already a dangerous behavior.

With Flare’s experience, it was impossible to overlook such an opportunity. When the giant bat’s speed decreased as it launched a sudden soundwave attack, Flare completely disregarded the strike aimed at her, as if she entirely believed the attack would be blocked. She exerted force with both legs, transforming her body into a streak of emerald lightning, leaping high into the air towards the direction from which the soundwave came.

There was, in fact, a significant distance between Flare and the giant bat, with a vertical disparity of about twenty meters and a horizontal gap exceeding fifteen meters. Even if Flare used Aggression to enhance her body, a single leap wouldn’t allow her to catch up to the giant bat maintaining high speed. Nonetheless, Flare still jumped, her eyes fixated on the bat as if it was the only enemy left in the world. She leaped without concern.

Her Majesty the Queen burst forth with all her power during the leap, resulting in a swift initial velocity. However, with the increase in altitude, the speed visibly decreased. When she reached the apex of her jump, having ascended over ten meters, the momentum of her leap had been exhausted. Not only did her upward trajectory halt, but even her forward speed began to slow, and the distance to the giant bat seemed poised to widen once again.

But at that moment, Flare’s right leg suddenly slammed down, and at the same time, a figure happened to appear beneath her. The Queen’s stepping foot landed squarely on his shoulder. Utilizing the force of the stomp and the counterforce from the figure’s shrugged shoulder, she continued to surge diagonally forward at a far greater speed than when she had leaped. Meanwhile, the cooperative figure performed several aerial flips and landed smoothly on the ground. It was only then that the girls noticed that Pannis had vanished from everyone’s sight, reappearing just in time to provide the critical assistance.

It wasn’t only Pannis who could coordinate so precisely without prior planning. Pursued closely by Flare and with the gap closing, the giant bat no longer cared about the wound on its back. It beat its fleshy wings frantically, sprinting through the air at maximum speed. However, as immense as the sky was, there were four Throwing Spears erected like columns before the giant bat. If both parties maintained their speed, the giant bat would impale itself directly onto the spear-like pillars.

The bat’s instinct allowed it to change direction in an instant upon assessing the impending collision. Then, it encountered the second batch of Throwing Spears, identical in number. The eight tangible spears were hurled by High Priestess Alcmene at the same time as Flare jumped, with slight differences in speed. This caused the spears, launched at different times, to arrive in two separate waves, arriving nearly simultaneously. With no other option, the bat had to change direction again.

From Flare’s leap to the giant bat’s two direction changes, everything occurred in less than a second. Instinctive maneuvering made the bat overlook its own predicament. Once it realized it was still fleeing, a brilliant dagger light suddenly shone in the corner of its eye. Illuminated by sunlight streaming through the tree canopy, two daggers gleamed blindingly, forming a Light Curtain that pointed directly at the giant bat’s neck.

In the world perceived through the bat’s soundwaves, the two daggers were perfectly aligned, cutting straight toward its neck. Theoretically, against creatures like bats, straight attacks are ineffective, one must use curved attacks to evade their sonic detection. However, speed breaks all limits. If something is fast enough—so fast that even if they detect it, their body can’t react in time—a straight attack becomes valid.

Flare’s speed was fast enough. In Her Majesty’s eyes, she could clearly see every muscle tense beneath the bat’s grey-black skin. She could see fear lurking in the eyes that reflected back at her, even seeing a green shadow and two bright lights reflected in the bat’s eyes—the bright light of the daggers.

At last, human and bat met in the air, their silhouettes touching and parting in an instant, the dazzling blade light vanishing in a moment, leaving only a snowy white afterimage in the eyes of onlookers. Suspended mid-air, Flare twisted her waist, slightly altering her direction. She lightly tapped a few tree tops nearby, dissipating the force brought by her speed, and crouched steadily on a branch.