Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1163 - 275

Chapter 1163: 275

"Someone is getting impatient," Pannis sneered, feeling the unabashed energy fluctuations. Such strong energy fluctuations were impossible to ignore for anyone within the Rordelansor Ring Mountains. Even those professionals with acute energy perception might sense it from the Lost Forest, one could imagine. By now, the Demigods waiting at the entrance to the Core Area of the Forest of Death must be in a state of high anxiety. After all, they had no clear idea of what exactly was happening here and could only guess that the massive energy fluctuations meant trouble for the seven members of the expedition. It wasn’t until the intensity of the energy fluctuations settled that Pannis mockingly said, "It seems we’ve made them wait too long. If we don’t hurry, we might disappoint our host."

"That’s hardly the behavior of a gracious guest," Catherine held the Falcon Shield’s handle tightly, her face relaxed with a smile at the corners of her mouth, teasingly saying, "But then again, we’re here with the intention of killing the host and ruining his plans, we weren’t exactly playing the role of gracious guests to begin with, were we? In light of that, perhaps it’s not so bad to make our local host wait a little longer, hehe."

"Big sis, big sis, that doesn’t sound like something a true knight would say," Lina said with a chuckle, covering her mouth, "You wouldn’t have said that four years ago, no, you wouldn’t even have thought it. You’ve gone bad."

"What can I do, if I want to keep up with a certain person’s train of thought I have to start thinking in his way," Catherine said with a grin: "Like now, if it were that person, he would certainly think this way too, right, Pannis?"

"Eh, who is this certain person? I don’t know him." Pannis shrugged innocently as if it truly had nothing to do with him, saying leisurely, "However, it seems you’ve thought of that too."

"Of course, theoretically speaking, these kinds of ceremonies should be as secret as possible, ideally going unnoticed by us until after their completion. That’s the only way to ensure we can’t disrupt them," Catherine nodded with narrowed eyes: "But they did the exact opposite, deliberately revealing themselves to us, setting no obstacles in our path, and even signaling through their actions, ’Our ceremony is about to succeed. Look, we have gathered such immense power. If you don’t come to interfere soon, you’ll be too late.’ Eliminating the possibility that they all suddenly turned into fools, the only reason I can think of is, haha, they are truly greedy. They included us in the sacrifice offering too, considering the current situation, we might even count as the main offerings. Should I feel honored? If it weren’t for the circumstances, I would really like to see the expressions on their faces if we decided just to stay here tonight."

"Unfortunately, it’s just wishful thinking, we have to go. Such a large-scale ceremony would definitely have backup offerings, and if we really delay too long, they might just use the reserves," Pannis said regretfully: "Otherwise, I would quite like to try it out."

"But, I feel like there are some holes in your theory," Freya crossed her arms and leaned against a tree, frowning as she asked, "If they really wanted us to rush over, why would they set up an ambush for us at the burial grounds? That ambush seemed genuinely intended to kill us. Not just there, but after we left our base and before entering this forest, in the middle of that road, the two surprise attacks by undead magical beasts, and the encounter battle just after we entered the forest, those didn’t seem like the last two times where they waited for us to make the first move. In those instances, they were actively searching for us, isn’t that contradictory to your theory?"

"Sigh, they want to kill us," Catherine sighed: "Don’t you get it? The five of us probably aren’t qualified to be the main offerings. The main offerings are Mr. Dillie and Pannis. The ambushes along the way, if they could cause us casualties, it would not only weaken our side but think about it—if any of us were killed by the undead, would they have to worry about Pannis and Mr. Dillie turning around and walking away? So, if they could kill some of us, it would suit their purpose perfectly. Even if they can’t kill us, it doesn’t matter much to them. On the other hand, I think they wouldn’t mind having a few extra offerings, after all, as offerings, even though we’re not on the same level as Pannis and Mr. Dillie, we’re still considered high-quality."

"The main offering should be me, probably because of certain qualities in my soul," Pannis pointed at his own nose: "Someone like me might be just right for an offering. Hmm, if it could be confirmed, we could actually turn around and go home now. If I don’t show up, their ceremony would never succeed. Sadly, I’m not sure either, since I’ve never been an offering before. It’s all just speculation. Maybe, I should volunteer to be an offering first to try it out?"

"What are you talking about? That’s not something you can just try out," Catherine said with an annoyed look: "Can you really treat such things so lightly?"

"Both of you stop thinking about such useless things," Dillie interrupted them, clearly dissatisfied with their banter, and said gruffly: "They’ve gone through a lot of trouble to ensure we arrive quickly. Hmm, they even sent out a welcoming party."

Not just Dillie, Pannis had noticed it too. The sound of running suddenly came from the forest, and shadows of two tiger-like magical beasts flashed by in the dense woods. About four meters long and with bat wings sprouting from their ribs, just like Dillie, they were more gliding than running through the trees, using their wings. Upon noticing the seven-person team, they turned and headed back the way they had come, stopping after a few steps and looking back to verify following before continuing on.

"Bat Tiger?" Catherine asked in surprise. "Have they really resurrected this ancient creature that’s supposed to be extinct? Or could it be that these creatures still survive in the core of the Forest of Death?"

"It’s probably just a modification," Pannis and Lina shared a smile. "We’ve seen real Bat Tigers before, and their wings are way more flexible than these modified ones. If real Bat Tigers were coming to greet us, they would’ve approached from the sky, anyway. Since there aren’t any Twisted Souls here, they wouldn’t be afraid of being attacked directly from the ground. Hmm, Lion, how about you carry us and fly up? Let’s head straight for their temple?"

"I’d rather not be a sitting duck for them in the sky," Dillie said, swatting away Pannis’ extended hand with a flick of his tail, "If you’re so capable, fly up there yourself, idiot."

"Tch," Pannis pursed his lips, "Let’s go. If we don’t follow them, those two won’t leave us alone either. With them watching, we won’t be able to rest. Rather than wasting time here, we better follow them."

"Why don’t we just take them out?" Dillie licked his paws, speaking with a sinister tone, "With their distance, both of us could rush them with a surprise attack. It should be easy to take them down."

"Oh, aren’t you afraid they’ll make you cry? Hey, hey, stop biting, damn it, it hurts!" Pannis shook off the scorpion-tailed lion, which was viciously biting his calf, and said with a grimace, "Killing them is easy, but doing so now would just signal to the other side that we’re not planning to go over there immediately. What do you think those two moribund will do then?"

"Well, if it were me, I’d just go ahead with the ritual using spare sacrifices," Dillie said, hanging his head dejectedly, "But what if they can’t bear to lose us as the main sacrifices? Alright, maybe that’s just a possibility, but you guys aren’t going to take that risk."

"That’s why they dare to make such blatant moves," Catherine sheathed her one-handed sword and took a deep breath, then gestured to the other girls, "Everything has an end, and it’s time for our adventure to wrap up too. Let’s go and follow them. The battle between the Divine Servants and us that’s gone on for so many years will end today. Is everyone mentally prepared?"

"We were ready for that before we even entered the forest," Freya said, her fingers flicking, and within seconds, her familiar Crystal Energy gun appeared in her hand. The princess hoisted the bulky weapon onto her shoulder with lazy flair, "Let’s finish this quickly. I’m starting to miss Old Piet’s cookies and sweet rolls. The ones I brought are all gone. Though, I bet Vivian the dimwit probably isn’t ready."

"If you cut a tangential line at a forty-degree angle along the arc’s top, piercing through the center of four concentric circles, hmm, yes, that’s right, the modified Array can definitely suppress the reaction of Seashell Sand and windsway grass temporarily, securing about 1.5 seconds to operate. If we introduce emerald pearl powder during this interval, we can disrupt their reaction conditions, then..." Vivian, who had been muttering to herself, looked up in confusion when her name was called, absentmindedly placing her favorite soft hat on her head and said, "Who’s calling me? What’s happening? Are we finally setting off? Right now?"

"Uh, never mind, just consider it as your cue to leave," Catherine said, massaging her temples and feeling a headache coming on, especially when she saw Lina, the priest girl, who was inexplicably holding a Little Deer skull in her hands, putting her fingers in and out of the skull’s mouth in sync with its biting teeth, and the two fools laughing together uproariously. Seeing that, Catherine felt that her concerns about whether everyone was ready were completely unnecessary. Thankfully, Ava was there, responding to her with a solemn nod, which brought her a bit of comfort.

"Sigh, let’s get going then," said the knight girl, listlessly, "I hope you two fools won’t fall behind."