Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1179 - 291: The Information Behind the Tactics

Chapter 1179: Chapter 291: The Information Behind the Tactics

The parts, each one shimmering in silvery white, looked delicate and exquisite, more like finely crafted artworks than mechanical components. However, anyone with a slight knowledge of mechanics could tell that these seemingly artistic items were all made from the same material, goblin metal. In the Yarran World, any sentient being with a sound mind, especially professionals, knew of goblin metal—a legacy from the Goblin Era, with properties far surpassing the understanding of the current era, and still impossible to replicate. It possessed remarkable hardness and, despite its hard nature, maintained enough flexibility to block strong attacks. A thin piece could withstand the blast of a crystal bomb and still preserve the integrity of a wall’s structure. To penetrate it, only a continuous assault by a Demigod Rank could succeed, and to create a passage large enough to enter, even they would need to spend tens of minutes. Moreover, this metal had a mild memory ability, allowing it to slowly return to its original form after being distorted, provided it wasn’t completely torn apart.

Unfortunately, goblin metal was not only impossible to replicate but also impossible to recast. Even if people excavated some goblin metal, they couldn’t melt it down and forge it according to their desires; it could only be regrettably piled up in laboratories for fruitless research. Only the master mechanics of the Colossus School could cleverly assemble specific parts into tools, weapons, or other devices suitable for their use. Other scholars could only watch enviously as the mechanics became the only group able to effectively utilize goblin metal.

Freya was indeed a mechanic, a master among them. Previously, on her wedding journey, transforming a carriage into a defensive base was merely a pastime, her true pinnacle design was the Freya’s War Fortress, which had played a significant role in the Nightmare Islands. The princess herself had designed this masterpiece from scratch, completed only after five years of collecting special parts. Her open-minded and ingenious plans even earned admiration from her teacher, Christo, who admitted he couldn’t have created something similar. Now, supported by the temple’s two sidewalls, the War Fortress was once again partially revealed to the world. Once the fortress was fully operational, with seventeen Legendary Rank ghouls and dozens of undead mages, breaking through the fortress under the continuous assault of other girls would cost a great deal.

However, the enemy seemed not to be in a hurry. Even as the parts moved around the girls and they recognized the material of the parts, panic was not shown. It seemed they were well-prepared, only those ghoul fighters in the front suddenly pulled an unknown object from their pockets and threw it towards the girls. This object, like a wisp of light smoke, lingered near the girls for a long time.

At the moment her skin touched this smoke, Freya’s expression turned grim. This smoke was actually very finely ground lightweight rock powder, which inherited the rock’s light weight allowing it to float in the air for a long time, but had no special effects. However, to a mechanic, especially a top-level one, it was the most despicable thing.

The creations of great mechanics, each consisting of countless parts, heavily relied on the precision of component matching to determine the effectiveness of the final product. More complex and precise designs demanded higher matching precision, like the War Barrier, where even a half-millimeter deviation in critical components was unacceptable. Any interference or foreign objects between the parts could fundamentally affect the barrier, significantly weakening its strength or even causing it to collapse outright. Of course, except in places like the Country of Sand and the Sighing Desert, where merely breathing could introduce a mouthful of sand, there were no environmental interferences that could affect the assembly of components, so this wasn’t considered a weakness of the War Barrier and was negligible. But now, these particles floating in the air were dense enough to affect the function of the Barrier, making it difficult to perform as expected.

Thus, Freya found herself in a difficult position. She had never imagined the enemy would be so familiar with her or rather, the entire adventure team’s characteristics, and would use such a simple yet effective countermeasure at a critical moment. The original plan seemed smooth—Catherine and Ava would defend and contain at the barrier’s exterior, able to retreat into the barrier for repairs if necessary, Lina guarding the entry for internal and external support while also using Divine Spells to disrupt and directly attack the enemy, while she and Vivian would be sheltered within the fortress, striking at the enemy from shooting ports that could open and close at will. Once the barrier was constructed, everything was supposed to become straightforward, allowing the girls to fight without reservations for a prolonged period, with little chance of failure. But with a simple gesture, the enemy had ruined it all. Although their actions and materials seemed simple, what they demonstrated behind those actions was the real reason behind Freya’s ashen face.

To achieve this, one had to be well-acquainted with the professions within the adventure team, which was not difficult since the girls’ professions were no secret. However, merely knowing the surface was not enough. The princess usually only showed her crystal gunner side and seldom revealed her real capabilities as a mechanic. Therefore, the enemy must have had a deep understanding of all her professions to have prepared this way. Of course, this was not impossible, just more challenging. But, the fact that the enemy had made such targeted preparations indicated they had studied her thoroughly, understood her tactical habits and combat skills, and even could predict what equipment she might use in certain situations. This was the fundamental reason why the enemy’s simple gesture had thwarted her plans.

The problem that this represented might not have been fully understood by the other girls, and perhaps not even by Catherine, who might have caught only a glimpse of it. However, Freya, the princess who had deeply buried her own inner shadows to stay by the girls’ side, to enjoy the warmth and happiness beyond paternal love, and to live happily with the girls, grasped everything in less than a second. There must be a traitor among the living, a well-informed one at that. In an instant, numerous suspects flashed through her mind, including Passion and Indulgence, Pansy and Mimosa, Nicole and Rachel, and even her father Odin and her deceased teacher Christo. Yet, she dismissed each of them one by one and still came up with no clear answer.

"Wind." Barely a second had passed, and Vivian, also busy, didn’t even lift her head. With a flick of her left index finger, which was loosely holding a magic bead, a fierce wind immediately blew from behind her, swiftly dispersing the light rock powder floating in the air. However, the impact of the rock powder had already taken place. Some of the powder had mixed into the assembled parts, and to complete the assembly, all parts had to be disassembled and reassembled. This would inevitably delay the fighter aircraft, causing a catastrophic impact on the plan.

The problem didn’t end there. At the same time that Vivian cast her spell, two mage girls sensed another subtle magical fluctuation, a Silence Spell from the enemy. Judging by the timing of the Silence Spell’s release, the enemy clearly knew that after using the bead for casting, Vivian’s casting speed for some simple spells could be almost instantaneous, often requiring just an alternative magical word to activate these simple spells. Therefore, the enemy’s Silence Spell wasn’t released during the latter half of her spellcasting like it would be by most people, which could also trigger a mana backlash from a failed spell; instead, it was released right at the beginning to interrupt Vivian’s casting. However, the enemy didn’t anticipate that Vivian had detected Freya’s anomaly so early and had reacted and taken countermeasures so swiftly. Therefore, the Silence Spell was a step too late and failed to prevent the mage girl’s Wind Spell. Actually, Vivian’s swift response wasn’t because she noticed Freya’s anomaly, but rather it was due to their years of cooperation and combat experience. Seeing the smoke, she immediately thought it might affect her teammates nearby, so her first reaction was to take countermeasures, just like the Silence Spell, which was also a step too late.

"Is it a lack of deep understanding? Did she really not catch up? Or is it deliberately disguised to confuse our sight?" The princess with complex thoughts grew more troubled the more she pondered, but her chubby face still carried a gentle and graceful expression, smiling like a goddess.

"Silence Spell?" Vivian didn’t think so much. The effect of the spell was fleeting. Vivian snorted coldly and glanced at a strange undead mage hiding within the crowd. However, she sensibly continued her work, never looking at the enemy again.

"Sis, something’s not right." Freya quickly uttered these words and continued to control the parts flying around her. She believed that just this simple sentence was enough for Catherine, as the older sister, to grasp part of her thoughts.

Catherine indeed understood some of it. The knight girl furrowed her brows and whispered lowly, "Then it’s Plan Three."