Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1187 - 299: Two Daggers

Chapter 1187: Chapter 299: Two Daggers

Although she wasn’t wearing a skirt, Freya still made the motion of lifting a dress’s hem, turning gracefully—or at least as gracefully as possible—to reveal the object that had been hidden behind her. Without a doubt, the equipment on her back was made from goblin metal and was entirely silver, emitting a dazzling metallic luster. Its edges were rounded and smooth, lacking the fierce angles typically seen on metal equipment, instead giving off a gentle beauty. However, the device itself was anything but gentle. Below the machine was a massive circular base, its heavy foundation pressed firmly against the sleek white jade stone floor, connected tightly to the surface. Above the base sat a thick metal cylinder as wide as a person’s head, its dark mouth concealing its internal structure, though one could vaguely sense the violent energy fluctuations coursing through the cylinder. The cylinder had only one open end, the other sealed with metal. On the sealed end of the cylinder were four cylindrical slots of varying sizes, central among them a small Crystal disk displaying some strange symbols.

The moment the enemy commander saw the device, his head began to hurt again, a severe headache, because as a former military leader, he recognized the item’s name at first glance.

"War-defense Goblin Crystal Cannon Type 6," Freya uttered the device’s name lightly, "I hope you’ll get along well with it."

Indeed, what appeared behind Freya was a standard goblin crystal energy cannon, one of Christo’s last-resort lifesaving devices for his students. It had only been used once before in the battle at the Nightmare Islands. Therefore, other than Christo himself and a few members of the adventure team, no one knew Freya possessed this weapon.

The crystal energy gun and the crystal energy cannon were milestones in goblin technology. Before their invention during the second era, the goblins, with their weak constitution, lived in the shadow of Upper Rank magical beasts for over three thousand years. In those days, a large Gold Rank magical beast could easily destroy a village or even a small town. The goblin professionals, especially those of Upper Rank, were pathetically few and couldn’t timely defend the settlements likely to be attacked, leading to the goblins’ habit of excessive urbanization during the Goblin Era. However, the advent of the crystal energy gun and crystal energy cannon rewrote this scenario. Purely driven by Crystal Energy, these weapons—unlike the replicas being made now—were not affected by the user’s strength but only by the energy capacity limit. Hence, even ordinary people, if they could activate the crystal energy guns and cannons, could hold these mass-produced weapons and stand against swarms of Upper Rank magical beasts, reversing the power dynamic. The same held true once the Colossus appeared. A War Puppet armed with a giant crystal energy gun could even face a large Gold Rank magical beast without falling short, and even Legendary magical beasts, which instead of facing injury in combat with a fully-armed War Puppet squad, often chose to retreat upon sight.

It was precisely because the goblins relied on crystal energy guns and crystal energy cannons to achieve their reversal that, over thousands of years, they never stopped researching both. Although the smaller crystal energy guns were not easy to enhance in power, the larger crystal energy cannons were constantly modified, with their potency ever-increasing. Around the year 7500 of the Second Era, the war-defense crystal energy cannons could even pose a threat to Legendary Rank magical beasts. A simultaneous salvo from several cannons could even directly threaten the lives of Legendary magical beasts, and there was even a record of an army of eighty War Puppets, each equipped with a crystal energy cannon, firing in unison to slay a Demigod Rank giant beast. Therefore, it could be said that crystal energy guns and crystal energy cannons were the goblins’ trump cards that they could never abandon.

After the extinction of the goblins, the methods of manufacturing crystal energy guns and cannons, like goblin metal, were lost. Although later scholars managed to replicate the current versions based on the few originals excavated, their power and performance were significantly limited and hardly comparable to the original versions. Even so, various powers would still equip their fortress cities with dozens of replicated crystal energy cannons, mostly as a precaution against magical beast attacks in the last several hundred years but also as a deterrence against enemies. Once a siege battle began, dozens of crystal energy cannons firing simultaneously, although the stored large-capacity crystals would be depleted like running water, the resultant bombardment, both in terms of sound and light effects as well as actual impact, was worth it. And that was just for the replicated ones—if the original crystal energy cannons could be used, the effects achieved would be even more exaggerated.

Without Freya having to say it, the enemy’s commander also recognized this "new friend", and even more so its identity—an original, preserved from the Goblin Era, a true goblin crystal energy cannon. Once such a weapon was deployed, although the warriors were protected by Aggression Shields and the bombardment could not directly harm the roaming souls of their companions, the shockwave produced in the confined space could destroy the entire formation, leaving a fatal weakness for an enemy counterattack. Moreover, crystal energy cannons were long-range weapons; if they were to fire at their own rear, targeting the lower-strength Gold and Legendary Rank ranged mages, it was feared their own team...

"Rear ranks, get down right where you are." The Commander’s eyes twitched, and he roared, "Now!"

With a "boom", most of the Undead Mages managed to lie down in time, while a few slow-reacting mages had not yet gone into action when the crystal energy cannon already roared into life. A mass of pure energy shot out from the dark muzzle and exploded amongst the enemy’s rear ranks. If you compared the goblin crystal energy cannon to the usual replicated ones, the replicated weapons, due to not being able to use the goblins’ core technology or goblin metal as materials, had much lower utilization rates of crystal energy. Out of the thousands and tens of thousands of Tael of crystals, often less than a third could be converted into actual power, plus the limitations of metal strength, which ultimately led most crystal energy cannons to rely on crystal energy as propulsion to shoot out Energy Bullets, with the explosions of the Energy Bullets killing the enemies, whereas the goblin crystal energy cannons shot out a large amount of crystal energy directly in the form of Energy Bullets, with all the energy transformed into explosions and almost no loss in the process, naturally increasing the power significantly.

The mages who lay down felt a scorching airstream whizzing past their backs as the Energy Bullet exploded. The water vapor inside their clothes got baked and evaporated by the high temperature, emitting a burnt smell from the fabric, and even the tips of their hair became yellow and curled under the scorching heat. However, they were still the lucky ones; the real misfortune had befallen those slow-reacting mages. The explosion’s energy turned into a high-temperature shockwave, and the standing mages screamed as they were blown away by the blast wave, crashing into roofs, the ground, walls, and other mages. A few Silver Rank mages were even struck by the shockwave, vomiting blood, and lay on the ground, life and death unknown, after the blast wave had passed.

"Damn it, I was careless," the commander cursed himself fiercely, eyed the distances on the battlefield, and gritted his teeth amidst the roaring sounds, "Ignore the back, push the shield formation directly forward, breaching their range and their barricades is victory. Rear ranks, mages, when in range, bombard them from a distance, suppress them."

"Can you really push forward?" Freya asked with a seductive smile, her plump fingers rhythmically waving as the crystal energy cannon’s muzzle automatically adjusted its angle before firing again. The princess laughed sinisterly amid the cannon fire, "Do you really think your shield formation can withstand my frontal assault? I find that hard to believe."

The probability was indeed slim. This time, the energy bullets from the crystal energy cannon were almost fired at a flat trajectory, striking the reformed shield formation head-on. The shockwave from the explosion directly impacted the eight massive shields, with the ghouls behind them, all of Legendary Rank strength, having to bear the full force. Whether in terms of strength or bodily toughness, these ghouls were beyond comparison with the Undead mages of Gold and Silver Rank, and with the tower shields as a buffer, they were basically unharmed. But the explosive force was not so easily dissipated. Under the impact, the ghouls stumbled a few steps backward before steadying themselves again, temporarily finding their arms somewhat less responsive. However, Freya’s bombardment didn’t end there. A second energy bullet arrived seconds later, forcing the shield formation to retreat even further. Contrary to the commander’s expectations, not only did the distance fail to close, but it even grew wider.

Filled with anger and hatred, the commander bit his teeth hard, glaring at the girls on the other side of the battlefield. The only solace for him now was the pained expression on Catherine’s face. Although he didn’t know why, he could clearly see the agony on Catherine’s face, as if her heart was being torn apart. It was unmistakably real, not feigned. Something unknown must have happened to cause her such grief.

Of course, he didn’t know the reason, but the other girls did.

"One thousand five, five thousand, nine thousand three, thirteen thousand eight... oh, nineteen thousand, twenty-two thousand, oh God... twenty-seven thousand, thirty-four thousand." Catherine’s eyes were red, tears streaming down her face. Despite her vigilance preventing her from turning back, she choked up and pleaded, "Freya, let’s stop and think of another tactic, please, oh heavens, forty-one thousand, really, there must be another way, no, not that, please, uh-huh, fifty-one thousand, stop it, that’s worth ten thousand Tael, have you gone mad, ah ah ah, ninety-seven thousand, not that one either, it’s what I use as my pillow every night, I can only sleep with it, ah~~ one hundred and one thousand, and this piece too, how did you get it, you..."

"Don’t worry, big sis is just acting up again, you go to sleep," Lina sighed and patted the groggy Ava. Ava rubbed her eyes as if oblivious to the nearby enemy, curled up at Lina’s feet as if it were the safest place, and quickly began breathing evenly. The priest girl couldn’t bear to look at her big sister anymore and lifted her Warhammer, proclaiming, "The Gods declare, no magic shall pass through here."

And so, no magic could pass through above the barricades. Although the girl soon broke out in a sweat, not a single enemy ranged attack slipped through.

"One hundred and seventy thousand, one hundred and seventy-three thousand." With every sound of the cannon, Catherine felt as if she were being struck by the commander’s Warhammer, her voice tearful as she said, "Vivian, please be ready soon, uh-huh, my heart is shattered."

"I’m ready," the Mage girl who had been busying herself on the ground suddenly stood up, smiling and saying, "Thank you, everyone, for your hard work. Now it’s my time."

Yet at that moment, an unexpected turn of events occurred: a blurry figure emerged without warning, sticking close behind the Mage girl, two daggers wrapped in black aimed to strike—one at the girl’s heart and the other at her nape.