Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1196 - 308: The Final Victor

Chapter 1196: Chapter 308: The Final Victor

"Puff," the sound of a sharp blade entering the flesh was very faint, but in Nora’s ears, the sound was especially conspicuous and unusually piercing. Having lost the sense of pain for countless eons, she suddenly experienced a long-lost sensation, akin to the moment when she sensed Herr leaving, just like the moment when she watched Darak turn into fine sand before her eyes, a subtle, vague, yet bone-deep sting of pain, a memory vaguely lingering in the far reaches recalling what seemed to be called heartache.

Looking down, the fourth arrow was still embedded in her body, only inches deeper than before due to Pannis’s push. However, those few centimeters made Nora feel an emptiness inside, as if she had lost something precious. Nora could feel the Energy of Death still abundant in her body, yet her strength was slowly ebbing away; the millions of years of accumulated fatigue seemed to burst forth in that instant, making her feel increasingly tired, both physically and mentally.

No longer able to stay afloat, Pannis, after pressing down on the shaft of the arrow, fell back to the ground. At this point, Nora seemed to have lost interest in combat, not even sparing him a glance, but instead stared complexly at the arrow sticking out of her chest, slowly descending to the ground.

"What a strange feeling." Nora, seemingly curious, examined the arrow that penetrated her body, cautiously reached out her finger to touch the smooth tail of the arrow, and whispered, "This means I’m going to die, right?"

"Yes, you have failed." Pannis, worn out both mentally and physically, sat on the floor, seemingly devoid of any joy from victory, and said in a low voice, "The arrow has pierced your heart, you’re going to die soon."

"Ah, so you have won." Nora laughed softly, nodding her head. Surprisingly, she bore no resentment towards Pannis, who had killed her, instead she spoke in a relaxed manner, "Is this your trump card? Impressive."

"That was my last trump card," sighed Pannis. "It was very close. If you had survived the fourth arrow, I would have had no means to claim victory. Luckily, you didn’t, that’s my fortune, but a bit unfortunate for you."

"There’s nothing unfortunate," Nora shook her head, "Can you tell me what exactly the bow that killed me is? I’ve never seen a bow so powerful, not even the bow Loki used during his battle with our master held such strength or oppressive force."

"Bow of Release, one of the Elves’ Sacred Items," Pannis replied unreservedly, handing over the Bow of Release he held: "Blessed personally by a Deity, returned to the Elves as one of their strongest weapons."

Nora did not reach out to take it but looked curiously at the Bow of Release and nodded, "It carries Artemis’s essence; it’s indeed a gift from the huntress goddess. Being the best with a bow, it’s no wonder it has such great power. Losing to such a Holy Artifact is not surprising at all. But, with such a powerful weapon, why didn’t you use it earlier? If you had used it sooner, the fight wouldn’t have been so hard, right?"

"A trump card works precisely because it’s unexpected," Pannis shook his head. "If I had used it from the start, and you had prepared against it, it wouldn’t have been effective this time. Since it was my very last trump card, I needed to ensure its effectiveness which would have greatly troubled me, so of course, I had to wait until I was most confident to use it."

"I don’t really believe that," Nora said, looking nothing like a person on the brink of death nor like one facing her killer, calmly smiling and saying, "In recent years, our greatest focus has been on you, we studied you the most. Starting from one hundred and ten years ago, you made a deep impression on us. Over the decades we all knew very well, if someone could thwart our plans, it definitely would be you, so we meticulously studied all the information we could find about each of your battles, especially those classic fights. We even understand some of your habits better than you do yourself, thus saying this is your last trump card doesn’t convince me."

"Uh, I must admit, you guys really have a lot of free time," Pannis scratched his head, looking rather embarrassed, "Why don’t you believe it?"

"Because, be it years ago or in the most recent times, you have one unchanging habit; you always prepare everything before a battle, through various means you grasp a high chance of victory before engaging, meaning you never tackle something you aren’t sure of," explained Nora softly. "This time, Darak’s death was an accident; you did not foresee the existence of that assassin, though you still came, which means you believed that you could still defeat both me and Darak. However, just with the Bow of Release, that wouldn’t have been possible, thus I am sure you have other trump cards, even stronger ones, powerful enough to even out the difference in strength between our sides. If it’s convenient, could you tell me what are the other trump cards you have hidden away?"

"Well, you saw through me, to counter you, I had three more trump cards aside from the Bow of Release; they are all one-time uses, and I wouldn’t use them unless it was a moment of life and death," Pannis said with a wry smile. "They are on loan to me, an arrow, a scale, and a pearl only. The arrow, paired with the Bow of Release, ensures one of you two would definitely die, there’s no chance of escape. The scale, once attached to my body, would cover me with a layer similar to that of Lizardmen for twenty-two hours, giving me the defensive capability and agility of a Lizardman. As for the pearl, once swallowed, it can heal multiplicative injuries within five minutes. So, I honestly didn’t mind going head-to-head in a straightforward battle like with Herr because with the pearl’s protection, I would not truly die."

"Indeed, I suspected you wouldn’t just bring one bow as your trump card," Nora guessed correctly and said with the pride of a child, "This habit of yours vexes us greatly. We were worried you wouldn’t come because without you, our plan could not proceed. Yet, we were also fearful you would indeed come, for that would mean you believed you had a good chance of winning. We certainly don’t think you’re foolish enough to believe that without reason."

"I was blindly confident once," Pannis sighed, "You probably know how that turned out."

"That was during your encounter with our lord, wasn’t it? Heh, you were indeed blind then," Nora’s body suddenly swayed as she struggled to maintain her balance and slowly sat down, giving a self-deprecating laugh, "I’m a bit tired; I’ll sit and rest a while. Hmm, but that experience taught you not to overestimate your chances, which is exactly why we’re really worried."

"What then?" Pannis’s smile grew more bitter as he said softly, "So you had preparations for both scenarios, correct?"

"Hahaha, seeing your expression, you must have guessed already," Nora laughed heartily and nodded, "Right, we had to consider, what if you actually won? It wouldn’t matter much if the two of us died, but would our plan just fail like that? That’s something we absolutely can’t tolerate, so we had to prepare in advance."

"So you prepared an alternate sacrifice," Pannis lowered his gaze to the floor, his voice emotionless, "If you failed to kill me, you’d use the alternate sacrifice to complete your ritual."

"Hehe, it seems you’ve seen through even the matter of the alternate sacrifice; speaking with a smart person is indeed effortless," Nora tilted her head, her curiosity apparent as she asked, "When did you figure it out?"

"Just now, when I landed and saw your reaction wasn’t one of anxiety about the plan failing, I realized it," Pannis said, his tone despondent, "You kept mentioning an alternate sacrifice, but I couldn’t think what it could be. Just a moment ago, it hit me that you wanted to use me as the sacrifice because I am cursed by Danacus, and my connection with the Realm of the Dead is the deepest, making me an ideal sacrificial candidate. However, I overlooked that there are two other people, whose connections with the Realm of the Dead and Danacus are just as deep, perhaps even deeper. Using them might even yield a better result."

"Hahaha, exactly," Nora laughed joyously, pointing to her nose, "Those two people are Darak and me. Both of us could also serve as substitutes, so we schemed to lock you and us together in the ritual space. If we couldn’t kill you, we would let you kill us. Either outcome fulfills one of the conditions, and the ritual would conclude successfully with the sacrifice."

"That’s why you suddenly became calm after Darak died," Pannis sighed, "By then, you must have been fully prepared to face the current situation."

"Yes, I said then that I would seriously try to kill you, or seriously let you kill me," although Nora was growing weaker, her mood was incredibly buoyant, "No matter who kills whom, we will be the ultimate victors. As the victors, we naturally give you, the loser, some leniency."

"Knowing now that I was deceived, my mood is pretty foul," Pannis raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "When I’m in a bad mood, I like to do things that make others’ moods worse, so there’s something I need to tell you."

Fearless of Nora’s dying reprisal, Pannis moved forward a few steps, leaned closer to her ear, and whispered for a long time. Nora’s expression changed continuously with Pannis’s murmuring until finally, after he finished, she retorted, "These are just your speculations, aren’t they?"

"Yes," Pannis nodded, "But they are indeed a possibility."

"Heh, if that’s the case, then we are three fools," Nora’s expression finally settled into self-mockery, "The biggest fools in the world."