Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 165 - 25 Diana_1

Chapter 165: Chapter 25 Diana_1

(263...084...458...Book friend’s skirt, if you want to join, then join the group. ps Friends who come by, please collect and recommend, your support is my biggest motivation. Besides, could you all provide some suggestions, thank you. ps2: The title of the book has changed, please see the related work)

"I’ll go and ask, wait a moment." Under the puzzled gazes of the mercenaries, Lina lowered her head without saying a word, lost in thought.

"Who is she going to ask?" Dora whispered into Catherine’s ear.

Catherine kicked her away with disgust and said, "Mind your own business, just wait and see."

"Alright, it’s not a problem, I can track." Lina suddenly lifted her head and showed a smile, "She said it’s alright, but there’s one thing that’s a bit of a nuisance."

"What is it?" Catherine asked, "Anything inconvenient?"

"Definitely." Pannis nodded without surprise, seemingly recalling something, wiped his mouth and showed a silly smile, "Very inconvenient, indeed very inconvenient."

"Go to hell." Lina stomped on Pannis’ foot, causing him to hop on one leg and scream in pain, "It’s indeed a little inconvenient. The main thing is, I don’t want too many people to see it, it’s quite... bizarre."

"Bizarre?" Catherine’s face showed an equally strange expression, looking around at the others with some difficulty. Lina didn’t want to be seen, but they couldn’t abandon the mercenaries and move forward alone. It was hard to find a way to balance both sides.

"Actually, it’s simple." Pannis said to the guide Elrad, "As the best hunter, you should be able to track the traces of people who passed by fifteen minutes ago, right?"

"Of course." Elrad said discontentedly, "This is the basic quality of a hunter."

"That’s good then." Pannis nodded, "You all retreat back two hundred meters away. Beyond two hundred meters, you can’t see anything here anymore. Wait for ten minutes, then you can follow our footprints with the others, no problem."

Elrad patted his chest: "Leave it to me."

"Wait, wait." Dora pulled Pannis’s arm, "You just leave us behind like this?"

"We’re just separating by a certain distance." Pannis said seriously, "This is for safety considerations. We are going for a rescue, the enemy is a group of poison gland foxes. If we are surrounded, you can come and rescue us anytime, and similarly if you’re surrounded, we can also turn back and rescue you right away. This is the most secure way to proceed."

"Makes sense." Dora said seriously, "If I hadn’t just overheard Lina’s conversation, I really would’ve believed you. You bastard, you’re blatantly lying to our faces."

"Alright, Dora." For once, Catherine addressed Dora in a normal tone, "Just do us a favor and follow us from behind. It won’t have much of an impact overall, and if we catch up we won’t need to fight, so there’s no loss."

"I understand." Dora waved her hand nonchalantly, leading the mercenaries back the way they came. "We’ll wait for you guys for ten minutes. Be quick, everyone move along now, don’t stay here prying into other people’s secrets."

"Phew." Catherine watched as the mercenaries gradually moved away and sighed, "Alright, Lina, everyone’s gone now, what’s your plan?"

"Wait a moment." Lina laughed comfortably and walked behind a large tree. In less than half a minute, she came back out from behind the tree. Those thirty seconds had completely transformed her. She was still wearing her leather armor and still looked like a beautiful silver-haired girl, but her usually cheerful disposition had completely disappeared.

The Lina now, though only walking slowly back from behind the tree, gave the impression of a wild beast. She felt like a solitary beast in a dangerous wilderness, every part of her body radiating vigilance and sharpness. Every glance and movement from her made it seem like at any second she would pounce and bite off her prey’s throat.

"Nice to meet you, it’s a pleasure knowing all of you." Lina walked into the group, her eyes unconsciously lingering at the throat of everyone, smiling, revealing her gleaming teeth which reflected a chilling light. "I’m Diana, a friend of little Lina, like Katerina, I am one of the first friends of little Lina. Thank you all for taking care of Lina all these years while we were not around, thank you."

Watching the fierce and aggressive girl bow respectfully to her, Catherine awkwardly waved her hands. It felt like she was facing the long-lost parents of Lina expressing their gratitude, and she said unnaturally, "Don’t say that, we and Lina are just like a family, isn’t it normal for family to look after and care for each other?"

"Yes, yes." Diana nodded satisfactorily and shifted her gaze to Pannis, who was lost in thought at the side, "As for you."

"Huh?" Pannis was startled, "What’s this got to do with me?"

"Of course. Catheria mentioned you, Katerina mentioned you, the Blood Girl mentioned you, well, Lina also mentioned you." Diana stared at Pannis meaningfully, her smile neither happy nor sad, "You tell me, does it have anything to do with you?"

"Why mention me." Pannis scratched his head.

"You’ve not been honest, have you?" Diana grinned, although it was just a normal smile, it had a savage feel to it due to her temperament: "Am I right or wrong?"

"Huh?" Pannis said, bewildered, "I haven’t said anything yet."

"Not now, earlier," Diana gave a mysterious smile, "Previously, when you and Lina were in the cave, you allowed Lina to make guesses about you. You cleverly neither confirmed nor denied her speculations. Hehe, everyone believed them, but I didn’t. You must not have told the truth. So, do you want to challenge the intuition of a beast who grew up in the wilderness?"

"Err, what exactly did she guess?" Pannis wore an innocent expression, "I have forgotten."

"It doesn’t matter, you meant no harm, I could tell." Diana didn’t delve any deeper, gave another mysterious smile and let Pannis off the hook, "So, do you need my help now?"

"Yes." Catherine was relieved when Diana finally ended the utterly incomprehensible conversation and said urgently, "We need your help to track someone." After saying this, Catherine realized she had unwittingly switched to a more respectful form of address.

Diana, seeing nothing strange about the formal language, looked around and said, "Five humans and seventy-five foxes. Hmm, no, six of them are dead. Their bodies have been taken away. Sixty-nine foxes left."

Pannis smirked but didn’t say anything. Even with his demigod-like sensing ability, he struggled to discern the exact number of foxes six hours later. But Diana, borrowing Lina’s Gold Rank body, was able to accurately discern the species and number of magical beasts, and even distinguish between the living and the dead, with just a simple glance.

"But, it’s been quite a while." Diana furrowed her beautiful eyebrows, and took a frustrated, unconscious flick of her hair, "This is kind of exhausting."

"What do you mean?" Catherine asked anxiously, "Is it troublesome?"

"Yeah," Diana nodded, "They traveled through the treetops, which makes tracking them several times more difficult. While tracking people is somewhat difficult, tracking foxes is still doable. The problem arises if the fox pack suddenly splits into two groups."

"That shouldn’t happen," Pannis said, "It’s the season when magical beasts accumulate fat by gorging on food, so a pack of foxes won’t abandon food lightly."

"You do know a lot." Diana chuckled, picking up several leaves from the ground and giving them a sniff, "A borrowed body still isn’t as good as an original. It lacks some natural skills."

"You..." Catherine saw Diana intently squatting down to examine the ground, and wisely chose not to continue her inquiry.

"Okay, we’re almost there," Diana nodded, "Follow me."

"Wait." After walking a few dozen meters in one direction, Diana suddenly stopped. She looked up the massive tree trunk in front of her. With an unexpected slap on the tree, she said, "I was wondering why it felt so strange. So that’s why!"

Pannis was also examining the tree trunk and said, "A small battle took place here."

"Correct," Diana gave Pannis a nod of approval, "Over there was where they first encountered each other. They climbed up the trees and then fled to this spot, where the pack of foxes followed them. They had a standoff here for a while - I can smell it - probably for about ten minutes. Then, the fox pack grew restless and began to climb the tree. Foxes can’t usually climb such high trees, but once they reach a certain height, they can spew poisonous saliva upward, reaching as far as thirty meters. The humans in the tree started to attack the foxes to prevent any potential threat, but it wasn’t very effective. Therefore, they quickly moved again, heading in the direction they came from. I was wondering why the scent was so mixed back there, so, that explains it."

"Should we go back where we started, then?" Catherine asked.

"Of course. We’ll go back and start on another path." Diana kicked the tree in annoyance and turned to leave.

"Dora, Dora!" Catherine called out as she headed back, "Wait five more minutes before you start. Tracking here is kind of tricky."

"Got it!" Dora replied from an unseen location, using the same loud voice, "We’re having a great rest, you guys can go slower if you like, ha ha ha."

"That child Lina," Diana said, amused yet slightly annoyed, "She’s still shy, not wanting others to see."

"Exactly, we were also wondering," Catherine said with a smile, "We can’t figure out why, it never happened before."

"She’s shy, scared of others seeing me," Diana gave Catherine a mysterious wink as they returned to the starting point. This time, Diana walked confidently in a certain direction without any hesitation, though not too fast. She would stop to examine her surroundings every ten meters or so. After repeating this several times, Diana, who was apparently not the most patient, finally lost her patience. Angrily, she let out a low growl and told the other three, "Stay close behind me."

"Alright," Catherine replied.

Diana nodded, looked around, and suddenly fell to all fours and began to move forward like a wild beast. Surprisingly, despite the human body she was using, which was naturally unsuitable for quadrupedal movement, she proceeded at a pace similar to a beast’s normal speed.

"Strange, isn’t it?" Diana continued to move forward, constantly sniffing the ground for scents, then suddenly turned back and said, "This is why Lina doesn’t want people to see me. I am a Wolf Tribe Beastman, raised by wild wolves, the Beast King of the Wilderness."