Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 174 - 30 The Shadow of the Enemy_2

Chapter 174: Chapter 30 The Shadow of the Enemy_2

"You actually calmed down so quickly." Pannis was somewhat surprised. "Much faster than I thought."

"What else was I to do? Roll around on the floor in anger?" Catherine laughed at herself.

"What exactly are you two discussing?" Dora couldn’t take it anymore and asked Catherine, "What’s so special about this piece of robe?"

"I’ve seen the symbol on it before." Catherine handed over the fragment, Dora saw a design inscribed on it — within the innermost ring of the Six-pointed Star Disc was a golden hourglass. "Once I saw it, it was hard to forget."

"What does this symbol represent?" Dora, being an experienced professional, couldn’t recall any relevant information from her memory and could only ask, "Why does it provoke such a strange reaction from you?"

"A few months ago, we had a cave adventure." Catherine’s tone was still a bit downcast, but her voice was steady now, "In the cave, there were incidents of professionals maliciously attacking adventurers. Some adventurers went missing. Whoever did it was wearing a robe bearing this pattern."

"You encountered them?" Dora asked.

"We only saw them through a fixed Eye of the Mage, we didn’t even know where they were at the time." Catherine spat out with gritted teeth, "But, we saw how they treated the unconscious adventurers. The unconscious individuals lay in a massive Array, through some method, they made those people appear as old as if they had lived a hundred years. I believe they extracted their Vitality."

"Extracting Vitality?" Dora looked astounded, "That’s not possible, is it?"

"But that’s the truth." Catherine flatly stated.

"Wait a minute." Dora suddenly realized, "You mean that the person tracking us is the same person you encountered before?"

"Highly likely." Catherine said, "And, I suspect they are the mastermind behind the thief gang."

"The thief gang... they sell their human prey to them." Dora was beginning to get as angry as Catherine, "Then they suck the Vitality out of these people?"

"Highly possible." Catherine replied, "At least that’s what I believe."

"This would explain a few things." Dora endorsed Catherine’s speculation, "I guess the valley filled with Skeletons that you, Guli-Elmer, unwittingly discovered is where the thief gang disposed of the remnants of their massive hunts. You were discovered then, but it seems they didn’t want to act personally. So, using some method, they lured the poison gland foxes to attack you, hoping the foxes would kill you."

"This indeed sounds like their modus operandi." Pannis seconded Dora’s argument, "During our previous adventure, the behavior of the surrounding magical creatures was odd, many changed their usual habits. Perhaps they have some special method of inducing creatures to change their habits."

"What thief gang?" Guli-Elmer looked utterly bewildered, "Why don’t I understand a thing?"

"It’s okay if you don’t understand, since you’ve informed us, the enemy’s attention should have shifted to us." Catherine said, "Moreover, it seems they didn’t want to attack you guys directly, so as long as you are careful recently and avoid dangerous places, there should be no problem."

"Indeed, their attention should be on us now." Dora continued, "After all, we are progressing further to find the thief’s nest, we will inevitably confront them. Ha, the Legendary Rank, gives me goosebumps just thinking about it..."

"With our power, we might not necessarily lose to the Legendary Rank." Catherine clenched her fists until they made a cracking sound. "Besides, it’s unlikely they would dare attack us directly. So, there’s nothing to worry about."

"The only thing we can’t explain right now is why they hesitate to act directly?" Dora questioned, "They have the upper hand at the moment."

"I don’t know, perhaps they aren’t sure about defeating us, or maybe they have some sort of concerns, like they are wary of someone among us?"

Catherine shrugged straightforwardly, even though she put it this way, she still subtly flashed a questioning look at Pannis. Pannis understood Catherine’s unspoken question, and subtly shook his head, indicating it was definitely not due to him.

"But, since Blue Coral wasn’t with us before, why didn’t they make a move on them?" Dora was thinking aloud rather than merely asking a question.

"Maybe, if you think about it the other way." Pannis suggested, "If they didn’t make a move on Blue Coral because they lacked the strength, why might that be?"

"Because the people of Legendary Rank weren’t there?" Dora’s eyes lit up as she quickly responded, "Just arrived recently?"

"That’s what I believe, considering a Legendary individual isn’t as common as a pasfruit on a tree." Pannis pulled out a pasfruit and tossed it casually, "Their Legendary individuals probably arrived a couple of days ago, those manipulating the poison gland fox before were probably just Gold Rank professionals, and couldn’t swallow up Blue Coral alone, so they drove the foxes to attack. So, the question is, what is their Legendary individual here for?"

"Couldn’t it be that their Gold Rank professionals sought reinforcement, asking their Legendary Rank individual to help deal with Blue Coral, who posed a threat?" Dora suggested.

"No, if it were only for reinforcement, another Gold Rank would have been sufficient to handle it. There was no need for a Legendary Rank to show up, especially as they wouldn’t have known we would accidentally bump into each other." Pannis shook his head, "So, the Legendary Rank’s appearance was unnecessary."

"Of course, he must other things to do, can’t you guys reason properly? A bunch of idiots, I can’t believe you’re still sitting around, get moving. I’m worried for you." Lina, stroking the novel in her hand, smiled apologetically at everyone, "I’m just quoting, this was said by Miss Mapple, don’t look at me."

No one looked at her. Dora suddenly looked up and saw Catherine and Pannis showing the same expression of sudden realization on their faces.

"Let’s eat quickly and continue on our way after the meal." Catherine tucked away the cloth fragment in her pocket, "Vivian, get up, it’s time to eat. Vivian, Vivian, snap out of it."

"Oh, are you guys done talking? So soon?" Vivian gave a disgruntled glare to Lina, who was about to pat her, and slowly sat up, "Finally time to eat."