Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 180 - 36: The World in the Fog_1

Chapter 180: Chapter 36: The World in the Fog_1

(263...084...458... Book friends who want to join the group, please do. ps, my passing friends, please add it to your collection and recommend it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Moreover, could you all please give some opinions and suggestions, thank you very much. ps2: The book’s title has been changed, please see relevant work details. ps3: Thank you to book friend Ridiculously Unending for rewarding 200 points twice.)

One minute, two minutes, three minutes. Nearly five minutes passed, and the mist remained eerily silent. The noises emitted by various magical beasts after waking up only echoed in the distance, never approaching them at all. Paradoxically, the tumultuous cacophony in the distance heightened the surreal tranquility they were engulfed in, sending chills down their spines.

"No magical beasts have approached us." Dora gently flicked her whip, now coiled in a circle, whispering, "None has passed at all. Is this good news or bad news?"

"This is the worst news." Pannis muttered with his eyes closed, "I would rather be besieged by thousands of magical beasts than face the current situation."

"Is this a sign?" Catherine, holding up her shield to protect the casters, tried futilely to pierce through the fog with her gaze.

"Yes, the calm before the storm." Pannis quirked his lips, "The only reason why magical beasts avoid this place is because something horrifying nearby keeps them at bay. I don’t want to guess what it might be."

"Whatever it is, I wish it would appear soon." The humidity brought by the white mist quickly covered Lina’s body with sweat. The stickiness, trapped under her lizard skin clothing, made her feel itchy and uncomfortable. Even more unbearable, however, was the anxiety and fear of the unknown. They weren’t afraid of facing magical beasts head-on, but being immersed in this environment of uncertainty was intolerable.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. They all suddenly went silent as though sensing the tension in the air, and the only sounds remaining in the fog were their nervous and hurried breaths, which grew heavier under the overbearing pressure.

"Careful!" Pannis suddenly shouted, sidestepping to protect the unsuspecting Night Owl. Temporarily blinded, Night Owl felt especially powerless. His normally reliable eyes were rendered useless in the mist, leaving him dazed and immobile. Pannis abruptly moved in front of Night Owl with a 30-centimeter long dagger with a blade curved inward, held tightly against his wrist. "Clang!" A clash of metals sounded as a shadow, too vague to discern in the fog, collided with Pannis’ bicep and splashed few sparks. The shadow disappeared back into the mist as if it had never appeared.

"What was that?" Night Owl asked, somewhat nervously.

"I don’t know, I couldn’t see clearly." Pannis replied quietly, "But the silhouette resembled a sickle-like weapon."

"You’re joking, right?" Shadow Wolf, who was well-versed in stealth movements, was also unable to utilize his dexterity and was forced to seek refuge inside the protective circle, "Is our opponent a Grim Reaper’s agent? Using a sickle? Though, if they’re using a sickle, they could actually be human."

"Who knows if they’re human or not?" Pannis rolled his eyes under his eyelids, suddenly shouting, "Here it comes, Catherine!"

Upon hearing Pannis, Catherine, who was standing behind him, instinctively raised her shield and stepped forward, her right hand thrusting her one-handed sword along the edge of the shield. But her unannounced strike landed on nothing. The sickle appeared to be unsupported by anything, vanishing into the mist.

"There’s nothing there." Catherine was startled, wondering to herself if the sickle was an illusion cast by the Grim Reaper’s agent? However, there was no time to ponder, as another sickle appeared out of the mist, striking her longsword and forcing her to withdraw back to the defensive circle.

"It’s the Mist Mantis." Elrad couldn’t hide the fear deep in his heart, his voice turning raspy and hoarse, "It’s the most terrifying hunter in the mist. In a hundred years, there have been fewer than five hunters who survived encountering it."

"Clang", Another attack was thwarted by Pannis relying on the sound of the mantis moving to position himself, he asked warily, "Its characteristics, attack patterns, weaknesses, tell me everything you know."

"They are invisible among the mist, and can move silently, only revealing themselves in motion. Hunting is their modus operandi, they seize their prey by their two forelimbs, and yes, their wing edges are also very sharp, like two knives when they open their wings, so beware." Elrad paused thoughtfully, before adding, "They always hunt in groups of four or five. They would never hunt alone."

"We’ve already figured that out, thanks." The clash of metal rang out continuously as Pannis and Catherine orbited the main team, moving swiftly. Dora had also retracted her whip, transforming it back into a sword, joining in the defense. The three of them formed a wall, fending off the incessant chops from the Mist Mantises.

"We can dig a hole and leave from underground." The Mole, who had been unnoticed until now, suddenly suggested, "There’s no mist underground."

"Nice try, but there are no such lucky breaks in the forest unless you turn into a genuine mole." Pannis glanced back from the corner of his eye and was startled by the Mole’s appearance, "When did you become like this?"

The Mole was now covered in dirt from head to toe, completely black except for the white teeth revealed when he spoke, "I’ve just gone down to have a look. The soil is very loose, very easy to dig, and there’s no mist. As long as we identify a direction, we can dig our way out."

"You have no clue about forests." Pannis was too busy to divert his attention, so Elrad answered instead, "Every tree here corresponds to a root system underground that is wider than its tree crown and longer than its trunk. These roots firmly hold the soil, making it impossible to dig a tunnel. For every meter you want to progress, it may take several or even dozens of hours."

"Huh?" Pannis suddenly cried out in surprise. The dense, merging sound of metal clashing suddenly disappeared, and the Mist Mantis didn’t launch any attacks for dozens of seconds. The three individuals who were defensively positioned at the outskirts, re-fastened their positioning ropes around their waists and slowly retreated with some doubt and hesitation, returning to their original positions.

"What happened, why did they suddenly disappear?" Inside the forest, the high humidity in the dense fog made Dora slightly short of breath. She wiped the sweat off her face and asked, "Elrad, do their attacks have a time limit?"

"I have no idea." Elrad shrugged, "This characteristic of the magical beast is known by a very few, most of who are almost dead."

"It’s not a time constraint on their attacks." Pannis looked a little tense as he stared into the fog, "The only possibility that could make a magical beast voluntarily retreat is if a more terrifying beast arrived."

"Impossible." Elrad was the first to exclaim, as if his professional level had been questioned: "The Mantis of Mist is the apex predator in the Misty Forest. There can’t be any other creature capable of making them retreat."

"Impossible things can sometimes happen, right?" Pannis said casually. Suddenly, he felt something tugging at his thigh. Looking down in surprise, he saw a half-transparent humanoid figure with a ghastly pallor in the dense fog trying to climb up his leg.

"What is this?" The mercenaries around Pannis also noticed the small figure following his gaze. They were taken aback and pointed their weapons at the little figure, but only Dora let out a shrill scream.

"Quiet down." Pannis rebuked Dora. He squatted down amidst the mercenaries observing the creature, lifted up the transparent figure, let it sit on his forearm, and said kindly, "Little one, how did you get out? It’s quite dangerous here."

"Yeah, Annie." Catherine stroked the pendant on her chest, "You should come back first. You can come out to play after we leave this area. Don’t want you to get hurt."

"But I feel very comfortable here." Little Annie sat in Pannis’s arms, rubbing her face happily against his, "However, brother and sister, you guys should be careful. I feel the presence of many like me nearby."

"Huh." Pannis took a deep breath, calming his anxious expression and gently patting Annie’s face with a smile, "Thank you, little one. You’ve saved us a great deal of trouble."

"Haha." Annie was tickled by the stubble on Pannis’s face and giggled, dodging and batting at Pannis’s head, "Haha, you’re so annoying, big brother. I’m going back now. I only came out to warn you about this. But, can I come out often?"

"Of course, whenever you like." Pannis bent down to put Annie back on the floor, "You can come out to play with everyone at any time, especially that sister who’s all dressed in black."

"Hey." Dora, hiding at the side, glared in protest, "You’ve gone far enough, jerk."

Pannis shrugged, watching as Annie jumped into Catherine’s arms and retreated back into the pendant. Only then did he become serious again, "Everyone, be careful. It seems we are dealing with a group of Undead, and they’re powerful enough to make even the Mist Mantis retreat. Their attacks often directly target one’s soul. If you get hit, your body may be fine, but your soul will be hurt. So try not to get touched by them."

While he was speaking, the previously unchanging dense fog began to churn and boil like boiling water. A light whisper-like sound that they had heard outside the Misty Forest began to sound faintly, and it seemed as if countless shadows were hovering around the team in the dense fog.

"Watch out." Pannis reached out and pulled the Illusion Fox from the other side away from their original place. A shadow, completely fused with the fog, floated pass the spot where the Illusion Fox was, disappearing back into the fog, "Spread out a bit, don’t crowd each other, leave a person’s space for your own escape."

"Ah." The flustered gopher didn’t notice a dry branch under his feet and tripped over. He staggered but didn’t fully evade, letting a shadow pass through the shield of his weapon, skimming across his arm. Immediately, he felt his entire arm first turn ice cold, then completely numb, as if it no longer existed.

"Move closer to me." Lina shouted, dodging several shadows that floated past her. Her hands flashed with white light, "Since they are undead, it will be easy. Holy Word Technique, Holy Wall."

As Lina chanted, the curtain filled with Holy Power closely clung to everyone, forming a hemispherical shield. About a dozen shadows collided with the light curtain, causing ripples on the surface as they dissipated into the air with pitiful wails. Lina frowned at the light curtain being hit relentlessly by a large number of shadows without any regard for the cost, cursed silently, and started the prayer again.

"Merciful Denia, with your Holy Words, cleanse these evil souls." Lina spread her arms to her sides, making a stretched out gesture, "Holy Words, Exorcism."

A sound of a bell only audible to the soul rang from the sky. Lina muttered some incomprehensible phrases, and waves of sound encapsulating Holy Power emerged from her mouth, sweeping across a three-meter radius. The powerful Holy Words technique tore all the adversarial Undead within the radius to shreds, and even the churning dense fog momentarily settled down.