Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 186 - 42 Catherine’s Victory_1

Chapter 186: Chapter 42 Catherine’s Victory_1

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The shield charge activates, boosting Catherine’s speed dramatically. She seems like a Valkyrie in flight. Her flowing black hair, shining silver armour, proud head held high, eyes flashing with the spirit of battle – though her features differ, there’s a moment where two shadows overlap in Pannis’s eyes.

Silver light dazzles.

The five-meter distance between the duel participants is crossed in an instant. Like a silver bolt of lightning, Catherine dashes past the safe distance and reaches the side of the Mountain Ape Leader. To Catherine, who is surging forward at a high speed, all the leader’s actions seem slow, like a slow-motion replay. Nevertheless, after countless practices, Catherine is too familiar with these basic skills to be limited by her high speed. Charging forward, she subtly adjusts her center and the direction of her sprint, barely evading the leader’s arm that fails to defend in time, and heavily slams her shield onto the leader’s chest.

The dull sound of impact echoes once more. The two individuals are thrown several meters and tumble to the ground. The Mountain Ape Leader, at the last second of being hit, instinctively uses its Aggression Shield. The shield blocks Catherine’s direct hit but still knocks the leader off its feet. Likewise, Catherine is flung back by the recoil of the strike. However, being well-prepared, she uses the momentum to roll a few times and gracefully stands up. The massive force resulting from the strike is deflected and absorbed by her familiarity with the skill, causing no serious injury.

"What is big sis thinking?" Dora nearly jumped in place out of frustration after the strike. Anxiously, she asked, "Why didn’t she use the Aggression Strike? By physically opposing the leader’s aggression attack, she might get hurt if she loses control.

Pannis frowns at Catherine, her calm expression remains unchanged. After a while, Pannis suddenly understands, "I’m afraid she won’t use her aggression this time."

"What are you saying?" Dora can hardly believe her ears.

"Literal meaning." Pannis shrugs. "Perhaps Catherine intends to beat her opponent without using aggression."

"Why?" Dora looks blankly at Pannis. "Did you discuss it beforehand?"

"No, it’s a guess." Pannis explains helplessly. "The reason? Is self-challenge and self-improvement enough justification?"

Dora slaps her forehead in frustration, her shoulders sagging dejectedly. With a weary moan, she sighs, "Oh god, why does she have to be so extreme? Even if there’s a priest around, even if we are sure to win, we can’t completely ignore injuries. You should try to persuade her."

"Would she listen?" Pannis spreads out her hands with a bitter smile. "You know her. Who can persuade her to change her mind once it’s made up? A knight always acts this way. Dare you say you aren’t like that?"

"Alright, I admit it," Dora reluctantly gives up the idea of persuading Catherine as a change occurs in the battlefield.

The leader, having risen to its feet, scrutinizes its own aggression. Although its brain is not highly evolved, it knows that its aggression is often unable to release. If it shuts it down now, it might fail when it tries to use it again. Having understood that, the leader roars, pouring its aggression into its arms, swinging its club with multiplied strength. Catherine neither dodges nor blocks, she merely stands still, with the Falcon Shield standing next to her, piercing the scattered stones on the ground. Just as the leader’s club is about to hit her, Catherine astoundingly sidesteps to the right, keeping the lower end of her shield plunged in the ground while tilting the top slightly. This forms a sharp 80-degree angle with the ground, while her shoulders, knees, wrists and many other parts of her body press tightly against the inner side of the shield to secure the Magicsteel shield.

The club hits the shield. The thick club smashes onto the outer side of the shield and changes its trajectory due to the excessive angle, sliding past the shield and heavily hitting the ground. For the minor part of the force that gets transmitted to the shield at first, Catherine, her body, and the ground together bear the force. This is even easier than the first two head-on impacts where she did not use aggression.

"At the conclusion of this battle, she’ll probably have advanced to Upper Gold Rank," watching Catherine effortlessly handle the leader’s attack imbued with Gold Rank aggression using pure combat skills, Pannis sighs softly, then whispers an enigmatic remark with a soft voice.

"Big sis is advancing?" Lina, who was initially standing right next to Pannis and focusing on the combat, turns around and quietly asks, "Can you tell?"

"Yeah," Pannis nods. "For a knight upgrading from Middle Gold Rank to Upper Rank, it doesn’t require energy accumulation or mastery of combat skills, but the ability to utilize one’s own energy. Just like Catherine’s earlier move, she’s already reaching the Upper Gold Rank level."

"What about Legendary Rank?" Lina lowers her voice, pushing onward with her questions without giving Pannis time to think, "What does it require?"

Pannis also lowered her voice under Lina’s influence, which only she and Vivian standing beside her could hear: "In various aspects, the accumulation of energy, the proficiency level of battle skills, the enhancement of physical strength, the honing of body intensity, the mastery of combat techniques, in all aspects we need continuous accumulation, and then there’s the most crucial point, reaching a little bit of insight in extreme situations. Most people fail in this insight; without this kind of understanding, they would be stuck in the Legendary Rank, until they reach their forties when the physical quality begins to drop from the peak, then they lose the possibility to advance to Legendary forever. Eh, um, I learned all these from my friends, just showing off, hahaha."

"What an idiot." Lina covered her mouth and chuckled: "Such a dork."

"Yes, an idiot." Vivian nodded in agreement, repeating: "Don’t worry, I said I wouldn’t discriminate against idiots."

"You two are really annoying." Pannis said helplessly: "Pay attention, the intense moment is coming."

The leader couldn’t comprehend why his attack was mysteriously guided to the ground, but that didn’t stop him from swinging his giant club. He raised the thick club again with both hands, swinging it horizontally after swinging it over his back. Catherine still didn’t use Aggression. She quickly stepped forward and blocked the club with the Falcon Shield at the root of the club and on the leader’s hands. Although her hands were unharmed under the protection of Aggression, the heavy club almost flew out of her hands due to inertia. Taking this opportunity, Catherine swung her sword. Although she couldn’t inflict much damage on the Gold Rank body without using Aggression, she still left a deep cut on the leader’s shoulder unprotected by Aggression.

"Using Aggression for attack and defense can’t be switched instantly." Dora sneered: "It’s doomed to lose."

"Even if it could be switched instantly, it wouldn’t be of any use." Pannis said: "If it’s used continuously this way, the Aggression will run out soon, then it would lose as well."

"Roar roar roar." The injured leader was furious, stomping grumpily, continually launching attacks at Catherine. Catherine never dodged once from start to finish, merely blocking with the shield then swinging her sword. Every time, the shield always timely blocked at the weakest place where the leader exerted force, and each sword stroke would leave a cut on the leader’s body.

Two minutes later, the leader who was attacking fiercely was panting heavily from exhaustion, and full of wounds all over the body. It suddenly howled, dropped its club, and curled up motionlessly on the ground with its head in its hands, showing submission and obedience. Catherine was taken aback, walked up, and lightly tapped a few times on the leader’s head with the back of her sword. She turned back to her own side with a faint smile on her face.

"Welcome back." Lina and Vivian raised their right hand in turn, high-fiving with Catherine in the air, producing a crisp sound. Catherine was still holding her right hand high, standing in front of Pannis with a beaming smile, looking him in the eyes. Under the clear gaze of the lady knight, Pannis sighed helplessly in his heart, stretched out his hand proficiently to high-five Catherine, a smile also appeared on his face: "Congratulations, impressive Upper Gold Rank knight."

The Mountain Ape Leader, still on the ground, stood up again under the care of nine companions, scratching its head in a daze, seemingly unable to believe it had lost so easily. After a moment of bewilderment, it finally accepted the reality, walked alone to the human side, standing in front of Catherine making some hooting gestures, not daring to glance at Dora’s body anymore with its eyes. Pannis took the initiative to approach it, responding with body language, easing Catherine’s awkwardness. After communicating for a while, Pannis patted the leader’s arm, the leader nodded, and led its tribe to prepare for departure.

"Is it all settled?" Catherine asked: "Are there any unexpected troubles?"

"No, it’s all resolved, let’s thank our beautiful Dora, hahaha." Pannis replied, laughing heartily.

"Damned Pannis." Dora glared at Pannis savagely: "You wait for me; I’ll make you pay sooner or later."

"I’m complimenting you, hahaha, let’s prepare to leave, we’ve delayed a lot of time." Pannis was speaking halfway, when he suddenly stopped, after a moment of silence, his eyes lit up, and he smacked his palm: "How could I forget, hey, wait a moment, roar roar roar, roar roar roar, wait a moment, roar roar."

Nine people were astonished, watching Pannis swiftly catching up to the Mountain Apes who were just preparing to leave, he pulled the leader aside to discuss something.

"What’s wrong with him?" Dora nudged Catherine with her shoulder: "Why is he so eager to look for trouble all of a sudden?"

"You’re asking me, I don’t know either." Catherine shrugged helplessly: "Perhaps he’s got some new idea."

Pannis first tried to communicate with the leader using body language, but after struggling for a long time, he couldn’t explain anything clearly. Finally, helplessly picking up a piece of clay, he started to draw on another large slab, while making various meaning roars. This time the communication was more successful, the leader finally understood Pannis’s thoughts, after scratching his head hesitating for a few seconds, it finally agreed, but first called the female Mountain Apes who were hiding and watching from afar, instructing them to carefully carry back the slab that was drawn on.

Pannis was satisfied and came back with a smile, looking into everyone’s puzzled eyes, he asked loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, Mountain Ape transport team, one-on-one human transport service, arriving at the Naramia River in six hours, the journey has beautiful scenery and pleasant weather, does anyone want to sign up?"