Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 203 - 58 Sudden Death_1

Chapter 203: Chapter 58 Sudden Death_1

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"Just keep going straight." Elrad said as they walked: "We’ll be able to see Dragonscar soon."

Once inside the dangerous confines of Dragonscar, no one wished to speak. Having witnessed the live hunting spectacle of magical beasts, they were all filled with a sense of trauma. Regardless of how many times others had described its danger and the Beast’s peculiar behavior, it was impossible to fully understand it without seeing for oneself. Only now, seeing the hunt unfold firsthand, the danger Elrad had spoken of was truly understood.

The chirping of birds echoed through the tree branches. Various birds flitted and jumped among the branches, eyeing the unique creatures on the ground with curiosity. Some magical beasts, perched in the lower bushes, peeked out to gauge the strength difference between them. Disinterest soon took over and the beasts retreated. However, some audacious beasts cautiously followed the group, hoping to seize a hunting opportunity.

This area was rather open within the Shining Forest with less densely packed trees. Despite the presence of Flashing Vines among the trees, their smaller numbers made the area dimmer in comparison to the rest of the forest. But this also meant that visibility was much better, and sometimes you could see stars in the sky through gaps in the treetops.

Not just stars, but also a tower of smoke. Through the gaps in the treetops, a thin trail of smoke could be seen rising straight into the sky, lingering long in the distance. Though the smoke was fragile and thin, it still stood out vividly in the clear night sky.

"Someone’s there?" Catherine questioned, looking at the smoke: "And it seems to be in the north."

"It’s a special distress signal." Dora asked tentatively: "Sister, should we go take a look?"

"Mr. Elrad." Instead of responding immediately, Catherine looked toward their guide: "Does the location of the smoke take us off our current path? If so, how long will it take? Can you tell the exact location?"

"No need to change course, the smoke is directly on our path." Elrad responded, looking up at the sky: "It’s about ten kilometers away. But why would they stop here? Only the innermost part of Dragonscar is safe. The rest of this area is extremely dangerous."

"Let’s continue then." Catherine and Dora nodded at each other: "No need to respond to the distress signal just yet. Let’s proceed with caution and assess the situation."

The ten-kilometer distance isn’t very far. With the physical strength of high-ranking professionals, even with full gear, it would only take half an hour on plains, but in the jungle, the time could multiply by four or five, if not more. This was under the assumption that the jungle wasn’t too dense or difficult to traverse.

"You all keep going straight. I’ll scout ahead." After instructing everyone, Elrad disappeared into the jungle ahead.

The group resumed their formation as they had when they first entered the forest. Leading the group was Catherine, with the rest following closely behind, maintaining a five-meter distance. Pannis stood at the rear of the group keeping a close watch. This formation ensured that any potential enemies coming from the front or back would be matched with adequate strength. There was one clear drawback though - if the main group was trapped, everyone seemed slated for attack. However, considering Catherine was clearing the path ahead, even if there were traps, they would activate on her first, who was best equipped to handle them. So, theoretically, the safety of the main group seemed assured.

Unfortunately, theory often falls short in the face of harsh reality. When crisis hit, no one had any way to anticipate it. Not even Pannis, with his extensive and uncanny experience, sensed the harbinger of danger.

The ground beneath the group’s feet changed into rocky terrain. Sparse trees emerged from the cracks in the rocks, adding a bit of greenery to the stone. Fungi of various colors were scattered across the rocky surface, appearing quite strange. Catherine took a few cautious steps on the rocks and found the moss not as slippery as thought and proceeded confidently. Adventurers generally preferred rocky terrain to soft earth, where magical beasts often ambushed their prey. Rock offered a safer alternative since they were unable to burrow into it.

However, exceptions do exist. When Pannis stepped onto the moss-covered rocks, everything was normal, but within dozens of steps, his facial expression changed abruptly.

"Jump up, get out of the moss range." Pannis warned urgently in the fastest speech rate, while the rope around his waist flew out agilely like a snake, curling around a tree branch overhead. With the rope, Pannis leaped upward, his right hand gripping the rope and swinging forward. Kicking with both feet forcefully, he didn’t bother to control his strength and directly kicked Lina and the Illusion Fox, who were closest to him. He continued forward, scooping up Vivian who was in front of the former two. When he wanted to continue kicking down the moles and Shadow Wolf in the front, the two had already fallen on the ground, their faces full of astonishment.

Upon hearing Pannis’s shout, Dora, who was walking beside the moles and the Shadow Wolf, was fortunate. She did not hesitate to jump forward, her waist whip lashed out and wrapped around the Night Owl not far behind. She then pulled up the mole who had fallen halfway, in a single leap, she jumped out of the moss-covered area. As soon as she landed, Lina and the Illusion Fox, who had been kicked away, smashed into her, causing several people to tumble together on the ground.

Carrying Vivian, Pannis with the aid of the rope swung a distance in mid-air and landed lightly. The rope flew out again, wrapping around the fallen Shadow Wolf and pulling him back.

Regrettably, it was already too late.

The mole at the end suddenly let out a shrill and desperate scream, looking at his feet in horror, unable to utter a word. Everyone looked at his feet and simultaneously understood why he and the Shadow Wolf had fallen.

Their feet had vanished oddly, or rather, all skin and muscles on their feet were gone, as if corroded. Only bare ankles and a clean skeleton remained where their feet used to be. With their muscles disappeared, the toe bones have completely fallen off, only the large lump of metatarsals and tarsal bones which still retained some tendons loosely hung on the ankle bones. Obviously, they had no knowledge of their feet completely corroded, and by the remnant skeleton feet, it was impossible to keep balance of their bodies, so falling was a natural outcome.

Fortunately, the mole at least had a chance to scream, but the unfortunate Shadow Wolf was not even given the chance to scream. When Pannis rolled him over, the whole team gasped. The Shadow Wolf’s face was gone, leaving only a skull with a wide-open mouth, half of his brain, including the eye, was also gone with the corroded surface muscles, his breathing had already stopped.

"What happened?" Elrad, who heard the scream, hastily ran back and saw the shocking scene. He could only ask in shock, "What...what’s going on?"

No one answered him. They were rushing to check each other’s feet. All of their shoes had signs of corrosion. Catherine and Dora, because their boots had a metal base, were corroded at a slower speed compared to the others’ shoes. Therefore, even Catherine, who was leading, was safe. Lina and the Illusion Fox had their positions relatively at the end, the time they walked on the moss was short, there was a thin layer like paper left in their shoes. The Night Owl, who was walking beside them, was also pulled up by Dora in time, and he, too, was safe.

"Vivian, your foot." Lina yelled in horror, pointing at the large amount of blood seeping out from under Vivian’s feet. Vivian, who was walking ahead of Lina, had spent longer time on the moss; her shoes had been completely corroded, and even a layer of skin and muscle on the soles of her feet had been eroded off; you could even see the bones through the remaining flesh. Blood didn’t stop flowing from the remaining flesh.

The pain brought by the direct contact between her flesh and the ground should have been severe, but Vivian seemed to have no feeling at all, she sat on the ground as if nothing had happened, she pointed at the mole and said to Lina, who was rushing to her for treatment, "Although I’m bleeding, it hasn’t reached the bone, it’s not a big deal but if the mole gets immediate treatment now, he may be partly disabled, but he still has the chance to walk by himself in the future. You should first stabilize his situation and then come to me."

As an experienced adventurer, Lina understood the order of treatment. Just that she had made a wrong choice in a moment of anxiety. After being reminded by the calm Vivian, instead of arguing foolishly like a novice, Lina immediately turned around and walked to the mole, beginning to chant the prayer of healing.

Pannis kneeled down beside Vivian’s foot, lifted her feet and placed them on his thigh. Vivian did not resist, nor did she show any signs of pain, but instead, sat there calmly, allowing Pannis to arrange her as he wished.

After rechecking the wound on the bottom of Vivian’s foot, Pannis couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh. In reality, Vivian’s injury wasn’t as serious as it appeared. What she really lost was only a layer of skin on her foot. The reason that bones could vaguely be seen through was that, except for her face, nearly all of the parts of her body were like that.

Her body was as if it didn’t have any muscles. Of course, this statement isn’t correct. Every normal person has the same number of muscles, but the robustness of muscle fibers and weight thickness differ. For Vivian, the muscles in her body could only be said to exist; there’s no chance of being robust, and even less to mention thickness. That’s why every part of her body is as if it’s collapsing when touched, except for a layer of skin and thin fat, it’s just stiff bones, making anyone who sees her can’t help but wonder, how she is standing and moving freely on her own strength.

Pannis was naturally doubtful, but he didn’t ask a question. He just quietly used a medicine to clean the wound on Vivian’s foot. After a crude stop to the bleeding, he waited for Lina’s arrival.