Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 221 - 75: The Death That Passed By_1

Chapter 221: Chapter 75: The Death That Passed By_1

(I apologize for the chaotic formatting and incorrect Chapter number of yesterday’s release, which I did not notice. I am adjusting it now, and the update will be posted tonight as usual.)

Dark night sky, sands all over, silver moonlight.

Three moons hung in the distant night sky. The silver moon emitted a gentle light, bringing vitality and dispelling the gloom of the world. The silver moonlight fell on to the ground, illuminating the vast desert as well as the piles of white bones accumulated like mountains on the desert. Under the silver moonlight, at the high point of a mountain of corpses and sea of bones, a beautiful silhouette, leaning on a long spear, looked up at the night sky.

This scene before their eyes, lonely and tragic, yet indescribably poignant, induced intoxication in people, making them fall into it involuntarily, even amid fear.

Maybe sensing Catherine’s gaze, the figure beneath the moon slowly turned her head. Two people, two pairs of eyes, four gazes seemed to transcend the infinite distance of time, space, life, and death, meeting in the air.

The scene vanished in a flash. Catherine realized she was back in the original corridor, standing safely outside the violent wind, with Pannis protecting her.

"Am I... still alive?" As Catherine finished speaking, two bursts of blood spewed from her body. Blood poured out uncontrollably from her neck and abdomen, staining her skirt red in an instant.

"First let’s stop the bleeding, then we’ll deal with the traps. Otherwise, by the time Lina gets here, you’ll probably have lost too much blood." Pannis handed over a bottle of medicine.

"What just happened?" Catherine took the medicine bottle as if sleepwalking. As though she hadn’t fully recovered from the imminent danger, she asked, only after a long pause, as if just awakened from a dream, "What did I see?"

"Just now? A little trick, a life-saving trick," Pannis shrugged, with an evasive look, "As for what you saw? How would I know, maybe it was a hallucination just before death."

"Really?" Catherine asked skeptically as she applied the medicine and stopped the bleeding, "It felt so real, it didn’t seem like a hallucination."

"Who knows." Pannis bandaged Catherine’s neck with a swathe, "Hallucinations, if not real, how could they make people have illusions, right?"

"Perhaps." Catherine, having escaped a close call with death, couldn’t be bothered to probe further. She stopped the bleeding roughly, and prodded the wound through the bandage, "Your life-saving trick came at just the right time. If it had been half a second later, I would probably have been sliced into several pieces. You were able to react in time because you discovered this trap before me, right? You shouted something earlier, was it about this?"

"Yes, I figured it out then," Pannis nodded, "Unfortunately, I thought of it too late, and almost couldn’t save us. I’m sorry."

"Hey, you saved me, and now you’re apologizing to me?" Catherine was both amused and exasperated, "You really are... anyway, thank you. Hey, listen to what I’m saying, why did you suddenly run off?"

"Huh? Did you say something?" Pannis had already moved a few meters away during Catherine’s speech, squatting on the ground, tracing his fingers through the air. A fresh bloodstain had appeared on the tip of his finger.

"Ha, you’re shy after hearing my thanks." Catherine called out Pannis’s disguise, but didn’t pursue the matter. Instead, she squatted next to Pannis, looking ahead with a vexed expression, "This trap is really cunning."

The invisible trap in front of the two was actually quite simple, just a few crisscrossing metal threads. Although the metal threads were as thin as hair, they were extremely strong, anchored tightly to the rock wall from side to side or top to bottom. They hung in the air like invisible sharp blades, any unintentional touch would leave a bloody cut.

Such traps are ineffective in most places, and even if they work, they aren’t fatal. Because although the metal wire is fine, it’s not invisible. It can be spotted if one pays close attention. And when people bump into them, they don’t apply too much force, making it hard to breach the defence of a high-level professional who has been strengthened multiple times.

But in the current specific environment, the trap has a completely different meaning. Under the strong wind, people can’t even open their eyes and can only move forward by feeling. They can’t see these inconspicuous metal wires. Moreover, where the trap is set is very cunning. When the intruder steps out from the strong wind area, they move forward at maximum speed due to underestimating the wind’s strength. Additionally, due to air flow, the air current from behind puts an extra pushing force, increasing the impact force of the intruder when hitting the trap. The force created by these two factors is enough to let the sturdy metal wire easily slice a high-level professional without armor and Aggression Shield into two.

"I will destroy this wire trap." Pannis stood up and drew the knight’s sword from Catherine’s waist, "You’d better stand further away against the wall and raise your shield. I suspect this trap isn’t finished yet."

"There’s more?" Catherine moved seven or eight meters away and stood against the wall, watching Pannis raise the long sword high on the side of his body, "Hey, if there really is another trap, won’t you be targeted by it with this position?"

Pannis paused, laughed awkwardly a few times, moved back a few meters with embarrassment, swung his sword toward the air, then turned and ran. The Vacuum Slash formed by the Aggression flew out along the arc traced by Pannis’s sword, the crescent-shaped Aggression Blade diagonally cut all the metal wire at a stroke, making a sound like a severed bowstring.

Before the echo faded, dozens of spears crafted from metal descended from the tunnel’s top at an incredible speed. Their sharp tips easily pierced the rocky ground, leaving behind an array of closely packed holes that perfectly covered a space of a meter beside the wire trap.

"It really was a chain trap," Catherine said, her heart still thumping. Even if someone had by chance discovered the trap before being sliced and diced, and had timely destroyed it with a weapon, they probably could not escape the subsequent onslaught of spears, unless they maintained an Aggression Shield all the while. But in this environment, one’s Aggression was usually concentrated within the body for strengthening and unlocking potential, leaving little strength to maintain a shield. Clearly, the trap was well-thought-out, part of a psychological game, and a test of abilities. It was astounding that a gold-ranked professional could easily be cornered and driven to the brink of death with just a few simple Magic Arrays and metal wires.

"That should be it." The light from the goblin illuminator in the distance had grown dim, unable to fully light up the surroundings. Pannis, disregarding his energy consumption, switched on his portable Crystal Energy lamp for emergencies. He scanned the surroundings with the lamp before finally relaxing. "At least I didn’t find any more traps."

"The more I think about it, the scarier it gets," Catherine sighed. "I have been a bit too relaxed lately, and my sensitivity towards danger has decreased. It indeed feels like a miracle that we survived this time. I’m more and more curious about how you managed it, Pannis."

"Just forget about it," Pannis replied, "Consider it a secret of mine. It would be great if you could keep it for me."

Catherine paused for a moment before eventually nodding. "Alright. I won’t tell anyone, including Lina and Vivian."

"Thanks." Pannis nodded in gratitude. "Alright, let’s get back to work. The three of them must be getting impatient."

"Sure." Catherine picked up the long sword Pannis had tossed aside, mustering her spirits. "I’m responsible for the destruction. You just need to tell me where to strike."

"I’m not an expert in this, so I might not be able to locate all the spots. But even destroying a few will greatly reduce the wind force and ease their journey." Pannis felt around on the rocky wall, sensing the energy flow within it. After a while, he pointed at one spot. "Here, just thrust your sword in."

There was a soft sound as the sword, infused with Aggression, pierced deeply into the wall, creating an additional fissure on the hidden Array within the wall, thus rendering the Array instantly ineffective.

"Um, this is outside the range of the wind’s force," Catherine asked puzzledly. "I thought the Array would be within the wind’s range."

"Generally, a hurricane forms around the activation point of the Array," Pannis explained. "However, with special treatment, it’s possible to extend the hurricane’s range by a certain distance. This distance can be controlled, hence the constant wind force that we’re experiencing."

"Such a cunning trap. I am surprised they even thought of this," Catherine once again thrust her sword into the place Pannis pointed out, destroying the second Array. "But I’m very curious, conventionally, you shouldn’t have been able to detect those metal wires. How did you find the trap in advance?"

"Actually, I didn’t notice it," Pannis continued searching on the wall. "It was just that I suddenly found the answer to my lingering doubt, and so guessed that such a trap might exist."

"What lingering doubt?" Catherine wondered.

"Without this trap, the Tempest Corridor is harmless," Pannis reasoned. "Any adventurer, unless they rushed forward recklessly, wouldn’t be injured. At most, they would be blown backwards into the wall which wouldn’t be fatal."

"That indeed is the way it is," Catherine nodded, launching another stab with her sword. "So what’s the problem?"

"You remember the trap we encountered when we first entered the teleportation gate?" Pannis asked. "That trap gave the appearance of being harmless. None of the spikes could reach a person who just teleported in, so it would seem completely harmless. But in reality, if someone gets a little affected by it, it’s likely a death sentence, unless it’s someone who’s not afraid of death."

"Like you?" Catherine asked jokingly.

"Well, yes, like me." Pannis agreed, continuing to explain. "So, the first trap gave the illusion of leeway, but in fact, left none, making it one of the most dangerous kinds of traps. So, I had been wondering why the Tempest Corridor suddenly became so mild and non-lethal?"

"So that’s why you insisted on accompanying me." Understanding dawned upon Catherine.

"Yes, it was this doubt that made me apprehensive of hidden dangers lying behind the gentleness, similar to the entrance. All while we were on our way, I was deep in thought, when suddenly, I realized that such a trap could exist. After calling out to you and getting no response, I used my special trick right away." Pannis pointed towards a corner of the wall, indicating the final Array he could find. "Good thing there was no delay. Looking back at it, it was indeed very risky."

"So, my survival is indeed a miracle." Catherine forcefully pulled her sword out of the wall and nimbly sheathed it. "Let’s go and see if the hurricane has dissolved."