Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 260 - 26 - The Threat from Underground_1

Chapter 260: Chapter 26 - The Threat from Underground_1

"In the name of Denia, holy spirit of life, cleanse the weariness of the warriors with your benevolent gaze." Standing at the heart of the defensive position, Lina raised her hands high, a holy light emitted from them, stunningly dazzling under the setting sun, shedding upon every body of the city guards. Under the illumination of the glow, the visible and invisible wounds on the bodies of the warriors were healing at a visible rate. Every city guard who accepted the cleansing felt as if they had been infused with fresh vitality - not only fully recovered, but they also seemed to have their strength restored, no longer as exhausted as before.

"What a luxurious divine spell." Captain Ayrland admired with some envy: "Such powerful group healing effects, in any team, would be viewed as divine."

"Careful with your men, this divine spell does not work on fatal injuries." Lina said calmly and serenely, with an air of purity: "Do not waste the goddess’ light of compassion."

"You heard her, you bastards," Ayrland bellowed. "Be careful. Don’t be afraid to get hurt. Avoid fatal injuries. If any of you rookies dare to die here, don’t complain that no one will collect your bodies. Wake up, damn it, didn’t you sleep last night? All of you look so unenergetic?"

"I really didn’t sleep." Someone secretly responded, causing bursts of laughter among the soldiers on the front line of the battlefield.

"Who the hell said that?" Ayrland cursed angrily: "If I find out, you’ll be the one responsible for night duty tonight."

Obviously, no one was going to answer him. The soldiers’ coordination has become more and more silent. These young professionals who usually patrol and guard in the city are rapidly growing up in real combat. Assuming nothing happens, after experiencing similar battles several more times, their future achievements might easily become even higher.

"In the name of Denia, evil spirit of death, trample on the shadows of the enemy with your cold gaze." With the highly mana-consuming Song of Life, there must be the mana-absorbing Requiem of Death. Around the defensive position, a group of small magical beasts was enveloped in shadows. Although the Requiem of Death had low destructive power, it was still deadly to small and weak magical beasts. Within a minute, numerous magical beasts fell around them. Fifty or sixty magical beasts died due to the magical effect of the Requiem of Death, simultaneously replenishing Lina’s expended mana.

"Wow, that’s strong." A group of soldiers exclaimed in surprise. Even in the heat of combat, they couldn’t help but secretly steal admiring glances at Lina. Even Ayrland of the Gold Rank, looked at Lina in surprise; even with his vast experience, he had never seen a priest like Lina who possessed both group attack and group healing divine spells.

"Life is born from the earth, and life returns to the dust." Lina didn’t pay attention to others. She drew an imaginary square in front of her chest, knelt religiously in a place, clasped her hands in front of her, and began to quietly pray to the goddess, praying for the souls of the magical beasts that died in this battle.

"Don’t mind her, she’s communicating with the goddess." Catherine shook her head at the puzzled Ayrland. "Continue, just ignore her."

"So this mask now is that of the devout chief priestess Catheria, right?" Pannis sighed, "She left quite an impression on me, being able to invoke the divine grace of the Earth Goddess while believing in other deities."

"Does the other side intend to trap us here?" Catherine said in confusion: "Clearly these magical beasts can’t possibly harm us. He surely can’t keep watch from the sky at night. The magical beasts will soon regain their senses and disperse. He won’t be able to trap us like this, will he?"

"I don’t know, I can’t figure it out either." Pannis said: "But we can’t travel at night either, so in a sense, we are indirectly trapped."

"But then, what’s the big deal?" Catherine said: "Are they planning to besiege us again tomorrow? That’s unlikely. There’s a limit to the number of magical beasts in this area, and this has probably attracted all the magical beasts within a radius of ten or so kilometers today. Even if they still have the energy to besiege us tomorrow, I’m afraid there won’t be enough magical beasts for him to exploit."

"I don’t know what he wants to do." Pannis looked up at the hawk circling in the sky: "But he’s going to great lengths, certainly not just to delay us for half a day. And it’s probably not even half a day, it’s already late, and it’s about time to set up camp. So, what’s the point of what he’s doing?"

"I remember it was you who said it, Pannis." Vivian was playing with a low-capacity crystal in her hand, speaking distractedly: "Something that seems unreasonable always has a reasonable explanation behind it if you take time to discover it. This man’s intention is probably the same."

"Yeah, I did once say that, it is my habit to analyze problems this way." Pannis nodded: "So I am also thinking, is there something we missed?"

"If you can’t think of anything, simply revisit everything from the beginning." Vivian used Pannis’ favorite question-and-answer analysis method: "What is their objective?"

"To sabotage the wedding." Pannis answered: "More specifically, to prevent Freya from successfully reaching the City of Freedom within the given time frame."

"So, everything they did today was definitely in service of this goal," Vivian continued: "Although it seems like they wanted to keep us trapped here, according to our previous analysis, this can’t be done. In that case, let’s suppose that they also know this can’t be done, yet they still did it, clearly to cover up their true intentions."

"And moreover, this objective presumably predicates on us being temporarily trapped here." Pannis suddenly slapped the roof of the car: "I’m afraid his goal is still to destroy all the gifts."

"But even if we weren’t moving, the current level of magical beasts wouldn’t be able to break through our defenses and destroy the gift caravan," Catherine interjected. "Even a few more Gold Rank magical beasts probably wouldn’t be able to accomplish that."

"Maybe they can’t break through our defenses, but what if they don’t need to?" Pannis looked upwards, rolling his eyes.

"You’re implying from the sky?" Catherine and Vivian both looked up simultaneously. "That would be difficult. Even if they dropped something, I could easily block it."

"No, not from above." Pannis suddenly stood, "What if they came from below?"

"Indeed, while our current defensive setup is tight, it also restricts the movement of the gift caravan." Vivian nodded: "If they were to suddenly attack from below, we wouldn’t even be able to evade. But to execute such an attack, they would need to use Earth-attribute magic, and I’d definitely notice any magical fluctuations."

"Wrong, they don’t necessarily have to use magic." Pannis hopped onto the ground and listened closely, his ear pressed against it as he spoke, "In the classification of magical beasts, there is one important type we haven’t encountered today."

"Insect-type magical beasts?" Vivian floated down from the top of the carriage. She drove her magic staff deep into the ground, closed her eyes for a moment, and the staff began to flicker a heavy, dim light. "I’ve reinforced the ground a little, but I don’t know if that will be enough to hold."

"It’ll be difficult." Pannis listened to the stirrings underground. "I hear a heavy digging and travelling sound. It’s probably less than a hundred meters from the surface. If they’re quick, they could break through in twenty minutes."

"Lina, stop praying." Catherine increased her volume, "Come down and work. This is your job."

"Why is everyone down there?" When Lina jumped down and saw everyone’s response, she immediately understood the situation. "There’s something underground? Oh no, the gift caravan can’t move at all. If they’re the target, we’re in trouble."

"That’s why we need you to work. Hastily turn the ground into stones," Catherine said, panicking. "Pannis said they could break through in just twenty minutes."

"Changing the ground beneath us is not easy." Lina quickly circled the inside edge of the defensive line, saying with a bit of a headache, "If I change it all, I’ll be completely drained today, unable to fight because of Vitality exhaustion. And even then, over such a large area, I can only create a one-meter layer of rock. Big sister, are you sure about this? If you’re certain, I’ll start."

"Wait." Catherine stopped Lina’s movements: "There should be other methods."

"Three of them, there are three creatures underground." Pannis suddenly spoke, "But their digging speeds are different, maybe this can be used to our advantage to kill them individually, only if they come above ground."

"I have a plan." Vivian’s eyes lit up. She lightly tapped Lina’s head with her magic staff and then ran over to one of the gift carriages, starting to draw on it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lina held her head, baffled. "Why did you hit me? I didn’t provoke you."

"Shh, dummy, don’t disturb me, I’m working." Vivian boldly said, "If you distract me while I’m drawing and I fail, it will be your responsibility if Freya’s wedding fails. So you’ll be the one to deal with her heartbreak."

"You...!" Lina instantly understood that Vivian was just seizing the opportunity to hit her. She wanted to retaliate but worried about truly disturbing the drawing of the Array, so she could only stomp her feet in frustration. It wasn’t until Catherine pacified her that she finally calmed down.

"Array, lovely Array." Vivian was always unparalleled in concentration when it came to magic-related work. Under the control of the Puppet Control Spell, several magic brushes danced simultaneously. Mysterious Arrays quickly formed until the gift carriage was covered entirely.

"Done, it’s completed." Ten minutes passed and Vivian cheerily tossed her magic brush aside. "Record-breaking speed, it’s true that pressure breeds motivation. Look, sister, this is a Weight Reduction Array, you..."

"Done, it’s completed." At the same time, from the luxury carriage, Freya’s cheers echoed out. "Linda, please bring this out to my sister and the others. It’s a replica of an ancient bird catcher." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)