Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 399 - 25 - Encounter Battle_1

Chapter 399: Chapter 25 - Encounter Battle_1

In April on the grassland, it is the best season of spring. The verdant green grass sway gently with the wind, the colorful wildflowers fill the grasslands with a subtle fragrance, bees and rainbow butterflies dance among the flowers, while small animals chase after each other in the tall grass. In the sky, the soaring eagle emits a series of clear cries, in the distant plains, the lead horse of the wild herd neighs loudly. The pitch-black shadow leopard nestled unfazed in the grass, yet its ears that twisted around alertly reveal its vigilance. The grassland bear, as sturdy as a huge rock, finally made it through the harsh winter. Under the spring sunshine, it makes a foolish looking attack towards a beehive on a short tree.

Spring on the grassland is always full of vibrant life, even for the laziest person, standing on this land filled with vitality would make them want to run freely. But even so, once one’s gaze falls on the grassland occupied by the undead, it’s clear to see that all life is gradually disappearing.

Perhaps it is not accurate to describe this phenomenon as vanishing vitality. The plants on the ground still grow vigorously, undisturbed, but the animals above and below the ground have long since moved away from the disturbance caused by the energy of death, not willing to step foot here. In reality, the energy of death does not cause significant impact upon life, but an excessively dense energy of death will cause discomfort in living beings and will result in mental haziness. In the most severe cases, hallucinations may occur. The weaker the life form, the more common this phenomenon. It is for this reason that when the hunting grounds of the silver wolves were gradually being contaminated with the energy of death, the wild beasts fled first, followed by the weaker magical beasts. The war with the undead has come to a point where even if the silver wolves eventually win, the only option would likely be relocation.

Five silver wolves carrying five people are running leisurely through the mountains. Wolves, as a species of beast, are unique. They are not as fast as leopards, nor as strong as lions, seemingly not having any outstanding traits, but their stamina is the strongest among the grassland beasts. They can tirelessly chase after prey at the same speed for hundreds of kilometers, causing even the strongest beasts to gradually tire under the chase of a wolf pack.

Right now, these five silver wolves are following suit, maintaining a steady speed behind two bone knights, neither too quickly nor too slowly, neither too close nor too far, with no means of escape and nowhere to hide. After tailing them for about two kilometers, Pannis suddenly raised his hand, halting the team’s progression.

"What’s the matter?" Catherine, riding on a wolf, caught up: "Ah, I see."

"Yes, it’s this spot. The energy of death suddenly appeared here." Pannis rubbed his arms: "There was no warning and then suddenly it became so dense, moreover, it gets denser as you go further forward. This is very odd, I’ve never encountered this before."

Catherine had just walked close to Pannis a moment ago and with one step still not understanding why Pannis had stopped, but as soon as she took another step, she felt the pressure of the energy of death and immediately understood why Pannis stopped. At this time, Catherine walked a few steps back and forth, and frowned: "This is very strange. It’s like there’s a clear demarcation line, it doesn’t seem natural at all."

"Could it be man-made?" Lina rode over on her wolf, and curiously asked: "It seems like there’s a thin layer of membrane."

"I don’t think it’s possible through only natural forces." Pannis turned to Lina and asked somewhat strangely: "Why hasn’t Diana come out for so long?"

"Because the opponent is the undead." Lina pressed on the chest, as if touching the world inside her heart: "In dealing with the undead, as a priest, I am much more suitable than Diana. Diana also knows this very well, so she returned to her own world after instructing the five wolves, allowing me to call her when I need to."

"Okay, it seems that this is the border between here and the normal environment outside." Pannis steps back, pokes around the edge of the death world with his finger: "Once we go in, I reckon it won’t be this easy."

"Yes." Catherine nodded: "Judging from the density of the energy of death here, it wouldn’t be surprising whatever kind of undead shows up."

"Is everyone ready?" Pannis stood in front of the border, stretched both arms out in a stern posture, and his back facing everyone. He said loudly: "My children, this here is the boundary between life and death. Once we cross this line, we must abandon all hopes of life. Once we cross this line, we must regard ourselves as the dead. So..."

With a loud "thump," Pannis was bumped by a giant wolf head and sent flying, landing in the grass within the border with a cry. Vivian rode on the back of a silver wolf and moved unhurriedly into the border: "Sorry, don’t block the way, please make way."

"Hey, you should have said that earlier." Pannis laid in the grass, topped with a few weeds, complaining loudly: "Who bumps someone before asking them to make way? And I was in the middle of motivating everyone, how could you interrupt?"

"Motivating?" Vivian turned her head back from atop her wolf, giving Pannis a sweet smile: "In the year of 1479, Emperor Jekyll led an army of 150,000 of his own men to invade the Kingdom of Mages. Before entering the Magi Highland, he encouraged his troops in the same way. However, as far as I know, in the end, only seventy-one people returned, while all the others died in battle, without a single survivor. Is this the form of motivation you’re talking about? Earlier I said history was my weakness, that was in comparison to magic studies. Don’t think I don’t know about this period in history."

"Huh, so you do know." Pannis muttered under his breath, and then hurriedly waved his hand: "No no no, I mean, don’t worry about the outcome, ok? If we just listen to the language, what I just said was very..."

"Very stupid." a wolf paw stepped over Pannis, leaving behind an apt evaluation from Lina as she chased after Vivian.

"Tch." Pannis got up discontentedly from the ground, took off the straw wand from his head, was about to speak but swiftly side-stepped a wolf’s head lunging towards him from behind. Catherine clicked her tongue in regret, gesturing hastily for Pannis to catch up. She then loudly declared, "Pull yourselves together, everyone. The mission begins now," keeping pace with the two young girls up front.

"Alright!" The two responded in unison: "Let’s work together."

"These women are damn annoying," muttered Pannis as he turned around, only to find Marcia, astride a wolf, watching him with her serene, lake-like eyes. Smiling in delight, Pannis spoke emotionally, "Marcia, you’re so much better, not ganging up on me like those women. I’m starting to like you more and more."

"For dinner, I want to eat wild mutton chops and swiftlet soup," Marcia said, her eyes twinkling with expectation. "Deal."

"Can’t at least one of you be normal?" Pannis’ wistful cries echoed across the prairie.

Past the borders and after a few bends at the foot of the mountain, abrupt caves started appearing which seemed to be laid as traps in the grasslands. The caves, obviously dug from the inside out, must have been the Undead’s original habitat. They were left behind after being awakened and shaking free from the Energy of Death underground.

"Careful," Catherine, leading the way, suddenly halted the giant wolf underneath her, scrutinizing the ground ahead. There was an abnormal protrusion under the bushes on the ground. Despite being hidden under the bushes, the occasional trembling at the protrusion was noticeable. Suddenly, an arm bone dusted with soil jutted out from the mud, blindly waving in the air before it pressed down against the ground. With the support of the ground, a ghastly skeleton emerged. The Soul Fire fluttered eerily in the deep cavities of its skull, causing the lower jaw to clatter incessantly. It is enough to make anyone feel palpitations even under the blazing midday sun.

"A newborn Undead," Vivian stared at the skeleton with great interest, explaining, "Opportunities for direct observation like this are scarce—it’s valuable research material."

"Research what?" Lina asked curiously, "It’s just a skeleton."

"The intensity of the Soul Fire, the density of the bones, the skeleton’s strength and agility, the time attacked by the Energy of Death," Vivian explained. "All this can help us infer how the Energy of Death affects the bodies, we just don’t have enough time right now."

"Yes, time is of the essence," agreed Catherine. She signaled the Silver Wolf, who lunged upwards and flung the skull off the spine with a swift move of its paw. It then snapped its jaws shut, crushing the skull between its sturdy teeth. The unprotected Soul Fire flickered momentarily before dissipating back into the air.

"Marcia," called Catherine, "You’ve been here before. You lead the way."

"Alright, follow me," Marcia advanced on her wolf, "From what I remember, we should start encountering small groups of skeletons in about ten minutes."

"Leave the small group of skeletons to me," Catherine affirmed. "Don’t get involved. There’s no need to eliminate them entirely, breaking them up to impair their threat is enough. They won’t follow as we create distance—we can deal with them later once the source is handled. Also, Lina and Vivian, try to conserve your mana and vitality as much as possible; in the event of a larger-scale battle, we’ll be relying on you."

"Understood," the young girls replied in unison. Lina lifted her silver hammer, allowing the light of power to envelop it. While Vivian, once again, settled on the back of the Silver Wolf, tolerating this slow pace, unlike the first time when it hampered her combat strength.

"Guess I’ll be offering long-range support then," Pannis proposed, brandishing an archery bow he’d gotten from the tribe, his bag abounding in arrows. He already had three arrows notched on his bowstring.

"Mm, you can attack freely." Catherine did not need to worry about Pannis’ combat sense and experience. She was confident that he would launch the best attack at the best time, regardless of the tactics—she could leave it all to Pannis’ judgment.

The wind blew, bringing with it the sound of bones grinding against each other. The group’s gaze followed the noise, settling on more than fifty skeletons surrounding a Bone Knight astride a goat entering their field of vision. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to recommend and vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is our greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com)