Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 408 - 34: The Long Journey of Battle_1

Chapter 408: Chapter 34: The Long Journey of Battle_1

Two hours ago, the enormous Flower of Light unfolded layer by layer.

The petal-shaped light curtain encapsulated the pillar, the core of the flower, in tight, interlocking layers. With just a light clap from Vivian, the petals, like soldiers heeding commands, began to rotate and bloom harmoniously starting from their outermost layer. Each petal unfurled in such a graceful and beautiful manner, lending an ethereal beauty comparable to an entrancing dream. Unfortunately, the unfolding of this enchanting flower brought only death.

The intangible petals formed by the light curtain experienced no hindrance in their blooming process - rocks, shards, skeletons, nothing could impede their unfolding, not even by a fraction of a moment. Under Vivian’s control, each petal luxuriously expanded, covering a radius of over a hundred meters around the stone pillar. Anything within its range, whether living or undead, could not escape the sweeping power of the light curtain.

The noise it made was a hissing sound, like cold water dripping into hot oil. On this land permeated with the aura of death, the Flower of Light was in full bloom. The energy of the light-attribute, representing life and hope, clashed with the Energy of Death that represented despair and darkness, leading to a severe confrontation. This confrontation filled the entire area covered by the Flower of Light with the strange hissing sound, which made for a very disturbing experience.

The Energy of Death deeply entrenched in the air and soil reacted with such intensity, even more so for the energy contained within the skeletons and Bone Knights. When the petals made of Light Elements stroked the skeleton bodies, they shivered and twitched as though subjected to electric shocks. Even after they fell due to lack of energy to support their bodies, they could not cease their twitching. Bone clattering against bone produced a bizarre rhythm.

Soon, something extraordinary happened. Although Vivian’s light-attribute magic energy had effects similar to the life energy that Lina’s Divine Spell produced, their nature were completely different. The light-attribute magic energy, a form of elemental magic energy, naturally had strong destructive power. The skeletons which fell victim to the light energy was not purified, but in fact completely destroyed. Those fallen skeletons that contained substantial Energy of Death burst into dust upon the energy collision, unable to withstand the immense force. Whether they were common skeletons or Bone Knights, whether they were lower or Upper Ranks, they all ended up as piles of dust, the only difference being whether it took them one minute or two. As their skeletal structure crumbled, the Soul Fire, having lost their physical link, rose slowly into the sky like fireflies on a summer night, swirling in the sky until their energy eventually dwindled and vanished.

As the petals of the Flower of Light bloomed, the number of fallen bodies and the ascension of Soul Fire into the sky grew in tandem. No words were said at the sight of such grandeur. Everyone understood that each faint glow in the sky represented fragments of souls that were trapped within the skeletons, making the picturesque view unbearably tragic.

"Phew..." Vivian took several deep breaths, her body slightly swaying. Catherine reached out and steadied her, voicing concern, "What’s wrong? Did you overexert yourself?"

"I’m fine, the energy spent was a bit more than I estimated, but it’s still within tolerable limits," Vivian replied. "It’s just what I’m seeing that is making me uneasy, everything else is fine."

"You are granting them freedom," Pannis consoled. "They are pitiful incomplete souls trapped within their corpses. Unlike Annie, they clung to this world not by their own volition. Therefore, your action frees instead of harming them."

"Thank you." Vivian replied with a forced smile, before lifting her head to down two potions. "Lina should be waking up soon, we should start advancing again."

"There’s a delightful surprise, though." Pannis commented, stroking his chin as he peered at the ground underneath the stone pillar. "Your light magic, Vivian, seems to have created a short-term vacuum zone."

Below the stone pillar, there wasn’t a single undead in the area purified by the light-attribute magic. Undead creatures outside the zone tried to charge in with the intention of tearing the living creatures apart, but a considerable amount of light energy remained on the ground. Any skeleton that tried to step into the area were like barefooted people stepping onto a red-hot iron plate — they quickly retreat, and dared not to step into the zone again.

"Huh, what happened?" Lina, rousing from the effects of the Meditation Potion, looked puzzled at the empty scene down below. "Why is there such a large barren patch?"

"The effect of magic." Pannis didn’t say much, grabbing Lina and jumping down. They landed on the ground, raising clouds of dust.

"Ew, ew, ew." Catherine who was carrying Vivian also jumped down with Marcia. As soon as Catherine landed, Vivian found herself covered in bone dust, she couldn’t help but spit and complain, "This dust has probably been here for thousands of years, it’s disgusting. Next time, I should develop a softer spell to avoid such mess."

The dust finally settled, but the five humans and five wolves that stood on the ground were barely recognizable. Their faces were full of dust, and white powder circled their red lips. Their hair was also covered in bone dust. They looked like farmers who had just walked out of a flour warehouse. Even the breath they expelled was mixed with white ashes.

After a cycle, it seemed like everyone had found the rhythm to break through. The five worked together seamlessly, advancing two hundred meters at a time in the less than two-kilometer-long canyon. But when the third loop of advancement started, they ran into trouble. The undead seemed to be controlled by clusters and, under the manipulation of dozens of Bone Knights, they started playing hide and seek with the five. Every time the group began to attack, the undead would scatter as widely as possible. After the attack, they would regroup, greatly slowing down the group’s pace.

After being toyed with by the undead twice, Lina had enough of this interference. She used the same method as at the entrance of the canyon, summoning a rock at the end of the canyon large enough to block the entire width, cutting off the undead’s retreat. On this side, the five ignored the undead’s scatter-and-regroup tactic, continuing to press forward and compact their territory. The range of movement for the undead became smaller and smaller with their advancement. A large number of skeletons and Bone Knights were squashed into a ball, unable to move in any direction. Even with the control of the intelligent undead, there was no solution to this situation.

By now the tactics had changed. The control of the intelligent undead really did not have any adverse effects other than annoying them. On the contrary, it made their advancement easier, as they could gather the undead together simply, and then... it was time for purification.

Of course, it sounds easy, but it’s hard to do. Though both Lina’s divine spell and Vivian’s light-attribute magic were wide-area skills, theoretically they could cover all around within the range, regardless of the number of enemies. However, in reality, if there were too many enemies within a unit range, it would have a significant impact on the skills’ effectiveness. Therefore, they could no longer destroy all the undead within the range like before, but some stronger undead managed to hold on. This forced them to launch more magic and divine spells to attack the enemies.

Luckily, their skills, one mainly relying on divine blessing and the other on light energy potions, didn’t drain their power too much, so they were barely able to hold on. But even so, there were seventy to eighty thousand moving corpses gathered in the canyon. The numbers were simply too many. Lina and Vivian were nauseated and eventually numb from discharging their skills. Their machinery-like operations became rigid.

Catherine and Marcia had it even worse. They had to protect Lina and Vivian from harm while advancing and pressuring the undead’s position, preventing the undead from taking advantage of their numbers. In carrying out these two tasks, they could no longer keep track of how many times they had lifted their swords and shields to block the attacks. They only felt their muscles fatigue to soreness, from soreness to severe pain, from severe pain to numbness, and finally they couldn’t feel their limbs at all.

Finally, when the last skeleton fell, the four ladies couldn’t care less about their looks or the mountain of white bones and scattered bone dust on the ground, and collapsed onto them, motionless as if dead. Everyone felt they could never face corpses and skeletons again. Marcia even declared she would not eat anything with bones for ten days.

They lay in the pile of bones for a good ten minutes before they managed to get up before Lina’s terrain-altering divine spell wore off, gathering their exhausted bodies together. Vivian’s potions and Lina’s healing magic could not completely alleviate the damage they had sustained, both physically and mentally. But the ladies knew that the hardest time had passed. The Holy Spirit Corridor was at its end. As long as they walked out of the Adoration, passed the Soul Tunnel, they would reach their destination and unravel the mystery of the undead expansion.

But their hopes were completely shattered once the giant stone summoned by Lina disappeared.

Behind the giant stone was the Adoration. Now, in the center of the Adoration sat a throne made of bones, and a brawny skeleton sat on the throne. Around it, more than twenty Gold Rank Bone Knights stood guard. (To be continued. If you like this story, please come to qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support will be my greatest motivation. Mobile users are recommended to read at m.qidian.com.)