Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 420 - 46 Vivian’s Momentum_1

Chapter 420: Chapter 46 Vivian’s Momentum_1

Soul puppets, the ladies had never heard of such a term, nor had they ever seen these smoky, yet corporeal objects before their eyes. These so-called Soul puppets hovered about half a meter above the ground, their bodies enveloped in black smoke, undulating in constant contraction and relaxation like a heart.

"Hehe, off you go, my children." The Undead Mage sneered eerily, pointing forward with the bone staff in his hand. Eight globes of darkness, as if obeying a command, began to screech shrilly, floating towards the four women with an eerie slowness.

"You shall not pass." Catherine, holding a shield with one hand, stood as a mountain shielding the ladies. When the Soul puppets, under the command of the Undead Mage, found their path obstructed, they raised their arms and swiped with their claws. The claws, shrouded in black smoke, were extraordinarily sharp, glinting ominously. Catherine stepped forward with her shield, meeting the sharp claws of the Soul Puppet, but the expected impact did not occur. The puppet’s claws passed through the shield like a phantom, directly striking Catherine. Fortunately, Catherine sensed something was amiss at the last moment. She sidestepped and retreated a step, barely missing the lethal blow, but the puppet left three deep scratches on her shoulder.

"Be careful, these puppets possess some wraith-like properties." Catherine’s face was taut as she retreated a few steps closer to her teammates and warned, "Marcia, they might require the use of Aggression for both attacks and defense. I’m not sure if there are other properties, but always be on guard."

"What use is caution?" The Undead Mage followed the drifting Soul Puppets, slowly walking towards the four women. "Cry, despair. All your struggles serve as a balm to soothe my rage. Hah hah hah hah."

The moment of contact, a ’ding’, Catherine covered her shield with Aggression, successfully blocking a puppet’s attack. She then slashed horizontally with her one-handed sword, but found her dark and agile opponent disappearing into the shadows once she missed her strike. With no opportunity for a successful hit, Catherine was left floundering. The shadows reappeared and begin to circle her, constantly making high-pitched sounds to unnerve Catherine while searching for an opportunity to attack. The shadows hoped to mark Catherine with a few more scratches.

"Big sis." Upon hearing Vivian’s shout, Catherine, without needing to think twice due to their countless battles together, instinctively bowed and several silver crystal vials flew over her towards the shadows. The vials, flying through the air, began to dismantle automatically, releasing a silver liquid that formed a cloud of mist.

The silver liquid held a potent light energy that covered all in its reach. The billowing wisps of darkness issued fearful shrieks. Despite their inherent lack of emotions, they too screamed in terror when faced with their deadly foe. Yet, the liquid had no effect. As the Undead Mage extended his hand, a dark surge exploded from the bodies of the shadows, meeting the silver liquid head-on. The combination burst into a shroud of smoke, a hissing sound resonating within. As the smoke cleared, the eight shadows continued their movements as usual, untouched, while the silver liquid had merely transformed into a mundane splash of water on the ground.

"An Alchemist?" The Undead Mage exclaimed in surprise. Among the Mage community, An Alchemist had always been considered an outlier. They often did not specialize in combat but rather in scholarly research or Alchemical prescription. However, this type of Mage, which was often categorized as logistical support, was hailed by some of the most powerful mages as the most terrifying breed of Mage; an excessive praise that left most Mages in utter disbelief. Although they harbored such thoughts secretly out of respect or fear for the stronger mages, they dared not voice it. The Undead Mage, though not entirely convinced by the praises of these superior forces, still maintained a cautious attitude. He pointed at Vivian and commanded, "Finish her first."

Suddenly, the drifting shadows turned slowly towards Vivian and disappeared from sight. Catherine gasped, realizing something was amiss. Immediately she initiated a rescue charge, appearing beside Vivian almost instantaneously. Shielding Vivian with her body, she collapsed onto the ground and continuously rolled away from their original location. The dark, sharp claws appeared out of thin air at Vivian’s former location, their attack falling on nothing. Or rather, it didn’t entirely miss. As Catherine helped Vivian up, several new scratches appeared on her scale armor. Had it not been for the sturdy armor, Catherine would have suffered additional wounds.

Catherine breathed a sigh of relief as she sheltered Vivian behind her. The shadows disappeared again. Catherine’s face changed, and she was about to employ the same method to whisk Vivian away from their current location when she suddenly tripped. Looking down, she saw dozens of skeletal arms reach out from the ground and grasp tightly onto their legs, immobilizing them. In the short delay, the shadows had again materialized by their side. Sixteen sharp claws whistling through the air came hurtling towards them.

"Burst of Aggression." Catherine was left with no choice. Holding Vivian in her arms, she activated Burst of Aggression. This special application of Aggression, where it is concentrated in the body before being unleashed in an explosive surge of energy, is coupled with an equally explosive drain on the users’ energy reserves. So much so, that after three to four usages, one might have to withdraw from the fight.

"Not bad, not bad, timely response, correct countermeasure. But, how many more times can you use it?" The Undead Mage taunted. "I can tell you outright, I will use these Soul Puppets to drain your energy. When you’re weakened, I will crush you with my overwhelming strength. That is my strategy. Now that you know, how does it change anything? You still can’t hold your own against my Soul Puppets."

"A fancy name ... Soul Puppets?" Lina’s demeanor underwent a sudden change, her brows radiating kindness and gentility. The more saintly Lina looked at the eight swirling shadows with eyes filled with sorrow, ever so faintly shaking her head, and sighed, "They’re just a group of pitiful Wraiths. You forcibly imbued them with the Soul Fire of skeletons, corrupted them with a high concentration of the Energy of Death, and twisted them into an utterly distorted form. Alas, twisted to such a degree, it seems they can’t even return to their slumber. Only through complete purification can we end their torment."

"Who are you?" The sudden change in Lina stunned the Undead Mage and stilled his malicious laughter. He asked sternly, "You are not the Priest from before."

"Me?" Lina crossed her hands on her chest, bending slightly in a gentle bow as she spoke, "Catheria, the High Priestess of the Temple of Light, a human revered by the Winged people. Yes, just a story from five thousand years ago."

"What are you talking about?" The undead mage was completely confused as he fiercely mocked, "So you’re stalling by spitting out some irrelevant nonsense? Useless. Children, tear them to pieces."

"To be honest, I’m not used to this Gold Rank body. The power gap is too vast, making the strength I can command quite limited." Lina, who called herself Catheria, spoke even her sighs gently: "I would probably lose horribly if you, the undead mage, were my opponent. Thankfully, I’m merely facing a group of Twisted Souls, which should be easy. Look, Holy Words, Light."

In a moment, the room housing the altar seemed to rise with a thousand suns. The dazzling light filled the vast space, every corner bathed in the radiance. Strangely, though the radiance was blinding, it did not damage the eyes. Even when the brilliance vanished, no one was left temporarily blinded as one might expect.

"Ah, this is bad. Lina is a follower of Goddess Denia. The Earth Goddess might get angry. I should ask for her forgiveness." Catheria muttered a few sentences on her own, the slight tension on her face quickly fading, "Glad she doesn’t mind. Well then, Sister Lina, did you see? That’s the battle style of a priest above Gold Rank. Remember this in your body, for it will guide your path in the future. Dark Words, Darkness."

After the light came darkness. Six of the soul puppets melted like snow under the sun under the sudden brilliance. Only the last two, hiding behind the others, retreated underground in time, escaping the onslaught of light. Just when they resurfaced, they were met with dark magic. The soul puppets, fundamentally belonging to the undead, are born from darkness and death. While they usually thrive in dark energy, excessive power can still bring about their destruction. Thus, the last two soul puppets also met their ruin.

"You got all that, right," Catheria smiled gently at Vivian and Catherine, "Because of the large rank gap, I can only show up in a fight for a minute. The rest depends on you all. Good luck."

"Hey." Catherine barely got out a soft word when the divine radiance on Lina’s face faded, replaced by her usual demeanor, "What a bummer. She left."

"You destroyed the creations I spent years on!" The undead mage roared, slamming his fist into the ground, a violent surge of the Energy of Death pulsed below, "Death Nova."

"Behind me." Catherine swiftly deployed several knight combat techniques to protect her three comrades during the five seconds casting period of the undead mage. Just as her technique was completed, a pale green Death Nova explosively expanded from the undead mage, wild energy covering a radius of a hundred meters, enveloping nearly every corner of the room. When the Energy of Death dissipated, Catherine, pale-faced, barely stood, while the others seemed unscathed, all normal.

"Already unable to keep up?" The Undead Mage smirked, "There’s a long time left. Prepare for the next one, hahahaha."

"Idiot." A cold laughter came from behind Catherine. It was Vivian, "Just an undead mage, and yet so smug. Do you really think undead mages are that powerful?"

"Didn’t you just say, I am an alchemist." During the time the undead mage took to calm his tumultuous mana, Vivian pulled out a flat wooden box a few dozen centimeters long and handed it to Catherine, "You should know, alchemists are always known as the uncrowned kings amongst mages."

"I guess you don’t know why." Vivian took out another identical wooden box and handed it to Lina. She then took a glance at Marcia hesitantly, grabbing four or five vials and shoving them in her hands, "Let me tell you. Though, it might be a bit hard for you to understand."

"Indeed, we only have four at Gold Rank, no reinforcements, and it seems like today we are destined to die here. It has to be said that facing a Legendary Rank as just the four of us is indeed the most dangerous moment in our lives. But so what?" Vivian finally opened her own box while revealing a dozen or so small, colorful crystal vials. Chortling, she pulled off the stoppers and one by one downed the potions. For each vial consumed, her aura violently climbed, "When confronted with us alchemists, once you drive us into a corner, and we cast aside our concerns for our bodies and wealth, and begin to recklessly use our potions, even a god must retreat in our presence." (To be continued. If you like this work, please recommend and submit votes to qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)