Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 422 - 48 Lurkers_1

Chapter 422: Chapter 48 Lurkers_1

"Shhhh," a fountain of dark red blood sprayed from Number Four’s throat. The only sound in the room post-explosion was the rustling of blood spurting out, a melody akin to a gentle breeze rustling tree leaves. With the attack seemingly successful, Passion had already distanced herself while carrying Indulgence, leaving Number Four alone where she stood.

Number Four, her throat slashed, didn’t seem fatally wounded. As a ghoul, she no longer needed to breathe. As such, she simply pressed her hand against the gaping wound on her neck to stanch the flow of blood. Taking advantage of Passion’s departure, she rushed over to Number Three for assistance.

Weirdly, Passion and Indulgence mounted on her back, didn’t react at all, no sign of an impending counterattack. They only gazed silently at Number Four’s movements, not uttering a single word.

At this point, Number Four was too preoccupied to pay attention to Passion and Indulgence’s inaction. Those willing to surrender their souls to a necromancer in search of resurrection, were generally those who feared death the most. Especially now when she had bought herself more time and life, she was loath to embrace death again. Thus, her sole intention was to have Number Three ward off the enemy temporarily while she attended to her wounded neck. As long as she could staunch the bleeding, a wound of this magnitude wouldn’t kill a Legendary Ranking ghoul.

Number Three complied. Seeing Number Four charge her way, she stepped forward, positioning herself behind Number Four just as she crossed her own body. But, Number Four could never have imagined the inexplicable scenario that unfolded. Just as she positioned herself behind Number Three, Number Three sheltering her from the attackers, suddenly turned around — a swift, hard swing of her sword. Her head was lopped off without any resistance. The grey-haired head soared in the air, eyes bulging, the frozen expression etched with incredulous terror, utterly devoid of life.

"Heh, heh." Number Three tipped her head back, a vacant gaze following the tumbling head of Number Four in the air. As it arced into fall, the dark red blood spattering around, miraculously not landing on Number Three at all. Not till the head hit the ground did she let out a sigh, in repugnance, she tossed her sword aside. Her fingers carefully flicked off the residual dust from the earlier explosion. She meticulously smoothed her attire, then pulled out a pair of pristine white silk gloves from her pocket, putting them on. A perfect smile surfaced on her face. With a customary chest-clasping bow, she addressed Passion and Indulgence in respect, "Congratulations, Lady Passion and Indulgence. And to the familiar gentleman who just showed up, congratulations on fulfilling Guild Master’s mission."

"We must also credit your cooperation, Lord Elegance." Though weak, Indulgence spoke from her perch on Passion’s back. With a knowing smile, she added with a sardonic laugh, "Without your assistance, Lord Elegance, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to ’smoothly’ accomplish the mission."

"Well, as a Guild member, I was simply carrying out the Guild Master’s orders to the best of my ability." In the brief span of a few tens of seconds, Elegance had transitioned from a clandestine legendary ghoul into a perfect gentleman, "It’s our synergy that allowed their complete obliteration, heh, heh."

"Oh, indeed, heh, heh." Blood coagulating on her face lent an eerie allure to Indulgence’s coquettish smile, "Rest assured, Lord Elegance. Your splendid performance on the enemy side, your tremendous help to us, we will certainly repay you properly."

"I look forward to it." Elegance habitually reached up to doff his hat, realizing it was missing. A look of discomfort crossed his features as he lamented, "I wonder if you have any feedback on my work, my Lords? Or perhaps, does the unexpected gentleman have anything to say? Shall we resume our conversation from a month prior in City of Innocence? If not, I deeply apologize, this hasty identity switch was rather ill-prepared, terribly discomforting. I regret the circumstance, but kindly forgive me, my Lords, I must take my leave."

"I will not meddle in the affairs within City of Innocence. I only have one question now." Pannis, who had suddenly appeared, fixed Elegance with a smile. "Regarding this cult present here, Mr. Elegance, how much do you really know?"

"I am sorry." Having played the regretful card, Elegance shook his head. "I merely killed the ghoul whose identity I am masquerading, and disguised myself to infiltrate the temple. If anything, I wasn’t more than five or six hours ahead of Lady Passion and Indulgence, hence, no opportunity arose to extract information. Also, I presume you’d be disappointed. Everyone present here is a ghoul. Even the self-declared Number Zero necromancer is not human. They aren’t privy to the cult’s classified information. My Lords, it’s impossible to retrieve the intelligence you seek. It is most regretful, heh heh."

"I see." Pannis gave a mild smile, squinting as he inspected his hands. "Indeed, it is regrettable. Heh heh."

"Pannis." Sensing a looming attack from Pannis, Passion interrupted subtly, "It’s the internal affairs of Shadow Hand, it is in your best interest to refrain from... "

The sentence remained unfinished but Pannis got the drift. He snickered, crossed his arms, and rested against the wall, assuming a neutral stance. Passion, deviating from her customary impassive expression, offered Pannis a slight apologetic smile.

"Since all the Lords have no further business." Elegance performed a courteous step-bow, adding amiably, "I shall head back to the Guild then. Hoping to have another opportunity to collaborate with you, heh heh."

In the middle of the bow, Elegance’s figure suddenly became blurry, ultimately transforming into a salutation, only the sound of her well-mannered laughter could be heard, fading farther and farther away.

"He had made up his mind to kill Indulgence and me through these ghouls." Passion watched as Elegance receded into the distance, his body swaying slightly as he exhaled: "Luckily you showed up out of nowhere, Pannis. He couldn’t gauge our hand, which led him to change his mind at the last minute and abandon his plan to kill us. Once again, you saved our lives. Thank you."

"What’s going on here?" Pannis asked with a frown. "Why did you guys suddenly appear here? What are these ghouls doing? And how did this temple just appear?"

"We’d like to know as well." Indulgence let his facade of strength fall away, his voice weak: "How could you have arrived just in time? We didn’t tell anyone about our mission here, it would have been impossible. How did you know?"

"We didn’t." Pannis shook his head: "We came here because of another task, never imagining that we’d run into you."

"Let’s not discuss that now." Passion grabbed Pannis’s hand: "We need to get back to Catherine and the others. It might already be too late."

"They said they were planning to handle this fight themselves and I believe in them." Pannis did not exude urgency, quite the opposite, he sounded calm: "But enough time has passed already. It wouldn’t hurt to return and check on them."

"Huh." Indulgence chuckled, not nitpicking Pannis’ reluctance to admit that he was anxious. Leaning against Passion’s back, he said, "It’s better to rush back and see for ourselves. Have you guys already discussed how you’ll assist us?"

"Yes." The three blatantly ignored the headless corpse of number four and hurried back along the same path. Pannis, who was anxious deep down, did not let his emotions show and calmly responded, "The sounds of your battle weren’t exactly quiet, so we found you before you found us. I discerned the number of enemies and estimated their strength, then prepared several plans to coordinate with potential tactics you might use. What we just executed was one of the plans, and it seems to have worked quite effectively."

"Impressive." Indulgence couldn’t help but praise, but then his expression changed, voicing his anxiety, "Something’s not right. The sounds of battle have stopped. Could it be..."

"No need to worry." Pannis maintained a steady face, shaking his head, "Given Catherine’s defensive capabilities, even if she were alone, there’s no way she could be completely defeated in such a short period of time—especially with the assistance from Lina and Vivian. If anyone told me that a Legendary Magician could kill all three of them, plus Marcia, within this short period, I would never believe it. Even if it were the two of you, I assume defeating Catherine would not be so simple without a surprise attack."

"That is true." Indulgence had to admit, nodding: "Her defensive capability is indeed extremely high, and Vivian’s magic is always so unpredictable, plus there’s Lina’s healing and support..."

"Can you guys stop chatting now?" A hoarse voice echoed from afar, it was the knightly maiden: "The battlefield has become too quiet after the fighting stopped. We can hear your entire conversation, just hurry over. We’re all worn out."

"Looks like they won." Pannis’ grim expression finally relaxed as he donned his usual casual smile, quickening his pace towards them: "How are you? Badly injured?"

"The injuries aren’t serious." The maiden priest muttered weakly: "It’s just that we’re mentally exhausted, I don’t think we’ll be able to recover for several days."

Pannis dashed back into the room where the altar was. Upon entering, he saw scorch marks all around. The corpse of the undead Mage lay at the center of the altar, a hollow cavity in his chest, completely lifeless. The four ladies sprawled around the room’s corners, their bodies succumbing to exhaustion, none of them willing to move an inch. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Please visit m.qidian.com for mobile users.)