Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 483 - 48 Testing_1

Chapter 483: Chapter 48 Testing_1

Suddenly, Vivian’s fingers tensed on the reef, her body rigid. Through her eyes, enhanced by the Hawkeye Spell, she saw the three controlled Sea Race members’ movement harshly twitch to a halt, their leg and waist muscles quivering - the omens of a forthcoming rapid charge. At this moment, Pannis was roughly forty meters away from the trio. But in the next moment, the Sea Race members abruptly stopped their actions, resuming their aimless patrol. Vivian, surprised, turned her head only to discover that Pannis, who was standing there just a moment ago, had disappeared, as if he had never been there at all.

"He’s over there," Catherine pointed in a slightly different direction, "Vanishing suddenly, then reappearing somewhere else. Some strange method for sure. Anyway, we can’t see the process."

"This, I’m fairly familiar with," Freya retorted, "Those demigods love to use such methods to scare people. It’s the effect of utilizing their Inherent Psychic Domain. It has a process, it’s just hidden within their domain."

"I think I’ve figured something out." After hearing Freya’s explanation, Catherine vaguely recalled a scenario from more than half a year ago when she was treasure hunting in the depths of the Shining Forest. She was about to be sliced into pieces by a metal wire trap when suddenly a vision appeared before her eyes. The image of a pair of eyes, gazing at her from afar, still vividly surfaced in her mind. Who was that?

"He’s starting again," Vivian whispered, "This time from the flank."

As Pannis utilized his domain to move to a nearby location outside the Sea Race members’ detection range, he stood in place considering for a moment before making his way to the flank, and starting to slowly approach the trio once more. The same events unfolded. When Pannis neared the range of about forty meters from the trio, the patrolling three charged towards Pannis. However, this time Pannis did not use his Psychic Domain to hide himself, instead, he stood still. It wasn’t until the patrolling trio charged halfway that he disappeared from his standing position. Unlike before, however, the trio didn’t halt their attack. They continued to charge towards where Pannis had been and milled around the area, colliding with one another without any communication, resembling three mechanical puppets.

"It seems quite different from what Doris said." Catherine stated solemnly, "Looking at their reactions, they likely know nothing beyond patrolling and eliminating invaders."

"It’s probably because they have been controlled for a long time," sighed Freya, "This doesn’t seem like a self-preservation mechanism of consciousness anymore. It totally looks like they have forgotten about everything else. But according to Doris, even if they had been controlled for more than a hundred years, their consciousness can still recover once they’ve been pulled out. So maybe there is hope for these controlled Sea Race members."

As they spoke, after circling in place for a minute, the Sea Race members, looking numb, gave up the search and resumed their set patrol route, behaving as if they were not the ones darting around just moments ago. But not long after, Pannis popped out from behind them again, circling overhead in the water above and abruptly landing in front of them. The Sea Race members weren’t alarmed by the sudden appearance of an enemy; they immediately closed in on Pannis. One arched its dorsal fin, another swung a giant shell attached to its arms, and the third began to accumulate power in the two voids in front of it. Pannis twisted his body to evade the slicing dorsal fin and the shield bash from the shell. He swiftly sidestepped to cause the two compressed water bombs to miss their target, resulting in an explosion on the ground that kicked up the seabed sand, clouding the nearby water. Using this murky cloud as a cover, Pannis swam quickly towards the surface, but the three Sea Race members, as if they had locked on to him, disregarded the murky water and closely pursued him. In a game of cat and mouse, the four quickly disappeared into the ocean’s darkness.

"You see." Catherine watched as they vanished and spoke, "It seems we don’t need to take any experimental actions. We can pretty much confirm it now."

"Yes," Vivian nodded, "It seems they will only maintain their land form and won’t transform into their Ocean Form. They didn’t change neither during the battle nor when they were pursuing Pannis. If they had turned into their Ocean Form, they probably would have caught up by now."

"Perhaps this can explain some problems." Catherine’s voice, transmitted through the crystal, was very dry, and she stated bluntly, "Perhaps this is why Doris has always been unwilling to seek help from land races?"

"Hmm, I get what you mean, big sis." Lina, feeling a strange twitch in her eyelids, spoke softly, "You’re saying that these Sea Race members are being controlled, perhaps by some individual or race from the land?"

"Don’t you think the possibility is high?" Catherine asked, "Their exhibited traits are completely designed according to the habits of land races. If we insist that this is the result of a natural phenomenon, it would be too ridiculous."

"But have you thought about this." Lina countered, "The effect of the Devilish Sea Area now covers more than a hundred thousand square kilometers, and according to Doris, the estimated number of controlled Sea Race members is at least over fifty thousand. The actual number might be several times more than this. Which race or individual do you think has this kind of capability? Perhaps not even a deity could accomplish this, let alone natural forces."

"That’s not necessarily true." Catherine shook her head, "Did Doris ever mention when the Devilish Sea Area first appeared?"

"She did not, but Miranda mentioned it to me." Lina replied, "Although she isn’t sure about the exact time either, she said the Devilish Sea Area has been in existence for a long time. Rumors about its disappearance were around even at the beginning of the Fourth Epoch."

"No precise time, huh? Then it’s hard to guess." Catherine said helplessly, "Anyway, speculation is pointless now. All the answers will be revealed only after we find the cause. Strange, where did Pannis take those three Sea Race members? Why hasn’t he been back for so long?"

"They’re probably testing whether we’ll voluntarily give up the target when we realize we’re being watched," Freya said, focusing on the crystal disc in her hand. "But we won’t be alone for long, something is coming."

"A magical beast?" Catherine asked, "Attracted by the Tears of Light?"

"Most likely," Freya nodded. "The water currents it’s causing aren’t very severe, and it seems to be not too big in size, probably around five to eight meters. Judging by its size, I don’t think it’s stronger than a Gold Rank."

"How many are there?" Catherine asked, "An approximate number?"

Freya stared at the crystal disc in silence, and finally scoffed after a few seconds, "Just two, all that worry for nothing."

"Don’t be complacent." Catherine said seriously, "There are plenty of legendary adventurers who have died at the hands of Gold Rank magical beasts. If we get overconfident after ascending to Legendary rank, we won’t last long."

"Sorry." Not just Freya, Vivian and Lina also bowed their heads in apology, "The sudden increase in our abilities made us a bit cocky. Thanks for the reminder, Catherine, we’ll be careful from now on."

"It’s okay, as long as you’re not blinded by your own power." Catherine nodded, "Get ready for a fight, let’s finish this quickly... but preferably without spilling too much blood, I’m afraid the smell of it could attract more magical beasts."

"No problem, leave it to me." Vivian patted her flat chest, "I can absolutely handle this without spilling a drop."

"How about one beast each?" Freya suggested, patting Vivian’s head, "Let’s see who’s faster?"

"Okay." Vivian responded skeptically. "I will let you know that pure magic is the strongest."

"Psh, the future lies in magic combined with firearms." Freya retorted, "The era of using only magic is over."

"Hey, can you two stop bickering for a moment?" Lina, seemingly exasperated, "Every time the topic of magic comes up, you guys start arguing non-stop. If you two don’t get going soon, I’ll roll up my sleeves and finish them on my own."

"Hmph." The two girls turned their heads away, huffed, and started preparing, each trying to kill their opponent before the other. For Freya, the preparation was quite simple. She unsheathed her crystal energy gun which was as thick as a fist, placing her hand on the handle. Fierce magical energy began to surge from the thick barrel, emitting an icy chill that froze the surrounding seawater. On the other hand, Vivian’s preparation was more complicated. She extended her dry fingers, drawing an unknown array onto her other palm. As it was impossible to chant under the water, as a mage, Vivian reduced the difficulty of casting by using an array in advance to achieve a silent launching effect during the fight.

Soon, the turbulent undercurrent became more and more obvious. Even without the aid of Freya’s crystal disc that observed the undercurrents on the seabed, the girls could feel the stirring from large individuals nearby with their skin alone. Catherine spun around abruptly, adjusting the direction of the light to focus on the location where the water was churning.

Within the long pillar of light, two grotesque sea beasts were rushing towards the girls, scraping the sea floor. The sea beasts, appearing like monstrous creatures from a nightmare, were both around eight meters long. They had flat foreheads, protruding mouths, and sharp exposed teeth instead of visible lips, covered with a sticky-looking, slimy liquid. Above their heads was a forward-thrusting sharp fin, longer than their own protruding mouths. At a closer look, one could realise that the sharp fin was hollow – something that any seasoned adventurer wouldn’t disregard as merely a thorn. Their flattish bodies, similar to a disc standing upright in the water, were filled with sharp prickles on both sides, and a robust tail continuously flapped against the water.

The sea beasts came closer and closer until suddenly the sea shook violently, and the crystal gun in Freya’s hand began to fire. (To be continued. If you like this novel, please go to qidian.com to vote and support the author. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)