Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 499 - 63 Up Floating_1

Chapter 499: Chapter 63 Up Floating_1

"Are you ready?" Catherine asked in a whisper that barely rippled the water, "We’re about to start advancing."

The group of five was huddled in a hollow at the bottom of the sea. Their heads poked just over the edge, offering a view of the Sea Race creatures, controlled and moving about frequently. The closer they got to the island indicated by Doris, the steeper the seabed landscape became. More patrolling, enslaved Sea Race creatures appeared – and their strength was distinctly superior. At the periphery, the strongest teams they had faced had been mere Gold Rank Sea Race or even just Silver Rank, but now there were at least ten Legendary Rank Sea Race creatures among the dense patrolling teams nearby. More astoundingly, these Legendary Rank creatures seemed much more aware than before, even giving an impression of individuality.

"Maybe Doris was right," Lina murmured, peeping over Catherine’s shoulder, "The stronger their power, the stronger their willpower – and hence, the more intact their consciousness. Look at that jellyfish woman. She’s clearly smarter than the other two in her group. Look, look. She senses that fish behind her. Denia, she actually caught the fish and then let it go. She doesn’t act like a mind-controlled creature at all."

"Yes, it is probably for a combination of reasons," Catherine said, biting her lip, her face creased with worry. "This is troublesome. It won’t be easy to trick these Legendary Rank Sea Race creatures with fully intact consciousness using our old method. Mr. Pannis, you tried it, didn’t you? What was the result?"

"You saw for yourself. They return to their regular path voluntarily and increase their vigilance for a while afterward," Pannis explained. "They even alerted nearby patrols. Even though they are a bit rigid and their intelligence is lower, the difference from normal people isn’t as big as one might think. It’s not challenging to lead them astray, but with layers upon layers of patrols—if there is the slightest mistake—we would be surrounded. It’s too dangerous."

"Yes, that would be our last resort," Catherine agreed. "It’s better to try to stay closer to the sea surface, won’t that be simpler?"

"Observe these patrolling squads," Pannis gestured. " They are organized along the contour of this mountain, forming a defensive line, which extends outward from the mountain as the center. In other words, their defense is three-dimensional; even if we reach the surface of the sea, we will need to break through an entire layer of defense before setting foot on the island."

"So, heading to the surface might not be likely either?" Catherine inquired.

"It’s not absolutely impossible," Pannis shook his head. "After all, they are still mind-controlled, and there seems to be no real unified command. The defense net surely has gaps if we look diligently. But we must break our habit of terrestrial excursions. During the process of sneaking in, we must always be aware of movements above and below. It’s much more troublesome than sneaking on land."

"No problem, we’ll take it slow." Catherine waved her hand, and the group surfaced from their hiding spot to slowly circle the island. In reality, the underwater island was not large—it probably covered only around one to two square kilometers on the surface. Like a mountain though, while the peak might be narrow, the base is much broader. Even if this underwater mountain were steep, the circumference of the base would still measure around forty kilometers. Nevertheless, they managed to make two rounds, using the current, in almost ten hours. Every now and then, they had to stop to observe and survey their surroundings. After two laps, Catherine pondered for a moment before she said, "Let’s check out the surface. Even with a three-dimensional defense, the final distance we would need to break through would be less at the surface. Is that alright, Mr. Pannis?"

"There won’t be a problem," Pannis agreed. "Just surface slowly. Although we’re protected by the Amphibian Beads, ascending too quickly will still cause severe harm to our bodies. I’ve seen an idiot who trusted in his quick swimming skills. He ascended from the deep sea in a single breath, but once he reached the surface, his body began hemorrhaging blood and his eyes nearly burst out. Had it not been for a healer nearby, he would have probably been the first Demigod to die in such a ridiculous way."

"Pressure problems, huh?" Vivian had a lightbulb moment and nodded. "Then the Amphibian Beads don’t mitigate pressure as much as I thought. Hmm, my previous notes are wrong. Wait for me, I need to make a correction."

"Stop right there," Interjected Lina as she smacked Vivian’s head. "Now’s not the time to update your notes. You get lost once you start, you’ll never know how long it’ll take you to finish. I’ll remember it for you, and you can correct it once we’re done."

"You’re so annoying," complained Vivian, ducking behind Pannis and rubbing her head. "Don’t you have any other hobbies besides hitting my head?"

"Poking your chubby cheeks is another one," Lina responded with a thumbs-up. "So round and squishy, you have no idea how good it feels."

"Why don’t you guys keep playing here while we go up first?" Catherine shot a glance at the two of them. "Prepare to ascend, be careful not to make your eyes pop out."

The Amphibian Beads have many functions. When swimming, you can control your buoyancy or sinking like a fish’s bladder, relying on simulating changes in density. So when ascending or descending over long distances, you don’t even need to use your own strength, you just need to use your vitality to control the changes in the Amphibian Beads. The only challenge is controlling the pace of ascent. Fortunately, with experienced Mr. Pannis present, the young ladies use him as a benchmark. If they did not exceed his height, it meant they were not in danger of a quick drop in water pressure.

Instead of ascending straight up in the seawater, the five of them would approach closer to the mountain range every time they ascended a certain distance, maintaining their position outside the warning range of the controlled Sea Race defense circle while minimizing the distance between the two sides, to monitor the specific conditions of the defense circle.

Normally, the closer to the deep sea, the stronger the Sea Race would be, and vice versa, the closer to the shallow sea, the weaker the Sea Race would be. But it was the opposite here. As their height increased, with the growing distance from the deep sea, more high-rank Sea Race appeared on patrol. During one of the adaptation periods for ceasing ascent, all of them looked at each other in dismay, and Catherine couldn’t help but exclaim, "The strength of the Sea Race is... terrifying. We’ve seen over seventy of the Legendary Rank on the way. If you add the other directions, oh god, there are hundreds of Legendary Rank in the controlled Sea Race alone, by this ratio, wouldn’t the deep sea be bustling with tens or even hundreds of thousands of Legendary Sea Race?"

"That’s the number." Pannis said: "But once they get ashore, these Legendaries are mostly less than the Gold Rank, a Legendary Sea Race you could kill two or three dozen at once. So you don’t need to panic. They won’t come ashore, and the vast ocean makes them disdain to come ashore. It’s always been the case in any era, and you can think of them as people from another world."

"But the people of another world won’t block my way through a mission." Catherine pouted and mumbled, "Nor will they form a defense circle that keeps me out."

"Who told you to come to their world to complete a mission, they should be the ones with complaints." Pannis patted Catherine’s back, "Get ready, there’s about a thousand meters to go, we’ll rest twice on the way and we’ll be good."

As they ascended, the seawater temperature also changed. The ice-cold seawater gradually began to get warmer. The change in temperature after enduring the low temperatures of the deep sea for over ten days, felt like a return to the human world from hell. Each pore on their skin longed to let out moans of comfort. The creatures around them also evolved from the slow-moving deep-sea species, which only showed speed when necessary, to agile and quick fish in shallow waters.

Getting closer and closer to the sea surface, the girls looked up to see the surroundings slowly brightening. The long-lost light, through the barrier of seawater, finally shone on the girls. Freya, who disliked the dark most, was so excited that she rolled around in the water, ready to dart upwards. Luckily Pannis was quick enough to pull her back and scolded, "I just said, the closer to the surface, the slower you have to be."

Although Freya always took every opportunity to express her love for Pannis in a jokey way, this was the first time the two had direct skin-to-skin contact. This strange feeling made Freya, who seldom had any dealings with men, blush uncontrollably. But even as Pannis was glaring at her, she had already started adjusting her mindset. With her hands clasped over her chest and her eyes twinkling with anticipation, she softly said, "Is Mr. Pannis finally ready to accept my love? He’s actually...actually...worried about my safety, I’m so touched!"

"Please don’t, I beg you," Pannis quickly released Freya’s ankle and dodged far to one side.

The seawater became brighter and brighter; even after Catherine turned off the lights and everyone removed their head decorations studded with Tears of Light, they could see vague figures of each other. Facing the impending light, the girls all looked expectant and slowly floated upwards, with only Lina lagging behind. The look on her face was complex, torn between anticipation and resistance.

At the end of the last pressure adaptation, Pannis no longer needed to serve as a marker. He was trailing at the bottom of the team and happened to see the natural struggle in Lina. He couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile, tapping Lina’s shoulder from behind and giving and encouraging smile: "While the corner of darkness can bring a sense of security, the world of light has many things worth pursuing. That’s why people can’t abandon light, right?"

A pure smile gradually appeared on Lina’s somewhat rigid face. She blinked her eyes, waved her fists energetically, nodded firmly, and started swimming upwards to catch up with the rest of the girls.(To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for recommendation and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)