Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 503 - 67: Landing_1

Chapter 503: Chapter 67: Landing_1

On a summer evening, the weather was clear. It was just after five in the afternoon, the sun hung low in the western sky, its rays staining the clouds a vibrant red. Under the illumination of the setting sun, a long Floating Bridge abruptly jutted out from the glistening sea. One end of the bridge floated on the sea, while the other end spanned over six hundred meters of water before extending all the way to the shore. On the beach, it was frozen in place, securing the bridge to the coastline.

Looking along the coast to both sides, the shore was made up of soil mixed with sand and gravel. The Sea Race seemed not to favor this kind of terrain; not a single patrol could be seen on the large expanse of shoreline. Further ahead lied a rugged island made of hulking boulders. The island looked like a small hill - no, more precisely, it was an underwater mountain peak, with about five to six hundred meters projecting above the water surface and standing vertically in the air. The entire island was larger than imagined, the cross-sectional area based on its height was more than three square kilometers. However, if the entire surface area of the mountain peak was counted, that number would have to be multiplied several times. Due to the complex terrain of the mountain, it was difficult for the Sea Race to patrol it normally. Hence, only a few large areas had guards, while the rest of the areas were left unguarded.

On the bridge of frozen ice, not a single person could be seen. However, closer observation revealed that the adventure team was actually there. Each member, cloaked in a white cape, was hunched over, blending visually with the white ice. They hid themselves along the sides of the twenty-meter-wide floating ice bridge, out of sight of the Sea Race lurking beneath the water.

"Sis, I beg you." Vivian shot Catherine a pitiful sideways glance and whispered softly, "Please put that illuminator down. It weighs more than two hundred kilograms, and just looking at it makes me feel heavy. Leave it here. This ice bridge can last until tomorrow night. We can retrieve it together then, okay?"

"No, absolutely not." Catherine shook her head vigorously. "What if someone steals it? It’s worth a hundred thousand gold coins. Such a valuable item should always be carried with us for peace of mind."

"I think our mansion is even more valuable." Lina rolled her eyes and said, "So, by your logic, we should always carry it around with us too. I don’t think it’s safe to leave it in the Holy City. Sis, why don’t you go back and carry it here?"

"Only turtles walk around with their shell." Just as Catherine started speaking, a large green sea turtle with a diameter of four meters swam leisurely past the edge of the Floating Bridge, flapping its flippers. Catherine blinked awkwardly, coughed, and said, "Well, if possible, I’d really like to bring the mansion with me. Unfortunately, I just can’t carry it."

"Catherine, there’s something you seem to have overlooked." Pannis said, "This illuminator is a tool provided by the Sea Race for our task. If it’s not damaged during the task, we have to return it. It doesn’t belong to us, and it’s not counted in the compensation. That is to say, if it’s lost or damaged, we won’t suffer any loss. Keeping it intact won’t yield us any additional gains. Do you understand?"

The muscles on Catherine’s back stiffened, and she stopped walking, looking pained. "I understand, but leaving it here, it’s like leaving dazzling gold coins around. It’s too painful. I’d rather carry it."

"If you’re willing to put it down, I’ll take responsibility to request a brand-new one of these illuminators be added to our compensation from Doris." Pannis really had no choice, he sighed and said, "If you don’t put it down, I won’t bother."

"Really?" Catherine’s eyes lit up, and she almost gave herself away by straightening up, fortunately catching herself in time, she said, "You’re not just saying you’ll request it, but whether Doris agrees or not is none of your business, right?"

"Hmph, you’re pretty sharp at a time like this." Pannis rolled his eyes and said solemnly, "Rest assured, I wouldn’t deceive you."

After hesitating for half a minute, Catherine finally unbuckled the illuminator from her back and set it down on the ground. Caressing the casing as though bidding farewell, she said, "I’m sorry. I didn’t want to abandon you, but... but..."

"No buts, let’s hurry up." Freya impatiently nudged Catherine, pushing her away from the illuminator, "The faster we finish, the sooner you’ll be reunited with it. Quit wasting more time."

Finally, after a brief interlude, the group once again began to hunch over and make their way across the ice. The ice was slippery, but this could not pose a threat to these seasoned adventurers. The real concern was the sightlines from the patrolling Sea Race underwater. Everyone was clear that if they were discovered inside enemy defense lines, they could end up in a tough fight or even confront a life-threatening situation. Avoiding the eyes of the enemy was of paramount importance. In the interest of safety, whenever they entered the field of vision of the underwater patrols, even through the ice, they would drop to their bellies and creep forward. This helped them lower their height and avoid being spotted by patrols on both sides. The Sea Race patrol teams only reacted to the Floating Bridge when it first appeared. Each team halted at their first pass to poke around the underside of the bridge from the water. However, once they realized it wasn’t created by sentient beings and chose to ignore it, they never paid it any attention again. From then on, they didn’t even glance up as they passed, ignoring the Floating Bridge entirely.

"We need to speed up." They kept stopping while walking on the Floating Bridge. Normally, it would take just a few minutes to cover the six hundred meters, but half an hour had passed and they were only halfway there. Pannis was getting anxious. "If we delay any longer, night will fall. From our underwater observations, nightfall doesn’t affect them much, but it will cause us considerable trouble. We must find a place to hide on the mountain before dark, and we can continue our search tomorrow."

"Is it getting dark already?" Lina asked in surprise. "That can’t be right, it’s summer now, and it’s still light out at eight o’clock, and it’s not even six o’clock yet, we have at least two hours left, we should definitely make it."

"You’re overlooking one issue." Pannis shook his head, "It gets dark early on the sea. Look around you, the sunlight can’t penetrate the thick fog. Once the sun continues to move and the angle of inclination increases, the sunlight will be blocked by the fog. It will get dark here quickly. Of course, it won’t be as dark as true night, but visibility will definitely be affected. We might even miss the presence of a patrol team because of the interference."

Lina looked around, at the high fog wall surrounding the island. Although humans could not accurately measure the height of the fog wall, according to the records left by the Drakes and Winged people, the fog wall was about five thousand meters high. For a non-flying race, this height was insurmountable.

"If you only read books, there’s a lot of knowledge that you can’t grasp. At least, the novels never mention that it gets darker earlier on the islands than on the mainland." Lina nodded thoughtfully.

"Shh, be quiet." Pannis’s ears twitched, and he suddenly stopped Lina. "There’s another patrol team coming."

Everyone quickly lay down, covering themselves with white cloaks. Staying still, they lay on the ice. Sounds of water echoed as the patrol team swam under the floating ice bridge. The ice layer was thick, making it impossible to see through to the sea below. However, they all had an illusion as if they could see the Sea Race swimming underneath.

"Move." Pannis pointed forward to the floating bridge, "It’s safe now, we can crawl through."

The girls did not hesitate, using their hands and feet to crawl forward quickly, paying no attention to the cold of the ice. After more than twenty minutes, the sandy beach on the coast was finally within sight.

"Finally, we’ve passed the most troublesome part of the journey." Catherine breathed a sigh of relief, giving a thumbs up to Vivian. "Thanks to your magic, otherwise, we would have had to fight our way here."

"We can’t relax yet." Freya, with the superior vision of a gunner, observed the island. "There are three patrol teams on the opposite beach that may discover us, but their routes are fixed, and there are gaps in their line of sight we can take advantage of. Look, to the right, two patrol teams have just turned the corner, and the team on the left just turned around. If we move fast enough, we can run across this last stretch before the patrol team on the right returns from around the corner. Then, cross the beach and hide behind that large rock right ahead. Once we reach there, we should be safe temporarily."

"I advise you not to be too optimistic," Pannis shook his head. "This situation is likely more troublesome than you imagine."

"I agree," Catherine said to Freya. "Have you ever wondered why, given such heavy defences across the entire island, from seabed to surface, there is a blank area on the beach? Anytime you encounter something abnormal in an adventure, you need to be extra cautious. That’s one of the key principles for adventurers, have you forgotten?"

"Soil, gravel, soaked in seawater." Freya’s face changed. "Could it be a swamp?"

"No, it’s not a swamp, but similar," said Pannis with a sigh. "Once you step on this kind of ground, you will often sink waist-deep into the soft, muddy surface. It does not have as strong suction power as a swamp, but it’s still very difficult to move. So, the Sea Race left the beach as a blank area. Once we get stuck in the ground, we won’t be able to reach behind the rock within the expected time. Being discovered then becomes inevitable, we need to come up with a different strategy."

Freya and Catherine simultaneously frowned, biting their lips and falling into contemplation. Lina, on the other hand, suddenly let out a quiet chuckle, took out several diving goggles and thick air tubes from her backpack, and asked mysteriously, "I don’t know if you guys have heard of an ancient sport called Mud Wrestling described in some of the novels?"

"Ugh, sounds horrible," Catherine immediately understood, giving a wry smile. "It looks like we’re in for a rough night." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users can read at m.qidian.com.)