Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 509 - 73: The Blood of the Innocent_1

Chapter 509: Chapter 73: The Blood of the Innocent_1

PS: The previous Chapter number was incorrect and it’s cumbersome to change it, so let’s leave it as is, as readers should still be able to understand the context.

"Sis, watch out!" Lina suddenly yelled with urgency. "Move back, from above!"

Without giving it a second thought, Catherine gracefully leapt back a few steps, just as a shadow descended from the sky and landed heavily where she had been standing. The shadow was a giant almost three meters in height, with a muscular physique and oily, shimmering black skin that reflected a silver glow under the moonlight. The giant had a humanoid form, but no one would mistake him for an ordinary human, for he had a turtle shell on his back that was so large it almost completely covered his body. Judging by the thickness along the edge of this shell, it was obviously extremely hard and provided considerable defense.

In the sea race, only the merfolk could perfectly transform into a human form, other species retained certain racial characteristics to a greater or lesser extent. Of course, if the transformed individual wished, they could further hide these characteristics, but not many would choose to do so. These were usually the most powerful body parts of their species and hiding them would risk losing their ability to adapt promptly. To manifest them again in human form would take a considerable amount of time, and they would likely miss valuable opportunities in combat.

Clearly, the turtle clan member before them was no exception, their greatest strength lying in their hard shell, which provided tremendous defense. In deep-sea battles, a few legendary rank members of the turtle clan could sometimes even cause headaches for demigods.

The turtle clan member leapt down from above, only to have Catherine cleverly evade him. His hard-shell belly pummeled into the rocky surface, sending sparks flying and making a loud crash. This impact, which would have been painful for any observer to watch, seemed to have no effect on him. Without the slightest pause in his movements, he landed on the ground in a four-legged stance, hiding his head under the protruding part at the back of his shell. He moved swiftly across the ground, much like a war chariot launching an assault on the girls.

The girls moved sideways in unison, just managing to avoid the attack. But immediately afterward, several compressed water bullets soared up from beneath them. The timing of the water bullets was perfect; the girls had just evaded the attack and were preparing to sprint forward, only to be confronted with the water bullets. Though Catherine managed to block most of them with her shield, a few still hit the shields of Lina and Freya, forcing them to stop their advance.

As soon as the girls stopped, the turtle clan member was back on them, sticking to the ground but spinning rapidly this time around. Any object making contact with him would likely be sent flying due to the powerful centrifugal force. Left with no other choice, the girls dodged again, missing their chance to make a break for it in the process. Several sea race members of an unknown species blocked their path ahead, holding up their shells.

"Element, triple explosive flame spell." Vivian, resting on Catherine’s back, raised her hand at the right moment and launched a three-fold compressed explosive fireball. The fireball flew over thirty meters and exploded upon hitting the lined-up shells. However, the shockwave that had worked so well before failed this time. After the fires faded away, the shells were left charred but the sea race members were not sent flying. Though they retreated a few steps back, they maintained their positions and started moving forward again, slow but steady.

"This is getting troublesome, Vivian, switch with me." Freya gritted her teeth in exasperation. "Handle the one nearby. I’ll deal with the ones farther away. We can’t hold back anymore. We need to push through as fast as we can."

"Alright." Without the need for much discussion about the tactical approach, the girls coordinated their attacks based on their understanding of each other’s capabilities. Vivian acknowledged and lightly touched Catherine’s shoulder. Seemingly without thinking, Catherine moved sideways with Vivian on her back, positioning herself towards the turtle-clan member and away from the foot of the mountain. At the same time, Lina moved to stand parallel to Catherine, two meters apart. Between Freya, who was leaning against the rocks, and the other three with their backs in the open, the turtle clan member unsurprisingly chose the latter. Whether judging by numbers or position, the trouble caused by charging at three people would certainly be greater than charging at one. The controlled sea race members had only such simple judgement capabilities. Of course, the three weren’t standing at the edge of the rock, and there were seven or eight meters between them and the edge, so even if charged at, there was no danger of the turtle member falling off, hence why the turtle clan decided to charge.

The spinning attack emerged once more, causing an illusion of a tornado on the rock where the girls were standing. The spinning turtle shell charged at the girls, producing a grating sound.

"Hmph." Although Vivian was lying on Catherine’s back, the magic staff in her hand could still touch the ground. She snorted coldly, and stabbed her magic staff into the ground. Catherine quickly shifted Vivian from her back to her arms and started rolling in a diagonal direction. At the same time, Lina also started to roll to the other side, allowing the Turtle Clan merfolk to rush between them. While rolling, she casually tossed out a bottle in Vivian’s unique style.

Hence, the Turtle Clan merfolk encountered the greatest trouble of the day. Just as he rushed past the original position of the trio and aimed to adjust his rotating collision course as before, he found that the ground had once again been covered by a thin layer of ice. To make matters worse, a layer of water was added on top, making the mirror-like ice surface even slipperier. The method he initially used to control speed and direction did not work on the icy surface, so his body uncontrollably slid towards the rocky edge. Desperate, the Turtle Clan merfolk struggled with both hands and feet, trying to lift his shell off the ice, but the water on the ice nullified his efforts, slipping repeatedly.

However, the Turtle Clan merfolk’s struggles were not in vain. Judging by his current slowing speed, he would be able to stop just over a meter away from the rocky edge. But then, the bottle thrown by Lina arrived. The bottle smashed onto the ground without a second’s delay, caused a violent explosion. The strong shock from the explosion unexpectedly increased his already slowing speed as if someone had given him a hard kick from behind. Like a spinning disc, he screamed and flew off the rock into the boundless night.

"Boom, boom, boom." At the moment of the bottle explosion, Freya’s crystal energy gun also fired, echoing three gunshots across the island. Hearing the gunshots, the frontline merfolk instinctively tightened their grip on their shells. But the expected impact did not come, as Freya’s crystal energy gun was not aimed at them. Freya was shooting at the slope above the enemies, and three explosive energy bullets precisely hit three small rocks on the slope thirty meters away. Under the high explosive energy bullet attack of the Legendary Rank gunner, the rocks shattered without a doubt.

Theoretically, such shrapnel could not cause any effective injury, but the other three girls all frowned. Lina even closed her eyes and turned her head away. After the three small rocks shattered, a giant rock about forty meters long suddenly lost its support. This already unstable rock, due to weathering, slowly left its original position under the pressure of its own weight and started rolling down the slope. Tens or even hundreds of tons of rocks rolling down is not something human strength can withstand. Perhaps some of the merfolk in their aquatic forms could withstand the attack of the rock, but their minds were being controlled and they did not know to transform into aquatic forms. Time also did not permit them to transform. All the controlled merfolk within the area could only watch helplessly as the giant rock kept bouncing down the slope, and all the merfolk encountered along the way were devastated. The weaker ones were directly smashed into a blur of blood and flesh, while the stronger ones were seriously injured by the impact and were entrapped by the giant rock, rolling all the way down the slope. The falling of the giant rock triggered a mini landslide, but the position where the girls were standing was protected by the divine power of the Earth Goddess, unaffected by it.

"God loves all." Lina made a square symbol on her chest that represented the earth and prayed softly, "Under the watchful eyes of the merciful God, all living things can receive mercy, and all the dead will eventually be forgiven. In the name of my Lord Denia, let all the lost souls return to their eternal resting place."

"Let’s go." Catherine stared at the blood and flesh corridor tens of meters wide for a few seconds, sighed imperceptibly, hoisted Vivian on her back again, waved her hand and said while taking a step, "Don’t waste time, keep charging."

"You don’t have to feel sad. Our mission, if completed, will save the majority of the controlled merfolk, so it’s worth it for a small portion of the merfolk to sacrifice." Freya said softly, following behind Catherine, "There is no gain without sacrifice."

"That’s the way of thinking of those in power, isn’t it? I almost forgot, you are the daughter of the city lord after all." Catherine smiled bitterly, "But, these sacrifices, they were all innocent."

"Yes, this is the mindset of those in power, a remnant left by my father. I don’t think this kind of thinking is wrong, that’s why I chose this tactic." Freya also shook her head with a bitter smile, "But you don’t have to worry, Catherine. It was my choice to do this. Your hands are not stained with the blood of these innocents, you don’t need to carry the burden. I don’t consider it a burden, and that’s why I chose this path."

Catherine paused, turned around and stared into Freya’s eyes, quickly reaching out to grab Freya’s hand. At the same time, Lina and Vivian also reached out, and the four hands piled up together.

"See, now our hands are all stained as well." After stacking their hands for a moment, Catherine turned around and walked off, speaking over her shoulder to Freya, "We’re all in this together, innocent blood and all. If this choice is a sin, if we have to bear the grudge of the innocents, then let’s bear it together." (To be continued. If you like this work, please cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets at Qidian.com (qidian.com.) Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)