Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 514 - 77 - Fierce Battle_1

Chapter 514: Chapter 77 - Fierce Battle_1

Under the silver moon, an eerie purple light flickered outside the Silver Fortress, its allure as destructive as it was mesmerizing. Outside the fortress, two girls stood shoulder to shoulder. The knight draped in silver armor had black hair, her knightsword gleaming in the moonlight. The silver-haired priestess clad in black leather armor held aloft a silver warhammer, her hand resting on the open pages of a silver spellbook. Her divine aura, coupled with the crescent-shaped scar on her forehead, lent her the ethereal charm of a goddess. Energy bullets began to rumble from the Silver Fortress, grazing past the two girls and occasionally stirring up their loose hair in the wind. These energy bullets exploded amid the enemy forces, causing ripples of shockwaves. With each explosion, an enemy’s shield would shatter, their bearers screaming and scattering in all directions. Those who hurled towards the fortress would be struck by the purple light curtain, enduring another attack from a Legendary Magician’s elemental spell. Unless they were of Legendary Rank themselves, or they would suffer severe damage — if not death — from such a powerful magic attack.

Catherine might be compassionate and reluctant to deal with the atrocities of war during peacetime. But once she entered into battle as a knight, she never ceased her charge forward. Pain, repentance, redemption — these were issues to be contemplated after the battle had ended. In the midst of battle, there were only enemies: either those that had fallen or had surrendered were harmless; all others were to be eliminated. Any sympathy for the enemy was a betrayal to allies who entrusted their lives to her. Thus, Catherine’s gaze was as tranquil as the deep sea, undisturbed by the chaos around her. With a determined knock of her sword and shield, she exchanged glances with Lina besides her and advanced steadily forward.

Priestesses, as a caster profession, unfortunately lacks physical strength compared with their equally ranked fighter counterparts and had no combat skills to speak of. This has lead many to perceive them as fragile as mages, capable of fighting only under the protection of teammates. However, while priestesses may indeed be weaker in single combat against fight professions, they could effectively function as resilient shields in large-scale brawls. Their divine enchantments temporarily boosted their strength and speed to the level of fighter professions, and their powerful healing abilities ensured they were always in fighting shape. Thus, coming up against a melee priestess in battle was a real headache. It was rumored that in ages past, there once existed heavily armored priestesses, fearsome battle-priestesses that were even more formidable.

Although Lina hadn’t donned heavy armor, she was not daunted by close-ranged combat for short periods. Her real weakness was the gap that occurred when the battle stretched on too long — the period from when her divine enchantment wore off until she could cast it again — leaving her vulnerable for seemingly endless minutes. However, with the double fortress behind her, she could simply retreat inside to recast her spells as soon as they’re about to wear off, effectively concealing her weakness. As such, Lina had no worries. She and Catherine stood back-to-back, with Catherine to the front left and Lina to the right rear. They supported each other as they trudged ahead amidst the horde.

Each time they moved, at least five crystal energy guns from the Metal Fortress would shift their focus towards them. The energy bullets continuously exploded among the enemies near them. While it might not effectively damage higher ranked enemies, it seriously hampered their attempts to encircle Catherine and Lina. This effectively kept Silver Rank Sea Race minions at bay and took a toll on their Gold Rank counterparts who had to constantly maintain their shields, leaving them little energy to focus on the two girls. Only the Legendary Rank minions of the Sea Race could endure the barrage of energy bullets and engage directly with the two girls. Still, under Catherine’s superior defense, they failed to pose any significant threat to the duo.

The two girls were also having a difficult time. Although they could maneuver through the crowd with the cover of the crystal energy gun, their real purpose was not to fight, but to search for their mission target. Dividing their concentration like this during battle was very dangerous.

"Let’s split our tasks," suggested Catherine after walking a few steps and realizing the danger. She frowned, thinking for a moment before speaking to the Lina behind her. "I’ll focus on defense, and you can focus on the search. Let’s make a few circles around the fortress within a radius of fifteen meters. If we can’t finish searching within two rounds, we’ll go for a third. We must search every inch of this ground."

"No problem, I’m more suited to searching," replied Lina, holding her spellbook. With a wave of her hammer towards the front, a controlled Sea Race member was suddenly hit as if by an invisible boulder. His nose spurted blood and his body flew backward, knocking over another person behind him. After sending one foe flying, Lina shifted her hammer and held it horizontally, blocking an attack from an enemy’s bone fork with just one hand before kicking them away. "If we’re close enough to the target, I should be able to sense it."

"That’s why I said you should be the one searching," responded Catherine. She grabbed the top of the Magicsteel Shield with both hands, lifting it flat before spinning quickly around Lina. Luckily there were no Legendary Ranked enemies around. The dense foes were slapped away in quick succession by the whirlwind-like shield, creating a temporary gap around the two girls. Once she completed the circle, Catherine steadied the shield again with her left arm and walked forward a few steps. "Be thorough. Check every nook and cranny. We can’t waste all our efforts, let alone let innocent blood to flow in vain."

"Don’t worry, big sis," answered Lina. The hammer in her hand touched the ground, a pale yellow light coalesced into a barrier that blocked the weapons of several enemies. Then, when the enemies’ weapons bounced away, her hammer swept horizontally. The light wall promptly disappeared, allowing the hammer to hit the enemies’ waists continuously without hindrance. Although the enemy’s Golden Rank bodies were physically sturdy, the hits from her hammer still caused considerable pain. As the enemies retreated, clutching their waists, Lina found time to continue speaking. "You can keep circling outward slowly. I’ll remind you when we’ve searched the area you designated."

In truth, the four girls were quite fortunate because the enemies here were not too densely packed. If the enemies were to press forward in a tight huddle, even the breakthrough power of Catherine and Lina, coupled with the support from the crystal energy gun, wouldn’t enable them to move freely. In such a scenario, they probably wouldn’t be able to search even a meter of space and would be forced back by the wall of enemies. Even as strong as they were, they couldn’t hold their ground against hundreds of Upper Rank professionals clustered together. But the enemies were fairly spread out, with a fair amount of space in between, allowing the two girls some room to maneuver. Furthermore, the enemies from afar didn’t seem too eager to attack and were more inclined to defend their positions. Only the enemies within a certain range launched aggressive attacks, so they didn’t have to confront hundreds of Upper Rank professionals at once. Given these circumstances, despite the overwhelming number of enemies, the girls’ situation was slightly better than expected. However, after making just two simple rounds around the fortress, half an hour passed, and the purple light curtain around the fortress was already slightly dimmer than before.

"We should really thank them for being under control," In the midst of the melee, Lina got unavoidably sliced by a few bone swords at her waist. The wounds weren’t too deep, but they struggled to heal under the continuous effect of the Healing Spell. Despite the injuries, Lina still kept her humorous spirit up. "If they weren’t under control and still had their Divine Wisdom, with this many enemies including thirty to forty of the Legendary Rank, we’d probably have been turned to dust by now."

"Have you been beaten senseless?," Catherine puffed, her hair wet with perspiration and plastered onto her dirty face. But because of her flushed face from the intense battle, her smile stood out as extraordinarily radiant. "If they weren’t under control, why would we even need to fight? We could just sit and have a cup of tea, chat about life, and then head back home."

"Don’t you think this is Pannis’ style?" Lina pushed back the enemies around her, bent over to flip over several large pieces of shattered rocks on the ground, and shook her head in disappointment. "I wonder what strange methods he would use to resolve this situation if he were here."

"Are you mocking my methods as inferior to his?" Although Catherine’s words sounded sharp, they were not serious at all, uttered off-handedly. "Don’t forget that I am your big sister. But well, you might be right. His seemingly strange methods always turned out astonishingly effective. It seems we can’t match him."

"Of course, his adventure experience is probably richer than ours combined." With the passage of time, the frequency of their chat increased. This was a necessary choice when physical fatigue built up to a certain degree. They had to divert their attention through conversation to psychologically alleviate their fatigue. Lina chuckled and said: "I don’t think he’s as young as he appears. Who knows what methods he uses to deceive girls everywhere as if he’s a young man. Big sister, are you interested in digging into this?"

"You better give up, or he might retaliate by investigating your secrets." Catherine’s sore and fatigued arm missed a beat and a Legendary Rank enemy sliced a bloody wound on her thigh. Nevertheless, he face didn’t betray any pain. She still wore a smile as she responded: "But if you do find the answer, remember to let me know. I, too, want to stay young forever."

"Keep dreaming, I’m not that foolish." Although Catherine couldn’t see her, Lina still playfully stuck out her tongue. After a brief silence, she suddenly said: "Big sister, let’s go back first, I think I’ve made a discovery."

"The mission target?" Catherine asked eagerly.

"That’s right, I think I’ve found a hint." Lina nodded and said: "Let’s head back and discuss."

"Okay." Catherine and Lina made an all-out effort to rush back to the edge of the fortress, yelling loudly: "Open the gate". (To be continued. If you like this work, please consider giving us your vote of recommendation on qidian.com, your support is our greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)