Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 526 - 89: Departed Hero_1

Chapter 526: Chapter 89: Departed Hero_1

Doris seemed to have guessed what Catherine was pointing at and waited in silence. As expected, Catherine unbuckled her girdle, took off the Sea Emperor Crown hanging on her waistband, and held it in both hands before Doris.

"This is the Sea Emperor Crown that belongs to Lord Caleto, which was retrieved during the mission," Catherine said solemnly. "Unfortunately, it was not handy in the mission. The Storm God Temple should have it back. It belongs to you."

Doris nodded, took the crown in both hands, lifted it to her eyes for a look, and said with a sigh of relief: "No wonder Matthew told me that you have not used it. That is the reason."

"Huh?" Catherine asked in confusion, "What reason? Is there a problem?"

"It’s broken," Pannis said behind Catherine, "It lost all the functions of being a crown long ago."

"Broken?" All the girls stared at Pannis with eyes as if they had seen a ghost, apparently depressed by the additional guilt they felt: "How do you know it’s broken?"

"I checked it." Pannis asked inexplicably, "Didn’t you check something that might be used?"

"Let’s stop dwelling on this matter." Catherine coughed a few times and said, "I remember this mistaken opinion that the use of surrounding items may be overlooked due to our inexperience and insufficient perspective. This kind of rookie error won’t be made again."

"Hmm, I understand." Pannis then guessed what had happened. Without saying anything more that might embarrass the girls, he asked Doris, "Have you found out the reason? I tried several times, but I couldn’t activate the crown, let alone the realm of the sea god you mentioned. I suspect that the crown was damaged in the war back then, or it was sealed after being snatched away by the enemy."

"It’s my mistake." Doris sighed and said, "I was not physically present before and I failed to notice the problem with the crown. According to Matthew, you died once because of it? That curse is really powerful, it can actually reverse life and death. Fortunately, the curse was there, otherwise... I really don’t know how to face those old friends then."

"Can you stop worrying about things that didn’t happen?" Pannis said, rolling his eyes, "What’s the matter with this thing? Just to state, we are not the ones who broke it. Don’t seek compensation from us, go to Demos’s church."

"Over the years, you haven’t improved in other matters, but you’ve become more and more scoundrel." Doris said with a laugh due to Pannis’s words, "The crown is not broken, it has activated its self-protection function and closed itself. This is an inherent function of the Holy Artifact. When the user encounters a powerful enemy and may not be able to protect the artifact, it will consciously activate this function, so when the Holy Artifact accidentally falls into the enemy’s hands, it will not provide assistance to the enemy. It is normal for you to be unable to handle it. Only the high priest of the sea god can lift the protection function, and no one else can do it. Ah, I should have expected this situation to happen. Then you should have come back, and you wouldn’t need to fall into danger."

For a moment, the atmosphere turned heavy again. Pannis blinked and then suddenly said, "Our mission is to solve the problem of the Sea Race being controlled in the Devilish Sea Area, not including this crown, now that we have additional income, you can’t just give it to you."

As expected, Pannis was met with several fierce stares. At this Doris could only chuckle bitterly and say, "Fine, fine, I will restore the crown first, and we can negotiate the price later."

Under the curious gaze of the girls, Doris held the Sea Emperor Crown in front of her and slowly released her hands. The crown defied gravity and eerily floated in mid-air. Doris’s eyes were fixed on the crown, mumbling prayers under her breath that were not audible. The girls could feel that special energy was constantly gathering on the crown from the surrounding ocean, forming a strong energy field around the crown. The energy around the crown kept intensifying, and Doris’s prayers became more and more urgent, until finally when the energy strength reached an astonishing height, a dazzling light burst out from the crown. Another sun seemed to rise on the island, the bright light made everyone have to close their eyes. When the light faded, and people opened their teary and sore eyes, the crown had landed steadily on the ground. However, what surprised everyone, including Doris, was that at the original location of the crown, stood a strange blonde merfolk.

The suddenly appeared mermaid was very tall, standing more than two meters high in the Ocean Form, much taller than Pannis. However, although she was tall, she didn’t look clumsy, and her well-proportioned body brought her a unique charm. But soon everyone found something different about the blonde mermaid: she seemed to be no longer alive, just a residual spirit, her figure was as unstable as a cloud of fog, and it seemed that she could disappear from thin air at any time.

"You are... the ancestor Amphitrite?" Doris was the first to wake up. She figured out the identity of the blonde mermaid, and said surprisingly, "Lady Amphitrite, are you still alive? No, no, no, I mean, does your soul still exist in the mortal world?"

Amphitrite didn’t answer, she glanced around, staring directly at the High Priest behind Doris who was holding a special box in her hands—exactly at the box in her hands. After staring for a few seconds, Amphitrite opened her mouth. Her voice was as cold as the icy water in the deep sea, almost without a trace of worldly temperature: "Has it been resolved?"

"Yes." Doris replied respectfully, "With the help of several human adventurers, the Nightmare Artifact has been completely destroyed."

"Adventurer? What is that?" Amphitrite obviously relaxed and her figure faded a lot. Although her voice was still cold, her tone softened, "Forget it, I don’t need to know anymore. How many years have passed now?"

"According to the records of the Storm God Temple, it has been 3,655 years." Doris answered.

"Good, it’s not too long." Amphitrite’s response felt very strange to the human girls. However, for the Sea Race, with a lifespan of 1,500 years, more than 3,000 years is indeed not too long. Itʼs similar to two hundred years for humans, which is only four or five generations. Amphitrite—it was rare to see her smile—she said softly, "Now that the matter has been resolved, I can safely go to the realm of my master."

"Are you leaving now?" Doris asked with some reluctance, "We have not yet seen the current state of the Sea Race."

"My time is running out." Amphitrite shook her head: "By the way, is Nina okay?"

"Nina?" Doris asked puzzled: "I haven’t heard of this person."

"Nina was the one who fought against the Sea Beast with me." Amphitrite explained, "The longest-lived beast of the deep sea, her life dates back to the First Epoch, already surpassing two hundred thousand years."

"I’m sorry, great ancestor." Doloris lowered her head in sorrow, "We found a large and amazing skeleton next to your bones, perhaps..."

"It seems that Nina also died in battle." Amphitrite interrupted Doris with a bitter smile, "Before I died, I felt that Nina had also suffered a fatal attack, I just asked about her with a glimmer of hope."

"My Lord, what happened back then?" Doris asked, "Was your soul trapped in the Sea Emperor’s Crown all this time?"

"Not exactly trapped... it was rather my good fortune." Amphitrite explained, "Before I died, I activated the crown’s protective measures, closing it. The moment the crown closed, I had just died and my soul had just left my body, and was sealed inside the crown. It’s lucky that my soul was sealed, the power of that Divine Artifact was too strong. Under its suppression, I simply couldn’t go to my Lord’s Divine Kingdom. Had it not been for that sealing, my soul would have completely dissipated, never having the chance to stand by my Lord’s side again. So, you can say it was my good fortune, but it was rather uncomfortable to be in there for so long."

"You mean you stayed conscious in there all that time?" Doris asked in horror, "Over three thousand years, you..."

"Yes, I was conscious the whole time." Although Amphitrite spoke lightly, spending over three thousand years in darkness and solitude was a terror no one dared to imagine. But she said calmly, "Don’t be surprised, I think it was worth it. Looking at you now shows me that those years of torment were not in vain."

"Indeed, ancestor. Your death bought us precious time," Doris nodded firmly, "It was your battle back then that gave us the opportunity to resolve our problems once and for all."

"That’s enough for me." Amphitrite smiled. The smile on her cold face was like ice thawing. She turned her gaze to the five people in the adventure team, whispering, "I trust you are the humans I heard about. Thank you for your selfless help. I don’t have much time to express my gratitude now, but in the future, I will pray endlessly for you in my Lord’s Divine Kingdom. I wish you all the best."

Faced with the gratitude of this hero of the Sea Race from thousands of years ago, all five adventurers could do was bow down and pay their respects to the fallen hero. Despite their different races, Amphitrite’s spirit of sacrifice had earned their respect.

"The time has come." Amphitrite looked up at the sky, "I should go."

"Won’t you say goodbye to an old friend?" From the crowd of people who had stopped not far away, two sea tribesmen who had followed Doris to this island walked out, "Didn’t expect to see you again, Amphitrite."

"Badiya?" Amphitrite asked in surprise, "And Bayer? It’s great that you two are still alive."

"Are you really leaving just like that?" Badiya asked regretfully, "I still wanted to have a chat with you, so..."

"I must go." Amphitrite tried to pat Badiya’s shoulder, but her illusory hand passed right through his body, "As you see, there’s no other way. But there’s no need for sorrow. I’ll be reborn in my Lord’s territory as a divine servant. You all should..."

Before she finished speaking, Amphitrite evaporated into a mist and dissipated as abruptly as she had appeared. The few humans and Sea Race folks were taken aback for a moment, and then they all managed strained smiles.

"Anyway, seeing our ancestors is always a happy thing." Doris somehow cheered herself up and flashed a smile, "It was you who gave me this opportunity, Catherine. As we said before, let us celebrate the successful completion of this mission with a grand feast."

"It is our honor." Catherine, too, intentionally avoided any discussion about Amphitrite and extended her hand with a smile for Doris to grab it. They walked together toward the large group of Sea Race. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote and donate a monthly pass on qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)