Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 574 - 41 Rapid Descent_1

Chapter 574: Chapter 41 Rapid Descent_1

"Clang, clang, clang," Pannis drove three Alloy Steel Pins deep into the rocks at the edge of the Earth’s Scar. A climbing rope that extended to four hundred meters passed through the rings atop each pin and then dangled down the cliff of the Earth’s Scar. The climbing rope was made from the same material as everyone’s wristbands, its strength guaranteed. The rope’s thinness made it easy to carry. Even so, carrying two ropes of this length took up a lot of space. As such, the group didn’t opt to weave artificial weight-bearing knots onto the Alloy Steel Pins. Instead, they chose this rapid descent method, which allowed them to reclaim the rope at any time.

"The rocks here seem a bit unreliable, I feel a bit uneasy about using three steel pins for insurance," said Pannis, tugging the rope. His demigod strength was far beyond the combined weight of several ordinary people. Yet, even so, the three Alloy Steel Pins remained firmly in place, "It seems fine. Ike, you go down first to mark the landing spot. I’ll guard from above and descend last. This way, we can prevent any dangerous situations from occurring."

Ike nodded, wrapped the rope around the descending ring a few times, stepped on the rock wall, and dropped down along the rope. From the top of the Earth’s Scar, Ike looked like an agile mountain goat, climbing and jumping on the cliff. He quickly disappeared from everyone’s sight due to an outcrop of rock on the cliff. After a few minutes, vibrations reached everyone’s Resonance Crystal. Catherine picked up Vivian, tied her onto her back, pulled up the climbing rope again and tied it securely, and jumped down second. Catherine’s descending speed was noticeably slower than Ike’s, but she was also skilled. After descending nearly two hundred meters, she looked down and saw a horizontal crack in the rock wall. This crack was hidden from the spot where the group stood above. It was about eight meters long and three meters high, and recessed about five to six meters into the rock wall. Guide Ike had already secured three more Alloy Steel Pins inside the crack and was leaning out, waving his arms.

"I see you," Catherine responded, then jumped at the sound of her own voice. In this open, ring-shaped cavern, her shout was reflected and amplified by the surrounding rock walls, sounding like a loud yell. Noticing this, Catherine didn’t dare continue speaking. She descended to the crack, swung in the air a few times, and landed accurately within the crack.

After setting Vivian down and notifying those above using the Resonance Crystal, Catherine started examining the crack. It appeared to have been formed by natural erosion. The ground inside sloped slightly inwards, and it was somewhat bigger than the entrance. A considerable number of fractured rocks had accumulated on the ground. Standing at the entrance, one could feel gusts of hot air blowing up from below, but it was nowhere near as intense as on an ordinary cliff. Everything seemed normal inside the crack, but to Catherine’s surprise, there were many signs of human activity in the corner of the deep crack, including the remains of a fire pit, shattered pottery, a rusty dagger, and so on.

"How did these things get here?" Catherine was surprised for a moment before she suddenly slapped her forehead and said, "They must have been left by explorers like you, Mr. Ike."

"Yes, most of them were left by me," Ike confirmed after helping Lina into the crack, "In the days when I often came here to explore, sometimes, on coming out of the Earth’s Scar, I’d find that it was still daytime, so I would hide here and wait till nightfall to leave. The forest below is full of dangerous magical beasts, it’s much safer here."

Just as he was speaking, a weird rattling sound suddenly came from outside the crack. Catherine peeked out, imitating Ike’s gesture to look up, and saw Freya gently sliding down the rope with one hand. Four metal limbs protruded from her back, looking like a spider. The limbs, under her control, drove their tips deep into the cliff and alternated contractions to crawl downwards. The hand Freya had on the rope was only there to prevent accidents. In no time, Freya had approached the crack in the rock face. She actually somersaulted into the horizontal crack from the top while hanging upside down. She only loosened her grip on the limbs when she arrived in the depths of the crack, letting herself fall from the top. Her long metal limbs then folded up behind her, making them hard to notice from the front.

This bizarre scene would have been scary for inexperienced villagers and could have been used to frighten disobedient children at night. However, Catherine only rolled her eyes in response and complained, "From the reward for the deep-sea mission, you might have spent your part on crystals, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have so much money to supply energy to your weird machinery."

"Father used to say that the purpose of money is to make life easier, not to rot away," Freya said nonchalantly. "If there’s a technique that can save me some effort, why would I bother saving a few hundred gold coins by choosing a more laborious option?"

"Damn capitalist," Catherine muttered discontentedly. "Once I pay off my debts, I have to try this luxurious lifestyle. I’ll leave all the lights in the house on all night, every night and keep the Constant-temperature Array activated in the whole mansion."

"Sis, although I don’t really want to interrupt your daydream," Vivian, who was sitting idly staring outside the crack, said, "I must remind you that the energy consumed if you were to do that comes from my Leyline Absorption Array, it has nothing to do with living a lavish lifestyle."

"And even if you really repay all your debts, you probably wouldn’t be able to do that," said Lina, carefully wiping the thick sheepskin cover of the novel in her hands without looking up. "This habit of yours has become instinctual. I don’t believe you would change it just because you don’t have debts anymore."

Before Catherine could retort, Pannis leapt into the crack from outside, landing light as a feather. As soon as he landed, he began pulling one end of the combined ropes to reclaim it, saying, "Ike, get ready for the next layer. The distance should allow us for an additional transfer, right? It’s been so long, I can’t remember well."

"You’re right," Ike confirmed as he threaded another four hundred meter long rope through the Alloy Steel Pins while Pannis was reclaiming the combined ropes. "We can make another transfer after descending about further 170 meters or so. But that place won’t be as comfortable as this crack, so it’s best everyone prepares mentally. We don’t want anyone to get scared."

"No problem." Pannis said, wrapping up the retrieved climbing rope and handing it over to Ike: "You go first. I recall that place, I’ll explain to them."

"How come?" Viewing Ike beginning to slide down the rope, Catherine also forgot the linguistic warfare with the girls earlier, and asked in confusion: "Is the second layer steep?"

"It’s not as scary as it sounds." Pannis explained: "There’s a protruding rock from the cliff, about five meters long and a little over one meter wide. Several people standing on it should be fine, there’s just a bit of a squeeze, and the environment is a bit open. Once you guys go down, if you’re worried, you can sit down next to the rock wall, that would be the safest."

Catherine’s mouth quivered, she picked up Vivian again and sighed, shaking her head: "I always feel that after everyone ascended to Legendary, we haven’t come across too many powerful enemies, but have come across many natural dangers that cannot be warded off by human strength. As usual, the two of us will go down first, Lina, you catch up later."

Lina stood at the edge of the crevice, holding the Magical Beast Handbook issued by the Adventurer’s Guild, impatiently flipping through it quickly. Catherine had already gone down the rope, but Lina didn’t dare to look down the edge of the crack, for fear of seeing something she didn’t want to see. Catherine had just left for a minute, but in Lina’s mind, it felt as if she had been gone for a year, with every second feeling agonizingly long.

"You should worry about yourself." Freya sat on the ground with her knees hugged to her chest, looking at the distant rock wall through the crevice, and said in a low voice: "Catherine is a knight and has much better balance than you, Vivian has a fall reduction spell, they are the least likely to have accidents, you are the one who should be worrying."

"I’m even less likely to matter." Lina said, tugging at her own silver hair: "Even if it is a cliff, as long as my feet touch the mountainside, Lady Denia will always guard me, there’s no need to worry at all."

"If it doesn’t matter to you, it matters even less to them." Freya laughed reasonably: "So spare that book, even if it’s not your favorite novel, you can’t treat it like that."

"They have arrived." Lina suddenly felt the Resonance Crystal she was carrying close to her body vibrate, her anxious expression instantly relaxed, and she said with a laugh: "Then I’ll go ahead, dipshit Freya, thank you."

The descent process went smoothly. Lina gently tread on the rock wall, jumping down and quickly bypassing the rock obstruction. She could see Catherine and Vivian below. The three of them were squeezed onto one protruding rock. The rock was very flat, like a platform protruding from the rock wall. Although the space on it was not large, it was indeed as Pannis said, completely capable of accommodating six people standing. Lina pushed hard against the rock wall, and as she swung back, clinging to the climbing rope, she reached the platform, catching Catherine’s outstretched hand.

"Come, move in a little bit." Catherine waved to her: "Then look down."

Lina obediently walked to Catherine’s side, turned her head, and saw a sight she was unlikely to forget in her lifetime.

"Is this the cloud fog layer you mentioned?" Lina’s face was filled with amazement: "There is actually such a place in the world. Originally, I thought that after seeing the fog over the sea from an island, I wouldn’t be amazed by fog anymore, I didn’t expect..."

"Yes, this is the cloud fog layer we mentioned." Ike nodded: "There are endless views in the world, amazing, beautiful ones that can never be fully appreciated, which is why I am willing to be an explorer all my life, to travel across the Yarran Continent and see all the scenic views."(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcomed to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)