Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 588 - 55 - The Giant Scorpion from the Water_1

Chapter 588: Chapter 55 - The Giant Scorpion from the Water_1

"Is there need to think about it?" Catherine patted Lina’s head, who darted to Vivian’s side like a freed bird, engaging in a playful game of cheek-poking. Rolling her eyes with annoyance, Catherine shook her head helplessly before saying, "Since Mr. Ike has brought us here, he must have a way to get us across the river. We don’t need to come up with our own solution."

"You could try using your brain occasionally," Pannis said, shifting the topic. "Isn’t it more satisfying to come up with solutions for problems by yourself?"

"There are only two ways, really." Catherine understood Pannis’s good intentions but still shot him a glare and answered, "Either we cut down trees to form a bridge, and quickly cross that bridge, or we climb to the top of the cave and then come down after crossing it. Considering the possibility of giant scorpions in the water, which could attack us on the bridge, it might be safer to climb up and cross. You see, both sides of the river have these trees, very close to the top of the cave. If we climb them, we can reach the ceiling. There are no stalactites hanging from the ceiling, but if we have Freya’s machinery we can still cross. We could ask Miss Freya to climb first and tie a rope between the trees on both sides, forming a floating bridge in the air for us to cross. Actually, we don’t need a floating bridge. We only need a grace line slightly lower on the other side, so the others wouldn’t even need to climb."

"Incredible," Ike praised, giving a thumbs up. "It’s hard to believe this is your first time here. You’re right, we should cross from above. We’re not like Miss Freya, who can use her machines to climb up, but the top has many bumps and indentations to aid our grip, so we can physically go up and tie the ropes. Of course, if it were just us or only one or two people, we wouldn’t need to tie any rope. We would simply climb across."

"Big sister, Pannis, Mr. Ike," interrupted Vivian. "Come look at this."

They turned to find the three girls gathered around the thawed scorpion corpse, the wet body slumped on the ground. Vivian was squatting next to it, using her magic staff to meticulously inspect its various features. The creature’s pincer had been removed and cast aside—it was almost half a person’s size.

"Look, something’s off with this scorpion," said Vivian. "It’s white, not transparent. We should have spotted it in the water. But none of us noticed it lurking there. Isn’t that strange?"

"Could it be because of the reflection?" Catherine thought back on it. She hadn’t noticed the hiding scorpion either. Turning toward Pannis, she asked, "Did you notice?"

"Not a chance," Pannis answered, shaking his head. "If I had, I would have warned you all. I’m positive, there was nothing unusual in the water."

"It’s not because of the reflection," concluded Vivian. She switched on her shoulder lamp and shone it on the scorpion’s corpse without any difficulty. "Look, I tried light exposure already, and it didn’t have any effect. I also suspected it was because the scorpion was in the water, so I cut off one of its claws and let Freya’s puppet put it in the water. But the result was the same. If the light hits it, you should see it no matter what."

"Something is off," Catherine agreed, folding her arms. She cut off a barb from the scorpion’s tail and tossed it into her backpack—it was a valuable material. "Could it be this type of scorpion can turn invisible? If that’s true, it’s truly terrifying."

"Also, don’t you think this is odd?" Vivian pointed out. "Has anyone seen a scorpion that lives in water? At least, I never came across any record of aquatic scorpions in the Mage Guild’s data repository. Maybe my knowledge is limited, but had any of you heard of such a thing?"

"Eh?" Lina suddenly caught on, looking surprised. "I didn’t even notice until you pointed that out. This is a scorpion, no matter how big it is, it shouldn’t be living in water!"

"Haven’t we seen enough strange creatures since we started this journey?" Pannis asked, shrugging. "Giant dragonflies and mosquitoes, aggressive millipedes, beetles that can fly despite weighing a ton, creatures that seem to be a mix of rocks and living beings. One more underwater scorpion isn’t that much of a shock. Maybe in ancient times, during the First Epoch, all scorpions lived in water?"

"Could that be the case?" Vivian wondered with uncertainty. "It’s possible, given that the creatures here probably still have their ancient features. After this adventure, I think I’ll have to revise a lot of the things I know."

"Not necessarily a bad thing," commented Pannis, still frowning. His gaze was glued to the scorpion’s corpse. "Learning about the past is nothing to be afraid of—though it may not be very useful, it can’t hurt. I’m more interested in why we couldn’t see it."

"Where are you going?" Catherine inquired, a touch surprised, noting that Pannis was headed toward the water. "Could you possibly be going to... "

"I’m going to try an experiment," Pannis declared. "Don’t worry - I’m sure of myself. Otherwise, it will forever nag at me."

Pannis arrived at the bank of the dark river and, mimicking Lina, squatted and swished his hand in the water. Indeed, as Lina had said, the riverwater was hot; his hand felt slightly scalded. How such a scorpion could survive in these conditions was beyond him. After swishing his hand back and forth for a while, a sudden change came over Pannis’s face. Standing abruptly, he announced, "There’s definitely something hidden in the water. A lot of something, maybe ten or more. But you can’t see anything from here. No, that’s not it - things can be seen, but the outlines are faint. Right, right over there; see it? The water is flowing, but they’re not moving - that’s why we can make out their silhouettes. If they were in still, stagnant water, it would be a bit more difficult."

"So, they can camouflage themselves then?" The girls gathered behind Pannis but kept some distance from the edge. "This is a problem. If they can camouflage themselves, we won’t be able to guard against their sneak attacks - except for you, of course."

"Wait a moment before drawing any conclusions," Pannis advised, holding up a hand as he squatted back down and immersed half his arm into the water, closing his eyes to sense the changes in the flow. Five minutes later, his eyes shot open and his body, maintaining its squat, quickly retreated. Directly in front of him, the water’s surface was shattered once more, and a massive pincer generated itself from thin air to appear from the water, reaching out after Pannis and ultimately landing at the edge of the bank. A scorpion much larger than the one before crawled out from the water.

"I see it clearly now," Catherine cried out. "They can only become invisible in the water. As soon as their bodies leave the surface, they lose their camouflage. Notice how its tail, when trailing in the water, is totally invisible, but now little by little it’s becoming visible."

"Mmm, I see it." Pannis barely touched the scorpion’s pincer and it lost its balance, falling forward onto the ground. Before the scorpion had a chance to attack with its tail, Pannis punched the shell on its back, apparently using semi-divinity strength, A shell that didn’t bear a mark even when cut by a sword was now riddled with cracks following Pannis’s punch. White juice gushed out from the cracks. The massive force sent half the scorpion’s body sinking into the ground causing it to beat its painful pincers against the ground, producing a muffled impact sound.

"Mmm, this amount of power can injure it." Pannis, having already dodged to one side, stroked his chin and nodded approvingly. Suddenly, he thrust his sword, piercing the scorpion’s mouth; his one-handed sword going in hilt-deep within it. He stirred it around a bit, causing the scorpion to roll in agony and spew a considerable amount of white blood.

"I understand now." Pannis clapped his hands, leaving the dying scorpion, telling everyone, "We can rest easy for now. It might be due to the gray stripes on their backs, enabling them to refract light in the water, making it difficult for other creatures to spot them. This is probably their innate hunting ability. However, this ability is ineffective on land, of course, this only applies while they’re alive. After they die, they lose this ability. So for now, we don’t need to worry. As long as we keep our distance from the water for the rest of this journey."

"What about this one..." Catherine pointed at the struggling giant scorpion, "Is it okay to just leave it like this?"

"It’ll die soon enough, no need to bother with it," Pannis replied. "Ike, it’s your turn to build the slide up there. I will deal with these two scorpions, their shells should make excellent light armor. Soon, I will test if it’s feasible."

"So, are we setting up camp here today?" Ike asked. "Are we staying on this side or the other?"

"This side, we have already explored it," Pannis replied. "We’re fortunate that we didn’t waste much time on the third floor. Setting up camp here for the night is a positive sign. To celebrate, let’s have something fresh to eat tonight."

"Scorpion meat?" Catherine looked at the struggling scorpion, its pure white meat exposed through the cracked back shell. "Are you sure it’s edible?"

"Let me inspect it properly a bit later, it should be fine," Pannis stated. "They gave us quite a scare, they should pay a little for that. Hehehehe."(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian.com to support us by voting. Your support is the greatest motivation for us. For mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com.)