Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 599 - 66: 8th Floor_1

Chapter 599: Chapter 66: 8th Floor_1

"The pillar of fire just then was really strange." Catherine stared blankly at the tunnel after the flame pillar disappeared, only now noticing some minute differences in the underground cavity, such as the blackened circular walls from burning, some crystallized parts in the cave, and the absence of any fauna and flora around the cave - all of these minute details testified to the sporadic high temperatures here.

"How did these pillars of fire appear?" Vivian searched through her knowledge, but couldn’t find a reason, "It can’t be a volcanic eruption, nor a combustion, and not an explosion either. So what exactly caused it?"

"Nobody knows." Ike shrugged, "A friend once half-jokingly called them the breath of the King of Hell, which I think is quite fitting. But it’s just a joke, and these are not accidents - you can encounter many such fire-erupting spots in these several layers, and the timing of the eruptions is extremely precise; the error would not exceed a minute."

"Tsk tsk." Vivian shook her head without any further comments, looking pensively at the place where the flame pillar had emerged. Lina gently patted her head, nudging her to follow the team forward.

The entire eighth layer, although scorching hot, was covered with unusually expansive vegetation. Most areas were blanketed by thick grass, and occasionally there were a few short trees growing among it. The luminescence from the crystals seemed to replace the role of sunlight to some extent; the leaves of these grasses and short trees were green just like those outside. Walking here, one gets the illusion of being back on the surface world. However, everyone felt a sense of incongruity, unable to figure out where the water source for these diverse plants in such a hot area could be. After all, although the surface was covered with three to four meters of thick soil, the layer below was hard rock, with little groundwater; what did the plants live on?

"Don’t be fooled by the heat here. Remember the passage we took coming down? The ground that looked like a riverbed. Actually, you came just in time, you wouldn’t have been able to get here if you came in June or July because that’s the flood season here." Ike explained, "In June, July, and August, because a large amount of rainfall from the outside world, here has a three-month flood period. The groundwater levels in the underground rivers across all layers rise drastically, and every layer is soaked and nourished by the rushing river water. These plants live off the heavy rainfall during these three months. Of course, aside from these three months, the other nine months aren’t completely dry - the river levels occasionally rise, sweeping through the underground world. It just happens a lot less frequently. Thus, these three months - plus the month before and the one after - are known as the rainy season, and the other eight months are referred to as the dry season. If you came after October, you’d see that by then, the grass and trees here would turn yellow and seem as if they’ve died. However, they revive again in the rainy season of the following year."

"I have to admit, nature is truly magical." Catherine shook her head in admiration, "Without personally coming here, I would’ve never imagined a world with only two seasons in a year."

In the world of the eighth layer, the thick grass was home to a plethora of small herbivorous creatures. These creatures, though odd and unfamiliar in appearance, lived on the expansive underground grasslands, much like their kin on the surface. Bunnies without long ears, ponies only waist-high, and deer with long trailing tails – they all had one thing in common: their fur was extremely short, seemingly for reducing heat accumulation in their body due to the sweltering conditions.

Similarly, a great number of carnivorous magical beasts roamed the grasslands. These carnivorous magical beasts varied in size and were extremely aggressive. Even the small ones were much stronger and faster than the insects in the upper layers. Perhaps because of the abundance of food on the underground grasslands or maybe because these magical beasts were much smarter than insects, they rarely attacked members of the adventure teams. When the adventurers passed by, these carnivorous magical beasts only watched them from a distance with cautious and curious eyes. Unless they were extremely hungry, they wouldn’t treat these unfamiliar creatures as food.

However, there were always exceptions. Some magical beasts, too inept at hunting, could not afford to stay wary of these unfamiliar creatures when starvation hit. Driven by hunger, they followed the adventurers greedily, maintaining a safe distance while waiting for an opportunity. Once they found an opening, they might attack at any time.

But then, a few minutes later, these following magical beasts suddenly whined uniformly, skulking low into the long grass to flee, and refused to return. Catherine gratefully smiled at Pannis and gave him a thumbs up. The reason these magical beasts fled was straightforward; Pannis had enhanced himself using his inherent Psychic Domain, releasing a Demigod’s imposing aura. It might not be very noticeable to humans. Slower individuals might not even sense it all. But these magical beasts were different, even the most sluggish magical beast was extremely sensitive to such a strong pressure. In the eyes of these magical beasts, Pannis had suddenly become more terrifying than the most formidable predator, making them instinctively shy away from the team.

"These magical beasts are indeed much smarter than those bugs in the upper layers." Pannis said, "Those bugs often act solely on instinct, eating when hungry and sleeping when tired, not caring whether they can overpower their prey. But these magical beasts are different, they can already differentiate between strong and weak. They’re very much like the creatures on the surface. However, why are they in the deeper layers underground, rather than those bugs?"

"No one knows the answer either." Ike said, "It’s been like this since God knows when, and who knows how much longer it will last. As for the reason, besides scholars, who cares?"

"Wait a moment." Catherine suddenly stopped the team with a wave of her hand, and hurried over to a bare rock nearby, saying, "Look over here, there seems to be some man-made objects. They look quite aged. Could they be related to our target?"

The rest of the group tensed up and gathered around the rock. Indeed, just as Catherine said, there were numerous metal goods with obvious human traces, including a rusted knife, a metal canister, a buckle, a metal chain, and items like a metal spike used for fixing. But after looking at them, Pannis shook his head, "These were probably left by explorers long ago. If in a few thousand years another group comes here and finds traces of our camp on the seventh level, they might react the same way. However, it seems that they left in a hurry. They didn’t take away many things."

"This is not just about leaving in a rush." Ike said, "It looks like they were attacked very suddenly and found it difficult to resist, so they fled in a hurry. There’s an even greater possibility that they straight up died nearby, their team wiped out, so they didn’t have a chance to pack up their things."

"This story isn’t pleasant at all, but it’s certainly true." Catherine sighed, not only expressing regret for these unfortunate souls, but also exhaling for these non-goblin artifacts, "If it has nothing to do with goblins, then we must continue searching. By the way, these things, should we bury them? They might be considered relics after all."

"There’s absolutely no need. In this underground world, we don’t do such things." Ike shook his head, "Objects left by those who’ve died or fled; if someone comes across them and can use them, they’ll use them. If not, they leave them untouched, waiting for the next passerby. Who knows, these relics may save the lives of a future team."

"These rules seem similar to many rules of seafaring," Catherine nodded, "Perhaps many high-risk outdoor professions have similar rules. After all, this is done for the welfare of others, and in another way, for oneself."

After confirming that these things had nothing to do with the goblins, everyone was disappointed to have to continue exploring within a 50-kilometer radius of Earth’s Scar. Exploring, unlike quickly passing through as they did on the seventh level, involves meticulously search small subsections of the area based on the estimated size of the target structure; no details are overlooked. Particularly in the winding environment of the Underground World of Earth’s Scar, an unassuming cave might be the only access point to the target.

This is a very tedious and complicated task, requiring great patience for smooth progress. However, the team also discovered another characteristic of the eighth-level magical beasts. It seemed like the beasts realized the adventure team was not easy to deal with. Many of the hungry beasts switched their tactic to ambush prey rather than following and attacking. They lay hidden in long grass, behind trees, at tunnel turns, or behind supporting columns in caves. If the girls showed the slightest gap in their attention, a few magical beasts would emerge unexpectedly. Pannis couldn’t even give a warning because the amount of lurking beasts was just too great.

Consistent teamwork amongst the girls, even on the eighth level, proved to be undefeatable. In a short time, they discovered an effective way to combat the surprise attacks. Ultimately, Catherine, as the knight, focused mainly on defending and hardly participating in the search. Any magical beast that suddenly ambushed would face a strong counterattack from her. The other girls, working together with Pannis, meticulously searched every possible area. With this division of labor, their speed improved significantly.

Time flew by and before they knew it, three hours had passed. The team had not found anything except for sweat-soaked clothes and parched throats. Catherine sighed tiredly, "Let’s rest and regain our strength. We’ll head towards that slope in the forest ahead. The trees should offer some respite from the surrounding heat." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users should go to m.qidian.com to read it.)