Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 696 - 57 Approaching Danger_1

Chapter 696: Chapter 57 Approaching Danger_1

"If we could make our way down from here." Pannis was lying on the edge of an ice crevice, peering down into it. The visibility in the crevice was clear with no fog obscuring the view. After looking around for a bit, he said, "We might be able to avoid taking a longer detour. Look at the direction this crevice follows—it may lead directly through the range of ice mountains ahead. The range doesn’t seem too extensive, but making our way around it would take at least two hours."

"Dear Mr. Pannis, have you considered another problem?" Freya lay next to Pannis, copying his same action and looking down at the valley floor. She then said, "Indeed, this place isn’t too deep, perhaps over eighty meters. Going down wouldn’t be too hard. We could use climbing ropes to descend, but once we cross the ice mountains on the other side, how do we go up? I don’t think you can climb over ice as smooth as a mirror. Perhaps you could manage to climb two or three stories, but this is over eighty meters. Moreover, we still don’t know the actual conditions on the other side—the height might even exceed eighty meters. Uh, why are you staring at me like that? Don’t tell me you can actually climb up..."

"No, no, no, I was not referring to myself." Pannis looked at Freya weirdly and asked, "Has Catherine’s enforced diet starved you so much that it has destroyed your memory center? You should not be confounding like this."

"There’s nothing wrong with my mind, Mr. Pannis! You have truly broken my heart. Do you really want to hurt the innocent spirit of a girl who is so in love with you?" Freya clutched her chest, acting pained and desolate. Her gaze suddenly swept over Ava’s expressionless face and, taken aback, she laughed awkwardly, "Ha, ha, ha, perhaps I am actually starving, ha-ha-ha. It’s just a temporary lapse, that’s all. Please stop staring at me."

Pannis deliberately released a deep sigh, glancing at Freya pityingly before shaking his head without a word. He then turned towards Ava and asked, "You have no issues going down, right, Ava? Let’s descend together, traverse through the gorge, and once we reach the other side, you can fly up and secure some ropes for us. Hovering over an eighty-meter height wouldn’t be too strenuous for you, would it?"

"Of course, it wouldn’t." Ava affirmed with a nod as she stepped towards the edge of the crevice and said while standing on thin air, "Should I go down first to wait for you? Or do you want me to secure the lower end of the rope as well?"

"That won’t be necessary, we can climb down ourselves." Freya wasn’t in the mood to argue with Pannis, "Pannis, you go down first. I will use machines to descend, which will be slower."

"That’s fine; go slow if you need to," Pannis replied, shaking his head. "This place isn’t safe. It’s better for me to stay up here and cover you."

"Do as you please." Freya nodded, securing a few small devices to her wrists and ankles before grabbing the rope. Her method of rappelling differed from everyone else’s. While everyone else would rappel facing the wall, she did so with her back to the wall. This was because she needed to use the mechanical arm on her back to contact the rock wall, control the speed of descent, and adjust the direction.

Ava was the first to descend while Freya was preparing. Stepping into the icy crevice, Ava floated down slowly as if she had no weight at all. The descent was steady and vertical to the ground. Following Ava, Freya descended by sliding down the wire rope. Whenever her speed became too fast, the metallic claws that were mounted on her back sprang out and dug into the icy walls. Although the ice wall was smooth, the metallic claws could still create enough resistance to slow her descent from fast to slow, enabling her to reach the ground safely.

When the princess of the Holy City set foot on the solid ground, she immediately raised her Crystal Energy gun and looked out around her cautiously. However, the surroundings were empty, and there were no large magical beasts in sight. Although the crevice remained cold, it seemed a bit warmer than the surface. The bottom part of the wall was devoid of ice, and green mosses and lichens intertwined and spread across the walls, like a green coat worn by the boulders. Countless insects, each wider than two thumbs side by side, crawled about within the green plants, munching on them. As they ate, they got moss spores and lichen filaments all over their bodies, unknowingly aiding the plants in their proliferation. Seeing all this, Freya felt a chill run down her spine. Fortunately, during the last half of her descent, the presence of the metallic claws had kept her back at some distance from the ice wall. Otherwise, her clothes might have been smeared with smashed insects and sickening slime.

"I am coming down." Pannis gave a loud shout from above before descending along the rope. His descent was almost without pause, his feet slightly touching the icy walls a few times before he landed safely in front of the group of girls. Upon landing, Pannis noticed the plants and insects on the walls and frowned, "This is strange."

"What’s the matter?" Freya asked puzzledly. "Shouldn’t there be such plants and insects here?"

"Of course not." Pannis shook his head, "Having these is actually normal. On the ice plain, any exposed ground hosts something like this. However, if these are present, there should be numerous small Magical Beasts coming to feed on these insects, but we have not seen any. Ava, you were the first to come down. Did you see any other Magical Beasts?"

"Not a single one." Ava shook her head blankly, "When I came down, it was just like this."

"Then, let’s be careful," Pannis suggested as he secured the lower end of the climbing rope to the ground. He motioned everyone to move forward along the bottom of the crevice. "There might be other dangers present, such as Upper Rank magical beasts. They must have been here recently, or perhaps they are still lying in wait, scaring away the smaller Magical Beasts that might be feeding here."

The three advanced along the natural corridor at the bottom of the crevice with heightened caution. Nothing apart from the insects was encountered the entire way. As they moved further, they felt more and more uneasy. Seeing no predators in a place teeming with prey was quite abnormal. Fortunately, they successfully crossed the barrier of the ice mountains without encountering any danger and finally reached the other end of the crevice.

"Ascend quickly." Pannis felt a sense of unease and urged, "I feel like danger is slowly closing in."

Just like when descending, Ava was the first to float upwards. She reached the top of the cliff successfully, securing another rope there. Without waiting for Pannis to remind her, Freya grabbed the rope and began to climb. Climbing up was significantly tougher than descending, hence taking a lot more time. The good thing was that as a mechanic, aided by her climbing devices and other equipment, she ascended consistently without exerting much of her strength. It took her quite a while, but Freya finally reached the top of the crevice. Before she could even steady herself, she heard a cry of surprise from Ava. Along with that, there was another strange noise, sharp and shrieking, like the howling of a violent wind passing through a cleft in a door. (To be continued... If you like this story, please support us by casting your recommendation votes and monthly votes at qidian.com. Your support is our biggest motivation. Mobile users can access m.qidian.com to read.)