Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 765 - 30 The Weakness of the Lurker_1

Chapter 765: Chapter 30 The Weakness of the Lurker_1

"When we first ventured into the Marshes, we often had deep exchanges with the Lurkers there while exploring the Southern Marshes with Alcmene." Pannis squinted as he spoke. "Of course, they were just of Legendary Rank lurkers, so having a few dozen of them around had no effect on us. However, from our interactions, we were able to discern their weaknesses pretty clearly."

"First of all, their most formidable weapon and their sturdiest part is their tentacles. Attacking their tentacles directly will not yield the desired result. The crucial point here is, their tentacles have high recuperating ability. If you’ve noticed, they’ve already healed any wounds inflicted on their tentacles."

"Yes," replied Catherine, nodding her agreement. "During their earlier skirmish with the Swamp People, they had sustained some injuries on their tentacles. But just a few minutes later, there’s no trace of any wounds."

"Correct, that’s their recuperative strength, which is very formidable," Pannis said, "So don’t waste your energy attacking their tentacles; aim to attack their real body. They will, in turn, move most of their tentacles to shield themselves, reducing the intensity of their own attacks and allowing you to distract them."

"Moreover, don’t let your experiences fool you. To us humans, our most important organ would be our heads as our brains are located there. Even if the heart gets damaged, as long as we use a high-ranking Divine Spell in time, we could heal it. But once the brain gets destroyed, not even the most potent Divine Spell will be of any help. As to them..."

"Their brain is in the abdomen," Lina interjected, holding up the hefty Magical Beast Handbook. "It says here that their brain hides in the thickest part of their body - right in the middle."

"If you think that way, then you’ve been fooled," Pannis shook his head. "Although their brains are important to them, they are not irreplaceable organs. Most of their directives for actions and thought processes get triggered by something other than their brain. Even if the brain gets destroyed, they may get a bit disoriented but it won’t be fatal, especially with their extreme recuperative ability. Many have fallen prey to overlooking this."

"So, they don’t think with their brains?" Catherine asked, taken aback. "Then where exactly is their weakness located?"

"Their thought-process mechanism is similar to some insects – there is more than one and they are distributed all over their body. Think of insects, which are still able to survive for a number of days or even months with their heads off; I hope you understand what I mean," Pannis explained. "They keep their thought organs in the areas you would like least."

"Are you saying they are there?" Lina said, her face held in disgust as she studied the growths hidden at the base of the Lurkers’ tentacles. "But if they were to keep it there, wouldn’t they be revealing their weaknesses to their enemies?"

"Don’t forget, their tentacles are their strongest defense. Bumps at the root of the tentacles offer the same level of defense as that of their tentacles and it’s quite sturdy compared to the rest of their vulnerable soft body parts. In their natural habitat, they never expose their body including their bumps on the surface of the swamp. So there’s no way enemies can land a hit on them."

"That could complicate things. We would hardly consider that a weakness," Catherine furrowed her brow. "It would be quite a hard task to completely destroy all of those growths in a short amount of time."

"But you don’t need to destroy all of them," Pannis spoke reassuringly with a calm grin. "And for every bump that gets destroyed, it would affect them considerably. Their movements would get sluggish, their thinking would get disoriented. By the time around 40% of it is destroyed, they would essentially lose their ability to fight. If more than 60% of it gets destroyed, they would lose all hope of recovery and might just be left as an immobile mass of flesh."

"Right, I understand," replied Catherine attentively as Pannis quickly explained with an upcoming battle at hand. "So the idea would be to concentrate our attacks on those growths while we are able to defend against their tentacle attacks. We aim to destroy as many of the growths as possible."

"Don’t forget your main task here is to restrain them," Pannis corrected. "The organ at the root of their tentacles is very dense. Especially considering their pseudo-divine physique, their muscles are extraordinarily strong. Even with your strengths, you lot would have a hard time trying to destroy their bumps. But looking at the bigger picture, your point isn’t wrong either. A full-on attack on their bumps, causing as much damage as possible would make them truly alert. This would indeed work for the purpose of hindering them. However, and this is what I wanted to put forward as the third and most important point, you must be extremely careful while attacking their bumps. You must remember this."

"They have other forms of attack?", Catherine enquired with a note of caution in her voice. "And it is related to the bumps?"

"Your guess is correct," Pannis patted the young knight’s shoulder and inclined his head indicating towards the magical beast using its tentacles to ferociously devastate the surrounding rubble and scorched bones nearby. "You remember that they inject paralysis toxin into their prey using their tentacles, don’t you?"

"Does that mean the toxin is stored in their bumps?" Vivian exclaimed in surprise. "Isn’t that where their brain is located? Well, there’s no rule to say that you can’t have the brain submerged in a bath of poison."

"So, be very careful when you destroy the bumps," Pannis confirmed Vivian’s thought and repeated strongly. "The growths contain a liquid paralysis toxin and if the bump gets destroyed, the liquid will splatter all around. Although for them it’s like when we prick a blister on our body, it won’t be a pleasant experience for us though. Trust me, you wouldn’t enjoy the feeling of splattered liquid toxin on your face. Luckily it won’t cause any substantial damage but it’s still something to avoid."

"Thank you, we will keep that in mind," Catherine said, seriously taking note of Pannis’s advice. "Is there anything else?"

"For the last point, I am sure you’ll be able to figure it out without me having to spell it out," Pannis said as he turned to Vivian. "Use their greatest fear against them. A creature from the swamps would be terrified of..."

"Fire," Vivian asserted confidently. "I can’t confirm if they’re afraid of high temperatures but given their habitat, their resistance to fire would be considerably low. As such, if we mount an attack using flame, the results would be shockingly unexpected but not unanticipated."

"Then I would have nothing left to say," affirmed Pannis as he slowly pulled out his one-handed sword from its scabbard, squinting at the Lurkers who had drawn to within a hundred meters. "To victory!"

"To victory and glory," Catherine said, lifting her shield, transforming into a ray of light as she charged towards the thrashing tentacles. (To be continued. If you like this story, please use the recommendation votes or the monthly passes at qidian.com to show your support. This would give me a significant morale boost. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)