Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 775 - 40 Pannis’s Answer_1

Chapter 775: Chapter 40 Pannis’s Answer_1

"Indeed." As she asked this question, Catherine stared directly at Pannis, or rather, every girl was staring at Pannis. The girls were smart. In order to take care of Pannis’s feelings, not only did they not inquire about the Phantom of Nellie, but they didn’t even spare Nellie’s welcome more than a glance. Regardless of their curiosity, admiration, and eagerness, they only barely looked her way, treating her like a stranger they happened upon in the street, they paid her no special attention and made no effort to not notice her. Catherine took a deep breath, suppressing her discomfort at the sight of the masses of blood and chunks of flesh strewn about, and continued asking, "You must have a reason for separating them before killing them, can you let us know why?"

"Separating and then killing them is imperative." After the battle, Nellie’s phantom scanned the battlefield for a while before slowly walking away, disappearing quickly behind piles of scattered bones. Pannis reluctantly watched her retreating figure before sheaving a sigh, turning around, and answering, "I didn’t have the time to inform you earlier of the characteristics of the Marsh Stalkers. There’s a key trait that wasn’t recorded in the adventurer Guild’s Magical Beast Handbook, but that’s because it would have been of no use to record it. After all, not everyone would find themselves in our situation."

"What trait?" Lina immediately replaced her magical book by her side, pulling out her Magical Beast Handbook to ask her question. But before she could finish, her legs started to wobble, nearly sending her sprawling onto the ground. Luckily, Ava was fast enough to support her.

"What happened?" The girls’ hearts clenched with fear. Lina had used a technique she’d never used before twice in quick succession during the battle. They weren’t aware of the exact circumstances and consequences, so they asked anxiously, "Did something go wrong with that technique you used? Or did you get injured internally when you were swept into the sky by a tentacle? Do you need to take a potion?"

"I’m fine." Lina lightly tested her right leg on the ground and moved her joints for a bit before shaking her head, "No other problems. The real issue is my ankle was caught by a tentacle just now and even though I’ve expelled the toxin, it was still slightly affected. My right leg feels a bit numb. It’s no biggie, according to this trend, the effects will wear off completely in a few minutes."

"Um." Upon hearing Lina’s mention of paralysis, Catherine’s face suddenly drained of color. She staggered back a few steps, swayed, and then her body went slack, falling directly into Pannis’s arms.

"Cough, cough." Lina cleared her throat and tsked, "Sister, that’s a little too coincidental, don’t you think? I didn’t even say a word and you collapse... Anyway, don’t worry. Catherine is a close-combat fighter. Even though she tries to be careful, she’ll inevitably get some paralysis toxin on her with all that sludge around. She probably even inhaled some mist-like toxin--it’s just that her constitution is really good, she only delayed the onset of the effects. We don’t need to expel the toxin right now; if we just lay her down for a while, she’ll recover naturally. After all, she’s lying so..."

"Cough, cough, cough." This time it was Catherine who used a cough to interrupt Lina’s words. Her face looked a bit weird as she gazed at the moon in the sky and said, "Since Lina said that there’s no need to expel the toxin right now, then it’s fine. Pannis, you were saying? Why did you lead the Marsh Stalkers away from each other?"

"Give me a second." Vivian’s eyes darted around as the genius mage girl took it upon herself to help Catherine up from Pannis’s arms. She waved at Freya and Ava, "Help me out. Since Catherine’s armor might still be contaminated with paralysis toxin, we’ll take advantage of Pannis’s storytime to help her clean it up. We’ll spare leaving this place looking in such a sorry state."

"Sigh." Pannis let out a sigh, the bitter smile on his face hinting at his headache. He let go of Catherine and ignored the sneaky tactics the girls were playing on each other. It was as if he’d seen nothing. "The Marsh Stalker has a very important trait. In a battle, if its comrades die, it will devour their corpses to temporarily enhance its own healing abilities. If we let them devour each other, their natural recovery abilities will enhance to a terrifying extent for exactly twenty-two hours. If one tentacle breaks off, it only takes around two to three seconds to grow back to its original shape. The gaping hole I just made on its body would likely have been fully healed if I didn’t make it back to it in time. So, to deal with them, you gotta ensure that they will never get the chance to eat each other. Otherwise, you’d be pitted against an immortal beast. Of course, it’s not absolutely impossible to kill them, but it would take a ridiculous amount of time and energy. It’s simply not worth it."

"Er, that does seem kind of scary." The girls recalled the battle just past and imagined a scenario in which they opposed the enemy as Pannis depicted. They couldn’t help but shudder. Lina shook her head and said, "Why is such crucial information not included in the handbook?"

"Because hardly anyone knows it." Pannis explained, "Marsh Stalkers are magical beasts of the Gold and Legendary ranks, mixed together. It is almost impossible for professionals below the rank of Demigod to kill a stalker in the swamp because they are always hiding in the mud, and hence, they can never find out about this. Only Demigods can draw them out of the mud. But for a Demigod, facing a regular Legendary-ranked Stalker, knowing or not knowing this trait makes little difference. They would naturally not attach much importance to jotting it down in the Magical Beast Handbook. Who would have thought that we would run into three Demigod-ranked Marsh Stalkers? I reckon in a few thousand years, we’re probably the only ones to have encountered Stalkers of the Demigod rank."

"Then why did you chop them into chunks?" Even though her body was paralyzed, Catherine’s speech was still normal. She asked about her biggest doubt, "It shouldn’t be because of preventing the devouring, because there’s no need to chop the last one up."

"That’s also something that I had to do." Pannis’s face clouded over as he said in a low voice, "Do you think that these Stalkers just appeared naturally? In theory, Marsh Stalkers’ maximum strength is at the Legendary level, and they never leave the Southern Marshes. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that these three suddenly appeared in the Northern Swamp? Even if their appearance is a coincidence, would their strength also be a coincidence?"

"You think it was man-made?" Catherine asked.

"Certainly." Pannis nodded and said confidently, "Do you remember the two wolves we encountered on the snowfield outside the Magical Beast Forest a few months ago?" (To be continued. If you are fond of this story, please vote and donate monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)