Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 851 - 115: The Bell Tower

Chapter 851: Chapter 115: The Bell Tower

The desert, white bones, the night sky, a waning moon, the wind sweeping up sand into the sky, and mountains of bones emitting a pulse-quickening hue beneath the moonlight; atop the bone mounds, a tall figure stood against the wind, gazing up at the night sky, letting the wind whip through their long black hair.

In Vivian’s eyes, this world uniquely belonging to Pannis was revealing itself to her for the third time. Pannis didn’t know that Freya had once secretly spoken to several girls about the Inherent Psychic Domain. As a princess of the Holy City with a demigod father, she understood very well that for a demigod, the Inherent Psychic Domain is absolutely private, and opening it up to someone without reservation signifies absolute trust. Having entered Pannis’s Inherent Psychic Domain, and now for the third time, each girl felt something extraordinary in her heart.

However, the domain they were seeing this time was distinctly different from the ones Vivian had seen before. The familiar Sea of Death Sands still surrounded them, but at the center of the sands lay an abnormality. There was a tall and massive spire, which, even in terms of its ground coverage, spanned several thousand square meters, with a height that seemed nearly a hundred meters, resembling a grand Mage Tower. But upon closer inspection, it became evident that this was not merely a Mage Tower, but an astonishingly large clock tower. At the top of the spire was a circular clock, clearly visible even from hundreds of meters away due to its huge hands, which indicated the current time. Behind the clock in the void, a pendulum a third the size of the clock hung in midair, swinging rhythmically from side to side, even producing a rattle of mechanical sounds from the emptiness.

Under Vivian’s gaze, the clock tower was slowly transforming. From about twenty to thirty meters above the ground at its waist, a platform began to protrude. Victor and Felic, one after the other, emerged from a door behind the platform and stood side by side on it, staring down at Pannis and Vivian in the sands below.

"It’s been many years since I last fought," Victor’s slow voice wasn’t loud, but it crossed the tens of meters between them, clearly reaching the ears of Pannis and Vivian, "I suppose I’m one of the very few demigods whose combat experience isn’t extensive. Heh, having this secret, your chances of victory are still quite substantial."

In the Yarran World, aside from a very few races, to break through the limits of the Gold Rank and ascend to the Legendary Rank often requires a great deal of high-risk combat, relying on willpower and luck to push beyond one’s limits under pressure of death and pain. The advancement from Legendary to Demigod, however, is more about the comprehension of rules. Thus, it is rare for Demigods who have climbed up from the Gold Rank not to be skilled at combat; those who are not are usually halted at the barrier to breaking through the Gold Rank, with little chance of ascending to Legendary in their lifetime. However, this is not absolute, and there will always be some extremely lucky individuals who, due to various coincidences, ascend to Legendary without experiencing high-risk battles, but such individuals generally lack a solid foundation and find it difficult to grow further. Yet Victor was an exception among exceptions; born a professional gambler since his childhood, he was inherently very fortunate, not only being taken in as a Magician Apprentice by Philarx but also ascending to Legendary without any obstructions and mastering Time Magic in his middle age. With this as a turning point, he broke through human limits and stepped into the rank of Demigod. However, during this process, he spent most of his time in the laboratory, especially after becoming a Demigod, having participated in no more than ten real battles. To merely describe him as lacking combat experience was an understatement; in fact, it would be more apt to say he had virtually no combat experience at all.

But the more he said so, the less likely it was that Pannis and Vivian would believe him, after all, no one would be foolish enough to believe weaknesses that an enemy willingly revealed. And this was precisely Victor’s purpose in saying so. While lacking in combat experience, his gambling experience was indeed plentiful, and he was very knowledgeable about how to psychologically pressure opponents, how to deceive and misdirect them. Hence, after he finished speaking, he seriously began to chant a long incantation, a behavior any Mage would avoid in small-scale combat, yet he did so openly without any disguise.

The combat-experienced Vivian did not interfere with his chanting in time to disrupt his spellcasting. On one hand, she indeed was influenced by Victor’s previous statement, unable to judge whether his abnormal behavior was due to a lack of combat experience or a deliberate disguise for some conspiracy. On the other hand, Vivian was very clear that in this battle alongside Pannis, her role was not to kill the enemy nor to provide assistance to Pannis. She had great trust in Pannis’s strength, believing that Pannis could easily defeat the opponent, and was well aware of the gap between Legendary and Demigod ranks, understanding that even with Felic’s assistance, it would not affect Pannis’s combat. Thus, what she needed to do was to survive the attack from both opponents; as long as she could preserve her life, that would be victory in this wager. Beyond surviving, if she had the spare capacity, she would target Felic, the only viable target for her attack.

Indeed, this was the real purpose behind Victor’s proposed two-on-two wager, using an assistant of Legendary Rank as a distraction but not against the opponents; rather, it was a self-imposed restraint. Victor valued Pannis far more internally than he outwardly showed and did not have a real assurance of victory. If each side had a teammate of only Legendary Rank, the dueling Demigods would prioritize attacking the teammates. If Pannis made a mistake in helping Vivian, that would be Victor’s chance for victory. Conversely, if Pannis did not help Vivian and instead chose to launch a full assault on her and kill her, even a defeat would be of value.

Victor didn’t need to explain, for the Magician Apprentice girl knew the real intentions of her opponent, and so she paid no attention to Victor’s spellcasting, simply bowing her head as she cast protective Magic on herself, as if her opponent didn’t exist at all. Thus, when a giant meteor wrapped in flames appeared out of nowhere and descended from the sky, Vivian remained in place without moving, her gaze fixed on Felic standing next to Victor. It was Pannis who moved, or rather, it was the Phantom of Nellie beside him. Just as they had fought side by side a hundred years ago, the knight clenched her lance, lifted her head serenely, watching the approaching source of destruction overhead. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)