Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 129 - 50 Sacrifice_1

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The moment the door opened, Catherine was already shielded by her Aggression Shield, her thin sword held forward, her Fearless Charge starting the moment the door did. She turned into a white light and dashed into the house, her white skirt flapping in the wind. The man inside was just turning his head around, when a point of light flashing with a chill was already before his face.

"Stay back, or I’ll kill her." The man attempted to use his dagger to threaten the girl bound to the table, but hardly had he started speaking when he was struck by Catherine’s thin sword and sent flying. His threat was finished in midair. Still in the air, he was unable to even react to what happened, when he felt someone quickly approaching, and simultaneously saw a fair fist growing larger in front of him.

"Make sure you don’t kill him." As Catherine charged the perpetrator, Pannis had already silently appeared by the table where the girl was tied, and he spoke over the sounds of fighting from behind him: "Just let off some steam by half-killing him, leave us someone we can question."

"Hmph." Catherine snorted and ceased her assault. The offender’s limbs had all been broken in seconds, and his eyes had swelled until they were barely slits. He could only lie twitching on the ground. Catherine dusted off her hands, caught hold of the perp’s hair, and dragged him to the table: "Are you Luna? How are you doing?"

"She won’t die, just lost some blood." Pannis didn’t shy away from Luna’s naked body one bit, and his hands fluttered like butterflies as he bandaged her up, powder and gauze dancing at his fingertips. The cuts on Luna’s body that were still seeping blood increasingly decreased under his treatment.

Catherine was not surprised about where Pannis got his medicine from. As adventurers, bringing along emergency medicine and concealed weapons for any occasion was just common sense. Every experienced adventurer is able to pull out medicine to treat wounds. Caterine walked over for a look, lifted her skirt, removed a small leather bag from her thigh, and took out her own bandages and medicine for Pannis. He said nothing, just casually threw aside his own empty vials, picked up Catherine’s medicine, and kept on bandaging.

"Why don’t you untie her mouth?" Catherine saw Luna looking at them, bleary-eyed and making muffled noises, and couldn’t help but ask.

"I’m afraid she will cry." Pannis replied without raising his head, "It would be noisy."

"You’re horrible." Catherine snorted discontentedly, reached out, and gently stroked Luna’s forehead, soothing her quietly: "It’s alright now, darling, we’ve come to save you, don’t be afraid. I’ll untie your mouth now, but you must promise not to scream. Your mother will arrive soon and she would worry if she heard you crying."

"Sister Catherine." Luna, now able to speak, sounded aggrieved: "It hurt so much when he cut me."

"I will punish him." Catherine replied softly: "Relax, let this man help bandage your wounds."

"Luna, Luna, my child." Luna’s mother, Eillie, and the old tailor appeared at the door. Their voices reached them before they did.

Catherine frowned and stepped forward to stop them at the entrance, "Luna is fine, she isn’t in any danger, rest assured. But one of my teammates is currently performing simple medical treatment on her. It would be inappropriate for you to go in. Why don’t you wait for us in the carriage at the entrance of the alley? We will bring Luna out soon." ƒreewebɳovel.com

"Mother, I’m okay." Luna, not wanting her sick mother to see the cuts all over her body, smartly went along with what Catherine said: "I’m fine, don’t worry. Listen to Sister Catherine, I’ll come out soon."

After hearing her daughter’s voice, Eillie went limp and almost tripped. She finally breathed a sigh of relief, unable to prevent tears from streaming down her face. Nevertheless, she followed Catherine’s advice and walked back to the carriage at the entrance of the alley, supported by the old tailor.

"Pannis, how’s it going?" Catherine asked once she had sent the two powerless rescuers on their way.

"The bandaging will take a bit more time." Pannis’ hands moved swiftly, his words not disrupting his motions one bit, "There are too many cuts. The blood has stopped, though, so there’s no danger. And hey, come see, there are some interesting things on this table."

"What? Ah!" Catherine exclaimed, startled: "This is... a magic array?"}

The long table was printed with a large circle and Luna was tied in the dead center. Inside and outside the circle were carved with numerous magical symbols, covered with blood stains so Catherine didn’t notice it at first. Only when Pannis reminded her did she notice the magic array beneath the blood.

"It’s a pity Vivian isn’t here." Catherine sighed, "Otherwise, we could figure out what this array is."

"Judging by the culprit’s actions, he clearly wanted Luna to bleed to death in agony." Pannis explained while continuing to bandage the injuries, "With the array, there’s only one plausible explanation – a sacrifice."

"A sacrifice for an evil god?" Catherine frowned, "Such occurrences have been rare for many years, is he doing this to gain power?"

"It’s not necessarily." Pannis shook his head: "It could also be for the awakening of an evil god. No, these magical symbols are not for awakening, let me think. Ah, I got it, they’re for transferring power."

"So, he is, indeed, trying to obtain power." Catherine observed.

"It’s reverse transfer." Pannis corrected her, "Simply put, it’s to transfer power to the evil god in reverse."

"Which would imply that they have already awakened the Evil God?" Catherine asked, somewhat taken aback.

"What’s so surprising about that? Many deities aren’t all actively engaged?" Pannis shrugged: "They’re just unable to enter the Yarran World. It’s not strange that amongst these deities, there would be one or two who don’t mind living sacrifices. What’s strange is the reverse transfer, suggesting this evil god is still weak, has it just awakened?"

"Luna, after you were kidnapped, what did you hear?" Catherine tried to probe for clues.

"I have no idea." Luna didn’t understand their conversation: "After I was kidnapped, I was tied up here, and that bastard was always by my side carving things on the table. Oh, I remember now, he must have been carving according to a draft, definitely."

"Did he say anything?" Catherine reached into the pocket of the now unconscious kidnapper and let out a cheerful laugh: "I found it, this is the one."

"He didn’t say a word from beginning to end." Luna shook her head: "But I recognize him, he is a local thug who used to learn carving and drawing, apprenticed in some magical shops, but quit because he thought it was exhausting for little money, hanging around all day."

"It seems he was also manipulated." Catherine suddenly heard the kidnapper groaning, chuckled coldly, picked him up by the collar and threw him onto a chair, saying calmly, "you should know your predicament now, if you tell us who’s behind this, we might not kill you. If not, handing you to the city guard for crimes like kidnapping, murder, and human sacrifices, would be enough for you to die twice. Think carefully."

"What...what are you talking about." The kidnapper’s face swelled in places, and he slurred his words: "I just walked in, I didn’t do anything."

"I’m a knight, I like giving people a chance to repent." Catherine gave a slight smile, and gently patted the murderer’s shoulder, her smile as cold as steel: "So, I always allow criminals one chance to lie. This chance has been used now. Consider your next words carefully. Also, just to remind you, my companions and I are all professionals, including an upper-rank priest. We can break each one of your bones and then let the priest heal you with a Healing Divine Spell, then break them again. I guarantee you won’t die."

The murderer was clearly no hero. At Catherine’s threat, he nervously swallowed and stuttered, "Don’t hurt me. I’ll tell you everything."

"How’d you get involved?" Catherine asked.

"I don’t know. Last month, he suddenly approached me, saying he would give me three thousand gold coins to do a job for him. I didn’t know what the job was, but that was three thousand gold coins, and I agreed straight away. Then half a month ago, he identified the girl to me, asked me to kidnap her and take her home. He also gave me a schematic, told me to carve a magic array according to it, and taught me all the following steps. I dare not kill anyone, but he said he had marked me with a magical mark and could kill me at any time. I was too scared, so I followed his instructions."

"Too scared? It seems to me that the gold coins were too tempting." Catherine sneered, "Did you meet the other party?"

"Yes, yes I did." The kidnapper nodded hard: "He’s a mage, wearing a dark purple robe with silver trim, wearing a bone engraved ring on his hand. His face..." The kidnapper didn’t seem to realize that his face was swelling progressively worse as he spoke. At last, he could no longer continue, his face bloated like a rotten pumpkin.

"Catherine, back away." Panis called without turning his head.

Upon hearing Pannis’s shout, Catherine did not hesitate. Using Charge of Fearlessness towards Pannis, her body instantly appeared next to him. The head of the murderer burst like a balloon, splashing foul, black blood all over the room.

"Damn, we’ve been silenced." Catherine twisted her face in anger: "Our opponent was prepared."

"Clearly, once he says something he shouldn’t, the preset magic will activate to silence him." Pannis stood still beside Luna.

"You’re done bandaging?" Catherine looked at the still Pannis, wondering, "then why are you still standing there?"

"I’ve found a problem." Pannis stroked his chin lost in thought.

"What problem?"

"I realized," Pannis frowned, saying solemnly: "She’s not my type, but I think I can list her as one of my future stalking targets. What do you think?"

With a whoosh from the wind, Pannis quickly squatted down to dodge the thrust that scraped past his scalp: "Hey hey, Catherine, what are you up to?"

"Eliminating unstable factors." Catherine withdrew her rapier, and launched another stabbing attack.

"You’re gonna kill me!" Pannis tumbling through the air trying to dodge the attacks.

"Isn’t that the best thing?" Catherine relentlessly targeted Pannis’s back with one thrust after another: "With you gone, the girls will be safe."

The two chased each other, running several laps in the room until Pannis was finally backed against the wall.

"Prepare yourself, you pervert." Catherine charged directly at Pannis, and as their eyes met, Pannis revealed a hint of a smile.

As the smile blossomed, Pannis’s right elbow smashed forcefully against the wall, his aggression infused arm producing a thunderous boom. The wall shattered, opening a hole just big enough for one person to pass through. Without any hesitation, Catherine rushed into the opening, a dull explosion echoing from the next room.