Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1395 - 181: The Battle Situation

"So, while enduring the process of dying over and over again, we had to devote part of our energy to strengthen our Shield, to avoid a mental breakdown from too frequent deaths. We could only take turns attacking," Pannis spoke slowly, his mental fatigue evident as the memory brought him back to the struggles of that battle. His mouth muscles twitched slightly as he forced himself to recall, "Each attack was a torment for us at that time. Indeed, we had fought countless battles before, but this was the first time we, the attackers, suffered from launching attacks, even feeling a sense of dread before doing it. It took a tight grip on our spirits to combat this fear."

"You guys kept on attacking under such conditions?" Lina couldn’t help but raise her voice, though she immediately covered her mouth with a hand, worried. She glanced at the two little Undead to make sure they were still deeply asleep before she sighed in relief and lowered her voice, "Denia, how did you keep going? My friends have said you were almost obsessively determined."

"However, we had no other choice, sitting there waiting to die isn’t our style," Pannis shrugged as he continued, "If we couldn’t resolve Danacus, the Yarran World would eventually collapse, so we had to keep going. Moreover, even if we didn’t want to, it wouldn’t have made a difference. I don’t think Danacus would have given us a chance to retreat. Besides, the most crucial point was that it wasn’t hopeless, because we couldn’t be sure. While our attacks backfired on us, it was uncertain if they also impacted Danacus. If they did, then Danacus wasn’t unbeatable."

"So..." Catherine tentatively asked, "In the end, was it confirmed?"

"Heh, no, it wasn’t that it wasn’t confirmed, but that there were no effects," Pannis said with self-mockery. "Since Guardian Mina’s attack wouldn’t invoke Divine Punishment or trigger a backlash, after several rounds of attacks, we shifted to having Mina focus on attacking Danacus while we tried to tie him down with Energy Attacks and attempted to drain his energy as much as possible. This was the most appropriate tactic I could think of at the time."

"That’s a very reasonable tactic, though," Catherine nodded, "But if your attacks were ineffective, why continue? Continuing wouldn’t have restrained Danacus."

"Yet at that time, we didn’t believe our attacks were ineffective," Pannis forced a smile, "Since from the beginning to the end, Danacus had never counterattacked or even defended himself. It was only when Mina attacked him that he would dispel Mina’s energy spouts. However, his actions to dispel the energy spouts gave us hope because every time we launched intensive attacks, his defense against the energy spouts seemed increasingly strained, and towards the end, it even seemed quite awkward. There were a few times Mina’s energy spouts directly struck his soul form, though they didn’t cause any real damage."

"That’s a promising sign," Catherine seemed to have been brought into the battles of the past, her voice tinged with excitement, "It shows your attacks had an effect, and a very apparent one at that. Why then do you think your attacks were ineffective?"

"Because he was pretending," Pannis sighed, his face expressionless as he spoke, "All those signs of struggling were faked. In reality, he wasn’t worn out at all, well, apart from what Mina caused, he didn’t experience any other exhaustion."

"This..." Catherine was at a loss for words, stammering, "Does he have a problem with his thinking? To go to such lengths."

"We knew he was faking only because of what happened later," Pannis’s face was stern, his fists clenched tightly as he spoke, "At the time, we didn’t know, so we kept on attacking, enduring the backlash on both our spirits and bodies over and over again. Keeping it up for such a long period makes it hard not to slip up, and thus, the second one to fall was Flare."

"Your Majesty?" Catherine asked puzzled, "Did she injure herself too, or is it because she was traumatized by repeatedly dying?"

"The trauma to her spirit is certainly there, but it won’t affect Flare’s will too much. After the war ended, she could easily adjust. However, she did injure herself as well. Three arrows, packed with destructive power, penetrated her upper abdomen, nearly nailing her to the ground." As Pannis deepened into his memories, he grew more excited as if he was once again seeing the Empress being seriously injured in front of him. His lips trembled as he said, "At that time, I had no strategy at all. I always believed there was a solution to everything, so I kept trying to think, but I couldn’t think of any way, no way at all. I could only watch as everyone, including myself, endured the pain, and even just watched as everyone went through life and death situations repeatedly. Moreover, because the situation was urgent at the time, even with a wound nearly fatal, I could only ask Maya to give her quick treatment. Just as she was starting to recover a little, she resumed fighting, resulting in the three penetrating scars that can still be seen on her upper abdomen."

"Wait, the scars on the upper abdomen?" Catherine raised her eyebrows, "This location... have you seen it recently?"

"Ahem, absolutely not." Pannis shook his head vigorously, subconsciously, then suddenly realized, "Hey, you’re focusing on the wrong issue here."

"I don’t think there’s anything wrong," Catherine’s eyes swept across Pannis’s face like water, she reached out and gently squeezed Pannis’s clenched fist on the table, and smiled softly, "Please, continue."

"Thank you." Pannis clasped Catherine’s hand in return, gripped it tightly before letting go, and managed a weak smile, "I got a bit agitated, sorry."

"That’s quite normal, everyone can understand," Catherine said softly, comforting, "If you really..."

"Heh, it’s fine. Since I’ve decided to revisit this place, I have prepared myself to face these memories," Pannis gently shook his head, "And you’re right; these things should always be told to you, you deserve and have the right to know them."

"Yes." There was something indescribable in the eyes of the young girls. This was the first time Pannis had truly acknowledged the girls’ right to know all his secrets and truly accepted them from the heart. This long-awaited change brought a wave of emotion to the girls, making them look at Pannis even more tenderly.

However, immersed in his memories, Pannis did not notice the change in the girls, but continued speaking while propping his chin, "Not long after Flare returned to fight, I called a halt to the frequent attacks for the first time."