Yarra’s Adventure Notes

Chapter 67 - 67 55 Pannis That Can't Return_1

?67: Chapter 55: Pannis That Can’t Return_1 67: Chapter 55: Pannis That Can’t Return_1 (Guys, help me think of a cool, resonant, and tear-jerking book title, because I need to change the name and description.

Shall I change it back to Yarra’s Adventure Logs, or maybe The Road to Redemption?

Or perhaps The Book of Adventurers?

PS as usual: friends who pass by, please save and recommend this.

Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Research and Development Zone.

A flurry of scattered footsteps shattered the deathly silence in the corridor.

Six figures rounded the corner one after another, embarking on the last straight hallway leading to the residential area.

Everyone was disheveled in their haste.

The backpacks of Rachel and Lina had already been transferred to Catherine’s back.

Nicole’s backpack had been lost long ago when she was taken away.

The three girls pressed forward unencumbered by weight, but even so, they lagged considerably behind Pannis and Catherine, forcing the latter to slow down so as not to leave them behind.

Out of the three girls, Lina, able to imbue herself with Divine Spells at any moment, seemed rather unstressed.

The most dire situation belonged to Nicole.

After an hour of sprinting, Nicole, a mage herself, was completely drained.

Her chest heaved dramatically, and her gasps could be clearly heard from tens of meters away.

“We can’t keep going like this, we need to pick up the pace,” shouted Pannis, who was running in the front.

“We have at most half an hour left before the final defense is activated.

At this rate, we won’t make it in time.”

Rachel, who had been running beside Nicole the entire way, gritted her teeth upon witnessing Nicole’s ashen face and her uneven pace that threatened to make her stumble at any moment.

Suddenly, Rachel quickened her pace, swooping down in front of Nicole, hoisted her onto her back, and, with any remaining strength, pressed forward.

“Are you crazy?

You…” Nicole, who had not said much to Rachel before, stared in surprise.

Before she could finish her sentence, she was cut off by her own ragged breaths.

A soul-draining fatigue made it impossible for her to even lift her arms.

“Shut up, I won’t leave you behind this time.

If we die, we die together,” Rachel, in a display of dominance, cut Nicole off mid-sentence.

Biting back any further words, she ran with her head down without uttering another word.

“You can’t keep that up for long.” Vivian, who had been sitting on Pannis’ shoulder the whole time with minimal exhaustion, couldn’t avoid commenting when she saw what Rachel was doing.

Rachel responded with a stubborn look before lowering her head and resuming her dash.

Vivian rolled her eyes, casually reached into her pocket, pulled out a potion, and handed it to Catherine.

“Big sister, you seem pretty relaxed.

Help Nicole drink this potion.

I don’t think she has the strength to drink it herself.”

Catherine didn’t ask any further and slowed down to allow Rachel to catch up, before feeding the potion to Nicole.

Nicole, who was now lying on Rachel’s back and had adjusted her breathing, only asked after downing the potion, “What kind of potion is this?”

“Feather Potion.” Vivian replied, “It’s only useful for mages.

It can make you incredibly light.

I would have given it to you earlier if I thought you were struggling.”

“I didn’t see it coming either.” Nicole sheepishly smiled.

“I thought I could hold on.”

“You probably haven’t eaten much since you were taken away, right?

Pannis managed to keep her breath steady while running, barely causing her voice to change, and went on, “I noticed you didn’t have a backpack, so you must not have any food.”

Nicole nodded with a bitter smile, “I had a little something the day before yesterday.

I begged for it from Gaston, but I haven’t had anything to eat since he left.”

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Vivan, sitting on Pannis’ shoulder, gestured dramatically.

“If you had told us earlier, we could have shared our extra food.”

“I didn’t want to cause you guys more trouble.”

Without Nicole slowing them down, the group’s speed noticeably increased as they dashed straight towards the entrance of the Research and Development Zone.

After passing through the gate of the Research and Development Zone and the long corridors of the residential area, another half hour of high-speed running inevitably slowed them further.

“Damn it, Pannis, look at the wall.” Vivian suddenly pointed at the wall of the detection zone in the distance and exclaimed.

The originally dark emerald metal wall now faintly emitted ominous red light, with an energy seething within its depths that anyone acquainted with magic could sense.

“Go quickly, it could activate at any moment.

Although I am unsure what will happen, I’m guessing it could possibly implode or collapse to thoroughly seal the entrance.

If that is the case, I won’t be able to reopen the nearly one-kilometer tunnel inside the detection zone.

We would end up trapped in here.

Rachel, hold on a little longer.

We’re almost there.

Go quicker.” Just as Vivian was loudly urging Rachel on, the red light radiating from the wall became increasingly apparent, even causing the ground to tremble subtly.

“Go, Catherine, you move ahead first.

I believe you won’t be affected once you exit the door, but to be safe, you should run a bit further.” Pannis was the first one to rush out of the range of the detection zone and arrive at the last passageway.

A rusty door was just a few hundred meters away.

But Pannis stopped, looking back at Lina, Rachel, and Nicole who were at least two hundred meters behind.

He waved at Catherine and said, “I’ll wait for them here, you go first.”

Catherine hesitated for only a second before passing Vivian onto her back, shouting as she ran, “I’ll try to get as far as possible, you guys should catch up as quickly as possible.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t die.” Unburdened, Pannis surprisingly ran towards Lina and the others, clutching Rachel and Nicole under his arms.

“Can you go any faster?” he shouted at Lina.

Lina could hardly reply, but a bright light emanated again from her body, accumulating in her legs.

Powered by Divine Spell, Lina once again increased her speed.

The red light from behind the wall became brighter and more intense, painting the entire detection zone a bright red color.

“No time.

Lina, run!” Pannis barked, looking at the gate a few dozen meters away.

He flung Nicole first, then Rachel.

The two girls flew through the air like arrows, tracing an arc as they hurtled toward the metal gate.

Nicole, weak and out of forces, was unable to adjust her position mid-air; her legs crashed into the wall with a clear sound of a bone breaking.

Having thrown Nicole and Rachel, Pannis appeared behind the still sprinting Lina, and with a powerful shove from his right hand, propelled her forward: “Fly!”

With a push from behind, Lina felt herself lifted from the ground.

She shot forward, speeding through the metal gate.

The red light flared and then vanished in an instant.

There was no explosion, no loud noise, no earth-shattering rumble.

The moment the red light disappeared, the entire detection zone, including the metallic gate, collapsed.

The metallic roof above barely lasted a second under the onslaught of falling rocks.

Lina, having just crossed the gate, screamed as she could not evade the mass of stones from the collapsing cave.

Her right leg was pinned under a heavy boulder.

“Lina!” Catherine, who was running ahead, heard Lina’s scream and turned around.

She saw that Lina’s leg was trapped under the debris and hastily ran back while carrying Vivian.

Despite using all her strength, Catherine failed to move the boulder covered in other fallen rocks.

“Big sis, move aside.” Vivian commanded, “Elements, turn stone into mud.”

Under the influence of magic, a corner of the boulder quickly softened and melted into mud.

Seizing the moment, Lina gritted her teeth against the pain and pulled her leg free.

The rock, missing a chunk, swayed slightly before returning to its unshakeable state.

With the collapse of the tunnel, the few bright crystal lamps outside the metallic gate began to flicker and darken.

“Vivian, light the lamp.” Catherine’s voice trembled with anxiety.

Vivian hastily assembled her special crystal lamp, lighting it just before the external light extinguished, preventing the cave from plunging into complete darkness.

After illuminating the crystal lamp, Vivian asked quizzically, “Big sis, what’s wrong?”

“Where is…

where is Pannis?” Catherine inquired with a hoarse voice.

Vivian’s eyes widened as she looked around, pointing incredulously at the destroyed passage, “Are you saying, he…

he…

he is…”

“He was behind me.” With her right leg ravaged and deformed, Lina sat blankly on the ground, ignoring the excruciating pain and stared at the completely sealed passage, “He pushed me out.

He could have gotten out himself.”

“Stop joking.

This is not funny at all.” Vivian’s lips twitched, and she looked at Lina with a glimmer of hope, expecting a response.

But Lina remained expressionless, staring at the sealed passage without uttering a word.

“I’m sorry.” Rachel, carrying Nicole who had broken both her legs, staggered over and said, “If it were not for us, you would have escaped earlier.

We have burdened you all.”

“Yes, we caused his death.” Nicole confessed with a guilt-ridden face.

“It’s not your fault.” Lina finally snapped out of her trance, waving her hand, “We all had a part in it.

If it had just been him, there wouldn’t have been any danger.

In the end, he saved all of us.

The only one he couldn’t save…

was himself.”

“This time, he really won’t come back, will he?” Catherine gently stroked the rocks sealing the passage and whispered.

“Big sis?” Vivian looked puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Catherine gave a bitter laugh, “He always used to say, I won’t die, I won’t die, and then he would always come back unharmed.

But this time?

His last words to me were also I won’t die.

But the cave collapsed, akin to a whole mountain pressing on him.

Regardless of how powerful he was, even if he was a Demigod, I’m afraid…

he won’t come back.

Pannis, I always wanted to redeem your soul, but in the end, you were the one who saved our lives.

I’m sorry, I failed.

I’m sorry.”