Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1404 - 190 Fatal Mistake

"Why did you stop? And then what?" Lina couldn’t hold back any longer when she noticed Pannis had fallen silent. She scratched at the smooth surface of the table with her fingers, clenching her teeth as she spoke, "That’s why I—I hate you storytellers the most. This habit of yours is just so infuriating, always stopping halfway through the tale. Can’t you consider the feelings of us, the listeners? Every time I read a book, and I come across such a novel, I curse the author over and over again in my heart. Do you want to receive the same treatment?"

"Alright, Lina, stop it," Catherine was not surprised by Lina’s reaction. The knight girl had read some knight novels as a child and indeed, many of them featured such cliffhangers. For the priest girl, who once considered novels her pillar of spiritual support, this was an unforgivable sin. Of course, Catherine didn’t share this sentiment. She only patted Lina’s shoulder to comfort her, her gaze still fixed on Pannis, waiting for him to continue his story.

"And then?" Pannis, with his head bowed and silent, seemed not to have stopped deliberately. It was as if he was organizing his thoughts or having some difficulty. After a moment of silence, he sighed, scratched his head in distress, and in a quiet voice, said, "It went through."

"What?" Lina repeated in surprise, "What does ’went through’ mean? Does that mean it hit or it didn’t hit?"

"It hit the mark," Pannis said with a wry smile. "It struck right through Danacus’s Divine Soul’s head. Then, the Hunting Arrow just went straight through his head."

"Oh my," Catherine exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock, "Because he was just a Divine Soul?"

"I made a mistake in my plan, the most fatal mistake," Pannis said, massaging his temples, speaking in a low voice, "This mistake directly led the entire battle plan to fall apart into mere talk. Haha, meaning, from the beginning, I was on the wrong path without even knowing it."

"Is the Hunting Arrow ineffective against the Divine Soul?" Catherine asked tentatively, "Or is it due to the nature of divinity?"

"The Hunting Arrow is the most precious gift Artemis left for her children. These arrows are powerful and extremely precious. Artemis left them to her children to fend off formidable enemies. However, they are a one-time use consumable, and their quantity is extremely limited. Using one means having one less, but the enemies worthy of the Elves using the Hunting Arrow are all incredibly powerful, defying common sense. No one can guarantee that a fired arrow will certainly hit the target. So, the problem arises. This single-digit, one-time use consumable, if it doesn’t hit the target and its power activates, it’s a dreadful waste. This leads to a situation where the more the Elves need to use the Hunting Arrow, the less they dare to use it. Naturally, neither Artemis nor the Elf race would want to see this outcome," Pannis didn’t directly answer Catherine’s question, but instead explained the capabilities of the Hunting Arrow in detail: "Therefore, to avoid such a ridiculous situation, when Artemis crafted the Hunting Arrow, she had already taken preventive measures. In fact, for the Hunting Arrow to take effect, it must ’hit’ the target. Only after the ’Hunting Arrow’ has ’hit’ the target, will Artemis’s lethal Divine Power erupt and completely destroy the target."

"Because the Divine Soul is a spiritual entity, the Hunting Arrow, as a physical entity, wasn’t deemed to have hit?" Catherine continued to question, "But that doesn’t make sense, you had tried physical attacks before, which were ineffective against the Divine Soul. Surely you would have prepared this time, infusing energy inside the Hunting Arrow. In this way, the energy can hit a spiritual entity like the Divine Soul, right? Why would the Hunting Arrow ineffectively pass through then?"

"Heh, both Flare and I had the same idea as you before, thinking this would make the Hunting Arrow effective. But, we overlooked a big problem, or rather, we never knew about this issue from the start," Pannis shook his head, "The last time the Hunting Arrow was used was back in the Third Epoch. The generation of Elves who witnessed its effectiveness had long since passed away. So, the current generation of Elves have come to understand the Hunting Arrow purely through historical records and inherited experience, which is quite limiting. They don’t fully comprehend the capabilities and characteristics of the Hunting Arrow, and their understanding of the mechanism for activation has slight discrepancies from reality. Just like at that time, we all believed that would count as ’hitting’ the target. However, it’s not the case. The mechanism that activates is the ’Hunting Arrow’ hitting the target, not the energy on the Hunting Arrow."

"Is it just a matter of such subtlety?" Catherine’s eyes twitched, and she said with a bitter smile, "No wonder the Hunting Arrow had no effect, you can’t blame yourselves for this, it was just really bad luck."

"It’s still a lack of thorough preparation on my part," Pannis sighed, "I should have anticipated this result but was a bit careless."

"What about Danacus?" Catherine asked, "That must have given him a scare."

"He laughed," Pannis said bitterly, "I’ll never forget his words. He said it’s just such a thing, and no wonder you had the courage to challenge my authority. Luckily..."

"He didn’t finish his sentence?" Catherine’s eyes brightened, seeming to grasp something, "He’s really cautious. Even if we were just doomed men in his eyes, he still wouldn’t spill a bit of information."

"Yes, he’s very cautious. Even when he sees us as a group of the doomed, he won’t reveal anything," Pannis nodded, "But from the ’luckily’ that slipped from his mouth, I still discerned his unspoken thoughts. Because he went on to say, ’now that you’ve lost your last reliance, I don’t need to play this boring game with you anymore. Now, it’s my turn to act.’

"He really intended to possess your bodies from the start, and now when he says it’s his turn to act, he’s ready to start taking over your bodies," Catherine spoke rapidly: "So saying ’luckily’, he was actually thinking, luckily he hadn’t possessed your bodies earlier; otherwise, he really would have been seriously wounded or even killed by the Hunting Arrow. Now, he’s finally free of such concerns. It’s no wonder you are so sure that, once he possesses a Divine Body, your Hunting Arrow could pose a threat to him."