Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1405 - 191 Because I’m Still Here

"Yes, just a moment after he began to speak, he reverted to his original state," Pannis said expressionlessly. "The low energy caused by our prolonged attacks and his own disheveled appearance, all disappeared. That is to say, the attacks we launched while constantly enduring death’s onslaught were actually ineffective. Everything we did was in vain. Even the attacks by Mina and Dillie, due to a lack of intensity, had no substantial impact on him. It was only the very last all-out attack that had a slight effect on him, um, the effect was probably just giving him a scare with the Hunting Arrow. Of course, if we had a dozen Minas and Dillies, continuously striking him with that last intensity of energy, we might have had a chance of winning, just like Loki and Sigein of the Triclops did once. Unfortunately, we did not. Haha, it was not until then that we realized that all the changes he had shown earlier were just intentionally feigned."

"Danacus," Catherine said, biting her lip bitterly, "why would he do this? Is toying with others really so pleasurable for him? No, that’s not it, he did it on purpose, he did it for you all."

"That’s right, a grown man would not stoop to amusing himself by toying with ants. For Danacus, we might just be ants, and toying with us does not bring him pleasure," Pannis nodded. "Everything he does has its purpose, and this disguise was no exception. I realized later, just as I said, he knew we had brought a Divine Artifact that could threaten him into his Divine Kingdom, but he was unclear about the effect of the Divine Artifact and how much of a threat it really posed to him. Therefore, from the start, he was plotting to tempt us into revealing the Divine Artifact, because an unseen Divine Artifact is often more fearsome than one that is visible."

"Is he worried that the Divine Artifact could kill him?" Catherine pondered and agreed, "That must be it. An unknown Divine Artifact indeed posed a great danger to him."

"He knew that the Divine Artifact could not destroy him with overwhelming force, otherwise we would have used it as soon as we entered his Divine Kingdom. Our tentative actions showed that we needed to find an opportunity to make the Divine Artifact effective, and that opportunity, would have to be when he was most vulnerable," Pannis explained, his thoughts having been slowly deduced over many long years. "For a mere Soul of Danacus, compared to his complete self, he was already in a vulnerable state, but there is an even more vulnerable moment, that is when he takes over a body, just after erasing the body’s soul, and merges with it. That is his most vulnerable time. Of course, Danacus was aware of all this, but we were not, so he kept waiting, kept enticing us to expose our hand, so he could take over a body in the most secure manner possible."

"So, your initial persistence was actually correct," Catherine sighed regretfully. "If everyone could have held on a little longer, maybe Danacus would have given up first."

"Heh, I initially thought that too. It was essentially a game of patience, to see who could last longer. At first, I thought if I could endure a bit longer, maybe he would be the first to falter," Pannis said, shaking his head. "But I soon dismissed that idea. In reality, relying on the Hunting Arrow was doomed to fail. I was wrong to pin my hopes on the Hunting Arrow from the start, as it was destined to fail, not because I didn’t hold out." freewёbnoνel.com

"Indeed, because the premise of using the Hunting Arrow is that he takes over someone’s body, and then the Hunting Arrow can be used to kill that person and destroy Danacus’s Soul," Freya said coolly. "But, as you just said, that wasn’t an option for you."

"If we could tolerate him taking over someone’s body, there would have been no need to confront Danacus directly. We could have just followed Mina’s initial idea, send her outside the Door of Mist, let her face Danacus alone, and then we could have just gone back," Pannis said with self-mocking laughter. "So, our purpose in coming here and fighting Danacus was to thwart him and destroy him without letting him succeed. The ultimate reliance was on the Hunting Arrow. However, the precondition for the Hunting Arrow to be effective was to first let him succeed. Thus, from the beginning, this was a paradox, and failure was inevitable. At that moment I finally understood, my seemingly viable plan was full of loopholes. I am not at all perfect, just an extremely arrogant fool, indulging in my own ego. If not for my arrogance, my conceit, I would not have led everyone into such a desperate situation, nor would I have led everyone into a fatal predicament."

"No, that’s not it," Catherine suddenly raised her voice, interrupting Pannis’s self-assessment. "You’re being too extreme, you did everything you could, you can’t blame yourself for the failure."

"Yet, it’s mainly my fault. If I had thought things through more, perhaps the outcome could have been different. Heh, whether before or now, that’s what I’ve always thought," Pannis shook his head. "Only now, I can face my mistakes calmly. Actually, at that time, although I had realized my errors and deficiencies, I hadn’t fallen into despair until Danacus began to mock us, purposefully telling us that his previous performance was all fake and that our attacks hadn’t affected him at all, and that now, he could start choosing bodies without any worries."

"That bastard doesn’t have the grace of a victor," Catherine said, her brows furrowing with a hint of sympathy. "I imagine everyone must have felt very desperate then."

"You’re wrong," Pannis said with a smile, though his smile looked more painful than crying, looking at his smile was simply agonizing. "No one was desperate except me, not a single one."

"Why?" Catherine asked, surprised. "It had come to this point, all the cards were... No way, are you saying... "

"Heh, yes," Pannis pointed at himself and said softly, "Because I was still there, so no one was desperate."

"I see now," Freya sighed heavily, saying gravely, "it turns out, that was the final weight that brought the house down."