Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1463 - 249 She’s Here

"Let’s not worry about him for now," the girls said, recovering their composure after their initial surprise. Catherine shifted her gaze back to the altar and stated, "Let’s finish our task first. We shouldn’t delay the more important matters that Pannis is handling."

"Don’t worry, big sister, look, Shiela is also looking very relaxed now," Lina shook her head and said, "Sacrifices are different from ordinary prayers. The priestess in charge of conducting the sacrifice can relax after the ritual is completed, and the Power of Faith is directed. As long as the altar remains intact and the scene is slightly controlled, it is relatively easy. There’s not much need to do more, unlike hosting prayers, where focus is needed throughout."

"If sacrificing is so convenient, then why do most churches choose prayer?" Catherine asked in confusion, "It seems like everyone should choose the easier method."

"Because prayer is stable and efficient," Lina explained, "Actually, compared to formal prayers, the process of sacrifice is much more troublesome and the consumption is far greater than praying to a deity’s image. It’s just that we currently don’t have a deity’s image, so we have no choice but to opt for sacrifice."

"You’ve been talking about sacrifices since just now, but what exactly is a sacrifice?" Catherine persisted, her curiosity unsatisfied, "The sacrifices I know of don’t seem like anything good at all. Like the ones I’ve seen in the Holy City and the City of Innocence, and the Living Pillar Ritual we encountered in Icebound Town, they were all very evil acts."

"Uh, big sister, you’ve got something a little wrong there. Indeed, those you mentioned are sacrifices, but you’re missing a word in front," Lina explained with a wry smile, "What you’re talking about are ’dark deities’ sacrifices’, which use life and souls as offerings in an evil type of sacrifice, detested by almost all deities. Normal sacrifices aren’t like that."

"Phew, that scared me," Catherine let out a sigh of relief. She definitely didn’t want to associate her family with such evil acts of sacrifice, even though she knew it was unlikely, she was still worried. Only after Lina’s explanation did she feel reassured, and then she asked, "So what is a normal sacrifice supposed to be like?"

"Normal sacrifices are actually quite common. Remember the Harvest Festival we all participated in together back in the day? That was originally an annual ritual, where every village would offer that year’s harvest crops as offerings through a ritual to our Lord, to express gratitude. As more and more people participated in the festival, it eventually became the Harvest Festival," Lina reminisced about the splendid fireworks with joy, "That’s just one example. Many festivals originated as rituals, which are the ceremonies of sacrifice. A true sacrifice is just like that, offering offerings to deities through rituals. Due to the effect of the ritual, the offerings can directly connect the two worlds, unaffected by barriers between worlds."

"Hmm? Offerings?" Catherine was taken aback and pressed, "But what needs to be delivered to Lady Nellie now is the faith of the undead."

"The Power of Faith is the offering for this sacrifice, my sister," Lina explained proudly, with a smug smile, "I’ve just employed a clever method, making the physical offering into the intangible Power of Faith, but the essence of the sacrifice hasn’t changed. Once the conduit is formed, the Power of Faith is successfully transmitted into Lady Nellie’s body, and that’s all that’s needed."

"Alright, maybe you’re right," Catherine sighed, resignedly saying, "Anyway, I don’t understand it at all. You’re the expert in this area, and it’s better to leave things you don’t understand to the experts."

"Rattle, rattle." The two ladies were discussing the differences between sacrifice and prayer when Saen suddenly made a sound again.

"Saen says the person coming is very fast," Shiela said with a furrowed brow. "They will arrive here very soon; it seems their target is indeed you two—heading straight for you now."

"Who could be coming all the way here to find us?" Catherine murmured in confusion. "Should we go out to meet them?"

Although she seemed to ask casually, Lina knew very well what Catherine was worried about and shook her head, "It’s best we don’t leave this place, at least I shouldn’t. That way, if any unforeseen situation arises during the sacrifice process, I can inform Shiela about how to handle it in time. Big sister, you don’t need to worry. I know what you’re concerned about, but as long as the altar is not destroyed and the priest presiding over the sacrifice is not killed, the sacrifice cannot be disrupted. A minor disturbance won’t affect the sacrifice. So, we just need to ensure the safety of the altar and Shiela."

"There are so many demigod chieftains here; if we can’t assure the safety of the altar, we might as well all go back to Burial Bones Mountain to slumber," said Mil, the former goblin council president who had become much more composed after meeting with Ava and feeling a sense of release. Now one could see the shadow of the careful, meticulous researcher he once was. Even though his gaze still occasionally drifted to Ava’s face today, he conscientiously refrained from bringing up the past until this moment when he spoke up to reassure them, "So rest assured, with us here, if the other party holds malice, we will not let them anywhere near the altar. Even if we all fall, Saen is still here, and his strength is enough to solve any problem."

"Rattle, rattle."

"Sure, I also know that the other party is unlikely to harbor malice," Catherine said. Even though she couldn’t understand what Saen was saying, she could guess from Mil’s words, "Torum, who’s building the city outside, may be a bit lazy but he’s no fool. Although the other party has forced their way in, if they truly meant harm, Torum would fight to the death to block them outside and would not let them in so easily."

At this point, the young women began to envy the undead for their abilities. It was clear that these chieftains had extraordinary sensory perception towards living beings. In such a large city, they could almost sense the living beings that had just entered, a sensitivity that seemed comparable only to the perception demigods had of each other’s Inherent Psychic Domains. If they also had such an ability, they might have known who was approaching.

However, the young women did not need to guess for long because the girls standing high up could already see, from afar, a black shadow streaking down the long street like lightning, even stirring up fierce whirlwinds in its wake. The dark shadow was a black panther, and there was another figure in green riding atop it, hunching low as they charged forward. A stream of emerald green hair flowed behind her, dancing in the wind like leaves swaying in a breeze.

"Why has she come too?" The young women exchanged glances, a sense of vigilance rising in their eyes.