Chapter 64: Are You Willing to Trust Me
Feeling a strong sense of danger, almost like her head was about to split open, Peiya immediately used a blessing to protect both of them.
At the same time, she took out a crystal from her bag and crushed it. A crab-shell-like shadow covered the space under their feet, blocking most of the sound waves.
Still not feeling safe enough, Peiya smashed another bottle of alchemy potion.
Some alchemy potions, when used incorrectly, can block a person’s five senses for a short time. This was originally a side effect, but in a critical moment, it became a very useful trick.
With the three actions used together, the battle roar from before was almost completely suppressed. The remaining echoes only stayed in their ears for a moment before disappearing.
“Alright, it should be over now. I have to say, that roar was pretty scary. As expected from a lord-class monster.”
Peiya brushed the dust off her body. The “no injury if there’s smoke” rule still held true.
The roar was powerful, but it only caught her off guard because it was sudden.
Normally, monsters use roars to declare their territory. The intimidation effect is usually stronger than the actual damage. But for lord-class monsters above the fifth tier, their roars are no joke.
If you are prepared, it’s fine. But if you are not...
Getting hit by a sudden roar like that is like walking on the road and suddenly getting elbowed, you just can’t defend against it.
Even well-formed adventurer teams can’t stay in combat mode all the time. It consumes too much energy for support members and mages.
After recovering from the roar, Elise looked at Peiya, whose movements were almost like a small monster, and couldn’t help but ask.
“Peiya, were you serious about that reaction speed just now?”
While Elise was still stunned, Peiya’s movements had already become so fast they left afterimages.
By the time Elise heard the roar, Peiya had already smashed the alchemy potion. Could a support really react that fast?
What kind of support leads a team like this?
So you mean a support protects teammates by killing all the monsters?
Obviously, it doesn’t work like that.
In most teams, the command is usually in the hands of the mage or the swordsman, since they are the main damage dealers and decide the flow of battle.
Supports are usually responsible for logistics or handling small tasks. At critical moments, they use blessings to protect teammates and try to prevent fatal injuries.
A support like Peiya would be considered extremely powerful even in the kingdom. At least, Elise had never seen one like her before in all her years.
“What’s wrong? Did you get hurt?”
Peiya checked Elise’s condition. There didn’t seem to be any serious problem. She thought the roar might have affected her.
“I’m fine. You moved too fast, I couldn’t even see what you did before the roar was over. Even if I wanted to get hurt, you’d have to give me the chance first, right?”
Elise was clearly joking in a slightly boastful way.
It made Peiya feel a bit dazed. For her, that kind of reaction was already normal.
Without that level of speed, the Dawn Guild would have been wiped out many times already.
Every time they faced danger, Peiya would use the backup plans she had prepared in advance to turn the situation around.
“It’s nothing. I came from a rough background, so I learned a lot of tricks like this. Other adventurers probably prefer to crush enemies with pure power.”
Elise shook her head. “I don’t agree with that style. In fact, I think relying on brute force like that is a kind of disrespect to magic.
For most adventurers, they only chase higher damage and ignore skill combinations and mana control.
That only increases the risk of overconfidence and misjudging their own strength.
If they face an enemy they can’t handle, they often panic and can’t think calmly about a solution.”
Peiya thought for a moment and agreed with Elise.
In some ways, they were quite similar. Even though they kept getting stronger, they refused to become slaves to power.
They wanted to be the ones who use tools, not servants controlled by them.
They tried to combine their skills as well as possible to reach the best performance.
As for how many skills Peiya had now, even she couldn’t remember anymore. She had basically learned everything useful from the books.
“I agree with you. We shouldn’t become slaves to power.”
“By the way, Miss Peiya, along the way we haven’t seen any other adventurers. Could it be that we’ve fallen into some kind of illusion?”
“No. I’ve read the information Maya gave me, and there was nothing about mental-type illusions. If there really were any, the investigation team wouldn’t have experienced only a few scattered cases.”
“That makes sense. But it’s too quiet around here. It gives me a bad feeling. From my experience, when it’s this quiet, it usually means danger.”
Peiya didn’t respond to Elise’s words. High-level swordsmen and mages often have something like instinct.
Simply put, it’s a kind of reaction built from long-term battle experience. In a quiet environment like this, it can indeed make them more alert.
However, compared to these vague feelings, Peiya preferred to trust data after calming down.
She took out the map again and connected several strange points. The infected monsters had formed a circle around the area where they were now, like a sphere.
And the center of the roar just now was likely where the Ice Bear King was hiding.
This was quite far from the position shown on the map that President Maya originally provided.
It didn’t mean they had gone the wrong way. In fact, the bear guards were still within this area, but there was still a considerable distance from the Ice Bear King.
Using the map, Peiya tried to figure out why those people couldn’t find the entrance before.
It was very likely that the monsters affected by the roar formed a natural barrier, pushing the whole group into another area.
After all, normal adventurer teams and investigation groups usually try to follow safe routes.
They wouldn’t easily throw themselves into a huge tide of monsters. If they failed, people would really die.
Adventuring is not only about flowers and treasure. It also hides dangerous currents underneath.
One small mistake, and you could be completely destroyed.
Many lords hide themselves using this method, slowly gathering power while waiting for the right moment to act.
Peiya clearly didn’t plan to give the Ice Bear King such a chance. She closed her eyes and began to simulate based on the behavior patterns of past lords.
If she were the Ice Bear King, where would she hide to be safest? And why would she choose to hide?
As she got deeper into the role, Peiya gradually began to understand the truth. At that moment, a faint golden halo appeared above her head.
Along with her, a circle of golden light spread out. Peiya marked a spot on the map.
“If I were it, the entrance should be here.”
This time, she didn’t rely on guides or prepared information, but purely on role-playing. For these long-unconquered lords, relying only on experience can easily trap you in a loop of theory with no way out.
If everything could be explained by theory, then the investigation team wouldn’t have failed to find the real place.
So Peiya believed the Ice Bear King was acting against intuition. But this alone couldn’t explain everything, because she had a faint feeling.
The Ice Bear King’s roar was not just about claiming territory.
There was likely another hidden reason, and it directly related to whether the investigation team’s original direction was correct.
In the investigation notes, the main idea was that the Ice Bear King was trapped underground and was trying to use the bear guards above to cause destruction and find a way out.
This was basically the widely accepted view.
But...
After coming to the Calamity Forest and observing it herself, Peiya felt something different.
It didn’t seem like the Ice Bear King lacked the ability to get out. In other words, Peiya even felt that it was intentionally keeping itself trapped.
This conclusion sounded unbelievable. If she told an ordinary person, they would probably think she was crazy.
After all, what kind of thinking would a monster have? Isn’t it supposed to escape and cause destruction?
But during this time, after absorbing crystal cores, Peiya occasionally saw moments where low-level monsters began to develop intelligence.
This made her wonder if the Ice Bear King also had some purpose, and willingly accepted this situation.
Peiya held her chin and slowly came out of her focused state.
In the end, these were still just her personal guesses. She couldn’t let imagination interfere with her plan.
Thinking about how Elise had sensed monsters through instinct before, Peiya felt that maybe she could ask Elise for help.
After all, no matter what, they were a team now.
Being arrogant would only bring trouble.
So she looked at Elise and said sincerely,
“My next plan might be a bit risky. I wonder… are you willing to trust me?”