Chapter 80: Riddle-makers, get out of here
“Why are you suddenly talking in riddles?”
“So annoying!”
Peiya sighed and counted the bodies again. There were five in total.
“Are all of them just low-level soldiers?”
“Not exactly. One of them looks like a team leader. Remember the Judicator from earlier? He was probably their leader.”
“You mean him.” Peiya suddenly slapped her forehead. “Oh no, we should have dealt with his body earlier. If the Church comes to investigate later, what then?”
“There’s no point thinking about that now. If you had moved the body, it would actually make the Church more suspicious.”
Elise crouched down and checked their fingers, noticing some dark marks at the tips.
“They all died from mineral sickness. One of them lasted longer, but in the end, no one came to save him. He died here slowly.”
“That can happen? Don’t they have holy light? They should have resistance to mineral poison.”
Elise stood up and dusted off her hands. “Even with resistance, you still have to consider real conditions. Also… you’ve been acting a bit silly lately.”
Peiya paused. It was true, she had been talking more than usual. Her questions were getting simpler, even things she already knew the answer to, she still asked Elise.
It was like she just wanted to hear Elise talk more.
Strange…
Before, she would keep these thoughts to herself.
But now, she said everything out loud.
How embarrassing…
Still, she couldn’t lose face. “Hmph. What, I can’t want to talk to you more?”
“You can. Anytime. So, what do you want to talk about? Whether I have lion patterns on me? Or more interesting Church stories?”
“Neither. I want to understand something, your attitude toward this journey.”
Peiya stared straight into Elise’s eyes.
“You’ve changed too. Before, you didn’t talk much. But now, it’s like your mouth is on loan and you have to hurry to return it. And no matter how dangerous this journey is, you don’t seem nervous at all. Except just now, when you carried me. I could tell you were actually nervous.”
Peiya recalled that moment.
Elise’s movements were smooth and confident. She held Peiya safely in her arms, and Peiya could clearly hear her heartbeat.
It was beating fast.
And she could feel that Elise was truly nervous at that time, completely different from before.
When the Judicator died, Peiya had been extremely tense, but Elise just stood there calmly.
Even now, in such a dangerous place, Elise still had the mood to talk about Church gossip.
Elise smiled and stepped closer. “I wasn’t nervous back then. Do you believe me?”
“No.”
“Exactly. You already know what I’m going to say. You just want to hear me say it myself, right?”
“W-what? Of course not!”
Peiya waved her hands quickly. She shouldn’t have asked that question, now Elise had caught her again.
“You seem to enjoy seeing me like this. I’m starting to think you like it.”
“I don’t. If anything, you should act cuter and annoy me instead.”
“……”
So she’s not even pretending anymore, huh?
“Then how do you explain your social anxiety? Do you look like someone with social anxiety at all?”
Everything else could be explained as growth, but this one really didn’t make sense.
It was like thinking you met an innocent girl who had never experienced love, only to later find out she had far more experience than anyone else.
Elise’s expression suddenly turned serious.
“It’s true. I didn’t lie to you. I’ll tell you the details when I get the chance… but right now, I can’t say it.”
Peiya was surprised. She didn’t expect Elise to answer so seriously.
“Hey, don’t be like that. I’m not blaming you. If you’ve gotten better, that’s a good thing.”
“Thanks for being willing to understand me. Let’s go, you don’t like staying in this stinky place, right?”
“Oh right, I almost forgot about the smell.”
Peiya had been so focused on talking with Elise that she almost ignored the bad smell completely.
Honestly, when you’re with someone you care about, time really passes fast.
They hadn’t talked for long, but suddenly her stomach started to feel hungry.
Wait… this hunger felt strange.
It was that kind of hunger, a deep hunger from her soul, like a witch’s craving.
But she had just absorbed a magic core today. Why was she hungry again so quickly?
The frequency was completely different from usual.
Damn it… why did this have to happen now?
Peiya quietly took out another magic core and absorbed it. Looking at the few cores left in her bag, she sighed.
She just hoped nothing would go wrong.
“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? You’re walking slower,” Elise asked.
“It’s nothing… can you sense any monsters nearby?”
“I’ll check… hmm, no. Are you worried about a monster attack?” Elise looked at her gently.
“Not really…”
In fact, she was worried that no monsters would come. She was running out of magic cores.
After all, this was still the Calamity Forest, the place where the Calamity Witch was said to be born. Could this hunger be related to that?
All kinds of messy thoughts ran through Peiya’s mind.
She even came up with a strange idea. If things got bad, maybe she could suppress herself with holy light.
Fighting herself.
It sounded ridiculous.
Luckily, her current supply of magic cores was still enough. And if she counted the days, the full moon would be coming soon.
Instead of trusting the uncertain Calamity Forest, it might be better to rely on the full moon. Monsters tend to lose control during a full moon, maybe witches are affected too.
While thinking about all this, the two of them reached a new area. The bad smell gradually faded, and Peiya noticed something strange in this space.
“Did you notice above us? I think I see… a turtle?”
Elise squinted and looked up, then shook her head. “That’s not a turtle. It’s a bear guard. From our angle, it just looks like one.”
“What?”
Peiya looked again and realized it really was a bear guard. But why was it upside down in the sky?
It was like their position and the creature’s position formed a mirrored hourglass shape.
“Probably space magic. There’s a strong spatial presence here. Everything we saw before, and even this bear guard, is part of the illusion.”
“Then I don’t get it,” Peiya said, spreading her hands. “The Ice Bear King shouldn’t be this skilled with space magic. So why does this place feel like a maze?”
“I don’t know,” Elise shook her head. “Also… there’s no path ahead. This is the end.”
Peiya stepped forward to check, and it was true.
But just as she turned to go back, the ground suddenly started shaking.
The space under their feet felt like it came alive, flipping like an hourglass.
Peiya was thrown into the air.
Even more terrifying…
The “turtle” she mentioned earlier began passing through the connection point between the two spaces, like something falling through water, moving into their side.
As the massive figure fell through the upper space like a meteor, its form changed, from a bear guard into the face of the Ice Bear King.
Seeing this, Peiya’s eyes widened.
What kind of terrifying dungeon was this?!
On the dark ground, the Ice Bear King slowly stood up. Its gaze fell on the cross in Peiya’s hand, its expression full of mockery.
“Heh, another one wearing robes, huh? What, are you here to take revenge for them? Go tell that old man you keep talking about. This old bear isn’t in the mood to play games with you. If he wants what I have, let him come himself. I’d like to see if he’s even worthy!”