"Something is wrong." Herman said suddenly.
"Huh?" Andrea was surprised.
"We have been walking for about 40 minutes. Logically, we should have already left the territory of the previous snow monsters." Herman looked around vigilantly and said, "That means we should have encountered new snow monsters."
"But the whole journey was peaceful." Andrea pondered, "Could it be that they realized they couldn't win and fled in advance?"
"Where can they escape to?" Herman retorted. "The snow monster cannot adapt to temperatures above 20 degrees. The only place in the entire Peloponnese that can maintain a cold climate with heavy snow covering the mountains is the Taygetes Mountains."
"I am more inclined to believe that they are hiding somewhere, planning to ambush and attack us."
"Is that so? Let all the men be on guard." Andrea paused, and suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and quickly added:
"No! Let everyone be alert, but pretend that nothing was discovered."
Herman: …
This guy started to have wild ideas again... He was dreaming that the snow monster would launch a surprise attack and trap the Blue Sword. Then he could take the opportunity to negotiate with the Blue Sword people at the cost of rescuing them...
Herman knew what Andrea was thinking without asking.
"Don't be silly, do you really think they didn't notice?" Herman asked.
"What? Did they find any signs that something is wrong?" Andrea lowered his voice and looked behind him involuntarily.
"Of course," Herman said, "Look at their positions."
"The blonde lady holding the shield walks in the center, ready to provide support in any direction. The gunner girl stands next to her, serving the same purpose."
"All non-melee professions are distributed around the shield lady, and each of them has at least one melee character to provide cover."
"The red-haired psychic walked on the outside of the mountain road, with the leader Ask beside him; the masked mage girl who cast gravity earlier walked on the inside of the mountain road, with the black-haired girl with a sword guarding her from behind."
"The young girl with the flaxen hair was at the rear of the group, and the Norman with the double axes walked alongside her, obviously to protect her in case of emergency."
"The last one is the very small girl, who is about ten steps behind the team and keeps looking around. I guess she is a scout or reconnaissance girl in the Blue Sword."
"Indeed." After hearing what Herman said, Andrea realized that the other party's seemingly scattered positions actually had a thorough logical connection inside, like a spider web.
"The reason why they deployed their main forces on the two wings and in the rear is because we have the Iron Cross Mercenary Group in the front, which can form a strategic buffer." Herman concluded, "In other words, they have actually included us in their tactical system. Therefore, no matter what adjustments we make, they will most likely discover them."
"In this case, any cover-up is self-deception. It is better to deploy troops directly and generously."
"Yes, that's true." Andrea had to admit that Herman was right. Since they had already been noticed by the other party, if they tried to do something, it would only make the Iron Cross Mercenary Group look dishonest, and it would have no effect.