At Delsie's revelation, Rick frowned with a tense look.
"Cruel as it is, given the current direction things are going, it's the most probable conclusion."
Lorie cursed as she glared at the deceased creatures before her.
"F*ck! Just our d*mn luck."
Their luck must be truly abysmal to unknowingly wander directly into the heart of the creatures' territory.
Usually, wiping out a colony of Rank 1 Magical Creatures was hard enough. Still, they needed to do it while lugging around heavy backpacks.
Oh, and they needed to protect their non-combatant all while this happened.
If they threw caution to the wind and ditched their backpacks, opting to raid the nest guns blazing, they might make a commotion large enough for others in the jungle to notice them.
Whether they are other monsters… Or even humans.
"I think it's needless to say that we need to somehow avoid the nest," Lorie said.
But she sighed and then shortly added:
"But that's the problem, isn't it? We don't even know where it is. By trying to avoid it, we might just accidentally stumble right into it."
Delsie was about to nod, but her ears suddenly twitched as a buzzing noise entered her ears.
It was the distinctive sound of fluttering insect wings.
"Another group dead ahead. Seems to be four… No… Five of them. They're also making their way in our direction."
Rick frowned before throwing Lorie a look.
"We'll need to talk as we walk. We can't afford to stay and have a leisurely chat."
"...Alright."
Lorie continued explaining her plan as the seven-man team weaved around the approaching patrol of abominations.
"Backtracking and going around might be a logical choice, but in doing so, we could just as likely end up entering the territory of another similar species. Instead, our best bet is to power through and hope we don't see the nest. If we do, we'll just need to go around it then."
Unable to come up with a proper plan, the only thing they could do was bumble their way through, hoping to luckily avoid their enemies.
This thought caused them to frown.
Basically, they were borderline gambling their lives on a 50/50 coin toss.
Given their current constraints, if they did manage to accidentally encounter the nest, there was a high chance at least one person would die.
Just as they were thinking this, a voice rang out from the middle of their formation.
"What if… We use the Power Analyzer."
Pulling out her device, Cecelia proposed.
Having even her backpack confiscated, she was now even more of a deadweight than she was before.
All she could do was twiddle her thumbs as she was herded from one location to the next.
Lorie lifted an eyebrow as she gave the princess a confused look.
"That device of yours?"
Although she felt slightly nervous under everyone's gazes, being a princess, she was more than accustomed to such looks.
"Yes," Cecelia nodded with improvised confidence.
In order to properly convince someone of something, you first need to convince yourself.
"As you all know, this device in my hand can measure an organism's power and visibly quantify it."
Lifting her leg to step over a thick tree root that had protruded from the ground, Cecelia continued forward.
"I'm sure you are also aware that Tristings are very protective of their queen, to the point where drones would willingly sacrifice themselves for her safety. Such a species wouldn't just leave their queen unprotected. This is also the reason why we're encountering more and more creatures the further we go."
Having an inkling of what the princess was proposing, a small smile broke out on Lorie's lips.
The others listening in weren't much different, either.
However, none of them interrupted the princess and let her continue.
"The stronger drones would surely be placed in the vicinity of the nest, unlike the weaker ones stationed at the periphery of their territory. If I can use my device to scan the strength of the surrounding patrols, we should be able to significantly reduce our risk of encountering their hive."
Rick chuckled tiredly as he gave Cecelia a thumbs up.
"Although It's still quite crude for a plan, it's better than nothing."
Ginny nodded as well.
"While it's going to take us longer to traverse this area, that idea of yours would save us some trouble."
Lorie threw a glance at Lyn, and the latter responded in turn.
It seemed that their taciturn leader was on board with the idea.
Flashing the princess a look of respect, Lorie nodded.
"We'll follow your plan, princess."
Cecelia's proposal wouldn't change much in the beginning, but it was like giving them a flashlight in the darkness.
While they could estimate the hive's location by simply using the number of patrolling drones, that method had a glaring flaw.
Suppose some of the qualitatively stronger drones were in smaller groups. In that case, their seven-man team might delude themselves into thinking they were getting farther away from the nest.
After all, having fewer enemies was usually better.
Utilizing Delsie's Mana Art and their handguns for surprise attacks, they couldn't accurately gauge each Tristing drone's individual power.
Rank 1s and Rank 2s would both die from a single well-placed attack.
Their almost empty handguns had enough firepower to ensure this fact.
It wasn't like they had the time to harvest the mana cores, either.
If they blindly trusted false information, instead of avoiding the hive, they would unknowingly walk into the gaping maws of death.
On the other hand, Cecelia's device would allow them to better judge for themselves where the stronger patrol groups were and effectively navigate around the nest.
Furthermore, Cecelia was also updating a map of their surroundings in real-time on her smart tablet, using the information the group had gathered to better predict the hive's location.
Feeling the gazes of approval fall on her, a smile broke out on the princess's lips.
It was nice to be validated.