"I have injected mana into all the water sources I could find... though I can't guarantee there aren't any places I missed."
Beside a small pool of water roughly a dozen square meters in size, Frieren's squad gathered according to the plan.
"That is enough. As long as we can restrict the Stille's range of activity and slowly force them towards this spot, it will do."
Frieren nodded at Kanne, then sat in a kneeling position beside the pool.
"Then I will lie in ambush for the Stille here. You two are carrying the hatred of other squads right now... so hurry up and hide."
As Frieren spoke, she slowly closed her eyes and began to compress her mana to the extreme.
Frieren's usual state involved compressing her mana by about ten times, but now, she was pushing it to her true limit.
"This is too exaggerated... I didn't expect someone could actually suppress their mana to the level of [Nothingness]..."
Lawine couldn't help but sigh with emotion as she watched Frieren's operation.
"It hasn't been completely eliminated, you know? Lawine, look closely."
Frieren turned her head and waved her hand.
"See, as long as I move, there will still be a tiny bit of leakage."
"Uh... who could possibly see that..."
Faced with Frieren's demonstration, both Lawine and Kanne wore expressions of helplessness.
"By the way, if that person who went against you yesterday gets attracted here too... what should we do? If even you find her that headache-inducing, will she interfere with our plan?"
Lawine asked with some worry.
"She will definitely come... I just don't know what method she'll use... You don't need to worry about her interfering with us either. After all, catching the Stille is her goal too. At most, there might be a little friction. I will protect you."
Frieren spoke slowly.
"Then we'll go hide... Hey, don't drag us down."
Lawine nodded at Frieren, then immediately changed her expression when she turned to look at Kanne.
"Tch... That's what I wanted to say!"
Kanne showed no sign of weakness either. And so, the two little frenemies went off bickering like that, hiding in the distance.
With Frieren completely suppressing her mana, she became ostensibly nothing more than a rock in the eyes of monsters, leading to many interesting occurrences.
For instance, right now, a [Corpse-Luring Bird]—a creature originally ferocious, bloodthirsty, and living by hunting humans—happened to land right beside Frieren. Appearing not to sense anything amiss in the slightest, it began drinking from the small pool directly next to her.
Frieren raised her eyebrows slightly. Usually, she wouldn't let this kind of monster go, but the current target was the [Stille]. To avoid startling the snake by beating the grass, she could only continue to play the role of a rock.
After another short while, when that familiar presence drew closer and closer to her, Frieren could only silently sigh in her heart.
She hadn't expected that instead of waiting out a Stille, she had provoked a troublesome object instead.
[Speaking of which, these monsters are too stupid... As long as you suppress mana below a certain limit, even if you walk straight towards them, they don't react.]
A voice transmitted into Frieren's mind. This was Fíliya directly using Mental Magic to have an "encrypted conversation" with her. Fíliya walked slowly behind Frieren, her eyes fixed on the Corpse-Luring Bird that was still drinking water.
Fíliya obviously knew Frieren's objective, so she didn't choose to attack the monster either. She simply squatted silently behind Frieren, rested her chin on Frieren's head, and conveniently wrapped Frieren's slightly petite body completely in her embrace.
Since Frieren wants to pretend to be a rock right now, doesn't that mean I can take advantage of her all I want? Fíliya thought to herself.
[Since you know my thoughts, then don't cause trouble, okay... And, let go of me quickly.]
Frieren's dissatisfied voice came through.
[Hm? How am I causing trouble? Aren't I cooperating with you perfectly? I also suppressed my mana very low before daring to walk over. Although my suppression is far from as good as yours, it's more than enough to fool this kind of not-so-high-level monster... You know I've always disliked this kind of operation.]
Fíliya replied casually, while completely ignoring Frieren's protest and hugging her even tighter.
[Tsk...]
Frieren was obviously very unhappy, but since she was dead set on continuing her job of playing a rock, she could only temporarily endure the harassment coming from Miss Fíliya.
[Say, isn't your method appearing too inefficient? Though it fits the slow-paced brain circuitry unique to elves.]
Fíliya continued to maintain communication with Frieren within the encrypted channel.
However, Frieren did not continue to pay her any attention, merely keeping her eyes silently closed.
[You really are treating yourself as a stone, huh? Answer me quickly, or I'm going to make some small moves, okay?]
Seeing Frieren ignore her, Fíliya immediately issued a threat.
[You are so annoying...]
Frieren finally replied helplessly.
[So, what brilliant idea do you have?]
[Umu... Suppressing mana to a level approaching disappearance can indeed make monsters treat you as a strange stone. But it is merely a stone...
The Stille might land on you, or it might land on another stone. To put it bluntly, this method is purely gambling, passing by luck. It can't be considered a mature mage, Miss Frieren.]
[Of course, I know you've already done the operation of compressing the Stille's activity range to increase your probability of winning the bet. This point is worth praising, but bluntly speaking, you're still eating off luck.]
[So do you have a better method then?]
Frieren immediately retorted with a question.
[Of course, I've had an idea for a long time. If successful, I could even catch many Stille at once. However... since entering this Great Barrier, I haven't encountered a single Stille, so I still need to research the characteristics of this little thing more. If someone could actively gift me a Stille, that would be great... What do you say, Frieren?]
Fíliya issued her persuasive words.
[Do you think I would believe you?]
Frieren's words came through again.
[Mm, true. No matter how good we are outside, once we walk into this barrier, we are competitors... It doesn't matter if you think I'm lying to you. Anyway, there is still time. Worst case, I'll find someone else to rob one from... It's just, I am very curious. Can this clumsy method of yours really catch a Stille?]
Just as Fíliya finished saying this sentence, an orange-red feather slowly drifted down from the sky.
Immediately following that, a [Stille], possessing that petite body type and terrifying speed, landed right on Frieren's shoulder.
[Heh.]
Frieren's voice came through again. Clearly, this single word represented all the ridicule this white-haired elf had to offer.
[Tsk...]
Fíliya was also very annoyed, thinking Why did this little thing have to come right when it would slap me in the face, not sooner or later? However, she didn't sabotage things just because her face was lost. She quietly watched as Frieren moved her fingertips and used [Bird-Catching Magic] to capture the Stille inside a specially made birdcage.
___
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