I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 418: One Against Ten Thousand

Timberbell Maze, Fourth Level.A soul-shaking, bloody massacre was ongoing.

The Vampiric Touch spell was already formidable at close range. Combined with Gauss's 19 Intelligence, the [Greater Spell Mastery], and [Stable Casting Master] professional feats, its effects became utterly terrifying.

"Boom!!"

Gauss's figure rampaged wildly amidst the horde of monsters. An uninformed observer watching from afar would likely mistake this for a hostile high-level "monster" slaughtering other monsters.

The thick scent of blood hung heavily in the air.

"Kill!"

Inspired by the towering figure who, like a sharp arrow, had thrown the massive monster formation into utter chaos, the members of the Red Dragon Guild also erupted with 120% effort. With soaring morale, they followed behind Gauss, cutting down the scattered monsters.

The entire battlefield was enveloped in an intense fighting spirit.

A fierce will to fight flashed in everyone's eyes, as if fresh strength was welling up continuously from within their bodies.

The white sword aura swirling around the greatsword held by the warrior grew brighter. The mana flow within the mage's body became more effortless. The ranger darted and weaved across the battlefield, always miraculously dodging attacks from the shadows as if divinely aided. The Red Dragon spewed torrents of draconic flame to one side...

All members of the Red Dragon Guild, forged together by Gauss, seemed twisted into a single, unbreakable rope. The focal point of this collective momentum was none other than Gauss at the front.

Whether by coincidence or necessity, a faint, illusory aura appeared in the air above the entire team's formation—a dragon spreading its wings.

"Keep up with the Guild Leader!"

Meanwhile, Gauss, who was at the front using Vampiric Touch to pulverize the monsters before him into bloody mist, also felt a miraculous enhancement settle upon him.

"What is this?"

Gauss frowned slightly. He was intimately familiar with every ounce of strength within his body, but this mysteriously appearing, additional power was a first.

His movements didn't stop as he casually slapped dozens of Magic Frogs to death with one hand, while focusing his senses inward.

He clenched his fist.

Soon, he understood the source of this mysterious power. It was the collective fighting spirit of the over hundred Red Dragon Guild members behind him, converging upon him.

"This is the power of momentum!"

At this moment, he was no longer just one person, but an "army."

He also understood why many powerful individuals were willing to establish or attach themselves to a faction. The presence of teammates and subordinates could enable a leader to erupt with even greater power.

What Gauss didn't know was that the "breaking-in" period for a team to forge this kind of "momentum" often took years, even a decade.

However, Gauss's terrifying, slaughtering posture in this battle had, unintentionally, won the admiration of the vast majority of the team. Combined with the subtle, continuous influence of [Proof of Leadership], it had been instantly tempered and formed in the intense crucible of the battlefield!

Forged into a vast, mighty momentum.

He looked down at the Magic Frogs ahead.

Feeling his gaze, hundreds of monsters instinctively took a few steps back.

Although the monsters behind outnumbered his side by dozens, even hundreds of times, lacking a momentum core like him, they were merely a disorganized mob.

Suppressed by his personal momentum and the team's collective fighting spirit, it was already impressive if these monsters could exert 70-80% of their true strength.

"Boom!"

After a brief pause, Gauss descended from the sky once more, sending numerous monsters flying.

He would not stop.

Whether the emotions radiating from the monsters were terror, rage, or hatred, it was irrelevant to him.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The battlefield gradually entered a white-hot stage.

The black-red energy tendrils of mana around Gauss wantonly slaughtered monsters, siphoning blood to convert into the mana needed to sustain the tendrils' attacks.

The monsters, realizing his terror, gradually united.

A torrent of magical attacks rained down upon him like a downpour.

Fireballs, ice arrows, poison, lightning, chromatic orbs, magic missiles, swords, axes...

A kaleidoscope of attacks was nearly impossible to avoid, an unending, mountain-toppling, tsunami-like onslaught.

This was the advantage of numbers. Fighting against many meant inevitably enduring pressure from more directions.

However, Gauss had no intention of dodging.

"Boom!"

A riot of colorful magical effects exploded on and around Gauss.

The glow from one wave of spells had barely faded before the next wave blossomed with light.

"Too weak!"

Gauss's voice rang out from within the chaotic mana currents.

Though most surrounding monsters couldn't understand his words, they could sense the contempt in his tone.

Thus, even more spells and arrows were hurled his way.

When the monsters, led by a Commander-level Monster, finished a coordinated magical bombardment, many monsters widened their eyes, peering into the dust and smoke.

Was he dead?

Then, under the expectant gazes of the many monsters, several wild, unrestrained energy tendrils instantly pierced through the haze!

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The leading Magic Frog, roughly level 6, was impaled on the spot. A figure stood with both feet planted on the frog's head, looking down at the monster horde with a calm, detached gaze.

What filled them with despair was that this human was spotless, without a speck of dust on him.

The previous attacks hadn't just failed to threaten his life—they hadn't caused the slightest bit of harm.

His surface was coated with a terrifying layer of protective energy dragon scales. This seemingly thin layer of defense had become an insurmountable chasm.

Gauss's defenses were frighteningly strong.

Moreover, he felt that even without these energy defenses, his own monstrous physical constitution could probably withstand these attacks head-on. Even if his defenses were breached, his body's powerful regenerative functions would likely complete the healing process in an extremely short time.

This was the confidence of a hexagonal warrior.

...

The battle between the Red Dragon Guild and the monster army of the Maze's fourth level lasted longer than anticipated.

Gauss himself had lost track of how long he had been fighting. He only knew that the rotating shifts of Red Dragon Guild members couldn't keep up with his combat tempo.

He simply continued silently, holding the Magic Frog Lord hostage to "besiege the stronghold and eliminate the reinforcements," giving it a lash with the tendrils now and then to make the agonized Lord summon more "underlings" to come to its "rescue."

Once a batch of monsters gathered, he would decisively initiate cleansing.

Utilizing the nearly zero-cost Vampiric Touch to slaughter the monsters.

The summoned monsters could only feel as if they were in hell.

They had to face a killing machine they couldn't defeat, couldn't outlast, and couldn't evade. Moreover, influenced by the Maze Lord, even after realizing the vast gap between them, they couldn't flee, ultimately silently becoming Gauss's "nutrients."

Gauss had lost count of which wave of reinforcements he was eliminating.

He looked towards the forest in the distance. This time, the arriving monster reinforcements were clearly somewhat disappointing.

As far as the eye could see, there were only a few hundred.

"Did I kill them all?"

He frowned, casually checking the number on the Monster Encyclopedia.

"Total monsters killed: 57,812"

That shouldn't be right, should it?

He glanced at the barely alive, yet still undead, Magic Frog Lord beside him and casually used Vampiric Touch to give its back another lash.

"!!!"

Gauss and the Magic Frog Lord locked eyes.

Its exhausted gaze was now completely devoid of fighting spirit.

That hatred had been utterly worn away during the prolonged battle. Now, it had realized the immense, unbridgeable gap between them and only sought release.

Gauss vaguely understood something.

This Magic Frog Lord had stopped summoning other monsters.

Perhaps it had realized Gauss was using it to slaughter other Maze denizens and didn't want him to succeed. Or perhaps some energy within it was draining away, its control over other Maze monsters greatly diminished. In any case, fewer and fewer monsters were arriving.

Coupled with the fact that Gauss had already slain over ten thousand monsters on the fourth level—no small number itself—a deathly gloom, so thick it was nearly tangible, lingered over the area, deterring many monsters from approaching.

Monster corpses piled into mountains, forming seas of blood.

Most had died by his magic, with the rest contributed by other Red Dragon Guild members.

The powerful mana sustainability provided by [Three-Phase Source] was absolutely crucial.

Otherwise, his former self could never have achieved this.

He now felt he could continue fighting. Aside from some mental fatigue, his physical stamina and mana were maintained at a relatively abundant level.

"Forget it."

Gauss let out a breath.

Since the Magic Frog Lord could no longer summon more monsters, he realized there was no need to waste further time.

"Control Water!"

The Water Dragon entwined around the Magic Frog's body instantly tightened under Gauss's control.

The next moment, countless water filaments, fine as needles, pierced the giant frog's body.

In the blink of an eye, the already battered Magic Frog body was riddled with thousands upon thousands of holes. Torrents of blood gushed from the countless wounds large and small.

This attack was the final straw that broke the camel's back, instantly claiming the Magic Frog Lord's life.

The light faded from the Magic Frog's eyes.

A monster lord that once ruled the fourth level of the Maze died silently.

"Commander-level Magic Frog killed *1"

"Divine Factor obtained: 0.56%"

"Current Divine Factor: 3.28%"

Gauss felt a wondrous power flow from the Magic Frog Lord's body into his own.

Was this Divine Factor possessed because it was a Lord of the Maze?

Although not a huge amount, this delightful power still made Gauss feel somewhat comfortable.

He could perceive that his utilization of the [Precision] rule also seemed to have grown stronger.

Simultaneously, a glowing orb slowly floated out from the hill-like body of the Magic Frog Lord, landing in the hand of Gauss, its slayer.

Gauss grasped the orb.

As the light faded, what appeared in his hand was a fragile, glass-like gem.

The moment he held it, Gauss understood its purpose. This was the key to opening the door to the Maze's fifth level. Crushing it would cause a passage to refresh before Gauss. This passage would remain fixed for seven days before beginning to refresh randomly within the fourth level.

Gauss currently had no intention of opening the fifth level, so he first stored the Key Stone away.

He looked at another dazzling, radiant treasure chest that had appeared beside the Magic Frog Lord's body.

This chest appeared after a spatial fluctuation, likely as a reward for him clearing the fourth-level Lord of the Maze.

Gauss used Mage Hand to open the chest.

An intense golden light instantly shone forth from within the moment the chest lid was opened.

Gauss narrowed his eyes slightly.

Gold coins! So many gold coins!

He roughly estimated several thousand, of excellent quality.

He plunged his hand in, scooping up a handful. As the coins slipped through his fingers, a delightful, intoxicating symphony of clinks and clatters rang out.

Besides the gold coins, there were other rewards at the bottom of the chest.

Dozens of intermediate magic stones of various attributes, and one perfectly round, lustrous high-grade magic stone.

Seeing the high-grade magic stone, Gauss's eyes brightened considerably.

The intermediate magic stones were decent, as they could be purchased with enough gold. But high-grade magic stones were far more precious. At the very least, they weren't circulated on the open market, and even with his connections, they were difficult to acquire.

Back in Falim, Gauss had inquired. It was said the output of high-grade quality magic stones was extremely scarce, tightly guarded by the noble families controlling the major veins.

Relying on the sale of primary and intermediate magic crystals already made them immensely wealthy; they weren't short of money to begin with, and certainly wouldn't put these precious, rare high-grade stones up for sale in shops.

For all spellcasters, high-grade magic stones were coveted treasures. The quality of mana within them was extremely high and suitable for absorption by spellcasters. It was said that placing one nearby during meditation practice could double the results with half the effort.

Furthermore, the biggest difference between high-grade magic stones and primary/intermediate ones was their incredibly fast energy recovery rate. Even if their energy was drained dry, they could convert the dispersed natural mana in the air to replenish themselves.

Gauss quickly stored this high-grade magic stone in his Storage Bag.

Besides these wealth rewards, there was also a black, one-handed crossbow. Gauss tested it with the Identify Spell. It was a purple-quality wondrous item that could be charged with mana to form projectiles.

Considering he had no use for this weapon now, he could give it to Aria or Serlandul.

After tallying the rewards, the others gathered around. Looking at the dense sea of corpses, their expressions were still somewhat dazed, unable to believe the enemy numbers had been so vast.

Their gazes towards Gauss held even more worship. Every Red Dragon Guild member found it utterly incredible, unable to comprehend how he had managed to fight one against ten thousand.

After all, during the latter half of the battle, the Red Dragon Guild members had been ordered by Gauss to return to the rear to rest. That meant the majority of these enemies had been slain by Gauss alone.

"Let's clean up the battlefield first."

"Just collect the high-value loot."

Gauss looked at the mountains and plains of monster corpses, knowing this was a massive undertaking, so he relaxed the requirements.

Otherwise, processing the materials from over ten thousand monsters would take who knows how long.

"Perhaps we could contract out the harvesting of the lower-value corpse materials to other adventuring guilds," Shadow suggested.

After some thought, Gauss also found her suggestion reasonable.

Given the sheer volume, relying on the Red Dragon Guild's hundred or so members made it very difficult to harvest everything quickly. Packaging and selling the ordinary monster corpses to other adventuring guilds would likely find many willing takers.

They could bring more people, and local guilds could readily pull in more logistical personnel to process these materials.

"I'll find someone to talk to after I finish my seclusion."

The urge to break through was almost unbearable within Gauss.

In fact, he could have broken through to level 8 during the battle itself, but the timing wasn't right.

Now that he had slain this level's Lord and cleared out the vast majority of surrounding monsters, no monster would dare approach this area for a short while. He wanted to proceed with the breakthrough first.

Perhaps because his "Experience" had overflowed considerably, and because progressing from level 7 to 8 didn't cross a major stage, he could sense this level-up wouldn't require much effort.

It wasn't just him. The entire Red Dragon Guild, especially Gauss's close teammates, also showed signs of impending breakthroughs.

This campaign was an absolute, massive harvest for Gauss and the Red Dragon Guild.

However, before breaking through, he first patrolled the vicinity to confirm no dangers remained. Then he notified Aria, the others, and the key officers of the Red Dragon Guild. Finally, he found a relatively flat, open area, sat down cross-legged.

As he settled, the mana within his body churned like boiling magma, surging and roiling unrestrainedly through his channels.

"Finally, time to level up."

Gauss murmured softly to himself, then focused his mind, directing his full attention inward.