novelGlobal Chapter 461: Lord of the Red Soil
Chapter 461: Lord of the Red Soil
After observing multiple possibilities, Gauss finally pinpointed the simplest path with precision.He accurately perceived the spot that the deer-headed fiend instinctively feared and protected.
Gauss shifted his gaze slightly, and a brilliant orb of magical energy formed at his fingertip.
Then, with a whoosh.
That improved, advanced version of the Magic Missile struck exactly the weak point Gauss had uncovered on the deer-headed fiend.
"Beautiful!"
The beam formed by that Magic Missile immediately produced an effect twice as efficient as expected.
Because it traveled so fast and the attack was so concealed, the deer-headed fiend had no time to react before the beam had already hit its vulnerable spot.
The beam pierced the leather in an instant, like a long needle threading along the grain of its muscle and stabbing deep into its body.
The next moment.
Its mountain-sized, powerful body "disintegrated" with an utterly unreasonable speed.
Its whole form deflated like a leaky balloon; tremendous inertia sent the body surging forward more than twenty meters, cutting across a deep ravine, and finally collapsing a few meters in front of Nira.
Gauss looked at his work with little expression.
He had already seen this scene once through his Future Sight.
And the process unfolded exactly as he had predicted, without the slightest difference.
This was the simplest, most effortless way to kill a deer-headed fiend.
"Commander-level monster deer-headed fiend defeated *1"
The attack he used was not especially powerful, but because it was applied in the right way, it still easily took down a monster with a level equivalent to eight or nine.
It was like a seemingly solid rock that hid tiny, hard-to-detect cracks inside; Gauss’s strike triggered an irreversible chain reaction from the outside in with featherweight effort producing a thousandfold effect.
Under normal circumstances, humans would have zero chance of discerning such a hidden weakness in such a short time, but Gauss’s Future Sight was overwhelmingly powerful, and in the almost paused seconds he had ample opportunity to study the enemy.
Nira knelt halfway on the ground, propping herself up, staring blankly at what had happened as if she had seen a hallucination.
She blinked.
But the scene before her did not change.
That proud beast lay limp and motionless several meters away.
Only the heavy stench of blood and decay quietly reminded her that this was not an illusion, that it had really happened.
Dead... dead?
She thought of something and shifted her gaze toward the pure white figure she had noticed moments earlier.
As she moved her eyes, the figure coincidentally vanished again.
A powerful fireball rose at the center of a more distant monster, and then hundreds of iridescent beams rained down toward the ground like a closing curtain.
Just a single encounter, and the battle was over.
Nira stood up from the ground.
The fight ended even faster than she could get to her feet.
Thump! Thump!
Even though she had had a foreboding that the humans protected by the Red Dragon might possess great strength, his full display still exceeded her expectations.
Her heart uncontrollably pounded faster.
As a self-taught mage, she was filled with admiration for that effortless combat posture.
So this is what a mage should look like?
While she swallowed, Gauss, having quickly finished the fight, blinked and appeared beside the group.
"Gather outside the mining valley for now. I’ve cleared the monsters along the way."
Gauss spoke.
There was little small talk or questioning. Although he had been unconscious before, since regaining his mind over the past day he had been able to faintly perceive the outside situation.
Including the crisis triggered by his arrival at the humans’ shelter.
He had arrived first to protect these people.
Although it wasn't his intent, some had indeed died because of him.
All he could do was protect the tribe's remaining survivors and bring them out of this monster-infested territory back into human lands.
After his Intelligence surpassed 21 and he awakened Future Sight, Gauss felt more confident.
But the immediate priority was to rendezvous with Hephaestus, then leave this Red King land as soon as possible.
Although he was not afraid of Transcendent monsters, there was no need to be trapped here.
Killing a Transcendent monster here could be more dangerous than on the main battlefield.
Hephaestus had actually detected Gauss’s presence earlier when Gauss used Fireball, and before long it flew back to Gauss’s side and gave a low roar.
Gauss smoothly slid onto Hephaestus’s back and patted its scales.
"Thanks for taking care of me this whole time."
He said gratefully.
If not for Hephaestus guarding him, he might have died a hundred times over.
The monster aura on Hephaestus confused their pursuers; if it had been any other human companion, the retreat would not have gone as smoothly.
"I helped too. I gave Hephaestus the idea."
A voice appeared in Gauss’s head; it belonged to the Slime King Eden.
It was Eden who had suggested Hephaestus head deeper into the Emerald Forest territory and cross the border to arrive in this Red Soil region.
"Mm, thanks, Eden."
Outwardly Gauss seemed to be alone, but in truth he still had companions with him.
Hearing Gauss’s sincere thanks, Hephaestus, who had been about to grumble a bit, could say nothing. It snorted and shook its head, acting as if it were insignificant.
Sincerity is always a killer move, even against a dragon.
"Let's leave."
Gauss was unclear about the full extent of his power.
It was hard to summarize his current strength with conventional labels.
Level 9 Magician, 21 Intelligence, Future Sight, Dragon King's Progeny...
Many abilities stacked together placed his combat power in a vague fluctuating band.
It also depended on the opponent’s battle IQ. Facing an over-spec ability like Future Sight, even a very powerful enemy could make one wrong move and be trapped by Gauss into suffering irreparable damage.
But if the opponent was on full alert from the start, the outcome could be vastly different.
Regardless, the initiative lay with Gauss.
In a live battle he could use Future Sight to deduce numerous imminent futures ahead of time and select the path most favorable to him, achieving a pseudo-omniscient, pseudo-omnipotent effect.
Of course, true omniscience was still far away. It’s not like a god—his Future Sight only predicted a few seconds and still had limits.
Gauss was not discouraged about his shortcomings.
In his perception, his mastery of time abilities was still at a fragmentary stage.
Future Sight would become stronger over time, with higher limits; its duration and range of deduced possibilities would multiply, eventually becoming a limitless Future Sight.
After rejoining Hephaestus, it did not take long for man and dragon to appear before Nira and the others.
"Lord—"
"Just call me Gauss."
"Lord Gauss." Zeke did not dare call him by name as Gauss had suggested.
This man, whose looks were flawless, wielded power far beyond their imagination—an almost uncatchable level of strength.
"I’m sorry for the calamity brought to your tribe. As compensation, I will take you out of here and back to human territory," Gauss promised.
Although he could have left and been free of these “dead weight” people and no one would blame him, he still chose to do what he felt was right.
At his words, the shocked faces around him abruptly shifted to joy.
Had they heard correctly?
Back to human territory?
Many in the tribe already doubted the existence of human kingdoms; even those who still felt hope did not expect to live to see a return.
Yet this man spoke to them like that.
The calm expression on his face made many want to believe him at once.
Back to the human kingdom, to a life without constant conflict, without waking up to monster raids, without worrying about where the next meal comes from—could they really achieve that?
Or did such a powerful human realm truly exist?
Gauss’s promised future seemed almost too good to be true, so that although they wanted to trust him, fear and unease returned quickly.
Under prolonged persecution like street rats, they had nearly abandoned their human pride; after all, they had been born and raised in monster-ruled lands, and survival itself was difficult.
Perhaps many hidden human tribes had already been wiped out.
Seeing these complex expressions, Gauss did not promise more.
Some things were better left unsaid; he knew them in his heart.
Gauss gave Hephaestus a pointed look.
Hephaestus had grown quite a bit after killing that black dragon whelp, but it still could not carry these dozens of humans at once.
Even if it managed to stand and fly, most ordinary people could not withstand that intense load over a long flight.
The Living Bag was the same.
Although it could contain living creatures, it was not suitable for long-term transport of humans, especially the weak.
Gauss’s mind raced.
"We need to travel by water."
They would reach a waterway and build a temporary boat.
With his abilities, that would be easy.
Water routes could avoid many pursuers; his only worry would be monsters from the depths.
And with Mete’s blessing, he could breathe underwater and move freely, his strength even greater near water...
He quickly sorted out his plan.
A rough map of the terrain appeared in his mind before departure,
and he instantly planned a route.
"Hephaestus, take them in this direction. I’ll clear the enemies along the way."
Gauss communicated quickly with Hephaestus.
The dragon responded with a low roar.
Soon, the pair formally set off.
While Gauss had been unconscious, Hephaestus had already been able to bring him here; now that he was awake, things could only improve.
Nira and the others had no objection to Gauss’s decision.
They longed to return to the human kingdom.
If it truly existed, dying along the road would seem worthwhile.
The Red Soil land buzzed with activity again.
.....
A thousand miles away from Gauss, atop a towering crimson fortress,
a woman with a grotesquely beautiful face stood on a terrace that overlooked the whole keep, her expression calm.
From the back she looked slender and perfectly proportioned, like an unrivaled beauty,
but approaching her would reveal a chilling horror. Beneath her magnificent crown, her hair writhed like venomous snakes.
Her face wore a cold, deathly stillness, especially those eyes, which seemed capable of devouring one’s soul.
The Medusa Queen.
Ruler of this Red Soil land.
"Your Majesty, must we really not dispatch any commanders?"
Behind her, a smaller medusa voiced concern.
Although they had tense relations with the Emerald Forest’s Green Dragon, they were currently at war and had only sent out some low-ranking vassals. If the Demon King learned of this...
"The Demon King will not bother with such trifles." The Medusa Queen shook her head calmly.
In fact, if it weren’t for the current wartime situation and the message from the Emerald Forest, she might not have sent any low-ranking vassals at all.
Low-ranking vassals are forces, but formalities must be observed.
As for expending effort to help that venomous dragon crush its enemies—she would not do such a loss-making favor.
She privately hoped the dragon’s troublemaker would come back and add more chaos for it.
As enemies, the Emerald Forest and Red Soil land had fought dozens of wars big and small; new and old hatreds stacked up, and her hatred for Aetherass ran even deeper than humans’ did.
Moreover, whenever she thought of humans appearing in her territory, she had an uneasy premonition.
Although she didn’t know where that vague danger came from, she chose to trust it.
Maybe it involved a human legend; if she acted rashly she could bring down greater catastrophe.
So it’s better to avoid adding trouble.
This was the first wave of the war. When her Red Soil forces joined, it probably would not be at the Emerald Forest border.
In the end, she did not want to do anything that didn’t benefit her.
Back with Gauss.
He soon discovered the forces hunting him were only for show.
They looked busy, but there was not a single decent opponent among them.
He casually slaughtered a group of suicidal long-snake beasts, an odd expression crossing his face.
He certainly did not believe that a monster faction capable of rivaling the Emerald Forest would send such low-quality troops.
To him, it felt like they were perfunctory, pretending to besiege him while actually seeing him off.
He naturally would not reject such generosity.
Two days later, he and Nira’s group arrived at a muddy, wide river.
A large boat floated on the surface.
It had been made by Gauss from a millennial tree he had felled and hollowed out.
It was not pretty, but sturdy and durable enough to carry these dozens of tribespeople downstream back to human territory without major problems.
Gauss also wanted to return to Coldjade Province as soon as possible.
He had been away for half a month, exceeding the time he had agreed with Aria and the others, and he had no idea how the main battlefield was faring.