Now that he thought about it, the intelligence of the Thorn Giant Beast in the distance was actually not low.
In its initial skirmish, this monster actively used its vine tails to intercept Magic Missiles, demonstrating strong regeneration abilities while subtly suggesting that breaking its tail caused no pain.
This diverted Gauss’s attention away from its tail.
If that was intentional, then it could even be considered cunning.
However, even though a potential weakness was discovered, hitting it was still not easy.
The deadly tail was perfectly concealed among the many vine tails, and any approaching Magic Missile was promptly intercepted and dispersed by other vines with precision.
Gauss relied on Aaliyah, Serdur, and summoned creatures to engage and hold the enemy, enabling him to withdraw to a safer distance.
He quickly munched on some food, feeling the [Energy Storage Glands] greedily converting nutrients into surging energy.
By the time his strength had mostly recovered, the protective fields on Aaliyah and Serdur were on the verge of failing. Only the strongest white spider remained among the four Clay Spiders, as the other three brown ones had been smashed and couldn’t regenerate once their magic was exhausted.
Gauss took a deep breath.
His teammates had earned him enough time to recuperate.
"Aaliyah, Serdur, good job, leave the rest to me." His voice was steady and firm.
Hearing him speak, the two of them finally relaxed their taut nerves a little.
Especially Serdur, who, despite having reached Level 3 in his profession and possessing exceptional mobility abilities granted by his race, still faced considerable psychological pressure when confronting such a giant beast, however briefly.
Of course, he understood the necessity of buying time for Gauss to rest.
Gauss stepped forward a few paces.
Moving forward, he activated [Ghost Form].
"Creak, creak!"
With each step he took, his bones made slight cracking sounds, and his stature grew a few inches taller.
Simultaneously, his hair color faded to a frost-like pallor, sharp horns pierced through the skin on his forehead, his skin lost all color, and other familiar physical changes occurred.
Aaliyah retreated backward.
Her eyes widened, curiously observing Gauss’s transformation.
The last time he transformed was when they faced the hyena team at night; although Gauss had "transformed" once, it was at night and from a great distance, nowhere near as clear as this moment.
Watching Gauss’s transformation up close, a look of astonishment flashed in her eyes.
She had seen a Half-Beastman’s blood frenzy transformation, but compared to the transformation of Gauss in front of her, it was like comparing a small witch to a great witch.
Even as someone who hadn’t studied much about this, she could clearly sense Gauss’s shift in aura.
Even she, a teammate who spent daily life with him, felt a sense of unfamiliarity, with a chill creeping through her body.
It carried an eerie beauty, yet also a subtle heart-stirring feel....
Entering [Ghost Form], Gauss wasted no time, as every second from now on was incredibly precious.
Suddenly, a burst of extraordinary strength erupted from beneath his feet, and he vanished from his original spot.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of the Thorn Giant Beast.
"Boom!"
A vine tail, enveloped in the terrifying wind pressure of tearing air, swung down towards him.
Gauss skillfully dodged by slightly tilting his body.
The vine tail slammed down, shattering the stone pavement with a crash!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he once again closed in on the beast’s tail.
He ignored its bloated main body.
Previous battles had already revealed that attacking its trunk was meaningless.
Gauss even suspected that its massive plant body was merely a façade to cover its true form, with its core being that peculiar tail.
As he approached the tail, the entire Thorn Giant Beast instantly entered an unprecedented state of alert. Its tail swiftly twisted to another direction, attempting to shake off Gauss.
Gauss could clearly feel the entire Thorn Giant Beast tense up immediately,
So, now it was taking things seriously? He contemplated swiftly.
If the beast was now using its full strength, it must have only been at 30-40% before.
But it’s too late!
With a Fine Steel Longsword in hand, Gauss unleashed a powerful force with his legs, causing the ground to crack like a spider web instantaneously.
A blurred afterimage was all that was left in his original place.
In [Ghost Form], speed and explosive power became his absolute advantages.
The opponent would find it hard to shake him off unless their powers were on a completely different level.
Another thick vine tail, carrying an ear-splitting scream as it tore through the air, fiercely lashed out.
Gauss moved like smoke, agilely dodging, maneuvering amidst the raging storm of vines, skimming past the deadly lashes with precision.
"Slash!"
Each time he avoided an attack, his longsword would swiftly strike out.
The thick, sturdy vine tail resisted under the enhanced force of the longsword for a moment before getting sliced through.
After severing the obstructing vine, Gauss pressed onward relentlessly.
Dodge! Slash! Target the core directly!
Finally, after cutting down several attacking vine tails in succession, the most special tail was fully exposed in front of him.
In appearance, it was still indistinguishable from the ordinary vine tails.
Although the Thorn Giant Beast realized Gauss’s intent and tried its best to evade, Gauss’s speed was simply too fast.
In an instant, he reached the special vine tail and raised his Longsword.
The other tails frantically whipped at Gauss from all directions, but were cut down one by one in a very short amount of time.
"Swoosh!"
The Fine Steel Longsword in Gauss’s hand drew a pure white arc and fiercely slashed at the special vine tail with a ferocious momentum!
"Screeech!!!"
The moment the blade cut in, a piercing insect screech filled with pain exploded, penetrating the eardrum.
Gauss slightly frowned; that sharp screech seemed to carry some kind of mental attack, but was quickly suppressed by his current cold willpower.
He relentlessly hacked at the special vine tail with sword after sword.
Dark green sap gushed out as if an artery had been severed.
If you looked closely, it didn’t seem like plant sap, more like some kind of viscous green blood.
The entire Thorn Giant Beast slumped like its spine had been removed, the faux trunk and other tails collapsing, trembling violently with each of Gauss’s sword strikes.
As if unable to bear it, the special vine tail tore itself off at the end connecting to the trunk, writhing intensely for a moment.
"Pssht!"
A small, ferocious creature burst out from the broken vine tail shell!
Gauss finally saw the true form of this pretender.
The area where it connected to the trunk was dense with countless pale root-like nerves, and on its head were several constantly trembling tumor-like orbs, resembling perception organs. Numerous slender, sharp appendages, like steel needles, pierced through its skin.
It was like an enormous centipede, enlarged a thousand times, exuding a terrifying aura.
As soon as it broke free, it started scrambling to escape frantically with those creepy thin appendages.
Gauss had already switched his weapon to the White Magic Wand.
"Magic Missile!"
The blue missile enveloped in pale energy shot out, tearing through the air, and smashed hard onto the back of the fleeing parasite creature.
"Boom boom boom boom boom!"
The violent energy impact blasted its shell into fragments, green sap splattering everywhere.
But to Gauss’s surprise, it survived the impact of five enhanced Magic Missiles and did not die.
Even with its shell shattered and its body riddled with holes, it continued to struggle, supporting its broken body with those sharp appendages, crawling forward swiftly.
Until it was blocked by a barrier, with nowhere else to retreat.
Gauss, expressionless, continued to unleash the blue missiles.
It wasn’t until nearly 12-13 missiles hit, nearly obliterating the creature’s remains, that he finally heard the notification of its kill.
"Elite Demon, Parasitic Appendage, defeated."
"Unlock the 7th type of Elite Demon compendium."
New compendium entry collected, earning 10 Elite Points.
Adding the 10 points from the previously defeated Big Goblin, he was still 30 points away from advancing to the Crawling category.
With the threat confirmed neutralized, Gauss immediately disbanded his ghostly form.
The energy receded like a tide, and a strong feeling of weakness swept over his entire body, his legs buckling.
Aaliyah, who had been prepared, quickly rushed over to securely support the somewhat exhausted Gauss, helping him to sit down slowly, taking out food and water to feed him.
Serdur followed closely behind, chanting soothing Divine Art incantations, and a gentle white light enveloped Gauss, alleviating the overwhelming fatigue within him.
"Boom boom boom!"
Just as the three were busy recovering, the surrounding environment suddenly changed.
The invisible barrier instantly dissipated, gates rumbling open. In the spectator seats, the shadows of the insect men rose together, erupting in frenzied cheers. At the same time, the strange and information-laden buzzing of insect wings resounded once again above the arena.
[Successfully passed the Warrior’s Trial, awarding rewards]
In the distance, the bodies of the Thorn Giant Beast and the Parasitic Appendage began to dissolve into wisps of black smoke, slowly disappearing into the air.
Noticing this scene, Gauss felt a twinge of pain.
These were his spoils of war!
If only he could collect them, they would probably be a lot of magic materials.
But soon, the phenomena in the arena attracted his attention once more.
Three Energy Light Balls, exuding a soft glow, slowly descended.
Were those the trial rewards mentioned by the buzzing?
The descending Energy Light Balls floated down in front of Gauss and the others.
Among them, the one drifting toward Gauss was the most dazzling and much larger than the other two.
The light balls seemed to recognize their respective owners, then accelerated suddenly, crashing into them before they could react.