When the battle ended.
Everyone sat down on the ground stained with shredded flesh and blood, gasping for breath without caring about their image.
More than twenty kobolds have fallen.
Gauss finally made a move.
The initial battle went very smoothly, with the villagers overwhelming the kobold scouts left outside with their numbers.
But as more kobolds emerged from the cave, the battle became fierce.
So when a kobold pounced on a young villager, about to thrust a stone dagger down, a gleam of a sword severed the kobold’s arm and neck.
Under Gauss’s supervision, the group managed to clear out the small kobold nest without any casualties.
After a brief wait for everyone to recover their physical strength, Gauss began to calmly critique the shortcomings of the recent battle.
Kobolds are not as strong in direct combat as goblins, and there was no powerful leader in this small tribe. In theory, the combat strength of more than a dozen trained humans should definitely surpass theirs.
However, being strong is one thing, but achieving a flawless victory over them requires some cooperation.
And cooperation in battle requires good combat skills and mindset to be effectively executed. Even if you’ve practiced many times beforehand, in a real battlefield environment, many people are still prone to panic.
In panic, they adopted wrong strategies to face the enemy, and couldn’t maintain the formation well.
That’s why a dangerous moment emerged and Gauss had to step in to resolve it.
He silently observed from the side, clearly seeing who performed well and who did not.
At this moment of review, he had no intention of holding back and pointed out everything one by one.
Facing Gauss’s calm critique, many people in the group lowered their heads.
In team combat, one person’s mistake not only harms themselves but also endangers their companions.
Many originally carefree young villagers, who thought after two days of practice with Gauss they could easily slaughter small monsters, have toned down their attitudes after this encounter.
If it weren’t for Gauss stepping in, some of them might have died here.
It’s okay to make mistakes in many things, but not in dangerous battle.
Gauss sees everyone’s thoughtful expressions and knows they are likely to better grasp the harshness and responsibility of combat.
"Clean the battlefield and collect the spoils."
The villagers quickly endured their discomfort and got moving.
Lynn stood beside Gauss, her cheeks still somewhat pale, but she didn’t turn away, her eyes avoiding looking at the distant scene.
After a while, she took a deep breath and looked up at Gauss.
"Teacher, do adventurers... face this kind of scene every day?"
"Often," Gauss nodded.
To be honest, he’s now quite accustomed to the killing and dealing with monster corpses, not even feeling a ripple.
Because an adventurer’s primary job is dealing with them.
Though there are other types of assignments, most of the tasks adventurers take are combat-related.
"This world always has more than one aspect. To survive on this land and protect our homes, we must accompany these dangers, disgust, and death."
"I understand."
Lynn seemed thoughtful.
In recent days, she’s seen a lot following Gauss around.
Gauss consciously guided her.
"Go help your sister Aaliyah tally up the collected materials. This is also part of learning."
Lynn nodded vigorously, then ran towards Aaliyah, who was directing villagers in collecting spoils.
Gauss watched her back, full of anticipation.
Like planting a seed, which may sprout in a few years.
After dealing with the kobolds, Gauss led the villagers to a clearing filled with skeletons, to purge these undead creatures.
With the experience of killing kobolds, and ordinary skeletons being weaker than kobolds, the second action went very smoothly.
The only thing noteworthy is that Gauss found the power of his second profession [Sword Soul] more effective against ordinary skeletons.
Before even approaching them, the white soul flame in the depths of their eye sockets was instantly crushed.
The weak soul power of ordinary skeletons appeared especially fragile against this special method aimed at the spiritual level, like a candle in the wind.
Gauss left some ordinary skeletons for the villagers as practice opponents and personally went into battle, killing some himself.
"Total number of monsters killed: 5456"
Needless to say, ordinary skeletons are indeed the easiest type of monsters Gauss has encountered.
He felt he hardly expended any effort, yet he killed nearly a hundred.
It was like harvesting wheat, cutting down a large swath with a single strike.
And after taking on the [Sword Soul] profession, the slaying efficiency greatly increased.
Normally, when ordinary people want to kill skeletons, separating their skull from the torso isn’t enough. The skull must be crushed, exposing the soul within to sunlight and air without protection.
If it’s a professional, several additional methods can be used, such as using magic power, natural energies, or other foreign energies to disrupt them—the strength and stability of more powerful energies are also greater.
Or using holy purification energy, directly targeting the skeleton’s negative energy source for dispersal or purification.
Now Gauss has one more method.
"It’s a pity..."
Lynn noticed his whisper, curious yet not pushing to the root of the matter.