After instructing his teammates, everyone started to take action.
Serdur stayed at the rear after casting buffs on the team, watching over Abby and York.
Although Abby was very curious about the battle Gauss and others were about to start, she knew it was not a fight she could join.
Having only mastered a Light Spell trick, it was best for her to stay safely at the back and not cause trouble for Gauss.
The rest of the group spread out on the wasteland and then gradually closed in like an invisible net.
A lone jackal-wolf person spotted them early and tried to resist, but Aaliyah’s Demon Fire made them calm down.
The jackal-wolf people instinctively huddled toward the camp, wanting to gather together to resist.
Similarly for Ying, Albena, and others, they drove the jackal-wolf people towards the center.
The scene was like a pride of lions hunting on the grasslands, but unlike the pride, the "leader" of the team, Gauss, also participated in the encirclement process.
He casually cast Magic Missiles to pinpoint and kill targets that moved relatively fast on the dire wolves.
"Dire wolf killed *1"
"Jackal-wolf person killed *1"
"..."
Under everyone’s drive, the once scattered jackal-wolf people were gradually gathered together.
Gauss looked at the remaining jackal-wolf people on the clearing.
"As expected, no juveniles."
Though the absence of juveniles was a significant advantage to him for accumulating monster killings, as juvenile monsters could not be counted, it was still an abnormal phenomenon.
Like most creatures, jackal-wolf people had various growth stages.
A healthy clan would naturally have individuals of various ages—juvenile, young, adult, prime, elderly...
Even for goblins, whose growth and development cycle was incredibly fast, Gauss often encountered these juvenile creatures, similar to small green mice, in his usual hunts.
"Fireball Technique!"
While considering this, Gauss acted decisively.
After the crowd who completed the driving made way, a charged "Fireball Technique" descended over the jackal-wolf camp.
The Fireball Technique was very suitable for release in open plains like this.
Moreover, monsters often didn’t react in time.
Due to their habit of group living, these monsters would instinctively "huddle" together during danger and seek their leader for direction.
And their perceived safest "shelter," "camp," under Gauss’s fast-casting Fireball Technique, became the most open shooting range.
"Boom!!!"
The airwaves surged.
Aaliyah squinted slightly.
A small mushroom cloud rose over the jackal-wolf camp.
Even the ground underfoot shook slightly.
"So powerful..."
Even though Abby was far away, the commotion caused by the Fireball Technique was just too great.
Even as she stood by the roadside, she still saw the fireball and thick smoke rising from the direction Gauss and others headed, and this power filled her with longing.
It was the second time she had seen this spell.
The last time was when Gauss rescued her from the witch Megan, and Gauss had released what seemed like a heavenly fireball to destroy that foul place.
It was also that day’s experience that left a deeply sacred impression of the Fireball Technique in her heart.
Beautiful, powerful, a magnificent magic that could purify the world’s sins.
In the future... she must, absolutely must master this spell that her teacher had mastered. She told herself in her heart.
It was both admiration and a kind of self-encouragement.
She had already inquired from Gauss; it was the Fireball Technique, a 3rd-level spell from the Evocation school, typically requiring at least a 5th-level Professional to master.
But to cast it as effortlessly as her teacher did, one typically needed to be at least a 6th-level Caster or higher.
For most adventurers, that level was a distant dream.
...
A single Fireball Technique’s effect was like a "desktop cleaner," instantaneously resolving the previously tense situation without a trace.
The jackal-wolf people were completely "calmed down."
Gauss looked at the empty camp, but there was nothing to regret.
The jackal-wolf people were a group of poor souls; don’t expect to squeeze much wealth from these brutes whose camp structures were dilapidated.
That’s also why he used the Fireball Technique so decisively to clean the area.
He casually pinpointed and killed the last few jackal-wolf people who survived the shock wave due to their outlying positions, and after confirming there were no remaining stragglers, they quickly put out the fire and left the camp.
...
"Boom!!!"
A fireball once again rose on the wasteland.
Gauss watched the kill count change on the Monster Atlas.
Finally...
"Total monster kills: 10036"
The total monster kills crossed a critical point in one go.
Breaking through to a new stage.
A surge of powerful energy flowed into Gauss’s body.
After calming down, Gauss looked at the panel.
"Total monster kills: 10036/10000, achieved the 10,000 kills milestone achievement."
"Rewards earned: 3rd-level spell [Snow Rainstorm], 3rd-level spell [Vampire Touch]"
"Rewards earned: Strength +1, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Charm +1"
"Rewards earned: Blue-quality racial talent [Flight Instinct]"
"Next stage: Total monster kills to reach 20,000"
And just like before, several small reward nodes existed on the progress bar between 10,000 and 20,000.
Gauss reviewed all the rewards.
Perhaps because 10,000 kills was a milestone stage, the richness of this reward was unprecedented.