When the final sword fell, the wolf-beast that was like a small mountain seemed to evaporate, disappearing without a trace.
Only a handful of faint gray dust remained on the ground.
"Won...we won?"
Gauss blinked.
He cautiously surveyed the clearing where the wolf-beast once stood, and after confirming no other forces emerged, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked around at the surroundings.
The scarlet was quickly fading.
The green symbolizing life and the icy blue of frost and snow gradually dominated his vision.
Back...to the real world.
"Gauss!"
"Lord Gauss!"
"Captain!"
Excited shouts came from behind him.
Gauss turned around.
It was Aaliyah and a few others quickly jogging towards him.
Albena rushed ahead and lifted Gauss off the ground.
"Gentle...be gentle."
"First...first, put me down!"
Exhausted after the burst, Gauss hurriedly cried out several times.
The blushing Albena quickly put Gauss down as he was nearly out of breath.
"Are you alright, Lord Gauss?"
"Cough cough..."
Gauss opened his mouth and took a few breaths of fresh air.
Feeling like he finally came back to life.
"Gauss, where did you go just now?" Aaliyah asked curiously.
"After we arrived here, we couldn’t find you all."
"In the end, Ying found a glowing altar in the Jackal-Wolf People’s camp, thinking it might have something to do with you."
"So we destroyed the altar."
Gauss listened to their one-by-one reporting.
He also understood why the blood-colored world had changed.
It must be the result of them destroying the altar.
Unfortunately, the demon’s power drew him into that peculiar world so quickly. After entering, he couldn’t find any trace of the altar.
"Then you all helped a lot."
Gauss briefly explained what had happened earlier.
"Were there really demonic forces?"
"And you personally slew a demon in that strange space."
Gauss nodded.
His gaze then landed on the Monster Atlas.
"Defeated Commander Level Demon ’Desolate Wolf’."
Indeed...
With the strength of that wolf-beast just now, how could it still be an Elite Demon?
Furthermore, Gauss felt that in its peak state, it would probably rank among the stronger ones even within Commander Level demons.
His ability to stand firm was thanks to the suppression and counter capabilities of the water-armed holy aura.
A Master Level Professional alone in that scarlet world would likely struggle against the demon ’Desolate Wolf.’
"Commander Path Progress: Defeat 5 types of Commander Level Demons (5/5)"
To his surprise, this demon wolf-beast finally pushed forward the last step of the Commander Path.
As a reward, Gauss, having defeated five types of Commander Level demons, could randomly draw one talent from these five kinds.
"Monster Atlas Commander Level Demon types reached 5: Goblin Chieftain, Petrified Bull, Dragon-blooded Dog-headed Man, Mind Shifter Witch, Demon Desolate Wolf."
To be honest, Gauss could accept the talents of these five Commander Level demons; maybe the Petrified Bull’s talent would be a bit inferior.
But if he could draw its petrification ability, it would still be a decent reward.
Of course, what he could draw specifically was not up to Gauss to choose.
"Let’s begin..."
He looked at the panel with flashing texts.
"Give me a good talent..."
"Give me a good talent... I can accept anyone’s."
He kept thinking in his mind.
"Now randomly drawing Racial Talent Ability and modifying it for Constitution adaptation..."
"..."
The panel remained unchanged for a long time.
This drawing was the longest Gauss had ever experienced.
It got to the point where he even got distracted, directing his companions to check nearby for any remaining monsters and clean up the battlefield.
Until he refocused on the panel, using recovering physical strength as an excuse, he quietly waited again for a while, and finally, there was a change above.
"Extracted..."
"From a Commander Level demon..."
"One of the random talents of the Mind Shifter Witch, Host of the Residual."
"Being adapted and improved into the racial talent [Demonic Hour]."
A purple halo flashed out from the entry, a dazzling color.
Outstanding quality talent [Demonic Hour] (Initial Level): When the host faces evil creatures, their [mental] state will increase by 20%, making it easier to perform extraordinarily.
When the enemy becomes fearful of you, their overall power will significantly decline.
Moreover, when the talent host kills evil creatures, there is a small chance to seize the power from their bodies and convert it into corresponding [skills] and proficiency for oneself.
This is the first purple-quality racial talent mastered by Gauss, its talent effect is very simple.
Overall, when facing evil creatures, enhance oneself, intimidate and then weaken the enemy, and most importantly...
Gauss can plunder their power by killing demons, transforming it into his own skills.
Although it indicates that there is a small probability, it cannot conceal the strength of this racial talent.
After all, Gauss will continue to kill monsters in the future; no matter how small the probability, with a sufficiently large kill count, it will certainly trigger a few times.
This talent [Demonic Hour] will continuously provide more benefits as he grows and adventures.
"Next racial talent extraction, Monster Atlas Commander Level demon kill count reaches 20 species."
"Subsequent Commander Level demon kills will yield commander points for advancement of some talents."
"Not bad, not bad..."
As for targeting evil creatures, Gauss is not dissatisfied.
Most demons, as far as humans are concerned, can hardly be considered benevolent.
His Adventurer’s Handbook, personal abilities, and specializations were born to counter demons.
Gauss closed the panel.
The rest of the team had already returned from their patrol.
However, his attention was quickly drawn to Aaliyah and the silver wolf not far away.
Aaliyah was seen trying to pry open the silver wolf Ulfen’s long wolf muzzle filled with fangs, continually urging.
"Ulfen, hurry up and spit that thing out!"
Ulfen looked innocent, with a tuft of yellow mud still clinging to the corner of his mouth.
"What happened?"
Gauss walked over, curious to ask.
His attention had been focused on his Adventurer’s Handbook just now.
"Ulfen... he ate those demon ashes on the ground."
Gauss followed the gaze to the vacant ground not far away.
That empty ground was where the Desolate Wolf had finally perished.
Logically, there should have been a small pile of leftover ashes.
But now there’s only a small pit.
Given Aaliyah’s tearful expression, it was clear he had swallowed the ashes along with the dirt.
"Eaten... eaten them?"
Gauss’s eyes showed a hint of helplessness.
Just look, those ashes didn’t seem like food at all, right?
Besides, Ulfen usually behaved well, only eating the food they gave or hunting prey in the wild; he had no real cravings for odd food.
So...
Was he attracted by those ashes?
Just as Gauss was pondering.
Aaliyah seemed to have made up her mind.
"If it gets worse, we’ll have to perform surgery and find a way to extract those dirty things from his body."
Upon hearing her mutter.
The silver wolf Ulfen, who had been pretending innocence, instantly tucked his tail between his legs.
One step, two steps, three steps, backed away.
"Ulfen! Don’t blame me, I’m only concerned for your health, blame yourself for being too greedy, eating whatever dirty things come your way."
Seeing her expression was not one of intimidation, Ulfen quickly raised his head to look at Gauss.
He knew who could take charge in the team.
Now, the only person who could stop his master’s idea was Gauss.
"Forget it, Aaliyah."
"Since he’s already eaten it, let’s observe first?"
"Although it’s the remnants of the demon, I’ve already used the Lake God’s blessing to eliminate its evil aura, which isn’t necessarily a cursed item."
Gauss also disagreed with performing surgery to remove the ashes.
If it were truly harmful, with the demon’s power, it would likely have begun to harm Ulfen’s body already.
Ulfen and the Desolate Wolf were quite different in "status level."
Moreover, although system rewards had captured his attention, he had vaguely sensed that there was no evil aura on that leftover substance.
The sacred aura of the water-armed has already expelled the evil from the wolf’s body.
He had originally intended to collect it and have someone study it.
Since it had been eaten, it didn’t matter.
"You and Serdur check his body together? See if there’s any adverse impact."