Gauss’s team came to the riverside.
Outside the small town, there was no human activity anymore.
Apart from the information about demon beasts causing harm that the Raven Squad was gathering, the increasingly cold weather also forced civilians to stay within the settlement.
A thin layer of frost covered the ground, likely left behind after last night’s temperature drop.
"Come out, Hephaestus!"
Seeing this, Gauss decisively summoned the Red Dragon Beast.
Sure enough, upon its appearance, the surrounding temperature quietly rose by several degrees.
A natural "little sun," indeed.
Unlock Hephaestus’s new features.
Gauss contentedly patted its increasingly robust physique.
As for its expression full of resentment, he just silently ignored it.
As a Red Dragon, how can it fear the cold?
The weaker the spot, the more one has to think of ways to overcome it.
"Much more comfortable."
Aaliyah and a few others quietly moved a few steps closer to Hephaestus.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"
Though the weather was cold, the river flowed incessantly, so the surface hadn’t frozen over.
Gauss, with sharp eyes, immediately saw a few blue-purple heads floating and poking out from the river.
"It’s Water Ghosts."
Gauss didn’t take action, so as not to alert them.
The ominous feeling he sensed didn’t come from these common aquatic demons.
But rather from the river itself.
He took out the Water Sword made from Holy Water.
He dipped the Water Sword toward the water surface, and the sword body quickly glowed faintly.
This reaction signifies the presence of an alien energy in the water naturally repelled by this holy force.
He tried several locations in succession, and the Water Sword remained bright.
However, the glow was very faint, indicating relatively weak intensity.
Could the increase in demon beasts and pollution of the water body be related?
Gauss withdrew the Water Sword.
"Let’s get to work."
"Total monsters killed: 10,677"
In the last battle with the Dragon Worship Sect, hundreds more monsters were slain.
Due to the low river temperature, many amphibious demons had left the water to build nests and live on the shore.
This was also the reason why townspeople had recently been frequently attacked.
After resting for many days, returning to duty now, he surprisingly felt a bit of excitement.
He continued walking along the riverbank.
Before long, he saw a series of obvious footprints.
Following the footprints on the ground, Gauss found a nest of Water Ghosts.
Their skin was blue-purple, limbs very thin, but their bellies were slightly bulging, looking like someone with a bizarre disease.
In the monster camp, several frozen corpses were hung.
The limbs and trunks had been dismembered and were hung like reserve food on wooden racks.
Gauss knew those were likely the slain townsfolk.
A pair of fists can’t fight against four hands; ordinary hunters would naturally gain no advantage against this nest of Water Ghosts.
He could just use this nest of Water Ghosts to practice and test the effectiveness of his profession specialty [Cannon Mage].
He waved them off, signaling the others not to interfere.
Then he concealed his aura and walked alone toward the Water Ghost camp.
Initially, the Water Ghosts remained vigilant, but seeing he was alone, they barely maintained their position.
Plus, having just hunted a few humans and tasted good meat, despite the ominous aura Gauss emitted, they didn’t flee immediately.
Gauss walked into the camp.
The Water Ghosts bared their teeth at him, raising their weapons to encircle him.
Yet, he remained unfazed.
Given his current defensive power, even if he stood still and allowed the Water Ghosts to attack freely, breaking through his protection would probably take them half a day.
"So pathetic..."
They couldn’t even intuitively recognize the difference.
"Roar!"
The leader of the Water Ghosts let out a low growl; the surrounding Water Ghosts gripped their Wooden Spears, stepped forward, and thrust them at Gauss.
"..."
The sharpened Wooden Spears stabbed at the seemingly soft and smooth magic robe.
Yet they could progress no further.
"Wow wow wow!!!"
The Water Ghosts gritted their teeth, their large feet continuously digging into the ground, trying to pierce the human body present in the camp with the Wooden Spears.
But no matter how hard they tried, the spear tips barely penetrated the surface of his clothes.
The protective power of the purple equipment is extremely difficult for ordinary monsters to break through.
Gauss didn’t even feel much wear on the protective layer of the Lunar Magic Robe.
Unexpectedly, he had overestimated them.
Gauss took out the White Magic Wand, raising it above his head.
At this moment, the Water Ghost leader somewhat realized the unfavorable situation and howled toward the sky.
This howl conveyed the command to retreat when encountering a formidable opponent.
But by then, it was already too late to retreat.
That magic wand raised high began to emit a deadly blue light.
"Magic Missile!"
Gauss’s heart stirred slightly.
In the instant of casting the spell, he felt a sense of control like never before.
This 1st-level Spell, which he used most often and smoothly, seemed to have undergone a qualitative enhancement after surpassing level 6 and mastering the profession specialty "Cannon Mage."
A beautiful blue Missile shot out from the tip of the wand.
Then, almost simultaneously, a second one emerged.
The third, fourth...
Missiles poured out like a rainstorm, each missile able to effortlessly take one or two Water Ghosts’ lives.
Instantly, about twenty missiles were discharged almost in an instant.
Gauss looked at the nearly slaughtered Water Ghost camp, nodding in satisfaction.
Now the Magic Missile had completely changed, and the scene was like a rainstorm; however, unlike ordinary raindrops, these "raindrops" were lethal.
He nodded in satisfaction.
Simultaneously releasing more than twenty missiles is his current limit, but clenching his teeth, releasing more at once isn’t impossible.