But he felt it wasn’t necessary, because in his Perception, doing that would only bring more extra Magic Power loss.
Compared to Fireball Technique, the advantage of a multi-shot Magic Missile barrage was still very obvious.
It could precisely seek targets, wouldn’t cause extra damage to allies, and was faster, making it hard for enemies to react.
Next, Gauss’s squad continued along the riverbank, heading north while helping the nearby residents clear out the monsters along the shore.
"Moonlight!"
This 2nd-level Attack Spell, in Aaliyah’s hands, displayed the power of a 3rd-level Spell.
Wherever the moonlight reached, the monsters bathed in it clawed at their skin in pain; those who failed to escape the light in time had their bodies gradually collapse, drifting up toward the sky like scorched ash, purified down to nothing.
Gauss’s mouth opened slightly.
Seeing his astonished look, Aaliyah, who had finished Casting, shyly tucked the hair by her ear.
After she changed Profession to Moonphase Walker, the spell’s power had greatly increased, and she suspected that the reason she was able to attract the attention of the Goddess of the Moon—this spell might have been an important lead.
However, she felt the power wasn’t enough to warrant Gauss being this surprised.
After all, many monsters were mobile enough to leave the range of the moonlight before they were completely killed.
She thought Gauss was only putting on an exaggerated expression to make her happy.
She had no idea that Gauss was truly shocked by something at this moment.
"Killed goblin *1"
"Killed goblin *1"
"..."
The monsters Aaliyah killed were now also being shared with him.
After changing Profession and awakening her bloodline, Aaliyah’s combat strength was still far from his, but compared to an ordinary Professional, she was already terrifyingly strong.
And no matter how you put it, having one more "helper" killing monsters was always a good thing.
Normally, although he would try to have his teammates focus on support, he actually never deliberately restrained them from killing monsters.
Now, besides Red Dragon Dragon Beast Hephaestus and Ying, Aaliyah had become the third kill-sharer.
Adding in Serdur, who served as team doctor and support and seldom took part in direct killing, that actually left only Albena in the party.
But Albena was a heavily armored Warrior; rather than group slaughter, her specialty lay in breaking through powerful single targets.
So for now, Gauss’s squad had already reached a very good mode.
Almost all the members who possessed rapid group-clearing abilities could share their kill counts with him.
In theory, he could even become a hands-off shopkeeper and let his teammates "work" for him.
But in practice, Gauss naturally wouldn’t go that far.
He also needed battles to accumulate experience and practice skills; more importantly, his efficiency at killing monsters was higher than his teammates’.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
Gauss’s squad completely cleared out the monsters gathered around the riverside.
Enemies underwater were inconvenient to kill, but with Hephaestus around, they could fly over the river and spray breath into the water; if the aim was precise, one breath could kill quite a few monsters.
"Total monster kills: 11,698"
Gauss glanced at the data on the panel.
Over the past two days they had killed nearly a thousand monsters, and they wiped out all the Water Ghosts that had gathered in the river for some unknown reason.
And besides the accumulation of total kills.
Gauss had other gains.
They came as gifts from the Racial Talent [Demonic Hour].
One of [Demonic Hour]’s effects: when the host kills evil creatures, there is a tiny chance of plundering the power within their bodies and converting it into the corresponding [Skills] and proficiency for himself.
By killing a large number of Water Ghosts.
He "dropped" two skills.
[Bite] and [Swim].
When these two skills first "dropped," Gauss was a bit confused.
After all, in his understanding, biting and swimming didn’t really count as skills—or at least they were somewhat different from the skills he’d had before.
Moreover, he already knew how to bite and swim.
But after practicing, he discovered that once [Bite] and [Swim] were solidified as skills, they were indeed somewhat different from ordinary actions.
The former could consume Physical Strength to enhance the biting force of his jaws.
The latter could optimize his swimming posture in water and greatly reduce water resistance while he swam.
Although they could hardly be called hugely useful, skills picked up for free weren’t something worth nitpicking over.
Gauss believed that as the adventure went on, he would drop more skills from monsters.
The only downside was that the drop rate from grinding monsters was a bit low.
Bite lv1 (8/10)
Swim lv1 (2/10)
Bite was very easy to train, because even his normal chewing while eating counted as skill practice; even without deliberately training, the skill experience rose quickly.
"Next, let’s continue toward the snow mountain."
They were getting closer and closer to the snow mountain.
...
"Hoo—"
The wind flung pea-sized snow pellets against their faces.
"We finally made it!"
"The source of the Tarner River, the snow mountain Isthem."
What appeared before Gauss’s eyes were endless snowy peaks.
They were like pale greatswords thrusting into the sky, their summits hidden by the blizzard.
"Roar!"
Hephaestus let out a low growl.
Gauss understood what it meant: it wanted to land.
The snow made it instinctively uneasy.
Each gust of wind carried a bone-piercing cold, slicing past like Steel Blades.
"Let’s land."
Even Gauss couldn’t quite take it and could only have Hephaestus descend to the ground.
The cold in the sky was extraordinary, the icy Natural Magic in the air constantly eroding the body of every visitor like a toxin.
Only after his feet stepped into snow as deep as his calves did Gauss feel that deadly chill begin to fade.
But the temperature was still unbelievably cold.
No wonder this could become a no-man’s land.
If a place was going to be a human settlement, it first had to be habitable.
And as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but endless white snow, with not a single sign of life.
Ordinary humans clearly couldn’t survive in such an extreme environment; the omnipresent freezing Magic in the air would keep eroding their bodies, eventually freezing them into ice statues. Wearing more clothes would be useless.
"Isthem..."
Albena softly repeated the name.
"In the giants’ tongue, it has the meaning of ’Star Tomb of Frost Breath.’"
"Legend has it that a meteor fell here and turned this place into a graveyard of eternal winter."
Gauss looked up at the snow mountain.
Clearly, having such a mountain range appear here was highly unusual, but considering the legends and miracles of this world, the probability of even the strangest terrain appearing was never zero.
"It’s so cold—"
Aaliyah shivered.
Gauss then took Cold Resistance potions out of his Storage Pouch and handed one bottle to each companion.
This was one of Pleos’s gifts prepared in advance back at Flute Castle.
Knowing that Gauss and the others were headed for the Isthem snow mountain, he had specially sent people to purchase enough Cold Resistance potions.
After they drank the faint-red potion, Gauss and the others began to feel a slight heat in their bodies, warming up; the effect would last for eight hours.
The potions Pleos had procured were enough for them to operate here for about a week.
"Let’s head into the mountains."
Gauss cast Flying Skill on his teammates, then led everyone in low-altitude flight, moving into the snow mountain.
...
"Boom!!!"
"Careful!"
"Gain altitude!"
The party rapidly flew upward; below them, the snow surged like a rushing river.
Among the steep surrounding slopes, avalanches would erupt from time to time.
Don’t be fooled by it being a natural phenomenon—its coverage was immense, and in Gauss’s view, its power could rival that of a typical 4th- or 5th-ring Magic.
Fortunately he had mastered the Flying Skill; as long as he observed the surrounding slopes in advance, he could gain enough altitude to avoid the oncoming avalanche that charged like a thousand-man army.
"Rumble!!"
The avalanche went on for over ten minutes before finally ceasing.
Gauss and the others landed on a patch of exposed rock.
This had once been a small hill, but after being buried by the snow, only a short section remained above the surface.
"That was really close..."
Aaliyah let out a long breath.
This snowy field was even more dangerous than they had imagined.
Before entering the mountain, they had mentally prepared themselves to encounter powerful enemies, but they hadn’t expected the trickiest problem to come from nature itself.
Just as everyone was still shaken, a loud roar suddenly sounded from the sky.
Gauss and the others looked up; in the gray, snow-filled sky, they faintly saw a white figure.