They felt the battle desire within them, numbed by years of adventurous life, reigniting.
But in the very center of the battlefield, Gauss appeared much calmer.
He was just floating in the sky, using his Tower Mage specialty, casting one spell after another.
When his inner magic power was nearly depleted, he unlocked a line of Power of Feast.
Simultaneously, using his purple-quality racial talent "Feast," he quickly consumed the blue potion crafted for him by Ivan.
Noticing the Goblin Commander, who had been lurking in the shadows, finally revealing itself, he didn’t bother to entangle with it much.
This Goblin’s strength was not as formidable as that of the special Kobold leader, just an ordinary Level 7 creature.
Plus, he wielded a bloodline suppression over the Goblin race.
He targeted it and released a Tier Four Spell, True Illusion, causing the hit Goblin Commander to freeze in place.
The next second, its entire body began to convulse, an uncontainable fear etched on its face, as if encountering the most terrifying creature in its heart.
Its dark green skin started to crack inch by inch.
Its murky yellow eyes rapidly dilated, while bloodshot webs quickly consumed the whites.
"Pop!"
The eyeballs seemed unable to withstand the immense, formless pressure and exploded with a bang.
Leaving only two bloody hollow eye sockets.
The Goblin Commander’s expression of pain deepened abruptly.
But even enduring the excruciating pain of its shattered eyes, it couldn’t seem to awake from the nightmare of the illusion, sinking deeper instead.
Finally, at a certain moment, its tensed frame suddenly relaxed.
Then all its organs, brain, and heart stopped functioning as if in shock.
With a soft thud, the lord of two thousand goblins died soundlessly.
It didn’t even undergo a decent battle.
After casting True Illusion, Gauss confirmed it was deeply trapped and then turned his attention elsewhere for the moment.
Until a prompt appeared in his mind, he glanced again.
"The effect of True Illusion on Goblins is indeed very good."
Even Gauss was very satisfied with this point.
Earlier, the content of the True Illusion he crafted was himself, but in an enhanced version and with all the bonus effects of the Goblin Expert title, a mere Level 7 Goblin Commander could never escape his illusion technique.
The more one feared, the less they were aware of being in an illusion, making it harder to break free from True Illusion.
In the end, the Goblin Commander was killed by the version of him in the illusion, and this result reflected on its mental and physical state in reality.
Despite his amazement at its powerful effect, Gauss was not only impressed by its quick usage.
In fact, he had many ways to instantly kill that Goblin.
But True Illusion was undoubtedly the easiest.
And the Goblin Commander’s body could be maximized, bringing greater value afterward.
"Continue then."
Of course, because True Illusion is a Tier Four Spell, it consumes a lot of magic power, so it could only be used on relatively strong individuals.
The expansion of the Red Dragon Team saved him quite a bit of effort.
However, on the frontline battlefield, he still wouldn’t slack off in what he did personally.
As of now, killing monsters had become a habit.
If he were to sit back and calmly watch his subordinates in action, it would feel odd to him.
Much like how many elderly people, who have pensions and are not lacking money, still choose to work.
Or how one never questions why others eat meals one day and again the next.
For some, doing certain things inherently doesn’t require a specific reason.
...
"Captain Gauss, do you need rest? I can take over here."
Luna, also a master-level caster, cast a flying skill to come beside Gauss.
After a not-so-long-lasting battle, the Red Dragon Team, without any accidents, managed to clear the lair ahead more easily than she had expected.
Due to Gauss and Hephaestus’s full efforts on the central battlefield, she was worried about being caught up in his attacks, so she hadn’t gotten too close until the battle ended when she flew over.
In her view, Gauss’s current state shouldn’t be that great.
The spells he released earlier wouldn’t be sufficient, even if several of her were exhausted.
The assumption was that despite his fatigue, not out of concern for Gauss’s health, was thanks to his indirect show of strength when he easily killed Fisher days ago.
"Me?" Gauss was vigilantly watching over the battlefield below, ensuring no unseen stragglers were missed, and turned to Luna with confusion.
He felt he still had most of his magic power, and using his dragon eyes, which can see magical tracks, he glanced at Luna’s body.
Is there a chance he’s in better shape now than the concerned you? He raised an eyebrow.
"You go rest first." To consider the face of the new member, he thought for a moment and decided not to reveal the truth too directly.
"Your team members seem to be somewhat injured; go and check on them first."
The members of the original Gray Wolf’s Fang were split, with some joining the Dwarf’s squad and others joining Ivan’s task force, but most of the strong members stayed with Luna, forming the White Wolf Squad, the fourth team of the Red Dragon Adventure Group.
This included Luna’s confidants, two now traveling to Farlim master-level professionals, and most of the original Gray Wolf’s Fang team, consisting of professionals of Level 3-5.
The reason for such allocation was because Luna and the others understood their situation better, so she was tasked with managing them.
The team was also reserved three seats at the group meetings, allowing them to participate in discussions of important matters.
Hearing the subordinates were injured, Luna didn’t hang up her worries and quickly flew back to the team camp.
Meanwhile, Gauss continued flying, casting the Biological Positioning Skill, searching for those hiding green-skinned goblins.
"Goblin killed *1"
"Total monster kills: 33,101"
...
"Hiss! Nothing... nothing! I don’t hurt!"
"Let me say, this little injury, I just need to drink a potion and quietly recover. I really don’t need treatment; Doctor, please treat others."
"I don’t need treatment either; I’m still able to fight!"
"Lie down, all of you!"
As Luna flew back to the medical area, she heard her subordinates, one by one, stubbornly denying their injuries as if admitting them was shameful, and she got furious.
She had repeatedly emphasized that the first battle shouldn’t risk oneself wanting to perform, but in the end, so many were still injured, making her lose some face.
At her stern words, those energetic-like-treasure members immediately shrank their necks and obediently lay down.
Thanking Serdur, Ivan, and the other three priests in the temporary medical group, Luna advised the injured for a few more words, then left the tent without further disturbing the doctors.
"I’ll go report to Captain Gauss; don’t trouble the doctors."
After she left, the injured finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It feels like Big Sister Luna has become scarier."
In their impression, Vice Captain Luna was relatively taciturn but perhaps due to recent events and joining a new team, she seemed a bit different now, more resolute with people and things.
"Still, Boss Gauss is really strong."
"Did you see earlier? I reckon most of the monsters here were eliminated by the boss."
"Doesn’t that make us look useless?" one said sulkily upon hearing this.
"I don’t think so; we’ve also intercepted quite a few monsters. Besides, we can’t be blamed for being useless; it’s because the boss is just too strong, isn’t it?"
"I think the old boss Wolf wasn’t as strong as Boss Gauss."
"Boss Gauss is still so young..."
For adventurers, the fastest way to earn their respect is undoubtedly to display strong prowess.
In this regard, Gauss did excellently today, even if it wasn’t his intention, delivering immense shock to the new members and settling their fluctuating morale due to team expansion.
If Gauss’s interface could display subordinate loyalty, today’s battle would have jointly increased everyone’s loyalty by dozens of points, and his "dedicated fans" have even emerged within the group.