Chapter 858 - 428: The Peculiar Lord_2
"No way?"
Faced with this speculation, even though they had already considered Gauss’s power to be formidable, they still found it hard to be certain.
What could be accomplished in three or four hours?
If it was before, it wouldn’t even be enough time to dispatch a scout team to thoroughly investigate the surroundings of the camp.
"Captain George, are you going to stay here?"
"I am planning to lead some people to start exploring in a direction."
"Me too."
"...."
Almost most adventure groups were influenced by the swift and rapid actions of the Red Dragon Team, inevitably feeling a sense of anxiety.
In the past, everyone would methodically carry out investigations, small team explorations, and military operations in an orderly manner, without feeling anything inappropriate.
But now, the Red Dragon Team had created a "catfish effect" within the maze, stirring up the entire situation.
Everyone was worried that if they acted too slowly, they would miss out on the benefits of the maze.
Meanwhile, far at a distance, Gauss was unaware that many adventure groups had already changed their exploration strategies because of their actions.
He merely watched the magical creatures gathering in the distance, his face filled with excitement.
Experience presenting itself in order.
The only thing to watch out for was the spore slaves created by the Mushroom King.
These biological weapons were like death warriors unafraid of dying, and some even launched self-destructive truck-like attacks just before their demise. The spreading spore dust would cause redness and swelling on the skin, and eventually start to fester after some time.
Several members had been injured for not paying attention and had gone to the backline for treatment.
"Wind Control Technique!"
Luna, skilled in wind magic, continuously created strong winds to blow away the spores dispersed in the air.
What caught Gauss’s attention was that he discovered the slimes he initially thought were food reserves for the Mushroom People seemed to have joined the group against them.
Many Mushroom People held slimes like weapons, and once provoked, these slimes proficient in elemental magic would spew magic forward.
His clay creatures as the front line often shattered under spell bombardment.
Could magical creatures actually cooperate in this way?
Upon reaching the fifth level of the maze, some of his perceptions were rapidly changing.
Initially, he thought the two large groups, the Mushroom People and the Slimes, occupying the fifth level of the maze might be competitors or adversaries.
Later, he received some intel suggesting that the slimes might merely be bred by the Mushroom People.
But now, seeing the two groups working together against him as the "foreign enemy," he felt his previous assumptions might be off.
Indeed, the relationships among magical creatures were intriguingly complex.
However, at the moment, he didn’t have the leisure to ponder too much.
"Total monster kills: 63115"
More and more monsters surged forward.
Even Gauss had to admit, the challenge level of the fifth layer indeed surpassed the fourth by quite a bit.
Due to their psychological connections, the cooperation among the Mushroom People was much better than that of the demon frog group, along with the fearless spore slaves posing a significant challenge to the Red Dragon Team.
Gauss keenly felt how troublesome his clay magic must be from their perspective.
The soft fears the hard, the hard fears the reckless, the reckless fears those not afraid of death.
"Leave a few elite squads, Luna, lead the others to retreat toward the camp."
Gauss understood that no matter how much he paid attention across the battlefield, human energy was ultimately limited, so he had to pull back some of the weaker members temporarily to the rear.
Otherwise, a large-scale collapse would eventually occur.
"Got it."
Upon hearing Gauss’s decisive command, Luna quietly let out a sigh of relief.
The pressure on everyone was immense, especially with the unending encirclement of magical creatures, even making a Level 9 Warlock like her somewhat constrained.
In such a high-pressure scenario, withdrawing part of the lower-level forces in advance was a wise decision.
Soon, Luna called out the names of a few group leaders, who then led some people to form teams.
"Hephaestus!"
Gauss exchanged a glance with the low-flying Hephaestus.
Already achieving a level of tacit understanding, the man and beast understood each other’s intent quickly.
Hephaestus spread its wings, lowered its neck, and skimmed low, simultaneously restoring part of its breath energy and pouring it onto the ground.
It swiftly tore open a relatively safe retreat path for the main group.
Under its covering, those bottom adventurers and Level 1 and Level 2 professionals began to retreat.
Leaving behind only Level 3 and above elite members.
Level 3 professionals marked a watershed; taking casters as an example, Level 3 professionals began mastering 2nd-level spells, and the variety of spells they could learn was far more than Level 2 professionals, significantly enhancing their combat capabilities.
After withdrawing the lower-level members, under high-pressure conditions, the overall pressure on the team was significantly reduced.
With Gauss unrestrained, he continuously controlled the newly mastered "Bigby’s Hand," crushing the spore slaves, Mushroom People, and Slimes like swatting mosquitoes.
The superiority of Bigby’s Hand was certainly remarkable.
It possessed strong destructive power, and as a 5th-level spell, apart from the initial casting, the subsequent driving didn’t cost as much as imagined; it was even more "energy-saving" than the Fireball Technique in practical terms.
The only drawback was probably its range wasn’t as extensive as the Fireball Technique, and its casting required enough space to perform open-handed battles; in narrow environments, it couldn’t be deployed smoothly.
In actual combat, the proficiency level of Gauss’s Bigby’s Hand was rapidly increasing.
"5th-level Spell·Bigby’s Hand lv3 (1/50)"
Soon, with a peculiar feeling, he found manipulating the sky-hands became smoother.
Glancing at his personal dashboard, sure enough, the proficiency of Bigby’s Hand had unconsciously reached lv3.
He became more adept at controlling Bigby’s Hand, almost indistinguishable from his real arms, and the manipulation speed slightly improved compared to before.
Although the improvement seemed minor, the impact on combat power was exponentially boosted.
The faster the control speed, the less chance the previously escapable enemies had to dodge successfully.
While Gauss immersed himself in the fun of "whack-a-mole," suddenly, he felt something in a particular direction.
There, a powerful aura was rising.
"Hmm?"
Gauss hurriedly took out the map crystal ball and glanced at it, quickly spotting the rapidly approaching lord monster icon.
Was it the Mushroom faction’s lord arriving?
Gauss narrowed his eyes slightly, peering in the direction from which the aura was emerging.
He saw many monsters bowing slightly, as if welcoming their king’s arrival.
"Boom!"
A figure, fast enough to leave a blue afterimage in the air, suddenly descended.
To Gauss’s surprise, the creature that appeared before him was not the Mushroom Lord he had envisioned.
Instead, it was a small blue slime.
It abruptly stopped, bounced twice on the spot, and then its round eyes shifted to Gauss’s direction.
"A slime?"
Gauss raised an eyebrow, clearly taken aback by this outcome.
Leaving aside why it was a Slime Lord,
its size was surprisingly small, wasn’t it?
Based on his ongoing understanding of slime creatures, like most monsters, the general rule was, the larger the slime, the stronger it was.
He could understand some specialized individuals appeared more petite in size.
But the slime in the distance seemed even smaller than most unchallenging lower-tier slimes.
The only notable trait was how bouncy it was, and it appeared quite "pure."
Rather than looking like the typical muddy-and-ugly slimes, it resembled a flowing liquid crystal, a unique beauty upon closer examination.