Because this was a hastily assembled team with uneven strength and no chemistry, the eight of them didn’t coordinate; they split up and moved in according to their original squads.
Once everything was set, they charged the monster camp he...
Exposed?
Gauss’s heart gave a quick jolt at first.
But when he caught the sounds that followed from farther off, he felt that wasn’t it. And that strange cry from the sky just now hadn’t come from directly overhead.
Eith...
At dawn the campfires were long out, leaving only wisps of blue-gray smoke.
Gauss and Alia washed up, bolted a simple breakfast, rubbed feeling back into cheeks numbed by the cold, and headed to that day’s rendezvous point.
People ...
The Magic Missiles stripped the warrior of his last breath; Gauss, ever cautious, followed up with two finishing strokes. Only after he was certain the man was truly dead did he and Alia start putting the ravaged field in order.
“I didn...
Every hair on the rogue Dilan’s body stood on end.
It wasn’t as if he’d never seen a Magic Missile—on the contrary, he knew the spell well. But the threat these missiles carried was unlike anything he’d felt before.
Too fas...
As soon as Gauss finished speaking in that flat tone, the air went oddly still.
No one said a word. Only the keening wind and the faint, unhurried sound of Gauss chewing jerky remained.
Up front, the warrior Blake glanced back at his...
Jade Forest, afternoon.
Fine snow began to fall again, the cold wind carrying icy grains that moaned and circled through the branches. The winter hunt’s killing chill seeped into everything as the weather turned ever more bitter.
F...
While the two of them rested, a stray handful of monsters that had fled the main front wandered through—and Gauss, Alia, and Ulfen dispatched them without a second thought.
Gauss followed the line of the nearest corpse with his eyes, gazi...
Gauss picked off most of the mosquito bats first.
Then he glanced at the raven, Echo—who wasn’t idle in the least. Wings pumping, it had already darted after the bats trying to climb for the clouds. It flew faster than they did, and its...
[Elite Path unlocking.]
[Current Stage: 1.]
[Special Skill Earned: ‘Brute Force.’]
[Brute Force – When actively triggered, the user’s Strength increases, granting greater destructive power. Stamina consumption, however...
Gauss waited patiently for the two to finish “talking” before he spoke.
“Any intel?”
“Any intel! Any intel! A—ny…” Echo twisted its head toward Gauss and parroted the words back at him in a harsh caw.
The corne...
The wind on the open plain, gritty with sleet and smelling of wild country, keened as it swept across the boundless waste.
Beneath that fine white mesh of snow, the distant edge of the Jade Forest arched like the spine of a crouching behemo...
Once everything was ready, Gauss and Alia waited in Grayrock Town for a few more days.
In those few days, the weather steadily turned colder.
At last, the notice they’d been waiting for arrived: the Adventurer’s Guild was calling...
“It’s snowing—so sudden.”
Over breakfast, the two of them talked about the unexpected early snowfall.
“It usually doesn’t come this early, does it?”
“True,” Gauss nodded. In truth, he didn’t feel much about...
“That guy’s a Bronze adventurer!”
Marlin’s teammates all gasped, staring at him in disbelief.
Worked together at the smithy? That meant Gauss couldn’t have become an adventurer much earlier than Marlin himself.
“Yo...
Gauss had absolutely no doubt — in front of this man, he wouldn’t last more than a few breaths. He might not even have the chance to draw a teleportation scroll, let alone channel magic to activate it.
And as for what level this man mig...
Gauss, Alia, and the grey wolf Ulfen walked across the bleak, windswept wilderness.
There were far fewer travelers and wagons on the road than there had been days ago, and the chill in the air was sharpening.
Both of them were in goo...
[To Gauss:]
Hearing that you’ve advanced to Bronze Adventurer, all of us in Night Owl are genuinely happy for you.
It’s no surprise… but it still happened faster than we expected.
Laevin and Doyle were in disbelief when ...
“You’ve really worked hard today.”
Before they knew it, evening had fallen.
Gauss and Alia had been running around all day, and only now were all their errands finally done.
They’d met with the broker, discussed terms,...
“It’s getting a bit chilly.”
Gauss exhaled, white mist forming in the air as he lifted his eyes from the book in his hands.
He remembered that autumn always seemed to arrive suddenly—but this year, it felt colder than usual.<...
Night deepened.
The chill of autumn crept in quietly through the window cracks, the air crisp and clear like spring water. The world outside had fallen into an unusually serene silence.
Aside from the occasional distant barking of do...
[Next Milestone: 1,000 Total Monster Kills.]
Gauss's mind buzzed as if it were running on overdrive.
It felt like rusty gears had just been oiled, like an out-of-tune string was finally being tuned—his thoughts and mental flow were...
The heavy wooden lid was lifted.
A wave of rich, steaming aroma rushed out to greet them.
Through the swirling mist rising from the pot, Gauss stared into the thick, amber-colored broth—chunks of tender white frog meat floated with...
Gauss and Alia exchanged a glance, but neither of them seemed to notice the strange look in her eyes.
Their attention was already locked on the massive frog corpse in front of them.
“It’s been a while since lunch anyway,” Gauss...
After grabbing a simple lunch in a nearby village, the duo and their wolf companion set out toward the known habitat of the Rustfrogs.
“I haven’t run into Rustfrogs before,” Alia said, flipping through the monster manual as they walke...
Gauss and Alia spent a few days resting in Grayrock Town.
The nightmares never returned.
Bit by bit, Gauss’s mind and body returned to peak condition.
“Alright, thanks to you and Ulfen again.” Gauss lowered his staff, fi...
The early morning sun spilled slantwise across the slightly worn but tidy counter of the inn. Sophia and Gauss were chatting idly when a shadow moved by the door, and a light-footed figure stepped inside.
“Welcome,” Sophia greeted out o...
Shirley, the red-haired warlock, stayed and chatted with them for a while longer—mostly about recent news in Grayrock Town and updates from the Adventurer’s Guild.
After a bit, she rose gracefully to leave, her fiery hair swaying behind...
Gauss could definitely feel it—something heavy was hanging over the whole town of Grayrock.
But what exactly… he couldn’t quite put into words.
Was it sadness? Not really.
Oppression? A little, but not overwhelming.
<...
“Could that have been... some kind of dark ritual?”
Alia finally broke the silence.
“Dark ritual? As in... involving an evil god?” Gauss followed up. Fragments of old knowledge floated to the surface of his mind—stories of ...