In the end, after observing several possible outcomes, Gauss precisely caught the simplest path.
There was a certain spot on the deer-headed fiend's body that it instinctively feared for and protected. Gauss saw through it perfectly.
His gaze shifted slightly, and a radiant ball of magical power condensed at his fingertip.
Then, with a sharp whoosh—
That improved, advanced version of Magic Missile struck the weak point Gauss had identified with perfect accuracy.
Boom!
The beam formed by that Magic Missile instantly produced twice the result with half the effort.
Because it was too fast and too concealed, the deer-headed fiend had no time to react at all before the beam landed on its physical weakness.
In an instant, the beam pierced through its hide, slipping into the depths of its body like a long needle following the grain of its muscles.
The next moment—
Its enormous, mountain-like body began to "collapse" at a completely unreasonable speed.
Its entire frame loosened like a deflating balloon. The powerful inertia still carried its body forward more than twenty meters, carving a deep furrow through the ground before it finally collapsed just a few meters in front of Nila.
Gauss looked at his handiwork, his face showing little emotion.
He had already seen this scene once in advance with his Future Sight.
And the process had unfolded exactly as he had predicted, without the slightest deviation.
This was the simplest and most energy-efficient way to kill the deer-headed fiend.
"Commander-level Monster Deer-Headed Fiend Slain ×1."
The attack he used had not actually been especially powerful, but because the method was correct, it still killed a Level 8 or 9 monster with extreme ease.
The creature was like a seemingly solid boulder that actually hid tiny, nearly impossible-to-detect cracks within. Gauss's attack moved a thousand pounds with four ounces of force, triggering an irreversible chain reaction from the outside in.
Normally, no human could possibly see through such a hidden weakness in such a short time. But Gauss's Future Sight was simply too powerful. Within time that was nearly frozen, he had ample opportunity to observe his enemy.
Nila half-knelt on the ground, supporting herself with one hand, staring blankly at everything that had happened before her as if she were seeing an illusion.
She blinked.
But the scene before her did not change at all.
That once-overwhelming giant beast lay motionless on the ground several meters away.
Only the thick, foul stench quietly reminded her that this was no illusion. It had really happened.
Dead… it was dead?
Then she thought of something and shifted her gaze toward the pure white figure she had just glimpsed.
And just as her gaze moved, that figure disappeared again.
A powerful fireball rose at the center of the monsters farther away. Then over a hundred radiant beams fell toward the ground like a finishing stroke.
In just one exchange, the battle ended.
Nila rose from the ground.
The battle had ended even faster than she could stand up.
Thump, thump!
Even though she had long sensed that the human protected by the red dragon might possess terrifying strength, seeing him reveal it with her own eyes still exceeded her expectations.
Her heart began beating faster despite herself.
As a self-taught mage, she was filled with longing for that calm, effortless bearing in battle.
So this was what a mage was supposed to look like?
While she swallowed dryly, Gauss, having quickly ended the battle, flashed back to the group's side.
"Gather outside the mining valley first. I've cleared the monsters along the way."
Gauss spoke.
There was not much small talk or questioning. Though he had been unconscious before, over the past day, after his mind began recovering, he had already been able to vaguely perceive what was happening outside.
That included borrowing shelter in the humans' cave nest, and the crisis caused by his arrival.
The reason he had rushed here first was to protect these people.
Although it had not been his intention, some of them had indeed died because of him.
The only thing he could do was protect the remaining survivors of the tribe and bring them from this dangerous monster territory back to human lands.
After his Intelligence broke through to 21 and he awakened Future Sight, Gauss's confidence had grown even stronger.
But the top priority right now was to reunite with Hephaestus, then leave this Red Earth as soon as possible.
He was not afraid of transcendent monsters, but he also saw no reason to let himself be trapped here.
Slaying transcendent monsters here might be even more dangerous than doing so on the main battlefield.
Hephaestus had actually sensed Gauss's presence as soon as he used Fireball. Very soon, he flew back to Gauss's side and let out a low roar.
Gauss familiarly flashed onto Hephaestus's back and patted his scales.
"Thanks for taking care of me during this time."
He spoke gratefully.
If Hephaestus had not been with him, he might have died a hundred times over.
The monster aura on Hephaestus had confused the pursuers' attention. If it had been any other human companion, no one could have completed the retreat better than Hephaestus.
"And me. I helped Hephaestus come up with the idea."
A voice sounded in Gauss's mind. It belonged to Eden, the Slime King.
It was Eden who had reminded Hephaestus to head deeper into the Jade Forest, cross the territorial border, and enter this Red Earth.
"Mm. Thank you too, Eden."
On the surface, Gauss seemed to be alone, but in truth, he still had companions accompanying him.
Hearing Gauss's sincere gratitude, Hephaestus, who had just been about to complain a little, suddenly could not say anything. He only huffed and shook his head, acting as if it was hardly worth mentioning.
Sincerity had always been a sure-kill technique, even against dragons.
"Let's leave first."
Gauss was not sure what level his current strength had reached.
It seemed difficult to summarize his present combat power using any conventional template.
Level 9 mage, 21 Intelligence, Future Sight, Dragon King's Bloodline…
All these abilities stacked together placed his combat strength in a very vague, fluctuating range.
And it also depended on his opponent's battle intelligence. Against an overpowered ability like Future Sight, even an extremely strong enemy might suffer irreversible injuries if they made one careless mistake and gave Gauss an opening.
But if the opponent was on guard from the very beginning, the result could be completely different.
Either way, the initiative was in Gauss's hands.
In live combat, he could use Future Sight to deduce many possible futures in advance, then choose the path most beneficial to himself, creating a pseudo-"omniscient and omnipotent" effect.
Of course, it was still far from true omniscience and omnipotence. What kind of divine ability could only deduce a few seconds ahead and still have an upper limit?
Gauss was not discouraged by his own shortcomings.
In his perception, his development of time-related power was still only at a scattered, rudimentary stage.
In the future, Future Sight would definitely become even stronger. Its upper limit, duration, and the number of possibilities it could deduce would all multiply, eventually becoming an unlimited Future Sight.
After reuniting with Hephaestus, it did not take long before the man and dragon appeared beside Nila and the others.
"My lord…"
"Just call me Gauss."
"Lord Gauss." Zeck did not dare actually call him directly by name as Gauss suggested.
This flawless-looking man possessed power far beyond their imagination, a level of strength so fast it was impossible to perceive.
"I'm sorry for bringing disaster to your tribe. As compensation, I will take you away from here and return you to human territory," Gauss promised.
Even if he left now and abandoned these "burdens," no one would have blamed him.
But he was still willing to do what he believed was right.
The moment he finished speaking, the frightened and uncertain expressions on everyone's faces abruptly turned to surprise.
What had they just heard?
Return to human territory?
Among the tribe of several dozen people, many had already begun to doubt whether the human kingdoms existed at all. Even those who still held hope never imagined they would be able to return there in their lifetime.
But this man was saying exactly that to them.
The calm expression on his face almost made them want to believe him immediately.
Return to a human kingdom. Live the kind of life from stories, where there was no constant fighting, where they did not have to fear waking up to a monster attack, where they did not have to worry about the next meal after finishing the last.
Could such a life really come to them?
Or rather, did such a powerful human nation truly exist?
The future Gauss promised seemed too wonderful. They wanted to believe it, but soon turned anxious again.
Under the long pressure of living like rats crossing a street, they had almost discarded the pride of being human. After all, ever since they were born, the world they saw was monster-ruled territory. Surviving alone had never been easy.
Perhaps far more hidden human tribes had already been slaughtered to extinction.
Looking at the complex expressions of the people before him, Gauss did not continue making more promises.
More words were useless. Some things were enough for him to know in his heart.
Gauss glanced at Hephaestus beside him.
Hephaestus's body had grown quite a bit after killing that young black dragon, but carrying dozens of humans was still difficult.
Even if they could barely fit, most ordinary people could not withstand the strong load and pressure during flight.
The creature pouch was the same.
Although it could hold living things, it was not suitable for keeping humans inside for a long time, especially those with weaker bodies.
Gauss's mind began operating at high speed.
"We need to take the water route."
Once they reached a waterway, he could build a temporary boat.
With his abilities, doing that would not be difficult.
A water route could avoid many pursuers. The only thing he needed to guard against was monsters from beneath the water.
And with Moterra's blessing, he could not only breathe underwater and move freely, but his strength near water could even improve further…
He quickly sorted out his plan.
At the same time, the rough terrain map from before his departure surfaced in his mind.
He rapidly planned out a route.
"Hephaestus, take them in this direction. I'll clear the enemies along the way."
Gauss quickly communicated with Hephaestus.
Hephaestus let out a low roar in response.
Very soon, the man and dragon officially took action.
While Gauss had been unconscious, Hephaestus had still managed to bring him here. Now that he was awake, the situation would only be more optimistic.
Nila and the others naturally did not object to Gauss's decision.
They desperately longed to return to the human kingdom from the stories.
As long as it truly existed, even dying on the road for it seemed worthwhile.
The Red Earth became lively once more.
Far away, thousands of miles from Gauss, stood a towering crimson fortress.
On a terrace overlooking the entire fortress, an extraordinarily alluring female figure stood calmly.
From the back alone, her figure was slender, graceful, and beautifully proportioned, like an incomparable beauty.
But anyone who came near her would be shocked to realize that this was a terrifying monster that sent chills down the spine. Beneath her magnificent crown, her hair slowly writhed like venomous snakes.
Her face carried an icy stillness, especially those eyes, which seemed capable of stealing the soul.
The Medusa Queen.
The ruler of this Red Earth.
"Your Majesty, do we really not need to send generals?"
Behind her, another petite member of the medusa race spoke worriedly.
Although their relationship with that green dragon of the Jade Forest was tense, this was wartime after all. They had only dispatched some low-level nearby vassals. If the Demon King learned of this…
"The Demon King will not care about such a small matter."
The Medusa Queen shook her head, her expression calm.
In truth, if not for the fact that war was currently underway and she had received a notice from the Jade Forest, she would not even have bothered sending low-level vassals.
Low-level vassals were troops too.
But some formalities had to be observed.
As for exhausting herself to help that poisonous dragon hunt down an enemy, she would never do such a losing business.
She would rather let the other party's great hidden danger return safely and add more trouble to that poisonous dragon.
As old enemies, the Jade Forest and the Red Earth had fought dozens of wars, both large and small. With old grudges and new hatred stacked together, her hatred for Aeselrath was even deeper than her hatred for humans.
Moreover, whenever she thought of attacking the humans who had appeared in her territory, she felt a faintly bad premonition.
Although she did not understand where that strange, subtle sense of danger came from, she chose to trust it.
Perhaps the matter involved a human legend behind the scenes. If she acted rashly, it might bring an even greater crisis.
So, better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Right now, this was only the first wave of the war. When her Red Earth army joined the battlefield, it most likely would not be in the direction of the Jade Forest border.
In the end, she was unwilling to do anything that brought her no benefit.
Back by Gauss's side, he quickly discovered that the force chasing him was only impressive on the surface.
It looked lively, but there was not a single decent enemy among them.
After casually slaughtering a group of suicidal long-serpent monsters, Gauss showed a strange expression.
Of course he did not believe that a monster faction powerful enough to rival the Jade Forest could only send monsters of this quality.
In his perception, the other side seemed to be going through the motions without putting in real effort, pretending to encircle him while actually seeing him off.
Naturally, he would not waste that goodwill.
Two days later, he and Nila's group arrived at a muddy river.
A large boat was already floating on the water.
Gauss had made it by cutting down a thousand-year-old ancient tree and hollowing out its trunk.
It was not beautiful, but it was sturdy and durable enough. At the very least, it could carry this tribe of several dozen people downstream and back toward human territory without much issue.
Gauss also wanted to return to Coldemerald Province as soon as possible.
He had already been gone for half a month, exceeding the time he had agreed on with Alia and the others.
He did not know what was happening on the main battlefield now…