Chapter 1037 - 496: Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood

Or perhaps, this was simply the outcome he and Monroe had coordinated beforehand using long-distance communication devices.

Using the panic caused by Snaz’s death to force back the Rot-Winged Dragon Bat, Alex, and consequently trigger a hasty, full-scale retreat by the Green Dragon Army, was already the absolute best-case scenario. Truth be told, he was also feeling quite exhausted. Furthermore, his powerful suppression effects against the goblin race didn’t translate equally to the Rot-Winged Dragon Bat. Since Monroe’s strength was significantly inferior to the beast’s, even with Gauss joining forces, they might not have been able to kill it. Objectively speaking, monsters possessed greater endurance in combat than humans. Even Gauss couldn’t endure two prolonged, high-intensity battles in such a short timeframe. And if they had dragged things out until one of the other two Goblin Generals achieved victory on their respective fronts, the situation would have become highly unpredictable.

Monroe let out a sigh of relief, wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead. His gaze toward Gauss was filled with astonishment.

"My young friend Gauss, did you really kill that Goblin General?"

Although he was already virtually certain of the fact, prudence compelled him to confirm it one more time with Gauss himself.

"Yes. Its corpse is currently in my Storage Bracelet," Gauss said, waving his right hand. "Would you like to inspect it, President Monroe?"

"There’s no need for that," Monroe said, waving his hands repeatedly. Inspecting it in person would make it seem like he didn’t trust Gauss.

After Gauss killed the Goblin General, Snaz, Monroe’s attitude toward him had quietly undergone a shift. Although he had always been extremely friendly to this outstanding junior Adventurer, a part of him had previously believed that his own overall strength was still somewhat superior to Gauss’s. But after tonight, everything seemed different. He certainly had no confidence in his ability to kill that Goblin Lord.

However, he harbored no real jealousy over Gauss’s incredible combat achievement. He stared blankly at the completely routed Green Dragon Army, still finding it all a bit surreal even now. Monroe had mentally prepared himself to sacrifice his life here tonight. His best-case expectation was that humanity would fend off the Green Dragon Army’s first wave of attacks at a tragic cost, holding the line until reinforcements arrived. He never imagined the final outcome would be vastly better than he had hoped. And all of this was due to the young junior Adventurer standing beside him.

"Gauss, please allow this old man to thank you on behalf of everyone!" He took a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Gauss.

Gauss, who had been watching the monster army flee alongside Monroe, was startled by the sudden gesture and quickly reached out to support him. "President Monroe, what are you doing?"

"If you hadn’t risked your life to defeat that Goblin Lord, I’m afraid countless more people would have died here tonight," Monroe said, full of emotion. Although a great number of people had already perished, the death toll would have undoubtedly skyrocketed if Gauss hadn’t been here. The latter half of the night would have been the peak period for casualties. Once the humans’ stamina was completely depleted, many would have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of monsters. Furthermore, if the hiding places of the unconscious wounded in the rear had been discovered, the losses would have been even more catastrophic. Just a brief thought about it was enough to make him shudder in fear. It would have been a true mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

He gazed at Gauss, his eyes brimming with an indescribable emotion. In his view, for Gauss to bridge such a massive gap in strength and kill the Goblin Lord, he must have utilized some special method. According to historical records, such mysterious techniques usually required an extreme price—sometimes lifespan, sometimes a permanent depletion of Spiritual Power, or other precious traits. After all, even someone as powerful as the Sword Saint, whose physique had reached the absolute pinnacle, lived such a short life. Many analysts concluded that this was because he had burned his lifespan during his battle against a Demon King; otherwise, there was no logical explanation.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable under Monroe’s intense stare, Gauss quickly spoke up. He knew why Monroe was thanking him, but his battle with the Goblin Lord hadn’t been nearly as perilous as Monroe imagined. In fact, Monroe, Kevin Brennan, and Wenster Xavier had borne a far greater risk. A Level 15 human powerhouse was generally much more fragile than a Level 15 Demon Lord. Yet, they had held the defensive line firmly, never once retreating. This was also why, despite clearly sensing the open and veiled hostility from Kevin Brennan, the Commander of the Green Grass Defense Team, Gauss had never initiated any conflict with him. Both of them were fighting for humanity. As for other minor frictions, Gauss considered them completely inconsequential. He wasn’t petty enough to believe that everyone had to like him.

"President Monroe, let’s head down and clear out the remaining monsters." His gaze shifted toward the monsters lingering near the inside and outside of the city walls, which were currently mounting their final counterattacks. If they joined the fray, the battle would end sooner, and human casualties would be reduced.

"Alright." Monroe cast one last glance in the direction of the Rot-Winged Dragon Bat. After confirming it wouldn’t be doubling back for a surprise attack anytime soon, he closely followed Gauss, charging down into the battlefield below.

A long night finally passed.

Morning mist drifted across the battlefield, and the chillingly cool air was wrapped in a thick, heavy stench of blood. The ground had been dyed a brownish-red. Up in the sky, tens of thousands of crows and vultures circled.

CAW CAW CAW!!

They stared intently at the mountain of monster corpses piled up by the soldiers below, their round, beady eyes filled with a ravenous hunger for food. However, the corpse sorters standing guard nearby, along with soldiers wielding longswords and crossbows, deterred them from coming any closer. The hundreds of their own kind lying dead on the corpse mountains with arrows sticking out of them served as a bloody lesson.

"Just how many monsters died here?" A soldier covered entirely in blood scabs sat spread-eagled on a makeshift "stool" built from a few goblin corpses. Smoking a dry pipe, he gazed at the towering mountain of bodies behind him and chatted idly with his companion. In the distance, even more corpse mountains were piled up together. The overwhelming, foul stench of blood was strong enough to destroy a person’s sense of smell, but they had all grown completely numb to it.

"Who knows? A hundred thousand? Or maybe more?" The soldier beside him, having just driven away a few greedy vultures, slowly walked back. He snatched the pipe from the other man’s hand, took two deep drags, and a look of sheer bliss appeared on his pale, exhausted face. "Where’s Oliver? Wasn’t he assigned to your squad last night?"

"Dead."

Hearing that answer, the first soldier, who had been about to reach out and snatch the pipe back, froze with his hand in midair. Of the several comrades who used to eat meat and drink together all the time, it seemed only the two of them were left now. The two of them fell into an inexplicable silence.

An early morning breeze swept past, and he shivered. "This damn weather is really freezing."

"Yeah, it is."

The sky, which had only just begun to brighten, was a hazy gray. Yet, the sunlight was already spilling over their faces. Their bodies, exhausted from a whole night of toil, felt weightless, leaving them in a slight daze. It was as if they didn’t know whether this moment was truly real.

Aside from cleaning up and organizing the monster corpses, human bodies were also being carried down from the city walls, one by one, and carefully wrapped in shrouds. These bodies covered the entire floor of the plaza; their sheer numbers were enough to make anyone gasp in horror.

"How many people died?" Gauss drifted down from the sky, landing beside Monroe and the other two.

"I’m afraid it’s around ten thousand," Monroe sighed. Compared to the besieging monster army, the casualties humans paid were actually far fewer, but the objective numbers were still shocking.

"For that, we must thank our young friend Gauss. Otherwise, this battle wouldn’t have ended nearly so quickly." Wenster Xavier withdrew his gaze from the corpses.

Beside him, Kevin Brennan noticed Gauss’s arrival. He fell silent for a moment before offering his praise with feigned composure. "Y-Yes. I didn’t expect you to be so strong, Gauss." In truth, he had already fully submitted to Gauss’s strength in his heart, but he was still a bit too proud to admit it openly. Wenster’s stare, in particular, made Kevin’s face feel as though it were burning with embarrassment.

"Thank you." Gauss didn’t pay attention to these minor details. He simply stared at the tens of thousands of corpses, lamenting the cruelty of war in his heart. Tens of thousands of people had just lost their fathers, mothers, children, and lovers. He was once again glad he had made the right choice last night to end this war as swiftly as possible. Otherwise, with every passing minute, even more people would have died.

"Don’t you need to go and get some rest, Gauss?"

"I’ll wait a bit," Gauss said, shaking his head. He didn’t really need to rest, but he did need some time to prepare for a breakthrough. Because his gains on the battlefield had been so plentiful, this level breakthrough would most likely happen very quickly. However, he couldn’t just turn around and leave right now. The great battle had just paused, and the Green Dragon Army had suffered heavy losses. While they likely wouldn’t launch another attack in the short term, he still had to be prepared for the worst.