Chapter 1044: Interviewer Gauss

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Pausing briefly in midair, he fired off a rapid volley of five arrows, aimed precisely at the back of Gauss’s skull, his neck, his left shoulder blade, his spine, and his waist.

Gauss caught sight of all the incoming attacks almost instantaneously, a satisfied expression crossing his face. Everyone knew the theory behind coordinated combat—clear division of roles, maintaining proper formation and distance, synchronized timing, focusing fire, switching targets, and retreating. However, the unspoken chemistry between team members was crucial, and the synchronization of this small squad was exceptional. All of their attacks arrived at almost the exact same time.

Setting aside the Bard’s aura buffs, the controlling earth spikes from below, the female Knight’s Lance Thrust from atop her mount, and the arrows from behind—despite being abilities cast by three distinct individuals—all converged on his body with a time difference of no more than 0.2 seconds. This guaranteed that every strike would effectively land on him in unison.

Moreover, a closer look at the trajectory of the arrows approaching his back revealed a calculated design. Fired from a high angle with a slight horizontal tilt, if their range were extended past the target, they would perfectly bypass the Earth Lizard and land on the empty ground beside it. This meant that even if Gauss dodged with extreme speed, the arrows from Spencer the Tracker wouldn’t risk hitting a friendly. Such a high degree of tacit understanding had clearly not been developed overnight.

Gauss, however, had no intention of dodging. The Gauss Force Field rippled across his skin, instantly extending outward into an invisible barrier of Protective Magic Power.

BAM!

The earth spikes closed in, only to shatter into dust mere centimeters from his thighs, repelled by an invisible counter-force. The arrows from behind met the same fate. Though they managed to penetrate a few inches deeper than the earth spikes, it still wasn’t enough for them to breach the barrier and strike Gauss’s body.

The most violent reaction came from Sabrina, who had initiated the charging Knight’s Lance attack. The moment she slammed into Gauss, she felt as if she had crashed headfirst into an impenetrable solid wall. The powerful battle aura wrapped around her lance shuddered violently the instant it collided with that Protective Magic. Fortunately, her reflexes were sharp. She instantly clamped her armpit tight and flicked her arm upwards, jerking the lance—which had bent into a crescent moon shape—into an upward slash. This released the terrifying kinetic energy accumulated within it while carving out a leaping strike that tore through the air.

Yet, to her slight horror, this attack—capable of splitting mountains and cracking boulders—only caused the invisible Protective Magic barrier to cave in another few inches. Though it drew closer to Gauss’s skin, it remained completely isolated on the outside.

CLANG!

The Earth Lizard, along with Sabrina, was knocked back several steps. With every step the beast took backward, it left cracks that spread for meters across the ground, clearly dissipating the terrifying rebounding force from Gauss into the earth.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

As if trying to buy time for Sabrina, Spencer the Tracker unleashed a continuous barrage of arrows. For a moment, the sky was filled with a rain of arrows, all dozens of them homing in on Gauss.

This time, Gauss didn’t take the attack head-on. Not because he was afraid of getting hurt—leaving aside the fact that the arrows might not even pierce the protection of the Gauss Force Field, even if they did break through, he was no frail, ordinary Caster. The toughness of his body far surpassed that of normal creatures. With his dual 19s in Strength and Constitution, calling his body a constitution of steel would not be an exaggeration. It was just that standing still and playing the role of a living target was somewhat boring. Although this was merely a test, he wanted to be a bit more engaged.

Relying purely on raw physical strength, he executed an explosive dash, instantly appearing right in front of Sabrina, who had just retreated a few steps. Sabrina’s pupils shrank violently. Subconsciously, she tried to force down the lance she had just flicked upwards to deliver a downward cleave. But Gauss’s speed was simply too fast. Seeing him did not mean she could react in time.

Fortunately, Gauss did not launch an attack directly at her. Pausing briefly in midair, he raised his palm, placed it gently against the rock-like Armor covering the Earth Lizard’s head, and pushed down lightly.

BOOM!

White shockwaves surged around his pale arm, where faint dragon scales began to emerge, the muscles beneath pulling taut. Though this downward push looked unassuming, the power contained within it was far greater than the momentum of this giant beast in a full-speed charge. Moreover, Gauss’s force was far more concentrated.

Upon closer inspection, a layer of flowing black energy was wrapped around Gauss’s palm. If there were any survivors who had witnessed the battle a few days ago, they would have noticed that the energy swirling around his palm bore a striking resemblance to the aura of that deceased Goblin Lord. It was the purple-quality Racial Talent [Overload] that Gauss had acquired from it.

Instantly, the Earth Lizard felt a colossal weight bearing down on its skull. It instinctively tried to resist, but the force was simply too brutal. The moment it slightly lifted its head, it was instantly swallowed by an overwhelmingly larger power that left it virtually unable to fight back.

CRASH!

The massive Earth Lizard was slammed straight into the ground by Gauss’s downward push. Unable to rise, it was clearly seeing stars, utterly dazed and disoriented by the sheer impact.

From the billowing clouds of dust, a figure leaped high into the air. It was the female Knight, whose actions had been a beat too slow. Midair, she swung her Knight’s Lance in a full arc, delivering a savage downward cleave from above. Earthy-yellow battle aura erupted from the tip of the lance. Its momentum was even fiercer than her earlier charge, looking as though it were intent on splitting Gauss entirely in half.

Before the fight, Sabrina had told Gauss to be careful, but once the battle truly began, every one of her strikes was lethal, as if she were fighting for her life.

Gauss’s eyes darted rapidly, catching sight of the downward slash coming from above. In response, the black light wrapped around his right arm grew denser and more concentrated.