Chapter 1057 - 505: Underground World

A moment later.

Gauss’s face revealed an unimpressed expression.

As it turned out, the Four-armed Giant Gargoyle’s earlier toughness stemmed mostly from its immunity to physical pain, rather than any exceptional mental fortitude. After days of torture in the Spiritual Prison, its mental resistance could only be described as barely passable—and nothing more.

Gauss obtained the intel he wanted.

Just as he had guessed, this Four-armed Giant Gargoyle and the ordinary Gargoyles all originated from a massive underground space. It was just that, like many ruins, it had been buried deep underground prior to this. That was until recently, when the Borderland Lord of the Giant Tooth Highlands awakened, triggering a massive earthquake that rippled across the entire Borderland. Only then was this tomb space, which had slumbered for who knows how many years, finally brought back into the light of day.

"A tomb?"

Gauss looked down at the dying Four-armed Giant Gargoyle beneath him. Its current miserable state wasn’t due to weakness—a Level 10 Demon would be a formidable force anywhere—yet it was merely one of the tomb’s guardians.

A desire to explore stirred within Gauss. While he didn’t find the act of killing monsters tiresome, then again, wouldn’t it be even better if he could explore ancient ruins while doing so?

"Overload!"

The flowing black energy beneath his feet suddenly condensed into a solid form.

BOOM!

The next moment, a powerful force erupted from beneath his feet, instantly shattering the core near the Four-armed Giant Gargoyle’s collarbone. With the interrogation over, it had lost its final use.

"Killed Commander-level Demon: Four-armed Giant Gargoyle x1"

"Obtained Commander Points x10"

"Current Commander Points: 36 -> 46"

Since this was the first kill of a Commander-level Gargoyle, the rewarded Commander Points were quite generous. At least compared to the effort Gauss had put in, he felt this reward had come very easily.

"Where’s the enemy? Where are they?"

In the distance, reinforcements arrived one after another. A Master Level Professional approached the injured members and asked. At this moment, a Priest was busy treating two of the wounded.

In the deep of the night, the battle had already concluded, and Gauss naturally disengaged from his combat state. Relying solely on the moonlight, it was indeed difficult to detect his position right away.

"Captain Gauss has already taken care of it."

Looking in the direction they pointed, the Master Level Professional saw Gauss picking through the monster remains like someone collecting scrap, tossing the materials into his Storage Space.

"I’m late..." muttered the Master Level Professional, who had only recently joined the Red Dragon Team.

He had hoped to quickly rack up some merits to win the Captain’s approval. But looking at it now, the greatest hurdle to earning his stripes wasn’t the enemy—it was right here within the Red Dragon Team. His beloved Captain had essentially robbed him of the chance to show off.

Despite being the top dog, he was always the first to charge into enemy lines and the fastest to back up his teammates. Was this even reasonable? Thinking about this, his gaze turned somewhat resentful.

Gauss quickly finished gathering the spoils. More and more supporting members of the Red Dragon Team were gathering around.

The remaining Gargoyles quickly found themselves swarmed by an overwhelming number of human Adventurers, their numbers rapidly dwindling. Not long after, the surrounding ordinary Gargoyles were completely wiped out. There was strength in numbers. Even physically imposing monsters would find themselves stretched thin when facing coordinated attacks from multiple directions.

"Looks like the battle is over." Ying had appeared by Gauss’s side at some point.

"It was just a Four-armed Giant Gargoyle. It couldn’t make much of a splash. However, I did stumble upon an interesting tomb ruin."

"Are you going to explore it right now?" Ying asked softly.

"No, there’s no rush. Let’s sweep the surrounding monsters clean first."

Having confirmed the exact location of the tomb ruins, and knowing it wouldn’t sprout legs and run away anytime soon, Gauss was in no hurry.

After wiping out the Gargoyle group, the monster-hunting operation across the wilderness resumed. After that, they didn’t encounter another monster with combat power anywhere near the Level 10 Four-armed Giant Gargoyle. This was actually quite reasonable. If monsters of that caliber were clumping together in the wild, Warren Castle would have fallen long before Gauss ever arrived.

And so, the battle continued deep into the night, until Gauss finally called a halt for the still-eager members of the Red Dragon Team.

"Tonight’s hunting operation ends here."

The newly reassembled members of the Red Dragon Team were mostly covered in grime and splattered with monster blood, but their expressions were practically buzzing with excitement.

Especially for those Adventurers who had never joined an adventure group before and had only ever operated in small squads; their first taste of a large-scale, collective monster sweep was simply phenomenal. They didn’t have to endure exhausting, relentless battles beyond their control, like on the recent battlefield, nor did they have to constantly live in fear of an unbeatable monster dropping from the sky at any moment. Yet, compared to the small-scale commissions handled by tiny squads, they faced more than enough enemies here to gain far better combat experience.

Even if they couldn’t defeat their opponent in the moment, all they had to do was fire a flare, and nearby teammates would quickly rush to their aid. If they were lucky enough, they might even get to witness Lord Gauss in action.

However, despite the addictive thrill of the hunt, not a single person raised an objection when Gauss called it a night.

Gauss’s authority within the Red Dragon Team was absolute. The fresh recruits, still finding their footing, wouldn’t dare voice opposition to his face, while the seasoned veterans, having long been won over by his leadership, had even fewer objections.

Besides, Gauss hadn’t stopped them without good reason. Most of them were already suffering from fatigue. If they pushed through the latter half of the night, the probability of an accident occurring would skyrocket.