sonovelo Chapter 354: Refugees Outside the City
Chapter 354: Refugees Outside the City
In the VIP room, Gauss and the others didn't stand on ceremony and began examining the list of rewards.The contents were quite rich, primarily focusing on spells and various magical items.
Of course, many items on the list needed to be transferred from other locations. As a small town, Grayrock Town didn't have such a rich reserve of rewards.
"You can take your time choosing from this list. Just come back and confirm with me after you've decided."
Seeing everyone deep in thought, Eberhard spoke casually.
Normally, even when granting special rewards to adventurers for outstanding contributions, the Adventurers Guild wouldn't allow them to take the reward list away from the guild, as it involved some unknown risks.
However, Gauss and his group were different. He was essentially on a whitelist within the Adventurers Guild, enjoying considerable freedom in many matters.
Plus, he was busy at the moment, so he signaled they could go back and consider their options slowly.
Gauss and the others didn't linger at the guild to disturb them further and soon returned to their residence.
The list contained many spells, including fourth-circle and lower-circle spells, as well as other skills suitable for the professions of the team members.
Gauss knew that Eberhard's decision to include some fourth-circle spells in the selection list was likely made only after learning he could cast fourth-circle spells a couple of days ago.
Speaking of which, after acquiring the fourth-circle spell [Ice Storm], his offensive spells were already sufficient.
Both [Control Water] and [Ice Storm], these two fourth-circle spells, could be used for offense.
On the third-circle front, there was Fireball; second-circle had Cloud of Daggers; first-circle had Magic Missile; and zero-circle had Extinguish Flame Arrow—all spells he used very frequently in daily life.
Therefore, compared to offensive spells, he was now more inclined towards some functional spells.
Choosing only offensive spells would actually be a waste, because existing mastered spells could achieve similar effects for the same purpose.
He stared at the list; there weren't too many fourth-circle spells on it either, all being spells that could be transferred from nearby towns in the shortest possible time.
[Arcane Eye]
After casting, an invisible magical eye floating in the air can be created through mana.
This eye possesses normal vision, can see in the dark, and can detect traces left by magical energy.
The caster can, through a mental link, control the magic eye to move arbitrarily, observe any direction, and receive visual information transmitted from the Arcane Eye.
[Confusion]
The caster selects a target to cast this spell, which can generate a large amount of junk information to impact its brain in a short time and, to some extent, distort the creature's will, causing it to fall into a confused and stagnant state.
[Locate Creature]
The caster visualizes a creature familiar to them in their mind. Within a certain distance, the caster will sense the direction of that creature. If the creature is moving, the caster will also know its direction of movement.
The detection range is related to the user's mental strength.
Gauss actually didn't hesitate for too long.
[Locate Creature]
I definitely want to take this one.
The effect of this spell was perfect for him to use occasionally during his usual travels in the wilderness to find his familiar "old friends" and catch up on old times.
Although he could ride Hephaestus into the sky and use a telescope to spot creatures on the ground,
often, monsters weren't foolish enough to expose themselves in open spaces. More frequently, they hid under vegetation, inside caves, or in other special terrain.
Even with eyes as sharp as an eagle's, it was difficult to pinpoint these concealed targets from the sky.
If he obtained [Locate Creature], it would mean that as long as monsters came within a certain distance of him, they couldn't evade this magic's detection, greatly saving Gauss's time.
However, the detection range of this spell might need further testing.
After tentatively selecting this spell, he handed the list to his teammates to choose. Their rewards this time also had a quota. He would wait for the formal reward exchange and see what other spells to choose if there was anything left.
In the afternoon, Gauss felt his body had mostly recovered.
After informing his teammates, he left the city and found a place to train his newly acquired skill.
Outside the city, the land was desolate.
The destructive traces left by the battle a few days ago were faintly visible, with pitted ground covered by a layer of snow.
No signs of life could be seen in the whiteness; the usual snow foxes and snow hares were nowhere to be found.
"Enlarge Person"
Gauss tested the skill dropped by the Ogre Leader after its defeat during the Encountering Evil Hour.
As Gauss willed it in his heart,
he felt his entire body gradually grow warm. Then, under his own gaze, his body slowly expanded, and his line of sight gradually rose.
Feeling the constriction of his robes and the clothes beneath, Gauss showed a slightly awkward expression and stopped the effect of the Enlarge Person skill.
This skill was not a spell but a stamina-consuming ability.
Clearly, it could only enlarge his own body; his close-fitting clothes could not expand along with it.
If he needed to use this skill later, he would either have to throw caution to the wind and fight enemies bare-handed and naked, or find a magic that could enlarge and shrink clothing, or find clothes that could adaptively stretch.
Gauss thought that when he went to exchange rewards, he could ask Eberhard and request him to use the guild's channels to look for such things.
Currently, there was no one within many meters around. He glanced around and decided to test the limits of this skill.
Standing in the snow, after removing his clothes, his body continued to enlarge without hindrance.
One point nine meters, two meters, two point two meters...
In the span of a few breaths, his body had expanded to over three meters in height.
But this was the current limit.
Going further, he sensed it was possible, but there was a risk of tearing tendons.
Transformed into a body nearly three and a half meters tall, the world seemed to have changed in his eyes.
Compared to a human, he now more closely resembled a small giant.
Tremendous power surged continuously within him.
"Monstrous Strength!"
He clenched his fist and punched the ground.
The punch was heavy and powerful.
The enlarged body, combined with the explosive power of the skill [Monstrous Strength], unleashed formidable force.
A deafening sound erupted on the quiet snowy ground.
"Thud!"
A deep crater instantly appeared on the ground, as if struck by a cannonball.
Countless clumps of snow and mud were shaken up, instantly filling the originally open area with a mist of snow.
"Cough, cough..."
The destructive power even startled Gauss himself.
He glanced at his fist.
The skin over the knuckles had been scraped, but soon, the wound stopped bleeding and began to heal itself.
If he were to engage in close combat, he would still need to activate [Sturdy Scale Bloodline] or [Second-Stage Ghostification] to create a layer of protection on his body surface.
Thinking of this, he decisively activated [Second-Stage Ghostification].
Black and white ghost energy rapidly surged out from all the pores of his body, then enveloped his entire form, forming a layer of black-and-white armor that clung tightly to his skin, seeming almost alive.
"Hmm?"
Gauss raised an eyebrow. It seemed he didn't have to be completely naked after all.
In his perception, he could adjust the form of the ghost energy.
Soon, a relatively aesthetically pleasing, streamlined armor conformed to his entire body.
This armor was a materialization of some kind of energy, with a texture somewhere between leather and crystal. It followed the contours of his muscles and didn't hinder the flexibility of his joints.
Areas like the chest, shoulders, and elbows, which were vital points, appeared particularly thick, with faint dark patterns flowing across them.
Moreover, Second-Stage Ghostification made this enlarged body even sturdier and more agile.
His pale white long hair swayed gently in the wind, and the white pointed horns on his head shimmered with an unusual light, becoming sharper and longer.
Regarding movement, he felt much more agile compared to the initial state.
To be honest, right after enlarging, he felt his body had become somewhat clumsy, but now it had regained its nimbleness.
"Thud!"
As a deep crater appeared on the ground, his body flickered and suddenly appeared on a distant open area.
Black and white energy currents swirled around him, pushing away the snow mist to create a small clear zone.
Anyone looking at him standing in the snow would not mistake him for a human; he resembled more a war colossus.
Three and a half meters tall, sharp horns, ghostly energy flowing all over his body—it gave off an extremely oppressive feeling.
He first tested the protective capability of this "ghost energy armor."
With a thought,
his right fist, wrapped in black and white ghost energy, slammed down fiercely onto his left forearm with about fifty percent of his strength.
"Thump!"
A dull sound.
Most of the shock transmitted to his left arm was absorbed by the ghost energy armor, with only a slight blunt sensation reaching his skin.
He carefully observed the impacted area throughout and found the ghost energy armor only slightly dented and rippled before immediately restoring itself, showing no signs of damage.
"The defensive capability is quite good."
"And it seems it can be strengthened to a certain degree and supplemented at weaker spots according to my will."
Next, he attempted movement and attacks.
The enormous body, combined with various skills and spells, could unleash even stronger effects.
"Haste."
"Vampiric Touch."
"Thud!"
The ground seemed to have suffered a natural disaster.
This gigantic body continuously charged across the snowy plain, came to an instantaneous stop, and occasionally launched attacks to pound the ground, testing their power.
Soon, traces of craters appeared on the snowy plain.
Just as Gauss was about to continue stacking [Sturdy Scale Bloodline] in this state, his body suddenly sent a strong warning signal.
As if activating it would lead to something terrible.
Reluctantly, after some thought, he had to abandon this bold idea.
The human body had its limits. He couldn't endlessly reinforce himself, or his body might snap like an overwound spring and explode.
Actually, this feeling had subtly appeared when he was using spells and skills earlier.
Compared to normal professionals, he had too many enhancements stacked on himself simultaneously. These enhancements were also a burden. If he didn't possess the professional feat [Stable Casting Master], he might not have been able to cast spells normally.
Through the earlier tests, Gauss also discovered a benefit of enlargement.
That was, when using skills, because the body was enlarged, the effective range of the skills also increased.
Taking Vampiric Touch as an example, he could condense the spell's mana on his hand or extend a tentacle over a meter long.
Now, this distance had been forcefully extended to a range of four meters.
The size of Magic Missile also seemed to have changed, from fist-sized to head-sized.
The mana consumption increased, and the power grew proportionally.
Gauss dispelled Enlarge Person and Second-Stage Ghostification.
The massive, mountain-like body rapidly shrank as if the tide were receding, and the black-and-white ghost energy armor retracted into his body like smoke.
He breathed slightly heavily.
The enhanced state definitely consumed stamina and energy faster than the normal state, but it was still within an acceptable range.
This was likely due to the significant reduction in inefficient energy loss after [Ghost Form] was enhanced to [Second-Stage Ghostification].
"Beast's Breath."
He took deep, heavy breaths.
His breathing was quickly adjusted into a special rhythm.
Stamina then recovered at a faster rate, and his slightly tense muscles gradually relaxed.
He stuffed some food into his mouth.
After a brief rest, he tested the effect of the fourth-circle spell [Ice Storm].
As the White Wand in his hand released an intensely cold chill.
"Ice Storm!"
With the final syllable of the incantation leaving Gauss's lips,
in the direction pointed by the wand, the moisture in the air frantically condensed, forming a cloud of mist.
"Whoosh!!"
A blizzard carrying countless tiny ice crystal fragments suddenly descended.
Simultaneously, fist-sized, sharp-edged hard hailstones fell like rain from the mist.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
The magical hailstones, falling like raindrops, smashed into the ground like cannonballs.
Upon impact, the hailstones instantly released their intensely cold internal mana; pale blue energy exploded, freezing the surroundings.
One could imagine that if enemies were there, they would be instantly frozen by the mana released by the hailstones.
Moreover, the area of effect continued to expand. As Gauss injected more mana, it gradually grew from affecting an area of several dozen square meters to one or two hundred square meters.
In his perception, as long as he was willing to invest more mana, he could expand it even further.
After maintaining it for a while, Gauss actively ended the spell.
He was fairly satisfied with the effect of Ice Storm.
Compared to Fireball, it could affect a wider area, and it wasn't a one-time deal.
The core blast area of Fireball was powerful, but the further out, the attack intensity dropped sharply. Low-tier monsters might die outright, but elite monsters with slightly better defenses could survive.
But Ice Storm was different; it continuously applied effects and would spontaneously combine with some natural magical energy to increase damage.
Furthermore, Gauss's team members carried Aisvier's Snowstorm Blessing.
Their resistance to ice-cold magic was much stronger than that of ordinary creatures, which was why they could act so decisively during the snowy battle a few days ago.
Just as Gauss finished testing and was preparing to head back,
his gaze suddenly turned towards a certain direction.
Amidst the wind and snow, faint, shadowy figures appeared on the distant horizon—not one or two, but a group.
They supported each other, stumbling forward in the snow.
Gauss seemed to realize something.
He summoned Hephaestus, then flipped onto the dragon's back.
On the snowy ground, a group of refugees, dragging their families along, were struggling forward, occasionally looking back in terror.
There, a group of pursuers riding Dire Wolves had appeared in the distant view.
"Move faster! Grayrock Town isn't far!"
"We're almost there!"
"No! We can't outrun Dire Wolves!"
"There are too many elderly and children."
Seeing the enemies behind rapidly closing the distance, the crowd fell into panic.
Just as the cavalry captain was about to make a decision,
a loud roar suddenly came from the sky above.
The anxious people shrank their necks and looked up.
They saw a pair of spread crimson wings gliding over their heads.
"Is that a dragon?"
Someone recognized the creature and couldn't help but swallow hard.
We're dead...
Just as they thought they had encountered an enemy and began to despair,
the owner of those wings didn't linger at all, diving straight towards the group of monsters.
At the same time, a clear male voice was left hanging in the air.
"Head towards Grayrock Town with peace of mind. Leave these monsters to me."
This voice seemed to possess a certain comforting power, instantly calming the refugees.
"Ice Storm!"
Far behind them, an intense storm swirled across the plain.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Hard hailstones fell,
landing in the path of the rapidly running Dire Wolves.
Some hailstones instantly killed their targets upon impact.
Even those lucky enough to survive, the mana released by the hailstones created an ultra-low temperature that rapidly caused hypothermia in creatures within the affected area,
not to mention the ever-present, knife-like storm of ice sweeping through.
"Crack, crack, crack—"
Ice crystals appeared on their bodies and, like a toxin, continuously spread inward.
The cold mana erupted, and even the riders on the Dire Wolves' backs were completely frozen within the blink of an eye.
That extreme cold mana rampaged mercilessly within the monsters' bodies, swiftly claiming their lives.
Within seconds, this pursuing force of nearly a hundred creatures turned into lifelike ice sculptures, frozen on the ground like a large winter exhibition.
Gauss dispelled the magic.
The situation had been completely reversed in an instant.
We're saved!
Witnessing this scene, the crowd who had just experienced the destruction of their homes, pursued through the icy wilderness, feeling despair and exhaustion, couldn't help but shed tears.
One by one, as if having lost all strength, they slumped and sat on the ground.