I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 411: Reversal of Roles

Most members of the Red Dragon Guild were visiting the Maze for the first time. Seeing the extraordinary scenery of the second level, the Verdant World, they couldn't help but look around repeatedly as they moved.Moving shrubbery, surrounded on all sides by dense vegetation—taking a deep breath felt like being filled from the inside out with the vitality of plants.

But this wasn't simply the effect of the scenery; on a deeper level, it was stimulation from the pervasive natural mana in the Maze environment.

Gauss walked at the head of the group, controlling over a dozen "Water Pythons" that slithered along the surrounding passage walls, scouting ahead.

Monsters and beasts hidden in the grass would be mercilessly and instantly strangled by the passing Water Pythons, leaving splashes of blood on the ground and walls.

Enemies that occasionally appeared from the sides or rear were also quickly dealt with by the rest of the team.

Although the second level of the Maze could encounter powerful creatures like the adult Spider-Demon Gauss first encountered, the vast majority were still low-level monsters and creatures with low challenge levels.

Their team consisted mostly of professionals, and with him, a Transcendent-level combatant, leading them, their operational scale here was truly excessive.

With their reckless advance, they soon entered the first "Forbidden Zone."

Gauss narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the surroundings, but the corners of his mouth slowly curved upwards.

The surrounding environment held a somewhat familiar atmosphere for him.

Even though the location had changed and the scene was basically different, he still caught a similar feeling.

He twitched his nostrils.

A foul odor was mixed within the rich herbal scent.

This smell was faint and subtle, but it couldn't escape his Perception attribute of 15.

His eyes slowly lit up.

Yes, this was the smell.

The bloodline of the ghost...

The next moment, mana for "Control Water" surged in his hands, gathering the water flow into a greatsword held above his head.

This water wasn't Godwater, just the most ordinary water. But for the current Gauss, even the most ordinary water could unleash terrifying power.

"Clang!!!"

Three pale, sharp Walking Legs slashed down on the hard water greatsword, as solid as metal, from different directions, continuously applying immense force downward.

Yet, Gauss's hand holding the greatsword didn't sink in the slightest.

"Too weak..."

Gauss raised his head, meeting the gaze of the three female silhouettes covered in pale carapace above him.

These were three monsters with voluptuous humanoid upper bodies, horns on their heads, arm-blades at the ends of their arms, and spider-like lower bodies.

It's been a long time.

Gauss looked at one of them.

His memory told him it was the one that had effortlessly cornered him back then.

If she hadn't needed to drive him to her immature companions to serve as their "awakening" tool, he would never have lasted that long back then.

However, that once overwhelmingly powerful monster now held not a shred of threat.

For a moment, it made Gauss feel somewhat dazed.

Perhaps the impression Gauss left on her was too profound. Even though over a year later, Gauss's appearance and strength had changed drastically, that former Spider-Demon, upon close inspection, slowly recognized his identity.

Her pair of lifeless eyes flickered momentarily, then a trace of human-like panic and unease surfaced in their depths.

"Recognized me, have you?"

Gauss's mental strength allowed him to vaguely sense the emotional fluctuations of surrounding creatures.

He smiled.

Then, an overwhelming surge of power erupted from his hands.

The next moment, as a wave of white air current swept outward, the three monsters, far larger than his body, were sent flying backward in unison. After a series of rumbling sounds, they crashed into the wall overhead.

"Crunch!"

Several crisp sounds rang out—the sound of bones and carapace shattering.

"Drip!"

Milky-white blood dripped down from above, leaving puddles of corrosive marks on the ground.

Gauss locked eyes with the injured Spider-Demons from a distance.

Although sent flying by Gauss, the Spider-Demons' fighting spirit didn't wane because of it; they just looked at him with more caution.

Behind him, Luna narrowed her eyes, seemingly not understanding what he was doing.

Based on her understanding of Gauss's strength, he should have been fully capable of instantly killing these three monsters upon first contact.

The others also showed hesitation, warily scanning their surroundings.

The Guild Leader must have his reasons for doing this.

Could it be that these Spider-Demons, or the surroundings, were hiding some unknown risk they couldn't detect?

In the crowd, only Aria slowly shook her head, revealing a faint smile.

That day, it wasn't just Gauss who was cornered; there was also her.

She could naturally quickly guess what Gauss was thinking at this moment.

"We'll just keep watch around here. Don't let anyone disturb Gauss," Aria said without further explanation.

Hearing this, Luna also nodded.

She knew Aria was the team member who had followed Gauss the longest and guessed that Aria probably knew some secret only the two of them shared.

Thinking of this, a trace of an emotion she didn't immediately catch—envy—stirred in her heart.

Even though she was the member with the highest apparent Professional Level in the Red Dragon Guild and her strength should firmly place her in the top three, she was indeed somewhat envious of Aria.

Aria was closest to Gauss, and she also appeared younger and more beautiful, possessing noble Elf blood.

As for herself, although she was already a Level 9 Warlock, promotion to Level 10 was still far off, and the Transcendent realm of Level 11 was even more distant. She wasn't even sure if she would ever have a chance to break through successfully in this lifetime.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh quietly to herself.

"Clang!"

On the battlefield, Gauss walked with leisurely steps.

The Spider-Demons had three pairs of Walking Legs and one pair of arm-blades each. With three of them together, they formed an impenetrable net of slashing attacks.

Yet, the water greatsword in his hand could always handle the slashes coming from all directions with ease, as if he had countless eyes around him.

Of course, that wasn't entirely wrong.

Because under his powerful mental vision, everything around him was laid bare.

The seemingly lightning-fast slashes of the Spider-Demons were, to his Perception and Intelligence, like watching something in slow motion—slow and weak. Naturally, he could handle them effortlessly.

In essence, it was still the result of overwhelming strength disparity.

Only compared to the last battle, their positions of strength and weakness had now completely reversed.

Gauss suddenly felt it was rather pointless.

These three adult Spider-Demons, averaging Levels 4-5, couldn't pose any threat to him.

So, he stopped holding back.

The strength in his hands, the speed of his feet—all began to be fully displayed.

"Boom!"

Almost instantly.

A straight line of blood appeared on the Spider-Demon's arms.

"Splash!"

After milky-white fluid gushed out, two slender yet powerful arms fell to the ground.

Then, the three pairs of Walking Legs the Spider-Demon used for movement were instantly severed. Suddenly turning into a mere spider, it wriggled its bloated body across the ground.

Before the other two Spider-Demons could react.

A similar blood line appeared at their waists, then their entire upper bodies smoothly slid off, crashing to the ground.

"Stab!"

Gauss pierced through their lower abdomen areas.

The two Spider-Demons died in an instant.

As for the last remaining Spider-Demon, it was kept to familiarize himself with the race, making it easier to use [Locate Creature] later to search for other Spider-Demon kin.

The reason the earlier fight didn't end their lives cleanly, besides nostalgic sentiment, also involved similar considerations.

When Luna and the others, who had approached, heard his explanation about locating, they didn't doubt it.

Only Aria met his gaze and secretly blinked.

Gauss just smiled, offering no response.

After familiarizing himself with the Spider-Demon, using [Locate Creature], Gauss quickly found other Spider-Demon nests.

Among them were adults, but more were juveniles or even still in sac-egg form.

He showed no mercy, hunting them down one by one.

The adult Spider-Demons were basically all Levels 4-5, without exception—neither stronger than this nor weaker than Level 4.

When Locate Creature could no longer detect any [Spider-Demon] aura in the short term, Gauss stopped.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked.

In her mind, Gauss was currently "taking revenge."

Based on her observations and combined with Gauss's recent outings to hunt centaurs, she guessed Gauss would pay more attention to races that had previously caused trouble for him and his companions. So, she quickly found an explanation in her mind for his current frenzied hunting of Spider-Demons.

Gauss deactivated Locate Creature.

But his mind was still pondering information about Spider-Demons.

Although he possessed a purple-quality racial talent, [Second-Stage Ghostification], from a Spider-Demon, strictly speaking, apart from that first heart-pounding chase, this was actually his first real acquaintance with this race.

He considered himself quite knowledgeable about monsters.

But the Spider-Demon race was still shrouded in a layer of mist.

Spider-Demons were definitely not weak creatures. Even though they offered almost no resistance in his hands, that was only because his strength was too great.

Level 4-5 monsters, if placed outside, could easily and quickly slaughter an entire village.

Moreover, due to their agile and flexible mobility and body structure resembling war machines, they were quite troublesome individuals among species of the same level.

Of course, this wasn't the reason that attracted his contemplation.

Normal monster races rarely had adult forms as stable at such a definite standard of strength and weakness as Spider-Demons.

Even the most common Goblins were like this. He had encountered adult Goblins so weak that farmers could easily defeat them, but also encountered physically strong Goblin Chieftains who, single-handedly, could cause serious casualties to a town.

But precisely this gap was reasonable. Just as there are innate talent differences among humans, due to varying comprehension, physical aptitude, family background, experiences, and other factors, some can become Epic or Legendary, while more remain ordinary people. Not all humans maintain a similar strength stage.

Gauss looked down at the still-twitching remains of the Spider-Demon at his feet.

"As long as they develop into adults, they become soldiers with qualified combat capability."

If they were indeed soldiers created by another civilization, then that civilization must have been unprecedentedly powerful, and their enemies must have been terrifying as well.

"Would it be you?"

Gauss remembered the insectoid phantom he saw around the Arena during his first entry into the Maze.

Before human civilization ruled the continent, the previous intelligent civilization was the Elf civilization. Could it be even earlier?

If a species like Spider-Demons was created by them, then was this Timberbell Maze, and the mazes of all sizes entrenched across the continent, also the handiwork of that ancient civilization?

According to Guild-provided information, monsters in the Maze seemed difficult to exterminate completely. Even if temporarily cleared, after some time, monsters would quickly replenish from somewhere.

Finding no conclusion from his pondering, he led everyone to the next "Forbidden Zone."

After all, the Maze was a paradise for monsters. Besides Spider-Demons, the second level had many other monsters hidden within that seemingly peaceful greenery.

"..."

"Total monsters killed: 37,771"

Besides the kill count in the bestiary rising, Gauss's [Second-Stage Ghostification] level was also increasing.

To use an inappropriate analogy, talent quality was like the circle level of a spell, while talent level was like the proficiency level of a spell.

For a talent to be powerful, both were indispensable.

To increase the level, he needed to hunt hosts of the race from which the racial talent originated.

But now, after coming to the Maze, by hunting a large number of adult Spider-Demons and even juvenile and egg-stage ones, he gained a large amount of experience.

From the original 1/3, to 2/5, then to 3/4.

Finally, [Second-Stage Ghostification] also reached the Chieftain level, just like the other two Goblin-race-linked talents, [Feast] and [Dragon Breed].

And the progress bar even moved forward a small notch.

For a moment, his control over the [Second-Stage Ghostification] talent underwent a tremendous change.

He could feel that after increasing to Chieftain level, the Ghostification talent became more flexible.

He could autonomously control the extent of change in his ghostified body and freely switch between first and second stages at will.

This was actually quite important. An ability wasn't necessarily better just because it was stronger. Sometimes, being able to control it freely was more crucial.

Perhaps he could increase this racial talent to an even higher level within the Maze.

After traveling in the second-level Maze for some more time, he stopped and turned to look at this vast, empty hall space.

"Seal off this hall. Don't let outsiders in."

Although most adventurers wouldn't deviate from the relatively safe routes to come to these dangerous Forbidden Zones, to prevent disturbance from the few adventurers who might, the Red Dragon Guild still made arrangements.

A force of over a hundred people was sufficient to completely seal off an area. Even if curious passersby were inclined, out of wariness for the adventuring guild's strength, they would rationally dismiss any thoughts of testing it.