In the dense forest.
A group of gnolls were slitting the throats of several captured antelopes, letting the viscous liquid splash onto the altar.
As they acted, the originally dim ground gradually lit up with crimson patterns.
The blood soaked into the granite stone floor, like a giant mouth greedily absorbing nourishnt.
All the gnolls present bathed in this ominous crimson glow, their faces uniformly showing a human-like "enjoynt" expression, their eyes dazed, as if they were taking a great tonic or had fallen into so kind of euphoric, hallucinatory state.
Just as the gnolls were imrsed in "enjoynt," snowflakes began to fall from the sky above.
At first, no gnolls paid attention to this abnormal snow.
Occasionally, a few scattered gnolls tilted their heads back, but quickly averted their gaze again.
Until the wind and snow gradually intensified.
A layer of snow accumulated on these muscular bodies. The bone-chilling cold in the snow seeped through their skin into their fiery-hot bodies, continuously causing waves of stinging pain. It was then that the gnolls let out pained screams one after another.
"Enemies!"
"Watch the snow!"
Amidst the howling cries, the startled gnolls quickly scattered from the clearing.
They tried to hide under trees to reduce the damage from the wind and snow.
But...
The temperature dropped faster than they anticipated.
Blue gusts of wind in the air, carrying fine, knife-like raindrops, wantonly swept through the lair.
No corner could escape the magical damage brought by this bitter cold.
"Run! Get out!"
There were wise ones among the gnolls too. They quickly realized that if they stayed on this land that was still rapidly cooling, mbers of their clan would soon freeze to death.
Even if they survived, their physical functions would rapidly decline, and they would be wiped out in one fell swoop by the unknown enemy in the end.
They could not stay here any longer!
"Howl!!!"
The largest gnolls among them threw back their heads and let out long howls.
After the roars, their rock-hard muscles rapidly swelled. Blood accelerated its flow beneath their skin, and their bodies entered an abnormal "congested" state.
Faint red gas and scorching steam emanated from the pores all over their bodies.
Their beastly pupils also gradually turned completely crimson.
"Grrr!"
They smashed the frozen, incredibly hard shrubs with a single slap.
Led by those few berserk gnolls, the shivering gnoll clan quickly broke through towards the woods.
As for the core area, those few gnolls that were frozen purple and stiff on the spot, losing their mobility, could only be abandoned. No gnoll was willing to lend them a helping hand.
High in the sky above.
Gauss looked far into the forest.
Through the commotion coming from within the woods, he could accurately judge the direction the gnolls were coming from.
And there, Albenia and the others had already set up an ambush in advance.
Just as he was about to turn around.
A flash of crimson shooting up from the ground caught his peripheral vision.
...
"Woo!!"
A gnoll completely enveloped in red mist ran swiftly on all fours.
Just as it broke free from the cold air zone and erged from the woods, a large axe that had been waiting by the side for a long ti descended from above.
"Thud!!!"
The gnoll, which had just steadied itself, couldn't dodge in ti.
The terrifying giant axe's surface lit up with a blinding silver sharp light, as if any object blocking its path would be cleaved in two.
The facts also proved this to be true.
The mont the axe blade made contact with its body, the giant axe released a terrifying force.
"Crack!"
Almost instantly, the gnoll's skull shattered.
Although the crimson aura on its surface had so inherent protective ability, it was difficult to turn the tide against such overwhelming, crushing force.
The crimson aura dispersed.
The giant axe drove straight in—skull, brain, neck—finally plunging straight into the gnoll's robust chest.
"Hisss!"
The high-speed friction even caused smoke to rise from the contact point between the axe face and flesh.
Albenia pulled out the giant axe.
She kicked the gnoll in front of her to the side.
This gnoll was clearly dead beyond dead.
Because the incident was so sudden, more gnolls were pouring out from inside.
"Moonlight Radiance!"
A frost-white light sprinkled down from above, leaving a patch of illuminated, chilly ground below.
This moonlight appearing in the dayti seed harmless, but the gnolls bathed in it shrieked in pain.
The moonlight fell on their frostbitten, bluish-purple skin, creating even more intense agony.
anwhile, two dark shadows imperceptibly appeared at the feet of the panicked gnolls.
"Pfft!"
The black humanoid shadows began to dance.
They released black shadow ground spikes, cutting off the retreat of ordinary gnolls attempting to withdraw into the woods again, impaling them from below, pinning them dead to the ground.
Serlandul and the clay constructs guarded the other directions, preventing the gnolls from fleeing.
"Leave those few big ones to !"
Albenia's voice resounded across the battlefield as she shot out like a cannonball.
Ordinary gnolls were like little dolls before her, unable to pose any threat.
She roared, the sound making the gnolls in front of her instinctively shrink their necks in fear.
Soon, the parched ground gradually took on a dark red hue amidst the slaughter.
"Where did Gauss go?"
"Even if he encountered an enemy, why hasn't the slightest sound co from over there?"
Aria and the others, engaged in fierce battle with the gnolls, couldn't help but harbor doubts simultaneously.
Although the frontal battlefield, led by Albenia and Shadow, two Level 6 professionals, showed no signs of decline despite being outnumbered, this was clearly different from the initial plan.
According to the plan, after Gauss finished casting Sleet Storm to flush out the gnolls, he should have returned to the main battlefield and joined the ambushing party to deliver a head-on blow to the fleeing gnoll group.
After such a long period of cooperation, they all knew Gauss was soone who strictly followed plans and wouldn't act on whims.
So...
Gauss not returning could only an an accident had occurred.
Sothing in the woods was holding him up.
"I'll handle it!!!"
Albenia swung her giant axe with a whooshing sound.
Her hair fell loose, making her look exceptionally ferocious.
She glanced into the depths of the woods from the corner of her eye.
A sense of urgency arose in her heart.
She wanted to annihilate the enemies here at the fastest speed, then rush to support Gauss.
"You annoying monsters! All of you, die!!!!"
A gnoll blocking her path was smashed into pulp by her swung axe.
Fast!
Even faster!
Ordinary gnolls simply couldn't withstand more than a few exchanges before her and Shadow.
Even those strong gnolls with unknown evil red mist surging through their bodies couldn't withstand a few consecutive slashes before being defeated.
"Die! Die!"
As Albenia cleaved the last few gnolls, controlled by Aria, in half.
The group gasped for breath, looking around in all directions.
Confirming no gnolls had survived, their gazes unanimously turned towards the depths of the woods.
...
In the canyon forest.
The scene before Gauss's eyes abruptly changed.
It was as if he had been suddenly dragged into a bloody world, everything around him wrapped in crimson.
Of course, upon closer inspection, the seemingly completely different scene below was actually the sa forest, just shrouded by a bloodthirsty blood mist.
And the stone tucked in his pocket was now emitting an intensely blinding light.
Clearly, the changes around him stemd from the power of the Demon Lord Yeenoghu.
He tried to fly out of this area, only to find endless, similar crimson scenes all around.
"No need to panic."
Gauss told himself in his heart.
The main power of the Demon Lord had long been expelled from this land. Even if remnants existed, they were re traces of power.
Otherwise, given the Demon Lords' constant covetousness for the Pri Material Plane world, if they could truly project power over at will, this world would have been thrown into chaos long ago.
He wasn't unfamiliar with demons.
Last year, during Grayrock Town's Winter Hunt, when surrounding and suppressing the beast tide gathered by the ogre mage, he had killed so quasits summoned by the ogre mage.
Quasits were among the weakest demons in the Abyss.
But even the weakest demon was still a demon.
Demon power appearing in the Pri Material Plane world would suffer further weakening. These creatures only seed terrifying, but when descending to the Pri Material Plane world, they were still flesh and blood—they would "die" if killed.
His gaze remained locked on the forest below where the blood mist churned.
He slled a gradually intensifying foul stench.
Sothing was lurking in the woods.
"Magic Missile!"
Gauss's gaze was sharp, Draconic words spilling from his mouth.
Blue missiles instantly shot out, piercing through the mist and tree shadows to smash into the ground.
It missed.
But Gauss beca even more convinced the enemy was hiding below, and it seed to be observing him.
Since the enemy wasn't in a hurry, Gauss wasn't eager to act either.
He believed that once Albenia and the others finished dealing with the gnolls, they should co to regroup.
Perhaps they could provide so help from the outside then.
Just as he steeled himself and remained on guard, the crimson woods below changed.
"Couldn't hold back after all?"
Gauss focused slightly.
The blood mist churned rapidly, as if stirred by an invisible hand.
A massive, twisted figure slowly erged from the mist.
It was a black-red, wolf-like, dog-like giant beast.
Standing on four legs, its body was covered in scars, its back lined with black spikes, but its eyes burned with eerie green flas.
Was it so kind of power projection of the Gnoll King Yeenoghu? Or its servant?
Gauss pondered in his heart.
"Woo!!!"
The black-red wolf beast threw back its head and howled. Rings of red energy surged out from its bloody maw.
Around it, the blood mist churned, and several black wolf hounds, trailing shadows, floated by its side.
Capable of aerial attack?
Gauss took the initiative, instantly firing several enhanced Magic Missiles.
The Magic Missiles accurately pierced through the newly ford black wolf hounds, directly dispersing them into black mist.
But the next mont, the black mist absorbed power from the environnt, reforming into floating wolf shadows.
"Undying summoned creatures..."
Gauss roughly understood the situation with those small wolves.
His gaze turned to the giant wolf beast.
And at the sa mont, the wolf beast was also looking at him.
Those eerie green eyes radiated pure bloodlust, brutal killing desire.
Truly worthy of being the wolf whelp from the "Slaughter-Mad Beast" Yeenoghu.
Legend said Yeenoghu craved slaughter and destruction, longed to turn vibrant worlds into wastelands. The sorrow, fear, and despair born from the death of living beings were the sweetest desserts to Yeenoghu.
"Roar!!!"
The wolf beast opened its maw wide.
A point of black light lit up deep in its throat.
It continuously gathered strength, absorbing the surrounding evil, bloodthirsty energy to empower itself.
In almost the blink of an eye, the condensation was complete.
"So fast!"
But Gauss had long been prepared.
"Cloud of Daggers!" spilled from his mouth.
The cloud qi flew swiftly, only expanding when it approached the wolf beast's side.
"Swish swish swish!"
Countless daggers slashed at the wolf beast's already scar-covered body.
Instantly creating countless small gashes, blood gushed out from these wounds.
Success?
Gauss, noticing this, felt a flicker of thought.
But the next mont, he dismissed the idea that had just surfaced.
No! It wasn't affected at all!
Or rather, the speed at which Cloud of Daggers created wounds couldn't keep up with the speed at which it absorbed surrounding energy for self-healing.
The seemingly wounded all over wolf beast had an extrely terrifying regenerative ability.
And the surging red mist energy below, like waves, seed inexhaustible.
"Boom!!!"
The black light in the wolf beast's throat finished condensing. It aid at Gauss's direction and released it.
A straight black ray shot out from its throat, instantly crossing dozens to hundreds of ters to arrive before Gauss.
Actually, Gauss had already dodged in advance, but that ray still seed to lock onto him like a homing missile.
Fortunately, he had also prepared a second line of defense.
A small blue water shield instantly appeared in his hand.
Rippling with water waves, the seemingly fragile water shield blocked before the ray.
"Hisss!"
The two forces collided, instantly releasing terrifying power.
Gauss adjusted his direction, using the recoil force to fly backwards from the side, just barely evading the attack of that straight black ray.
"As expected."
Gauss's speculation in his heart was confird.
This "Water Transformation Armant" from the Lake God's Blessing was sacred water, perfectly countering and incompatible with these demonic forces.
Ever since the journey here, he had guessed it might have a miraculous effect when facing demonic power.
Part of the reason he was willing to accept this commission was also because he possessed the Water Transformation Armant.
So, did that an weapons condensed from the Water Transformation Armant, when slashing its body, might limit its regenerative ability to so extent?
Gauss further speculated. This wasn't groundless.
During that brief contact when borrowing force, he had felt the power released from the water shield clashing and neutralizing with that ray of annihilating fire.
So, if not for wanting to reduce the energy loss within the water shield, he could have completely avoided dodging and tanked that ray attack head-on.
"Woo!!!"
As he flew backwards and pondered simultaneously.
Those few black floating wolf hounds pounced, aiming to bite his body.
The protective layer of the Moonlight Robe released resisting energy.
Soon, white smoke of scorching pain also rose from the mouths of the wolf hounds attempting to bite.
"Light Cantrip!"
Gauss spoke Draconic words.
The water shield in his hand instantly transford into a slender water sword.
Light Cantrip was applied to the sword like an enchantnt, making it emit an even more blinding light.
"Swish!"
Gauss swung the sword down, cutting the floating wolf hound in half at the waist.
"Grrr woof woof!!"
The floating wolf hound let out a roar.
The surrounding blood mist energy continuously surged towards it.
But the wound caused by that slash remained entangled with a deep-rooted, eroding energy, preventing it from absorbing energy for regeneration and recovery.
His idea was correct!
So now, evil creature, can you withstand my assault?
He looked at that wolf-like, dog-like evil beast. Deep within his pupils, gilded light gradually brightened.
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