Gauss was completely baffled by this, not understanding the reason behind its bizarre behavior, yet his movents did not slow in the slightest.
His battle instincts, tempered through countless trials, flowed through his veins like blood itself.
Sothing strange was going on? He'd figure it out after he killed this Sli first. He didn't think it was beyond his ability.
The Sli before him certainly had so peculiar traits, but there existed an ironclad law: any living creature, if killed, will die.
This Sli would die, just like the tens of thousands of monsters that had perished by his hand before.
Gauss's slender fingers gripped the white jade-textured Magic Wand, holding it horizontally before him. His robes billowed, a sign of mana surging within his body like a vast lake.
Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit.
Though confident in his own power, out of caution, he would still go all out.
Grasping his wand, he stepped onto the controlled Bigby’s Hand beneath his feet and swiftly flew towards the main body of the Sli Eden.
Its concealnt ability also seed greatly weakened after Gauss had killed its clone.
This Sli nad Eden was indeed vastly different from any Sli he had ever seen. Its aura was pure, lacking much of the wild, violent, and depressive energy typical of monsters.
And this was clearly not so innate passive ability of a Lord monster either, as the Magic Frog Lord from the previous level hadn't exhibited similar traits.
"Bigby's Hand! Indestructible Palm!"
After getting slightly closer, Gauss leaped from the palm of Bigby's Hand.
He then controlled the giant palm, large enough to easily cover the vast majority of normal monsters, as it turned over and smashed down towards the Sli.
Seemingly sensing there was no way to avoid it, the Sli's split mouth suddenly gaped wide open. As if devouring mana, it inhaled an enormous amount of the surrounding mana into its body in one breath.
The Sli's previously weak-looking presence strengthened, like a final surge of vitality before death.
Under the influence of the mana, its originally small body instantly swelled to several ters in size. Simultaneously, its soft, jelly-like body shot out several thick tentacles, like a giant serpent erging from its burrow.
"Whoosh!"
The tentacles created sonic booms in the air, exploding upwards from below to clash with Bigby's Hand.
The tips of the tentacles, seemingly soft but actually tough, lit up with a dazzling sharp edge just before contacting Bigby's Hand, as if empowered by so force.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The humanoid hand and the monster's tentacles collided in mid-air.
The white shockwaves stirred up by the impact surged outward like a tsunami, crushing everything in their path. Trees and vegetation caught in the blast were nearly instantly uprooted and sent flying. In this chaotic scene of flying sand and stones, any ordinary adventurer or monster caught within would likely be utterly pulverized.
This was the so-called "when gods fight, the little devils suffer."
"It got stronger."
Gauss sensed that after opening its mouth and swallowing a massive amount of natural mana, the presence of the Sli nad Eden had risen significantly.
He just wasn't sure how long this abnormal enhanced state could last.
But he guessed there must be so cost; otherwise, it would have used it from the start.
Analyzing the situation so far, Eden's strength mainly manifested in its super-strong elental concealnt, its clones, and its extrely high degree of mana control.
The first two had already been countered by him, and the third was the true source of its formidable power.
"Human, your killing intent is too strong, too obvious."
As the dust settled, Sli Eden had already used the mont of the clash to flash away from the range of Bigby's Hand.
It even had the mind to comnt on Gauss's offensive wave.
Gauss raised an eyebrow.
Just now, besides Bigby's Hand, he had also, while flying in the air, very quickly and stealthily cast Control Water.
The flowing water, like small snakes crawling, used the overwhelming montum of Bigby's Hand below to stealthily approach the Sli along the ground. But unexpectedly, this seemingly hard-to-detect killing move was anticipated by the Sli in advance.
It was worth noting that multitasking had always been Gauss's forte, thanks to his exceptional Intelligence attribute.
Focusing for a mont, he quickly reflected in his mind.
Everything can be a teacher, and enemies are the best teachers.
And though he didn't know the reason, Sli Eden seed rather fond of playing the teacher.
On a technical level, Gauss was very confident that most Transcendent spellcasters couldn't do better than him, so the problem likely wasn't at the "skill" level.
Combining it with Sli Eden's earlier comnt, was his attack detected in advance because of killing intent?
To be honest, Gauss felt his mind was extrely calm during combat, not falling into a bloodthirsty, frenzied state.
He, who controlled his ntal energy extrely well, would also exhibit very obvious killing intent from a monster's perspective?
He didn't think Eden was bluffing him.
Was it because I've killed too many monsters?
Gauss also had to admit one point: the vast majority of his adventuring ti was spent fighting monsters far weaker than himself.
In such situations, whether killing intent was restrained or not was unimportant.
Lower-level monsters most likely couldn't anticipate so of his attacks through his killing intent. Even if so exceptionally gifted one did sense it, so what?
Being able to perceive it didn't an being able to evade it.
Therefore, he had also grown accustod to a wide-open, unrestrained fighting style, never deliberately trying to conceal his killing intent.
This was undoubtedly a clear flaw when facing monsters of relatively similar strength.
His control over the ntal/spiritual level was far stronger than that of most living beings, clearly eting the basic conditions to perceive the flow of killing intent. After being awakened by Sli Eden, he quickly captured a certain will existing on the spiritual level.
It was in an indeterminate state, between existence and non-existence.
Before specifically sensing it, even Gauss hadn't noticed its presence.
But now, it had beco extrely obvious.
It was a pure and powerful will, carrying an undisguised "malice," especially towards monsters. It was like giant, nacing tentacles wildly surging around him.
The mana that separated from his body was also saturated with this killing intent, tempered through countless trials, forged in the mountain of corpses and sea of blood left by tens of thousands of monsters.
Now, Gauss could understand what Eden had said earlier.
This killing intent was indeed too strong, too obvious.
Although beings with strong spiritual power were relatively few, if they were sufficiently powerful, they could obviously see through his moves in advance by sensing the flow of killing intent.
With a slight effort of control, the killing intent entwined around his body surface and the mana separated from him quickly receded.
Though the ti was short, so inevitably leaked out, but compared to before, it had been reduced by over ninety percent.
This was a manifestation of his personal talent.
In most cases, once Gauss beca aware of a shortcoming, he could always effectively improve it within a short ti.
"You are the most talented human I have ever seen."
"Thank you."
Gauss's thanks were sincere.
Even though it was an enemy, Sli Eden had indeed provided him with so guidance.
Perhaps due to its displayed high intelligence akin to a human's and its communicative nature, Gauss, the monster slayer, even rarely felt a mont of hesitation about killing it.
But then, considering that Sli Eden was the Lord of the fifth level of the Timberbell Maze, the destiny of death seed inescapable.
Even at this mont, among the many adventurers present, perhaps only he could kill it.
But that didn't an there wouldn't be others capable of it in the future. As the Maze continued to grow and evolve, the level of adventurers able to enter would also beco higher and higher.
Once restrictions were lifted, and Transcendent experts could gradually enter the Maze to explore, Eden would eventually be killed.
So, even if he didn't take action himself, looking at an extended tiline, Eden still couldn't escape the outco of death.
And more crucially, Gauss faintly sensed that it didn't seem to fear death itself, even harboring a sense of anticipation.
In the fight with Gauss, it exhibited more of a desire for communication. Otherwise, it wouldn't have exposed its abilities one by one, as if intentionally sparring with Gauss.
Moreover, since it could anticipate Gauss's attacks through killing intent, those previous hits it took were probably deliberate.
It seed to genuinely enjoy the feeling of communication during combat.
"You've seen other humans?"
Gauss maintained his combat stance, casually responding.
He realized the illogical part of Eden's statent.
The Timberbell Maze hadn't been open for long, and he, as part of the vanguard, having killed the Magic Frog Lord of the fourth level, was among the first pioneers to set foot on this Royal Land of the Maze's fifth level. Logically, his group should be the first humans Sli Eden had seen.
For so reason, upon hearing Gauss's question, Sli Eden, which had consistently shown a desire to communicate, suddenly seed to lose interest, visibly becoming much more listless.
"Kill , and perhaps I'll tell you."
Hearing its sowhat dejected reply, Gauss felt black lines forming on his forehead.
If he killed it, how could he get an answer?
But Eden seed sowhat lancholic, imrsing itself wholeheartedly in the fight. Soon, the man and the Sli engaged in dozens of rapid magical exchanges.
Eden, having devoured mana and received a temporary boost, had broken through the constraints of its class and fully possessed the combat power of a Transcendent creature.
Sowhat similar to Gauss, its magical thods were also extrely diverse.
Shape-shifting, body enhancent, various types of elental magic, defensive Barriers, speed amplification—all sorts of magical effects erged one after another on its body.
He was willing to call it the monster version of "Little Gauss."
The reason for adding the "little" prefix wasn't arrogance on his part, just an objective fact.
Sli Eden displayed formidable talent, but it wasn't as great as his.
Both possessed the ability to easily cross class boundaries as simply as drinking water.
But his Magician level was 8, while Eden's base level should be 10. So, with comparable combat power, Gauss was the one crossing more levels.
The surrounding environnt quickly beca devastated under their continuous battle, as if a terrible natural disaster was occurring.
"Boom!"
Two enhanced bodies collided in mid-air.
Vampiric Touch clashed with the Sli's resilient tentacles. Amid the surging mana shockwaves, Gauss saw the Sli's pair of round, beady little eyes.
It looked at Gauss, and deep within its pupils, Gauss's figure seed to be reflected. This battle seed to bring it great pleasure; its eyes held unconcealable excitent, as if confirming so kind of conjecture.
To be honest, Gauss also felt exhilarated; all his muscle tissues felt much more active.
Enemies capable of fighting him on equal footing, especially those not yet at the Transcendent tier themselves, were exceedingly rare.
The two were sent flying backward after the brief collision.
However, a glow of mana belonging to Dinsion Door flickered around Gauss. The next mont, the force of being knocked back abruptly vanished as he flashed to appear on another side of the Sli.
"Control Water!"
During the continuous close-quarters combat, Gauss's understanding of the Sli's bodily composition gradually deepened, and his ability to restrain killing intent also rapidly improved. Additionally, Eden had inevitably absorbed so of the water Gauss had dispersed during its movents.
Now, as Gauss suddenly activated Control Water to attack, Eden, whose internal water was strongly affected, stiffened abruptly.
And a golden pillar of light descended perfectly upon Eden's landing point at that very mont. The timing and position were grasped flawlessly, as if rehearsed hundreds or thousands of tis in Gauss's mind beforehand.
"Hum!"
The White Wand in Gauss's hand lit up with a dazzling radiance.
A sacred light suddenly descended! Dawnbreak!
And Eden, currently in an abnormal bodily state, clearly found it difficult to organize an effective defense.
Its round, beady eyes rolled twice, looking at Gauss from a distance.
The next mont, under Gauss's puzzled gaze, all the presence on its body vanished completely in an instant.
It had actually voluntarily abandoned all its defensive capabilities.
"Boom!"
The brilliant light pillar completely swallowed it.
Countless particles were stripped from its limp body, rushing into the high sky, finally forming a sky full of dazzling starlight that scattered down.
"Dead?"
Seeing this scene, Gauss was still sowhat dazed.
Had the enhancent ti ended? Or was it using so special life-preserving ans and had actually escaped?
In his perception, with the Sli's strength, his combo at most could severely injure it, clearly not achieving a lethal effect.
In his estimation, it would take at least two or three more similar combinations to possibly exhaust this Sli, whose vitality and defense were maxed out.
And, perhaps even he himself hadn't realized that during the continuous battle, not only had the sharp edge of his killing intent towards Eden receded, but the killing intent itself had largely dissipated.
Therefore, after Dawnbreak's light completely extinguished Eden, he even felt a sense of loss and montary disorientation.
He stood silently in place, waiting for the light of Dawnbreak to disperse, leaving the air exceptionally pure.
No trace of the Sli could be seen anywhere around, as if it had completely died.
In the spot where Sli Eden had been, a treasure chest slowly manifested.
Suddenly, Gauss seed to rember sothing.
He hurriedly opened the Monster Encyclopedia.
"Congratulations on killing—"
A special notification popped up on the Bestiary, but before it could fully expand, the prompt stalled there.
As if encountering so abnormality, it threw the Bestiary into a brief state of error and freeze.
"..."
The information continued to flicker for a long ti.
Then, it finally expanded.
"Congratulations on killing Chieftain Level... Transcendent Level monster [Born Sli King 'Eden Grahalidy'] (Demon King Seed Initial State)."
This was the first ti Gauss had seen such a densely packed, long string of content. The mosquito-like dense text almost completely occupied his field of vision.
Logically, a Sli that hadn't mastered Domain power should still fall within the Chieftain Level category. Even if it exhibited Transcendent Level combat power, the Bestiary seed to have, due to the earlier error, ruled it as a Transcendent Level monster?
Moreover, its full monster na was actually listed, complete with a "Born Sli King" prefix and a "Demon King Seed Initial State" suffix.
Just looking at it seed extrely impressive.
What was a Demon King Seed Initial State? What connection did it have with the Demon King that the Legendary Sword Saint killed?
Was Eden really dead? Why did it die so suddenly? Gauss couldn't help but feel suspicious.
Because of Eden's death-seeking attitude, he had even ntally prepared for it possessing so ability beyond ordinary comprehension.
But the status panel had popped up the kill notification. Based on his past experience, Eden was obviously dead beyond dead. Even though Gauss still had many questions, this had already beco an established fact.
"Congratulations on your first kill of a Transcendent Level monster."
"Unlocking the Transcendent Path."
"Kill 5 types of Transcendent Level monsters (1/5). Reward: Randomly draw one racial talent from a Transcendent Level monster."
"As you killed a special monster, a Demon King Seed. Reward title obtained: [Demon King Killer] (Non-upgradable)."
Gauss looked at the newly rewarded title.
The title's information was exceptionally brief.
[Demon King Killer]: You have obtained the qualification to completely kill Demon Kings.
He raised an eyebrow.
Looking at the title's effect description, did killing Demon Kings require a qualification?
He could understand qualifications for learning magic, awakening bloodline power, and such, but what did the qualification to kill a Demon King an? Wasn't that sothing achievable simply by being powerful enough?
At this mont, many questions still swirled in his mind.
The Monster Encyclopedia's abnormality also confird his earlier speculation: Sli Eden was an extrely special existence.
It seed to be filled with many secrets. If it were still here, it might have been happy to provide Gauss with so explanations. But now, it was dead, having suddenly committed suicide by dissolving all its defenses.
Just as Gauss sighed and prepared to fly over to collect the treasure chest Eden dropped and the opening stone leading to the next level, a voice sounded beside him, instantly making all the hairs on his body stand on end.
"Gauss, what a pity. You really... almost killed ."
It was still that childish, emotionless voice.
He swiftly looked around, a flash of astonishnt in the depths of his pupils, trying to find Eden's figure.
Sli Eden wasn't dead? But the Monster Encyclopedia had already reported the kill notification?
Had the Monster Encyclopedia really developed a bug?
It was worth noting that in all the tens of thousands of previous kills, the Monster Encyclopedia had never experienced a single abnormality. So much so that he often used the Monster Encyclopedia's kill notification as a ans to verify whether a monster was alive or dead.
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