Chapter 147: 1000 Milestone

Because it was a hastily assembled team, they lacked coordination, and their strengths varied greatly.

The eight people did not fight as one but instead acted separately, sticking to their original small teams.

Once everything was ready, they charged straight toward the monster stronghold without hesitation.

“Such speed!”

Gauss caught a glimpse of the “Iron Arm” small team from the corner of his eye, only managing to see their afterimages as they darted ahead.

At the very front was the captain, Quek.

The longsword in his hand became a cold silver arc spanning in front of him, and every low-level monster blocking the way—whether Goblins, Kobolds, or the like—was decapitated instantly without exception.

Gauss told himself he could also kill these low-level monsters in an instant, but the ease with which Quek did it was on a completely different level.

From start to finish, Quek never slowed down in the slightest from swinging his sword.

Under his lead, the entire small team was like a sharp wedge, piercing straight into the core of the Ogre’s camp.

Meanwhile, the female spellcaster had clearly already begun casting.

The Ogre had just climbed to its feet, its massive body scanning left and right. Strangely, it ignored the small team rampaging through the monsters, instead pounding the ground in rage, seemingly in a state of unease and fury.

However, not far away, the Half-Ogre and the Gnoll that were abusing and beating the two captured female adventurers spotted the uninvited guests.

Grabbing their weapons, they roared and charged toward the small team.

Gauss withdrew his gaze.

His priority now was to kill as many monsters as possible.

Just now, Quek hadn’t even bothered to hunt low-level monsters deliberately—he simply cleared the ones in his way. But even so, the number of monsters that had died directly by his hand was likely around thirty already.

Within his small team, the ranger Dorian loosed arrows like a torrential rain, each shot taking down at least one or two monsters.

Even Kathy’s contracted forest python, which had not appeared until now, finally showed itself. Fifteen meters long and as thick as an ostrich egg, its body rolled and crushed through the monster horde, unleashing a bloody storm by sheer size advantage.

Gauss realized he had underestimated the situation.

The rest of the Iron Arm small team weren’t holding back at all—every small monster that should be killed was killed without hesitation.

He quickly took out his Bone Wand suited for rapid casting and popped a piece of dried meat into his mouth to replenish stamina at any time.

At the same time, he channeled magical energy.

A faint blue glow instantly formed at the wand tip, and three Magic Missiles in a triangular formation shot out with a whistling sound!

Just then, several elite monsters intercepted the Iron Arm small team. While they clearly weren’t a match, they still bought Gauss precious “farming” time—otherwise, with Iron Arm’s slaughtering speed, he might not even get the seventy-odd monsters he wanted.

“Goblin killed ×2”

“Kobold killed ×3”

“Cowardly Demon killed ×2”

“...”

Gauss’s spells showed no mercy. Under his precise magical “bombardment,” the monsters before him fell rapidly.

Arya, on her side, had also prepared the Entangling Spell.

In moments, vines burst from the ground, transforming into giant snakes that coiled around the enemies in their path.

Seizing the chance, Gauss stowed away his wand and switched to his rapier.

Against stationary targets, there was no need to waste spells—it was better to conserve his magical energy.

Chewing dried meat, he lightly tapped the ground with his foot, and in a few steps, he leaped into the monster pack.

The rapier in his hand stabbed rapidly in midair several times.

His speed was so great that faint afterimages even appeared in the air.

“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”

The sword tip became points of cold starlight, striking precisely and elegantly at the weak points of low-level monsters.

Blood-red blossoms bloomed at the tip of his sword.

“Ugh—ah!!”

The monsters entangled by the vines struggled in vain, but as their vital spots were pierced, their life force drained away rapidly, turning into ever-increasing numbers on Gauss’s monster panel.

...

Not far away, the Tier 1 adventurers who had been the last to join had just finished recovering from an earlier escape. When they turned to look, they were stunned.

To their right, the Iron Arm small team was advancing like a hot knife through butter, swiftly cutting down elite monsters in an incredibly short time.

To their left, Gauss was efficiently slaughtering low-level monsters.

It seemed... there was no need for them here?

And what puzzled them even more was that it was one thing for those Tier 2 and 3 Professionals to fight so easily—

—but why was a black-haired, green-eyed Tier 1 Professional so strong?

At least in terms of slaughtering low-level monsters, the ease he displayed was beyond what any other Tier 1 Professional could compare to, and it even faintly felt like he was not much weaker than the other side.

“Shall we... join in?”

It wasn’t until a teammate called out to him that he nodded, came back to his senses, gripped his weapon, and joined the battle.

On Iron Arm’s side, Quek easily deflected the Gnoll’s cleaving strike. Taking advantage of its stumble, in the instant its body stiffened, the sword strike he had just delivered was impossibly drawn back for another blow.

With a low shout—“Step-in Slash!”—his figure shot forward like lightning, and his longsword was instantly coated in a layer of condensed white energy.

Swish—Splurt!!

A smooth cut opened along the Gnoll’s unarmored abdomen, blood spraying wildly.

That sudden dashing horizontal slash split its robust body clean in two!

Quek straightened his body, his breathing calm as ever.

Glancing at his teammates, he saw they had already cleanly dispatched the remaining Tier 1 elite monsters.

For their small team, ordinary Tier 1 elite monsters posed no major threat—the only thing to watch out for was conserving stamina.

They had to eliminate the enemy with minimal cost and without injury.

He glanced toward Gauss and the others.

Since Kathy had acquaintances there, he intended to check the situation—if it looked bad, he would send someone over to help.

As someone experienced, he knew the power and endurance of Tier 1 Professionals were limited, especially in a two-person team.

However, when his peripheral vision caught that figure darting and weaving across the battlefield, he froze for a moment.

The scene he expected—Gauss struggling against a monster siege—did not exist.

Instead, Gauss was chasing down monsters to kill them!

At least, the nearest group of monsters in front of him was already close to being scared to death.

“This kid... so fierce?”

Quek withdrew his gaze, muttering inwardly.

Since Gauss didn’t need their help, they had to focus entirely on the Ogre.

Although the Ogre was recorded as Challenge Rating Tier 2,

Challenge Ratings were only a reference. If you took them as absolute, one day you would suffer a big loss.

In truth, its actual strength could only be judged after a real fight.

From the looks of it now, this Ogre’s strength was not low—certainly not in the weakest tier of its kind.

Therefore, even with their lineup of two Tier 3 Professionals and two Tier 2 Professionals, they still had to be on guard.

Boom!!!

The Ogre had returned to normal.

Seeing its subordinates killed, it roared to the heavens and charged at the Iron Arm small team with legs like massive pillars.

Its colossal size and weight made the ground quake with every step, as if in a constant minor earthquake.

“Prepare for battle!” Quek’s booming voice echoed across the battlefield.

...

“Prepare for battle!”

Gauss heard the call from the warrior Quek.

Seeing that they had already swiftly cleared the elite monsters and many low-level monsters in the camp’s center, and that the two battered prisoners had been rescued,

he thought to himself that he too needed to speed things up.

He had no idea how the Iron Arm small team would fare against a pure-blooded Ogre.

If Iron Arm could finish quickly, they would probably turn around and swiftly clear out the subordinate monsters.

If they ran into trouble, needed help, or even decided to retreat, he would also have to prepare in advance.

But no matter the situation, he had to end the fight quickly.

More and more low-level monsters had noticed their leader was being besieged and were now surging madly toward the small team’s direction, leaving him with only about a hundred or so monsters left to harvest.

“Kill!!!”

With that thought flashing through his mind, Gauss took advantage of his still-recovering magical energy, chewed through the dried meat, and charged back into the enemy horde with his sword!

In truth, he still had some magical energy left, and the Energy Storage Gland’s reserve hadn’t been tapped yet, but Gauss had never liked pushing his body to its limits in battle.

Even in the worst-case scenario—if he had to call Arya to retreat—he would still need to have enough magical energy and casting time ready to trigger a teleportation scroll for relocation.

That was why alternating between swordsmanship and spells was very necessary.

“Total Monsters Killed: 963/1000”

“[Swordsmanship Basics] Proficiency +1”

After killing another Kobold, his Swordsmanship Basics proficiency rose by one more point.

It had now reached Lv3 (18/50).

Compared to before, his Swordsmanship Basics proficiency had increased quite a lot over the last two days.

Practice was the best teacher.

From the start of the Winter Hunt until now, this fundamental skill had already gained 13 points of experience.

And it was only after reaching Lv3 proficiency that he began to sense something unusual about this skill.

This skill, at its core, was not complicated at all—just the simplest of movements: thrust, slash, flick, parry, deflect, bind… actions that anyone who had trained in sword techniques could master.

But as his proficiency rose, these simple actions began to blend into his bodily instincts, becoming something extraordinary.

Sometimes, his body reacted without his mind even thinking.

And when he later reviewed those moments, he found that those instinctive reactions were often the most appropriate countermeasures.

It made him wonder—if Lv3 Swordsmanship Basics was already so effective, what surprises would Lv4, Lv5, or even higher bring?

Unfortunately, perhaps because it was too fundamental, this skill’s growth was slow. Even though it was the one he used the most, he hadn’t even reached half of Lv3’s proficiency yet—its growth rate was clear.

Still, Lv3 Swordsmanship Basics was enough most of the time. Against familiar old foes, Gauss knew exactly where their weaknesses were—the heart, the throat, the side of the head, the core—each precisely pierced by his rapier.

As for low-level monster attacks, Gauss decided whether to dodge based on the situation.

Some harmless blows that would disrupt his attack rhythm, he would block with the Gauss Force Field and continue his relentless, wave-like offense.

“Killed…”

“Killed…”

…

The kill notifications flashed rapidly before his eyes.

Finally—

“Total Monsters Killed: 1000/1000, Milestone Achievement Unlocked.”

“Reward Obtained: Tier 1 Spell [Burning Hands], Tier 1 Spell [Alarm]”

“Strength +1, Constitution +1”

“Next Stage: Total Monsters Killed – 2000”

“Current Strength: 8”

“Constitution: 8”

Perhaps 1000 kills was a special milestone—the reward was especially generous this time.

Not only did Strength and Constitution each increase by one, but he also obtained two Tier 1 spells.

[Burning Hands]—a spell with some area-of-effect capability—helped patch one of his shortcomings.

And [Alarm]—a practical spell for setting up camp outdoors.

On the market, each Tier 1 spell was worth at least 10 gold coins.

But market value was the least important thing—what mattered most was that spells rewarded by the Adventurer’s Handbook didn’t add to his mental burden.

This meant that every burden-free spell he mastered gave him a permanent advantage over other spellcasters. Combined with his already exceptional mental energy, the number of spells he could learn in the future would far exceed that of his peers.

After a brief moment of thought—

A surging warmth swept through his entire body in an instant.

The dual boost to Strength and Constitution brought an indescribable comfort, as if every cell in his body was rejoicing.

The exhaustion from a whole day of battle vanished, his limbs and bones brimming with explosive power.

The monsters around him had been cleared away, and the remaining ones backed off in fear—none dared approach for the moment.

Gauss could have continued fighting, but since they were shrinking back, he simply stopped to savor the feeling of his body’s complete transformation.

Bzzz!

When the transformation ended, his muscles had not swelled—instead, they had “shrunk” slightly.

Yet he could clearly feel the greater power within them; the density and strength of his muscles had solidified and improved, becoming more flexible and resistant to injury.

His control over power and burst movement would become even smoother.

The boost in Constitution made his breathing deeper and steadier, meaning better recovery and greater endurance.

He would be far less likely to tire during battle.

Gauss gripped his rapier, eyes sweeping over the cowering monsters nearby, a strong itch for battle rising within him.

He stepped forward!

The movement was lightning-fast, far beyond what it had been before.

The muscle fibers in his arm coordinated instantly, delivering a perfectly smooth slash.

Whoosh!!

The blade tore through the air with a sharp, explosive crack!

The feeling of the blade passing through flesh was like slicing thin paper—just a soft rip as it passed.

“So smooth!” Gauss thought with delight. “But a little light—time to upgrade my weapon.”

The effects of his Strength and Constitution increases were immediate.

His body flickered, the rapier striking multiple points in an instant, felling several more monsters without even disturbing his breathing.

Feeling these changes, Gauss’s heart was full of excitement.

Now, even without using any spells, with his 8 Strength, paired with [Brutal Strength], [Enhanced Jump], and Lv3 [Swordsmanship Basics]—against a Goblin, with his exclusive title [Nemesis]’s 20% base bonus and an additional critical effect—could he instantly kill a Tier 1 Large Goblin?

Gauss was genuinely curious.

If only a Large Goblin would show up so he could try it out.

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