Chapter 427: Harvesting the Slime Farm |
Considering that mushroom creatures possess telepathic abilities, Gauss did not attack the mushroom creature that appeared in the distance, to avoid alerting the enemy.
He wasn't clear about the range, distance, or how many fellow tribesmen this telepathic ability could reach.
So, he just silently observed the mushroom creatures' work for a while.
They would feed the Slimes.
Compared to other monsters, Slimes indeed have a distinct advantage for farming.
When well-fed, this creature's destructive power and desire to move around are relatively weak.
Therefore, as long as sufficient food is provided and they are kept in relatively enclosed nests, they will naturally consider the surroundings their home, making them difficult to drive away even if you tried.
Looking from a Slime's perspective, it's understandable.
With food falling from the sky every day and no obvious dangers in sight, it indeed seems like an excellent monster lair.
"Should we continue following them?"
Shadow, enveloped in darkness, turned her head to look at Gauss.
Gauss shook his head.
"Forget it, let's head back first."
He felt there wasn't much point in following a few ordinary mushroom creatures.
After all, he had already roughly figured out the situation on the 5th level of the Maze through the [Weaver's Mark] and on-site investigation. He also had the map crystal orb to monitor the location coordinates of this level's Maze Lord in real-time. There was no need for unnecessary actions.
Hearing Gauss's reply, Shadow also nodded.
With her abilities, these low-level monsters would find it difficult to detect the presence of the two of them, even if they openly appeared in the mushroom creature tribe's camp. But since Gauss said so, she naturally prioritized his opinion.
Returning to the exit cave, this place had already been simply renovated by the Red Dragon Guild members.
The originally rugged ground had been leveled.
Lamp racks were nailed around the rock walls, and then torches were placed, instantly illuminating and warming the vast cave.
Gauss shared the intelligence he and Shadow had collected with the core members of the Red Dragon Guild.
"So, the Lord of this level might be a mushroom creature?"
"And they farm ordinary Slimes, possibly as reserve food?"
"I didn't expect these monsters to be quite clever."
After listening, Aria nodded thoughtfully.
"Naturally." Serlandul had returned to his usual emotional state and joined the conversation.
He felt that since what had happened to him was irreversible, he might as well accept his fate.
"It is said that many high-intelligence monsters in the monster nation have even established their own cities."
"Walking on the city streets are all monsters possessing reason."
"However, they call themselves the Demon Race."
"Although called the Demon Race, it's not a specific single race, but a collective term for many monsters possessing high intelligence."
"It is said that the Demon Race even imitates us humans and has their own nobility."
Listening to Serlandul's words, Gauss also recalled the knowledge he had read in books.
There are relatively few books on the market containing intelligence about the monster nation.
Humans haven't organized large-scale, deep exploration activities into the heart of the monster nation for a long time.
Of course, Gauss believed that actions involving organizing elite small teams for reconnaissance certainly hadn't stopped, but such confidential intelligence mostly wouldn't leak out, much less be recorded in books aimed at most low-level adventurers and intellectuals.
That he could collect some knowledge about that Royal Land still relied on his current strength and status.
After all, he also held a part-time position as a guest professor at the magic academy, which allowed him access to more precious archival books.
In this world, monsters also have the saying 'south mandarin, north trifoliate orange'—meaning location matters.
Even the same Goblins, individuals born in the monster nation often appear smarter and stronger than those born in human territories.
Moreover, just as there are huge gaps in intelligence between people, even among the most foolish monsters, high-intelligence individuals can be born.
These outstanding individuals often exhibit exceptionally powerful talents, as if blessed by some mysterious favor, with far greater affinity for magic and various powers than other monsters.
Once they grow up, they become the mainstay of the monster forces, pillars in the fight against humans.
After achieving sufficient merit, they are also ennobled as Demon Race nobles.
And the Demon King, the king of monsters, is the leader who commands the Demon Race nobles.
Unlike human kings and emperors, the Demon King not only possesses authority but also concentrates great power within themselves.
Once they lose their status as the strongest, they are replaced by a new Demon King, like raising gu in a jar.
Therefore, for a long time, the Demon King has been the strongest in this world.
"How do you know so much?" Albenia asked, looking at Serlandul who was speaking so knowledgeably.
"Unlike humans, we half-snake people and some monster forces maintain some connections." Serlandul spoke somewhat awkwardly.
However, Gauss and the others didn't show any particular reaction to his words.
After resting on the spot for a while, Gauss and the others prepared to officially set out to explore the fifth level of the Maze.
Before long, other adventurers who noticed Gauss had opened the fifth-level entrance should also gradually set foot on this virgin land.
Setting off early could harvest more resources.
"Let's go."
Gauss knew that due to the racial characteristics of the mushroom creatures, once they left this camp, the mushroom creatures would soon learn of the adventurers' arrival.
So, their actions had to be even quicker.
After walking out of the cave, Gauss activated the [Weaver's Mark].
As he began to communicate with the ubiquitous insects all around, numerous tiny creatures, as if paying homage to a king, loyally and continuously responded to Gauss's inquiries.
Gauss soon mastered the locations of several Slime gathering spots nearby.
Yes, he planned to first take out some Slime farms along the way.
Different from the fourth level, killing these farmed Slimes would require even less effort.
He and the Red Dragon Guild members only needed to guard above the deep pits or at the only cave entrance/exit, continuously firing arrows and magic into them, to easily and quickly kill the densely packed Slimes, just like farmers harvesting crops.
Strictly speaking, they were more like a group of bandits, plundering the fruits that rightfully belonged to the mushroom creatures.
Soon, Gauss and the others arrived at the first cave.
The entrance wasn't large, indicating that this Slime farm's scale was also limited.
Therefore, Gauss didn't have the others take action, only summoning Hephaestus, who hadn't been seen for a long time.
It had been cooped up in the Living Bag for a week; it was a good time to let it stretch its legs.
"Roar—"
Hephaestus, just out, shook its head, seemingly just realizing it had left the space inside the Living Bag.
It exchanged a glance with Gauss and quickly understood his command.
After slightly crouching down, it extended its head towards the cave entrance.
"Everyone else, move back a safe distance."
Confirming all other members maintained a safe distance, Gauss gave it a look.
"Burn!"
Hephaestus's slender neck flushed red.
A surge of raging flames spewed from its ferocious draconic maw, pouring headlong into the cave.
"Crackle! Pop!"
Not long after, a series of explosive sounds came from inside the cave.
One of the Slimes' weaknesses is fire.
And the extremely high-temperature Red Dragon flame, possessing some indestructible characteristic, had its power multiplied several times over in the enclosed environment.
Startled Slimes fell from all directions, plummeting into the wildly dancing dragon flames, melting and evaporating almost in the blink of an eye.
"Killed Slime *1"
"..."
Information popped up incessantly in Gauss's Monster Encyclopedia.
After a minute, the commotion stopped.
"Total monsters killed: 58511"
This time, they had killed about five hundred Slimes in one go.
It proved that adopting strategic attacks could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Spitting dragon flame for those few tens of seconds was still relatively easy for Hephaestus.
Even if Gauss cast the 5th-circle Dawnbreak and Bigby's Hand, it would be difficult to achieve the same effect in such a short time.
This didn't mean Hephaestus's dragon flame breath was more powerful than Gauss's Dawnbreak and Bigby's Hand; it was just a matter of specialization.
"You'll need to put in more effort next."
Gauss patted Hephaestus's sturdy body, encouraging it.
Having just stopped its breath and feeling slightly parched, the Drake suddenly had a bad premonition.
Although spitting dragon flame for several tens of seconds in one go wasn't too difficult for it, it wasn't a machine after all; sustaining it for a long time would also be a considerable burden.
To tell the truth, it was still just an underage baby, not a true adult Dragon.
After extinguishing the flames, Gauss had the Red Dragon Guild members and his clay constructs enter to collect the loot.
Most of the Slimes' mucus had already been evaporated by the dragon flames, leaving only small, hard pellets on the ground like glass beads.
That was their target for collection.
The originally elastic Slime cores had dehydrated, shrunk, and hardened into crystals under the high-temperature baking.
However, they still had value, capable of serving as partial substitutes for low-level magic stone fragments.
The Red Dragon Guild moved quickly, soon sweeping through one "Slime farm" after another like a plundering army.
The main contributor was Hephaestus. Gauss wouldn't leave a useful tool unused.
It was also a good opportunity to train the Drake.
Only when Hephaestus was almost spitting smoke did he let it rest, switching to himself and the Red Dragon Guild members taking the field.
"Killed Slime *322"
"Killed Slime *678"
"Killed Slime *566"
"..."
This was definitely the easiest time Gauss had ever had killing monsters.
The Slimes were like lambs to the slaughter; many lairs were cleared out without organizing even a symbolic resistance.
However, the only thing that disappointed Gauss was that, limited by the space, the number of individuals living in each Slime farm was basically in the three-digit range.
Gauss reasonably suspected it was a conscious control by the mushroom creatures.
After all, too many Slimes gathering in the same area, if too crowded, could easily start fighting each other, leading to internal consumption.
Also, feeding them would be more troublesome.
But Gauss wasn't picky, just silently thanking the "mushroom creatures" for their gift, then communicating with the insects to obtain Slime farm locations and complete the door-to-door harvest.
Just as he had killed nearly 3500 Slimes, this sweeping operation finally encountered a change.
Despite the Red Dragon Guild's actions being quite clean and efficient, the other major race on the 5th level of the Maze, the mushroom creatures, still discovered them.
Looking at the mushroom creature troops suddenly blocking their path, it was clear this fully armed group had specifically sought out the Red Dragon Guild.
Different from the mushroom creature farmers Gauss had seen feeding Slimes, this group's physical forms and mental demeanor looked fiercer.
They were actually shorter than the farmers, with mushroom caps on their heads resembling helmets, holding weapons like javelins and bows and arrows in their hands.
In front of them stood a row of beasts covered in milky-white spores.
Neither side engaged in much conversation; within seconds of meeting, the first battle instantly erupted.
Those white spore minions charged forward like mad dogs.
Gauss certainly knew those were the biological weapons created by the Mushroom Creature King using animated spores.
But the ability to create soldiers wasn't exclusive to the Mushroom Creature King.
Gauss waved his hand, scattering many clumps of clay.
The clay fell to the ground like scattering beans to create soldiers, rapidly congealing into Clay Goblins.
His Clay Goblins were also death-defying warriors, perfect for measuring up against the Mushroom Creature King's spore minions.
Under the cover of the clay constructs, the Red Dragon Guild members quickly launched attacks at the mushroom creatures ahead.
"Bigby's Hand!"
Gauss's White Wand tip surged with massive mana.
Under the horrified gazes of the mushroom creatures, a pair of giant hands soon crossed over the battling spore minions and clay constructs, descending upon their heads.
This formed a pincer attack with the arrows and magic shot by the Red Dragon Guild members.
Some mushroom creatures threw their sharp plant javelins at the hands, but to their despair, the silver-glowing giant palms didn't suffer the slightest damage.
The javelins that whistled through the air struck the palm surfaces, snapping like broken toothpicks with a crack.
"Indestructible Palm!"
Gauss muttered under his breath, and then Bigby's Hand slapped down with a "smack" onto the densest part of the mushroom creature formation.
A small portion of the mushroom creatures anticipated Bigby's Hand's attack in advance, but they couldn't react in time.
The pressure created by the descending giant palm made it difficult for them to move their originally strong legs.
"Boom!"
Just like swatting mosquitoes, the mushroom creatures under the palm exploded into plant tissue, becoming puddles of plant matter on the ground.
Although the mushroom creatures' regeneration ability was powerful, facing this kind of bone-crushing palm strike obviously prevented any resurrection from death.
And the mushroom creatures outside the palm's coverage area were also blasted away by the shockwave of the impact.
Soon, the attacks from the other Red Dragon Guild members swallowed them up.
"Smack!" "Smack!"
Gauss continuously raised Bigby's Hand, wiping out all the blocking mushroom creatures in just a few strikes.
After dealing with the mushroom creature troops, the mark in the palm of Gauss's right hand glowed.
The insect swarm urgently reminded him.
More mushroom creatures were surging towards their direction.
Simultaneously, Gauss also noticed that the monster marker representing the Lord in the map crystal orb was moving towards their direction.
It seemed the 5th-level lord creature was different from the previous level's Magic Frog; it wasn't a leader who only hid in the rear commanding monsters to attack adventurers, but a creature with fighting spirit.
"Interesting, actually coming towards us on its own?" Gauss put away the crystal orb, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly.