Chapter 431: Demon King Seed, King of Birth |
Gauss was completely baffled by this, not understanding the reason behind its bizarre behavior, yet his movements did not slow in the slightest.
His battle instincts, tempered through countless trials, flowed through his veins like blood itself.
Something strange was going on? He'd figure it out after he killed this Slime first. He didn't think it was beyond his ability.
The Slime before him certainly had some peculiar traits, but there existed an ironclad law: any living creature, if killed, will die.
This Slime 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 Slime Eden.
This Slime named Eden was indeed vastly different from any Slime 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 some 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 Slime.
Seemingly sensing there was no way to avoid it, the Slime'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 Slime'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 meters in size. Simultaneously, its soft, jelly-like body shot out several thick tentacles, like a giant serpent emerging 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 some 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 Slime named Eden had risen significantly.
He just wasn't sure how long this abnormal enhanced state could last.
But he guessed there must be some cost; otherwise, it would have used it from the start.
Analyzing the situation so far, Eden's strength mainly manifested in its super-strong elemental concealment, its clones, and its extremely 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, Slime Eden had already used the moment of the clash to flash away from the range of Bigby's Hand.
It even had the mind to comment 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 momentum of Bigby's Hand below to stealthily approach the Slime along the ground. But unexpectedly, this seemingly hard-to-detect killing move was anticipated by the Slime in advance.
It was worth noting that multitasking had always been Gauss's forte, thanks to his exceptional Intelligence attribute.
Focusing for a moment, 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, Slime Eden seemed 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 Slime Eden's earlier comment, was his attack detected in advance because of killing intent?
To be honest, Gauss felt his mind was extremely calm during combat, not falling into a bloodthirsty, frenzied state.
He, who controlled his mental energy extremely 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 time 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 some of his attacks through his killing intent. Even if some exceptionally gifted one did sense it, so what?
Being able to perceive it didn't mean being able to evade it.
Therefore, he had also grown accustomed 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 mental/spiritual level was far stronger than that of most living beings, clearly meeting the basic conditions to perceive the flow of killing intent. After being awakened by Slime 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 become extremely obvious.
It was a pure and powerful will, carrying an undisguised "malice," especially towards monsters. It was like giant, menacing 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 time was short, some 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 became aware of a shortcoming, he could always effectively improve it within a short time.
"You are the most talented human I have ever seen."
"Thank you."
Gauss's thanks were sincere.
Even though it was an enemy, Slime Eden had indeed provided him with some 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 moment of hesitation about killing it.
But then, considering that Slime Eden was the Lord of the fifth level of the Timberbell Maze, the destiny of death seemed inescapable.
Even at this moment, among the many adventurers present, perhaps only he could kill it.
But that didn't mean 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 become 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 timeline, Eden still couldn't escape the outcome 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 seemed 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 statement.
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 Slime Eden had seen.
For some reason, upon hearing Gauss's question, Slime Eden, which had consistently shown a desire to communicate, suddenly seemed to lose interest, visibly becoming much more listless.
"Kill me, and perhaps I'll tell you."
Hearing its somewhat dejected reply, Gauss felt black lines forming on his forehead.
If he killed it, how could he get an answer?
But Eden seemed somewhat melancholic, immersing itself wholeheartedly in the fight. Soon, the man and the Slime 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.
Somewhat similar to Gauss, its magical methods were also extremely diverse.
Shape-shifting, body enhancement, various types of elemental magic, defensive Barriers, speed amplification—all sorts of magical effects emerged 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.
Slime 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 environment quickly became 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 Slime's resilient tentacles. Amid the surging mana shockwaves, Gauss saw the Slime's pair of round, beady little eyes.
It looked at Gauss, and deep within its pupils, Gauss's figure seemed to be reflected. This battle seemed to bring it great pleasure; its eyes held unconcealable excitement, as if confirming some 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 Dimension Door flickered around Gauss. The next moment, the force of being knocked back abruptly vanished as he flashed to appear on another side of the Slime.
"Control Water!"
During the continuous close-quarters combat, Gauss's understanding of the Slime's bodily composition gradually deepened, and his ability to restrain killing intent also rapidly improved. Additionally, Eden had inevitably absorbed some of the water Gauss had dispersed during its movements.
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 moment. The timing and position were grasped flawlessly, as if rehearsed hundreds or thousands of times 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 moment, 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 somewhat dazed.
Had the enhancement time ended? Or was it using some special life-preserving means and had actually escaped?
In his perception, with the Slime'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 Slime, 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 momentary disorientation.
He stood silently in place, waiting for the light of Dawnbreak to disperse, leaving the air exceptionally pure.
No trace of the Slime could be seen anywhere around, as if it had completely died.
In the spot where Slime Eden had been, a treasure chest slowly manifested.
Suddenly, Gauss seemed to remember something.
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 some abnormality, it threw the Bestiary into a brief state of error and freeze.
"..."
The information continued to flicker for a long time.
Then, it finally expanded.
"Congratulations on killing Chieftain Level... Transcendent Level monster [Born Slime King 'Eden Grahamelidy'] (Demon King Seed Initial State)."
This was the first time 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 Slime that hadn't mastered Domain power should still fall within the Chieftain Level category. Even if it exhibited Transcendent Level combat power, the Bestiary seemed to have, due to the earlier error, ruled it as a Transcendent Level monster?
Moreover, its full monster name was actually listed, complete with a "Born Slime King" prefix and a "Demon King Seed Initial State" suffix.
Just looking at it seemed extremely 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 mentally prepared for it possessing some 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 become 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 mean? Wasn't that something achievable simply by being powerful enough?
At this moment, many questions still swirled in his mind.
The Monster Encyclopedia's abnormality also confirmed his earlier speculation: Slime Eden was an extremely special existence.
It seemed to be filled with many secrets. If it were still here, it might have been happy to provide Gauss with some 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 me."
It was still that childish, emotionless voice.
He swiftly looked around, a flash of astonishment in the depths of his pupils, trying to find Eden's figure.
Slime 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 means to verify whether a monster was alive or dead.