Chapter 947 - 463: The Red Dragon Returns

Finley tilted his head up, watching his teammates slowly float down from the sky, accompanied by a mysterious man. He realized that his survival was likely due to this man’s intervention.

Vaguely, he felt as though he had seen this figure somewhere before; there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Taking a deep breath, the way he looked at Gauss changed into something quite peculiar. He remembered the identity of the man before him.

He had bumped into this man and his teammates emerging from the Maze exit. At the time, he had been intimidated by the sheer aura the man exuded. Driven by curiosity, he had subconsciously asked a bystander about the man’s identity, learning that he was Gauss, the commander of the Red Dragon Team.

An unbelievably powerful high-ranking Adventurer.

At least, that was the case for ordinary Adventurers like them. No wonder he could instantly wipe out the dangerous enemies that had put them in such peril.

All confusion seemed to melt away the moment he realized Gauss’s identity. At the same time, however, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of inexplicable daze. The invincible, powerful enemies that he could never hope to defeat were utterly insignificant in this man’s eyes.

Catching a glimpse of his captain’s severed head by his feet out of the corner of his eye, a sorrowful expression surfaced on his face. If only he had possessed the same overwhelming Power as this man, or even just a tenth of it, his captain and teammates might not have died.

Finley had been making a living out in the world since his youth, drifting through several temporary teams. The team before him was one of the very few where he had finally managed to foster a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, a single ambush had completely shattered their team.

"I’m sorry," Gauss said softly as he landed on the ground.

If he could have arrived just a step earlier, he might indeed have been able to save more people. But he wasn’t a prophet who could foresee what would happen here. Upon sensing the situation through his Perception, he had rushed over as quickly as possible.

"No, no, no! This isn’t your fault!" The few survivors immediately waved their hands in a panic, speaking incoherently with overwhelming trepidation.

If it had been some wet-behind-the-ears rookies, they might not have grasped the situation. But the few people present all had at least several years of experience as Adventurers. They knew very well just how rare and precious it was in the Adventurer world for someone to willingly help complete strangers. Let alone strangers, even among teammates who called each other brothers, there was no shortage of backstabbing and looting corpses for money.

Although Gauss was immensely powerful, he had no obligation whatsoever to save them. An expert like him surely had far more important missions to attend to. He only intervened out of the kindness of his heart. Otherwise, why would they have encountered him today instead of any other powerful Adventurer?

Gauss reached out with his Perception to locate the other corpses scattered in the woods. Before long, his clay creatures carried the bodies over. As he watched the survivors collect the remains of their teammates, Gauss remained silent.

Or rather, he had seen too many similar tragedies unfold over the past couple of days on his journey. It wasn’t just Adventurers; civilians he encountered along the way had also perished in this devastating catastrophe. He had seen villages burned to ashes, human Warriors slaughtering routed monster tribes, and monsters devouring the corpses of children and the elderly by the roadside...

This was a war that involved absolutely everyone. It wasn’t until this behemoth truly arrived and manifested right beside them that people would truly realize its cruelty and horror. Whether they were civilians, traveling merchants, soldiers, or Adventurers, no one could stay out of it.

After escorting the survivors out of the woods, Gauss levitated into the air once more, mounting Hephaestus’s back and heading southwest.

In truth, if he traveled at full speed toward Barry, he could have arrived at the outskirts of the Forest Capital ahead of schedule. However, his Perception was simply too strong, making it incredibly difficult for him to turn a blind eye to the plights he encountered along the way. Therefore, he had no choice but to slow down his pace.

A delay of a few minutes or a dozen minutes might mean little to him, but it was enough to alter the entire course of someone else’s life.

***

The war in the distant outskirts of the Forest Capital waged on. The intensity was far greater than the small-scale skirmishes occurring in other regions. Even though a massive number of monsters had been slaughtered, countless more continued to pour out from the depths of the forest.

Fortunately, the soldiers and Adventurers on the front lines had bought enough time. A massive influx of Adventurers and military personnel from Farlim and other cities had arrived at the vanguard to provide support. Even the greatest noble of this land, the current head of the Xavier family, Border Earl Augustine Xavier, had dispatched the Iron Guard Knight Order.

This torrent of steel was vastly more formidable than any ordinary army, and no Adventurer team could even hope to compare to it. Every single member was a Professional, and to become an officer, one had to master master-tier Profession Power.

However, this wasn’t actually their true strength.

The true might of the Iron Guard Knight Order lay in their ability to condense their collective momentum into a tangible martial aura. When they launched a charge, that martial aura would elevate the army’s charging speed and endurance to a whole new level. A faint white glow would envelop the armor of every cavalryman, as if they were blessed by a constant Blessing spell.

Following the arrival of the Iron Guard Knight Order, the front lines—which had been on the verge of collapse due to the fall of various city defenses and walls—were stabilized once again. With just a few waves of charges out of the city, the Iron Guard Knight Order threw the vanguard legions of the Green Dragon Army into complete disarray.