Chapter 1016 - 489: [Heartstrings]

"Blue-quality Racial Talent [Group Link] has successfully advanced to Purple-quality Racial Talent [Heartstring]."

[Heartstring] retains the special effects of the original Talent while significantly enhancing the strength of the heartstrings themselves.

You can exert influence over your companions from a greater distance, and the range at which they can provide you with buffs will also be substantially increased.

Furthermore, you can actively initiate a resonance, temporarily concentrating a portion of your companions’ power onto yourself. At the same time, you can establish a special connection with a specific companion along a heartstring, drastically enhancing one of their abilities for a set period. However, this power cannot be used repeatedly in a short time frame.

Gauss quickly understood the power of the advanced [Heartstring]. It was essentially an enhanced version of [Group Link], where the original threads were replaced by stronger heartstrings with a far wider area of effect. Moreover, he could now actively strengthen specific companions.

Gauss withdrew his gaze.

Several kilometers away, the members of the Red Dragon Team fighting on the city walls—especially the members of Gauss’s squad—shuddered simultaneously. Deep down, they felt as if an invisible power had manifested within them, though they couldn’t intuitively describe what it was. Visually, however, their footwork seemed infused with greater power.

"Watch out!"

One of the Red Dragon Team members might have been distracted by this unusual sensation, standing frozen in place as a monster lurking in the darkness rapidly approached him. Another teammate, just a few meters away, had barely slain a goblin and hadn’t even caught his breath before he instinctively sensed his comrade’s crisis.

He spun around, looking past his teammate just in time to see a Short Blade flashing with cold light closing in at terrifying speed.

He felt his heart skip a beat.

"THUMP!"

His heart violently pumped out a sudden surge of blood, and an intense, inexplicable power erupted from the depths of his body.

"BOOM!"

Turning, pushing off the ground, and swinging his blade—it was all executed in one fluid motion.

Sparks flew as the monster’s Short Blade and his Longsword clashed. At that moment, he felt divinely assisted. The veins on his hands throbbed crazily like tiny snakes, and his bulging muscles channeled a force far beyond his usual limits into the edge of his blade.

"CLANG!!!"

The Short Blade in the monster’s hand was forcefully knocked away.

He took a sharp breath, and without a moment’s pause, slashed his Longsword directly into the monster’s body with unyielding momentum.

"SPLASH!"

Hot, foul-smelling blood sprayed from the open wound onto his face. Unfazed by the gore, he quickly followed up with a few more strikes. Only after confirming the monster was dead did he gasp for air and turn to look at his teammate—who was also his partner.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Thank you, Evan," the woman replied, still visibly shaken as she gave him a grateful look. She couldn’t help but feel incredibly fortunate. They had only officially gotten together after joining the Red Dragon Team. If she hadn’t teamed up with her boyfriend, Evan, she likely wouldn’t have survived the night.

On the other side, Evan hadn’t completely let his guard down, turning to scan their surroundings. In his mind, however, he wondered what that sudden burst of immense, foreign power had been. Was he actually a late-blooming genius who simply hadn’t tapped into his true potential until now?

Yet, for some reason, he faintly felt that the power had come from a specific direction. He followed that feeling with his eyes, spotting a "star" flickering rapidly in the sky. Although it was too far to make out a silhouette, he knew that reassuring light belonged to the commander of his Red Dragon Team.

Could it be the commander?

He pushed the speculation down, as a new wave of monsters had already scrambled up from below the battlements, and swiftly lunged into the fray.

Several kilometers away, Gauss withdrew his Spiritual Power from that corresponding heartstring.

The ability of [Heartstring] was marvelous. He could vaguely maintain Detection of the team members’ conditions, but this Perception did not bring him any mental burden. In other words, even in the most intense of battles, he could maintain a firm grasp on the status of the companions around him.

When they were in need, Gauss could provide them with a special enhancement. Just moments ago, for instance, he had used a heartstring to instantly pinpoint team member Evan, who had fallen into extreme panic. He then bolstered his physical strength, allowing him to save his teammate. However, following this targeted reinforcement, he wouldn’t be able to provide the same kind of assistance to him again for a short period of time. Naturally, the passive buffs granted during the [Group Link] era were still retained.

After this practical application, Gauss gained a deeper understanding of [Heartstring]’s range and mechanics, and he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. This ability allowed him to monitor his teammates’ safety to the greatest extent possible. The closer his relationship with a teammate, the deeper his grasp and ability to intervene—such as with Aaliyah, Ying, and the others.

With this, he could focus on his own battles with peace of mind.

The slaughter on the battlefield continued unabated. Monsters fell one after another, yet the sheer numbers of the horde pressing the frontlines seemed to multiply rather than diminish.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

Deafening drumbeats resounded across the battlefield, carrying within them a mysterious power that made the monsters’ blood boil with frenzy.

"SSHAHA!"

"SSHAHA!"

Four generals of the Green Dragon Army had led their regular forces to form a horizontal line across the battlefield, each locking eyes on their respective opponents.