Chapter 1026 - 493: Total Monster Kills: 100,000

Unlike the Goblin Lord, who was currently reeling from shock, anxiety, and a creeping sense of unease, Gauss found himself growing increasingly comfortable as the battle dragged on. At this stage of the fight, the momentum had slowly shifted away from the Goblin Lord and into his hands.

Speed alone might not determine the outcome of a battle, but it did grant the luxury of choice—the freedom to either press the attack or disengage. After all, if he couldn’t win, he could always run. Thus, when Gauss realized his speed now surpassed the goblin’s, his mindset inevitably shifted.

In truth, he wasn’t nearly as relaxed as he appeared. He had spent almost the entire night getting battered. In any fight, the defending party always had to be far more hyper-vigilant than the aggressor. During the initial clashes, especially, he had been dancing on the edge of a blade. There had been several moments where, had it not been for Future Sight and his mana-form ability, the goblin would have pulverized him into dust.

Objectively speaking, in terms of overall strength, the Level 15 Goblin Lord was vastly superior. Fortunately, battle wasn’t a game of pure statistics. It wasn’t as simple as lining two combatants up and comparing who had the most strength, the highest speed, or the greatest destructive power to determine a winner. Real combat was far more complex. Gauss possessed far too many hidden advantages that couldn’t be quantified on paper.

Facing a Goblin Lord tonight, he had the advantage of the right time, the right place, and the right conditions. Setting aside his already outstanding personal stats, a multitude of other factors provided immense support: the powerful suppression of the [Goblin Expert] title, the bloodline advantage of a Dragon King’s descendant over a goblin, the damage immunity of a top-tier mana-form, the high mobility granted by his dragon wings, the inexhaustible supply of Goblin Blood Packs on the battlefield below, and the continuous enhancement from the human defensive line’s array wrapped around him... Had he lacked even a single one of these elements, he never could have pulled off this miracle of a Level 9 fighting a Level 15.

Gauss stared at the stationary Goblin Lord with his golden Dragon Eyes, easily reading the emotional shift within the monster. He didn’t care much, though. It might have finally realized that things were going south, but he was the one taking the initiative now. He had endured a night of getting battered; now, the tables had finally turned.

The Platinum dragon wings flapped slowly behind him. With his change in mindset, his aura underwent a drastic transformation. He locked his gaze on the grim-faced Goblin Lord. From this moment on, he was switching from defense to offense.

Perhaps driven by its pride as a general of the Green Dragon Army, or perhaps seeking to prove that its missed attack earlier was merely a fluke, Snaz hesitated for a brief moment before decisively launching another assault.

Black light surged and coiled around its legs. In the next instant, the ground beneath it exploded into a massive, cratered depression.

BOOM!

Its body shot into the air like a cannonball. The howling shockwave seemed to declare just how terrifying the power of this attack truly was.

If this slash were to land on the city walls a dozen kilometers away, it would likely blast open a massive breach in an instant, allowing the horde of monsters an easy path to storm the rear lines. But there were no "ifs." Its current opponent was Gauss. In Snaz’s mind, defeating Gauss took higher priority than breaching a section of the defensive zone. It felt a growing, visceral certainty that the human before it posed an almost fatal threat—not just to itself, but to the entire goblin race.

Snaz’s figure tore through the air, its eyes fixated solely on Gauss. One hundred meters, fifty meters, ten meters—the distance was closed in the blink of an eye. Just as it practically teleported in front of Gauss, ready to unleash a slash fast enough to rip space apart, Gauss’s figure violently flickered and vanished from his spot once again.

Snaz thought, "Just as I suspected... that successful dodge earlier wasn’t a fluke." Shock and fury welled up in its heart.

Gauss reappeared a short distance away, his expression remarkably placid. He could have activated his mana-form to mitigate the brunt of the black light slash, just as he had done before. Doing so, however, would inevitably consume a massive amount of Magic Power to heal the "injuries." Even though he could replenish his Magic Power through various means later, it was still a hassle. Since he could dodge it entirely, why suffer the blow? It served no purpose other than showing off.

Throughout his night-long battle with Snaz, he had strictly adhered to a single principle: playing it safe. Facts proved that his choice was the right one. He had forcibly worn his opponent down from its peak condition to its current, ragged state.

"Dawn!"

The Magic Staff in his hand released a blindingly brilliant light. After countless refinements, the speed at which Gauss cast his Spells was remarkably fast. A pillar of light crashed down from the sky, engulfing Snaz entirely.

As the light faded, Snaz appeared completely unchanged on the surface. But upon closer inspection of the black light energy enveloping its body, one could notice a faint tremor. Clearly, the black energy had been depleted to withstand the impact of Dawn.

After tanking the Tier 5 Spell Dawn, Snaz’s already grim expression darkened further. In its prime, an attack like this striking its steel-hard body wouldn’t have shaken it in the slightest; at best, it would have been a negligible parlor trick. In fact, at the very beginning of the battle, it had frequently ignored Spells, shrugging off the damage entirely.

Now, however, its body throbbed with a dull ache. Though not severe, it proved that the attack had managed to hurt it. Its deteriorating condition didn’t just bring about a drop in speed and strength—its defenses had also inevitably begun to crumble.