Chapter 827 - 415: The Lord’s Advent
The maze sounds like a limited area environment, but in reality, each level is surprisingly large. If an ordinary person were suddenly transported here, they would most likely not realize they are in a maze, but would instead think they are in a dense forest.
Only this forest is filled with obstacles, and various traps that can take lives at any time.
"Tap tap!"
Boots stepping on dry leaves made a crisp cracking sound.
"Bang!"
Aaliyah casually swung her magic staff, batting away a demon frog leaping at her through the air.
"Ribbit!!!"
The demon frog let out a miserable cry, flew a distance in the air, and then slammed heavily into the trunk of a giant tree, soon its body turning into a puddle of murky mud.
"Another demon frog."
"Since entering the fourth level, the number of frog-type demons has increased."
Aaliyah shook her head.
"Could the monster lord on this level be a big frog?"
"Who knows." Gauss gazed in a certain direction.
Just as Aaliyah said, the proportion of frog-type demons on this level showed a very obvious increase compared to the first three levels.
He actually noticed it outside the camp at the entrance, but at that time he just thought it was an isolated case, maybe just a demon frog tribe receiving a command from the lord to attack the camp.
But once everyone left the camp and formally stepped into the fourth level of the maze to begin exploration, the surrounding monsters still consisted of various demon frogs.
Clearly, the demon frog society dominated the ecosystem on the fourth level, which suggests there is likely a powerful demon frog lord behind them.
The demon frog, as the name suggests, is a frog capable of using magic.
Their abilities are diverse, with some able to spit water balls, some able to breathe fire, or use sonic attacks, lightning, and so on.
"No wonder the number of demons on this level can be so high?" Gauss mused to himself.
Frogs, compared to most other creatures, have shorter growth cycles, able to reach adulthood quickly, and a female frog can lay hundreds of eggs at a time.
Of course, compared to ordinary frogs, demon frogs lay significantly fewer eggs, with dozens being a good number. However, another factor to consider is that they almost have no natural enemies in the fourth level of the maze, which means their offspring survival rate is far above normal standards.
Gauss knew the maze itself seemed to have some kind of "monster replenishment" mechanism, but he couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that maze demons could rely on reproduction to increase their numbers.
"Ribbit!!"
Before the demon frog in front of Gauss could spit out a lightning ball, Gauss manipulated water threads to wrap around its plump belly. With a slight tightening of the threads, the flow of magic power within the demon frog was instantly cut off, and its body was sliced in two by the water threads.
At the moment of the kill, Gauss didn’t forget to control the water threads to cut off the demon frog’s magic gland and store it in his storage pouch.
About 90% of a demon frog’s value lies in its gland, but only the gland of an elite demon-level demon frog is more valuable; the others can barely serve as auxiliary materials for alchemy.
"The number of encounters with demon frogs is increasing."
Just after Ying finished off a dozen elite demon frogs ahead, he returned to Gauss and said.
"Because we’re getting closer." Gauss said faintly. "The monster lord is probably losing its patience."
Yes, according to the map information, after half a day of travel by the shortest distance, the lord should only be one kilometer away in a straight line.
This is also the reason why those demon frogs, clearly no match for them, still launch relentless assaults on the Red Dragon team as if they were desperate.
Whether it’s of their own will or under the lord’s control, at this moment at least, their effort is to try to use their flesh and blood to hinder their progress.
But in the face of an absolute power gap, sacrificing one’s life becomes futile, only serving to add more monster kills to Gauss’s guidebook record.
"Demon frog killed *1"
"Total monster kills: 41,788"
A few hours ago, his kill count had already passed the forty thousand mark, just under ten thousand away from the fifty thousand milestone reward.
Of course, upon surpassing forty thousand, the Adventurer’s Handbook provided two small rewards: the Tier Four spells Polymorph and Invisibility.
Gauss was always very pleased with the spell rewards from the handbook because they saved him learning time, and the energy required to practice mastery was also reduced, most importantly, the spells rewarded by the handbook did not add any extra burden to his will.
This is also the main reason why the number of spells he mastered was significantly more than other casters.
As the Red Dragon Team advanced quickly, at a hidden cave one kilometer away.
"Guh-ribbit!!"
A deep and powerful croak resounded from the darkness, causing stones to tumble down from the cave walls.
Unlike most demon frogs, this was a giant several meters in size.
It sat crouched on a stone platform deep in the cave, sturdy hind legs half-bent, forelimbs supporting its front, its entire body like a mountain of flesh occupying most of the space.
What was creepy was that its dark purple skin was covered with sacs of various sizes, those sacs pulsated violently with its breathing, as if something alive was wriggling inside them.
Upon closer inspection, one would find that these magic-filled sacs roughly presented four different colors.