I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 323: The Descent of Ice and Snow

"Caw! Caw! Caw!!!"A bird's cry with extremely strong penetrating power came from the sky.

Gauss looked up at the small black dot in the sky.

This was the raven Eck and its crow underlings giving them a warning, indicating that monsters had appeared nearby.

"Teacher Gauss?"

Noticing Gauss's explanation had stopped, Abby, who had been listening intently, looked at him curiously.

"It's nothing."

Gauss glanced out of the corner of his eye at the road ahead. Several Slimes jumped out from the wild grass, appearing brazenly in the middle of the path.

However, before they could make any further moves,

several black spikes pierced through their turbid liquid bodies.

"Plop!!"

As their cores shattered, a kill notification flashed before Gauss's eyes.

"Slime Slimes killed *4"

"Let's continue."

Gauss withdrew his gaze and continued explaining the cantrip Ray of Frost to Abby in conjunction with magical principles.

Abby was learning her second cantrip after Light Cantrip, the Ray of Frost.

It was ironic, really. Although Abby yearned for the Fireball spell because of Gauss, and by extension loved the fire-based cantrip Fire Bolt as well, she was actually more proficient with the cold-based spell Ray of Frost than with Fire Bolt.

The skill books Gauss had specifically replenished in Fisherman's Song Town had therefore come in handy.

Based on his analysis, on one hand, it might be that everyone's body inherently has different levels of affinity for different elements from birth. On the other hand, it might also be related to the Witch Megan's physical modifications.

Perhaps, compared to the blazing destruction of fire magic, Abby was more suited to ice-cold magic.

This discovery left Abby feeling a bit downcast, but Gauss comforted her.

Non-fire magic also had many powerful spells.

Moreover, she was just more suited to cold-based spells; it didn't mean she was completely unable to learn fire magic.

Once her magical attainment grew deeper and her understanding of spells became more proficient, she would still be able to explore more types of magic.

...

The team continued to travel through the wilderness.

"Caw!!!"

"Enemies again?"

"No, it's that we've reached Old Crow Pass."

Lying before the flat plains was a mountain like a natural city wall, and in the area before Gauss, the earth seemed to have been split by a giant axe, leaving a long, narrow passageway cutting through the highlands.

This was Old Crow Pass.

In the past, this had been an important transportation route. However, after the kingdom opened another safe thoroughfare leading to Longdi Fort, this dangerous natural trail had been abandoned for a long time.

"There's even a city wall?"

Albenia looked in surprise towards the canyon entrance, where an ancient city wall stood. Beside the wall, there was also a towering, massive stone statue.

Perhaps too much time had passed; the statue was already dilapidated, its surface pitted and scarred. Its outstretched right arm was broken at the elbow, but judging from its bent left arm, this slender, graceful statue was likely posed in the act of drawing a bow to shoot an arrow.

The team surveyed the area, confirming there were no monsters lying in ambush, then approached the foot of the statue.

"So tall!"

Aria exclaimed with emotion.

The statue must have been a full forty meters high. It was hard to imagine how spectacular and awe-inspiring it must have been when intact.

"It looks like an Elf."

"Perhaps it's a statue passed down from the Elven Era."

Gauss speculated.

On this land, one could often find artifacts from Elven Era civilization out in the wilderness.

They were products left behind from the time when Elves were still the overlords of this land.

Although every race insisted it was their own race that ignited the flame of civilization, according to verifiable evidence, it was likely the Elven race that first shaped the form of today's civilization. The common tongue, the professional system, all were perfected during that period.

Subsequent humans merely developed upon the foundation of Elven civilization.

Even many humans secretly thought this way, even if they wouldn't say it out loud.

Therefore, some also called that period the Second Age, the Elven Age.

As for the earlier First Age, that was the Age of Gods. For that period, one could only imagine from various orally transmitted stories and myths; not many direct historical records had been passed down.

The First Age was also an era when powerful races like divine avatars, Demon Lords, Dragons, and Devils used the Prime Material Plane world as a chessboard for battle and slaughter.

The strong fell, plummeting into the earth and seas, becoming nourishment for the world.

The gods walked the earth in their saintly forms, fighting endlessly for faith and authority. Their wrath tore apart mountains, their blessings instantly created oases.

The aura of the Blood War and the evil claws of Demons and Devils tainted the land, and souls became the currency they fought over.

Dragons, Titans, Brood Mothers, Elemental Titans, many ancient, powerful lifeforms clashed and killed each other across the land.

The human race might not have even stepped onto the stage then, or perhaps they had been born but were merely the most insignificant minor characters.

That mythical age of both epic and disaster only came to an end with a cataclysm that swept across the entire Prime Material Plane.

The gods were forced to leave the earth, returning to their respective heavenly divine kingdoms. Powerful Demon Lords and Devils were expelled and sealed away. The surviving ancient races retreated into seclusion one after another. The rules of the world gradually stabilized.

Otherwise, forget about humans, even the Elves, whose innate conditions were far superior to humans, could not have risen amidst the oppression of that era.

The members of Gauss's party all seemed stunned by this giant statue, gazing at it dazedly for a long time before finally withdrawing their gazes.

"Shadow, come with me to scout ahead first?"

"Alright."

"Aria, you all wait for us outside first."

After giving instructions, Gauss and Shadow passed through the city wall gate and entered the canyon.

"Woo woo woo~~~"

Ghostly, wolf-howling-like winds echoed within the canyon.

The canyon passage was fairly wide, with high cliff walls on both sides.

Some tenacious dead vines or low shrubs struggled out from cracks in the stone. Occasionally, mountain springs also flowed down along grooves and fissures in the rock walls.

Because sunlight could only shine directly down for an extremely short time at noon, the temperature throughout the entire canyon was lower than outside, with bone-chilling cold winds blowing through from time to time.

"Caw caw! Caw caw!"

Many wild crows had built nests on the rock walls.

"Plop!"

Gray-white bird droppings fell from overhead, landing on stones already covered in dried droppings.

"So many crows."

"We can catch some later, have Eck subdue them. That way, the team can have many more eyes and ears."

Gauss ignored the falling bird droppings. The current priority was finding clues about the Gnolls in Old Crow Pass.

He took out a transparent, light-red stone from his pocket.

This stone had been given to him by Mage Layman. It could detect in advance the evil aura related to the Gnoll King, the Demon Lord Yeenoghu.

Supposedly, the closer you got, the deeper the color it emitted would become.

"Looks like it's not nearby."

Gauss shook his head.

This Old Crow Pass also had several fork roads, each leading in different directions.

After a brief exploration of the area near the canyon entrance with Shadow, Gauss returned to the city wall to regroup with Aria and the others.

"Any discoveries?"

"We detected the general direction, but it's getting late, so we came back first." Gauss glanced at the sky.

"Oh, by the way, where's Eck?"

"Caw caw!!"

As if hearing someone call its name, Eck flapped its wings and quickly flew over.

Gauss released the crows he had captured earlier from the Living Bag.

These crows were all strong individuals he had carefully selected, with shiny feathers.

There were about a dozen of them.

The crows in Old Crow Pass were generally twenty to thirty percent larger than crows from other places.

The crows, with ropes tied to their legs, had lost the ability to fly into the sky.

Of course, the aura of a "powerful being" released by the raven Eck before them also subdued this group of crows in the first moment.

They trembled one by one, showing submission to Eck.

Quite a few were so scared they excreted droppings.

This showed Eck's influence over ordinary crows.

"Indeed, you have the potential to become a crow boss."

Gauss nodded.

His efforts in capturing them weren't wasted.

After raven Eck "took action," it didn't take long for this group of crow underlings to become completely convinced and submitted to it.

Gauss then untied the restraints on them.

Looking at the crows circling overhead and the occasional falling droppings, Gauss quickly reminded Eck to discipline its new subordinates.

He really didn't want to have to constantly watch out for bird droppings hitting his head.

"Caw caw!"

Seeing that no more droppings fell near them, Gauss withdrew his gaze.

Magic had its pros and cons.

Detection magic could often also be identified by anti-detection magic.

Sometimes, it was precisely these unremarkable creatures that could achieve extremely covert scouting effects.

Crows and sparrows were among the two most common types of birds.

Most people wouldn't immediately think of scouts or spies when they saw them, let alone those monsters.

What they probably cared about was only when these crows might land near them and whether there was a possibility they could become food in their bellies.

"Caw caw!"

Eck came to Aria's side.

"Eck says this group of crows knows the specific location of the Gnolls."

"If needed, they can lead us there."

"Good. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

They rested at the foot of the city wall for the night.

Early the next morning.

Gauss discovered that the number of crows circling overhead had unknowingly increased quite a bit.

There were already thirty or forty.

"What's going on?"

"It's probably those crows Eck tamed. Last night, they went back to their nests in the canyon and brought their companions over." Aria blinked.

She hadn't instructed Eck to do this either.

"Never mind, more is fine."

Gauss cut some raw meat and threw it on the ground.

Soon, the crows overhead fell like rain, picking up the meat pieces from the ground. However, they didn't dare to eat immediately, instead turning to look at their leader, the raven Eck.

Only after receiving a response did they lift their necks and swallow the "free breakfast."

"Caw caw!"

Soon, happy, echoing cries rose among the crow flock.

Other crows flew into the canyon again.

Seeing this, Gauss didn't order Eck to stop them. It was just food, right?

There were plenty of Goblin corpses.

Crows naturally liked to gather and eat carrion. Corpses of common monsters like Goblins and Goblin-like creatures often appeared on their "menu."

After breakfast.

The group continued their advance into the canyon.

Gauss didn't leave York and his daughter Abby outside the canyon.

Compared to them staying in the wilderness, it was clearly safer for them to follow the team.

The canyon environment was generally safe.

Moreover, with so many "local crow" eyes and ears, enemies could hardly hide.

"Caw caw!"

Under the guidance of their local guides, Gauss's party moved quickly through the canyon.

A pungent, rank stench was carried over by the cold wind.

Gauss caught sight of oddly colored, mixed fur in the cracks of the stones underfoot. He knew the Gnolls were nearby.

"Stop."

By this point, the canyon had widened considerably.

Because of the width, the duration of sunlight shining in was longer than in the narrow sections. Therefore, a patch of forested land had formed here within the canyon.

At least, it should have been like that...

Aria reached out and touched the vines on the rock wall.

"The plants are withering and dying... something is polluting this land."

Gauss nodded.

He summoned his Clay Constructs.

The Clay Goblins he summoned now each had combat power equivalent to level 2-3. Combined with their "fearless" will, they were already a force not to be underestimated.

He left two Clay Goblins and Ulfen to guard Abby and the other two.

If, unfortunately, an accident occurred, the Clay Goblins would hold back the enemy, and then the faster-moving Silver Wolf Ulfen would carry the two away from here.

After making these arrangements, Gauss and the others held a brief pre-battle meeting.

"Considering the special terrain here, once the battle starts, I probably won't be able to use Fireball."

He was worried that the shockwave from the Fireball explosion might trigger landslides within the canyon. While it would likely heavily damage the Gnoll lair, it would also add many uncontrollable risks.

"I'll probably try the spell Sleet Storm that I recently mastered, to force them out of the woods. We'll then wait at our ease and strike the Gnolls that flee out."

"This time, no need to hold back. Leave it to me to handle."

Gauss specifically instructed.

On one hand, this commission involved the power of a Demon Lord, even if it was just a sliver projected through an altar. It needed to be treated more seriously.

On the other hand, the canyon terrain was, after all, not as open as the wilderness. It was better to resolve things as quickly as possible.

"Understood."

...

After a brief exchange,

Gauss gave his teammates a look,

then slowly flew forward.

"3rd-Circle Spell * Sleet Storm lv2 (18/20)"

Although, because he hadn't mastered it for long, his proficiency wasn't fully developed yet, it was sufficient. After all, he wasn't using it in the heat of battle in a split second.

Gauss took a deep breath.

He slowly chanted Draconic Language from his mouth.

A chilling magical power rapidly gathered around him, causing the already cool temperature to plummet suddenly.

"!!!"

A light blue magical ripple spread out from Gauss as the center, expanding rapidly like water waves.

"Sleet... Storm!"

As Gauss uttered the final two Draconic syllables.

"BOOM!!!"

A dull sound suddenly descended, as if a chill from the depths of the northern ice plains had erupted.

Above the forested area, the weather changed abruptly.

Snowflakes as large as goose feathers fell out of thin air. The temperature dropped at a visible rate.

The surfaces of plants and trees were quickly covered with a thick layer of white frost.

"Crack!"

The cold air froze the leaves until they cracked, falling to the ground and shattering into pieces.

This wasn't just an ordinary snowfall.

It was mixed with countless sharp, knife-like ice crystal fragments and freezing rain. Guided by the gale summoned by Gauss's magical power, they spun at high speed, making "whooshing" sounds as they tore through the air, sweeping through the forest.

The wind and snow had descended!