Gauss was completely baffled by it. He had no idea what that strange behavior meant, but his movements did not slow in the slightest.
The battle instinct he had honed a thousand times over ran through his veins like blood itself.
If something was off, he could figure it out after killing this slime. He had no doubt he could do it.
This slime really was unusual, but there was one iron rule: if it was alive, it could be killed.
This slime would die just like the thousands upon thousands of monsters that had already died by his hand.
Gauss held his jade-white staff horizontally in front of him, his robe rustling in the wind, a sign of the lake-like mana surging through his body.
Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.
No matter how confident he was in his own power, he would still go all out.
With his staff in hand, he rode atop the Bigby's Hand he controlled and sped toward Eden's main body.
Its concealment seemed to have weakened significantly after he destroyed its split bodies.
This slime called Eden was completely different from every other slime he had ever seen. Its aura was strangely pure, lacking the manic, violent energy most monsters carried.
And that clearly wasn't some passive trait unique to floor lords, because the frog lord on the previous floor hadn't shown anything like it.
"Bigby's Hand—Crushing Fist!"
Once he got a little closer, Gauss leaped off Bigby's Hand.
Then he directed the massive silver palm—large enough to cover most ordinary monsters completely—straight at the slime and slammed it down.
Sensing that it could no longer avoid the strike, the slime abruptly opened its mouth wide and began greedily swallowing the surrounding mana.
The slime, which had looked somewhat weakened a moment ago, swelled with power like it was experiencing a final burst of strength.
Under the influence of that mana, its originally tiny body inflated in an instant to several meters across. At the same time, several thick tentacles shot out from its jelly-like body like giant serpents bursting from a cave.
Whoosh!
The tentacles broke the sound barrier as they shot upward toward Bigby's Hand.
Though soft in appearance, their tips suddenly blazed with razor-sharp brilliance the instant before they struck, as if empowered by some special force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The giant human-shaped hand and the monster's tentacles collided in midair.
The white shockwaves that erupted from the clash rolled outward like a tidal wave, flattening trees and tearing up plants. Any ordinary adventurer or monster caught in that chaos would likely have been torn to pieces on the spot.
This was exactly what people meant when they said, "When gods fight, mortals suffer."
"It got stronger."
Gauss could feel that after swallowing such a huge amount of ambient mana, Eden's aura had risen dramatically.
He just didn't know how long that abnormal power-up could last.
But there had to be some kind of price, otherwise it would have used it right from the start.
At present, Eden's strength mainly lay in three things: its near-perfect concealment through elementalization, its splitting ability, and its extraordinary control over mana.
The first two had already been countered.
The third was the true source of its strength.
"Human, your killing intent is too strong. Too obvious."
Once the smoke cleared, Eden had already used the clash as cover to slip outside Bigby's Hand's range.
And even now, it still had the composure to critique Gauss's attack.
Gauss raised an eyebrow.
Just now, in addition to Bigby's Hand, he had also secretly activated Control Water from the air.
The thread of water had crept across the ground like a snake, hidden under the pressure created by Bigby's Hand, trying to close in on the slime. He hadn't expected Eden to detect that hidden killing move so easily.
Gauss had always excelled at splitting his focus.
He stilled himself for a moment and ran through the exchange in his head.
An enemy could be the best teacher.
And whether or not he understood the reason, Eden clearly seemed inclined to teach.
In terms of technique, Gauss was certain most transcendent spellcasters weren't as skilled as he was, so the problem likely wasn't on the "skill" side.
Taking Eden's earlier comment into account, the reason it could detect his attacks ahead of time—was it because of his killing intent?
To be honest, Gauss felt completely calm in battle. He wasn't the type to lose himself in bloodlust.
But would creatures with strong enough mental sensitivity still perceive a very obvious killing intent from him?
He didn't think Eden was bluffing.
Was it because I've killed too many monsters?
Gauss had to admit that the overwhelming majority of his adventuring life had been spent fighting monsters far weaker than himself.
And in that kind of situation, it simply hadn't mattered whether he concealed his killing intent or not.
Most low-level monsters were incapable of using killing intent to predict his attacks in advance—and even if a few gifted ones somehow sensed it, so what?
Sensing it didn't mean they could avoid it.
So he had grown used to fighting in a straightforward, overbearing style, never deliberately suppressing that murderous edge.
When facing opponents of roughly similar strength, though, that was clearly a flaw.
His control over the mental plane far exceeded that of most living beings. Once Eden had pointed it out, he quickly identified that strange thread of will.
It existed in an uncertain state—half there, half not.
If he hadn't gone looking for it, even Gauss wouldn't have noticed it.
But now, it was unmistakable.
It was a pure, powerful intent, carrying a completely unhidden malice—especially malice toward monsters—like giant writhing tentacles twisting around him in all directions.
The mana peeling away from his body carried the same sharpened killing intent, forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood from tens of thousands of slain monsters.
Only then did Gauss truly understand Eden's earlier words.
That killing intent really was too strong. Too obvious.
There weren't many creatures with mental strength great enough to perceive it, but if they were strong enough, then clearly they could use its flow to predict his actions in advance.
With a bit of control, the killing intent wrapped around his body and spread through his mana quickly drew back.
Though not completely gone—some of it still leaked out because he hadn't had much time—it was reduced by more than ninety percent compared to before.
That was the advantage of personal talent.
Most of the time, once Gauss became aware of a flaw, he could improve it very quickly.
"You're the most talented human I've ever seen."
"Thanks."
This time, Gauss's gratitude was genuine.
Even if Eden was his enemy, it really had given him useful guidance.
Perhaps because it displayed such human-like intelligence and a willingness to communicate, Gauss—who was otherwise a butcher of monsters—rarely felt a flicker of hesitation about killing it.
But then he remembered that Eden was the fifth-floor lord of the Timber Labyrinth, and death seemed like an inevitable fate for it.
Even if Gauss chose not to kill it now, and even if no one else present had the ability to do so at the moment, that didn't mean no one ever would.
As the labyrinth continued to grow and evolve, the levels of the adventurers entering it would only rise.
Once the restrictions loosened and transcendent experts could descend into its depths, Eden would eventually be killed.
So even if Gauss didn't do it, viewed across a longer timeline, Eden still couldn't escape death.
And more importantly, Gauss had the distinct feeling that Eden wasn't afraid of death at all. If anything, it seemed to anticipate it.
In its battle with him, what it showed was closer to communication.
Otherwise it wouldn't have exposed its abilities one by one, almost like it was deliberately sparring with him.
And since it had been able to read his killing intent ahead of time, perhaps those earlier hits it took had been intentional too.
It seemed to enjoy this kind of exchange in battle.
"Have you seen other humans before?"
Gauss kept his combat posture as he asked casually.
He had realized the oddity in Eden's words.
Since Timber Labyrinth hadn't been open for long, and since he and his people were effectively the first group of humans to reach the fifth floor, they should have been the first humans Eden had ever seen.
For some reason, the moment Gauss asked that, the slime who had shown such enthusiasm for talking suddenly seemed to lose interest. Its energy visibly dimmed.
"Kill me, and maybe I'll tell you."
Hearing that listless reply, Gauss felt black lines forming on his forehead.
If he killed it, how was it supposed to answer?
But Eden seemed to sink deeper into the battle instead, and in the next instant the two of them were once again locked in dozens of magical exchanges.
Having devoured such a massive amount of mana and temporarily strengthened itself, Eden had crossed the boundary of levels and fully attained combat power on par with a transcendent being.
Much like Gauss, it had a startling variety of magical tools.
Body shifting, bodily reinforcement, elemental spells of all kinds, defensive barriers, speed boosts—one magical effect after another bloomed across it without pause.
He couldn't help but think of it as a monster version of a "mini-Gauss."
Not that the word "mini" came from arrogance. It was simply the truth.
Eden's talents were formidable, but they still didn't match his.
Both of them had the ability to leap beyond the normal limits of rank with absurd ease.
But Gauss's core spellcaster level was eight, while Eden's base level should have been around ten. Since their combat power was roughly comparable, it meant Gauss was the one crossing the greater gap.
The surrounding environment quickly became a complete wreck under their ongoing battle, as if a natural disaster were tearing through it.
Boom!
Their reinforced bodies collided midair.
Vampiric Touch and the slime's elastic tentacles slammed together, and in the flood of mana shockwaves, Gauss saw those little round eyes.
As it looked back at him, his own reflection seemed to shine in its pupils. The battle appeared to be giving it immense pleasure. Its eyes glittered with unconcealed excitement, as though it had confirmed some long-held suspicion.
To be honest, Gauss felt exhilarated too. Every muscle in his body had woken up.
There were vanishingly few opponents, especially non-transcendent ones, who could truly match him.
The two were thrown apart after the clash.
But a flicker of Any Door's magic flashed across Gauss, and in the next instant the momentum of his backward flight vanished. He reappeared beside Eden on the opposite side.
"Control Water!"
As their close-quarters exchanges continued, Gauss's understanding of Eden's bodily composition had deepened. His ability to suppress his killing intent had also improved quickly. And because Eden had inevitably absorbed some of the water Gauss had spread into the environment, the timing was finally right.
The moment Gauss activated Control Water, the water inside Eden's body was violently seized, and the slime froze.
And at that exact instant, a golden pillar of light descended on Eden's landing point—perfectly timed, perfectly placed, as though it had been rehearsed a thousand times in Gauss's mind.
The white staff in Gauss's hand blazed brilliantly.
Holy light descended in an instant.
Dawn.
In this abnormal state, Eden clearly had little chance of mounting an effective defense.
Its round eyes spun once, then it looked at Gauss from afar.
And then, to Gauss's shock, all of its aura vanished in an instant.
It had voluntarily abandoned every single layer of defense.
Boom!
The radiant pillar swallowed it whole.
Countless particles peeled off from its soft, yielding body, rushing upward into the sky before scattering as a glittering rain of star-like motes.
"It's dead?"
Even Gauss stood there stunned.
Had its boosted form simply expired? Had it used some hidden survival method and escaped instead?
By his own estimate, that combo should have badly wounded it, but not killed it outright.
He had expected he'd need to repeat that kind of coordinated strike at least two or three more times before a creature with that level of vitality and defense would finally be worn down.
And perhaps without even realizing it, in the course of the fight, the killing intent Gauss directed toward Eden had not only become less sharp, but had also faded a great deal.
So after Dawn's light completely consumed Eden, he even felt a strange emptiness for a moment.
He stood silently, waiting for the brilliance to fade.
When it finally did, the air was impossibly clear.
And there was no trace of the slime left anywhere, as though it had been completely erased.
In Eden's place, a treasure chest slowly appeared.
Then Gauss suddenly remembered something.
He immediately opened his Monster Index.
"Congratulations, you have killed…"
A special prompt appeared—but before it could expand, it stuttered and froze.
It was as if the Index had encountered some kind of anomaly and had briefly hung.
"…"
"…"
The message glitched and flickered for quite a while.
Then, at last, it fully unfolded.
"Congratulations, you have slain a lord-class....transcendent-class monster: [The Newly Born Slime King 'Eden Graham Lyd….'] (Demon King Seed, initial form)."
It was the first time Gauss had ever seen a prompt that dense, a wall of tiny characters almost filling his vision.
Technically, a slime without domain power should still have fallen under the lord-class category. Even if it had displayed transcendent-level combat power, it seemed that because of the Index's earlier glitch, the system had classified it as a transcendent-class monster instead.
And not only had its full name been listed, but also the prefix "The Newly Born Slime King" and the suffix "Demon King Seed, initial form."
Just reading that made it sound absurdly significant.
What was a Demon King Seed? Did it have anything to do with the Demon King slain by the legendary sword saint?
Had Eden really died? Why had it died so suddenly?
Gauss couldn't help doubting it.
Because of the way Eden had seemed to long for death, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that it possessed some utterly incomprehensible final ability.
But the panel had produced a kill notification, and based on all his past experience, that meant Eden was dead beyond question.
"Congratulations on your first kill of a transcendent-class monster."
"Unlocking the Path of Transcendence."
"Kill five transcendent-class monsters (1/5). Reward: randomly extract one racial talent from a transcendent-class monster."
"Because you killed a special monster—a Demon King Seed—you have obtained the title [Demon King Slayer] (non-upgradable)."
Gauss stared at the new title.
The information for it was shockingly brief.
[Demon King Slayer]: You have gained the qualification to kill a Demon King completely.
He raised an eyebrow.
If the effect was taken literally, then killing a Demon King required some special "qualification"?
He could understand the concept of having aptitude for learning magic or awakening bloodline power—but aptitude for killing a Demon King? Wasn't that just something you did if you were strong enough?
At that moment, his head was still full of unanswered questions.
The Index's abnormal behavior had only confirmed one of his earlier suspicions:
Eden had been a deeply unusual existence.
It seemed to carry all kinds of secrets.
If it had still been alive, it might well have been willing to explain some of them.
But now it was dead—dead after intentionally discarding all its defenses in what looked almost like suicide.
Just as Gauss let out a breath and prepared to fly over and collect the chest and the keystone to the next floor, a voice spoke beside him and made every hair on his body stand up.
"Gauss, what a pity. You really… almost managed to kill me."
It was that same young, emotionless voice.
He immediately scanned the surroundings, surprise flashing across his face as he tried to locate Eden.
Eden wasn't dead?
But the Monster Index had clearly produced the kill notification.
Had the Monster Index actually bugged out?
After all, across tens of thousands of kills, the Index had never once malfunctioned. That was why Gauss had long since gotten used to using its kill notifications as the definitive test of whether a monster was truly dead.