"Petrification?"
To be honest, when they learned of this ability, several targets immediately sprang to mind.
There were quite a few types of monsters that possessed petrification abilities.
But when he saw the unusual, deeply sunken footprints not far away on the ground, Gauss narrowed his eyes slightly.
He seemed to have guessed what kind of monster lived nearby.
Of course, whether it was truly what he suspected still needed further verification.
In actual adventuring, one had to avoid taking things for granted. Before anything was ultimately confirmed, it was best to prepare multiple contingencies.
"Let's keep moving."
With a clue now in hand, the party's search direction became much clearer.
Shadow activated her ability and transformed into a shadow, rapidly conducting a carpet search of the surrounding area. Before long, she found more piles of rubble and roughly deduced the direction where the target was located based on their distribution.
"That should be the place."
After Shadow returned to the party, Gauss summarized her information and looked into the distance.
He flew above the forest and saw a relatively flat grassland there. Combined with Shadow's intelligence, the target was clearly living in that area.
The plain was not far from where Gauss was. As they advanced, Gauss saw more and more petrified statues along the way, some of which had even retained their complete forms.
They looked like lifelike works of art, one after another.
Even the most skilled sculptor would probably be unable to create such realistic statues.
The desperate terror on their faces was especially vivid. Through those expressions, one could almost cross the boundary of time and sense the helplessness they had felt in the moment before being turned to stone.
The group examined the stone sculptures for a while.
Only afterward did they continue along