Chapter Summaries

At an Adventurer's Guild briefing, Matthias Monroe revealed the Green Dragon Queen Aetheras's formidable army and century-old combat profile, prompting Gauss and the other adventurers to fear the coming war. Matthias reassured them that an epic-level powerhouse had reached Cold Green Province, though the identity and deployment remained confidential.

• Matthias Monroe showed intelligence images of the Green Dragon Army gathering in the Emerald Forest and warned that its disciplined forces far outmatched ordinary Demonic Beast tribes.
• Matthias presented the guild's century-old report on Aetheras, detailing her Emerald Kingdom domain, poisonous spores, and tactical fighting style.
• The adventurers recognized that the report had been written by Erich Xavier, the Weaver, and learned that he had died after Aetheras's poison damaged his foundation, though he had also seriously wounded her.
• Gauss considered the threat Aetheras posed and wondered whether the kingdom could send stronger fighters, while Matthias said an epic-level powerhouse had arrived in Cold Green Province.
• Matthias reassured the adventurers that Aetheras would not be assigned to their battlefield and that local forces would not have to face her directly.

Gauss was offered a confidential commission to infiltrate the Emerald Forest and kill the young dragons raised by the Green Dragon Queen Aetheras. After learning why his lack of a domain made him uniquely suited to the mission, he weighed the risks and heard that the Guild would provide a special barrier wonder.

• After the meeting, Bella stopped Gauss and brought him to Guildmaster Matthias Monroe for a private conversation.
• Monroe told Gauss that Plaeos had asked him to look after him and explained that he had a confidential commission for him to consider.
• Gauss read the commission to subjugate a dragon lair and learned that it targeted juvenile and young dragons raised by Aetheras, not the Green Dragon Queen herself.
• Gauss hesitated over the dangerous but lucrative mission, and Monroe explained that Gauss's extraordinary combat strength and lack of a domain made him better suited than stronger adventurers.
• Monroe said Gauss would strike the young dragons as the Green Dragon army approached the border and that the Guild would provide a wonder that could seal off the target area.

Gauss weighed whether to accept Matthias Monroe’s secret solo mission to scout the Demonic Beast rear and kill young dragons, then discussed the danger and his plans with the Red Dragon Group. As his companions insisted they would fight rather than wait safely, Gauss began to question his assumption that he alone should bear responsibility for their lives.

• Gauss considered the risks and benefits of Monroe’s commission, and Monroe promised to protect the Red Dragon Group if Gauss accepted it.
• Gauss left the guild and told his companions the mission was confidential, using a mental link so they could discuss it privately.
• Gauss refused Shadow’s offer to accompany him, explaining that he intended to undertake the dangerous mission alone and wanted to protect his teammates.
• Gauss told the group they could remain in the city while he carried out the mission, but Alya, Theron, and the others insisted they wanted to fight in the coming war.
• Gauss heard his companions’ resolve and realized he had presumed they needed to rely on him without considering what convictions drove them to adventure.

As Barry City prepared for an approaching war, Gauss's Red Dragon Group stockpiled supplies and strengthened its equipment while Gauss advanced his disguise and Clay Magic. In the Emerald Forest, Green Dragon Queen Aetheras reviewed intelligence on the Forest Capital and Cold Green Province as her disciplined monster armies advanced.

• Barry City increased patrols and military supplies as adventurers returned and residents began stockpiling necessities.
• Gauss ordered Ivan to expand the Red Dragon Group's reserves, while Albenna finished Soft Armor for the team and Gauss bought the Disguise Spell.
• Gauss improved his Clay Magic until his creatures could closely imitate living beings, and Hailiel supplied enough magical clay for nearly a hundred Clay Goblins.
• Aetheras's vast monster armies marched through the Emerald Forest as she prepared to attack human territory.
• Dragon Worship Cult followers presented Aetheras with detailed intelligence about the Forest Capital and Cold Green Province, which she studied with satisfaction.

As war with the Green Dragon Army approached, Gauss left the Forest Capital on a covert mission to assassinate young dragons. Disguised as a Goblin, he entered the Emerald Forest, while displaced villagers streamed south ahead of the coming battle.

• After receiving President Monroe’s approval and the Silent Birdcage, Gauss studied the scout handbook and prepared to travel south before the war began.
• Gauss assigned Alya, Luna, and Ivan responsibility for the Red Dragon Group and told them he expected to return within ten days.
• Gauss slipped out through a hidden gate, disguised himself as a middle-aged hunter, and traveled south with a convoy carrying villagers to safety.
• Seeing villagers abandon their homes and fields, Gauss understood how the approaching war was already devastating their lives.
• Near the Emerald Forest, Gauss transformed into a Goblin, ignored a group that tried to recruit him, and walked into the forest.

Gauss infiltrated the Green Dragon Queen’s army by disguising himself as a Goblin and cautiously moving through the Emerald Forest toward the dragon’s nest. After an elderly Goblin warned him about the coming battle, Gauss slipped away as the army’s assembly horn sounded.

• Gauss entered the Emerald Forest, sensed the Green Dragon Queen’s overwhelming aura, and avoided patrol routes while posing as a Goblin.
• Three Gnolls spotted Gauss but dismissed him as a lost Goblin, allowing him to continue deeper into the forest.
• Gauss hid in a Large Goblin camp when a wyvern arrived and accepted a rusted short knife from an elderly Goblin.
• The elderly Goblin advised Gauss to avoid the front lines and feign death during the coming battle, while confiding its fear of the war.
• Gauss left the camp to continue toward the dragon’s nest, and the elderly Goblin was stopped from following him when the assembly horn sounded.

Gauss reached the young dragon nest in the Emerald Forest and activated the Silent Birdcage, cutting the valley off from the outside. He faced four chromatic Dragons and used his Dragon language and Hefis’s appearance to make them believe he was a powerful metallic Dragon, while they warned him that the Green Dragon Queen Aetheras would retaliate.

• Gauss crossed the Green Dragon Army’s route in disguise and traveled toward the dragon nest using the Adventurer’s Guild map.
• Gauss waited for the Guild’s signal near the valley, then activated the ten-minute Silent Birdcage around the nest and nearby Gnoll tribes.
• Gauss used Any Door to evade the Gnolls and cross the valley’s barrier, where a black Dragon, a blue Dragon, and two green Dragons took flight.
• Gauss spoke fluent Dragon language and asked whether the four Dragons were the only ones there, prompting them to mistake him for a metallic Dragon.
• Gauss summoned Hefis, reinforcing the Dragons’ belief that he was a Dragon, and they invoked Aetheras’s protection to deter him.

Gauss and Hefis fought four young chromatic dragons, with Hefis taking on the black dragon while Gauss faced the other three. Gauss unleashed his Dragon-Ghost Pact and transformed into a humanoid form whose power drove back the dragons’ Dragon Might, leaving them shaken.

• The young chromatic dragons attacked Gauss, and he used Any Door to evade the black dragon’s corrosive breath.
• Gauss sent Hefis to fight the black dragon, and Hefis wounded it in midair and exchanged bites and taunts with it.
• Two green dragons spread toxic spores toward Gauss while the blue dragon prepared to stall him until reinforcements arrived.
• Gauss decided to use his combined Dragon Species and Second Order Ghost Transformation powers, which he had tested beforehand and knew he could not maintain indefinitely.
• As the spores approached, Gauss activated Dragon-Ghost Pact and changed into a powerful humanoid form, driving back the three dragons’ Dragon Might and unsettling them.

After forming the Dragon-Ghost Pact, Gauss used his enhanced magic to seize two green dragons with Bigby's Hand while fighting off the blue dragon's interference. He killed the first green dragon, gained the True Dragon Slayer title, and began absorbing its bloodline energy as the remaining dragons watched in shock.

• Gauss transformed after forming the Dragon-Ghost Pact and suppressed the dragons with his enhanced aura.
• Gauss trapped one young green dragon with Bigby's Hand, resisted the blue dragon's Enhanced Immobilization Spell, and continued crushing his captive.
• The blue dragon prepared a storm and tried to escape the Silent Birdcage while a female green dragon attacked Gauss with plants and claws.
• Gauss blasted apart the plants with Magic Missiles and caught the female green dragon with a second Bigby's Hand.
• The first green dragon died from its injuries, and Gauss received the True Dragon Slayer title as his Dragon Species Talent absorbed the dragon's bloodline energy.
• The remaining dragons reacted with shock and unease at their companion's death.

Gauss evaded the young blue dragon’s lightning domain by identifying a safe refuge inside the thunderclouds, then pressed his attack while Hefis and the summoned creatures overwhelmed the other dragons and their Gnoll servants. The blue dragon realized Gauss’s power was rising further, but two young dragons still needed to be defeated for him to strengthen his Dragon Species.

• The young blue dragon amplified its lightning magic and unleashed a domain that tracked Gauss, while Gauss’s Large Goblins attacked the Gnoll camp.
• Gauss drained the dead green dragon’s bloodline power, strengthened his Dragon Species, and turned his attention to the remaining dragons.
• Gauss recognized that the thunderclouds were safe from the domain’s lightning and flew into them, escaping the blue dragon’s tracking attacks.
• The blue dragon attacked Gauss with Lightning Sphere as he countered with Bigby’s Hand and Magic Missile, forcing the dragon to retreat.
• Hefis kept the black dragon in grave danger, the other female green dragon weakened inside Bigby’s Hand, and the blue dragon sensed Gauss’s power rising further.