Why are all your skill bars full of weird moves?

With a flick of his wrist, Balk held his longsword horizontally across his chest, a low battle roar rumbling from his throat.

Ula raised his staff high, and arcane missiles were already taking shape in the air, ready to unleash their firepower at any moment.

Gauss gripped the bow tightly with his left hand, drew an arrow from the quiver with his right, and pressed the bowstring with his knuckles.

"Don't attack!" Mia raised her voice, stopping her teammates from their initial attack. "She doesn't carry any aura of curse or resentment; she's not an evil spirit that can harm humans!"

Gauss frowned and loosened the taut bowstring.

But he did not completely let his guard down; instead, he awakened the Eye of Destiny once again.

Zoe Wendell (spirit)

Rating: 0

Power: 0

Agility: 0

Physical condition: 0

Intelligence: 7

Assessment: The phantom formed from obsession has no real destructive power.

With the help of the cheat system's judgment and Mia's perception, Gauss finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Mia stepped forward, trying to make her voice as soft as possible.

"Don't be afraid, my name is Mia, and I'm a priestess of the goddess Serene." She pointed to the pendant on her chest. "You're Zoe, aren't you?"

The translucent soul tilted its head, its thoughts seemingly frozen. After several breaths, it slowly nodded.

"Zoe, where's your dad?"

"Dad said he was going out to buy something and would be back soon, and told me to wait at home."

"But I waited for a long time, and my dad still didn't come back."

……

When Gauss received the message from Mia, he activated his thermal perception to search for clues.

At first glance, the red energy appears like a flowing stream, flowing from the door into the pentagram seal on the window.

Gauss remembered what Mia had said earlier.

Is this energy meant to protect Zoe?

At that moment, Zoe's soul drifted away from the bed.

"The door is open, I'm going out to find my dad."

She ignored everyone present and walked straight through Balk's body. The kobold shuddered, and his longsword instinctively veered to the side.

Once Zoe's silhouette disappeared around the corner of the stairs, Gauss looked at the group, his tone flat.

"The seal on this window is not just for show; it provides energy."

Ula tightened his grip on the staff, his brow furrowed.

She took two steps forward, trying to sense the flow of magic in the air, but could only sense the remaining death energy.

Gauss's words left her completely bewildered.

"Energy supply?" Ura turned to Gauss, her tone full of astonishment. "I'm a mage, I have a natural sensitivity to magical energy!"

"But when I tried it, I didn't find anything wrong."

"How did you know?"

Gauss had no intention of revealing the secret of the purple equipment, so he could only continue with the previous random replies.

"My mentor taught me that as long as you lower your body temperature to an extremely low level, you can detect the temperature difference in the environment. When those energy flows, they will cause a slight reversal of heat. This is very basic and nothing to be surprised about."

Ula fell silent.

Without any magical aids, how can one detect the flow of magical energy solely by controlling bodily functions?

Every time Gauss spoke, he was relentlessly hammering down Ura's magical worldview.

"This level of control... it's simply unbelievable." Ura murmured softly, her gaze towards Gauss filled with intense curiosity.

She was now absolutely certain that Gauss was no ordinary ranger; he must have an ancient and secret lineage behind him.

The group followed Gauss to another unlocked door on the third floor.

There was no furniture or windows inside, only a huge, scarlet magic circle drawn on the floor.

The magic circle consists of two concentric circles, with the central area engraved with intricate geometric lines and three smaller circles evenly distributed on the outer edge.

Ula took two steps forward, touched the edge with his staff, and examined it for a moment with his eyes closed.

"This is a spatial teleportation array. It's unclear where it leads to. We need to activate a medium."

"Furthermore... I'm certain that the dense magical energy emanating from here is the very essence that sealed the house."

She tapped the three small circles on the outer edge with the tip of her cane.

"These three positions, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will require the corresponding items to be placed there in order to activate the magic circle."

Seal... magic circle...

Gauss immediately thought of the dark region, so he approached and crouched down to observe.

Inside the small circle on the left, there is a simple line drawing of a long-eared animal.

"It looks a bit like a rabbit. Could it be the ragdoll rabbit from Zoe's bed?"

"Balk, thank you for your help."

The dog-headed man scratched his neck, had no objections, and immediately ran out.

The next pattern has a rectangular frame inside, with several messy colors painted inside the frame.

"This looks like an oil painting," Ula said, approaching Gauss and making her assessment. "Judging by the size, it should be the one we saw on the second floor."

"What about the one on top?" Gauss pointed to the topmost circle.

The design is the outline of a head with forked angles.

"Looking at the whole picture, it might be a deer antler ornament."

After hearing what Ura said, Gauss stood up.

"Let's split up. Ula, you go upstairs to get the painting, and Mia and I will go downstairs to get the antlers."

"This may be our only chance to find the answer."

The two women looked at each other, nodded, and began to act.

The muffled thuds of Gauss's footsteps echoed through the deathly silent house.

Mia's steps grew heavier and heavier, her hands clenched tightly together.

"Gauss, once this magic circle is activated, will we witness an extremely cruel scene?" Mia's voice trembled as she stopped at the corner on the second floor.

Gauss also stopped and turned to look at Mia, who was tense all over.

He knew what Mia was afraid of.

Based on the known clues, the children have most likely been murdered.

For a pastor with a strong sense of faith and good intentions, seeing children being offered up on the altar is an unacceptable reality.

"This is the real world." Gauss's tone was as calm as still water, devoid of any comforting techniques. "Having accepted the mission, you must find the answers."

"You can choose to wait outside."

Mia bit her lip, her cat ears drooping limply.

Gauss knew that if this mental block wasn't broken, it would be a fatal flaw in his subsequent explorations.

"Mia, we can't change what's done is done. If they're dead, we can bring out their remains. If they're alive, we can rescue them."

"Closing your eyes and running away is the act of a coward. If you have faith, you should face all the consequences."

There was no tenderness or sweetness, only cruel clarity.

These words shattered Mia's thoughts of escaping.

Gauss never offers false hope, but he can point out the only way forward in the most desperate situations.

This pragmatism and resilience, on the contrary, gave Mia a great sense of security.

She took a deep breath and loosened her tightly clenched fingers.

"I understand, go get the things."

After retrieving their items, the two quickly returned to the third floor. Balk was already waiting there with a rabbit plush toy.

Without much preamble, Ula placed the painting on the right. Gauss steadily lowered the deer head, while Balk tossed the rabbit into the left-hand center of the formation.

In an instant, the scarlet array patterns flashed, and all the runes lit up one after another, emitting a dazzling red light.

Without any chanting, the array patterns started operating wildly.

The space at the center of the magic circle folded rapidly, and the air was forcibly torn apart, presenting a strange camouflage color.

An unfathomable void expands and takes shape in the red light.

Gauss immediately activated the Eye of Fate.

[Entrance to the Underdark]

Status: Enabled.

Note: No one can face the fear brought by the Dark Judge.

"The other side is an unknown territory, and there are unknown enemies. Going in might not be a chance to come back." Gauss looked at everyone, his tone more solemn than ever before.

"But perhaps the answers to all the doubts and the child can be found within it."

"If you don't want to go, you can choose to stay."

Balk drew his longsword and shook the wooden shield in his hand.

"Brother, I've never thought about retreating since the day I became an adventurer."

Mia gripped the pendant tightly, her mind devoid of fear, only filled with the words Gauss had spoken at the corner of the stairs.

"I want to save the children myself."

Ula waved his staff, donning a golden cloak around himself, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"If I don't witness something beyond my comprehension firsthand, I will never be able to break through my own limits in my entire life."

"I'd rather live and stagnate than die here."

No one is forcing anyone else; everyone is responsible for their own choices.

This is what makes the team so precious—

It's not about mutual suspicion, nor about depending on each other to survive, but about moving towards the answer together, without hesitation.

Gauss didn't say another word and was the first to leap into the black hole.