Thorin, Nancy, and Elton each wore different expressions.

Without exception, they were all quite surprised by the strength Gauss had displayed.

Nancy's lips moved slightly as she watched Gauss, her thoughts unknown.

"Well done! Kid Gauss!" Although Thorin had initially felt somewhat disappointed that he hadn't personally dealt with the demonic familiar, he quickly threw that feeling aside.

He strode forward and vigorously patted Gauss's side.

"Truly, the younger generation inspires awe."

Though he had initially witnessed Gauss's capabilities at Outpost 11 and knew he wasn't just flashy without substance, that night's situation had been urgent, leaving no time for careful observation.

Now seeing him in action, Gauss's strength far exceeded his expectations.

"Thank you. But it's also thanks to you seriously wounding it first, Thorin, that I could finish it so easily." Gauss smiled as he withdrew his Sturdy Scale Bloodline power, the fierce battle aura dissipating along with it.

He subtly flexed his right hand.

"Haha, teamwork!" Thorin laughed heartily, then turned his gaze to the rapidly dissolving filth on the ground, his brow furrowing again.

"It really is a demonic familiar. It seems this village's strange situation is connected to it." Priest Elton stepped forward.

As the holy emblem in his hand released pure white light, the liquid on the ground was finally burned away from this world.

"Let's return to the village and investigate for some information." Elton took the initiative to speak.

They weren't far from the village, and the commotion here had likely already reached the villagers' ears.

The group gathered themselves and headed toward the village.

Thorin and Gauss walked at the front, with the others following behind.

The village was pitch black, but fortunately Gauss cast Light Cantrip to illuminate several staffs. The bright, pure white light of the spell dispersed the darkness, lighting up the area around them.

The village had become even more deathly still after nightfall.

The low earthen houses cast enormous shadows under the Light Cantrip's illumination. Rolling Stone Village at night was permeated with a strange foul odor.

All the houses were tightly locked, including windows sealed completely shut.

"Let's check that old man's house." Gauss suggested, remembering the location of the elderly man they had spoken with earlier.

Though his attitude hadn't been great, compared to others, he had at least been willing to communicate.

Moreover, Gauss sensed that the old man wasn't as resistant to their presence as he seemed, just apparently having some difficulty speaking openly.

"Knock knock!"

Arriving at the old man's door.

Gauss stepped forward to knock.

No response.

But Gauss could hear movement inside - clearly someone knew people were at the door but deliberately remained silent, creating the illusion of being asleep.

"Bang bang!"

The low earthen houses cast enormous shadows under the Light Cantrip's illumination. Rolling Stone Village at night was permeated with a strange foul odor.

"Old man, if you don't open up, we'll break the door down!"

After Thorin's threat, the door quickly opened.

The same old man who had chased them away earlier stood in the doorway, looking at the group's unharmed appearance with a ghost-seeing level of surprise.

"You're actually still alive?"

"Should something have happened to us?" Gauss smiled.

"Old sir, that large rat-like monster - we've already killed it."

The old man's cloudy eyes scanned their faces, finally settling on Gauss. His throat moved as he spoke in a dry voice: "You... really... killed it?"

His already stooped body trembled, making him appear even more frail.

"Absolutely true." Thorin patted his breastplate. "The body has already been purified by our priest. Not even ashes remain."

The old man trembled as he took a step back, making way at the doorway.

"Come... come in. Don't alert the others."

Watching him tightly close the door, Gauss grew suspicious. Even after hearing from their own mouths that the demonic familiar was dead, the heavy expression on the old man's face hadn't lightened at all.

This kind of good news should at least bring some relief, if not outright celebration.

The interior had little furniture, with a musty odor mixed with the bitter scent of medicinal herbs assaulting their noses. The only oil lamp on the table flickered, casting wavering shadows.

Perhaps knowing the group had slain the monster outside the village, the old man's attitude toward them seemed to have become slightly more friendly.

"Please sit, adventurers. As you can see, there's nothing proper to offer you here." The old man pointed to several rough wooden stools, then sat on the bed himself, uneasily rubbing his clothes with his hands.

Noticing how the old man's gaze kept nervously glancing toward the window, Gauss smiled and spoke.

"Old sir, you know about that monster we encountered earlier, don't you?"

Gauss's charm wasn't for show. After he revealed his smile, the old man's anxious mood noticeably eased considerably.

His mouth moved - originally not wanting to say more - but upon seeing Gauss's warm, sunlight-like smile, he paused for a moment before finally sighing deeply.

"That monster is a curse. The demon's curse upon Rolling Stone Village."

The old man lifted his shirt. On his stooped torso grew a layer of light gray fur.

"A demon cursed you?" Nancy exclaimed in surprise from the side.

Demons - embodiments of chaos and evil born from the Bottomless Abyss, without mercy, compassion, or kindness toward the living. Beings existing solely for destruction.

Most of the time they remained trapped in the Bottomless Abyss. Even when breaking through restrictions to manifest in the prime material plane, they would be weakened, with more powerful demons facing severer constraints.

Those capable of leaving curses were often higher-tier demonic forms.

A high-level demon breaking through layer upon layer of restrictions just to curse an ordinary village sounded rather strange.

The degree of a curse was completely different from disease. On their way here, they had thought some kind of illness was spreading through the village.

Beside Nancy, Serlandul and Elton both stepped forward.

Using their respective divine spells, they attempted to remove the abnormality from the old man's body, but unfortunately, they didn't succeed.

"Don't waste your effort. This curse appeared a year ago. At first we sought help from the church. But the priest who came to the village couldn't cure it and left quickly. Since it's not contagious, they left us to our fate." The old man spoke calmly, seemingly having accepted his destiny.

"Conventional divine spells can only handle most ordinary curses, but demonic curses..." Serlandul began.

He finally realized what that familiar feeling was that he'd sensed upon entering the village.

During his past travels, he had once come across an abandoned village where all the inhabitants had become dried corpses. The environmental aura there had been very similar to this place.

It must be said that demonic curses weren't unsolvable - high-level divine spells and rituals, powerful divine items, or destroying the curse's source could all break the curse.

But regardless of method, for an ordinary village, these were unattainable luxuries.

Serlandul's words brought brief silence to the house.

"This old man will die soon anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's just that the village children are too pitiful, looking like monsters. That's also why no one comes out after you arrived - we can't afford to gamble..." The old man's gaze swept over the group as he leaned against the bedpost.

After speaking a few sentences, he began breathing heavily, his body weak.

But everyone understood his meaning - the villagers feared encountering those "enthusiastic" adventurers who might simply slaughter all the village inhabitants, treating them as monsters.

"As for that large monster you killed, it only moves about at night. Most of the time if we hide in our homes, it won't harm us. But it can't be killed." The old man sighed, then continued.

"Can't be killed?" Gauss raised an eyebrow. His Monster Encyclopedia had indicated a completed kill. Thinking the old man might not understand the specifics, he explained further:

"Old sir, I've already checked - it's truly dead. You can rest assured."

Though the group couldn't resolve their curse, at least without that monster, the villagers' lives would be much safer.

"No, no. What this old man means is that even if you kill it, after some time a new one will appear." The old man shook his head. "Previously, a kind adventurer came through. He helped us kill that monster, but after he left, over a month later, a new monster appeared."

Gauss's charm wasn't for show. After he revealed his smile, the old man's anxious mood noticeably eased considerably.

Hearing this, Gauss fell silent.

He truly hadn't expected that good intentions could instead lead to bad outcomes.

His gaze caught sight of the other's weak body. The birth of demonic familiars might actually be the result of absorbing their life force.

This meant that each time a demonic familiar was killed, while providing safety in the short term, it was actually accelerating the village's demise.

The curse wasn't contagious, and the cost to remove it was too great, so the church ignored it.

This resulted in villagers having to be extremely cautious even during daily activities, afraid of encountering some adventurer who might start slaughtering the village in a panic, forcing them to carefully hide in their homes even during daytime.

So hopeless.

After asking the old man for more information, Gauss shook his head.

Beyond what had been discussed, there were no other important clues.

How the curse appeared, the old man had no idea either, only knowing it started roughly a year ago.

In fact, the only reason they knew it was demon-related was from what the priest had told them. Otherwise they would have remained in the dark, thinking they had contracted some strange disease.

The night passed without incident. Gauss and the others returned to their temporary camp to rest.

Early next morning.

After the demonic familiar's death, the deathly stillness in the village seemed to have dissipated somewhat.

Perhaps the old man had spoken to other villagers about Gauss's group.

Early in the morning, they could see some "children" playing in the village.

Gauss boiled some water and sat watching from a distance.

The deformities on those children were more severe, but perhaps because children's life force was more resilient, they didn't appear overly weak.

Gauss also didn't sense any monster-like aura from them - they were human, just humans unfortunately cursed.

A little girl timidly approached the camp. Both her upper arms were abnormally swollen, covered with rough scabs. Beneath the skin, something seemed to be moving about like worms, and she was surrounded by a foul odor.

Yet her eyes were clear and bright. From a distance, she curiously observed Gauss - this good-looking stranger - and the small pot steaming before him.

Gauss offered his gentlest possible smile, pulling several clean honey candies from his Storage Bag. He placed the candies on a clean stone, pushing them toward the girl's direction to indicate she could come take them.

The little girl hesitated for a moment before ultimately succumbing to the candy's temptation. She quickly ran over, grabbed the candies, and rapidly retreated to a safe distance.

One could only say she had some safety awareness, but not much.

After speaking a few sentences, he began breathing heavily, his body weak.

"What's your name?" Gauss asked softly, stirring the breakfast in his pot.

"Lucy..." the girl mumbled, her mouth full of sweet candy.

"Lucy, that's a very nice name." Gauss smiled. "Why aren't you playing with the others?"

"They won't play with me. They say I smell." As she spoke, she took two more steps back, only stopping after confirming Gauss probably couldn't smell her from there.

But she didn't realize those two steps made no difference whatsoever to Gauss.

Gauss also didn't mind her odor.

After chatting with the little girl for a few sentences, the brief encounter ended.

Once she finished her candy, she very conscientiously left.

Serlandul, who had remained silent throughout nearby, shook his head upon seeing this.

"Perhaps in a few years, this village will disappear without a sound?"

"A few years then..." Gauss pondered internally.

He truly hadn't expected that good intentions could instead lead to bad outcomes.

His gaze caught sight of the other's weak body. The birth of demonic familiars might actually be the result of absorbing their life force.

As long as it wasn't contagious and confirmed to be an extremely low-probability isolated incident, it was destined not to attract much attention.

"Let's go."

After breakfast, Thorin called for everyone to continue their journey.

Thorin mounted his horse, continuing to drink heavily while humming songs, seemingly having already forgotten about Rolling Stone Village's matters.

This was true professional adventurer conduct - they weren't saviors, and similarly encountered many helpless situations. Most of the time, they could only ignore them and move forward.

Gauss took one last look back at that gray, dilapidated little village, then tightened his grip on his Ostrich's sides, urging his mount to catch up with the group.