Chapter 191: Fighting the troll

Seraphina could have hunted the trolls one by one with the full party. It would have been time-consuming, yes, but the risk of injuries could have been significantly reduced. Not to mention, their teamwork would have reduced the individual effort required from each member, as well as their mana consumption.

She still ordered the party to split up and attack the three different locations simultaneously because of a possibility she hadn’t overlooked.

Since all the trolls were surrounding this part of the forest, each stationed almost equidistant from its neighbouring troll, what if a fight at one location alerted the other trolls as well? Or, even worse, the high-ranked monsters deeper within the forest?

If that happened, they would be swarmed by these high-ranked monsters.

Splitting the team certainly reduced their overall strength, but it eliminated the possibility of being surrounded from all sides.

Seraphina had deliberately ordered Vlad and Alisha to fight the first troll while she, Raphael, and Hugo would take on the trolls stationed on either side of them.

That way, even if the remaining two trolls were alerted to the intrusion, they would be drawn toward Seraphina or Hugo and Raphael rather than converging on Vlad and Alisha.

She wasn’t doubting Vlad’s capabilities. Even if he were to switch positions with them, she was confident that he could defeat even one more troll thrown at him.

However, ’he could’ necessarily didn’t mean ’he had to.’

Seraphina was already playing favourites, not that she would ever accept it.

---

Vlad and Alisha dismounted their beasts when they were only a hundred metres away from the troll’s location.

Vlad didn’t know much about Shadow’s abilities except that it could move really fast and appear out of nowhere. Naturally, he didn’t take the risk of including it in the fight. As for Alisha, she was well aware of Vix’s abilities, her crystal fox, but she still avoided including her in the battle. They needed their beasts at full strength in case they had to escape from a grave situation.

They climbed a nearby tree and covered the rest of the distance by carefully moving from the branches of one tree to another.

"There it is," Vlad whispered, his gaze fixing on the sleeping figure of the troll lying below a small icy terrain. Even though he had seen it for days while following them, its sight still slightly quickened his heartbeat.

Its large, muscular body was every bit as intimidating even though it was sleeping. Its long nails seemed sharp enough to even bend through steel, while the long, yellowing fangs jutting out of its mouth seemed as if they could tear through flesh with the slightest grip.

Glistens of ice were visible here and there on its body, as if it had been sleeping in this position for many hours.

"It’s not sleeping," Alisha revealed in a low whisper, sitting on the branch beside him. "The trolls only sleep when they suffer life-threatening injuries. Sleeping increases their regeneration. But even then, only a couple of hours is enough for them to heal completely."

"So is it acting to lure us in?" Vlad asked the obvious question, although that didn’t seem to be the case. Particles of ice on its body made it clear that it had been in this state for several hours.

Alisha shook her head. "Trolls aren’t so weak as to lure their prey into a trap by pretending to sleep. They are predators. When they need to eat, they hunt. There is only one explanation for its strange behaviour."

She took a small gulp and declared in a grave tone, "It must be absorbing the mana radiation being released from the Genesis Artifact."

"S-so there really is an Artifact here," Vlad released a low gasp, his eyebrows rising.

"I’m not sure," Alisha released a weary sigh. "But that is the only logical explanation."

"Well, we will find it out once we get rid of it," Vlad declared, unsheathing The Éclair.

The Sword Aura of Electro Mana gave him greater sharpness and speed, while the Umbra Mana was more useful in breaking through the mana defences of opponents thanks to its devouring nature.

To fight a troll with skin even thicker than steel, the sharpness of Electro Mana was exactly what Vlad needed.

A thin veil of energy illuminated around his body as the concentrated crimson mana bled into the blade in his hand, dramatically increasing its width and length. Numerous small bolts of red lightning flickered along its surface.

The moment he activated the Sword Aura while still several metres above the ground, the troll’s dark eyes shot open, its white irises fixing Vlad with a predatory glare.

No reaction came from Vlad. There was no fear in his eyes as the troll slowly rose to its feet, grabbing the massive log that was placed behind it.

"Run wild," Alisha said to Vlad in a confident tone. "I will have your back."

Vlad nodded as he stepped forward from the branch into the empty air. His body fell freely, his sword pointing toward the sky as he held it with both hands.

"KRAGHH!" The troll growled, throwing the massive log toward Vlad’s descending figure.

He swung his sword in a vertical arc, cutting the log into two symmetrical halves, each one moving past either side of him.

The troll had already clenched its fist, prepared to throw a punch at him while he was still in the air. It was as if the troll knew that the log wouldn’t stop him, so it used it to decrease the momentum of his blade.

"Vlad, don’t look back," Alisha’s voice came from the high branch of the tree as she muttered,

"Two Ring Spectral Magic: Flashbang!"

Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from where Alisha was standing, painting the whole area white. It was so bright that it forced the troll to close its eyes.

With his back turned to the flashbang Alisha had cast, Vlad took full advantage of the troll’s temporary blindness.

His sword cleaved into the troll’s shoulder. As he dropped past it, the blade sank deeper, tearing through its thick flesh and dragging downward with him.

When Vlad landed on the ground, a nearly vertical section of the troll’s torso, from the waist up, came crashing down with him.