Chapter 192: Vlad vs Troll

Unlike Orcs, ambushing trolls didn’t work unless the attacker was a skilled assassin. Trolls were highly sensitive to mana fluctuations.

If Vlad wanted to ambush it without alerting it, he would have to rely on pure physical force. But he was aware that his muscles alone wouldn’t be enough to break through the troll’s thick skin, so he decided to use Sword Aura from the beginning.

And just as he had predicted, the troll immediately woke up the moment it sensed the mana fluctuations from the high branch of the tree.

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"KRAGHHH!!!!" The troll screamed in pain as almost half of its upper body was cleanly severed. Yet its first instinct after being critically wounded was to attack Vlad with its remaining arm.

Even though the flashing light had temporarily blocked its vision, its wide fist, nearly the size of Vlad’s torso, thrust toward him like a cannon.

Vlad firmly placed one hand against the flat of his blade, the other still gripping the hilt.

The troll’s fist connected with the blade, sending ripples of shockwaves outward. The collision sent Vlad skidding several feet across the icy surface, his body only coming to a stop when his back slammed against a nearby tree.

"Wh-what an incredible strength," Vlad muttered as he grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the sword. It was shaking uncontrollably from the aftershock of the strike.

The flashing light slowly vanished, the forest returning to its usual spooky darkness. The troll’s grey figure became visible in the shadows, standing still in its position. The ice beneath it was covered in a dark liquid where the severed part of its torso lay.

The bleeding from its wound had already stopped. Numerous grotesque bubbles of flesh were forming across its sliced skin as its body began reforming itself. Disturbing sounds of sizzling flesh and cracking bones filled the area as the troll slowly moved toward Vlad with a wet growl.

"Al-already?" Vlad gasped, his eyes widening. "That was definitely a life-threatening injury. How is it healing already?"

It should have taken hours for the troll to regenerate from such a wound, but by the look of it, it might heal in just a few minutes.

Vlad needed to act fast before it could reform its other arm.

Crackles of crimson bolts danced across his feet, cracks resembling spider webs spreading across the icy surface beneath him as he bolted forward. His body moved like a blur, leaving a trail of crimson lightning in his wake.

His blade was about to reach the troll’s knee when it was stopped mid-motion by the thick, pointed nails of its claw.

Vlad’s eyes widened slightly. The troll had sensed him approaching even when he used Lightning Step. Not only that, but it had actually stopped his blade, laced with Sword Aura, with its bare claws.

Vlad tried to pull the blade back, but the troll held it firmly in place. It suddenly lunged its mouth toward Vlad’s head, baring its massive, jagged teeth.

"Two Ring Astrel Magic: Illusion Mirage!"

Alisha’s voice came from the tree, the sphere at the top of her wand illuminating with a golden glow as she pointed it toward the troll.

The creature suddenly stopped, its mouth only a few inches away from Vlad’s head, its white eyes looking around in confusion.

It was seeing four of him after all, its four arms holding four crimson blades.

While it was momentarily confused, Vlad tightened his grip on the hilt and pushed the blade through.

It pierced through the nails, cutting them cleanly. He instantly retreated several feet the moment his sword was freed.

"KRAGH!!" The troll rushed toward him in wobbly steps, swinging its arms in an attempt to attack multiple versions of him. Vlad found its movements awfully similar to Edren whenever he returned home after getting drunk.

He skillfully moved around it, reaching its back, where he struck his blade at its ankle.

The blade had not even reached halfway through its tough skin when it suddenly kicked backward, its massive foot landing on Vlad’s chest.

He was sent airborne, crashing against the icy terrain and hurling shards of ice in every direction.

"D-damn..." Vlad gasped, rising to his feet. His armor was unscathed, and most of the impact had been absorbed by his chestplate. Without it, the kick would have left his chest aching for a night. "Is it a donkey or something?"

By the time he regained his stance, the troll had completely regenerated its severed torso. Around half of its arm had already reformed.

It looked back at Vlad with its sharp white eyes, drops of saliva falling from the gap between its yellow tusks.

"It is not called to be at the same level as a Marshal Knight for nothing," Vlad muttered, rushing at the troll again.

The effect of the illusion spell had already worn off, allowing it to see clearly again. The severed nails regrew on its hand, seeming even more pointed than before as Vlad approached.

"Two Ring Spectral Spell: Prism Distortion!"

The troll saw the space between it and Vlad distort. One moment, Vlad seemed directly before its eyes, while the next, he seemed very far away, barely even visible.

The perception was only distorted for the troll. As for Vlad, he could see something resembling a transparent glass wall placed before the troll.

The thought of changing his direction to move past it had only crossed his mind when Alisha ordered in a loud tone,

"Move right through it."

Vlad followed her order without a second thought, moving straight through the glass. He didn’t even feel any resistance against his body, as if it had never been there to begin with.

All the troll saw was the incoming figure of Vlad in the distance before his body suddenly appeared in front of it out of nowhere.

It could sense from the mana fluctuations of the Sword Aura on Vlad’s blade that this was the real one.

It instantly shoved both claws forward, its other arm already regenerated. It was a moment too late.

Vlad ducked low and swung his blade in a vertical, circular arc.

’No need to hold back,’ Vlad muttered inwardly.

During his swing, the sharpness of his Sword Aura suddenly increased, its translucent form around the blade turning crimson and opaque.

It sliced through both arms at once with barely any resistance. Vlad twisted his arms, changing the trajectory of his blade the moment the arms were severed.

He channeled his Electro Mana into his arms, dramatically increasing the speed of his swing.

Its severed arms had not even fallen to the ground when Vlad’s sword struck the troll at the shoulder and cleaved through its body downward in a diagonal slash.

He slammed a kick squarely into the troll’s chest, making its upper severed body fall backward before it could reconnect with it’s lower body.

Thud!

The troll’s severed arms and lower body fell forward while its diagonally slashed torso fell backward, everything landing nearly at the same time.

"KHRAGHHHHH!!!" The troll roared in both anger and fear, raising its half-severed arms toward Vlad.

He moved forward, placing one foot firmly on its chest. With one swift motion, he cleanly severed the troll’s head from its shoulders.