Chapter 65: The Troll King

After several days of relentless battle, I pressed forward, overcoming challenge after challenge, cleaving my way through eleven gates. The increasingly formidable monsters blocking my path fell one by one, their blood and corpses paving the road to the gate of victory.

Now I stood before the twelfth gate, facing a single opponent—more precisely, a single beast. A deafening roar echoed, shaking the ground beneath the massive passageway. A towering creature, nearly twenty meters tall, appeared before me.

It possessed four thick arms and unleashed a roar powerful enough to reverberate through the entire corridor. Its grotesque face was mostly concealed by a strange dark-gold helmet, and iron chains wrapped tightly around its body, forming a suit of chainmail that protected its enormous frame. Its four gigantic hands—the left two gripped enormous steel round shields, while the right two held weapons resembling javelins, each nearly ten meters in length.

The threat of this creature was clear. With another earth-shattering roar, it strode forward, brandishing its two weapons—one long, one short—and charged at me.

Troll King, Level 60, Enhanced Monster.

The Troll King howled, simultaneously hurling one of its javelins at me, the massive weapon slicing through the air with a shrill whistle. Without hesitation, I leaped aside to avoid the blow. No sooner had I dodged than the second javelin was thrown, forcing another roll to evade the shorter weapon. The Troll King roared furiously, retrieving two javelins that had stabbed into the ground in front of him. He slammed his four shield-bearing arms against his chest with a mighty blow.

The impact resounded through the cavern, a terrifying shriek echoing within. I wasted no time—Dragon Warrior, enter the fray! I shouted, “Dragon Warrior! Finish it!”

“Yes, master,” came the standard reply. Drawing the black sword, Dragon Warrior charged into battle. The foe rushed forward as well, and the two collided, unleashing a thunderous blast.

Dragon Warrior let out a roar of pain, his mountainous body sent flying into the stone wall behind, shattering it with a crash. “Damn!” He tumbled to the ground, then quickly rose from the rubble, unleashing a world-shaking dragon’s roar as he lunged again.

The Troll King’s immense size granted him the right to battle Dragon Warrior—a clash like two mountains colliding, with four arms flailing menacingly. In an instant, they were locked together.

Boom! Boom!

The tremendous reverberations rang out without pause, the surrounding stone walls crumbling like clay. Even I, the master, had to constantly dodge to avoid being caught in the chaos. Stunned, I watched the awe-inspiring spectacle unfold before me: Dragon Warrior, fierce as a demon god, faced the colossal Troll King, whose two gigantic lances wielded powers capable of overturning rivers and seas. The air was filled with the ringing resonance of their weapons.

I retreated several meters, watching the distant battle between Dragon Warrior and the Troll King, my blood surging with fervor. The primal will to fight roared within me, yet I could not intervene in the duel between these two monsters. The shockwaves of their combat had reduced the surroundings to rubble, transforming the area into a wasteland of debris.

The massive stone walls around us were destroyed, leaving a field of ruins.

Suddenly, a roar thundered across the land. The Troll King, gripping his giant magic lances, struck Dragon Warrior with brutal force. Dragon Warrior wailed in agony, rolling away. With a thunderous crash, his vast body slammed into the ground, but he quickly rose, swinging his black sword to sever one of the Troll King’s arms. The Troll King howled in pain, retaliating by clubbing Dragon Warrior and sending him flying. He strode forward, shaking the ground with every step, lance raised, charging toward the fallen Dragon Warrior.

“Hmph! Damn you!” Dragon Warrior, instantly back on his feet, stood his ground, raised his head, and let loose a thunderous dragon’s roar. Opening his maw, he spewed torrents of fire.

Dragon Warrior was truly enraged now. His fury ignited a blaze that enveloped his entire body, flames pouring from his mouth and engulfing the charging Troll King at once.

The Troll King roared ceaselessly, waving his lances to tear through the flames. Dragon Warrior darted forward, rapidly closing the distance and entangling the Troll King, whose lances whirled in resistance.

A resounding crash followed—Dragon Warrior severed another shield-bearing arm from the Troll King. Yet the Troll King’s two lances struck back: one knocked the sword from Dragon Warrior’s hand, the other hammered into his body. Simultaneously, Dragon Warrior clamped his dragon claws onto the Troll King’s shoulders, opened his blood-red jaws, and with a sharp snap, bit through the Troll King’s throat.

Blood gushed from the Troll King’s mouth like a fountain. He threw down his lances and gripped Dragon Warrior tightly, attempting to fling him off.

Dragon Warrior roared, his claws digging deep into the Troll King’s body. His tail lashed the Troll King’s form relentlessly. Suddenly, a thunderous impact sounded between the two titans, and both figures tumbled away, rolling across the ground.

As they rolled, they tore at each other, biting and grappling, their roars echoing endlessly—a scene both terrifying and awe-inspiring. This was combat between super monsters: pure strength and brutality, thrilling to witness.

The two giants fell to the ground, entangled and rolling, their immense force demolishing everything in their path. Even stones were ground to sand beneath their battle.

At last, the Troll King managed to throw Dragon Warrior off, but Dragon Warrior immediately stood again, roaring to the heavens. His opponent roared in kind, and they rushed together. The Troll King landed a punch on Dragon Warrior’s face, then an uppercut to his jaw, knocking him down. But Dragon Warrior, using his tail, dragged the Troll King down, climbed atop him, and pummeled his face with blow after blow. The Troll King refused to surrender, shoving Dragon Warrior back and striking him in return. The Troll King punched Dragon Warrior’s left cheek, then his stomach, forcing Dragon Warrior to one knee. The Troll King prepared another blow, but Dragon Warrior suddenly rammed his head into the Troll King’s chin, sending him reeling backward.

The Troll King rose again, but their roars grew weaker—the battle was nearing its end.

The Troll King immediately swung his fist, Dragon Warrior mimicked the motion, but the Troll King’s fist reached him first. Suddenly, Dragon Warrior opened his jaws wide and unleashed a blast of scorching flame. Caught off guard, the Troll King let out a miserable cry. With that, his massive form finally swayed and collapsed. To be honest, Dragon Warrior’s move was rather underhanded.

Victory belonged to Dragon Warrior. The enormous Troll King toppled, and Dragon Warrior stood silently amidst the ruins, his scales battered and deformed. His icy dragon eyes gazed at the charred corpse of the Troll King.

Then, to my surprise, Dragon Warrior lifted the Troll King’s body, tore off its limbs, smashed its body into pulp with his tail, leaving only the relatively intact head. He then stomped the head to bits, ground it further, and finished with another fiery breath—an act of utter destruction. At that moment, I wondered if this creature harbored some morbid obsession with corpse mutilation.

After desecrating the Troll King’s corpse, Dragon Warrior exhaled and collapsed, drained of energy. Yet green energy began to swirl around him, and I saw his life force rapidly recovering—clearly his meditation skill at work.

With the Troll King defeated, I gained fifty thousand experience points and seven hundred trial points. Including my previous earnings, I now had two thousand five hundred trial points.

Though the Troll King’s body was destroyed, the loot did not vanish. He was stingy, dropping only ten gold coins and a fist-sized golden crystal core. Dragon Warrior saw the crystal and said, “Master, this is topaz, a valuable gem for embedding in equipment. It can add an extra attribute or skill to weapons or armor.”

“So that’s how powerful this thing is,” I replied.

At that moment, Anubis appeared before me and said, “Adventurer, well done. You are the third to pass the twelve trials. Now you may proceed through the door behind me to the magma fissure, where Lord Fire Dragon will conduct your final test. Will you continue or withdraw?”

Hearing this, I realized my quest was interconnected with my entry here. I immediately shouted, “Continue!”

“Very well. Good luck, adventurer.” With that, Anubis disappeared, and a wide open door appeared behind him. Dragon Warrior and I strode boldly through.