No Early Rush
"Thank you, Marquis. Thanks to you, I think I can see the shape of it now."
What the Marquis of Iolid had explained was not, strictly speaking, anything Ho-yeong had been unaware of. And yet it mattered greatly that someone else had pointed out what he had taken for granted all along. Seeing the concept from a third party’s perspective gave it a different weight.
This is ironic. I thought I knew everything because I’m the player, like I had the whole omniscient view. But the thing I’d been missing got pointed out by an old man I’d been treating like just another game character.
One of Ho-yeong’s strengths was that he listened when others gave him advice.
One Giant Troll will be summoned in about 3 minutes. Summoning location unknown.
"As for why those Kliad or Tliniad bastards are trying to destroy the beacon stone, I don’t know. Of course, we’ll need to figure that out too, but not right now."
With the countdown nearly over, Ho-yeong went straight to the conclusion.
"What we need to do right now is stop them! We may not know their purpose, but we know their target, and that’s enough."
The circumstances surrounding the quest might have been complicated, but the mission itself was painfully simple. All they had to do was keep the Giant Troll from breaking through to the beacon tower.
"Those fanatical elf bastards cooked up a filthy scheme, and we stopped them. This time, it’ll be much easier. We already know when and where the Giant Troll will appear. Let’s give those pointy-eared bastards, who call humans insects and pests, a taste of their own medicine!"
"I’ll summon my courage!"
As Ho-yeong hammered his Bakgyeokpo and shouted, the paladins and soldiers answered with a great roar of support.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
One Giant Troll will be summoned in about 1 minute.
"Marquis Iolid, you should start seeing signs of a dimensional rift soon. Please identify the wormhole’s range right away."
"I shall. That’s so you can aim your weapon at the Giant Troll properly, yes?"
"Exactly. As expected, you really are a proper know-it-all."
One Giant Troll will be summoned in 45 seconds.
A chill began to creep into the air, drifting up from the enormous rings Lucy had thrown down.
Ho-yeong, who had been worried his prediction might be wrong, let out a short breath and eased the tension from his chest.
One Giant Troll will be summoned in 30 seconds.
High in the air, a vast jet-black sphere formed. It was so deep and dark it looked capable of swallowing ten people whole.
"The Border Count’s prediction was right. A wormhole really is forming there..."
"It’s definitely different from when those mutated trolls were summoned earlier. It’s not just the size either. It feels far more ominous."
Under the gazes of awe and fear, the sphere began to stretch vertically.
Like the filthy hand of a starving troll ripping open a victim’s belly to get at the meat inside, it expanded with savage force.
"Fire mana shots at the wormhole! Kristian, move up high. Keiji, take the lower angle."
"Yes, Father!"
The blue mana shots fired by the Marquis’s sons shattered before they even came close to the black oval, as though they had struck an invisible wall.
The Marquis of Iolid immediately began to chant.
"Mana Circulation!"
The fragments of the mana shots swirled around the wormhole, circling it like the rim around an oval mirror.
"Oh, that makes it very easy to tell at a glance. Impressive, Marquis."
"As I said earlier, a dimensional rift destabilizes the flow of mana around it. And a wormhole, while taking shape, tries to push out external mana."
"So you used that property in reverse to determine the wormhole’s size."
"Exactly. You, too, are quite sharp for a knight when it comes to magic. Shall I assume that makes the Tamer Count a clever knight indeed?"
"Huh? Ah, right. Since I’m not a mage but a knight, it should be clever knight, not clever wizard... Haha... Ha. Please, avoid jokes that bad during battle."
He had almost dropped the mana shot down the mountain slope from secondhand embarrassment.
Still, thanks to the Marquis, I know the range ahead of time. Now all that’s left is the aim. If I don’t line up the angle beforehand, the shot’s likely to go wide. I only get one shot, so I have to be careful.
What Ho-yeong was aiming for was the Giant Troll’s head.
The wormhole that summoned the Elite Trolls earlier was oval-shaped too. And its size was almost exactly the same as the Elite Trolls. So the Giant Troll should be the same.
As he slowly adjusted the Bakgyeokpo’s position, the HUD finally appeared after a long absence.
The interface sharpened, and the Giant Troll’s silhouette appeared.
Good. That’s the head!
Just as Ho-yeong finished aiming, the wormhole stopped expanding.
One Giant Troll is being summoned. Its highest-priority objectives are the destruction of the beacon stone and the relay station.
Parting the black mist that billowed from within, the Giant Troll emerged.
Giant Troll
[ Stat | Grade | Base Value ~ Max Value ]
Power A+ : 85 ~ 101
Intelligence D : 1 ~ 3 (Its brain is small compared to its body.)
Mana X : 0 ~ 0
Charm D : 1 ~ 2
Command F : 0 ~ 1
Spirit D : 2 ~ 5 (Quirk: It likes to pile up enormous amounts of food so it can maintain its massive body.)
Conversion F : -10 ~ -6 (Cannot be converted during this quest.)
*Background*
It had been living in the northern unexplored land known as Dry Land.
Seeing it in person, it really is gigantic. It’s as tall as a decent commercial building. Its arms and legs are as thick as utility poles. It’s definitely living up to the name Giant Troll.
Even in the game it had been a monster of absurd size, but seeing the real thing made its pressure feel overwhelming.
Fog Hog was also a colossal monster, but while its bulk and heaviness had been impressive, the Giant Troll was overwhelming in height.
But I can’t get rattled. If I get scared, who’s going to command this? I’m the only one here who’s ever fought a Giant Troll...!
Steadying himself, Ho-yeong recalled the Giant Troll’s pattern from the game.
The Giant Troll roars for about twenty seconds right after it’s summoned. It’s a channeling skill used right out in the open, but since the caster is a Giant Troll, interrupting it is a pain in the ass.
A Channeling Skill is one that requires the user to maintain concentration, usually while standing still, in order to sustain the effect. If concentration is broken, the skill stops, which leaves it vulnerable to status effects. But the Giant Troll had strong resistance to most status ailments, making interruption difficult.
- Troooe...
The Giant Troll, having walked slowly out of the wormhole, came to a stop and suddenly let out a howl. Just as Ho-yeong had predicted.
Giant Troll is using channeling skill T-roar! Duration: 30 seconds
- TROOOOAR!
The roar was so thunderous that the grasses trembling on the windless plain dried up and crackled away.
First, get rid of the fear in our own ranks. We’ve gone to all this trouble to set the troops up properly, and if they get wiped out by fear and morale collapse, we’re screwed. At that point it won’t be free damage anymore, it’ll be no damage at all.
Although the Giant Troll’s wind-up time was long, it was rarely ever subjected to concentrated fire from allied units. The reason was simple: its opening roar threw troops into a state of [Fear], sending them into chaos.
[Effect description]
Duration: [Time remaining]
The Anxious Evil Eye activated. The allied forces were shaken by the Giant Troll’s overwhelming presence. If their fear did not subside, they would be afflicted with the status effect [Fear] and flee to random locations, so be careful!
As Ho-yeong feared, the allies were overwhelmed by intense dread.
"I-I didn’t think it would be that big."
Even the paladins, who had plenty of experience exterminating monsters, swallowed hard.
"Can we really stop... a monster like that?"
The soldiers could barely get their dry saliva down, their jaws trembling.
- TROOOOARROOOOOOOAR!
Remaining duration of T-roar: 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds...
Ho-yeong timed his move to match the moment the Giant Troll’s roar would end.
"Giiiant Trooooollllllllll!"
He roared back, the sound colliding with the monster’s own in a direct clash, his voice packed with aura the way he had learned in Rainpa.
"Oh? The Border Count’s lion’s roar won against that monster’s bellow!"
"Incredible. We already knew of his ability to command monsters, but to think it would work on a creature like that too!"
To those who didn’t know the situation, it looked as if the Giant Troll had been frightened by Ho-yeong.
After the roar ends, its whole body turns red and it stands frozen in place. That lasts... depending on the difficulty, about thirty seconds or so.
Ho-yeong raised his fist and drove the point home.
"Stand still! This is not the place for you. If you come any closer to us, you’ll pay for it with your life! I’ve fought Giant Trolls like you many times before. And I killed every one of them! You’ll end up the same way!"
The Ring of Truth, now clear again, glinted in the sunlight. His claim that he had killed Giant Trolls again and again was no lie. Even if those victories had all been achieved in the game.
"Has that bastard gotten so scared he can’t move? He really isn’t moving."
"To think you took down a monster that huge, not just once but several times... As expected of the Border Count! He really had a reason for being so confident!"
At any rate, the allies’ agitation was calming. That was good enough.
"All of you, do not be afraid! That thing will not take a single step into the relay station! Let’s defend our homeland with our own strength!"
"Yes!"
Giant Troll is attempting to use channeling skill Blood Torrent! It is pumping all three hearts at maximum output to activate blood flow throughout its massive body. Duration: 2 minutes
Thick veins as wide as ropes bulged all over the Giant Troll’s body.
I thought the system was just giving the player time to regroup as a final act of mercy, but there was a pretty plausible reason for it. So this wasn’t just the monster standing around blankly; it was using a skill internally. And if it’s giving me two minutes instead of thirty seconds... does that mean the difficulty really is that high right now?
*Tip
- The high-density black mist enveloping the Giant Troll’s body is serving as a shield.
- Attacking the Giant Troll will not cancel the skill. In fact, attacking it is not recommended.
- Since Blood Torrent is a skill that activates blood flow, the Giant Troll’s regeneration will increase dramatically.
In short, he was being told not to hit it half-heartedly.
Fine. Keep building up all you want. I’ll do the same right back at you.
Ho-yeong decided to make full use of the two minutes he had been given.
"Soldiers, summon your courage!"
"We will summon our courage!"
The guards, their resolve hardened, poured out aura with clumsy but fierce intensity, as if they were physically drawing courage from their own bodies. This was thanks to Ho-yeong using Blooming to open up their qi channels.
"Paladins who will bring down blessings, raise the Pillar of Divine Protection to bear that courage!"
"As you command!"
The seven paladins gathered in front of the mountain slope slammed their cavalry spears into the ground with all their might.
"The spear of faith upholds the earth!"
The defensive buff Pillar of Divine Protection, which they had used earlier against the trolls.
But unlike the totem-style casting from before, this time Ho-yeong made them cast it as a channeling skill.
In Reign of Dice, the more restrictions a skill had during casting, the stronger its effect became. Ho-yeong was aiming precisely for that point.
Paladins are all-purpose units who can handle damage, tanking, healing, buffs, and support all by themselves. If I make seven top-tier talents like these kneel there and pray, the buff should become that much stronger, right?
Obtained super-special buff Pillar of Heavenly Protection! Defense of allies within range increases.
- Effect: An additional 50% of maximum aura is emitted to envelop the body, reducing incoming damage. This additional amount recovers rapidly in proportion to each individual’s aura recovery rate.
- Duration: Since this is being cast as a channeling skill, the effect will continue until the casting is stopped.
Ho-yeong’s guess had landed squarely on target, and the buff rank jumped from special grade to super-special grade.
"So when the Giant Troll uses a channeling skill? We do the same and build up our power! But even with the channeling bonus, this effect looks absurdly stronger than I expected. Look at how much bigger the pillar got. It’s almost as thick as the Giant Troll’s leg."
This is because the guardian’s encouragement has stabilized the paladins’ hearts and raised their morale. Compared to the previous casting, aura gain, recovery speed, and buff range have all increased by 30%!
The orthodox use of this buff was to increase the warriors’ defense and turn melee combat in one’s favor. But the way Ho-yeong used Pillar of Divine Protection this time was rather different.
"That’s some incredible aura. Good, everyone, prepare your spears!"
He was using the greatly increased aura for javelin throws.
Remaining duration of Blood Torrent: 1 minute 50 seconds
Instead of waiting for the Giant Troll’s skill to end, Ho-yeong drew his sword.
"Throw them! Aim only at the assigned weak points!"
The short spears and lances, packed with fierce aura, shattered the black mist and pierced into the Giant Troll’s entire body.