192. Crimson Meteor
192. Crimson Meteor
***
A troll's 'Regeneration' stood out even among countless monsters.
From what Serin remembered from Black Ark, trolls recovered even fairly serious injuries in a short time, and the byproduct of that troll blood, 'Troll Blood,' always traded at high prices because it went into all sorts of alchemy and potions.
In the early days, when her skills were still middling, trolls had been one of the hardest monsters to deal with because of that distinctive regeneration, and once she reached a certain level and could finish them in a single blow, they had also become one of the easier monsters to face.
And now, ironically enough.
She was facing a troll with that regeneration 'stacked' on top of itself.
......
*
————
Grishan Snowfield Troll.
—Level 71.
Damage Increase + 50%
Movement Adjustment + 30%
*Additional Trait.
- Troll Blood (Stacked State)
————
*
"GRAAAH!!"
"GRRRR!!"
Swish!!
As the two trolls swept the ground with their massive clubs and charged, Serin, who had been staring at them, let out a hollow laugh as if she found it amusing.
"Isn't this a bit much?"
She had already cut off their arms and severed their legs with the Crescent-Moon Weight several times.
A battle that should have ended long ago kept dragging on.
She was spending minutes at a time on ordinary trolls, not even named monsters.
WHOOOOSH!!
One troll swung its massive club in a wide arc as if to crush Serin's upper body outright, and as if coordinating, the other swept the ground and struck low.
—Bloodstained Step.
Her blood-tinged legs began moving swiftly across the ground, evading the trolls' attacks.
She ducked under the blow aimed at her upper body as if sliding, and against the club sweeping low, she kicked off the ground from that lowered position and launched herself into the air, dodging the trolls' linked attacks like an acrobat.
Swish!
Even as she did, the cord connected to her arm unraveled swiftly, and the Crescent-Moon Weight, steeped in blood-red energy, began weaving through the air bewitchingly.
SLICE!
A single red trajectory traced a curve through both trolls' legs, severing their knees once again.
"GRAAAH!!"
"GRAAH!"
The trolls lost their supporting legs and began to collapse. The two of them clearly looked as though they were falling to the ground.
Snap!
But at some point, the trolls' bodies stopped in midair as if brakes had been applied.
Contrary to their fall, the trolls righted themselves again, a sight that was almost eerie.
Serin let out a hollow laugh as she watched.
With troll regeneration added to creatures that were already trolls, they had transformed into truly broken monsters.
All living things instinctively protect and guard vital points like the head, but trolls had that trait especially strongly.
And that characteristic of defending the head to the extreme held true in Another World as well—they blocked attacks aimed at their heads like ghosts.
Even if it meant sacrificing their arms and legs, they blocked somehow.
For any other living thing, losing limbs would be as good as a fatal wound, but to these trolls now, it meant nothing.
They had become monsters with regeneration close to semi-immortality.
[What's with the legs reattaching the second they get cut off lololol]
[That's genuinely grotesque]
[I get that it's possible because it's the Cave of Trials but isn't this still totally broken?]
[Regeneration on top of regeneration lololol]
[At that level, trolls' actual regen rate is like 95%? That's basically immortal-tier]
[I saw someone calculate the stat weighting in the Cave of Trials, and the added traits are multiplicative lolol]
Glancing at the chat window, Serin widened the distance from the trolls.
"Hoo."
After a moment of wondering what to do, Serin finally let out a long breath. She gave her head a small shake.
As her snow-white silver hair briefly traced through the air with the motion, Serin soon took up an unusual stance.
She pulled her left arm far back, gripping the cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight tightly, and with her right hand she grasped the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight directly, aiming it forward.
She lowered her upper body as well, settling into a combat stance ready to leap at any moment.
It looked as though she were preparing to thrust toward the trolls while gripping a corded dagger under tension.
'Maybe taking the slow penalty would've been better.'
Even as she took her stance, Serin found herself thinking that.
She didn't like the situation—having to chain techniques against mere ordinary monsters.
It even bruised her pride.
"GRAH!"
"GRRR!"
Contrary to those thoughts, as she watched the trolls closing in fast, Serin calmly settled her gaze.
'Pierce both trolls' heads with a single attack.'
Defending against an attack is only possible when you perceive the attack. Conversely, to strike at a speed too fast to perceive, Serin organized the technique chain in her head.
Creeeak!!
With the sound of the cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight being drawn taut, Serin finished her thoughts. She deployed her techniques.
—Swift (快) - Bloodstained Step.
One of the basic techniques of the high-Agility Dancer class. Deploying 'Swift,' which further increased her Agility, she used Bloodstained Step and shot forward like a red meteor.
——!!
In that instant, her figure was like a single red meteor streaking through the night.
Or like a blood-soaked brush rapidly drawing a single line.
One step.
The moment she stepped forward, the troll raising its club swelled rapidly in her vision,
and the moment she kicked off the ground once more, she was no longer on the ground.
"Grr?"
"Grh?"
The two trolls, having lost track of Serin, blankly turned their heads to find her—and in that moment, Serin hung in the blind spot of the air.
—Swift (快) - Single Kick.
She spun her body swiftly, maintaining Swift, and kicked through the empty air.
Bang!
With the sound of space bursting, a red trajectory slashed across the air in an instant.
SWISH!
Piercing through both trolls' heads at once from midair, Serin shot toward the ground like a red meteor. She frantically swung her arm and drove the Crescent-Moon Weight into the nearby ground with all her strength.
Thunk! SCRAAAAAPE!!
Using the Crescent-Moon Weight planted in the ground as an anchor, she plowed through the earth as she slid, only stopping just before she hit the cave wall.
When she turned her head, the cave wall was close enough to touch. Serin stared at it and let out a dazed laugh.
"Safe...?"
I nearly slammed myself straight into the cave wall because I couldn't control my own speed.
BOOM, THUD!
The trolls, their heads bursting belatedly, collapsed their massive bodies to the ground, entering her vision.
She watched the monsters turn to light and vanish, and at the last moment, she almost felt embarrassed for no reason.
"...Huh?"
As she straightened up, her movements felt heavy, as if a sudden load had come over her.
She twitched her arm and checked her status window. Her Stamina Gauge was nearly empty.
*
————
Exhaustion effect activated.
(Movement slowed by 50% for 3 minutes)
————
*
At the hologram decorating her vision, Serin wondered if she had misallocated her techniques.
'The limits are bigger than I thought.'
She had thought she'd distributed her techniques reasonably well. Her Stamina Gauge had no room to spare at all.
Using Swift early to add Agility to her movements, then chaining Bloodstained Step and Single Kick for additional speed. Just using the basic blood-red energy on the Crescent-Moon Weight had drained her stamina dry.
In PVE situations, when the Stamina Gauge hit empty, a temporary status effect called Exhaustion kicked in. The aftermath of chaining techniques back-to-back had probably added extra weight to her stamina, which was a shame.
"I'll rest a bit and then continue. I'm exhausted right now."
So she looked at the chat window while passing the exhaustion time.
[holy shit what the hell]
[Every time I watch Rin it's a thrill, seriously lolololol]
[Makes me want to play Dancer for real;]
[That kind of movement was possible?]
[Then what the hell were all the Dancers I knew]
[Rin, are you actually some kind of hidden class?]
[I watched the stream footage slowed down and you can literally see her moving as an afterimage, is that real?]
Checking the chat, the viewers' reactions weren't bad—they seemed to have taken the technique chain as a kind of performance.
Ding-a-ling!!
『PleaseEnterANickname donated 50,000 won!!』
《I just saw Rin and decided to delete my Berserker and make a Dancer!!》
『HuFua donated 50,000 won!!』
《I really don't donate, but after seeing that I had no choice—take all my money!》
"PleaseEnterANickname and HuFua, thank you both for the 50,000 won donations. You're deleting your character to play Dancer? Even so, that seems a bit much... Since it's your first donation, I'm even more grateful."
Serin, who had settled onto a nearby rock to rest, answered the donations ringing in with a soft voice, though her expression was ambiguous.
'Deleting a character seems a bit much.'
In Another World, the concept of an 'alt character' barely existed.
The effort and time that went into a single character were enormous, and people didn't have the capacity to raise alts.
Another World Company's policy was one character per account.
To actually make an alt character, you had to create a new account. And to do that, you had to contact Another World and pay a separate account fee amounting to several million won.
In a sense, you could make an alt character, but the account fee itself was essentially a deterrent telling you not to.
So they were apparently going to delete their original character and make a new one.
"Viewers, what do you all think of the Dancer class?"
The question suddenly came to her.
Was Dancer good?