Plan B: Unleashing the Beast
The team members' faces had gone deathly pale.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing!"
Harry, the friendly foreigner who'd approached me earlier, stared in utter shock.
"What does it look like? I'm letting the old troll out."
"If you break that door, the troll will come straight at us!"
Harry's scream echoed through the chamber. I'd smashed open the door directly opposite the one he'd been trying to unlock.
Wouldn't opening any door have sufficed?
"The direction the troll heads matters," I replied.
Plan B.
Freeing the old troll wouldn't suddenly make it our ally. The idea was simply to unleash a starving monster toward the red goblin encampment.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Basic logic.
But the door I'd destroyed led down to the blue goblin territory.
"If the troll goes that way, how are we supposed to raid the red goblin camp!"
"Who said it was going that way?"
I shrugged.
Crunch. A hand the size of a cauldron lid gripped the shattered doorframe.
A massive shape emerged through the gap. It was the secret weapon the red goblins had been raising—the troll.
"Grrraaaah."
"It's looking at us."
"You stupid troll bastard!"
One of the white men spat curses.
Why insult the poor troll? The creature had been raised in captivity by the red goblins.
"Please stop with the monster hate speech."
"I'm talking about you, not the troll!"
While the team spiraled into confused babbling, the old troll moved.
"Grrraaaah."
Boom!
The old troll kicked through the half-destroyed door, revealing its savage nature.
"We're finished."
Harry collapsed to the ground. The rest of the team stared up at the troll with despair in their eyes.
Ah, the guy who'd cursed at me earlier was using a skill to retreat.
"What excellent teamwork," I muttered.
Is withdrawing while hiding one's presence also part of team activities?
"No. It's just abandoning your comrades and running."
Abandoning one's comrades is teamwork? It seems the meaning of the word has become quite distorted in your world.
Sigh. Look at this naive goddess.
"Grrraaaah!"
Thud! Thud!
The old troll swung both arms wildly and charged straight forward. Its first target seemed to be me, since I was closest.
What an ungrateful bastard. Who freed you, again?
"Actually, this is perfect."
I grinned.
Eagle's Eye
The opponent is weaker than you.
A yellow aura rose above the old troll. To think the hidden boss of the first floor had lower specs than me. All that essence devouring had been worth it.
I walked straight toward the troll.
"Grrraaaah!"
The old troll swung its right arm. Internal energy from my dantian circulated through my meridians and across my entire body.
I deployed the Blood Claw Technique with my protruding nails, colliding directly with the troll's massive palm.
Splat.
The troll's fingers fell to the floor.
"Grrraaaah?!"
The old troll let out a pained groan and pulled its arm back.
"What's wrong? Having some trouble?"
I slipped into the troll's chest guard.
"What the hell am I even watching right now?"
Harry watched the battle with eyes full of disbelief.
The old troll. Its left leg was twisted at a grotesque angle. Its skin was covered in scars that looked like medals of honor.
But it was still a troll.
A monster that players who had just challenged the first floor could never hope to hunt.
Yet that powerful creature...
"Grrraaaaaah!"
...was screaming in panic.
Splash!
Blood poured out like a waterfall. Every drop had come from the troll's body.
Agile Hind Legs
Shadow Dominion
Blaze
Jinho circled the old troll at high speed. Flames erupting from his footsteps restricted the troll's movements, while dark blades bursting from the ground tore through the scars on the monster's body.
And that wasn't all.
"Grrraah!"
Whenever the troll swung its arms in desperation, he met them head-on. The Blood Claw Technique, modeled after a tiger's movements. When combined with Sharp Claws enhanced by Greed's Protection, the troll's thick hide tore apart like paper.
"Um, Harry. The troll is... getting pushed back, right?"
"It appears so."
May Chang looked equally stunned. When Jinho had released the troll toward them, she'd thought it was all over.
But the one who was finished was the troll. The secret weapon meant to destroy the goblin encampment had been utterly toyed with by Jinho.
Meanwhile.
"Damn, it's tough."
Jinho clicked his tongue. Even though it was old, the troll's regeneration ability remained intact. The fingers he'd severed early in the fight had already regrown, and pinkish bubbles were boiling up through the torn hide.
An almost miraculous regenerative power.
It is unbearable to behold. How truly horrific.
"You'll see far worse things than this if you keep climbing the Tower."
Then give me fair warning beforehand. I shall close my eyes.
Even while moving his hands and feet, Jinho casually chatted with Nyx.
"Krrgh... Grrrrraaah."
"You're noisy."
Jinho frowned.
Ssssssh!
The extended Polar Night lashed across the old troll's mouth, silencing its screams. From the troll's perspective, this was pure insanity. No matter how wildly it swung its arms, it couldn't touch Jinho at all.
Its fists could shatter massive boulders, yet the moment they met Jinho's nails, they were torn into several pieces.
Having high regeneration didn't mean it couldn't feel pain. Trolls were resistant to pain, but being tormented so persistently still hurt.
"Grrraah."
The old troll tried to turn and flee.
But the three-meter-tall wall of flames made escape difficult. The scars covering its body were marks left by the Blood Claw Technique. When wounds were exposed to extreme heat, they sealed instantly, regeneration or not.
"Grr... Grrraah."
The old troll knew this well. Both running and fighting were terrible choices.
Killing intent flickered in the troll's eyes. The primal instinct of a monster that had reigned as an apex predator chose attack over flight.
"Looks like you've finally made up your mind."
The smile on Jinho's lips deepened.
The troll's defense and regeneration had been quite troublesome even for him. He'd restricted the battlefield with Blaze and chipped away at its stamina by circling it, but he was still missing one final move to end the fight.
You should be able to defeat that monster now.
"Yeah."
Harry clicked his tongue as he watched the two converse so casually.
To think there's someone skilled enough to toy with an old troll like this.
At first, when he'd seen Jinho charge into the blue goblin camp, Harry had thought it was mere bravado. No, he'd considered it suicidal. There were all kinds of people in the world, after all, including those who enjoyed sabotaging others' missions.
I was wrong.
Harry lowered his gaze. He felt ashamed. Ashamed that he'd judged someone based on his own shallow thinking. What had been lacking in this mission wasn't Jinho—it was Harry himself.
I want to become strong like him.
Harry looked around. The team members watching the battle while half-collapsed. The same longing shone in their eyes.
At that moment.
"Huff, huff!"
Rough breathing came from behind them. It was Peter, the player who had fled the moment the old troll was released.
"Why did you come back here?"
"M-man! Goblins are coming up from below!"
Peter's face was ghostly white. While fleeing from the troll, he'd run into dozens of red goblins climbing the mountain slope. Even his prized stealth skill couldn't fool the senses of so many goblins.
"One of their poison darts nearly grazed my head, you know?"
Peter wiped the sweat from his forehead as he spoke.
Hearing this, Harry gripped his machete tightly.
"We'll hold them off."
"W-what?"
"While Mr. Yu Jinho finishes off the troll, we'll buy time."
"I didn't want to just sit around doing nothing anyway. Fine."
May Chang stood up as well. The team members, except for Peter, found their courage once more.
But then.
"Don't touch those goblins."
An unexpected answer came from the battlefield. Jinho had just torn the troll's right arm into several pieces. Madness flickered in his eyes.
"All the contribution belongs to me."
Harry flinched at the killing intent in that gaze.
The red goblins' northward advance. It was the side effect of taking the shortest route up the mountain slope.
Tsk. I clicked my tongue.
"I didn't account for that."
Why not leave the red goblins to them?
"No can do. The contribution points are too valuable to give up."
The first clear of each floor's mission gave the best rewards. Repeating already-cleared floors drastically lowered the quality of those rewards. It was the Old Gods' scheme to force players to challenge higher floors and increase their synchronization faster.
Therefore, I couldn't yield even a single red goblin!
Berserk
Strength and Agility increased by 30%.
Duration: 60 seconds
The skill obtained from the essence of the Rage Ape. As I activated Berserk, my muscles tightened and power surged from my core. My heartbeat accelerated to about one and a half times its normal rate. The sound of my heart pounding was so loud it felt like an engine was revving right next to my eardrums.
Cold Blood activated. Suppressing part of the rage.
The Cold Blood skill minimized the side effects of the berserk state. Adrenaline rampaged through my veins, but my clear mind maintained control over my body.
I leaped from my position using Agile Hind Legs. The troll, unable to keep up with my increased speed, swung its arms wildly.
Whoosh—
The arm grazed behind me. I dove into the troll's wide-open chest and unleashed the Blood Claw Technique. Thick skin tore apart, and gushing blood blurred my vision. The power enhanced by Berserk carved even deeper wounds.
"But this isn't the end."
I spun once in mid-air. The third form of the Blood Claw Technique—Blood Tiger Storm Claw—ripped open the freshly made wound even further. My nails caught the troll's heart. No matter how strong its regeneration was, destroying the heart or brain would kill it.
"Grr..."
Thud. The four-meter giant collapsed backward.
Large amount of experience acquired.
I ignored the system messages. What mattered more was—
"Don't touch them. They're all mine!"
—making sure the team didn't steal any of the red goblins from me.
Cloud Flow Steps
Tap tap tap!
I dashed forward at blinding speed. Passing the team members including Harry, I collided with the horde of red goblins that had climbed the mountain slope.
"Kii, kiiit!"
My reflection appeared in the panicked goblins' eyes. The red glow in my eyes was a side effect of Berserk.
"Heh heh heh. You all belong to me."
Using Agile Hind Legs, I broke through the center of the red goblin horde and took up position behind them. In the process, about ten goblins were impaled on the spikes of my armor, sent flying, or collapsed bleeding.
"Kiit! Our retreat is cut off!"
"Kiit! Kill the crazy human first!"
The red goblins charged at me. What followed was a one-sided massacre.