4 Humans At Last

After a good night's sleep Maero was refreshed and ready to scout for humans, as his growth was bottlenecked around them and he could not level up without killing the specified number of them each time. From the memories of his past, he found that training or killing other monsters can get him stronger and give him skills but killing humans seems to let him absorb their magic essence.

After having breakfast and refreshing himself in a nearby river he walked to the road while maintaining [stealth] and occasionally climbing a tree to get a better vantage point. As he was climbing a tree he spotted a group of armed humans escorting a carriage through the dirt road while keeping watchful tabs on the forest in case of an ambush. After he finished calmly analyzing them his Troll blood boiled at the chance to torture, kill and maim but his cold calculating side suppressed it and tried to think of a strategy.

The group was compromised of 4 Warriors two archers and a single robed man holding a stick. But even his Troll side knew not to underestimate that man as the fluctuations of magic were pressuring him, even from a distance. he knew that was probably the most dangerous one of them and planned to take him out first. He reached the conclusion that he needed to ambush the mage first and then he could easily tank the rest as they seemed to only be physical attackers.

Soon he got ahead of the group using his stealth and climbed a tree after he reached the top he got into a sprinter's position on a strong branch and waited for the group to pass underneath him. While doing that, he activated [Natural Armour] boosting his already passive skill to the level of iron armor and then he activated [Tenacious] adding to his vitality just in case.

Finally, the group was passing under him not even detecting their impending doom he focused on the mage who was speaking to another one of the warriors. In a fraction of a second, all his muscles tightened and his focus sharpened only having the oblivious mage in his eyes then lunging off the tree and into him he extended his claws and went down on the mage.

The poor man was only aware of what happened after the fact as Maero kept slashing him in his abdomen and finally cut his throat. All the other Warriors soon awoke from shock and surrounded Maero with only one guarding the carriage in case the Troll had any ideas. But without losing his cool Maero lunged at the weakest looking one of them, trying to break the encirclement and keep his advantage in stealth so he can avoid useless injuries(Even if he could heal from them even while fighting he needed to be careful if they used elemental weapons). The man barely dodged the claws coming at him but he forgot that this troll has more than two sets of sharp tools, Maero seeing the man dodge used his strong brutish jaws to bit the man's arm rendering his sword arm twisted and his muscles minced.

The blood Maero tasted made him feel exhilaration beyond anything else and caused his already bulging muscles to twitch with power. but without losing himself to bloodlust he backed into the tree line while giving the men a devilish smile almost saying "I'll be back". After he activated stealth the men found it hard to track him and soon lost track of his camouflaged body in the dense shrubbery.

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Perspective of the Mercenaries

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As the dust settled on the sudden encounter they just had the captain of the Bloody Poniard Mercenary group's knees almost gave out. His subordinates weren't so in control though as the three men fell down and sat on the ground.

Youngest Man: Oh god Cap! I don't think I can use this hand anymore! It will probably be amputated!!! Why did you bring me on this mission you said it would be an easy one to get me started as a mercenary! But now I'll either die here or become a cripple for the rest of my life!

Grizzled Veteran: Calm down kid the captain can't predict everything in this forest, this route was supposed to be clear according to the information we bought.

Captain: Thanks for the word of reason Beck. And don't worry Ike, I'll make sure to foot the bill for a regeneration potion if we make it out of here. Hey, Dominic! How's Sir Merchant doing?

Dominic: He's doing better than all the rest of us, just frightened and fuming is all. It's a shame what happened to Gerald but we need to focus on getting out of this forest before nightfall, otherwise, we will be at the mercy of that strange beast.

Captain: You're right we have the time to make it out but we need to move fast if we are to make it.

Ike! since you're injured you'll be the backline while I and Beck guard our front and Dominic will be the midline to provide support for whoever needs it most.

All Three: Yes Sir!

Merchant: Please let me reach the city safe and I'll make sure to pay all of you people extra.

Captain: We'll do all that is in our power, Sir.

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Perspective End

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Watching the men fall into disarray and then pick themselves up mad Maero almost felt bad for them, almost...

He had to grow stronger if he was to survive in the forest and he knew humans aren't to accepting of trolls so he couldn't just stroll in through one of their city gates. He also thought that if he let them escape his location and abilities might be known to other more powerful humans. Easily making up his mind, he continued to trail them waiting for when they are less alert.

After a few hours of fast-paced jogging, the men seemed to have grown tired and slowed down, Maero saw the opportunity and went closer to finish what he started.

This time he would try to take out their leader to curb their teamwork and make his number disadvantage insignificant. But instead of using the trees he walked right out in front of them and roared with a gut-wrenching sound frightening the humans and showing his location. This time his Troll thoughts convinced him to do a direct confrontation to test out the skill that came with the man called Emil [Close Quarters Combat D+].

He immediatly got into his sprinting position and fired himself at the leader to take advantage of his shock, but as he was swiping down with his powerful claws the man managed to redirect the flow of the attack with his sword while countering with a slash to Maero's stomach. While Maero's skin was very hard the sword still managed to at least wond him with a 2 centimeter deep cut across his abdomen leaving him in immense pain, but using what's left of his thoughts to activate his [Tenacious] skill he managed to push the man down and started mauling him with his two hands and even his jaws. As the man went into shock his resistance faded but his subordinates, slow as they were still managed to stab and slash at Maero's back to try and get him off their leader and to their suprise the he did.

But the thing that made them feel true despair, was the fact that the heavy breathing Troll was not dying like usual but his wounds were actually healing at a rate much too fast for the Trolls they have fought before. And he was still smiling at them with a way that said "You're next".

Seeing the frozen men Maero proceeded to kill them leasurely, even letting them wound him as their swords were a few notches worse than the leader's sword and it couldn't hurt him fast enough to counteract his [Forest's Undying Bane] innate Skill. Then despite the aprehensiveness of his human side to needless torture he toyed with the Merchant and his manservant by chasing them through the woods then killing them slowly.

Maero: "Well I'm glad that's over, my contradicting soul might have been the only reason I managed to do this as easily as I did. But I digress, I should try not waste too much time standing out in the open and take whatever seems useful for now."