Chapter 22: Jelfs Tower

"Ahk!"

A sword pierced through a goblin's stomach. Ria swiftly withdrew her sword from the goblin's stomach, watching as the illusory creature dissipated. She took a moment to catch her breath.

"It's really not the same," she spoke under her breath.

Her family was unique, unlike other families whose children start real training after turning twelve. They had to train right after turning eight and completely focus on swordsmanship and breathing techniques. She had always wanted to fight a monster from a young age. And now, fighting one made her realize how weak and dangerous the actual fights can be.

[Trial completed. Fifteen credit points have been given. Proceed to the next floor?]

Hearing the voice, she sighed, closing her eyes and removing all of the useless thoughts.

"Yes, next floor," she muttered, lowering her body and entering the battle stance.

--

"Phew, that was hard," Ama muttered under her breath, wiping down the sweat on her forehead.

In front of her stood an unrecognizable body of a goblin, slowly disappearing. Her body was full of small cuts.

Being a mage, every time she tried to cast, this thing attacked her, disturbing her cast. Despite being able to cast a fireball within two seconds, it was still too hard. And after running from here and there quite a bit, she could finally activate one of her spells.

One simple spell was all it took to take down the goblin, putting it into an unrecognizable state.

"Sigh, I wonder how they're doing?" she muttered.

[Trial completed. Fifteen credit points have been given. Proceed to the next floor?]

"Yes," she spoke firmly, grabbing the wand.

-----

Lukas, with a quick sidestep, narrowly avoided the massive swing of the troll's club. Seizing the opportunity, he swiftly closed the gap and gave a horizontal slash towards its legs.

The purple saber sliced through the air. The troll roared in pain as its legs were slashed by the glowing blade. Green blood sprayed across the place.

It almost collapsed. Lukas, seeing the troll on the verge of collapsing, right away acted. He couldn't afford to give it the time to use its extremely high regeneration.

Lukas, with a swift follow-up strike, aimed directly at the troll's neck, aiming to sever its head from its shoulders before it could regenerate.

But unfortunately, not everything goes according to plan. It moved a bit, missing his strike and ending up at the troll's shoulder instead of its neck. The creature, although injured, roared defiantly and retaliated with a powerful swing of its club.

Lukas, caught off guard by the unexpected movement, managed to evade the full force of the swing, but the club grazed his side, leaving a deep gash. Blood gushed out.

Lukas quickly stepped back, grabbing his waist.

"Fuck, even the pain feels real," he cursed.

The injuries on its legs had already recovered, allowing it to move once again. That's how frightening the recovery speed of the troll was. It glared at him, slowly approaching him. He could see it was already enraged. Its veins on its hands bulged.

Lukas realized he had to change his style. The injury wasn't deep. But he realized it had been a long time since he had sustained an injury.

It was making him somewhat lose focus. Just realizing what stage he was at now. He sighed once again, reminding himself he wasn't the same anymore.

He slowly retreated, pointing his saber at the troll, which was approaching slowly. The saber slowly started shrinking before turning into its original form.

Right away, he gushed out a decent amount of Earth essence and started changing its form into a ball. The troll right away noticed and rushed towards him, swinging its club at him, leaving him no time to cast.

Unfortunately, he wasn't a typical mage. It didn't even take him a single second. At once, five sigils formed, changing the form.

Which contains:

Sigils of sharpness, Sigil of spiraling vortex, Sigil of solidity, Pathwave sigil, Sigil of burst.

Its size shrank considerably and started spinning rapidly with a thrusting motion. He let it go while leaping back.

It shot toward its head. The combined sigils created a potent force that tore through the air with incredible speed before making contact with its body.

Before it could react, it pierced through its wooden club and shot towards its head.

In an explosive burst, the head was shredded to pieces, green blood spraying in all directions. Lukas, having strategically utilized his magical expertise, stood at a safe distance, catching his breath.

The troll's body stopped momentarily before collapsing on the ground, dying the ground and the tall green grass.

The surroundings shifted once again for Lukas as the metallic voice echoed, "[Trial Completed. 50 additional credit points awarded for overcoming difficulty. Proceed to the next floor?]"

Lukas took a deep breath and looked at his waist.

The pain was still there.

"If the next floor has two trolls, will I be able to handle it?" Lukas thought, but then stopped midway.

Laughing and mocking himself, the current person wasn't him. In his past life, he had to put his life on the line on every single occasion. And to think he would back away from just this little bit of pain. Not to mention, in this situation, even if he lost, he wouldn't die.

Lukas shook his head, "No, I have to work even harder. To change the future."

Muttering that, he ripped his sleeves carefully, wrapping them around the wound.

"Proceed to the next trial."

[You are being transported to the fourth floor]

[To be continued...]