Giant of the East 2

From the information from the ogre, Raizel now knew that the Giant of the East was not a giant but a troll. Also, his worries about him being a Player were somewhat alleviated. But the possibility was still there.

As Raizel continued on his path deeper into the cave, he felt a slight tremor on the ground, due to his heightened senses after teleporting to the new world.

With each second, the tremor got stronger.

'Guess the trolls are coming toward me. Saves me the effort of finding them,' he mussed as he stopped walking.

Just then, a horde of monsters emerged from the cave's depths. All of them were far taller than a human being. They had long ears and noses, in addition to ugly faces that were as revolting as that of any heteromorph.

"Yup, those are definitely trolls, but that isn't normal." Raizel could identify them because they looked much like their Yggdrasil counterpart but wore tiger skin clothes, which wasn't a thing in Yggdrasil.

'Hmm, that one seems different,' Raizel mused as he observed the troll at the group's helm. 

It was more muscular than the other trolls, and its ugly face exuded confidence. It was better equipped than the other trolls, too. It wore leather armor that looked like it had been sewn together from several animal hides. Its mighty arms bore a greatsword.

The greatsword seemed to be a magic item, and the central fuller oozed a slippery liquid towards its edge. Without wasting any time, Raizel silently cast a 5th-tier spell, capable of discerning information about a magic item.

<Appraisal Magic Item>

Because it was cast silently, there was no indication of its activation, but Raizel received all the information he needed. Its name was Magic Greatsword, and its data level was laughable, barely touching the level of a High-Class item.

"Is this for real?" Raizel was stunned by this revelation because items with such low data couldn't even harm him.

'But if the troll wields such a poor weapon, what level could it be?'

Without waiting, Raizel used <Astral Insight> on the troll and received information about its level, which was laughable.

'Only level 30, huh? Guess I was afraid of nothing?'

Raizel squinted and studied the leader as he was closer now.

'I don't recognize what type of troll he is.'

Trolls were very adaptive, and they varied considerably according to their environment.

For instance, there were Volcano Trolls who lived in volcanoes and were resistant to fire. There were Sea Trolls who were adept at swimming in the ocean and could breathe underwater. 

There were Mountain Trolls- who lived in the mountains and were especially strong. There were also Toll Trolls, rare trolls who lived under bridges. There was a never-ending variety of mutant species and subraces like those.

'Another difference from Yggdrasil? Maybe no one ever ran into this type of troll in Yggdrasil, but I want to study it if it is a new species.'

He was brought out of his inner monologue by a booming voice.

"What are you doing here, human?!"

A booming voice filled the cave as the group leader stepped forward. Raizel felt utter disgust when he was wrongly accused of being a human.

"First of all, let me get this straight. I am not a human. I wish to correct that mistake of yours." Now that Raizel knew that troll posed no real threat to him, he decided to have some fun.

"What are you, if not a human? The king of the eastern lands, Guu, permits you to state your name!"

"Guu?"

For a moment, Raizel was perplexed, as the words held no immediate meaning. He initially interpreted them as a title- akin to a king or chief. It took a while before he grasped that these words constituted the troll's name.

'The king of the eastern lands, huh? I guess he is the Giant of the East, not much of a giant,' Raizel mused over the flashy title of the troll.

"Hmm, what an interesting name you have. Let me return the favor in kind- my name is..."

He stopped mid-sentence to contemplate what name he should give to the troll, his real name or his in-game name.

'Seeing as I have become my in-game character, giving my in-game name would be more fitting.' 

"...Cadis Etrama Di Raizel." 

As he spoke his in-game name, he felt a small boom inside his head and felt as if some shackle was lifted from him.

"What the hell..." he slowly muttered as he observed his surroundings.

"What was that? It felt like some kind of weight was lifted from me. I also feel a strange sense of freedom." Raizel began contemplating as to the reason why he felt that way. 

But before he could go more in-depth into the matter, he was disturbed by the sounds of laughing.

"Fuafuafuafua! A coward's name! A soft and weak name, unlike my strong and mighty name!"

The other trolls laughed distastefully in response to those words.

'What are they yapping about?' 

"Why are you laughing?" Raizel asked as the {Billion Blades} vanished from his hand. Because the trolls were laughing, they failed to notice its disappearance.

"Those with long names are cowards! To us, it's a sign of timidity. Fuhahahahaha!" The trolls continued to laugh.

"I see, so you consider me weak and a coward because of the length of my name?" Even though Raizel wanted to find the reason for the boom, he decided to continue having fun because he felt as if it didn't pose any immediate threats to him.

'I don't think I can figure out the reason for the boom right now. Let's have some fun and test some theories; after that, I would make this cave into a temporary base, begin my preparations for heading into the human town, and figure out the reason for the boom and strange feeling of freedom.' 

Raizel stopped his inner monologue and adopted a leisure pose.

"That's correct, weakling. Unlike my mighty name, you have the name of a coward!"

Guu spoke while puffing his chest and pointing his colossal finger toward Raizel. After a few seconds, the trolls stopped laughing, and Guu spoke.

"So what are you weaklings doing here?! Come to feed me? Your meat should be delicious and tender! I'll eat you starting from your head!"

"Is that so, you meatball? Then I have a proposal for you. Let us both duel, and the victor can do whatever they want to the loser. Because, in the end, the loser's fate is in the hands of the winner. So, what do you say?"

Raizel mockingly spoke while pointing toward Guu. From a third-person perspective, the scene looked comical.

"Huh! And why should I listen to a weakling?! Bow down and swear yourself to me if you want to live!"

"Huh, I thought you were as courageous as your name. Surely, someone with such a mighty name wouldn't run away from a duel against someone you consider a coward. However, if you are afraid, then get on your hands and knees and beg me for mercy, and I could find it in myself to rear you as a slave."

Raizel taunted him to infuriate him, which seemed to work.

"Very good! I can handle a mut like you by myself! I'll chop you to bits and eat you all up!"

"Very well. I'll let you attack me first. Oh, and I won't try to dodge, so give it your all."

In a nonchalant tone, Raizel spoke, crossing his hands behind his back.

Just as he finished saying that, the upraised sword hacked down on Raizel. This was the blow Guu had struck with his greatsword, which was over three meters long.

As he promised, Raizel didn't move and took the attack squarely on his body.

"─Huh?" Guu exclaimed in surprise, and his sword struck an invisible barrier a few inches away from Raizel's body. His ugly face twisted in surprise.

For his next attack, he chose a sweeping slash. However, the result was the same; Raizel took the blow head-on.

"What's wrong? What's so surprising?" Raizel further taunted him while wearing a mocking expression.

"Muuu?"

Guu backed up several steps. He looked at his sword and then at Raizel. He proudly turned his back on Raizel and approached one of his minions.

The next moment, the greatsword whirled and cut into one of his troll's minions. The sword cleaved into the troll's neck and shoulder, effortlessly parting its flesh, and a geyser of fresh blood spewed forth.

The troll screamed stupidly- at the top of its voice. 

Gu watched in satisfaction as his minion spun and fell to the ground, and he nodded. That was probably to verify that his weapon was working.

"I see, so the trollish regeneration works the same as in Yggdrasil. Quite the impressive sight when you witness it with your own eyes."

In Yggdrasil, the trolls effortlessly regenerated their HP, and the wounds were promptly healed- without giving stunning visual feedback.

Yet now, Raizel witnessed the troll's skin regrowing, and some blood flowed back into its body.

Guu must have known that the troll would regenerate before testing his blade on him, but the evil look on his face as he looked down on his fallen minion suggested that he would have cut the creature up anyway, even if it could not regenerate.

"Seeing you test your weapon on your comrade displeases me." 

"SHUT UP!"

An explosive series of slashes rained down on Raizel. The combination attack was made using physical strength that far surpassed the capability of a typical human body, and it was the most destructive assault Raizel had faced from the inhabitants of this world. Though he only encountered Goblins and Hob-goblins.

"Goooooooh!"

Guu decided that slashing attacks were ineffective, so he took one hand off his greatsword and threw a punch. This blow struck like a massive maul. If it hit a human being, they would surely have been pulped by its power and sent flying.

However, Raizel absorbed this blow─ a strike undeniably fatal for a human being ─ directly in the face. Following that, he calmly dusted off the spot where Guu had struck him as if he had merely been touched by unclean hands.

Guu ceased his attack. His ugly face contorted into an even uglier shape, and he glared at the unmoved Raizel.

"So, is that end of the attack you're so proud of, he of the brave name?"

Raizel bent down, picked a common stone, and assumed a throwing stance. He also cast a simple enhancement on it- which increased the hardness and magic level of the stone.

Now, the stone could be considered a temporary magic item. This skill was called Remote Enchant- hailing from the Runic Mage Job Class.

It allowed him to temporarily enchant an item at the expense of his MP.

"It's only your defense ─ guwaaaargh!"

Raizel didn't let him finish and threw the rock toward one of Guu's legs, which destroyed half of it. Unable to stand, Guu collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Even with that acorn-sized brain, you should be starting to realize that cowards aren't necessarily weak, right?"

The trolls and ogres watching the fight shouted in shock as they saw their leader's disgraceful state.

"Let's test my blood control," muttering this, he raised his hand toward the wound on Guu's leg- from which blood was oozing out and tried to control it.

To be continued...