Chapter 16: Head on
Translated by: CHua
Edited by: Elkassar
Currently, there were only 200 metres left until the pitfall. If Sheyan seized that opportunity when the troll was uprooting to sprint fully, undoubtedly it wouldn’t be difficult to flee to the pitfall. Instead to Sheyan, this wasn’t part of his plan and ruin the bigger picture for escaping from the range of attack by this mountain troll. If he didn’t take a strike from this troll, primarily he wouldn’t be able to obtain first hand information of the mountain troll. This meant he would not be able to accurately access the fighting strength of the troll. Apart from that and more importantly, if he ran back in perfect state, then no doubt it would attract the unwanted attention of the Symbiosis sect and Diaz. That outcome is one that Sheyan definitely wanted to avoid.
Therefore, he had to face one strike of the troll head on. That was the only solution to his problems!
Since that was the case, Sheyan deeply inhaled and purposely cried out, pretending to stumble and fall down! “Bam!” Following that miserable fall as mud splashed up to the sky. This fall looked rather serious as Sheyan wasted 2-3 seconds to pick himself back up. Witnessing this scene, the mountain troll turned delirious as she roared out with saliva flying. Sheyan hastily crawled up and continued running, but at present his emotions seemed to be in a total collapsed as he anxiously glance backwards repeatedly. This caused his running speed to slow down a little.
Hiding by the side, when Qiao Gun saw Sheyan he became delighted. But following that was a profound caution gripping his heart! Because in his heart, he was convinced that even he himself didn’t have the confidence of luring the troll here. Thus, the only possibility was that Sheyan was concealing his ability. However after witnessing Sheyan’s current performance, Qiao Gun felt his earlier concern was unwarranted. He only anxiously hoped that this ‘Seaman’ would be more determined, at least persisting till the mountain troll stepped into the pit!
But the cruel reality normally triumph over gallantry. Sheyan persistently covered another 20 metres, there was only 50 metres left to the pit. Even the hidden contestants could hear his heavy panting, obviously on the brink of collapse. But at this moment, the mountain troll actually caught up 5 metres behind him. Eyeing him malevolently, it raised that gigantic tree club and smashed down violently.
Sheyan suddenly leapt forward, that gigantic murderous weapon smashed down on the ground a metre behind him. The ground shook violently as mud sprayed out in all sides. It drenched Sheyan entirely, causing him to look even more pathetic. Although he didn’t take a direct blow, he still received the aftermath injury.
Sheyan did a forward roll in the mid, and spat out the mud in his mouth before he continued fleeing in desperation. The mountain troll released a fuming roar, dragging its tree club as she continued charging forward. When Sheyan was only 10 metres away from the pit, the troll suddenly released a deafening and unprecedented beastly roar. One could see its greyish belly swelling up, following that a formless layer of rippling vibration exited from its mouth. Even the droplets of rain in mid air were blown aside, as that formless ripple reached Sheyan in an instance. Sheyan’s entire body shuddered, his face turned dull and spat a mouthful of blood! Suddenly, any progress became much harder.
Mountain troll special ability: Cardiac fissure! Apart from dealing damage, it can result in a 70% decrease of speed!
The pit was already within reach, yet his limbs seemed to be glued, unable to raise his legs. Nobody noticed that Sheyan had obviously received that ‘cardiac fissure’. Although movement speed would only drop after a second delay, his current expression was totally calm and without fear! The filthy and humid congestion of stench had surrounded him, the troll’s merciless eyes had started to flicker with excitement.
Sheyan’s distance to the pit was only a mere 3 metres!
These three metres, they were so close, yet worlds apart?
“Boom!” The thick tree club heavily pounded down. Sheyan’s eyes was brimming with panic and horror, he could only attempt to dart to the side. But in mid air, he suddenly felt an explosive tension pulling him. But if he made an all-out effort to resist it, he would still be able to suppress this powerful force. But at this moment, his heart stirred as he took in a deep breath and shifted his hands to block his front, letting this explosive tension control him.
This should be the mountain troll’s “?” ability!
Presently, this was the scenario that was playing in the observer’s eyes:
Sheyan was slowed down greatly. The mountain troll sneered evilly as she smashed down her club. Sheyan tried his utmost to dodge, the club landed on the empty ground. Sheyan was tossed up strangely by a force like he had stepped onto a spring board. The club then directly swung against him in mid air.
The mountain troll drew back the corners of its mouth, exposing a ruthless expression. One could see her yellowish and disorientated teeth, and the dripping viscous saliva.
It suddenly started revolving its heavy body in astonishingly high speed, then like a baseball player, it swung its club with full force against Sheyan! After the troll unleashed this attack, it lost its stability because of the overwhelming impact and stumbled forward.
Mountain troll special ability: Original home run!
In this instance, those in hiding could hear a thunderous shattering sound of bones. Nobody noticed that at that crucial moment, a black hatchet appeared in Sheyan’s hand. Using his right hand to grip the hatchet’s shaft, his left hand thrusted out the back of the hatchet trying his best to block against the horizontally swinging tree club. Following that, he instantly got blown away, spraying out a torrent of blood as he landed into the pitch-black jungle. A series of branches cracking sounded from his back, afterward…..there was complete silence within the darkness.
Concurrently, to Qiao Gun’s delight, the mountain troll stumbled forward and heavily stomped into the pitfall. Mud sprayed out as its massive body arched forward immediately and tumbled into the pit!
Nobody noticed that in the instance where Sheyan flew from the impact, although his expression was torturous, it definitely wasn’t one of a dead man. His body even exhibited out its reflex protective reaction. But everyone’s focus was on the mountain troll, who would notice such minute details?
While he flew from the impact, a buzzing sound echoed in his brain followed by a blankness. It was like all his five senses had vanished, his eyes could only see black. Only after a short while from landing was he able to force open his eyes. But he realized his surroundings were fuzzy like seeing underwater. Two large gashes were ripped from the webbing between the thumb and the finger on both his right and left hands. It miserably exposed his reddened flesh as blood flowed up. This chest was stuffy, and two snake like trail of blood flowed from his nostrils, and finally dripping into the mud.
“Damned…..” Sheyan covered his mouth as he coughed out several mouthful of blood. “I underestimated this troll.”
Going through his combat log, he received the notification from his nightmare imprint:
“Free world setting, you are unable to receive combat reports from other contestants. You can only receive combat reports regarding yourself: Do you wish to continue? Yes / No?”
Sheyan already understood this rule, he selected “yes”. Following that a list of pointer appeared.
“Junior class legendary creature mountain troll used its ability: ‘Earth jet’. After factoring your defense mechanisms, you received 26 points of earth damage.”
“Junior class legendary creature mountain troll used its ability: ‘Earth jet’. After factoring your defense mechanisms, you received an abnormal ‘floating’ effect.”
“You have been struck by the junior class legendary creature mountain troll.”
“Calculating…..enemy’s strength is 35 points, your strength is 13 points, Enemy’s strength is 2.68 times of yours.”
“Calculating….enemy’s strength is more that twofold of yours. Result: Attack received is an explosive strike (Critical hit). Also, you receive additional crushing damage”
“Crushing damage deals 40 – 50% of the attack damage.”
“Crushing damage is not considered an attack, your defence will not reduce its damage. This attack effect will take precedence over any other abnormal effects.”
“Calculating attributes, and prioritizing of factors….”
“Calculating….”
“Your innate ability ‘endurance’ takes precedence over the crushing damage, it can influence the crushing damage.”
“This horizontal strike deals 240 damage points + 100 points of additional damage (Crushing)
Your weapon’s ability: ‘resist’ is activated. Enemy’s weapon is classified as blunt overweight weapon. your weapon is a single-handed medium size weapon. Your ‘resist’ effect can only reduce 11% of enemy’s damage. After ‘resist’, your actual damage received is 213 points.
(TN: Not including crushing damage)
“After factoring defence, your actual damage received is 135 points.”
“Your innate ability endurance is activated, your actual damage received is 110 points.”
“You receive a further (100 – 25 = 75) points of crushing damage.”
“After receiving the strike from the mountain troll, your total finalized damage is (110 + 75 = 185 points)
“You receive 5 seconds of shock, subsequent movement speed reduced by 70%.”
Looking at his remaining life points of 65 points, Sheyan shook his head bitterly. Although he had an entire 300 HP, he received several attacks. The earlier AOE damage from the troll’s first missed strike, in addition to the damage from the ‘earth jet’ dealing some light damage, the damage from the cardiac fissure and finally that last direct attack from the troll which straightforwardly dealt 240 points of damage……