Chapter 19: Angry Troll

Julius was still sitting in the same spot that he arrived at. Presently, he was holding a [Firebolt] over his palm and was slowly adding more kinetic energy to the flame. He was also trying to spin it as fast as he could, gaining more momentum that he could use to further empower the [Firebolt]. The skill already provided the projectile with a soft rotation when it was shot, but it was not enough to generate the amount of kinetic energy he needed.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, all that mattered was trying out his new idea. He wasn’t completely reckless though, he was still checking his surroundings with [Spatial Perception]. However, the majority of his concentration was being used to experiment with this potentially useful application of kinetic energy and fire.

Julius knew he was originally trying to think of a defensive skill, but his mind always gravitated to offensive techniques. In his mind, the best defense is a good offense. He hadn’t quite figured out how to use kinetic energy to make his flames hotter, but he felt he was on the right track. He even got some skill levels already for his experimentation.

[Firebolt lvl 2 -> lvl 3]

[Kinetic Release lvl 4 -> lvl 5]

He believed that this was a sign that he was on the right track.

At the edge of his senses, he felt something approaching. It was a very large humanoid creature, probably one of the rift’s residents if he had to guess. It was slowly heading in his direction and seemed like it knew exactly where Julius was, even though he was slightly hidden by the tall grass.

Getting to his feet, Julius got ready for a fight. His [Firebolt] was still hovering over his palm, waiting to be released at the target. Normally, Julius would have had second thoughts, attacking a humanoid without saying a word to them, but a monster inside of a rift was a different story. He was going to have to shoot first and ask questions later.

The monster got closer and Julius could make out some of its details more clearly. It was a massive creature with stone-gray skin and chiseled muscles he could make out from here. It was probably standing over seven feet tall and resembled what he imagined an orc would look like. Compared to his five-and-a-half-foot frame, it was quite intimidating.

Julius had not seen any orcs in this world yet, but this one looked like what he would expect from one. Not waiting, for it to get any closer he released the condensed [Firebolt] and it was sent screaming toward the monster.

The attack came as a total surprise and smashed into its chest, detonating with a loud boom. It staggered the monster and left a large burn across its torso but the creature otherwise appeared fine. Julius had sent that attack out as a tester to compare it to the wolf he fought last night. So far, he determined that this monster was much more resilient than the wolf but also was slower.

It was still over fifty paces away and he couldn’t quite determine its aura from this distance, but it was at least at the level of strength as the wolf and most likely stronger based on the initial confrontation. Then to his astonishment, the wound on its chest was visibly going away even from far away. In mere seconds, the injury was nowhere to be seen.

There was another creature from his world’s stories that matched this monster’s description, Trolls. Trolls were similar to orcs except they were known for their ridiculous ability to heal themselves.

This thing’s physical resilience and regeneration might put it at a Tier 3. Julius anxiously thought.

He would be able to tell for sure once it got closer, but Julius had no plans on letting this thing any closer to him. The troll now fully healed, roared, shaking Julius’s eardrums and sprinting directly at him.

It does not seem happy, he thought as the enraged monster stampeded at him. He activated his new skill [Savage Dance] and his worldview narrowed to a fine edge. It was like his entire being was honed to a sharp blade and the only thought in his mind was destroying this monster.

He immediately created another [Firebolt] but this time he crammed as much kinetic energy into it, changing its color to a violet hue, and then once it was ready he sent it with as much speed as he could. This time, the projectile actually screamed with a piercing whistle as it shot toward the troll. It hit the troll with immense force that blasted it off of its feet, leaving a gaping hole in its chest.

However, that wasn’t enough to put it down it seemed. Julius started to create another kinetically enhanced [Firebolt] as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, by the time he finished it, the troll was back on its feet looking angrier than ever, its red eyes displaying its rage. The chest wound was deeper than the last, but it was still rapidly healing. Julius sent out his attack as soon as it was ready, but the troll stuck out its hand to block it. The resulting explosion mangled the thing’s arm, pieces of bone and flesh flayed out in every direction. Despite this, the troll was not knocked off its feet and charged Julius with its crippled arm visibly healing at its side.

At this distance, Julius could tell it was definitely Tier 3. Two whole tiers above himself.

The troll reached within arm’s length soon after. It swung at Julius’s head with surprising speed for something that size, and he just managed to duck beneath it, blasting himself away with a kinetic burst.

[Savage Dance] was keeping him deadly calm in this chaos and was informing Julius of the most vulnerable spots on the troll. It was highlighting the troll’s head and its feet. The head was self-explanatory, but the feet were odd. The skill, wanted Julius to target the feet so that it was unable to move properly, giving him time to charge a strike to damage it as much as he could.

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The troll’s strength was immense, he could feel the vibrations whenever its arm passed by him, and as he said, it was deceptively fast. Fortunately, it fought like an animal, there was no technique to its attacks, it was straight uncontrolled violence, and that made it easier to avoid its strikes.

Julius would occasionally, land a kinetic strike, which did nothing except disrupt its momentum. But his main focus, other than dodging, was creating another kinetically enhanced [Firebolt]. It was the most powerful attack he could create.

Creating the plain [Firebolt] was quick, it was condensing it while also adding kinetic energy that took time. This was why skills were so vital. A skill that did all these things would have been able to simultaneously combine all these separate aspects into a single moment. Whereas, Julius had to do it manually, much more slowly.

After a few more dodges, he tried to get as much distance between himself and the troll as he could, sending a lot of mana into his legs to dash behind it. Then he sent the [Firebolt] at the troll’s left leg. It managed to hit it dead on the mark and butchered the troll’s entire leg from the knee down.