Chapter 44 44:Dungeon Exploration[3]
Taking a deep breath to calm down from the mixed feelings of fear and excitement tensing his nerves, Lucas found it hard to even blink his eyes.
The hairs over his body had stood up warning about the danger he was facing ahead. Taking a look at the sight of the monster before him, he could not help but feel his heart gradually starting to beat faster, feeling the adrenaline coursing through his body as every cell of his body screamed.
What stood before him was a greenish early 2-Star troll, seeing which Lucas wondered why he had to risk fighting this.
Hunting around, and killing packs of trolls, they found this weak troll among the groups, and the job to finish it was handed over to Lucas after boosting his courage with heartfelt but empty praises.
'These people lack empathy.'Lucas murmured, tightening the grip of his swords. Since trolls are generally slower, Lucas who had 1-Star peak speed coupled with flash steps could move with a speed of early 2-Star so he decided to strike as quickly as possible.
[Flash Step]
Zooming through the grody terrain, he dashed towards the trolls at full speed, without any hesitation. Retracting his sword, he thrust it with full strength at the right moment catching the troll in surprise due to the increased speed.
The Troll who saw a human charging at him a moment ago suddenly saw an afterimage and the human was already before it.
BANG!
A faint sound resounded throughout the vicinity as Lucas's sword pierced through the thick troll skin in the abdomen, making it falter as its steps pushed it back.
Lucas's heart skipped a beat as the stab was a bit shallow even if he had a D-rank sword. He attempted to retract his sword quickly but to his horror, the tip of the blade was struck in the skin, and the Troll contracted his muscles not letting the sword go.
Lucas rolled his eyes and seeing a club hurling its way towards him, he let go of his sword and instantly jumped back.
Pulling out the dagger as fast as lightning, he used it to block the attack while stepping back. The front end of the club hit Lucas's dagger making a dull sound but the force was enough to send him back flying.
Fortunately, the flash steps still had not cooled down previously, allowing him to react swiftly otherwise this troll might have cracked his skull open.
Lucas immediately got up on his feet and jumped aside to avoid the troll coming at him like a madman.
He toppled and rolled onto the ground.
THUD!
Unfortunately, the troll who rushed to swing his club toward the human hurriedly hit nothing but thin air.
Furious by the empty blow, the troll stared around looking for the puny human only to realize a bright dot of orange color slamming its face.
BOOOM!
Fireball exploded over his face and encased his face with an intense scorching heat, forcing it to let out a shriek of horror. Its vision became blurry and a darkish layer of screen burns appeared on its face running down to the neck resulting in it stumbling backward and losing its vision.
Noticing the cooldown of flash steps being over, Lucas charged at it swiftly. Nearing it, he stomped the ground, shot toward it, and then kicked the sword struck in the abdomen.
BANG!
The sword jolted and dug deep inside the abdomen and came out through the dorsal end spraying blood from the back.
"Grrrraaaaaoooooooo!"This time letting a far louder cry of pain and misery embodying the amount of suffering it had gone through, it collapsed on the ground. Lucas, who landed on the ground sensing the trace of life over the troll, jumped on it, raising the dagger, and stabbed at its neck, digging as much deeper as possible.
Though the dagger was of low quality and did not cut through swiftly, it managed to deal a fatal blow. Blood gushed out like a fountain and splattered on Lucas's face and eyes causing him to jump back due to a burning sensation in his eyes.
Rubbing his eyes, Lucas backed off as far as possible, letting the troll quiver in pain.
"Here, wipe your face."Lucas felt a touch on his shoulder and looked beside him and noticed Morgana passing her a tissue paper.
As Lucas wiped off the blood from his eyes with the wet tissue that had some kind of liquid on it, his burning sensation started to subside.
"Blood of monsters falling on the eye burns when you are not familiar with it. Even if one day you get used to it, try to avoid this as the blood of some monsters is poisonous and may damage your eyes."Morgana advised taking the role of elder sister.
"Hmmm!"
Lucas nodded, turning his gaze on hearing the chime.
[You have killed an early 2-Star. You have gained 4500 experience.]
Lucas stared at Aaron looking over the corpse and pondering for a moment asked"What is the corpse of a troll used for? I mean some monsters had fur, fangs, and other things that we can use but what about trolls? I don't think they have anything useful."
"You seriously did not know."Morgana's eyes flashed with surprise.
"Their meat is consumed. Most of the meat you eat is from monsters of these types. They are wholesome and nutritious."
"Whatttttt?"Lucas shrieked in astonishment trying to control his face from twisting. He remembered the trolls they had hunted and remembering their ugly features, he held his gut, containing his urge to puke.
'Mom...I want to go home. This world is not for me.'
'The meat that I have been enjoying came from this shit.'
The only thing that comforted his heart was the delicious food. Even the lowest-level food from the cafeteria was equal to the 5-Star level.
But now knowing the truth…..
EauKkk!
Morgana patted him with an understanding look "I know, facts are sometimes hard to accept."
......
Looking and hunting around for a few hours, they did not find strong monsters anymore. Only 1-Star and 2-Star were seen around them.
Lucas could take down the low-level ones but he was also exhausted both physically and mentally. Wasting time on hunting low-level monsters was not profitable for them so Aaron decides to leave after killing the boss monster.
Aaron led them towards a ridge at the outer side of the forest where the boss monster troll resides. It mostly lies in the cave and rarely comes out.
Once it is killed, it spawns once again after a few days. Aaron, who was on the outer edge of the periphery, halted his steps.
Beads of sweat formed over his forehead. Lucas glanced at the ridge and frowned seeing humanoid bones with armor scattered in front of the cave as if warning them to stay far away from here.
There were several dried corpses of both humans and monsters. The brutal scene gave him chills, making one wonder about the intelligence level of the beast.
"Something is not right. This troll seems to be stronger than the one we encountered. The boss monster was at 4-Star before. Even if there is an anomaly, it should be around 5-Star level but I am not sure about it."
Lucas frowned and glanced around, he noticed everyone's expression hardened. The expression of shock was evident on their face which had become as pale as a sheet of paper.
"What are we going to do now? Will we hunt?"
"Hunt my ass? Except for this baldy, we all are going to die"Morgana screamed.
"And I don't want to put my life on this baldy. He can't fight while protecting us."
"You might have already seen, this baldy had some head issues."
Cough...Cough...
Aaron coughed and gave Morgana a bewildered look" I understand your choice for not trusting me but did you have to poke where it hurts the most."
"Let's leave," Morgana said with a solemn expression and everyone respected that decision.
However....
"Damn, am I going to die unmarried? I haven't even dated anyone till now, "Morgana's angry shout rang again as Aaron stood like a statue seeing the dungeon not allowing them to leave.
"Damn..how did this green gate turn to blue suddenly?"Aaron stomped the ground angrily and stared at Lucas giving him chills.
"I...I swear I have nothing to do with this. So, don't stare at me like that," Lucas said with a fearful expression. Even if his misfortune played its role here, he would never acknowledge it.
"I know. How can one change the nature of gates.No one can."Aaron spoke.
"It seems, we need to deal with the boss monster and who knows if it turned out to be weakling and you sensed a weapon or any other thing's presence, "Esper spoke, rubbing his chin.
"Moreover, what if the troll monster might already have been hunted?"
"Leader, let us first draw out the boss monster and fight it outside while we stay far from here. It's just a normal green troll a little bit stronger."Angus suggested.
All of them need to enter the ridge so that they can draw out the boss monster.
"It seems the fight can't be avoided," Aaron sighed.