"Ryuu, don't you think this troll is too strong even for an enhanced monster?" Just with this small exchange of blows between us, I can tell this monster is far stronger and resilient than it should be.
"Yes, I think so too, and its intelligence seems to be higher as well," Ryuu stated, looking at the massive troll that, after being attacked, didn't blindly charge at us, instead was just standing there measuring us up.
I sprinted forward, and the troll raised its hand and brought it down on me. Once again, my blade cleaved through its skin, cutting the arm off, but this time, there was clearly more resistance to my blade than the previous time.
And just like before, its regeneration speed was just as abnormal, as its hand grew back up, I was able to see some crystal forming on the regenerated limb, before I could observe what that was, the troll swiped that same arm horizontally towards me, I raised my blade to parry the attack but the force behind the attack sent me flying towards the dungeon wall, the impact created a small cavity in the wall, as I planted my feat on the wall, activating my Astrum Cordis magic.
The monster tried to move to follow up on its attack on me, but Ryuu distracted the beast by attacking it from behind. The monster turns to face Ryuu, and seizing that chance, I pushed myself off the wall, travelling through the air at high speed. My blade cut through the neck of the monster, separating the head from its body.
But the regeneration ability again proved itself to be a formidable blockage for us to kill it, as the Troll grabbed the separated head in its right hand and attached itself back and swung its other arm wildly towards forcing us to jump back.
"First, the high-speed regeneration and now even cutting off its head is not enough?"
"Plus, its strength is no joke as well." Ryuu and I talked as we saw the monster's head reattached completely.
"Ryuu, start casting your Virtue Nexes magic. I will hold it off until then." I said, with these few exchanges of blows between us, I had come to the understanding that our current battle strength is not enough to take this monster down.
"I understand, Arin-san." Just when I heard Ryuu reply, the monster started to move, and I also leaped forward with a blinding light burning brighter behind me, indicating that Ryuu had started casting her magic.
The troll's ugly face scowled at seeing the light. Still, the blade coming at its neck forced the monster to keep its focus on me, the monster, despite being so massive, bent its upper body back to dodge my sword, my blade passed over its head, and keeping up with the momentum, I twisted my body, raising my leg, intending to give it a round-house kick.
The monster planted its hand on the ground and, eerily similar to a human movement, did a back flip, its kick aimed at my head, but I used my other leg to jump backward using the monster's kick like a launching pad.
The momentum was strong enough that I skidded across the ground. I kept my body firm and balanced as I finally stopped near Ryuu. "Bonds of justice, here and now! Agaris Alvesynth!"
The barrier around Ryuu dissipated, and she emerged with burning crimson flames wrapped all around her body and sword. With this new magic, Ryuu has become just like me, a pseudo level 6.
With her and my magic that I haven't used till now, we now have a higher chance of defeating this monster.
"Let's go, Arin!" The situation was so tense that I almost missed Ryuu calling me by my name only. But I knew this was not the time or place to geek out. And so I raced forward alongside Ryuu, towards the monster.
"GUUWAA!" the monster yelled in rage. And threw a big tree towards us, I created a platform of air, and Ryuu and I jumped over the thrown tree, not stopping our advances.
I attacked from the right side while Ryuu attacked from the left. At this point, the monster's arms and legs were severed and regrown so many times that the crystal had taken the form of hand and leg guards.
"GYAAAAHHAAA!" I tried to use my flame magic to stop it from regrowing its limbs, but the magic it took to keep my flame burning intensely enough to stop the regeneration was massive.
But something was wrong. The more we damaged it, the stronger it seemed to become.
"Arin, its magic resistance is increasing!" Ryuu called out as her flames seemed to have less effect on the troll's wounds than before.
"Yes, I noticed!" I replied, dodging another swipe from its crystallized claws. "We need to end this soon before it becomes something we can't handle!" But I knew it was easier said than done.
I was using both my flame and wind magic at full strength, burning the creature sometimes, Wind slicing through its body, while other times creating a barrier around Ryuu and me.
.
.
.
.
.
Thirty minutes had already passed since the first time we encountered this monster, and even after all this time, there was no victory in sight. We even used most of the bombs we had on us, but with no real damage done to the troll monster.
"GAAAHHHH!" The troll smashed its fist on the ground, forming a crater beneath us, which forced both Ryuu and me to create some distance between us and the troll.
"What do you think this troll level is, Ryuu?" I asked, since it was clear that this troll was not an ordinary enhanced species. But something special even among them.
"I think it's highly likely that this monster is around level 6…" Yes, guess so. We can't even retreat now, since thirty minutes is not nearly enough for all the adventurers to evacuate. So if we retreated, there is no stopping this monster from literally butchering all the adventurers that normally roam these floors.
Now, I had a decision to make. First one is, I send Ryuu back to get more reinforcement, while I keep the troll busy, or Ryuu and I both keep fighting in the hopes that we will be able to find a way to kill this monster.
First option is something Ryuu will unlikely to approve of, but there is no other option either, but just Ryuu and mine strength is not enough to kill this monster either…
We need something or someone strong to tilt this fight in our favour. Just when that thought entered my mind, we heard a very familiar voice calling us from behind.
"...Arin, Ryuu…!" We turn our faces to see Ais appearing on the battlefield.
"Ais! What are you doing here?" I was surprised to see her here, since there was no plan for anyone to dive into the dungeon today.
"Training…" She answered simply and stood next to us, observing the monster on the other end of the battlefield.
"Yes, why did I even ask…" It was normal for Ais to go to the middle floors, even on her days off.
"I don't think it matters why she is hear. We have far bigger problems to deal with right now," Ryuu added, her eyes still locked on the enemy.
"Is that the troll those adventurers warned me…?" Ais also looked at the monster, sitting.
"Yes, you are right, Ais, help us out." Ais nodded her head, "Airiel," and activated her magic and stood beside us.
"GRRRRRR!" the troll growled, seeing its enemy forces increasing, and sprinted towards us at an inhumane speed. If with just me and Ryuu, we were able to keep this monster in a stalemate, then with Ais, in addition to us, we were able to push the monster back significantly,
I dodged the crystallized claw by bending down. While Ais leaped at the monster's face, which the monster barely avoided, only to get caught in Ryuu's attack.
While on the surface, we were winning this battle as the monster was unable to hit us even once, but with its regeneration powers, all our attacks seemed useless since all of its wounds were healing at a high speed.
We need something decisive… I thought, barely dodging the ugly mouth of the monster as it came to bite my head off.
"We need to find its magic stone," Ryuu stated, cutting the monster's legs, which regrew back before the monster could fall.
"That's easier said than done, Ryuu," I muttered, watching the crystalline formations spread further across the troll's body with each regeneration. The magic stone could be anywhere, and with its constant healing, locating it would be like trying to hit a moving target in a storm.
The troll's bloodshot eyes tracked all three of us as we spread out in a triangle formation around it. Despite facing three pseudo-level 6 fighters, the monster showed no signs of fear—if anything, it seemed excited by the challenge.
"GYAAAHHH!" It roared, slamming both crystallized fists into the ground. The impact sent shockwaves through the dungeon floor, creating deep fissures that radiated outward like a spider web.
"Move!" I shouted, but we were already in motion.
Ais launched herself into the air with Airiel's wind, her sword gleaming as she spun in a deadly arc toward the troll's neck. But the monster had learned from our previous attacks—it rolled its massive shoulders, letting Ais's blade scrape across the crystal armor that had formed there. Sparks flew as steel met crystal, and the impact sent Ais flying toward the dungeon wall.
Before the troll could follow up on Ais, Ryuu struck from its blind spot. Her crimson flames wrapped around her blade as she drove it deep into the creature's lower back, aiming for where a normal monster's magic stone would be located. But instead of the satisfying crack of a shattered core, her sword met only more crystalline resistance.
"It's not there!" she called out, twisting away as the troll's massive hand swept through the space she'd occupied a split second before.
I seized the opening as I darted between the creature's legs. My blade found the soft tissue behind its knee, and for a moment, I thought I'd found a weak spot. But as my sword cut through, I felt the familiar resistance of regenerating flesh already beginning to knit itself back together.
The troll spun with inhuman flexibility, its crystallized claws whistling through the air where my head had been. I threw myself backward, using a burst of wind magic to accelerate my retreat.
Ais propelled herself forward using the dungeon wall like a trampoline. The monster twisted its body to dodge the attack, but Ais was faster, cutting off both its hands, just like before its limb grew back at a rapid speed.
The exchange continued for several more minutes. Until I decided to use the magic I was developing.
"Ryuu, Ais! Buy me 30–no–10 seconds."
"Understood!" "Got it…!" Hearing their reply, I jumped back to create some distance between myself and the place where the fight was happening, and started to concentrate on my magic, both my wind and my flame magic.
I willed them to pass through and around my sword. The wind raged, the flame burned brightly, and I started to mix them both, creating a small tornado of blue flames, not enough… I put more and more magic and started compressing the fire tornado more and more, until it turned pure white.
The monster also noticed me charging the attack and tried to run towards me, but was held back by Ryuu and Ais.
Ten seconds had passed, and my magic was ready as well. "Ryuu! Ais!" Both the girls understood and sprinted in different directions, clearing the way for me to attack the troll, which also ran towards me.
"HAAAAAA!!"
"GYAAAAA!!"
I swung my blade at the monster, releasing all the magic at it like laser beams. The monster created several layers of crystal around its body to use as a shield. The pure white beam of energy kept releasing from my blade, and seeing the monster was still standing, I put more and more magic into the blade.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" the troll let out a dying scream as its whole body was engulfed in the magic.
Shortly after the magic, I loaded in my attack was spent, and my attack stopped, leaving behind a large cavity on the dungeon ground that spread far like a meteor was dragged across the ground.
I was feeling slightly lethargic because of the sudden spending of the large magic pool. My head hung low, eyes looking at the ground to find balance.
"It... still alive?!" But Ais words shook me back up and I looked forward to see the troll half dead laying on the ground trying to heal the speed at which it healed was significantly lower, since it was still laying down when we approached its burned body, all of its limbs were missing, half of its face was also burned revealing even uglier details of its bone and muscle structure, and most of all of the monster insides was exposed to the air, and we were able to a magic stone embedded right side of the chest.
I quickly stabbed it before it could regenerate.
Cling!
My sword stabbed through the magic stone, destroying it, and in the process, the troll also turned into ashes.
"Is it finally over?" Ryuu asked, looking at the ashes of the monster left behind.
"Yes, it's over," I replied. Even when I said that, I didn't feel calm at all. I didn't know why a monster like this exists at all. There was no information about it in my memory of the anime either.
"We should… report it…" Ais suggested, which both Ryuu and I agree with, and so we decided to get back to the surface.