Instant Reflex! Can You Just Die?

Clack!

Crack—!

As the stalemate dragged on, the Iron Sword's blade gradually cut into the thick wooden club.

The wooden weapon in the Troll's hands was ultimately at a greater disadvantage, and Tang Zheng's Iron Sword cleaved it in two.

One broken end flew away and crashed onto the ground in the distance, sending dust spraying into the air.

The Troll's savage face turned toward the broken weapon in its hand. Confusion and shock appeared on its face, and it could not help taking a step backward.

With intelligence only slightly greater than a Goblin's, it could not understand why the strength of this weak human food before it was greater than its own.

While the Troll was distracted, Tang Zheng looked at its wide-open chest.

A glint flashed through Tang Zheng's eyes. Ignoring his numb arm, he gripped the sword hilt tightly and held the tip upward, then rapidly charged forward and slammed into the Troll's chest.

Squelch!

The sharp tip of the Iron Sword pierced through the rotten flesh of the Troll's chest. Under the force of the impact and the upward-pointing blade, it stabbed fiercely into the location of its heart on the left side!

"Pain, pain, aaagh!"

The overwhelming pain drove the Troll nearly mad. "Food! Human food!"

Even after suffering such a devastating injury, the Troll still had enough strength to raise its two enormous palms and reach for Tang Zheng in front of its chest.

At such a close distance, Tang Zheng had practically no chance of dodging.

But.

"Instant Reflex!" A layer of pale-blue light spread across Tang Zheng's entire body.

The next instant!

Tang Zheng's body seemed to move backward through time. As the blue light flashed, he rapidly retreated, returning to the position he had occupied before the attack.

Boom!

The Troll's hands came down and collided with each other, producing a muffled sound. Its thick arms grabbed at empty air.

As Tang Zheng used the Instant Reflex skill to retreat, the Iron Sword was pulled out along with him, and a massive amount of blood gushed from the Troll's wound!

Under these circumstances.

The intense pain made the Troll let out bestial roars and gasps.

Even with its heart pierced, its powerful vitality kept the Troll from dying immediately. Instead, it staggered about, repeatedly reaching toward Tang Zheng, but in the end, it still collapsed to the ground.

Thud!

Dust billowed into the air.

Even so.

The Troll lying on the ground continued to twitch and struggle faintly.

Seeing this.

Tang Zheng did not step forward to finish off the Troll. He would not make the same mistake as Dosari, the captain of the Rock team.

"Food can fight back too, so you can just die." Tang Zheng stared indifferently at the Troll struggling ceaselessly on the ground.

As the battle ended, Tang Zheng's heart relaxed.

Hiss~

Tang Zheng drew in a slight breath. Pain and numbness surged through the base of his thumb and arm. At the same time, even his entire body began to ache with a swollen, sore feeling.

This was clearly the aftereffect of using Instant Reflex.

The Martial Arts technique Instant Reflex forcibly returned an unbalanced body or movement to the posture before an attack.

It was extremely effective for dodging an opponent's attacks.

However, this act of forcibly restoring one's posture in defiance of common sense placed a certain burden on the entire body.

Tang Zheng glanced at the HP on the Attribute Panel.

His HP had not decreased.

A thoughtful look flashed through Tang Zheng's eyes.

It seems the bodily damage caused by Instant Reflex doesn't lower my HP... No, perhaps it hasn't reached the threshold required to lower it yet.

Buzz—

"320 experience gained"!

Information surfaced on the Attribute Panel.

"Is it dead?"

When Tang Zheng saw the information that had appeared on the Attribute Panel again, he withdrew his gaze from the Troll's corpse.

Experience: 1271/1500

After dealing with a small Goblin tribe and adding one Troll to the tally, his experience had risen by a large amount.

Tang Zheng rested briefly, shook his arm as the numbness gradually faded, then walked toward the corpses of the Troll and the other Goblins and cut off their ears.

At the same time, he began searching the entire small tribe.

As a Player, how could he forget to search for loot?

Unfortunately.

After searching around thoroughly, Tang Zheng found that, aside from the large quantities of bones and leftover rotten flesh scattered everywhere, the entire small Goblin tribe contained nothing of value.

Tang Zheng was not particularly disappointed. He had never expected to find any precious items in the first place.

He walked over to the two remaining human corpses.

Tang Zheng fell silent for a moment, then sighed and turned to leave.

He did not dig a pit to bury the corpses, because it would have been completely meaningless.

Not only would it needlessly waste his strength, but in an environment like the forest, even if he buried the corpses in the soil, beasts would still pick up their scent and dig them out.

Unless he burned the corpses to ashes.

But lighting a fire in the dim forest at this moment would attract far too much attention and bring Tang Zheng considerable risk.

You had to understand!

The truly dangerous creatures in this area were not Goblins and Trolls, but the Troll Tribe. They were the true rulers who dominated this region.

Night gradually descended.

Even during the day, the jungle was blocked from most of the sunlight by the lush branches and leaves of the trees. Now, only specks of moonlight could be seen through the gaps between the leaves.

The entire forest grew pitch-black, and the roars of some beasts suddenly became much clearer.

In an environment where human vision was severely impaired.

Without the Night Vision skill or some other means of moving around at night, Tang Zheng naturally would not act rashly.

He chose a tree that was reasonably thick.

Tang Zheng climbed onto its sturdy trunk, took the sturdy Black robe he had purchased earlier from his Item Box, pulled it over his entire body, then leaned against the tree to rest.

To be honest, it was somewhat uncomfortable.

The branches were hard and dug into him, while the occasional sounds of insects and beasts howling in the forest kept his nerves taut at all times.

"It could be considered making the best of a bad situation."

Wrapped in the Black robe, Tang Zheng raised his head and looked through the leaves at the stars in the night sky and the bright moonlight.

On the outskirts of the eastern region of the Great Forest of Tob, the only troublesome creatures were the Goblins and Trolls. After fighting the Troll, Tang Zheng had gained a basic understanding of their fighting style and strength.

They were indeed troublesome for him, but they absolutely could not be considered a threat.

Thus, although his nerves were somewhat taut at this moment, he did not feel particularly tense.

Instead, he peacefully admired the moon of the New World.

"Compared to the days when I was worked to the bone in my previous life, this life of wielding power, though filled with danger, gives me a sense of stability."

"At least I know what I have to do every day and what I'll be facing in the future."

This thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind.

But as soon as he thought of the Great Tomb of Nazarick that would descend in the future, the good mood that had just risen in Tang Zheng's heart immediately vanished.