Trom's struggle against the ocean troll had not gone as smoothly as he had imagined.
The ocean troll was slightly inferior to him in attack speed, but its ability to anticipate attack trajectories was practically akin to mind-reading. Often, the moment a thought arose in Trom's mind, the ocean troll could already guess seven or eight parts out of ten. Even when Trom launched sudden surprise attacks, the ocean troll reacted at once, leaving Trom feeling as though his hands and feet were bound.
Moreover, every counterattack from the ocean troll carried energy levels nearly at wizard rank. As long as Trom took one hit, he would lose half his life. Thus, Trom could only expend even more stamina dodging the ocean troll's attacks.
Before finding the ocean troll's weakness, Trom was trapped in this vicious cycle.
He thought he was "dragging things out," but it was more like the ocean troll had "trapped" him within an unsolvable loop. As time passed and Trom's stamina declined, the scales of victory would tilt ever further toward the ocean troll.
Trom understood this as well, but his attacks were ineffective against the ocean troll, and he could not find its weakness. It left him terribly anxious.
Once anxiety set in, mistakes came easily.
For instance, at this very moment, Trom's evasive looping trajectory widened slightly because of his anxiety, and the ocean troll immediately caught the opening. The ocean troll swung the trident in its hand, predicted Trom's path, and viciously drove it down.
Trom reacted quickly and immediately understood the ocean troll's intention. He wanted to change direction, only to discover that as the ocean troll swung its trident, countless pillars of seawater rose from the surface, sealing off every possible escape route.
Trom blamed himself somewhat for being too anxious,