Defeating the Troll

The gladiators had all entered the arena, and the host began introducing the other protagonist of the match.

"What kind of monster would our elite gladiators be facing? Rumor had it that this creature possessed ten times the strength of a human and could recover from any injury as if nothing had happened..."

As the host spoke, quite a few spectators had already guessed it was a troll. After all, the Gladiatorial Arena had arranged troll fights before.

The host did not drag things out any longer. He shouted, "Forest Troll!" Then an iron gate on the gladiatorial platform opened, and a massive creature charged out.

The Forest Troll threw back its head and roared. Its enormous body was packed with muscle, and its eyes were bloodshot. Having been fed a special drug, the troll had completely lost its mind. Seeing the dozen or so gladiators on the other side of the platform, it howled and charged at them.

In the VIP seats, the nobles began discussing the match.

"Cleon is personally entering the fight. Then defeating the troll should be no problem!"

"Not necessarily. They have no flame weapons, so they cannot suppress the troll's regeneration. This troll looks much stronger than an ordinary one. Other than Cleon, none of the gladiators below are any good!"

A bearded noble refuted him. "No, there is another one who is equally strong. See that fellow with the greatsword? He is quite capable!" The bearded noble was the one who had previously hired The Bald Man to execute a rapist.

"Oh, then this hunt should be exciting!"

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"One, two, three, throw!" The Bald Man commanded the gladiators to hurl their javelins, throwing one himself. Harrot could only watch helplessly from the side.

His javelin throwing was terrible. The Bald Man was afraid Harrot might mess up and throw a javelin into the stands. With Harrot's strength, he really could throw that far, so The Bald Man simply had not let him bring a javelin.

The troll charged at them in a straight line. At such speed, it had no chance to dodge, and seven or eight javelins struck its body at once, drawing a pained scream.

The gladiators' aim was good. Half the javelins hit the troll.

The Bald Man's throw in particular blinded one of the troll's eyes, burying half the javelin in its head.

If it had been any other creature, the match would have basically been over. But the troll's vitality was terrifyingly powerful.

The troll roughly shook off the javelins stuck in its body, pulled the one from its head out, snapped it in half, and hurled it toward the gladiators. Its throwing was even worse than Harrot's, and its aim was wildly off.

But with more than a dozen of them bunched together, the target was too large. One unlucky man was still struck by half a javelin. Half his shoulder was smashed to pieces, leaving him essentially unable to fight.

This was a troll with ten times a human's strength. Even something casually thrown by it could easily cripple an exceptional senior gladiator.

Before the troll could reach them, The Bald Man organized another volley. The troll was not intelligent, but it instinctively raised its hands to protect its head.

Javelins striking anywhere other than its head had mediocre effect. Its thick skin and solid muscles easily blocked the gladiators' attacks.

Even the wounds from the previous javelins had begun to slowly heal. At this point, the troll was only ten meters from the gladiators.

The troll took a deep breath and opened its huge mouth. The Bald Man hurriedly signaled everyone to be careful. Then an astonishing roar swept toward the gladiators.

Other than The Bald Man and Harrot, every gladiator was affected. Those less severely affected, like Stone, merely felt dizzy, their ears ringing. Those more severely affected spat blood and could barely stand.

This was one of the troll's extraordinary abilities. It unleashed a Roaring Wave within a ten-meter radius, striking all living creatures. The stronger one's physique, the less one was affected.

Although this ability was not as powerful as a magical beast's magic, it still posed a great threat to the gladiators. The Bald Man had specifically warned them about it yesterday, telling anyone with a poor physique to be especially careful.

The troll could only use this ability once a day. Using it now was also good news, since they would not have to worry about it suddenly roaring again during the battle.

After releasing the Roaring Wave, the troll charged at full speed toward the immobilized, stiffened gladiators.

If only senior gladiators had been facing the troll, they might have been wiped out here. Fortunately, Harrot and The Bald Man had not been affected by the Roaring Wave.

The Bald Man took the initiative, charging forward and dodging the troll's huge hand before chopping his axe into its thigh.

Harrot followed close behind, fiercely slashing his greatsword at the troll's arm to cover The Bald Man.

Both Harrot and The Bald Man were incredibly strong men. One had Power Strike and Heavy Strike to boost his attack power, while the other wielded a vicious double-bladed battle axe.

The troll's charge was forcibly interrupted, and it had no choice but to stop and deal with the two little humans before it.

Though the troll was enormous, it was not slow. Harrot nearly got hit by its fists several times and could only retreat, stepping forward to attack when he found an opening. Only The Bald Man relied on his battle-hardened skill and footwork to continuously toy with the troll.

The troll threw several punches, but every one of them only struck the ground. Its terrifying strength smashed several craters into the floor, yet The Bald Man remained completely unharmed.

By then, the gladiators had also shaken off the Roaring Wave's effects. They scattered and attacked the troll with their halberds.

The Bald Man took the opportunity to retreat and rest. While swinging a sixty-pound battle axe at the troll, he also had to constantly watch for its attacks, dodging and maneuvering flexibly. It drained both his stamina and focus, and after just over ten seconds, he was already struggling to keep going.

The gladiators all remembered The Bald Man's instructions from yesterday: focus on harassment and stay safe.

The troll's right leg had already been crippled under The Bald Man and Harrot's special attention. Though it would heal again quickly over time, its agility was severely impaired for the moment.

Halberds were highly lethal, but they were also extremely cumbersome. To deal meaningful damage to the troll, the gladiators had to attack with all their strength, which consumed enormous stamina.

Though the troll was covered in wounds, it was still full of energy. Seizing an opportunity, it grabbed a halberd swinging toward it and gave it a vicious pull. Caught off guard, one gladiator was dragged over.

In his urgency, The Bald Man hurriedly grabbed his axe and rushed in, trying to save the gladiator. But the troll had been wary of him all along. Among these people, The Bald Man was the greatest threat.

The troll suddenly turned and swung its right arm, sending The Bald Man and his axe flying together. Though The Bald Man's axe also hacked deeply into the troll's arm, nearly chopping off half of it, there was no question who came out worse in an exchange of injuries between a human and a troll.

The troll had used all its strength in that attack. The Bald Man flew more than ten meters before hitting the ground, where he lay motionless. It looked as though he would not be getting back up.

The blow The Bald Man had taken was about as powerful as the attack Harrot had suffered when he had first crossed over. Unfortunately, The Bald Man had no system. Even with a physique much stronger than Harrot's, his chances of survival were slim.

"Boss Bald Man!" The gladiators were all stunned. The invincible The Bald Man in their eyes had fallen just like that.

Meanwhile, the troll before them had lost an arm and a leg, but it still had plenty of fighting strength.

The gladiator whom The Bald Man had tried so desperately to save was also smashed into a pulp by the troll's fist. Then the troll lunged forward again, knocking away two more gladiators who had failed to dodge in time.

"How are we supposed to defeat something like this?!"

"Boss Bald Man is down. Can we still win?"

In an instant, their main fighter had been sent flying and three companions had fallen. The gladiators' morale plummeted, and despair filled them as the troll laughed cruelly.

Harrot knew he had to step up now. Even though he was just as afraid of the monster before him, he had to restore their morale. Otherwise, they really would be wiped out.

Once he used Dragon Slaying Sword Qi, he would have no fighting strength left. And against a troll, that move could not possibly kill it instantly.

Harrot could only swing his greatsword and use the Dragon Slaying Sword Art to attack the troll at close range. The troll was pursuing a fleeing gladiator and did not notice him.

"Ha! Die!" Harrot shouted as he slashed at the troll's already half-crippled right leg. With a crack, a thigh as thick as an ordinary person's waist was cut clean off and sent flying.

With the skill and proficiency bonuses, Harrot's attack power was equivalent to forty points, a full six or seven times that of an ordinary person. Even The Bald Man was far inferior to Harrot in raw destructive power.

With one leg severed, the troll could no longer maintain its balance and crashed to the ground.

"Attack together! Don't let it get up!" Harrot shouted. The troll had been too careless just now, allowing him the chance to land a full-force blow. Under normal circumstances, he did not have the skill to dodge its attacks and slash at it.

After enduring countless attacks, the troll was in poor condition as well. Once it fell to the ground and was surrounded by everyone, it truly struggled to rise. The gladiators went mad too. If they could not kill the troll, none of them would survive, so they threw caution to the wind and attacked it desperately.

The troll endured several more rounds of attacks and howled in agony. Bone and organs could faintly be seen in the areas repeatedly struck. Harrot's attacks were especially vicious, and he directly chopped away the remaining half of its severed arm.

The troll struggled desperately and grabbed a gladiator who had run low on strength and reacted too slowly, using him as a weapon and swinging him around.

After forcing its enemies back, the troll rose to its feet on one leg, violently tearing the gladiator in its hand in half as it roared loudly.

By now, both sides were at the end of their strength. The gladiators were so exhausted they could barely stand. Wielding halberds over two meters long was simply too tiring.

Harrot and The Bald Man were fine because of their system-enhanced, partially datafied bodies and mixed orc bloodline, but these ordinary humans exhausted themselves after only a few full-force swings.

The troll looked even more horrifying. It had lost a leg and an arm, and its entire body was covered in bone-deep wounds. Nearly half its flesh had been carved away.

Harrot was briefly intimidated as he looked at the monster, but then he remembered that it was still constantly regenerating. Gathering himself, he shouted, "Throw the javelins! Cover me!"

The gladiators had brought three javelins in total, and only the last one remained. At Harrot's command, they hurled the javelin toward the troll.

With only one leg, the troll could not dodge easily. At close range, it was struck by all the javelins, but unfortunately, most of the gladiators had little strength left, so the javelins did limited damage.

While the troll covered its head, Harrot charged forward at high speed. By the time the troll moved its hands away, Harrot had already reached it.

The seventh form of the Dragon Slaying Sword Art, Decapitation Strike!

Harrot leaped high into the air, twisted his body ninety degrees, then violently snapped back in midair. With both hands, he swung his greatsword with all his strength, striking the troll squarely in the neck.

With a wet slice, the troll's head flew away.

The incredibly vital troll's body continued moving even after its head flew off. The flesh at its neck writhed, and it actually began slowly regenerating a head.

If no one interfered, this troll might really have been able to revive. Unfortunately, the gladiators were not idiots. They frantically attacked the headless troll.

Even the toughest vitality had its limits. After stubbornly holding on for several minutes, the troll's body finally lost all signs of life and stopped regenerating at high speed.

The troll hunt was complete!